Around the same time Alanna told me, Matthew surmised.
Matthew spun around to glare at Silas accusingly. “But you knew all along, didn’t you?”
“Yes, I found out when she came out of the doctor’s office when her case manager took her when her foster mother became worried after Alanna didn’t start having her periods.” Silas’ face was stone cold as he talked, yet his eyes shared the grief Matthew was feeling.
Silas paused, knowing how the next words would affect him. “She was thirteen.”
“That’s when you said she quit talking to you.”
Silas nodded. “She grew depressed, quit eating, and all she wanted to do was talk to me and you, whether she was inside or out. The medicine they put her on muted my voice, regardless of how hard I tried.”
“Why in the fuck did you tell me I would have ten children, Ezra?” he shouted at his brother.
“You will have ten children—five boys and five girls. They just won’t come from your body.”
“You left that last detail out.”
“I had to.” Ezra sighed. “If I or Silas had told you before, you would have killed Owen, and Alanna would have never come to Treepoint. I can’t change the way the stars are written. I wish I could.” Ezra’s expression became resigned. “There was no way they would have let you have ten children. We’re too powerful. Generations have grown on this mountain.” Ezra nodded at all his brothers. “Yet, there are eight of us. Other than the Porters, we don’t have any kin spread out in the county or living in other states. We all want big families. If each of us has at least four children, and they have four children … they will always limit our numbers to protect us.”
“I wanted too many, so they are giving me none?” he said achingly, wanting to rage against the gods, but knowing if he did, the reprisal would be swift in coming.
Ginny moved away from the banister she was leaning against. “They are giving you ten children,” she said softly withtears in her eyes. “Ten children who won’t grow up fatherless or motherless.” Walking toward him, she took his clenched fists in her hands. “Ten children who you can give the same wonderful childhood you had, that we all had. Did you feel any differently toward me when I told you that I wasn’t your biological sister?”
“No!” He loved Ginny just as much as he had loved Leah.
Matthew stared down at Ginny’s swollen belly. He was never going to see Alanna swell with their child. It had been stolen from them, just like so many other firsts had been stolen.
Matthew broke, unable to hold back, his face cracking. “I wanted to be the first one to hold my own son when he was born.”
Ginny released his hands to hug him close. “You won’t be holding a son you created, but you will hold your son. It’s doesn’t mean it won’t be just as meaningful.”
Isaac moved up next to him, placing his arms around him and Ginny. “You can hold my son first,” he offered.
Matthew felt Jody’s and Jacob’s arms surround them.
“Mine, too,” Jody said.
“Same, bro,” Jacob added.
Moses’s hand landed heavily on his shoulder. “Ezra won’t tell me how many I’m having, but, dude, you’ve got first dibs.”
Matthew heard the slam of the screen door.
“You can have mine. I don’t want kids.” Fynn sidled under his brothers to wrap his hands around Mathew’s waist.
Matthew lifted his eyes to where Ezra and Silas were still sitting, seeing the same thing in their eyes that he had always seen when they talked about his future with Alanna. Never-ending love.
“At least tell me you didn’t lie about how old we’ll live to.”
Ezra gave him a stank face. “Bro, I don’t know why you want to live so long. You’ll have to have prosthetic balls.”
Matthew felt love surrounding him and knew he didn’t have anything to complain about. He was already blessed with his family, his soul mate had finally found her way to him, and she seemed to be starting to like him. Having his own children would have just been the cherry on an already heavily decorated cake.
“That’s easy to answer,” Matthew scoffed back. “At least one of us has to outlive Greer.”
Chapter Nineteen
“I’m not going.” Alanna took another look at who was sitting in the front seat with Silas and started walking back to her trailer.