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I nodded, turning to watch the coffee drip for a moment before there was a loud rapping on the door, something that made me insides jump - a knee-jerk reaction to hearing that sound startling me awake so many times in the past. For shakedowns or just morning wake ups.
Hearing Thad singing and the slap of water on the shower floor, I knew it was up to me to answer. And I felt oddly nervous about that.
"Thad open up. We gotta talk."
If I was nervous before, it was amplified by the sound of that voice. A familiar voice. One who called me weekly. Who visited me whenever possible.
Colson.
Thad's twin.
My eldest older brother.
By eight minutes and forty-two seconds.
A man I hadn't told I was free yet.
Even after Thad suggested we show up at his door before the bar the night before.
I, oddly, was worried about seeing Colson. Maybe because where Thaddeus was all light and love and easy humor, Colson was all seriousness and standoffishness. He'd taken much longer to come visit me after I was sent away, never really giving me a reason. It had hurt more than I would ever admit. He hadn't apologized. I hadn't brought it up. And, if I were being honest, there had been a bit of a wedge there ever since.
He wasn't going to be happy that I had been out for over two days and hadn't told him.
"Don't make me search for your key," his voice called through the door, sounding impatient.
Taking a breath, squaring my shoulders, I forced myself to move across the floor, oddly wishing that I had something on other than loose lilac silk pants and a black tee. Which was ridiculous seeing as all he had seen me in for a decade was a hideous prison uniform.
I slid the lock and pulled the door open.
A cursory glance would say that Colson and Thad were identical. They were both tall, broad, had strong jaws, the same eyes, nearly bald heads. But if you looked closer, Colson was almost two inches taller, longer around the trunk than the leg like Thad. He let his face go to stubble whereas Thaddeus was an almost compulsive shaver. Colson's cheekbones hollowed out a bit more than Thad's, giving him a somewhat angry look at times. His lashes - and Thad would slap me if he heard me ever say this - were much thicker than Thad's too.
His gaze found my face, his whole body shocking back at seeing me stand there. Like he was faced with a ghost instead of his own sister.
"Jesus Christ," he hissed, shaking his head.
"Bad words, Daddy."
Now that was a voice I had never heard before. I knew of the owner of it, of course. You didn't forget that you had a niece, even if you had never met her.
Jelena.
She was four and a half, short, sturdy on brushing thighs and with a slightly rounded belly. It was clearly a 'she dressed herself' kind of day since her shorts were black with neon stars and her top was a long sleeve rainbow print. Her hair was worked into an elegant wrap-around style braid that ended in a braided bun behind her ear, putting her cute slightly pointed ears with little diamond studs on perfect display.
I'd never met her mother. Neither had Jelena for that matter. But seeing as she didn't resemble Colson, I figured she must have taken after her mother with her sturdier frame, her large eyes that were golden with the faintest hint of green, her rounder face, her pouty mouth with a bigger upper lip.
"You're right, Jelly," Colson agreed, placing his giant hand on top of her small head. "Winnie," he said, voice an odd hiss. Deeper than usual. Thick with - dare I think it - emotion.
"Hey Colson," I said, giving him a wobbly smile. "I'm home," I added even though it went without saying.
"I see that. Jelly, this is Aunt Winnie," he told the little girl who looked up at me with those big eyes, something like recognition there.
And then her baby fat hand thrust out toward me. "I'm Jelena. Daddy calls me Jelly."
"And why is that?" Thad's voice asked from behind me, making Jelly's face light up as she dropped my hand.
"'Cuz I got jelly in muh belly!" she declared loudly enough for all the neighbors to hear, hauling her shirt up to show us all said belly.
"Yes you do, little boo. Come on in here. Uncle Thad will get you some strawberry milk," he called, making the girl barrel through the doorway and collide with him bodily, prompting him to wrap an arm around her middle, lifting and flipping her upside down. Her squeals carried out into the hall where I moved, closing the door behind me, sealing us away from the ears of an impressionable little girl.
