“Ask Declan. He’s even got pictures! Even made me a copy. I’m taking my nap now. See you tonight.”
Bree stared at her phone in disbelief. What was that all about?
“She told you about Rob?”
Bree nodded while still looking at her screen. “She said something about brothers and sisters….”
Declan walked over to her and held out a picture.
“You have got to be kidding me!”
Bree took the picture from Declan and her eyes scanned the smiling faces staring back at her. She plopped down on her couch and Declan took a seat next to her.
She took a sharp intake of breath as she almost recognized herself in the picture. Two young women looked identical if it hadn’t been for their different hair colors.
One had Bree’s almost black hair color on top with some kind of pink, purple hue on the bottom of her hair. The other twin, because there was no mistaking the fact they were, had chestnut hair with blonde highlights.
“They look just like me….”
“I know, Love. It’s the eyes, the chin… I mean sure, they’re paler, but look at their brothers…, they all have the same hair color as you.”
“I’ve always felt so different from my sisters. Fianna and Kera with the gorgeous red hair—”
“Your hair is gorgeous too,” Dec interrupted. Bree smiled and bumped her shoulder to his arm.
“And then you have my mother with her blonde hair, and Gwenn and Caitlin who both have more of a brown hue.”
She brought the picture closer to her face and said, “This one guy looks just like me. He’s also got my olive skin tone.”
“He seems to be the middle brother.”
Declan chuckled and pointed at one guy. “This dude here is one scary motherfucker…”
Bree laughed. “Stop it, or I’m telling my brother on you.” She bit her bottom lip. “I can’t believe it. I never knew… I’ve got three brothers and two extra sisters, Dec.”
“Half-brothers and half-sisters,” he said.
She waved her hand in the air. “Pssht, semantics. They’re blood. True, they’re officially half-blood. But blood all the same.”
Declan kissed the top of her hair. “I don’t want you to get your hopes up just yet, Love. There’s a good chance Rob’s other family won’t be so welcoming. I can’t imagine what his wife Brenda will say about all this.”
“Brenda? That’s her name?”
Bree found her in the picture. She was no mistakenly Rob’s wife. They looked at each other with so much love in their eyes.
Bree swallowed back her tears. She hurt for her mother. Joan had been heartbroken by this man who’d left them all behind.
Joan had to pick up the pieces and take care of five girls on her own. Bree’s father never kept in touch with his own children. Instead, he got himself a whole new family.
“What kind of man does this?” Bree whispered as she glanced at her father.
Rob Walker had dark-rimmed glasses, almost black hair, and a proud stance. She remembered him vaguely, as she’d been only eight by the time he’d left them permanently.
“A stupid arsehole,” Declan said.
This time they both refrained from joking. Because Declan was right. Her father is a stupid asshole. He could never undo the hurt he’d caused her family. She wasn’t sure if she would be up for meeting him now.
During her fight with her mother, Bree blurted she’d wanted to see her father. But now she’d held the picture of his other family in hand. Doubts were kicking in. What kind of man was her father? Had he been keeping two families at the same time?