Me Without You by Rona Go Page A

wait for awhile to see their
father.
    Brice, in particular, had been
travelling somewhere in Asia when their father died. He had wanted
to see their father and pleaded to wait until he arrived. Being the
only male child in the family, Brice had been implicitly handed
down the responsibility of looking after the whole clan. However,
he had chosen another path in his life which dismayed their father
totally.
    Rebecca, on the other hand, had been
triumphant when she found out Brice was gay and desired not to be
the forerunner of the Blood legacy after their father died. Rebecca
had wanted Jemmah to take the responsibility.
    "It’s in Jemmah’s blood to become like
me," Rebecca had once told Jonah. She had not understood the kind
of responsibility their mother intended. Not that their holdings
were far too unmanageable with every help they had.
    It was always Jemmah before she left
home. The rest of the children including Jerone, Jenssen and
Jervais were all supernumerary characters in Rebecca’s
eyes.
    Jerone would have made a good manager
being educated in that line. Jonah mused. Jerone was the
business-type among the Blood children. But she was also the one
who did not really know her own strength. Jerone was always seeking
and searching for something that she did not even know in the first
place.
    Jenssen would have shone in all their
father’s foundations with her compassionate heart and preference
for the marginalized. She was so caring nobody would think she had
Rebecca for a mother who was totally calloused where the idea of
true love was concerned.
    And
Jervais … Jonah thought. She could
understand why Rebecca never paid any attention towards her.
Jervais had two faces. When Rebecca was around, Jervais became
quiet. She was aloof and often preferred to be ignored. However,
the people who got close to her knew she has a nasty sense of humor
and a spirit of adventure. And that was the true face of
Jervais.
    However, Rebecca did not even care to
tap Jerone’s expertise and allowed her to carry on after their
father died. Their mother hired so-called experts to manage the
business empire that Joshua Blood established with his bare hands.
She only made them sinfully rich when some of her children were
there waiting for her to give them a little push.
    Jenssen had to beg funding agencies for
her causes when her family could very well support her. Rebecca
just ignored her.
    It had always been Jemmah…
    Jonah was thinking there was almost
like a pattern where the favor of Rebecca was concerned. There was
almost a two-decade gap between the older to the younger with Brice
coming in between the women. It seemed like Rebecca went after the
last of the first three older sisters, Jane, Jerone and Jemmah—who
were in their forties. And when she failed, she shifted her
attention to the last among the next three younger ones, Jenssen,
Jervais and Jonah—who were in their twenties with Jonah having only
celebrated her eighteenth birthday.
    "That’s why she was into me," Jonah
reflected presumably. She ran her hands through her arms feeling
suddenly cold all over.
    Although, Jonah had reacted negatively
when Rebecca’s attention shifted to her after Jemmah left their
home, she often wondered if it was intentional. In truth though,
perhaps she liked the idea that Rebecca wanted her to follow in her
footsteps. Maybe she did…
    Unlike their father, Rebecca will
probably have the traditional burial rites with the visit to the
morgue and the two boxes of gowns Jonah was carrying. Jane had also
mentioned about going to the church after the funeral house to
arrange for a religious service.
    Rebecca will surely twist and turn
inside her coffin. It was a common knowledge that Rebecca was not
in good terms with the Church ever since they can remember. To have
a religious funeral service was almost a sacrilege for Rebecca’s
own style of religion.
    I wonder who will give the
eulogy … Jonah thought to herself. "Jane
would probably