Karma is a bitch –

The voice at the other end of the phone wasn't one he had heard before. But, in his line of work, that was not uncommon. "Holland's advanced graphic designers. Yes, may I ask who is calling, please?"

"Mr. Terrence Eggerton, my name is Rod Tremont of the law firm Haskel, Sydney, and Lucas PLC. Can I have a moment of your time, if you wouldn't mind?"

"Okay, so is there a way I can help you today?"

"I am afraid I am here to help you today. First of all, it took a while to find you. I was told you had long since moved to Jacksonville from your brother Al. I didn't know you lived only sixty miles away. So, I have the regrettable task to inform you that your father passed away last March 15th."

Rod listened to the stunned silence at the other end of the phone not knowing how he should proceed or not. "Well, sir, I just wanted to inform you that you are included in his will."

"Thank you. Despite Al's not wanting me to get anything, I don't want anything of his anyway. He disowned me years ago." came the curt reply.

"I know that sir, but your dad insisted at the end of his life that he wanted to make amends to you. If you and your children, if you have any, will all come in to our office to verify you and they being his family ..."

"God no! The man hated me and thought I was an idiot for marrying my lovely wife. Why does it even matter now? I have a good life, I make good money, and ever time I tried to reach out over the years, he cut me off! He even gave me the finger more than once."

"I know that sir. Only, my instructions are that I have to treat your brother the same way too. His instructions are such that at the final reading, in two months after verification of family, you both will hear a message from him given at the last that he hoped will show you why family was so important to him. But, more importantly, he wanted to reaffirm the ties that bind your brother and you together."

"I'll think about it. Why the two months, though? That doesn't seem normal."

"It is a legality dealing with surviving issue in his will. They have to live 60 days past verification of life. It makes sense since your father knew nothing of you and your family's particulars. So, it is a legal means of insuring one sibling doesn't interfere with the others inheritance by claiming chicanery."

Terrence sensed that, like all good lawyers, Rod was lying. Especially given the fact that he was notified that his dad had passed away three months after he had died. Nevertheless, being a good businessman, Terrence got Rod's details. "I'll call you back tomorrow with our family's decision."

At the dinner table that night, his wife Anne asked him why he looked so glum. "I found out that my dad passed away three months ago. Three months ago! But, lo and behold, I am told he included me in his will. Does it mean us all? I get the feeling no. It means everything goes to my brother Al who hates me." he said with a sneer. Anne teared up and hung her head down.

"Dad," ask Harriet, sixteen years of age, "Why haven't we never even met him? You hardly even mention him or your brother."

"Yeah, Dad! Why?" added Richard, who had just turned thirteen, and was taller than his five foot five mom now.

Anne let out a heavy sigh, before answering, "It's complicated guys. Your grandfather didn't approve of his marrying me. The two had a falling out. They have spoken only a few times over the years. Each time was worse than the last time."

"In fact, his last words to me were 'You're still dead to me. Especially since your marriage is little more than a shame marriage!'"

"At least my dad said yes!" she winked. But, in a moment of self-reflection, she acknowledged, "Well, truth be told, he didn't think any man would want me because ..."

"Stop that, Anne. That is all water under the bridge. You are who you are and you should be proud of it. I know I am."

She smiled weakly back at him, "Yes, Dear. Thank you! I know you are right." Terrence leaned over and kissed his wife. He brushed aside her hair in his usual loving way and then kissed her again. "Someone needs a shave." she giggled.

"Of course I am right!" he added. Turning to the whole family, Terrence said, "Look, before this moment, I was convinced that not going was the right thing to do. But, now, I think we need to go. Not just to defend your mother's honor. I want them to see we don't need them. And whatever horrible trick my dad has planned to embarrass with us won't work. We are a family and always will be. And, by God, I want my brother to see our family at least once not be bothered by their bigotry. Families are connected by love, not hatred."

After dinner, Harriet pulled her dad aside and asked, "Dad, is it because mom couldn't bare children?"

Terrence hesitated, "Dad, it doesn't take a genius of a girl to notice her Mom doesn't get periods like I do. She is only in her late thirties. And, I remember Richard being brought home one day without warning and not seeing Mom pregnant the whole time." Now, Harriet hesitated before she spoke again, "I hate to ask this. You're not my real Dad, I mean my biological father, are you?"

