PART 4 — THE BROTHER’S SECRET
I stared at the picture on Jeremy’s phone.
His brother, Travis.
I hadn’t seen him in almost a year.
But I knew that face.
I knew the crooked smile.
The scar under his chin.
The way he always called me “Jilly” even though I hated it.
And I remembered the night.
Sixteen years ago.
The eleven days Jeremy and I were separated.
My sister had gone out of town.
I’d been angry.
Lonely.
Drunk enough to make one bad decision feel like revenge.
Travis had shown up with beer.
He said Jeremy was an idiot.
He said I deserved better.
One thing led to another.
By morning, I wanted to forget it had ever happened.
So I did.
Or at least I thought I did.
“You knew?” I whispered.
Jeremy slid the phone back into his pocket.
“Not immediately.”
“When?”
“After Caleb was born.”
My throat tightened.
“How?”
“Travis told me.”
Lacey went completely still.
Even she hadn’t heard this part.
I looked at Jeremy.
“He told you?”
Jeremy nodded once.
“He came to me when Caleb was about four months old.”
“And said what?”
“That something happened between you two.”
I swallowed.
“And you believed him?”
“You’d never told me about those eleven days.”
“We were separated.”
“That wasn’t what I asked.”
I felt anger rise through the shock.
“You’re really going to stand here after everything you’ve done and judge me for one night?”
“I’m not judging you.”
“You’ve had another woman for almost our entire marriage.”
“I said I’m not judging you.”
“Then what are you doing?”
Jeremy looked exhausted.
“I’m explaining why I ordered the test.”
Lacey folded her arms.
“You tested a baby behind Jill’s back?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
Jeremy looked at me.
“I took one of Caleb’s pacifiers.”
My stomach turned.
“And Travis?”
“He gave me a sample.”
I felt sick.
“You both did this without telling me?”
Jeremy nodded.
I turned away because I couldn’t look at him anymore.
Every memory of Caleb’s first year suddenly felt contaminated.
Jeremy holding him.
Jeremy changing diapers.
Jeremy walking the floor at two in the morning.
All while secretly wondering whether the baby in his arms belonged to his own brother.
“What happened after you got the result?” I asked.
Jeremy was quiet.
Then he said, “I punched Travis.”
I turned around.
“He deserved worse.”
“And then?”
“I told him he was never to tell you.”
I stared at him.
“Why?”
“Because Caleb was my son.”
I laughed bitterly.
“You just said he wasn’t.”
“Biologically.”
Jeremy’s voice broke slightly.
“But I was there when he was born. I was the one who fed him at three in the morning. I was the one he reached for.”
He looked down.
“I didn’t care what the paper said.”
For the first time all day, I saw something real in his face.
Not an excuse.
Not manipulation.
Pain.
But it didn’t erase everything else.
“You kept a secret from me for sixteen years.”
“Yes.”
“And Travis?”
“He agreed to stay away.”
I almost laughed again.
“Stay away? He came to our house every Christmas.”
“That was later.”
“What changed?”
Jeremy didn’t answer.
Lacey spoke quietly.
“Emma.”
We both looked at her.
“What about Emma?” I asked.
She glanced at Jeremy.
“You should tell her.”
Jeremy’s jaw tightened.
“Lacey.”
“She deserves to know.”
“What does Emma have to do with Travis?”
Jeremy paced toward the driveway.
I followed him.
“No more walking away.”
He turned around.
“You want everything?”
“Yes.”
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
His face hardened.
“Travis is the reason I went back to Lacey.”
The words made no sense.
“What?”
“After he told me about you and him, I lost my mind.”
“You were already seeing Lacey.”
“Not then.”
Lacey nodded slowly.
“We had stopped.”
I looked between them.
“For how long?”
“Almost two years,” she said.
That surprised me.
Jeremy continued.
“When Travis told me, I wanted to hurt you.”
“So you went to Lacey.”
“Yes.”
Lacey looked ashamed.
“He came to my apartment one night.”
“And Emma happened.”
Silence.
I looked at the house.
At the door Emma had disappeared behind.
Then back at Jeremy.
“So you got her pregnant because you were angry at me?”
“No.”
“It sounds exactly like that.”
“I wasn’t thinking.”
“That seems to be the theme of your life.”
Lacey wiped tears from her cheeks.
“I didn’t know why he came back to me.”
Jeremy looked at her.
“I cared about you.”
“You cared about yourself,” she said.
He flinched.
Good.
He deserved to.
I leaned against my car.
My mind was spinning.
“So let me understand this.”
I pointed at Jeremy.
“You found out Caleb might be Travis’s son.”
He nodded.
“You got revenge by sleeping with Lacey.”
He nodded again.
“She got pregnant with Emma.”
“Yes.”
“And then you decided the solution was to raise two families in secret.”
“It wasn’t a decision I made all at once.”
“Of course not.”
I laughed without humor.
“You just lied one Tuesday at a time.”
Nobody spoke.
Then a car turned onto the road.
Jeremy looked past me.
His face changed instantly.
“Oh, hell.”
A dark pickup slowed in front of Lacey’s house.
I knew it before it even turned into the driveway.
Travis.
He parked behind Jeremy’s truck.
For several seconds, he stayed behind the wheel.
Then he stepped out.
Older.
Heavier.
More gray around his temples.
But still Travis.
He looked at me.
Then at Jeremy.
Then at Lacey.
His expression collapsed.
“What happened?”
Jeremy walked toward him.
“Why are you here?”
Travis held up his phone.
“Caleb called me.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
“He said something was wrong with you two.”
“Why would he call you?”
Travis looked at me.
“Because he trusts me.”
