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“Are you telling us you got married and never told us?” Dad asks.
“I’m wounded.” Pa glares at me.
“Sorry. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision. We got married in Vegas a few years ago.”
“How long is a few years?” Pa’s tone has an edge to it.
“On Archer’s twenty-first birthday,” I answer, squeezing my eyes shut.
“And you didn’t tell us?” Mom sounds hurt. “What happened to let’s organize a wedding for my twenty-fourth or twenty-sixth birthday?”
I shrug. “That was for everyone. Vegas was for us.”
Surprisingly Mom smiles. “That was one thing I liked about you two. Even though you planned, you lived too.”
“One of his requests is to make sure I handle the legal affairs so I don’t run into trouble with his family.”
“What do you need from us?” Dad asks.
“I’m not sure, I have to call our lawyer and Kingston, but it feels overwhelming to do it alone.”
Pa rubs his hands together as if he’s ready to jump into action. “Okay, let’s do it.”
“Here?”
He nods. “The phone is yours. We’ll be right here or in the other room. Wherever you feel is best for you.”
April 16th
I spend two days at my parents’ house working with the lawyer and compiling all the paperwork Archer left in case anything happened to him. Even though he’s missing and not proclaimed unalive, I have everything to claim his assets.
After that, I go to Kingston’s office with the letter Archer left for him.
“This is a surprise,” he says, and it’s so painful to see him.
He looks so much like Archer. Well, an older version of him. King has dark brown eyes instead of silvery-green like his younger brother.
“Hi.” I wave at him.
“It’s good to finally see you. I went by your parents’ house several times to check on you, but they said you weren’t receiving visitors.” He touches his chest. “I won’t lie. It hurt a little. I thought I was family.”
“You are. I only saw my parents and the occasional nosy cousin who broke into my room.” I smile.
“You can’t keep Seth away, can you?”
“Obviously not.”
“How are you?” He tilts his head toward the leather couch in his office.
“I should be asking you that. Your brother is missing.”
“He died.”
I shake my head. “You’re wrong.”
He crosses his arms, tilting his head. It’s like he’s about to cross-examine me. “I heard a rumor that you don’t want to accept it. Why is that?”
I put my hand on my chest, close my eyes, and tap it at the rhythm of his heartbeat, not mine. “I feel it. His heart still beats.”
