Chapter 136: Spending time together.

Casey’s POV

I didn't know how long we stood there. Long enough for the tears to stop feeling embarrassing and long enough for the awkwardness to disappear and long enough for me to realize that Nathan wasn't going to suddenly start treating me differently because we had finally met.

He was still Nathan. My younger brother. A person I'd known for less than an hour and somehow already felt protective of. It was ridiculous and it was wonderful and it scared me a little.

Nathan finally pulled away from Victoria and looked at me. "So."

I wiped beneath my eyes. "So?"

"Do you want the grand tour?"

I laughed. "Of the house?"

"Yeah."

"Didn't Mom already show me everything?"

He looked toward Victoria. "Mom shows people things differently."

Victoria frowned. "What does that mean?"

"It means you give the polite tour." He pointed toward himself. "I give the honest one."

I laughed and Victoria shook her head. "Don't show her anything embarrassing."

Nathan grinned. "No promises."

I looked at Victoria. "Should I be worried?"

"Probably."

Nathan turned and started walking. "Come on."

I followed him and as we left the living room, I looked back at Victoria. She was smiling and there was something in her expression that made me realize how much this moment meant to her. She had spent twenty-two years believing her daughter was dead and now she was watching that daughter walk through her home with her son.

I wondered what it felt like for her. I couldn't imagine it.

Nathan led me down the hallway. "This is Dad's office."

I looked through the open door. "Can I go in?"

"Absolutely not."

I laughed. "Why?"

"Because he'll start talking about work."

"Is that bad?"

"Have you ever heard someone explain quarterly projections for forty minutes?"

"No."

"Then don't."

I laughed as Nathan continued. "This is Mom's favorite room." He opened another door. It was a small sitting room filled with books.

I immediately stopped. "Oh."

Nathan smiled. "Yeah."

I walked inside. There were shelves covering two walls. "Your mom has a lot of books."

"She likes them."

"She likes them?"

"She's obsessed."

I ran my fingers along one shelf. "Maybe I got that from her."

Nathan nodded. "Probably."

I smiled. There was something strangely comforting about finding little pieces of myself in this house. I didn't know what I had inherited from Victoria. Her eyes, perhaps and her love of books and her tendency to overfeed people.

Maybe those things weren't accidents, maybe some parts of us had always belonged to each other. Nathan leaned against the doorway. "Can I ask you something?"

I looked at him. "Sure."

"Do you have a good relationship with your friends?"

I hesitated. "Some of them."

"Chris?"

I smiled. "Yes."

He grinned. "You're really in love with him."

I looked at him suspiciously. "Why do you say that?"

"Your face."

"My face?" I asked.

"Yeah."

"What does my face do?"

"It changes."

I laughed. "That's ridiculous."

"No." He smiled. "You smile differently when you talk about him."

I shook my head. "You've known me for less than an hour."

"And I'm observant."

"Apparently."

He shrugged. "Does he treat you well?"

The question was serious and I nodded. "He does."

"Good."

"Why?"

"Because if he doesn't, I'll have a problem with him."

I stared at him and then I laughed. "You've known me for less than an hour."

"Still my sister."

Something about those words made me smile.

My sister.

I wasn't used to hearing it and I wasn't used to being someone's sister and I wasn't used to someone caring enough to threaten my boyfriend after knowing me for less than an hour but I liked it more than I wanted to admit.

We returned to the living room and Alexander was sitting on the sofa, reading something on his phone. He looked up. "Everything okay?"

Nathan nodded. "She's normal."

I stared at him. "Excuse me?"

He laughed. "I'm kidding."

Alexander smiled. "I was wondering when he'd start."

"Start what?" I couldn’t help but to ask.

"Teasing you."

Nathan sat down. "It's my job."

I looked at Alexander. "Does he always behave like this?"

"Unfortunately."

Nathan looked offended. "That's harsh."

"It's accurate."

I laughed.

Victoria came in carrying drinks. "What's funny?"

"Your son is annoying."

Nathan looked at me. "Your son?"

I stopped and he smiled. "You said it."

I felt warmth spread through my chest. "Sorry."

"Don't be." He took a drink from Victoria. "Actually, I like it."

I looked down. The room became quiet for a moment and then Nathan asked, "Can I see a picture of Chris?"

