“You two are identical, right?”
“Yeah.” He nodded. “Though it’s pretty easy to tell us apart, I think. I’m the one smiling, and Abraham’s the one scowling.”
“Oh dear,” I muttered.
“Nah, you’ll like him. He’s a crotchety bastard, but one minute with my niece and you’ll see a totally different side of him. The guy’s a softy.”
“What if I can’t tell you apart?” I asked, only halfway joking.
“He has a full beard,” he said, giving me a smile. “You’ll know who’s who.”
“But what if that was a thing? What if he shaved and I really couldn’t tell you apart?”
“You think that’s even a possibility?” he asked incredulously.
“Well, I don’t know. You say identical, and I think identical.” The real worry must have bled into my voice, because Alex shook his head a little.
“My sister-in-law, Ani, is my best friend in the world,” Alex said in a low voice. “And I can tell you with absolute certainty that she’s never been attracted to me—what does that tell you?”
“That you’re not quite identical,” I said in relief.
“You won’t get us mixed up,” he said firmly. “Not even possible.”
“Okay.”
We were quiet for a few minutes.
“You’re seriously worried about it?” he asked finally.
“Not anymore,” I murmured sheepishly.
Alex laughed. “Bram and I used to try to fool people,” he said, still grinning. “Like The Parent Trap, you know?”
“I loved that movie when I was a kid,” I replied, then clarified. “The original version—not the remake.”
“Important distinction,” Alex said in mock seriousness.
“It is.”
He nodded. “When we were kids, we couldn’t ever figure out why we were never able to fool anyone.” He chuckled. “In hindsight it was obvious. Our personalities were so different, neither one of us could act like the other one long enough to make it believable.”
Over the next couple of hours, Alex told me all about his childhood. He and Abraham had lived with their birth mother until she’d died and they’d gone into foster care. After a couple of years moving from one home to the other, they’d been placed with Liz and Dan Evans, who’d adopted them. Liz and Dan had a biological daughter named Kate, who was a year younger than the boys, and they’d continued to foster other children after Abraham and Alex had been placed in their home, but they hadn’t adopted anyone else. When they were teenagers, Alex’s sister-in-law, Ani, had been placed with the Evans family, and years later she and Abraham had fallen in love.
“No wonder you like me so much,” I teased as the flight attendant came over the intercom system to tell us that we were beginning our descent into Portland. “Your family needed some new blood.”
Alex laughed. “I’m not even done.”
“There’s more?” I asked.
“My aunt and uncle also fostered Shane when we were teenagers,” he said, his voice a little stiff as we got ready to land.
“Shane?” I asked. Then it dawned on me. “You mean your sister’s boyfriend—er, husband?” I wasn’t sure if they were married or not, but I knew they had a lot of kids.
“That’s the one,” Alex said, dropping his head against the seat as he closed his eyes.
“Whoa,” I said in wonder. “I’m a little worried I won’t be able to remember how everyone is connected.”
“Nah.” He swallowed hard. “You’ll do fine.”
“Uh-huh,” I murmured. I was trying to keep him talking as his muscles tensed with nerves.
“No, really,” he said, opening his eyes long enough to look at me. “It’ll be easy. Ani is outspoken and kind of crazy. Bram looks like a lumberjack version of me. Kate is the sweetest woman you’ll ever meet, and Shane is the one following after her like a puppy. Simple.”
I laughed at his descriptions and held his hand firmly as the plane landed with a bump, and then we were slowing way down as we pulled up to our gate.
“How would you describe me?” I asked teasingly as we came to a stop.
“The most beautiful woman in the room,” he said easily.
“Oh, you’re smooth,” I joked, pinching him lightly.
“I love you,” he said softly, his eyes earnest and sweet. His expression grew slightly panicked as I froze. “You don’t have to say it back—” he said quickly.
“I love you, too,” I said at the same time.
We stared at each other.
“Well,” he said, letting out a breath of relief. “I made that awkward as hell.”
I burst out laughing.
“Come here,” he said, his eyes crinkling at the corners as he smiled at me. We kissed until the person next to Alex started to grumble in annoyance.
* * *
We hadn’t checked any bags, so we made quick work of getting off the plane and heading toward the passenger drop-off area outside.
“It’s just easier to get picked up here,” Alex explained, looking around for his brother as we walked outside. “No reason to go downstairs if you don’t have bags.”