Why would he when there are people out there who are a part of him? Of course, he wants to get to know them.
I was a fucking idiot for letting myself get all excited for nothing.
He slid the tablet across the counter for me to look at it. I had to try and take a steadying breath, because I didn’t want to look, in all honesty. I didn’t want to see who his new family was. I blinked back at the tears that were trying to come out.
That shit wasn’t happening. Not today. I looked out the window, trying to gather up the courage needed to know the name of the person I might be losing Calen to. I blinked and took a deep breath, grabbing the tablet off the countertop. I slowly letout the breath I’d been holding, and looked at who the matches were.
Siblings. All siblings. Fuckingeighthalf-siblings. And a father.
Clearly as massive a fucking piece of shit as mine was.
Fucking great.
He had a dad, no matter how shitty he seemed with nine fucking kids. He was someone who could take care of him. I winced, trying to recover quickly and not let him see how much this hurt.
And it did. It cut fucking deep.
I chanced a glance at Calen, and both loved and hated the ear to ear smile on his face. I was quickly losing the battle with my emotions as the first tear slipped down my cheek.
“Look at my oldest sibling's name.” He tapped his finger on the edge of the tablet.
Cash Johnston.
What?
He’s myreallittle brother?!
I looked at him, jaw on the fucking floor, heart jackhammering in my chest, and he was beaming. At me. Tears in both our eyes. I felt myself getting choked up as I smiled at him, the kid who I already thought of as my little brother, for the last five years. He really was my little brother. I set the tablet down, moving my wobbly ass feet towards the kid who was my brother, feeling a steady stream of wetness on my cheeks as he and Devin and the rest of the kitchen and tablet got blurry. Iwrapped him in the tightest hug I could muster, sobs racking my body as his arms encircled me.
He’s my little brother. He’s mine.
I held the tablet out to Devin, having not said a single thing reading I was his brother. She had been watching us, curiosity covered her face as she took the tablet from me. She was about halfway down the screen when she started jumping up and down, screaming and squealing, looking from the screen to us back to the screen, then to us. She finally jumped into us when her emotions reached their peak, crying happy tears as she gleefully shouted loud enough for the whole floor to hear.
“We can keep you! We get to keep you! You’re ours Calen! Oh! Oh! Calen! Cash!” She was sobbing happy tears as we all group-hugged, squeezing tightly unwilling to let go. Ready to be a little family of three. With this information, I was practically guaranteed guardianship of my little brother. I smiled so big I swear my face was cramping. I was probably going to be stuck with my face like this forever.
I was going to look permanently, terminally happy.
I knew it ruined my image, but now I was officially a big brother to my little brother. Biologically. To multiple brothers and sisters.
Wow.
Life had a funny way of working out like that. My little brother had already been in my life for five years and I never knew just how true the statement was, that we were truly brothers.
“I’m going to call the case worker now,” I excused myself, wiping tears and snot off my face as I made my way to thebalcony, trying to stop fresh tears from falling as I clicked her contact info.
“Belinda? Cash Johnston.” Deep breath. Professional time. Put the ridiculously happy away, just regular happy. If I could manage that.
“Hello, Mr. Johnston. What can I do for you? Has Calen gotten his results back?” She sounded distracted, and I couldn’t help but wonder if there was something more important than a phone call with someone with an open case?
Some cases are worse than you would even be comfortable knowing,is what Devin had told me when all she would say was, ‘Hard night’ one night. I knew there were still a few more months to go til his mom’s trial and the guardianship hearing, but this needed settled. Belinda, his caseworker, needed to know he was already with family. I pushed my annoyance at her aside.
I had found my little brother.
“Yes, we have his DNA results. Just got them actually,” I let out a chuckle, that awkward-awed kind of chuckle, “He’s my little brother.”
I felt my chest puff out with pride as I told her. I could claim him for real now. I was still in shock from it all, I thought to myself, but it was a bit more real now that someone outside of our little bubble knew.
“Yes. I know, through the program—” Still distracted.
