Surprise, Surprise, Surprise

3

What comes on the screen makes one person confused and the other three turn white. "Hello lovely family. This portion of the will was not to be unlocked unless the conditions, which were conditions that should never be met, were met. Congratulations Edmond and Fanny on finally taking Lydia to the breaking point. At this time, since the conditions were met she has full approval of severing all ties to her family. That means that you two and your daughter that you made into a horrid little Fanny will no longer be receiving any stipend from the company. You are no longer considered family as a matter of fact. 

"Mary Ann has received or will be receiving her trust fund. At that time no further monies can or will be deposited into the fund from the company. Lydia, if she so chooses can add personal funds to the trust, but seeing as she is severing all contact with the family, that is highly unlikely."

The old man looks out of the screen at them and continues. "There are a few things that I've told Lydia before my death that I think is now time for you all to know. And Lydia, there is something you should know as well. That news will wait until after I inform your ungrateful father and his slut of a wife of a few certain facts." There is no little wickedness evident on his face. He is relishing this part.

"The man you despised, my brother, your uncle, Samuel, well he wasn't the person you thought he was. You despised him for being a shiftless vagabond. Moneyless and useless. Those were all opinions that I've heard you express about him over the years. 

"What's important, to you, is that he also heard your opinions of him. I'm going to give you a history lesson and you better pay attention.

"Your mother, Harriet, was in love with both myself and Samuel. She only chose me over Samuel because she knew that Samuel had the wanderlust and wouldn't stay in one place for any length of time.

"She also knew that I couldn't have children."  Jeremiah pauses as he lets that information sink in.

Lydia pauses the video and her father is exclaiming his disbelief. He looks just like his father. Just like all the Fletchers that they have paintings or photos of.

"Sit down, Edmond and shut up. There is more. You both need to know." Lydia tells them both coldly. Her sister is strangely quiet and so she checks on her. Mary Ann is white. Lydia smiles, she figured it out.

She starts the will back up. "Shocking, I know. Lydia was rather taken aback as well and demanded that I explain things to her. So I did. As I will with you.

"Samuel truly did love Harriet, he just couldn't put down roots. So in that way you are correct, Samuel was a drifter, but the rest you have all wrong about him.

"When Samuel came to visit Harriet and I talked to him about something. I needed an heir and Harriet desperately wanted a child. We asked him to be with Harriet and get her with child. He was rather shocked by this request. 

"Samuel is my identical twin and we had in the past shared everything. He had never expected me to be willing to share my wife though. But, he loved Harriet enough that he was willing to give her the one thing that I never would be able to give her.

"You are the results, Edmond. Samuel wasn't your uncle, I was, but I loved you and raised you as my own. The man you sneered at and looked down at, he was your biological father."  Jeremiah looks pleased knowing that he just let the cat out of the bag and that it was full on chasing the pigeons about.

"But I'm far from done. 

"The day before you were to bring Fanny over to present her to the family as your fiancée, well I found her coming out of Samuel's bedroom and it was very obvious that she had spent the night. Samuel later told me that she wasn't even that good of a fuck, but that is neither here nor there. If he had known that she was your girlfriend let alone fiancée he wouldn't have touched her when she came onto him at the bar they were at the night before.