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“First of all, I don’t know. And second of all, he’s my brother.”
“I’m sorry, did you say that you have a brother? Since when?”
“Technically, it would be ever since he was born. But my mother dropped that little bit of news on me on Sunday when I went up to see her and caught her and Mike having sex on the couch.”
“Okay. Let’s start with, ewww. And we will definitely be getting back to that little nugget later. But, you have a younger brother? How?”
“Apparently my father had him before he got deployed to Iraq.”
“Do you know who he is?”
“Nope. And my mother’s not sharing.”
“So, she just dropped that on you and said what, deal with it?”
“Pretty much.”
“Wow! So, how are we going to find him? Do you think you two grew up in the same town?” Lou said invested.
“Your guess is as good as mine. I could never lock my mother down on details about my father. But I get the impression that they weren’t living together when I was born. I don’t even think he was from our town.”
“So anyone anywhere could be your brother?”
“Yep.”
Lou was lost in thought for a long time after that. At least it took his mind off of his parents. Every so often he would toss out a thought or ask a question, but his adorable thinking face always returned.
He didn’t even realize it when we crossed through his grandmother’s picturesque town. It wasn’t until we approached the gates to his grandmother’s estate that he returned to me.
“Oh, we’re here,” he said perking up.
“We’re here.”
The stressful look quickly returned to his face. “Are you ready for this? Who am I kidding? Of course you’re not ready. How could a lamb be ready for the slaughter?”
He turned to me.
“All you have to remember is that you asked me to marry you on Sunday with four of your teammates singing, ‘I Can’t Help Falling in Love with You’ in the background. It was very romantic. You’re very romantic. Everything else about our relationship can be true.”
“So, how we met? The memorial for your Grandmother?”
“Yeah. We were best friends who fell in love, a classic romance story.”
“I got it. You were in love with me from the moment we met and it took me a while to realize how great you are.”
“Please! The story needs to be something they’ll believe. If that’s the type of storytelling we’re in for this weekend, the plan is already lost.”
“Wait. Why couldn’t that version of the story be true?”
“No time for jokes. We’re here,” he said crackling as we pulled up to the grand colonial-style home. It looked like a place straight out of the time of slavery.
“How did you say your family got its money again?”
“I didn’t.”
As soon as I turned off the truck, he took both of my hands and stared into my eyes.
“This has to work. Okay? You can’t do anything to screw this up.”
