Chapter One Hundred and Sixteen - The Stepmother's Grievance

Hamilton Halls was an old estate that had been refurbished into a hotel and now held four stars. It was a beautiful redbrick building with three floors to the main house and two to each wing of the property. It had stunning landscaped grounds and many original features. But as much as it treasured these ties to it's history, there was a clean modern feel throughout the hotel, giving the lobby, dining areas and rooms a sense of light and space.

Further into the grounds, beyond the straight paths that lead past blossoming flower beds and water features, was what used to be the private church for the Halls historic Lords. Also built of the same brick, the church retained its colourful stained glass murials and large arched oak doors. It's steeple also remained intact. However, the guts of the building had been carved out and the internal structure was just a single, spacious hall, with white plastered walls. The seating there in was elegant sofa's and chairs. There were several small tables beside the seating areas and a small curved bar in one corner. Occasionally, the seating would change, depending on what use the hall was put to, such as for weddings or wedding receptions. But as now it was for an engagement party, the furniture was entirely suitable.

Waiters and a bartender had been hired for the night and the guests were slowly beginning to fill the room. Mr and Mrs Miller were greeting guests with much enthusiasm once they were admitted, for not a single person was able to enter without their invitation to hand. Karl Jackson and his future bride were also greeting people, but the young man was not revealing such positive vibes, although the girl attached to his arm appeared quite radiant. This was the scene as witnessed by two guests that were not expected by the Millers. It just so happened that one of the guests shared both name and blood, so it was not as if they could turn him away without causing a scene. That did not mean that there would not be words.

Owen had used his allowance (something his father sent monthly for food and clothing, the credit card Owen had used simply for convenience) for the two suits, telling Adam that he could consider the suit 'borrowed' if he didn't like the idea that his boyfriend had purchased the high end suit for him. That the 'borrowed' suit happened to fit him perfectly and would drown the person who purchased it was irrelevant. The two young men had experiences of being of the elite in their past, so they ordinarily would have blended in with this elite crowd. Unfortunately, with Adam's looks and build, the man could hardly be considered ordinary. He wore a black Italian suit with a burgundy shirt, in comparison to Owen's tan suit and black shirt.

The Miller's did not greet their blood relation immediately, in fact poor Mark was summoned and flinched as his mother spoke angry words into his ear. He completely could accept Owen's claims from his mother's harsh dismissal of the boy, so appeared quite sour when he came over to 'welcome' the two men on his parents behalf. Karl simply looked over his glass of wine at the two men from a distance, not saying a word. In fact, if he had not seen a photo of the smaller man in his father's wallet, he would not have known who he was.

Mark looked up at Adam, he shared his brother's near average height. "I didn't expect that he would be your plus one," Mark said to his brother.

"And why would he not be?" Owen asked, slightly testily. "No one will automatically assume the relation between us is intimate, so I am not doing wrong and 'embarrassing' the family."

"No," Mark agreed. "I guess I just assumed that you might bring a girl for... appearances sake. I don't have any problems with your choice of partner, believe me." He had friends in university who were openly gay, the beautiful lilies is what the girls had been nicknamed. Many a fool had hoped to 'straighten' them out, only Ginnie was a black belt... they were not bothered so much anymore. Mark had never entertained dating them to begin with, he liked them because they didn't point out his lack of height!

"Ah, a shame that the girls that wanted to be a plus one were complete gold diggers," Owen mused.

"And you are sure your partner isn't?" Mark asked, a slight tease and slight concern in his tone, causing Owen to look at him for a moment in examination.

He glanced up at his lover. "Are you just with me for my money?" Owen asked, with a pouting expression.

"Absolutely," Adam agreed, though Mark could see that he looked at Owen much the way that the Lilies looked at each other. The man bowed down slightly and murmured softly into Owen's ear; "that and because you are a demon in bed." Owen flushed crimson and Mark pretended that he had not been privy to that!

Mark cleared his throat suddenly, indicating a sense of urgency and the two besotted youths regretfully stepped slightly away from each other as Mr and Mrs Miller finally decided to speak with them.  Adam offered to get the brother's each a drink from the free bar allowing the 'family' some space as he accepted their requests.  Karl Jackson also saw this, excused himself from where he and his fiancée had been speaking with her parents and made his way over to his relatives.

"What are you doing here?"  Ashlyn Miller hissed at the stepson she wished had vanished along with his mother.  She never once accepted that her childhood sweetheart had married someone else, even when she, herself had been previously married and widowed.  The boy was like a shadowy taint on her otherwise perfect tale, two lover's forced to separate, but overcoming all odds, coming to be together once more and reuniting their family against the odds.

"Can't I congratulate by oldest brother on his engagement?" The boy asked, sounding perfectly reasonable.

"Then by all means," his father gave a nod of approval.  But his wife would not be so easily swayed.

"You've never bothered to acquaint with us before," the woman accused, ignoring her own deeds that caused the severance and pinning all blame on him.

"Mother," Mark murmured, seeing as the woman was attracting attention, however she ignored him.

