The Dining Hall, Kinervale Heights, The Elder Kennison Estate, Grandview Ave, Baltiney, New York...
Chatter filled the dining hall that had come from everyone aside from a very silent Ken Ryker and a curious Dean Hudson as they sat among everyone in attendance to the unwanted engagement party of Ken and Valencia. Dean had still been none the wiser about the true point of the dinner party arranged on behalf of Ken's mother but he had been enjoying his surroundings nonetheless. Ken didn't bother to eat anything and merely favored the punch that he spiked some time ago the fury behind his eyes dulled by the medication as he slowly sipped from his glass not at all engaging in the festivities. Malcolm had been more or less ashamed that he'd been part of the reason Ken had been screwed over in terms of the events orchestrated by his mother but Ken ignored him just the same.
Valencia had been pleased that Ken had proposed to her, more so due to force on the part of his mother, but she knew all too well that he'd find some way to get even. Still, she basked in the fact that she'd achieved her dream and would become the next Mrs. Ryker Kennison. Ken's eyes had been unreadable when he looked at her he had nothing at all to say as the dinner progressed, not even an anecdote or snide comment as he causally sipped his punch and awaited the moment he'd be free of this place and these people.
Mildred remained smug in her victory over him but Coleman had been concerned. Forcing him into a marriage had not been ideal but they had rationed that it was for the sake of the unborn child more so than Ryker himself. Dean had been preoccupied with having more food in front of him than he'd seen in his lifetime and the variety of choices had been a nice touch as well.
Jeff had been glaring at Ken the entire time turning up his glass which had been filled to the brim with strong booze. He had not liked the idea of being dragged into an engagement party for his elder brother, and the fact that once more Ryker Kennison's worst behavior had been swept under the rug by his mother and the rest of the family had made him all the more embittered. Whenever he screwed up in the past Ryker had been right there to lord it over him, "the golden boy" finally screws up and everyone acts as if it wasn't a big deal.
Bobby had been happy for his brother despite the annoyance on his face due to the entire event. He had wanted Ryker to have a family again even with everything that happened to him after the plane crash and the car accident, he supposed being married to Valencia would be good for him even if Ken didn't believe so.
Jeff had been well into his drink since leaving the office and very embittered about how easily Ryker's obvious indiscretion had been swept under the rug and put right but he had been chastised for being born a product of an affair and his mother talked about like a dog while everyone else went on as if they've never done anything remotely close to screwing up. Even his own mistakes had been thrown back at him but never once had it happened to the golden boy.
"So Valencia...you never did tell us how you got Ryker here into bed," said Jeff turning all of his stewed venom in the expecting bride-to-be's direction. "I mean you've been sniffing around Ryker since you were twelve years old and all it took was for him to garner a bit of brain damage before you managed to finally become his future wife."
"Knock it off, Jeff," said Ken in a rather stern tone not at all liking his brother's implications about Valencia even with her having tricked him into getting her pregnant.
"What, she's gonna be part of the family one way or the other I figured she'd be in on the joke," said Jeff.
"Jeffery don't you dare," said Mildred narrowing her eyes at her unwanted step-son.
"Oh fuck off Mildred, you think I care about messing up your little party?" growled Jeff, "It doesn't matter what I do or say you hate me and you love your precious baby boy, your golden boy and he can do no wrong even when it's plain to see that he'd done wrong, how the fuck can anyone sanction this fucking bastard being out and about when he sticks his dick in anything with two sets of lips and pops pills as though they'll go out of style...how do we even know she consented to get pregnant by him, for all we know this prick's been grooming that impressionable girl since day one or am I the only one that remembers how much of an obsession he's had with her before the accident?"
"I think you've had enough to drink for the night, Jeff," said Coleman through gritted teeth.
"I'm doing just fine, but it appears everyone else here at this table has lost your minds, Ryker is a fucking bastard and you all know it, he practically stalked that kid for months getting close to her and warping her mind and we're all supposed to pretend that he's a saint because he doesn't remember it...she's carrying his baby for fuck's sake, you should have locked this prick up a long time ago if you had any sense because you all and I both know he's lost his mind a long time ago," growled Jeff getting up from the table. "If you had any decency you'd vote to have him committed!"
Dean had been caught off guard by Jeff's rant as had most of the people at the table but Mildred and Coleman seemed to have an idea as to what Jeff was talking about. Valencia had been near tears as Jeff proceeded to throw their past back in Ken's face knowing all too well that he couldn't remember it.
"What the fuck is he talking about?" asked Ken hopping up from the table as well.
"Jeff's just on another one of his drunken rants," said Malcolm trying to calm Ken down as he glared at his younger brother and Valencia who appeared to have known something.
Jeff smirked as he noted the confusion on his elder brother's face.
"Oh this is priceless, you never told him and he ends up impregnating her anyway," he said before letting out a drunken cackle," he said as he looked over at Ken. "You were off your rocker after Sera and the boys died, long before the accident, and became obsessed with little Miss Hot Pants there," he said then pointed in Valencia's direction, "It got so bad that both her parents and Pop had to step in and you went off the deep end, they thought you had gotten it out of your system but boy were they wrong, it only got worse since the accident...and now here we are, you've gone and knocked her up before anyone could do anything about it, so they came up with this charade to force you to marry her, it's the least you can do after fucking her life up like you did poor girl didn't stand a chance once you zeroed in on her."
"I SAID THAT'S ENOUGH JEFFERY!" shouted Coleman now fed up with his drunken son's antics. "Get out of my sight!"
"It wasn't like that at all," said Valencia standing up for her relationship with Ryker before the accident. "You're just a hateful bastard Jeff, and Ryker is ten times the man you will ever be and even you know it."
Jeff rolled his eyes and proceeded to smirk as he glared at Valencia.
"The golden boy can do no wrong, isn't that right Val?" he asked prompting Ken to rush him and tackle him onto the ground where he proceeded to beat him repeatedly.
Coleman and Malcolm had to rush to get Ken for Jeff pulling him back as the younger Kennison reeled from having his mouth busted and his nose bleeding.
"Troubled times...Caught between confusion and pain, pain, pain...Distant eyes...Promises we made were in vain, in vain, in vain...If you must go...I wish you luck...You'll never walk alone...Take care, my love...Miss you, love...Someday love will find you...True love won't desert you...You know I still love you...Though we touched and went our separate ways..." Jeff seemed to have been taunting Ken with the song as he glared at his further confused older brother. "Ring any bells?"
Dean looked at the expression on Ken's face and then the one that filed across Valencia's. There seemed to be some truth to what Jeff was saying and it confused Ken more and more as he backed away from him and looked over at his parents. Even Mildred did not know what to say as she nearly reached out for him seeing the hurt file across his face.
Evelyn had been shocked into silence as she and Malcolm watched Ken for a few moments noting how he'd dropped his fists and his body became lax before the flash of memory hit him. Jeff and gotten it wrong, it had not been Valencia he'd been referring to with the song he had played more often than not in the wake of his late wife's death before his unfortunate accident.
"Sera," he said before losing consciousness and collapsing right then and there.