“I’m not disputing that. But I have a twin sister, Dad. And she was left in that household with Renee Parsons for years until Children’s Aid intervened. She had a horrible upbringing.”
Dad looked stricken. “If we’d known about her, we would have—”
“What, taken the both of us?” Calum interrupted.
“Yes,” Dad replied with absolute certainty. “We would have taken her too, had we known about her.”
I sat there, not knowing what to do with all the information coming at me. I felt worse for Calum.
“We can’t undo what’s been done,” Mom said, her eyes watering. “We’re sorry we kept it from you, but I’ve always felt in my heart that you were mine.”
Calum nodded slowly, as if rolling over everything in his mind. He stood abruptly. “Well, on that note. I’m going home. I’ve heard enoughsecretsfor today.”
Mom stood, tears spilling from her eyes and down her cheeks. “Calum, please. Don’t be angry.”
“How can I not be,Mom?” Calum snapped, his eyes flashing with anger and hurt. “You’ve lied to me my whole life, the both of you.”
“It wasn’t a lie, Iamyour mother,” Mom insisted, the tears flowing freely down her cheeks now.
But Calum couldn’t be swayed by tears right now; he was far too angry. He left, the door slamming resolutely behind him.
Dad let out a sigh and rubbed his hand over his jaw, shaking his head. Mom’s knees seemed to give out, and she let herself drop unceremoniously onto the couch. No one said anything for several beats.
I wanted to askwhat now,but gauging by the exhausted, defeated look in both of my parents’ eyes, I didn’t think they had the answers either. Their eyes seemed trained on the photograph Cal had left on the coffee table. The silence stretched between us, uncomfortable and riddled with tension.
Unable to take the crushing silence any longer, I cleared my throat. My parents both turned to me, the sorrow in their irises apparent. ”I think I’ll head out too. I’m tired, and I need a minute to process this.” My brow furrowed.
My parents both nodded stiffly. I leaned forward, hugging them both, my thoughts in a tailspin.
“We love you, Connor,” Mom said, smiling through tears. “I know, we’ve hurt you both by keeping this from you. I just…I’ve always considered your brothermine.”
“I know,” I told her because I did understand that much at least. The rest…well, I was conflicted over.
I grabbed my coat and slipped into my boots, pausing for a moment to look at my parents. They were still sitting on the couch; Dad had wrapped his arm around her, and she’d laid her head on his shoulder. Mom’s eyes were closed, fresh tears sliding down her cheeks, and Dad looked as if his entire world had imploded.
I left, pulling the door shut quietly behind me. I started walking aimlessly, just to clear my head. Somehow, I ended up at the docks, looking out at the water. I texted Dare, letting him know that’s where I was, then found a vacant bench to sit down on.
I dialed my brother’s number, and he answered on the second ring. “I’m sorry I stormed out of there, Con. I just couldn’t stand to look at them anymore.”
“I know.” I drew in a breath, closing my eyes. “I…I can’t believe it.”
“Well, believe it,” he said, his tone void of humor.
We were both quiet for several beats, thinking about the bomb our parents had just dropped on us. “I don’t think they kept this from us to hurt us.”
Calum sighed deeply, sounding weary and bone-tired. A lot had been dumped on him in the past few weeks. “I know, but it’s hard not to be angry at them, Connor. I mean…I expected this from Dad, but Mom?”
“What do you mean, you expected it from Dad?”
“Lying about that kind of thing,” he said gruffly. “Fucking hypocrite that he is. He was so pissed off and judgmental when he found out I had a kid, and it turns out he’s guilty of the same fucking thing. Whatever though. Our family’s just grown again. Funny how that keeps happening, huh?”
“Well, I suppose it’s ironic, to say the least,” I replied, fighting a smile. “Seriously though, are you okay?”
“I’ll be fine, Con,” Calum assured me. “I’ve got Harper and Asher and the puppy here to distract me from how mad I am at our parents. What about you? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine…” I trailed off. “I mean, this whole thing is just weird.”
“Yeah, it is.” Calum sighed.