"I see how it is," she continued, perhaps a little too influenced by the champagne that had been flowing.  "Now my son has tasted success, you wish to glorify yourself with his name!"

Karl stopped, a shadow away from his parents, with a frown marring his face. He looked at the youth's shocked expression and couldn't help but notice the fleeting hurt before a stronger will of determination engulfed it.  "I have never once asked anything from you," Owen told her, his voice quiet, but clear to those close by.  "I have never once asked for you to accept me.  I have never once used my brother's reputations to get what I want.  I have never ever flaunted the fact that I happened to be related to the C.E.O of Jackson and Miller.  And I never will.  So it is fine if you do not want me to be here.  But do not make such wild accusations when I have done nothing awful enough to deserve them."

He could have yelled his anguish from the rooftops, but he wisely refrained.  Karl reconsidered his opinion of this little brother.  It is not that he did not know how his mother perceived the boy, but he had let it alone believing the child would be better off not being raised by a woman, who could be as poisonous as she could be loving.  The boy would never receive her love.  However, Karl had admittedly allowed his family's opinion of the boy to sway his own impressions.  He had heard the boy had acted up at school when he was younger, how he isolated himself whenever his father visited, how he had stolen his father's credit card and how recently he had used the card to pay for a hotel room.

"Oh and I suppose that stealing your father's credit card," the woman brought up those very details as if reading her son's mind.  "And using it to pay for a hotel room is not deserving enough?"

"Ah, that was my fault," Adam appeared with a glass of wine for Mark and two glasses of fruit juice for himself and Owen.  "Owen and I went to an event a few weekends out of town and after the event, went out for a drink.  We lost track of time and thought it best to stay the night in a hotel and set out for home in the morning.  We didn't have enough cash on us, so Owen used a credit card."

"Oh, I left that card in the drawer in the kitchen," Mr Miller suddenly advised.  "I thought Owen could use it... in case of an emergency."  From the look of guilt on his face and the anger upon his wife's, it was clear that this had not been discussed between them.

"Mother," Karl decided to intercede as the woman's bitterness was clearly attracting attention from his guests.  These people enjoyed such gossip and who did not know that his father had a third son by his actual wife of the time.  While he would have preferred if the boy had stayed away, it was not his fault that this ongoing situation was causing a rift in his family.  He understood that it was the fault of both his parents, his mother should never have willingly become a mistress to a married man, even if that man had turned out to be his real dad.  And his father should have kept his penis in his underwear if he had truly loved his mother and not spread his seed about.  "I am happy that my little brother wished to congratulate me today.  Any grievances can and should be discussed in private, not at my engagement party."

"Quite right, son," his father agreed and gave his third son a brief, if somewhat pained smile before guiding his wife away.

Owen's shoulder's visibly sagged.  "Thank you," he said, softly.

Karl nodded in acknowledgement.  "If you'll excuse me, my fiancée awaits," he said, but paused before leaving.  "You know, if you ever do need any help from me, you can ask."  He had decided that this little brother of his was clearly not the demon his mother made him out to be.  Mark grinned and excused himself as well.

"That fiancée..." Adam muttered to himself as he looked over at the young woman, who looked up at her returning partner with sparkling eyes.

"What?" Owen asked, sipping his fruit juice.

"She looks familiar," a new familiar voice added.  The two men's attention was captured by the young woman, who wore a long emerald green gown, with simple lines.  It's simplicity suited Alexandria, though her hair was trapped in a much dressier style, her accessories were also very understated.  "That's what you were going to say, right?  You also look familiar... Wait!"  She turned to Owen, hand on hip, demanding an explanation.  "Why are all of your gaming buddies coming out of the wood work?  And were you two not rivals?"

"I can explain that," Owen advised her, "but not here, later."  She narrowed her eyes, but agreed with his request.  "Now what did you mean by gaming buddies?"

"Exactly what I said," Alexandria huffed, before indicating the elegant bride to be.  "She's one of you, remember.  In fact she was on his team." She looked at Adam with suspicion.

"My team.." Adam looked at the woman again, before realisation occurred.  "Wait.. that is Trinity?"

"No way, the Trinity?" Owen starred at her for a moment then laughed behind his hand.  Trinity Desertflower was marrying his brother?!

"How could you not recognise her?"  Alexandria rolled her eyes heavenward.

"She wasn't wearing makeup then?"  Even Adam knew his excuse was poor, but after laying eyes upon Owen, every other face had just faded into the background.  Only the most familiar to him remained remembered and he honestly thought of their avatars before faces he'd seen for just a couple of hours when their names were mentioned.

Alexandria looked at the woman, deep in thought.  "Can I ask you something?  Why did she look at you as if she wanted to... I mean like she was a wolf and you were her prey?"

"What?" The men asked in unison.

"You mean Adam, right?" Owen asked, thinking that they had finally found the woman they were looking for.

But Alexandria shook her head.  "No," she replied softly, before glancing at Owen.  "She was staring at you that way."