Chapter 24 #2
“It wasn’t. We were apart for a few months while I finished high school, but the second I could, I packed up and moved out there.
You were six when she took you in. Right before she disappeared with you, we celebrated your seventh birthday by opening packs of Pokémon cards.
” There’s a note of desperation in my voice as I try to jog his memory.
The fact that he has gone all these years believing I would willingly leave him guts me.
“If you were there then…” He presses the heel of his palm against his forehead and I ache to go comfort him, but something keeps me away. “No, she told me you left me. You didn’t want a brother, didn’t want me.”
Risking it, I take a single step closer.
“I spent ten years looking for you after Aunt M—” I catch his wince as I start to say her name and choose to avoid it.
“After she up and left with you. There was no note. She disconnected her phone number and didn’t respond to my emails.
Every year when I could, I came out to California to search for you. ”
Tristan finally lowers his arm with the knife, his entire body caving in on himself as he stares at me with uncertainty and devastation. “We moved to Oregon.”
“Tris…” Flashing lights behind him capture my attention. Sucking in a breath, I know there’s no way to avoid the likelihood of my brother being escorted out in handcuffs. I catch my brother’s eyes, making sure to keep my voice steady and even.
“We’ll figure this all out. Whatever happens, it will be okay.
Neither of us is going to disappear again.
I promise.” Two cops step into the doorway, guns aimed at the ready and I raise my hands to show them I’m clear but don’t look away from my brother.
“Drop the knife, Tristan. We’ll fix everything and talk more later, but right now, Arianna needs to get to a hospital, and I think, so do you. ”
He glances over his shoulder, panic widening his features, but he manages to drop his knife and raise his hands just like me.
Cora’s bark at the newcomers draws my attention and I speak up so the police officers can hear me.
“My dog is friendly but on edge. I’m going to put her outside so we can move freely and help Arianna.”
“Copy,” one of the officers says while his partner steps up to my brother to grab his wrists and put him in cuffs.
Needing to not witness that, I turn to my girls. Keeping my hands up so she can see them, I keep my voice low as I move to kneel in front of Cora.
“You did such a good job, sweetie. It’s okay now. Come here.”
She finally stops growling, her tail wagging a little as her ears flop down, and she turns to look at Arianna.
“It’s okay, good girl,” Ari cries, reaching out to pat Cora on the back.
With that single touch, Cora comes to me, letting me guide her outside but not moving from the back deck as she watches through the screen door.
By the time I look back, there are two paramedics surrounding Ari.
It takes all my self-control to stay back and let them work, when all I want to do is be beside her.
Ari’s watery gaze meets mine as they load her onto a stretcher. “Can you grab the go bag? And call my mom?”
“Of course, baby.”
“Maybe leave out the bit about…” she says, holding out a hand for me just as one of the paramedics steps aside, allowing me to slip in. “For now, at least. No need to worry her.”
“Smart thinking.” I lean down to kiss her forehead. “I’ll be right behind you in the car and then the doctors will need to pry me from your side.”
She laughs before getting cut off by a sharp intake of breath and cursing. “Okay, let’s get this baby out of me before she shreds her way out.”
“You’re amazing,” I tell Arianna for the millionth time. From the second our little girl was placed in my arms, the only thing I could focus on was how perfect she is. Followed closely by the realization that the whole reason our daughter is here is because of Ari.
She carried her, supported her for nine months, and made sure to give her all the nourishment she needed to get here, perfectly healthy. Even if she did come two weeks early. It took her just over eight hours in delivery, but the second she heard our baby cry, Ari said it was all worth it.
Ari chuckles, eyes locked on where our daughter sleeps contently in my arms.
I round the bed, needing to be closer to her, and lower myself carefully to the edge of the bed so Ari can better see our baby.
“There’s one very important thing we forgot to do before she was born,” I whisper.
“What’s that?” Ari asks, eyebrows scrunching together adorably as she rests her head back to see me.
“We never talked about names.”
Her eyes widen and some color finally sparks in her cheeks, reliving some of the worry that had been festering ever since I saw her in the kitchen in pain.
