“No.” I wipe my hands over my face. “She’s fine.” I stare into my twin’s eyes. “She’s remarried with two kids. Two more kids.”
Beau gapes at me for several long seconds. Then he stands, walks to the window, and drags his fingers through his brown hair. Fraser waits for a few beats before joining him and hugging him from behind.
Eventually, Beau turns. “At some point, Dad knew she was okay?”
I nod slowly. “It looks that way.”
Beau hunches his shoulders and clenches his fists. “How could he?”
My brother looks stricken. Not that I blame him. I expect this new betrayal is hitting him harder than me. I gave Dad up as a lost cause years ago, but Beau kept believing in him and giving him second chances.
“Two kids?”
“Yes.”
“You’re sure?”
“The PI seemed sure.”
“Are you okay?” Fraser asks softly.
Beau shakes his head. “Maybe I should visit Dad after all.”
My eyes widen. “You can’t be serious?”
“Why not? I need to ask him why he never bothered to tell us he and Mum got divorced.”
“What good would it do?”
Quinn puts his hand over mine. It’s such a small gesture, but one that means the world to me.
“Good?” Beau shrugs. “Probably none. But at least we’d have answers.” He bows his head. “Are you going to contact her?”
“I don’t know. Do you want to?”
“No.” Beau narrows his eyes. “I wanted to know she was okay, but I don’t need to speak to her. She made her choice when she walked out on us.” His mouth hooks into a snarl. “And when she started a new family. She didn’t want us then. Why would she want us now?”
“Beau—” Fraser starts, but Beau cuts him off with a sharp shake of his head.
“Contact her if you want to,” he snaps at me. “But you’ll get hurt.”
I jerk my head back. “So will you if you visit Dad. He’ll take it as forgiveness, and he’ll keep asking for more.”
Beau rolls his eyes and walks out. Fraser stares after him. I stand, with every intention of following my brother but stop when Fraser shakes his head.
“I’ve got him. Give him some time to calm down.” He follows in Beau’s wake.
I should be grateful that Beau has Fraser in his corner, but I’m not. I sink my head into my hands and take a few deep breaths. Quinn strokes my back.
“Why did we argue?” I ask. “I didn’t want to argue with him. We just… we’ve never agreed on Mum and Dad. I don’t understand why he keeps giving Dad chances and he doesn’t understand why I wanted to find Mum. He said he’d support me, that he wanted answers too, but I know in his head, he closed the door on her a long time ago.”
“I’m sorry,” Quinn whispers. “Just because you’re close doesn’t mean you automatically have to agree on everything.”
“Is he right?”
“I don’t think it’s as simple as that. Nothing about this situation is black and white.”
Isn’t that the truth? I turn to him and press my cheek against his chest. “Thank you for being here.”
