The Son They Never Loved

"Don't you want to meet her first?"

I asked it after a long silence, with the last stubborn scrap of hope I had left.

Mom set down her teacup and brushed the question off without quite looking at me. "No need. We trust your judgment."

Trust? Or was it that they simply couldn't be bothered?

I looked down at the engagement ring on my finger, and the joy of proposing drained out of me like someone had emptied a bucket of cold water over my head.

I should've been used to it by now.

Used to being overlooked by my own family.

Used to their indifference.

Used to the fact that they didn't love me.

But I still wanted to tell them.

My girlfriend's name was Claire Sterling, and she loved me.

Her parents ran a business, and they'd always treated me with real warmth.

Every question Mom and Dad might have asked, I had rehearsed until I could recite the answers in my sleep.

They just didn't want to ask.

And when they did ask, it wasn't me they were asking.

Because I wasn't my younger brother.

Like right now.

I looked up. Tyler had his arms folded behind his head, radiating pride.

"Come on, why are you giving him the third degree?"

"I'm warning you, you'd all better be nice to my girlfriend. She's the first girl I've ever dated. Don't scare her off."

Serena beamed at him. "Any girlfriend of yours, we'll treat like royalty."

Mom's tone shifted into something fond and instructive. "Tyler, being good to a girlfriend is fine, but you have to know where the line is."

"Don't grovel over one girl the way your brother does. If it doesn't work out, I'll find you someone better."

"Haven't you been wanting a game room? Once your brother moves out, we'll turn his bedroom into one for you. How does that sound?"

Dad had never been good with words, but he nodded along, again and again, backing every word Mom said.

They were planning what to do with my bedroom, right in front of me, without a thought for how it might land.

Because as long as Tyler was in the room, they never saw me.

Because I was plain and ordinary, timid and easily cowed.

Not sunny and good-looking like Tyler. Not quick and charming like Tyler.

All Tyler had to do was stand there, and without the slightest effort he'd pull every eye in the room toward him.

Including Mom's and Dad's.

When we were kids, I fought for it. I really did.

Tyler came first in his class, so I stopped sleeping. I studied until my eyes burned, swearing I'd beat him.

And when I finally carried home a certificate with first place on it, I said, Mom, Dad, could you love me a little more?

Serena laughed first.

She told me I was dreaming.

Then she turned around and cheered Tyler up with a caramel apple.

Mom barely looked up. She said he was my little brother, and sent me off with a pat.

Then she went and cooked a whole table of Tyler's favorite dishes.

Dad's eyes didn't even stop on me long enough to register.

A grown man in his forties, and after a full day of work he still got down on the carpet to let Tyler ride him around like a horse.

Nobody cared that I'd come first.

Nobody saw the boy standing alone in the corner.

Years later, Tyler had a girlfriend, and the family's love spilled over onto her before they'd even met her.

When it was my turn, there was nothing. Same as always.

But I wasn't that unloved boy anymore.

I turned to Dad and made myself ask.

"You always said you didn't want either of us marrying someone from out of state. Claire's family is in New York. Does that not bother you?"

Dad blinked. His face went serious all at once.

Then he turned to Tyler.

"Where's your girlfriend from? Same city would be best."

"That way if her family ever needs anything down the road, we're close enough to help you out."

I sat there, frozen.

After a moment, I laughed at myself, quietly.

So when he talked about his sons, he'd never meant me.

I stood up and went back to my room.

I opened my messages with Claire and typed, one careful letter at a time.

Let's get married.

Right now. Is that okay?

Her reply came a second later.

Wait for me!