Chapter Thirty-Seven #2
She wouldn’t say that, would she? What if Kane had told her to get rid of him? Would she choose her long-lost brother over her husband? Unlikely…
By the time Carolyn walked into the restaurant, he’d worked himself into a full panic that had erased the relaxed bliss of the morning with Memphis. How would he live knowing his sister was out there and wanted nothing to do with him?
Then she smiled at him as she slid in across from him, and he instantly settled.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“I… I’m worried about what you want to talk about.”
“Why?”
“I’m not sure what I’d do if you told me to eff off and go away.”
“I’m not going to do that.”
“Okay,” he said, releasing a deep breath. “That’s good.” After a beat, he said, “I mean, I’d understand if you did. Some random dude shows up with a far-fetched story…”
“Except you’re not some random dude, and the story isn’t far-fetched, is it?”
He shook his head. “It’s all too real.”
“I’ve been remembering some things.”
Jesse sat up straighter. “Like what?”
“Who’s Elizabeth?”
His heart slowed to a crawl. “Our mother. You might not remember her. You were so young the last time we saw her.”
“She’s the one who took me.”
Shock ricocheted through his body, making him light-headed as his heart raced. “Tell me… Tell me what you remember.”
“I was playing in the yard. She pulled up in a blue car and waved me over. She asked me where you were, and I told her. She said Grandma had asked her to pick you up, but she didn’t know the way. She wanted me to show her.”
Jesse wanted to wail at the outrage of it. “I knew one or both of them was involved. I said it from the beginning, but no one would even look into it.”
“I… I didn’t remember this until I saw you the other day. It was like someone had thrown open the window to a past I’d buried so deep, I couldn’t access it.”
Jesse reached across the table for her hands. “That’s a common response to trauma. You must’ve been so scared.”
“I remember crying and telling her she was going the wrong way.”
“I’m so sorry I wasn’t there to save you.”
She squeezed his hands. “You’re here now.”
“Carolyn?” A man had stopped next to their table. “I thought that was you.” He cast a suspicious look at Jesse.
“Hi, Luke. This is Kane’s uncle. Luke, this is my brother, Jesse.”
Startled, Jesse stared at her. So much for not telling anyone until it was official. But they both knew it was true, so why not?
“Oh, your brother.”
Did he sound disappointed that he hadn’t caught his nephew’s wife with another man, or was that Jesse’s overactive imagination?
He shook hands with the uncle.
“Didn’t realize you had a brother.”
“I do,” Carolyn said with another squeeze of his hand and a smile that touched his heart. “Jesse is my big brother.”
“Good to meet you, Jesse.”
“You as well.”
“Enjoy your lunch,” Carolyn said.
“You do the same.”
After he walked away, Jesse said, “He thought he’d caught you cheating on Kane.”
“I know,” she said with a laugh. “And did you see how disappointed he was when I said you’re my brother?”
“I saw it.”
“I swear, they’ve all been suspicious of me since the day I met them. I didn’t have a pedigree like the other girls Kane dated. It was just me and the people I thought were my parents and a small extended family we rarely saw, which I can now see was weird.”
“And probably intentional.”
“Are my parents… Are they… Were they in on it?”
“I don’t know, but the FBI will be looking into how they came to have you.”
She nodded. “I want to know. Will you investigate?”
“No, this has been the FBI’s case since it happened. They’ll want to meet with you and talk about what you remember.”
“My parents are good people. I’d be shocked if they were involved in something criminal.”
“And if they were?”
“Then I guess they deserve whatever happens next.”
“You’d be okay with them being arrested and charged?”
“It would break my heart, but I’ve survived worse, right?”
“Yes, you certainly have.”
“Over the last couple of days, I’ve had so many memories of you come back to me, Jesse, how you were always there to make me laugh and keep me safe.”
“Until I wasn’t. If I had one thing in my life to do over, I never would’ve left you alone.”
“It wasn’t your fault. You were just a kid, too. We deserved better from the adults in our lives.”
“That, we did.”
“Is this why you chose a career in law enforcement?”
“I think it was so I could continue to look for you while making a living, too.”
“I’m sorry for what you went through. I was protected by my brain shutting down the past, but you’ve had to live with it for all this time. I can’t imagine what that’s been like for you.”
“It was a nightmare not knowing where you were or if you were even still alive. Since I first saw you the other day, I’ve been trying to regulate my nervous system from a constant state of high alert.”
“How’s that going?”
“Work in progress. Does Kane know where you are?”
She nodded. “I told him that nothing and no one would keep me from my brother now that you have found me, and if he wants to stay married, he should stay out of my way.”
Jesse smiled. “Now that, right there, is the sister I remember.”