The Family Secret

~ Two ~

Jr's POV

I was scrolling through the tons of emails I'd received overnight sipping my coffee while the sun had just begun to rise when an email from 23-and-me caught my attention. When Amy and I were married, part of the wedding gift she had given me was a testing kit; the other part was a positive pregnancy test with a note that said that our future children should know as much about their history as possible. I'd been hesitant about taking the test because I had already felt the range of emotions of finding out that you had family that you didn't know about when I found out about my brother Kerry. But once those emotions had all settled, Kerry and I were as close as two people could be, spending as much time together as possible and maybe even a little closer than any of my other siblings. I'd like to say that it was only because he was a good person but I knew it was because he reminded me of dad.

With a deep breath to calm my racing heart, I opened the email and quickly scanned the document. The organ in my chest began to beat erratically when I saw that I had matched with someone and that I shared the same DNA on my fathers side. But when I saw the name of the person that the test said was a brother of mine, I adjusted my glasses just to be sure my eyes weren't playing tricks with me.

This had to be a joke. I had to be being punked, because there was no way that I was related to a man that I had spent countless hours at the track with before and after races, that one one of the groomsmen in my wedding, that one of my closest friends, was in fact a brother that I'd never even suspected. For crying out loud, I was the godfather to his son. How was it possible for him and I to be as close as brothers and not even suspect that we really could be blood related?

Scrubbing my hand over my face, I let my mind do its best to process what I'd just learned. As I sat there, memories of him and I popped into my mind. The instant comradery that we felt when we first met. The common interests. The weird food combinations that grossed others out but were both favorites of ours. All of it slammed into my mind making me feel restless.

Without hesitation or regard for the time of morning, I grabbed my phone from the desk and quickly dialed my best friend. My head was spinning, making me feel almost drunk as I waited for him to answer.

"Bro, it's barely six in the morning... Everything okay?" said Chase, his voice groggy from sleep telling me that I had woken him up.

"Yes and no." I said, once more scrubbing my hands over my face.

I heard rustling, telling me that he was climbing out of bed. "Give me a minute. Callie is still sleeping and I don't want to wake her. She doesn't sleep enough as it is." The concern for his wife was evident in his voice.

"I remember those days. The further along Amy got, it seemed sleep was impossible." I said, just to fill the silence on the line. Plus, thinking about Amy and her pregnancy with both Nicole and Isla gave me a brief reprieve from the conversation that I was about to have. Part of me wished that I could put it off but even as I had the thought, I knew that Chase had to have gotten the same email as me. Even if I didn't address this now, he most definitely would as soon as he read the email.

"So, what's up?" said Chase, pulling me back to reality. I could hear the gurgling of the coffee maker in the background, reminding me of my own cup that I was sure was ice cold. I grabbed it from the desk and took a sip, confirming what I'd thought.

Heading to the kitchen to make another cup all while seriously considering adding a double shot of Jack to the brew, I started in on the conversation that I knew was going to change both of our lives. "So, I got an email this morning that was pretty interesting." I said, getting right to the heart of the matter. "For this next part, you better sit down."