Duane pulled his hand through his hair, obviously exasperated with Jethro. “Why the hell not?”
“Because I’m the deciding vote.” Jethro’s voice rang through the room, sharp with anger. He looked up from his knitting and glared at my twin. When he spoke next, he did so through clenched teeth. “And I hate those motherfuckers more than you. More than any of you.” Jethro moved his attention to Billy. “But I’m not going to allow hate to make my decisions. If I voted, I would vote to destroy them all. So I can’t vote. Because I’m not that person anymore.”
No one said anything for what felt like several minutes, but I’m sure it was less than that.
Eventually, Billy looked away from Jethro’s glare and reclaimed his seat. “Fine. You have your answer, Cletus.”
“Stalemate means no one wins.” Cletus twisted his mouth to the side, his eyebrows pulled together like he was concentrating.
I needed to buy some time, so I suggested, “Just leave it where it is. Leave the evidence where it is, if you can. Then, if you need it, if you need the leverage, you have it.”
Jethro chuckled, shaking his head, “You know, Beau. You’re a lot more like Cletus than you let on.”
“Thank you.” I grinned. “In light of recent events, I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“What was the second thing?” Ashley looked to Cletus.
Cletus turned a look of mild confusion to our sister and then suddenly shut his eyes. His face did a weird thing then, like he had stomach pains and was bracing himself against a cramp.
Ashley glanced at each of us in turn, prompting again, “Cletus?”
He opened his eyes but kept them fastened to the carpet. “Darrell Winston had a third family.”
My mouth fell open and a spike of adrenaline shot through my veins. We were Darrell’s first family. We all already knew that Darrell had married—illegally—Drew’s sister years ago, and she was his second family. But they’d had no children and she’d died tragically some fifteen or so years prior.
But a third family? Does Cletus know? About me and Duane?
I could barely hear, a sharp ringing in my ears deafened all sound.
I looked to Billy and found him looking at me. I opened my mouth to say something, anything, but he gave his head a subtle shake, telling me to keep quiet.
Cletus cleared his throat, and then added, “Darrell had another son.”
My sister made a soft, involuntary sound of distress, but no one said a word.
A million thoughts ran like wildfire through my mind. Could it be that Christine and Darrell have another child?
And suddenly, I couldn’t wait to tell Claire that she was my sister. I couldn’t wait. I couldn’t wait to find out about her, what she was like, what we had in common.
Shelly had been right. She hadn’t said as much, she hadn’t spelled it out for me, but I’d been focusing on the wrong thing. I hadn’t lost a mother. Bethany was still my momma, and she always would be.
We hadn’t lost a thing, but we’d gained a sister. Duane and I had a second sister.
“His name was Eric and he died.” Cletus’s voice was rough, thick with uncharacteristic emotion.
My soaring excitement crashed down to earth as Cletus continued, “He died of cancer. I found out two years ago, after he’d passed. I thought y’all should know.”
Shit.
Shit shit shit shit shit.
I tried to swallow, but couldn’t. My eyes dropped to the carpet and I stared, absorbing the loss of a brother I would never know.
We all did.
Silence pressed down on us, filling the empty gaps in the room and separating us in our grief.
But then, unexpectedly, Duane walked past me. He walked straight to Cletus and wrapped him in a firm hug. Jethro was next, setting aside his work and bringing his arms around his brothers. Then Roscoe moved, then Ashley.
Billy and I shared a fleeting glance. He gave me a little smile, tilted his head faintly toward our family as though to say, Get in there. That’s where you belong.
So I did.
We’d rolled with the punches—both literally and figuratively—but in the last twelve months, things had changed. Apart from Momma’s death, things had changed for the better. Ashley had returned, and our family was growing. From tonight, even if our lives were physically moving us apart, we were closer.
I was reminded of something my momma used to say, “As time together grows scarce, it also becomes more precious.”
So I hugged my family. I wrapped them in my arms and took a moment to be grateful that they were mine.
* * *
Using the set of keys she gave me, I unlocked the door to Shelly’s cabin and tried to be as silent as possible as I slipped in.
Unfortunately, my plans were thwarted when Laika and Ivan bounded into the living room, snarling and barking like wild animals.
“Dammit.” I winced, regretting my decision to come over.
I hadn’t wanted to wake her up, but I missed her. I hadn’t seen or spoken to Shelly since Tuesday night. Now it was early Friday morning and my bones ached with how much I needed to be near her.
Seeing it was me, the dogs quieted down almost immediately. But they also danced around my legs, requiring ear scratches and head pats before giving me enough space to clear the front door.
“Beau?” Shelly’s sleepy voice carried to me. It sounded like she was in the bedroom.
“Yes. Sorry,” I loud whispered. “Go back to sleep.”
“Come in here.”
“I am. I just need to take off my shoes.”
“Okay.”
Locking the door behind me, I crossed to the couch and sat, thankful to be off my feet. It was now after midnight—way after midnight—and Jethro’s bachelor party was over.
Thank.
The.
Lord.
It had been a long day.
After the revelations of the morning, I took my brothers plus Drew on a scavenger hunt through the Smoky Mountains. We must’ve covered twenty-five miles of wilderness before the sun set. Instead of camping afterward—which was my idea—Cletus had insisted on entertainment.
Therefore, taking us all to a warehouse in Maryville (with a solemn promise that we could leave after a half hour), Cletus had his show.
“I’m going to murder Cletus,” Jethro had said, just moments after leaving the warehouse. He looked exhausted. And frazzled. And irritated.
I lifted an eyebrow at my oldest brother and rolled my lips between my teeth so I wouldn’t bust out laughing.
“I’m right behind you.” Billy said this while he picked silly string from his shirt and dusted glitter from his pants.
Drew was also picking silly string off his shirt, but had wisely decided to stay quiet.
“I’ll help you murder Cletus,” Billy grumbled, “if you can find him.”
Duane and I shared a look. We both had to drop our eyes to the ground to keep from laughing.
“I don’t see what the big deal is.” Roscoe shrugged. “So what? It was a male stripper.”