Before the Ever Green (BTEG #1) ✔️

Chapter 31

"Wait. Brit, do you know your Mom's maiden name?" I ask, if she knows that, then we have the man's last name. I am a genius.

"No. Mom never told us. When I asked, she said it didn't matter, because she was a Lawson, now," Brit explains.

I let out an exasperated sigh, "That makes this so much harder."

"Sorry." Brit says, "At least we have all the family books."

"Could you two stop talking so much, and help?" Jaeger asks, gesturing for us to get down and help him. He is so demanding. I wonder if his dad is like that. I've always wonder who Mr. Lawson was. Mom used to read articles from the newspaper about him, and all his new laws. It usually ended with Mom throwing down the paper, and ranting on about how stupid he was and how no one could ever love such a man. She used to ask how in the world he was able to get a wife. She also said how sad she was for his wife. I don't feel so bad for her, she had 2 lovely children.

I grab a red scrapbook, and start looking through it. The first page has 'The life of Amelia Lawson' written on it, but before Lawson, there is a word scribbled out. I am assuming it's her maiden name, being as Lawson looks like it's written a while after the rest of the sentence.

I flip the page to find a baby picture, and her last name scribbled out again. I keep flipping through it, and I see a lot of pictures of her brother, but not a name...anywhere. And, every time her last name came up, she scribbled it out. Was it that hard to think about? Or, is there a bigger story I'm just not seeing? There probably is...there always is.

I keep flipping through, page after page, I finally make it to Mr. Lawson. He looks so happy with Amelia. I wonder why he seems so different, now. Maybe he blames his kids for Amelia's death. I'm not sure why he would, but if that is true, why? Everyone has kids, right?

That's one thing mom never told me. How people have kids. I mean I saw Mrs. Ban give birth to her 2nd child, but how do the babies get there? Is it just natural? Can you stop it from happening?

"Jaeger!" Brit yells, and I see she is holding up a book, "His name was Derek! I don't know his last name, though?" She sounds sad, "Just go through the books, looking for the name Derek. Maybe we need to read her journals, too."

"That's a good idea," Jaeger compliments, "She might have written something about her life before Dad. She would have thought no one would read it, right?"

"Probably. You are a genius, Jaeger." Brit says. I never thought I'd hear Brit compliment her brother. She seems like she'd be too worried about her ego. I can hear my mothers voice in my head, 'Never judge a book by it's cover', I hate it when I remember what she tells me, even if it's in the back of my mind.

"I know," Jaeger comments, and Brit slaps his shoulder, "Hey, you can't hate me, because I am perfect."

"Yeah, you're perfectly a pain."

"I am not. I am your awesomely amazing brother."

"No, you are more like that kid that I'm not sure how we are related, because we are so fucking different."

"Oh. So you cuss, now? What happened to, 'Oh, I'll never cuss, mommy. It's not lady like'?" he says in a mocking voice.

"I was 4 years old, and had hear Dad cuss for the first time, what was I suppose to say, oh mom, by the way, when I am 16 I am totally gonna cuss, just letting you know."

"Oh, so you do know what you should have said."

"I was 4! I would never have said that!"

"You should have," He explains, "Little 4 year old Brit lied to our dearly beloved mother."

"Do you really believed me?"

"Yes."

"No."

"You two are hopeless." I say, "You could argue about the color of the sky."

"We did once," Jaeger points out. I slap my forehead. The two of them were really hopeless. Brit and Jaeger will never get over there nit picking on each other long enough to figure out what Derek and Amelia's last name is. Or, if we do, I'll be 50 with wrinkles.

"Listen, can you two stop arguing, and help me find Derek's last name, please?"

brit gets up from her spot, and walks over to the bookshelf of journals, "Mom wrote in her journal everyday."

"Wow," I say

"I know, right. She said it was bad voodoo not to, or something like that. O never believed it. I think she just wanted a reason to let all her emotions spill onto a page."

"Makes sense,"

"Yep. It kept her calm. I swear she never got really mad. If she did, she'd pull out her journal, and write really, really fast. It was kind of alarming. I'm a little scared to know what I'll read."

I give a little laugh.

I am imagining Brit's scared face. It'd be pretty funny, especially if it's anything like her scared face from when we were 7. She's open her eyes wide, and drop her mouth. I'm not sure how, but her eyes would do this weird twitchy thing, and her nostrils would flare. It was pretty funny to watch.

I remember John was new that year, and he became good friends with the pranksters. He hid behind a bush, and jumped out with a fake sword, trying to scare me, but instead scared her. I ended up punching him in the jaw, because I was a little frightened. I remember how loud she screamed. Everyone stopped what they were