“No, ma’am,” my tone dropped, serious. “I don’t mean to cut you off from whatever has you distracted from our conversation, but we got his DNA results. Today. Less than ten minutes ago. They emailed him the results. Devin and I justwent through them with Calen. He is my little brother. Ma’am, he’s my biological half-brother, twenty-five years apart, on our father’s side. Seems he didn’t want either of us, nor any of our six other half siblings. Only one made the cut, and that was the son he had with his legal wife. Calen is my little brother, biologically.”
Silence.
“Excuse me? W-wa-wait. He’s your half-brother? You said you have the results, correct? Could you email me a copy of them? I will make sure to file this with the courts first thing in the morning.” Fully focused. There we go.
“I can forward them to you. My lawyer will be using this to push for a quicker court date. He’s already with family. He doesn’t need to go anywhere else.” I was all business now. I wasn’t going to lose Calen because of an overworked, underpaid caseworker.
“I was just on my way out of the office when you called. Great timing. I can grab a guardianship file, thatisstill the plan,right?I don’t mean to be rude; I just want to make sure you’re okay taking in your brother?” I almost scoffed, but realized she was just trying to do her job. This was at least one case off of her workload.
“Yes, Belinda. He’s been my little brother through the program for five years. This is no different, just that he’ll be living with us now. And we’re looking for a bigger apartment within the same building so he doesn’t have to change schools.”
“Okay. I’ve got the file. I’ll get it all filled out and have it at the courthouse tomorrow at eight a.m. Sorry, I’m on my way to do a couple of home visits. I’ll text you my email.” She sounded rushed.
“Sounds good. Thank you.” I smiled and walked back over to my little brother.My little brother, the words still felt foreign, but familiar too. In a way that settled something deep within my chest. Putting my arms around him and Devin, I smiled at them.
“I’ve always wanted a little brother,” I felt the tears coming again. These two were turning me into a big old softie. He smiled up at me. I’ve got my brother and I had already been taking care of him for years. I had proof. I knew there was nothing that could stop me from getting him now.
Fuck. Yeah.
Chapter Forty:
Eddie’s POV
Three Months Later
It had been a hectic three months since Cash found out he was a big brother toeightsiblings. And more were popping up. FuckingELEVENhalf-siblings total! His father was a busy man who couldn’t seem to pull out of a parking lot, even if he tried.
I swear.
The man was gross. Rumors were flying after the oldest three filed the back child support lawsuit, submitting their DNA results as proof that they were all fathered and subsequently abandoned by the same man. People were saying that there could be as many as twenty children total, but the most recent scandal was that he’d gotten one of his lawyers on the case pregnant! They would still have to do a DNA test when it was born though. Because the other bit of tea that was floating around the community was that the lawyer’s baby could be his son, Chase’s baby too.
I shivered, disgust and nausea running through my body.
Those were some nasty ass people and I was so thankful Cash did not turn out how I thought he would. I was thankful he hadn’t been like his bio-dad, or the manwhore I suspected him of being. He was loving and dedicated to my sister. I was happy for them. He was busier though with everything going on.
The lawsuit for child support from Cash and his other ten siblings who did not grow up with knowledge of their father, was well underway. Lennon had written in the lawsuit that any childsupport she received would go into a trust for any other siblings that would pop up, and Devin said that Cash added his name to that part of it as well. He didn’t need the money, while the moms of the youngest two took the full payout option. He was so old that he could go back in six years and claim he was making way less money once he retired, thanks to social security.
How women were still having sex with someone that old, and willingly having their babies, I had no idea.
Clint and I had been in a very good place lately in our relationship, and I had been thinking that I needed to lock him down soon. It wasn’t just because I had an ex trying to come back and cause problems between us, it was everything about the man. He was the strong silent type, but he was a teddy bear under all the rough exterior. When the ex came back, I kept Clint in the loop the whole time, about everything. Transparency was the key to making sure that our love flourished. I didn’t want any problems cropping up.
I was currently hanging out in the new apartment Cash and Devin got with Calen. Devin and Cash were in court to see about his guardianship and they didn’t want him there because today was the day of the final judgement. The handsome man known only as ‘Atlas’, was their lawyer, was the one who had suggested it. He and his family made a trip out of it. He said he usually brought his family with him if it was ‘going to be an easy case’. When they arrived, we met with them here, and I was just coming up to take Calen with me after he talked with Atlas, and I swear Atlas’ husband was just as handsome.
Where the hell did these fine men come from?
The three of them, Devin, Cash, and Calen had been talking a lot about what kind of relationship they wanted to have with him. Calen had asked to remain in a brother/sister-in-law relationship because the option of adoption was presented. Calen’s mom was also on trial for neglect and abuse of a minor. Calen wanted her rights to him terminated. He’d asked the judge for that yesterday, but also told him if that wasn’t granted, he would push for the emancipation of a minor option that he still had.
Calen was hanging out in his room a lot today, not in the mood to be around people. He told me when I knocked earlier that he wasn’t feeling well because he was so nervous. Devin said that was normal because it could be incredibly emotionally taxing on him. He would come out for snacks every now and then. They left me a list of protein-packed snacks for him to help keep him full without him needing to eat a lot. This was the second day he was like this. Cash had let Calen’s therapist know a few weeks ago what was coming, that way if Calen needed to talk to them, they could be reached.
It was also my job as designated fun uncle, depending on the outcome of the cases today, to get outfits ready for everyone to go out and celebrate tonight. No matter the outcomes. Even if only one case was won. They were hoping the guardianship case sentencing would be over quickly so that they could make it to Viviene’s trial before sentencing so they could speak on behalf of Calen, the victim. He’d written an impact statement a month ago.
I kept my phone practically super glued to my hand when it pinged as I was fixing lunch for us. I jumped so hard that I almost flew out of my skin, reaching for the phone only to waffle it in my hands before catching it.
Thursday, 10:38am
Fia:Guardianship is ours! From now until he graduates! The judge said his testimony helped our case out tremendously!
I screamed out loud, my fingers flying across the screen, tears blurring my vision.
