Page 369 of His Hungry Wolf

She gathered herself. “It’s nothing.”

“No. Stop it, Mom. You always do this. If you have something to tell me, just say it. Is it about this place? Did you already sell it? Are you thinking about moving out of town, too?”

“Titus, you have a brother.”

I froze. Of all of the things she could have said, that was the last thing I expected to hear.

“What are you talking about?”

“I can’t say any more than that. But, it’s been weighing on me for a while, and…”

“What? You think you can tell me I have a brother that I never knew I had and then leave it at that?”

“I can’t say any more,” she said resigned.

“Why not? Who is he? Is he in town? Did you have a child before me?”

“No, nothing like that.” My mother took a deep breath. “You two share the same father.”

I stared at my mother as the reality of what she was saying twisted my body. “Mom, you have to tell me who it is. Does he live around here?”

“I made a promise that I wouldn’t say anything.”

“To who? My dad?”

“No,” she said uncomfortably.

“Mom, you can’t just drop something like that and expect that I’m gonna let it go. At least tell me something about him. Is he older than me? Younger?”

“He’s younger,” she admitted.

“So, my Dad had him before he got deployed to Iraq?”

My mother looked down.

“Come on, Mom. At least tell me that? Does he live in town?”

Her eyes flicked up meeting mine.

“He does,” I realized. “Do I know him?”

“Titus, stop it. You’re trying to get me to say things I can’t say.”

“You can do whatever you want, Mom. It’s what you’ve always done. I mean, how could you keep this from me my whole life?”

Her resolve returned. “This conversation is over.”

She got up and headed to her room.

“Oh because you’re done talking about it, you think it’s over.”

“Just let it go, Titus!”

“Let it go? You dropped a bombshell like that and you expect me to just let it go?”

Entering her room, she slammed the door behind her. I stared at it stunned. What the hell had just happened? I had grown up lonelier than I could stand, wishing I had a brother, and I had one this entire time? I couldn’t believe it.

It destroyed me that I couldn’t call Lou and tell him about this. But, he was probably celebrating his engagement. Why had I waited so long to tell him how I felt about him? I felt like my whole world was coming apart.