I looked at him. "Why?"

"I need to know what he looks like."

"You've already met him?"

"No."

"Then why?"

"I'm conducting an investigation."

I laughed. "Of course you are."

I pulled out my phone and showed him a photograph.

He studied it. "Hmm."

"What?"

"He looks like trouble."

I laughed. "He is."

Nathan nodded. "I knew it."

Victoria laughed. "Don't scare her boyfriend before you've even met him."

"I'm not." He handed the phone back. "I'm just making sure he understands that she has family now."

I looked at him. He wasn't joking anymore and something inside me tightened. "Family."

Nathan nodded. "Yeah." He said it like it was obvious like there was no question and like I belonged.

I looked toward Alexander and Victoria. They were both watching us. I wondered how many times they had imagined this. Their children sitting together, talking and laughing and knowing each other.

I had spent my entire life wondering why the people who raised me hated me and now I was sitting in a house where people who had never known me somehow already wanted me. The contrast hurt but it also healed something.

Nathan suddenly stood. "Wait."

"Where are you going?"

"I have something." He disappeared upstairs.

I looked at Victoria. "What is he doing?"

She smiled. "I have no idea."

A few minutes later, Nathan returned carrying a small box. He sat beside me. "I found this before you came." He placed it on the coffee table.

"What is it?"

"Old stuff."

He opened it inside were photographs, ticket stubs, little souvenirs and childhood memories. I smiled. "You kept all this?"

"Apparently."

He picked up a photograph. "That's me at six."

I laughed. "You were adorable."

"I was."

"You still are."

He looked at me. "Careful."

I laughed.

He passed me another picture. "This is Mom and Dad before I was born."

I studied it. They looked younger and happy. I smiled. "They look so young."

"They were." He reached deeper into the box and then stopped. He pulled out an old photograph and looked at it and his expression changed.

I noticed. "What?"

He handed it to me. I looked down. It was a photograph of Victoria holding a tiny baby. My breath caught the baby was Nathan. I knew that immediately. He was tiny, wrapped in a blanket, his face barely visible. Victoria was smiling at him and Alexander stood beside her.

A family, a complete family.

I stared at the photograph. "How old were you?"

"Newborn."

I nodded and then I smiled. "She looks so happy."

Nathan looked at the photograph. "She was."

I handed it back. He didn't take it immediately instead, he looked at me. "I used to think this was the happiest day of her life."

My throat tightened. "Maybe it was."

"Maybe." He looked down. "But I think she was always missing someone."

I couldn't answer.

Nathan finally took the photograph. "Not because she didn't love me."

"I know."

"She did."

"I know."

He swallowed. "But now I understand."

I looked at him. "Understand what?"

"Why she always looked sad sometimes."

My eyes filled.

Nathan placed the photograph back inside the box. "She wasn't just mourning a baby." He looked at me. "She was mourning her daughter."

I couldn't stop the tears this time. Nathan didn't say anything he simply moved closer and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. I leaned against him. For twenty-two years, I'd believed my parents was dead and maybe they hadn't and maybe that was why tonight hurt so much because I was beginning to understand just how much had been taken from all of us.

After a while, Nathan spoke quietly. "I want to know everything about you."

I smiled through my tears. "You'll get bored."

"I don't think so."

"What if I'm boring?" I teased.

"Impossible."

"What if I'm annoying?" I asked.

"I already know you're annoying."

I laughed. "Rude."

He smiled. "But you're my sister." I looked at him. "And I'm not going anywhere." The words were simple but they meant more than he knew.

I had spent my childhood being reminded that I was unwanted. That I was difficult and that I was a burden now, a nineteen-year-old boy who had only just learned I existed was promising me that he wasn't going anywhere.

I leaned my head against his shoulder. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"For accepting me."

He looked confused. "Why wouldn't I?"

I smiled sadly. "Because life isn't always that simple."

He was quiet for a moment and then he said, "Maybe it should be."

I looked at him and he smiled. "You're my sister, Casey." He squeezed my shoulder. "That's enough."

I closed my eyes and for the first time, the word didn't feel strange.

Sister.

I had a brother, a real one and somehow, after everything I'd lost, finding Nathan felt like discovering one more piece of the family I'd never known I was missing.