Three Brothers (Completed)

Letting Go

The news anchors said that she lost control of her car in the snow storm and plowed straight into tree. The crash probably didn't kill her, but no one found her until morning. If she did freeze to death, she was probably unconscious for it. I'm not trying to make it sound positive or anything, but it makes me feel better to think that there probably wasn't much pain involved in her passing.

There was a lot of speculation as to how the accident happened. We all knew what happened of course. The over-emotional Lily was speeding in her car in a snow storm, not paying attention, and probably not able to see straight through her tears. It shouldn't have been all that surprising really, but as I sat there in the church pews I felt almost like I shouldn't be there.

I didn't think it was right to be at Lily's funeral. She had always been so full of life, so vibrant, to think of her as anything other than that perpetually angry person was impossible right now, but there she was in her mahogany casket looking like she was sleeping.

The service was quiet and small, the priest said kind words about Lily and then we all went to where she would be buried. We saw people we hadn't seen in years. Jade stood with a distraught Finn. I contemplated if I should go over to talk to them, to give them some sort of comfort but I wasn't certain what Finn would do to me now that there was no Lily to reign in his anger. There was a chorus of gasps when Connor appeared with the girl he left Lily for on his arm, and I was right, she did look like a horse.

Finn had stood across from Connor for all of five seconds before he screamed. "You dick!" and then tackled Connor to the snow. I watched horrified as Finn pounded his fists into his face.

Jade and the other woman screamed at the boys to stop fighting. Which lasted all of a minute before Jade shrugged and attacked the other woman. The two had successfully managed to chase those two out of Lily's funeral. I couldn't help but think that if Lily had been there she would have pretended to be mortified until she couldn't hold back her laughter. Revenge had always been her style.

The eight year long debate was answered the day of Lily's funeral. The three of us stood at her grave, staring at the tombstone, polished ebony marble, with her name carved in cursive. Lily loved the color black, the tombstone suited her; the sort of morbid elegance that she craved to display, that was ever so apparent in her writing; would now immortalize her in the cemetery. The answer came out of the blue, from a simple gesture, the dropping of a single white and pink orchid on the freshly over turned dirt.

James collapsed, both physically and spiritually. His walls tumbled down as he fell to his knees at her grave. I could only watch as my older brother sobbed in earnest and there was no doubt in my mind who loved Lily most out of the three of us. The argument had been settled, it was James who loved her most, and it was James who had been dealt the hardest blow.

We didn't leave his side, we stood passively watching, not sure what to say to him. Silence had always been how we comforted one another, we weren't good with words. We waited until he was done crying, only then did Sean clap a hand to James' shoulder. I helped him up, Sean dusted the snow off of him and James caught his breath and wiped his tears away. That day changed us, as we said good-bye to Lily. Our bonds mended in formation of a mutual hole that would forever be in our hearts, the hole that had been Lily's laughter and love.

In the end what tore us apart brought us back together again and as we walked out of the cemetery, we held our heads high because for the first time in years we were the Soran brothers again. We let our petty squabbles die with Lily, no longer was it about who she loved most, or who she would most likely end up with. It became about helping James through this darkness, about coming together to fill the void she left, about cherishing what we had left of her—her books and the memories of her. Three brothers walked out of that cemetery that day, and together we all found a way to let Lily go, letting her spread her sunshine in our memories and our hearts.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, life did go on for us after Lily's death. Well, for most of us. Two months after Lily passed away James committed suicide, he overdosed on painkillers. To be honest none of us were surprised, he had spiralled into a dark hole that neither me nor Sean could get him out of. We petitioned Finn, who had been made the sole heir to Lily's estate, and he allowed us to bury him beside Lily. It would have been what he wanted.

But it wasn't all sadness after Lily passed away. As I mentioned, Finn was Lily's heir. All the rights to her published works were transferred into his name, he had the rights to all her other manuscripts and he had all the rights to the movie adaptations, the only rights she hadn't sold off to the publishing companies. Needless to say, with all the money she left him and all the rights to her works, Finn was set for life.

Jade went on to be a model and an actress, being close to Finn she managed to use her connection to him to get a part in every single adaptation of Lily's novels he made. There was some falling out with Jade and Finn that the media never could get the full story about, and after that she didn't appear much in the modeling or acting world. I think she became an artist out in Vienna or something.

As for Sean, he came out of the closet a year after James's funeral. That had been a shock for the whole family. Sean left his job at the law firm, and went travelling, not because we disowned him or anything, but because he wanted to discover himself. He came back four years later with a husband and an adopted child, he had become a household name over night as well. He was known as the amazing lawyer who fought for gay rights.

As for me, I found the love of my life three years after Lily passed away. Now I know what you're thinking, I spent eight years convinced that Lily had been the love of my life. What you need to understand is that part of me will always love Lily, and it was that part of me that helped me learn to love again. My wife and I have been together for fifteen years and according to her I am still a selfish princess, but she loves me anyway.

I guess you want a lesson now. I mean, why tell you that whole sad saga and not give you a moral of the story. Well luckily for you there is a moral of the story.

Don't let your selfishness ruin someone else's happiness because you won't be happy when you make them miserable.

Those are golden words of wisdom there folks, but if that doesn't work for you, here's the one piece of advice I always give my children. Don't do what I did, if you think that's what your old man would do, do the complete opposite. It's always worked for them. Maybe it will work for you.

Good luck.