Into Your Arms (Squad Stories #1)(84)

"I can't stop looking at you." She smiles and shakes her head. "I can't believe this is happening. Twenty years." I hear Rhett say something to someone and I realize that our waitress came over, but he told her to come back later. To give us our time.

"I can't believe it either." She squeezes my hands.

"I'm guessing you have some questions for me?" she asks.

"You don't have to. Not right now," I say. All the thoughts of her maybe being a murderer are out of my head. Sure, she could still be one, but I'm just so happy she's here and she's real.

She's real.

"I didn't want to give you up," she says. "I didn't want to. But I was nineteen, and my parents wouldn't let me keep you, and I couldn't move out on my own. Or I didn't think that I could at the time. I think all the time about what might have happened if I'd kept you. But we can't go backward, can we?" I shake my head. I pretty much figured that was the case, but hearing it from her is validating.

She takes a breath.

"And I guess you're wondering about your father. Well. I'm not proud about it, but he was just a guy at a party. I have his name, but I never told him about you. He didn't live in the same town as I did. I . . . I know I made a lot of mistakes, and I hate that you are going to be the one to deal with the fallout." I'm a little okay with that now. Meeting her is so much more than I hoped for that it's almost too much to think about.

She laughs a little.

"I can see from your face that I'm dropping a lot on you at once, but I have something else to tell you. Uh, you have a brother. Half-brother. I had him with my husband." I look down at her left hand and see a diamond and emerald ring winking at me in the light of the diner.

"A brother?" I say. And then I choke on my own air and have a coughing fit. Rhett flags down our waitress and she brings me a glass of water.

"Oh, dear. I probably should have held off on that one, huh?" Rebecca says after I get my breath back.

"No, that's . . . no." I've always been an only child. I never wanted a sibling because I didn't want someone else dealing with my parents, and then Mia had always felt like a sister, even if we weren't related by blood.

"Yes. He's eight. Do you think you might want to meet him? It's okay if you're not ready for that." I nearly slide under the table.

"He knows about you. I've always told him that you were out in the world. If you don't want to meet him, that's fine. I know I'm throwing a lot on you at once. I'm probably doing this the wrong way." She blushes just a little. "But there isn't really a manual." No, there isn't. But I bet someone's probably written one out there.



       
         
       
        

"His name's Noah." Noah. My brother, Noah. Half-brother. Close enough.

"Noah." She nods and there are tears in her eyes again.

"I'd . . . I'd love to meet him. If he wants to meet me." She bites her lower lip and nods.

"Yeah, he won't shut up about you ever since I told him. He keeps asking for a little brother but said he'd settle for a big sister." A sister. Me. I'm that sister. "I thought it would be too much to bring him today." Yeah, probably. My head is exploding with this news of a brother. Meeting him on top of meeting my birth mother would be too much.

"I do. I really want to meet him." I choke back a few tears.

"Good," she says. "I'll bring him next time. If you don't mind, I'm just going to take a minute and use the restroom." I think she's giving me a second to process and I nod. She gets up and heads to the back of the diner.

"How are you?" Rhett asks, and I turn and realize that he's still here. I got so wrapped up in meeting my birth mother that I forgot about him.

"I don't even know. I feel like we're ignoring you." He smiles and kisses my forehead.

"I've never been this happy to be ignored." I settle against his side.

"A mother. A mother and a brother. I can't believe it."

"I'm so happy for you, Luna. So fucking happy." I stare into his eyes.

"Thank you, Rhett. Thank you."

"You are so welcome."

* * *

One week later, I'm sitting in the exact same booth in the diner, waiting to meet my brother.

"Don't worry, he's going to love you," Rhett says in my ear. Rebecca and I have talked on the phone a few times since last week, and we're working on building a relationship. A real relationship.

Rebecca walks in, with a little boy following her. His hair is only a few shades darker, and he's got the most striking dark blue eyes. And a grin on his face that is missing a few teeth.