Chapter 2 - THE BROTHER WHO NEVER CAME OUT OF KESLER
Nobody spoke for several seconds.
Toby looked between us.
"Am I in trouble?"
I immediately crouched.
"No, sweetheart."
Damien's expression changed.
He knelt too, though he kept several feet between himself and Toby.
"No. You didn't do anything wrong."
Toby relaxed slightly.
Then looked at the unfolded airplane.
"So the shape belongs to your brother?"
Damien swallowed.
"He used to draw it."
"Why?"
"It was a family symbol."
I stared at him.
"What family?"
Damien looked toward me.
"Mine."
My chest tightened.
I had never known Toby's father.
Not truly.
His name was Michael Grant.
At least, that was the name he gave me.
We met eight years earlier when I was twenty-three and working in a hotel restaurant.
He was charming.
Quiet.
Never stayed overnight.
Always paid in cash.
Then, when I told him I was pregnant, he vanished.
Phone disconnected.
Apartment empty.
Every trace gone.
I assumed he didn't want us.
It hurt.
But I survived.
Now I looked at Damien.
"What was your brother's name?"
His voice was barely audible.
"Michael."
My stomach dropped.
"No."
Toby looked at me.
"Mom?"
I stood.
"Michael what?"
Damien answered:
"Michael Rourke."
The room tilted.
I grabbed the back of a chair.
Bernadette moved toward me, but I raised one hand.
"No."
I needed space.
Damien watched carefully.
"When did you know him?"
I forced the words out.
"Eight years ago."
His eyes closed.
Exactly the right time.
I continued.
"He told me his name was Michael Grant."
Damien laughed once.
A broken sound.
"Grant was our mother's maiden name."
My legs weakened.
Toby stared.
"Are you saying your brother is my dad?"
I wanted to stop the conversation.
Protect him.
Give him a softer explanation later.
But Toby was already looking at Damien.
And Damien's eyes had filled.
"I don't know yet."
Good answer.
Not yes.
Not a fantasy.
I looked at Damien.
"What happened in the Kesler Building?"
His expression hardened.
"Michael was investigating something."
"What?"
"A medical company."
My pulse changed.
"Why?"
Damien looked toward Toby's infusion bandage.
Then back at me.
"Because children were getting sick."
The words landed like ice.
Bernadette closed the library door.
Damien continued.
"The Kesler Building housed offices for a private medical research firm called Helix Meridian."
I knew the name.
Every parent in St. Bridget's hematology ward knew it.
Helix Meridian manufactured specialty blood products.
Including one of the medications Toby had received for years.
My mouth went dry.
Damien saw recognition.
"You know them."
"My son's treatment uses their products."
Silence.
Damien closed his eyes.
Then whispered:
"That's what I was afraid of."
I stood.
"Afraid of what?"
He looked at Toby.
Then at me.
Nine years of grief seemed to settle across his face.
"Michael believed Helix was falsifying trial data involving children with rare blood disorders."
My chest tightened.
"Toby's condition isn't caused by a drug."
"I didn't say it was."
"Then what are you saying?"
Damien reached into a drawer.
He removed an old photograph.
Michael.
My Michael.
Younger.
Smiling beside Damien.
My breath disappeared.
Toby walked closer.
Then stared at the picture.
"Mom."
I couldn't speak.
He looked exactly like him.
The same eyes.
Same narrow chin.
Same crooked smile.
Toby whispered:
"That's my dad."
I began crying.
Damien turned away.
Bernadette covered her mouth.
Then Damien said:
"Michael went into the Kesler Building on October ninth, nine years ago."
I wiped my face.
"And never came out?"
"No."
"What did police say?"
"That he'd fled."
"Did you believe them?"
"Never."
Then his phone vibrated.
Damien looked at the screen.
His face changed.
"What?"
He turned it toward me.
A medical record.
Toby's name.
St. Bridget Hospital.
A note in the margin:
URGENT - GENETIC MATCH FLAGGED AGAINST ROURKE FAMILY ARCHIVE. DO NOT NOTIFY MOTHER.
I stopped breathing.
May you like
Then Damien whispered:
"Someone at Toby's hospital already knows who his father is."
