Sadi dialed the number feeling ridiculous. She had no idea what she was going to say. A receptionist answered and Sadi explained what had happened and who she and Luke were. The woman told her to hold on a moment then she put her though to a room number.
Sadi was so confused as she listened to the tinny ringing sound. Why was she being put through to a room? There was nothing wrong with Luke. He couldn’t be a patient. He had just left the house an hour ago. She hung up quickly, thinking there must be some misunderstanding.
She decided to get the children ready. She tucked the baby into her car seat with a soft blanket wrapped around her, cleaned and dressed Connor, then was ready to leave the house. It was a small miracle when Sadi could get anywhere with two small babies in under an hour. Both children seemed to sense something was wrong and they cooperated with her for once.
Sadi drove to the hospital carefully. She had traded in her black sports car for an SUV with a big back seat for the children. She had always dreaded driving the mom mobile, but she found she loved it. Plus it wasn’t a van, although she wasn’t completely opposed to that idea. There was nothing wrong with being a mom. Sadi loved it more than anything on earth.
It was an odd twist of fate that as Sadi was trying to enter the hospital, carrying a car seat with a sleeping baby and leading a wild eighteen month old by the hand, that Luke should come out. They stared at each other in confusion for a second. Sadi saw the look on Luke’s face. It was one of absolute mortification.
“What on earth?” Sadi said as she went and hugged Luke. She lifted up Connor so that Luke could take the little boy in his arms.
“Da da, da da,” Connor said excitedly.
Luke smiled despite himself. “Hey there, buddy.” He turned to Sadi. “Why don’t we go sit down on that bench over there and I can tell you what happened.”
Sadi nodded and allowed herself to be led woodenly over to the metal park bench Luke had pointed to.
“Connor is alive,” Luke whispered as Sadi sat down. It took Sadi a second to understand Luke was talking about his brother.
“What?” Sadi stammered. “How…. Oh my god Luke! Shouldn’t that be amazing news?” She was totally confused. What was going on? It had been almost three years since the bombing. How could Connor be alive and not have contacted Luke before now?
“He was in a car accident. He’s not badly hurt, but someone recognized him from the news stories from all those years ago as Connor Pearson. The weirdest part is that he has no memory of who is he. He said his name was William Ryan.”
“What?” Sadi felt like her head was going to explode.
“The doctors think he has memory loss from the bombing three years ago, and that he has been alive and well this whole time, but that he had no memory of who he was, which is why he didn’t come home or try and contact me all this time. He’s been living life as someone else entirely.”
“Wouldn’t someone have recognized him years ago and told him who he was?”
“I guess he says that he was stumbling around the area, unharmed. He had no memory of being in the building or in the blast. His first memory was finding himself outside, dirty but unhurt.
He assumed he had been walking by when the blast went off, which maybe he was. I wasn’t sure he was even in the building when it happened. I don’t know how he’s been living and surviving or where he got that name and ID. God none of this makes sense.” Luke put his face over his hands and sighed long and deep, totally frustrated.
Sadi could tell he was trying to keep it together so he didn’t scare his son, who was watching his father intently.
“What am I supposed to do with him now, Sadi? I saw him this morning and it freaked him out. He understands that we’re twins. We look so damn alike he had to believe me. But other than that…Sadi, I sold his house and everything off after we thought he was… gone.”
Sadi placed a hand on Luke’s back. Her head was spinning. How could this be real? After all that time, Luke’s intuition had been correct. His brother was alive. But what did that mean for them now?
“He’s welcome to stay with us,” Sadi whispered, “until everything gets figured out.”
Luke smiled at Sadi. It was an unsure smile, shadowed with doubts and something else… fear? Sadi couldn’t imagine what Luke was going through right now. They had a daunting task ahead of them. His brother was alive but Connor didn’t even know he had a brother. He didn’t know Luke at all.
Sadi placed her hand in Luke’s. “We’ve got through everything else Luke, and we’ll get through this.”