My Seven Brothers

Chapter 26 - We Are the Tuckermans

Summer's POV

"I got it!" I said. I went to open the door. When the door swung open, I froze at who was outside our house.

"Summer! Who is it?" Jake called from the dining room.

"I—it's," I stuttered.

"Come on, spit it out!" Blake said.

"It's our parents."

"Haha Summer. Very funny. Who is it?" Blake scoffed while walking to the front door. When his eyes met those of our parents, the ones who abandoned us four years ago, he too froze in shock. Anger quickly replaced the shock and he started to yell.

"Why the hell are you here!" Blake roared while pulling me close to him protectively. In all my years of living with Blake, I had never seen him so mad before. Not even when I put pink hair dye in his shampoo or colored marker on his favorite pair of shoes.

Surprisingly, our parents didn't seem the slightest bit phased by Blake's outburst. They kept a calm, collected look.

"Blake, don't yell," my mom said cooly. Her voice was just as I remembered. It was soft, yet confident. She had a strong edge to her voice that made it clear that she was in charge. This seemed to make Blake even more angry.

"Don't tell me what to do! You were the ones who left us. You were the ones who forced us to live by ourselves with no one to care for us. You weren't there when I graduated high school. While everyone else was hugging their parents, I had no one. No one!" Blake said, his voice in pain. Our parents just stared right back at Blake, not once breaking. Blake continued.

"And who was supposed to be there on my first day of college? I don't know. Maybe my parents?" His voice dripped with sarcasm. "Everyone was saying goodbye. Well guess what? I never got a chance to say goodbye! Exactly four years ago, you left us. For Adam's eighteenth birthday present, he had to be our guardian. He had the job that you were supposed to have. He shouldn't have to work three jobs to support us, but he does. He shouldn't have to give up college for us, but he does. There are so many things he could have done, but because of you two, he will never get to do." Blake was pouring out everything. I have never felt so much pain from his ever. The rest of my brother joined us, each holding me tight.

After Blake ranted, he was breathing heavily. Adam squeezed his shoulder supportively.

"We're sorry."

After a long silence, my dad finally said those two words. The two words that we had been waiting for for years. Two words that mean so much, yet so little.

"You should be sorry."

I turned around to see who said it. Jake's usual bright eyes were now dark and stormy.

"Do you understand how much we've been through? How much we've had to do on our own? How much damage has been done in our lives?" Jake said softly. I've never seen him like this. Jake had always been someone who was like my rock, someone I could count on for support.

"Yes, we do understand, Jake," my mom said. The way his name rolled off her tongue ever so casually made me angry. How she thought that she could just waltz back into our lives.