Chapter 15 - I MET ANTHONY
I met Anthony two days later at a café in Evanston.
Public.
Quiet.
Victor drove me there.
Then actually left.
That mattered.
Anthony arrived early.
I recognized Mom in him immediately.
Not biologically.
He carried peppermint candies.
The same red-and-white kind she kept in every purse.
He caught me staring.
“She got me addicted.”
My eyes filled.
“Me too.”
He stood.
“Harper.”
Neither of us knew whether to hug.
So we shook hands.
Then laughed because it felt ridiculous.
“You’re my brother.”
“Legally.”
“That sounds like a tax disclaimer.”
“I’ve had time to get weird about it.”
Then I hugged him.
He froze for half a second.
Then hugged me back.
Anthony slid a wooden box across the table.
“Marjorie’s.”
Inside were photographs.
Birthday cards.
A grocery list.
One scarf.
Nothing valuable.
Everything valuable.
At the bottom was a photograph of Mom and Anthony in a courthouse hallway.
He held an adoption certificate.
Mom held one cupcake.
“She bought one cupcake?”
“She said adult adoption didn’t deserve a full cake.”
I laughed.
“That is insulting.”
“I told her.”
“What did she say?”
“That I could buy my own second cupcake because I was legally her son now.”
I covered my mouth.
For the first time, I felt less robbed.
I had missed years.
But they had existed.
Mom had given someone else family.
That didn’t reduce what she gave me.
Then I asked:
“Why did you wait after she died?”
Anthony looked toward the lake.
“Because I was scared.”
“You should have told me.”
“Yes.”
No defense.
Another frightened choice.
Then:
“Will you meet Finn?”
His face changed.
“I want to.”
“Do you expect him to call you uncle?”
“No.”
“Good.”
“I don’t want to walk into that child’s life claiming a title.”
My chest softened.
“I’m Elena’s brother. Marjorie’s son. That doesn’t automatically make me anything to Finn unless he wants it.”
There.
Choice.
Again.
“You are definitely Mom’s.”
Anthony smiled.
Then I told him something harder.
“Victor wants to meet you.”
May you like
Anthony’s smile disappeared.
And the two men who had both failed Elena in different ways were finally going to sit in the same room.
