Tied

Chapter 17

Upstairs Grant showed Gabe the video from the garage, and played him the voice messages Beverly had left, and when that was over, he said, "I can call her lawyer and let him tell you what happened at the reading of the will and what he observed over the years from when she was thirteen to eighteen. I can call the Pearsons and let them tell you about taking her in when she was eighteen. Gabe, I don't want to put myself between you and someone you love, but I will not let you go after someone I love who is innocent in all of this." Gabe nodded and said, "I wanted to believe them, but at the same time Beverly is getting more and more bizarre. She is not making much sense; I think it may have something to do with her tumor. But what I am worried about is why is Tabitha agreeing with this madness."

Grant shrugged and said, "I can ask Mia, but she has not talked to her since she was eighteen." Gabe nodded and said, "I would like to talk to her if you don't mind. I promise not to be accusatory." After thinking about it for a moment he walked downstairs, where he found Mia sleeping. He gently shook her and when she opened her eyes, she smiled at him. Grant said, "Gabe would like to talk to you, you don't have to, but he has some questions." She nodded and sat up and started folding the blanket, but he said to leave it. He took her hand, pulled her to her feet and walked with her up the stairs.

When they reached the kitchen, Gabe stood up from the stool he was sitting on and smiled shyly at Mia. Grant walked over to the stools and pulled two of them away from the island and motioned for Mia to sit down, and once she was seated both men sat down as well. Gabe looked at Mia for a moment before he said, "First I want to say I am sorry, although I am not the one harassing you, I think it is happening because of me." Mia shrugged and said, "You have nothing to apologize about, you are doing nothing wrong." Gabe continued, "I don't know if you know this, but your mother has a brain tumor. Which I hope is why she is acting so crazy, but I don't understand why Tabitha is acting the same way. Do you know?"

Mia thought for a moment and said, "First she is not my mother, she made that clear to me a long time ago. I am sorry that she is sick, and I hope she gets better, but you will not find me crying over her. But that is not your question. Growing up Beverly did everything for my siblings, she did their homework, she made sure they got everything they wanted, and she did not care what she had to do to get whatever they wanted. Trevor and Thad stopped asking for things sometime in late middle school because if she got you what you wanted then she expected you to honor/praise her forever and the boys did not like that." Mia looked at Gabe and said, "Tinsley and Tabitha didn't stop asking, they let her rule their world and they worshiped her because she always came through for them. I think the only thing she was not able to do for them was to get rid of me, and I guess she did just not as soon as they wanted."

Gabe nodded and asked, "Even when they were grown?" Mia said, "When I moved out at 18, they were 22 and 24, still living at home, neither graduated college because mom could not get them passing grades. Also, neither worked, although they were supposed to be volunteering, the only thing they did was shop, lie by the pool and go to social events. Do either of them work now?" Gabe shook his head and said, "I think all they do is charity work." Mia asked, "Have you ever asked what they do for charities? Have you seen any projects where they worked?" Gabe shook his head and said, "Tabitha always says it is just boring stuff."

Grant said, "So they are totally dependent on Beverly, do they have any skills?" Mia shrugged and said, "I have not been around in the last 6 ½ to 7 years so I cannot answer that, but when I was at home, they could not do even the simplest things, like fix themselves a sandwich or work a microwave. But you need to understand Beverly encouraged that, she wants them dependent on her. She feeds off the praise they give her." Gabe asked, "How can they live like that?" Mia frowned and said, "Honestly they were not the only ones like that in their social circle, but I do think Beverly may have pushed it farther than other parents."