AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I handed Arlo the note, and he read it with a creased brow. “Okay, then.” Charlie stirred in my arms, and he wriggled, and I got the sense nap time was over.
Well then, seems as if Charlie’s dad was home.
My -long--lost twin.
How had life turned upside down in such a short time?
Arlo and I spent the rest of the day alternating between playing with Charlie, holding Charlie, checking in with a still sleeping Zach, and stealing whispered worries when we could. Why we whispered, I don’t know, maybe because my house wasn’t private anymore with Zach, who despite being my twin, was a complete stranger. When Arlo said he’d understand if I wanted him to go back to his house to give me and Zach space, I clung to him like a limpet and refused to let him leave.
He growled. “Wasn’t leaving anyway. Just thought it might be what you wanted.”
I’d only just found him; I wasn’t letting him go.
Zach slept on and off the rest of the day, and Arlo left snacks next to the bed, which were being eaten, along with water and orange juice. We debated coffee but weren’t sure if caffeine would be contraindicated with his meds, so we held off on that.
A little after six the next morning, as I wandered past the room to check on him, with a wide-awake, fed and changed Charlie in my arms, Zach was awake enough to shuffle upright in bed, and call me in.
“Hey, you,” he cooed to Charlie and held out his good arm. I felt torn, which was ridiculous, but I was freaking jealous of the fact he was Zach’s son and not mine. How had I gotten to feeling like that?
“I didn’t even know his mom was pregnant,” Zach murmured as he inhaled the scent of Charlie and fussed with him. For Charlie, it must have been confusing to see two of us, but hell, he was dealing with it like a champ. There again, he dealt with everything life threw at him, so why did I think this would be any different? “I found out when they called me to the hospital. She never even got to meet him.”
Jeez, and there was me dealing with stupid petty jealousy.
“She passed away?”
“An hour after he was born. She’d been…” Tears collected in his eyes and slipped unheeded down his cheeks. “I thought I could protect them both. I gave it all up to be a dad, and it followed me.”
I sat on the end of the bed; aware I was only being given tiny bits of information. “What followed you, Zach?”
“My job.”
“You’re one of the good guys, right?” I asked, tensing as I waited for him to answer.
He blanched, but then nodded. “Depends on who’s in power at the time, but yes, I promise you, I’m one of the good guys.”
“Kai as well?”
“And Kai.”
“What’s next?”
He snuggled Charlie, who burbled and tugged at his dad’s hair. “It’s not done yet. But the person who ki—hurt Charlie’s mom? Gone.” He glanced up, but he knew I would have caught that slip. There was a bigger story here that I thought I might never hear. Charlie leaned against his dad, and it felt right seeing him there.
Odd, but right.
“I have to go back,” he said after another pause.
“You’re not well enough to go anywhere.”
“Will you care for Charlie for me?”
“Always. You never have to ask.”
He huffed a laugh, but it was filled with pain. “I never had someone who’d unconditionally be there in my corner, even Kai has his limits, and he’s my partner. Not in life, I mean, at work.” Something about that last bit made me think Kai was more to my twin than he thought, but I didn’t push.
“What about your family?” I thought about my parents, Leo, Reid, Lorna, and all the niblings, and I couldn’t imagine a moment when they weren’t all in my corner.
“I didn’t have one,” he said, and I must have frowned because he shook his head. “But I’m glad you got so lucky, little brother.”