"No, darling. I'm not." he admitted reluctantly. Terrence was about to say something to his daughter, but then changed his mind. "Look, I guess it is time to have a frank family conference and discuss where you guys really came from."

"Thanks, daddy! Just know, I love you no matter who my parents really are. You are the best dad ever!" She stood on her tip toes and gave him a kiss on the cheek. He responded with a bear hug and shouted out, "Richard, Anne, family conference time in the living room!"

A week later, Terrence and his two children met in the attorney's office around a grand table. The secretary was very polite. She even apologized for the air conditioning not working. The kindness of the staff meant kids were handed bottles of cold water, which they drank right away because the office was so terribly warm in the office. The attorney asked some basic questions. When they were born, where they were in school, etc. Terrence gave him birth certificates which they made copies off and handed back to him.

Rod shook Terrence's hand and said, "Unless I can't confirm the information, which doesn't seem to be a problem, you can come back in eight weeks to hear the last will and testament of your dad. And be sure to bring your kids too since they too were included in the will. This will be probably the one chance they get to meet their grandfather, even if it is only by a video presentation."

Upon their return, the chairs in the conference room had been laid out in front of a television. There were in a semi-circle with an aisle in between with four chairs on one side and five chairs on the other side. Terrence, Anne, Richard, and Harriet sat in one group of seats and looked over at the empty ones. Soon, Al, Terrence's brother, came swaggering in with his three children, Sam, Terry, and Robert. He was 280 pounds of angry man. Quite a contrast to Terrence who was only about 180 pounds and every bit of the fit five foot ten inch rock solid man who worked out every weekday in his basement to develop his six pack abs. "Hey Pervert! You're still not even half the man that dad was, I see! Oh, by the way, Margaret said she didn't want to come to see you again. She often talks about what a jerk you were in high school and how the other girls didn't like you either."

Terrence motioned to his family to remain calm. Al added with a smile as he looked forward, "Dad told me had something special planned for you." Then as an after thought, he turned to them and said, "Oh,hi whatsyourname ... hmmm ... Could it be Jerk!" Anne squirmed in her seat trying to ignore the insults being flung from across the aisle. The two families then glared at each other in silence until Rod came in and set two envelopes on a side table. He then started the DVD player. He sat down next to it and watched the families before him.

"Hello hello. Greeting to my family. Guess I am dead. This, my last will and testament, has been written down, so I will leave it to the lawyers to read that part to you. You know what really matters? Just rest assured that what I am about to say is iron clad thanks to these guys. I wanted to make sure things were handled my way. So, tough. Again, you know what really matters? It is family. Authentic family. Sharing the same blood that courses through your veins. It always has mattered to me more than anything. Years ago, I lost my little girl. Right, Terrence? So, I guess family blood doesn't matter to you. Or the monthly reminder of blood. Yes, I used your current name. It used to be Terry, before you took my little girl away from me. Bitch! Notice your brother gave me a replacement?" Al scrunched his face and pointed to his daughter Terry who just sarcastically smiled at her uncle.

The video continued, "But, as you can no doubt see, Al replaced you with an authentic version that really does have monthly reminders." He paused for a moment in the video. It was almost as though he knew it would be heard by Terrence's two children. He exuded smugness on the video screen. Anne took Terence's hand and squeezed it. She then looked at her two children and said, "Just stay relaxed."

Richard started to say something and then Harriet motioned to him to be quiet. She leaned over and whispered in his ear. From that point on the two not only remained quiet, they avoided eye contact with their cousins and remained humble in deportment. On the other side, their cousins responded with proud unyielding postures as their grandfather's voice droned on.

The proud and vindictive man in the video continued, "Family is based on DNA in my opinion. That's how blood ties to family are confirmed these days. And I can make it legal too. So, the only ones in my will that will receive any inheritance are my two children based on how much of my DNA they have passed on to their now living children. He started to laugh. Gotcha Terrence. So, if both my children have passed on their share of my DNA to their children as they should have, then they will receive half of my estate. If they haven't, they get nothing, and their share is to be given to the other child's family. I love you both as my genetic offspring. But, blood is thicker than water. So, I wanted you both to know what I consider the most important thing about family. Blood. Figure a way around that Terrence, because that is what you gave up when you became a man instead of the woman you were meant to be." With that, the video cut out.

