The sky was barely lightening as Michael and Chris drove up the long, winding driveway to the governor’s mansion. It looked like a manicured park. There were tall fir trees and flawless grassy slopes with large, artfully arranged boulders that looked like they’d always been part of the landscape. The huge Tudor house came into sight, and Chris craned his neck to see the entire home.
“I can’t believe one of them made it this far.”
Michael smiled. “They’ve both done real well. They’re naturals for politics.”
“I remember.”
“How much have you followed them?”
Chris shrugged. “Here and there. I’d go through spurts and follow them online quite a bit for a few months. Then tell myself to not pay attention. That’d work for a while until one of them did or said something that got the press’s attention.”
“Yeah, they’re pretty good at that.” Michael studied his brother. “How long did you hold on to the politics dream?”
Chris snorted. “That vanished immediately. I never even considered it when I came back. The thought of all that spotlight made me want to puke. I did everything I could to stay off camera when they found me and continued that for years. I didn’t want someone saying, ‘Hey, you don’t really look like Chris.’ That was my biggest fear. That I would be found out, break my parents’ hearts, and then he would find out. He’d destroy everyone if he knew I still lived. I’d lose my parents and your parents and you permanently.”
“Christ.”
“That’s a heavy load for a kid to carry,” Chris said. “I’m lucky I’m not too crazy. Just a little reserved.”
Michael raised a brow at his brother. Reserved? Chris gave him a sarcastic half grin that speared him in the heart. It was eerily familiar yet unknown at the same time.
They’d lost so much time.
“You’re a fucking hermit.”
“Jesus, watch your mouth.” Chris checked the backseat. Brian was still deep in the sleep of the very young.
Kids could sleep through anything.
“I was kidding. I know full well what I’ve done to my life,” said Chris.
“You need to change it. You’ve got a kid who deserves to know his family. And we need to know him.”
“I’m making the change. Once the ghost is gone, I’ll bring Brian to meet everyone.”
“What if we don’t find the ghost? What if he slips away? Are you going back to living under a rock? That’s no life for a kid. Shit, that’s no life for anyone.”
“I’m done hiding,” Chris stated simply. He held Michael’s gaze.
Michael stopped at a pole with a keypad and rolled down his window. “Better be. I’m not letting you go again,” he muttered. He punched a six-digit code into the pad. A rolling gate with bars slid across the driveway.
The home was a tall two-story sprawling mansion. The driveway circled in front of the elegant entrance, but Michael veered sharply to the left and down a slope that angled to the back of the house. There was a basement level below the home, built into the slope.
“That’s the garage? Below the house?”
Michael nodded. “There’s room for a good ten vehicles under the house.”
“You have the code?”
“I’ve been barging in here for the last four years. Uncle Phil hosted a hell of a birthday party for me at the mansion last year. Security is very tight. He has a full-time bodyguard-slash-personal assistant, but family has all the codes.” Except you.
Chris didn’t say anything. Michael suspected he was experiencing the same odd disconnected feeling that he was. Chris was his brother…but he wasn’t. He was part of his family…but he wasn’t.
The man had missed out on a lot.
Did he want to be fully embraced back into their high-profile family?
“It’s gonna be a big deal in the press.” Michael didn’t expand.
“I know,” Chris said quietly.
“You’re gonna be everywhere. Everyone is going to want a piece of you and Brian.”
His brother shifted in his seat. “I know.”
“Is that what you want?”
Chris was silent.
Michael pulled the Range Rover under the house, found an empty spot next to a sedan, and parked. Four other vehicles silently filled other parking slots. One looked like his father’s Mercedes, but Michael wasn’t certain. They all looked alike to him. He turned to his brother.
“Is that what you want? Do you want the hoopla? Can you handle the exposure and press?”
Chris turned to him, his eyes hard and determined. “No, I don’t want all that shit,” he said hoarsely. “What I want is my family back. I want to go for beers with you and talk till they close the bar down. I want to go camping and scare the crap out of you in the middle of the night with cheesy sounds and shadows like I used to. I want Brian to sit on the floor in front of the Christmas tree while Jamie and Cecilia take pictures and spoil him with every holiday cookie they can bake. That’s what I want. I don’t want all the other crap.”
The wave of emotion poured out of Chris and slapped Michael in the face. He blinked. Hard. The brothers stared at each other.
“Mom is sick,” Michael said. “Did you know that?”
Chris paled. “How sick?”
“It’s bad. She needs a new kidney. She doesn’t get out much these days. She resigned at the hospital. She’s still on all the big boards, of course, but she doesn’t make it to the meetings.” Michael studied his brother. Does Chris think of her as his mother still?
Chris was silent. Michael could see thoughts spinning through his head.
How did it feel to know the mother you haven’t seen in two decades was extremely ill?
“I want to see her. Today. Once we talk to the senator, I want to go see her today,” he repeated.
To Michael, the words sounded difficult for Chris. How hard was it for him to step out of his cocoon of protection? Seeing their mother and explaining his story was a huge step.
Michael finally spoke. “We’ll make that Christmas scene happen. I have no doubt.”
“I’m gonna have to choose,” Chris said. “I don’t know if I can survive the publicity.”
Determination to protect his little brother welled up in Michael. Here was something he could do for his brother. Finally. “Leave that part to me.”
Uncertainty filled Chris’s gaze. “We’ll see. I’ll know what I need to do when it starts happening.”
Michael put his hand on the door. “Are you coming upstairs?”
Chris glanced in the backseat. “I’m gonna stay here. Let him sleep.”
Michael nodded. His brother wasn’t ready to face his father yet. But he would do it. On his own time. At least he was ready to see their mother.
“Okay. Come on up if he wakes or you feel like it. I don’t know how long this will take.”