“Ah!” Chase exclaimed. He moved to the edge of his seat and set the phone down so I could see the screen. The picture showed Chase standing between an older woman and man. “This is my mom and dad a few months ago.” Chase looked at me and added, “Your grandparents. Mom is a retired art professor and Dad retired not too long ago as the director of the music department at USC. Mom taught there too.”
I nodded and tried to think of something nice to say. Something that would propel me from thinking about my great grandfather being a psychologist. I swallowed and reached for the bottle of water Andrew had quietly left the room to go get and then had set on the coffee table.
“Is your mom who the two of you get the creative artistic talent from?” I asked and then sipped on my water. Both of them smiled and started talking, which took the pressure off me to talk.
“Morgan, for sure. He went to college for art and photography and teaches in the Bay Area. College was not for me. But I do some graphic art design for businesses and stuff. So yes, I think we got it from Mom.”
“I have a question, if you don’t mind my asking,” I said. This time I waited for permission before blurting out anything.
“Of course, ask away,” Chase said.
“When James told me a little about you and the conversation you guys had, he mentioned Hollis Ward. I searched him online, just because I was curious about my family, and some sites mentioned he has three brothers, but some said two brothers. I was just wondering—”
“How many uncles you really have?” Chase finished my sentence.
“Yeah.”
Chase and Morgan looked at one another, and I hoped I hadn’t asked about something painful. I hoped no one was dead or something.
“So, Hollis uses the last name Ward for public purposes. He used it when he fought for TCF. He’s retired from fighting but still works for TCF with his young Team Dragons. I have three brothers, two of them by blood. Hollis and Morgan. My parents took in Hollis’ friend, Patrick, when they were in tenth grade. Patrick and Hollis, to this day, are best friends and inseparable. So you have three uncles. Hollis is the oldest, then Patrick, then Morgan,” Chase explained.
“There’s probably conflicting info among websites because Patrick isn’t Hollis’ brother by blood. Depending on the views of the originating sources, sometimes it’s two brothers and other times it’s three,” Morgan added.
“Ah, got it.”
Chase pulled up a picture of all of them this past Christmas. I stared at it, and my stomach dropped. My grandparents were there, all my uncles, and my dad. I could have been a part of their world. I was happy in my world with James and our friends, but knowing my blood family existed and looked pretty damn picture perfect and happy made me kind of sad.
“I have a question for you,” Chase said.
Oh fuck, please don’t let it be about where I was for years. I wasn’t ready to talk to them about that.
“Did you end up with any brothers or sisters?” Chase asked.
Whew. I could handle that.
“No, it was just me. Mom was busy with her career, and I was enough of a burden and in the way. She didn’t have any more kids. Just me.”
“Did you move around here in Southern California?”
“No. Same house. Mom was constantly having people over to remodel and redecorate. She hosted a lot of parties at the house, so it was always very trendy.”
“Did she have you in private school or home school?” Chase continued with the questions. I was fine with these kinds of questions. I could handle these.
“I went to West Beverly Hills High. Did track, mostly. But I also did some cross country running in the fall to keep in shape for spring. I played soccer too.” The information I had just volunteered caused Morgan and Chase to stare at one another for a few moments. A very long few moments.
“We all went to West Beverly,” Morgan said. “In fact, Chase played soccer too,” he added.
Ohhh.
“What position did you play?” Chase asked.
“Midfielder.”
“Me too.”
Ohhh, my dad and I had stuff in common! This was eerie but also really cool.
“Man, this is cool. I wish I’d have known you existed when I was in high school. I think things would have been easier for me. When I was younger and would ask my mom about you, she’d just say you weren’t around.”