Jeremy grabbed his shirt.
“You stay away from him.”
Travis shoved him back.
“Don’t start.”
“I told you sixteen years ago.”
“And I listened for sixteen years.”
“Clearly not enough.”
I stepped between them.
“Stop.”
Neither moved.
I pointed at Travis.
“Did you know Caleb was yours?”
Travis closed his eyes.
Jeremy swore under his breath.
I asked again.
“Did you know?”
“Yes.”
My stomach twisted.
“For how long?”
“Since the test.”
“So every birthday?”
He looked down.
“Yes.”
“Every Christmas?”
“Yes.”
“Every baseball game you came to?”
His eyes filled.
“Yes.”
“And you never told me?”
“I promised Jeremy.”
I slapped him.
Hard.
The sound cracked across the yard.
Travis took it.
He didn’t raise a hand.
Didn’t say a word.
“You let me spend sixteen years thinking I was hiding one terrible mistake,” I said. “Meanwhile, everyone but me knew what it caused.”
“Jill, I’m sorry.”
“Don’t.”
“I wanted to tell you.”
“Then why didn’t you?”
“Because Jeremy was his father.”
I laughed bitterly.
“That sentence is getting popular today.”
Travis looked at Jeremy.
“He raised him.”
“And you were what?”
“I stayed back.”
“You came to every birthday.”
“Because I wanted to see him.”
My eyes filled despite everything.
“Did he know?”
“No.”
“Does he know now?”
“No.”
Jeremy stepped forward.
“And he’s not going to.”
I turned on him.
“You don’t control that.”
“He’s sixteen.”
“He deserves the truth.”
“He deserves stability.”
I stared at him.
“You destroyed stability the day you decided lies were easier than consequences.”
Travis rubbed his jaw where I’d slapped him.
“Jill, there’s something else.”
Jeremy’s head snapped toward him.
“No.”
Travis ignored him.
“Something about that DNA test.”
Jeremy stepped closer.
“I said no.”
I looked at Travis.
“What?”
He reached into his truck.
Jeremy moved fast.
He grabbed Travis’s arm.
Travis shoved him away.
“Enough, Jeremy.”
He opened the glove box and pulled out a folded envelope.
Old.
Yellowed around the edges.
My chest tightened.
“What is that?”
“The original report.”
Jeremy’s face went pale.
I looked at him.
“You said you kept it.”
“He kept a copy.”
Travis handed me the envelope.
Jeremy whispered, “Jill, don’t.”
I opened it.
The paper inside was faded.
Laboratory report.
Names.
Dates.
Percentages.
I scanned until I found the conclusion.
Jeremy Lee Tolley: excluded as biological father.
Travis Michael Tolley: probability of paternity 99.97%.
My eyes closed.
It was real.
Caleb was Travis’s biological son.
I folded the paper slowly.
Then I noticed something on the second page.
Another name.
Another test.
Same laboratory.
Different date.
Two years later.
I unfolded the page completely.
“What is this?”
Travis went still.
Jeremy looked away.
“Why is Emma’s name here?”
Lacey stepped toward me.
“What?”
My eyes moved across the report.
Child: Emma Grace Burcham.
Alleged father: Jeremy Lee Tolley.
Result: excluded.
The world stopped.
I read it again.
Excluded.
Jeremy was not Emma’s biological father.
Lacey grabbed the page from my hands.
“No.”
Her face drained of color.
“No, that’s impossible.”
She read it again.
Then looked at Jeremy.
“You told me the test confirmed you were her father.”
Jeremy said nothing.
Lacey started shaking.
“You lied about that too?”
Jeremy’s voice was barely audible.
“Yes.”
Lacey slapped him so hard his head turned.
“You let her call you Dad for sixteen years.”
“I am her dad.”
“You knew she wasn’t yours.”
“Yes.”
“Then whose is she?”
Nobody answered.
I looked at Travis.
His face told me before his mouth did.
“No,” I whispered.
Lacey saw it too.
She backed away from him.
“No.”
Travis’s eyes filled.
“Lacey—”
She screamed.
“No!”
Jeremy looked at the ground.
I felt dizzy.
“Travis?”
He covered his face.
It took him a long time to answer.
“Yes.”
Lacey stumbled backward.
I grabbed her arm before she fell.
“You slept with him too?” I asked.
She looked at me like she couldn’t understand the question.
“Once.”
Her voice cracked.
“One night. Jeremy and I had fought. Travis came by looking for him.”
I stared at Travis.
Then at Jeremy.
Then at Lacey.
The family tree in my head twisted into something impossible.
Caleb was Travis’s biological son.
Emma was Travis’s biological daughter.
Jeremy had raised Caleb as his son.
Jeremy had raised Emma as his daughter.
And neither child knew that the man they called Uncle Travis was actually their biological father.
I whispered, “They’re brother and sister.”
Travis nodded.
“Biologically.”
Lacey sank onto the porch step.
“Oh, God.”
Then the front door opened.
Emma stood there.
Her face was wet with tears.
Behind her stood another person.
My son.
Caleb.
My heart stopped.
“Caleb?”
Jeremy spun around.
“How did you get here?”
Caleb held up his phone.
“I tracked Dad’s truck.”
His eyes moved across all four adults.
Then he looked at the DNA report in Lacey’s hand.
“What are you talking about?”
Nobody spoke.
Caleb looked at Emma.
Emma looked at Caleb.
Then my son said quietly,
“Why did I just hear somebody say we’re brother and sister?”
And that was the exact moment I realized the secrets were over.
Because both children were standing there.
And this time, nobody could lie fast enough……..
TO BE CONTINUED IN LAST PART…
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