“Actually, I made a list. And by list, I mean I wrote down one name and fell in love with it but couldn’t think of a middle name, so I kept putting it off.”
“Well, let’s hear what you got and see if we can come up with one together,” I tell her, passing her the baby so she can hold her while we do this.
“Clara,” she whispers hesitantly. I grin, staring down at our beautiful girl, who already looks so much like her mother. A middle name comes to me, and in this moment, I know she’ll love it just as much as I already do.
“Clara Katherine.”
Her breath hitches, but she nods her agreement.
“Clara Katherine Hayes.” Ari smiles up at me, eyes twinkling while I try to grapple with hearing my last name attached to her.
Just wait until Arianna has it too.
“Mom’s gonna cry,” Ari warns, cutting me from thoughts of getting married.
Laughing, I wrap an arm around her shoulders and hug her to my side.
“She was always going to cry just from seeing her baby have a baby.”
“True.”
We settle into silence, both of us content with being close to one another while watching Clara sleep. I’m lost in my own head, thinking about how lucky I am for the girls in my arms, by the time Ari finally speaks up again.
“Have you heard any updates about your brother?”
I sigh, dropping my head back and staring up at the ceiling.
My brother.
There hasn’t even been any time for me to process that bombshell since he was taken out of the house.
I had just enough attention span to convince the police officers to take my brother to the same hospital Ari was going too, get Cora locked up in the house, and grab Ari’s hospital go bag before rushing to the hospital myself.
When it was clear that the delivery was going to be a while, I called Ari’s parents and Landon, who both offered to go check on Cora for us.
Something I had Landon do, just in case there were any lingering police cars around the house.
I knew he’d ask, but he’d at least wait until things settled, whereas his parents would likely panic.
After that I finally met with the police officers, who were baffled at the fact that I didn’t want to press charges. Arianna and I had talked about it for almost two hours in between contractions, and it was actually her insistence that we didn’t.
“He needs our help, not to be alone in jail.”
She was right, just like she normally is. After meeting with my brother’s doctor, I was seconds away from seeing red. If Ari wasn’t about to give birth, I probably would have been on the first plane out to Oregon to beat my aunt with a hockey stick.
The doctor had only gotten snippets of information, but the gist of it was there.
Tristan was malnourished, dehydrated, and had a nasty infection from a scar on his back that wasn’t treated.
There were signs of abuse too, but I asked the doctor to only share what was detrimental to his current health.
If my brother wanted me to know what he had been through, I would listen, but it didn’t feel right to hear it from someone else.
They started him on antibiotics and fluids after lightly sedating him so they could get a full picture of what is wrong. My heart was shredded by the time I made it down to see him around one in the morning.
He was half awake and broke out in tears the second he saw me.
“He’s getting some rest. They want to keep him under observation to watch the infection for another twenty-four hours, but it’s looking better.
The police left a while ago after finally realizing we’re not changing our minds about pressing charges.
” I close my eyes, only for them to snap back open when the image of the bruising on his arms pops in my mind.
Ari reaches out, placing her hand in mine and resting her head on my shoulder.
“We’ll get him whatever help he needs,” she whispers. I tilt my head down to kiss the top of my head.
“I’ll handle that,” I tell her, not wanting her to worry about me and Tristan after just giving birth.
Her grip tightens and she shakes her head. “You will not handle anything on your own. He’s your brother. That means he’s family.”
This woman…
“How are you so calm about this? He held a knife to you and—”
“And wasn’t in his right mind. He was running on fumes, delusions, and teenage hormones.
He needs us, needs a family. Something we have plenty of, by the way.
You know for a fact the second my mom finds out about him, she’ll be demanding to help.
” Ari brings our joined hands up to her lips and kisses mine.
“I love you. We’re in this together, Dean. I won’t change my mind about that.”
Just like it always does when she says those three beautiful words, my heart takes off like a horse at the races.
“But maybe we keep the knives away from him for a while,” she whispers after a couple seconds and there’s no holding back my laughter.
“You are way too good for me.” I rest my head against the top of hers again. “I love you too, Freckles.”