After that last comment, Al looked at Terrence and stuck his tongue at him. Terrence just laughed and patted Anne on the knee. Richard and Harriet looked at each other and remained stoic.

Rod got up after the video ended and said, "When you all came to our office, we took your water bottles and had them tested against Mr. Willian Eggerton's DNA. Don't worry. It was legally done. By coming to the office, you gave us permission to have anything you touched tested for DNA. The results are in this envelope." Terrence leaned back and smiled at Anne. Anne smiled back. Rod tore open the first envelope. His looked shocked as he said, "According to our tests, Richard and Harriet are the grandchildren of Mr. Willian Eggerton and Terrence has passed on the DNA of Mr. William Eggerton."

With that, Al said, "What the hell! How is that possible? You rigged it, Bitch!"

Terrence just said, "Rigged it how? Get over it Al! Of course it is possible. You're just too small minded, like dad was, to see how."

"But, you can't be a dad!"

"No," Terrence said smugly, "I can't." Anne laughed and made motions to their children to be quiet. But, by now, both children were trying to hold back laughter which would shortly turn to concern.

Rod opened a second envelope and went on, "Here are the tests for Sam, Terry, and Robert. All of them are not the grandchildren of Mr. Willian Eggerton. In fact, they are all half siblings to each other." Once again, Rod was taken back. "Sorry Mr. Eggerton, this now means you are cut out of the will."

With that, Al went ballistic while Terrence just sat there holding hands with his family. Finally, the lawyers brought in a few of the stronger men in the office and cleared out Al and his kids out of the room.

When the dust settled, Rod looked at them with confusion written all over his face. "I don't get this. It should have been the opposite ..."

Terrence held up his hand to stop him and said, "It's easy." Turning to his children, he blew them kisses, and then continued his explanation to Rod. "When I told my dad that I had met their mom during a doctor's office visit, he assumed she was a cisgendered woman. What I didn't tell him was that it was a gender therapist's office we met at before our transitions and that she was transgender too. When I told him I was getting married, He said it was wrong for me to marry a woman since I could never be a father nor could she. I snickered at the time that he had it so wrong, but never corrected his false assumptions. You, of course, unlike my brother, now must realize that I am a transman and their mom is a transwoman. But, what my dad really didn't know was that when we fell in love, before we changed, she saved her sperm and I saved my eggs so we could start a family together. He just assumed our children were adopted. And so, in reality, their mom is their biological father and I am still their biological mom which means that naturally we passed on our DNA to our children. Because I didn't want to delay her transition, we agreed to use a surrogate mother for both of them."

“But Al, I don't get it?"

"As for my brother Al, he married the head cheerleader at our high school. All the girls at school knew she cheated on every guy she ever dated. I even overheard her in the gym one day saying that she wanted small babies, not a football jock's huge ones. I tried to warn Al years ago about her before my dad kicked me out, but the star running back at school wouldn't listen to his kid brother's warnings. There is going to be an interesting conversation when they get home."

As they left the office, Rod said, "You know Mr. Eggerton, your dad could have just handed your brother the million or so he was worth before he died of pancreatic cancer. No probate or anything. Instead, he wanted to hurt you. I hoped when I called you that you would stay away. I just couldn't say that because of my job. But, you didn't stay away. You had to know he was going to do something mean?"

"I did. I figured that if the only inheritance I was going to get from him was to teach my children how not to treat family, it was worth coming. I wanted my kids to see why we stayed away from him all these years too. I also knew they would not understand how important unconditional love is in a family until they saw my family for what they were. Even it had gone the other way, my kids learned a very important lesson about love and forgiveness being the better way to live."

As Terrence was about to get in his car, Rod shook his hand and said with new found respect, "Mr. Eggerton, I wish you and your lovely family well."

"By the way, is there any way for Al to break Dad's will?" Terrence asked out of curiosity.

"No, I am afraid not. That is, not unless you consent to it."

Terrence thought for a second. "If my brother comes around and shows me that he has truly grown out of his hatred and bigotry, then I might consent. But I would have to see a real change of heart."

Rod looked puzzled for a second. "After the way your family treated you, why would you forgive him considering the awful way you have been treated?"

Terrence smiled and said tenderly, "Because Karma is a bitch! And I'm not anymore."

Copyright © 2020 by AuP reviner