My Future Husband

Chapter 69

“But he wasn't adopted.” Sabrina interrupts. “Tick, if it’s the same Tick, was still in foster care when I knew him, and he was eighteen then.”

“Jimmy didn’t know that for a long time, or he would’ve come for him sooner.” Her hand falls to her stomach. “I was pregnant with Laticia when he found out about his brother still being in the system. He’d left his details with social services, in case the baby ever decided to come looking for him one day. He assumed he was happy, that he’d been adopted and was living a great life, until we got a letter telling us a very different story.”

You can hear the pain in her voice. It’s not even her pain, it’s Jimmy’s. She’s still carrying it.

“What did the letter say?”

“It was asking for Jimmy’s help. It turned out his brother had been adopted twice, once as a baby and once as a toddler, but both times it didn’t workout. It wasn’t his fault, the reasons were beyond his control, but he was thrown back into the system. He had a stigma around him by then, no-one wanted a kid who’d already been rejected twice, so the social workers branded him unworthy of a family and that was it. He didn’t find out himself that he had an older brother until he was a teenager.”

“That's so fucked up.” They could’ve been together. They were brothers, separated and torn apart, for what? They were the only family they had left.

“Jimmy thought so too, I’d never seen him so angry. I didn’t even know he was capable of getting angry.” He sounds so much like Kage; the laid back guy with the heart of gold, until you fuck with someone he loves. “His brother told him that everybody called him Ticker now, but that he was okay, the foster family he was with by then was decent, but he couldn’t stay there. Jimmy thought he’d been alone for all those years, but he told him he had a brother that had grown up with him in the system: Boom.” A shiver runs up Mama T’s spine. Whoever he is, it's not looking good. “Jimmy was actually relieved he had someone.”

I have a feeling he shouldn’t have been.

“Why was he asking for his brother’s help after all that time?” Alicia asks, but I’m confident I’m holding the hand of that reason right now.

“Brianna, I’m so sorry. I don’t know... We don’t know if it’s the same-”

“Of course it’s the fucking same... person.” Brie scoffs. “The fates love to play funny fuckers with my life. I’m sure they’ve been waiting for this moment ever since May got all creamy for Ocean Eyes.” Such a romantic. “I bet you’re loving this, aren’t you Wilson?! Where are you, huh? Over there where you’ve got a good view of the carnage?! I’m telling you, when I get up there, I’m throwing you off the nearest cloud!”

Valerie looks at all the fresh air Brie’s throwing her middle fingers up at. Don’t worry, you get used to it.

“Sorry, her and a certain angel didn’t get to bang out their sexual tension. They’ve got issues. You were saying? About why he needed help?” I grab Brie’s hand. As much as we all love her being the comic relief, she’s just using it to try and deflect from how much this is all tearing her up inside.

“He’d gotten a girl pregnant. She was young, and her mother was strict, but they were in love. They were going to runaway together, raise the baby, but he didn't want them doing it with no one on their side. He didn’t want his daughter to be raised without the love and security she deserved.” Valerie finally looks up at Brie. “He wanted you all to come live with us, somewhere you could start again.”

Brie clenches my hand, but all I can feel is my heart breaking for her. He really wanted her, and Anna. He went through all of this; trying to find somewhere they could go, making a plan, getting help from family. So why the fuck didn’t he go through with it? If he was going to run anyway, why not take them with him?