Finn claps him on the back and snorts out a laugh. “Yeah, I guess so.”
I continue reading. “His mother, Anita Brown Marshall, owns a bakery called Anita’s Place.”
Gabe sits forward. “I’ve been there a bunch of times. Best damn cheesecake I’ve ever had. So, what’s the plan? Should we go there and wait for him to show up?”
I look at some of the other pictures. Eli retreated because he was worried that my brothers’ initial reactions would be less than positive. But what if Luke’s reaction isn’t positive? It makes sense that he was so hard to find now that I know he’s some kind of cyber genius. He’s probably been taking steps to erase his digital footprint since he started using a computer. And if he’s taking that many precautions, he might not take too kindly to being found.
For any reason.
“I’m not so sure about that. A gang of white guys rolls up and says ‘Surprise, we’re your brothers’ ?”
Zack makes a face. “Right. Because I can’t see anything going wrong with that plan.”
There’s a beat of silence and then we all laugh. Finn has the picture now. He hands it back to me and I slide it back in the envelope.
“Look, I want to say something.” They all quiet down and I try to get my thoughts together. “The past few months have been insane. My mom was diagnosed with cancer again and the father I haven’t seen in years is suddenly not only in my life but making some pretty crazy demands.”
The others nod at that.
“We still don’t know what old Max is up to or what any of this ultimately means but we have a choice going forward. We can let him call all the shots or we can stick together and figure this thing out. I’m counting on us being stronger as a group than apart. And no matter what else happens, I’m happy I got some more brothers out of the deal.”
Finn raises his beer in agreement. The others follow suit. “To brothers.”
Eli raises his beer, too. “Now, you know that’s something I can drink to. To brothers.”
Finn stands and then knocks me out of the way of the television. “Now that the speeches are over, get the hell out of the way so I can see who’s winning!”
I punch him in the arm and then lean on the edge of his chair, observing him and the others as they scream at the screen.
There’s a certain peace in surrounding yourself with people that you trust. And I’m finally at peace. I know that after we’re done kicking it, that I’ll be going home to a woman who loves me and who’ll stand by me through anything.
And I know that no matter what Maxwell Marshall has in store for us in the future, that I’ll have my brothers behind me the whole way.
Because that’s what brothers do.
THE END