I realized once we got out of the car that I had no idea where we needed to go, so I linked my hand with Tiago's and let him take the lead toward David's Café Lima.
David had told me all about the business Paula had started up and how he'd carried on working there with Teresa and Mário. I was so proud of him and what he'd achieved. I couldn't wait to see it.
As we walked down the street, Tiago pointed out where David and Joel lived, as well as Bruno and Filipe, in the apartment opposite theirs.
My pulse raced as we walked into the café, and I came face-to-face with my brother for the second time in twenty-eight years.
"Mário," was all I had a chance to say before my brother pulled me into his arms in a tight grip. My throat was tight with emotion, and I didn't fight the tears when they came. Neither did my brother.
"I never thought I'd see you again," he said.
I pulled away to take a good look at him. He was older, his skin gathered in the corners of his eyes, and his hair, like mine, was more gray than black, but he had the same expression I remembered. Had we bumped into each other anywhere in the last twenty-eight years, there was no doubt I'd have recognized him.
"Vítor, my dear." I heard the voice of my sister-in-law as she approached us from a door on the other side of the café.
I hugged her tight, smelling her flowery perfume, the same she'd worn all those years ago.
"Oh my beautiful Teresa. You haven't aged a day. I thought you'd have upgraded him for a younger model by now," I joked, winking at my brother.
"Nah, I'm too old to train another one. You look really good, too."
She pulled back and told us the rest of the family would arrive shortly, but we had time to go for a walk.
I took it as my prompt for some alone time with my brother. Tiago offered to help out setting the table so Mário and I walked out of the café in the direction of the beach.
"Where do we start? It's been so long," he said, and I smiled because I felt exactly the same way.
"I don't want to focus on the past anymore, but I know we still need to put it to rest."
He agreed, so we each told our version of the events of my twenty-first birthday and subsequent days.
By the time we finished, we were at the beach. We stopped before we got to the sand.
"Do you remember when we all used to come here at the weekend?" Mário asked.
"Oh yeah. Do you remember Paula's picnic meals?"
"Man, I lived for her marble cake," he said.
"What happened to her after I left?"
My heart broke as my brother recounted how Paula had built her business and had looked after our son with the help of her family, and then her fight with cancer, one she'd eventually lost, but not before she'd made sure David would be okay without her.
"I have a great debt to you and Teresa for raising David. He told me things haven't always been easy between you, but you were there for all his important moments, and that matters more than anything."
"It was a privilege seeing him follow his and his mother's dreams. I still can’t believe he’s your son. He told me your story. It made so much sense then. How Paula would never have a bad word to say about you, or her baby’s father whenever. David also said you're an architect."
We walked back to the café, catching up with more recent events.
"So, you and Tiago, huh?"
"I don't know what he sees in me, but I love him, and if he'll have me, I will love him for the rest of my life."
When I was young, I'd always dreamed of being able to talk to my brother like this, and I had to pinch myself because I still wasn't sure this was real.
Everybody was seated at the long table in the café by the time we got back. The teasing grumbles about having to wait for dinner made my heart soar with happiness. I looked for Tiago and sat next to him, stealing a kiss that left him with the cutest blush.
