At least, not one I had ever heard about.
“What?”
He looked up.
“My half brother.”
I stared.
“You don’t have a half brother.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Since when?”
His laugh was bitter.
“Since before I was born.”
The staircase creaked behind us.
Eleanor stood halfway down.
Her face was white.
“Daniel.”
He looked at her.
“I’m done.”
Her grip tightened around the banister.
“Don’t.”
Rachel, she almost said.
But no.
This wasn’t about me.
Daniel stood.
“Mom, she already found the house.”
Eleanor closed her eyes.
I looked between them.
“What house?”
Neither answered.
“What are you talking about?”
Daniel picked up the blue folder.
Then, after a moment, handed it to me.
Inside were copies of mortgage documents.
Bank statements.
A birth certificate.
And a stack of letters held together with a black binder clip.
The birth certificate was for a man named Thomas Reed.
