Bad Boy Brady

Sparking Old Memories

Amelia cheeks were wet with tears by the time Brady finish tell his story. She envisioned a helpless eight year old boy losing his entire family and her heart broke.

Brady grabbed a picture frame which sat on the side pedestal of his side of the couch and looked at it. Amelia looked at the picture and saw a young Brady and Lily, the picture was faded and in the middle was a tear mark, clearly evident that the picture was previously torn.

"Is that..." Amelia hesitated pointing at the frame.

"Yeah, the picture which I held onto for years." he answered softly.

"How... I mean when did Lily and you reunite?" she asked.

"Seven years later." He answered. "After three foster homes and one terrible foster family I landed in the fourth foster home and it was the nicest. The woman in charge was kind and very soft hearted, it took some time but I opened up to her and after hearing my story she pitied me and promised she'd help me get my sister back and make sure the both of us stay in a home we deserve."

"She eventually tracked down our next of kin, Aunt Ellie. Ellie and my father drifted apart after he moved away from Dallas to pursue his career, they kept very minimum contact and the first time I met her was at my father's funeral – that too she came as a visitor and left."

"The woman at the foster home contacted her and explained the situation; it didn't take Aunt Ellie a second thought to get on a plane and come get us. However nothing is that simple, it took her a couple of months of legalities until she finally got full custody of me."

"And Lily?" Amelia asked.

"Lily was living with a foster family at that time, it took an additional three months for Aunt Ellie to get custody of her and finally be named legal guardian for the both of us." he answered.

"And then you moved here?" Amelia questioned.

He nodded. "Yeah, we moved back, Ellie thought it would be best to move closer to where we spent most of our childhood and where my father was buried. Ellie tried her best to make us feel like a family again."

"Ellie never married in fear that if she had her own kids and family Lily and I would feel out casted and unloved. She dedicated most of her life to raising us."

"But it wasn't that easy was it?" Amelia asked.

Brady shook his head. "No. Lily took a long while to recognize me as her big brother again; despite the pictures we presented. She was a good girl, her foster family sent her to a good school and she was an A student. She barely recalled her past so she had a chance for a clean slate."

"And you?" Amelia asked.

"I was the true epitome of a boy with a troubled childhood. I rebelled, had trust issues, I was arrogant and rude and even got myself in juvenile because of a prank I thought was funny and destroyed public property, got into fist fights and involved myself in a few theft activities just for fun." He answered.

"I gave Ellie a hard time and every time she lectured me about my behavior I retorted and told her she could leave me just like Pamela did but she never did. She took care of me like a mother should and shaped me into the man I am today."

"It took a long time but we slowly but surely created a small world for ourselves here, made few friends and we became a family. We don't have everything but we're happy." He said.

There was a long moment of silence before Amelia broke it.

"I'm so sorry." She whispered as tears rolled down her cheeks.