Chapter 6: The Brother Who Was Never Supposed to Be There
My brother had been dead for six years.
Marcus Carter had died in a car accident on a rainy highway, leaving behind a wife, a stack of unpaid bills, and memories that still surfaced at the most inconvenient times.
He had been thirty-four.
He had been my best friend.
And according to the document on the desk, he might have been my daughter's biological father.
I stared at Tasha.
“Tell me this is a mistake.””
She pressed her lips together.
“Malcolm—”
“Tell me somebody put his name on the wrong document.””
“I can't.””
I took a step back.
The chair behind me scraped against the floor.
Officer Lewis moved toward Maya, who had begun to cry again, but she shook her head and clung to my jacket.
I knelt beside her.
“Baby, listen to me. Whatever this paper says, none of it changes how much I love you.””
She looked up at me.
“Then why are you looking at Mommy like that?””
I opened my mouth.
No answer came.
Because I was looking at Tasha the way a man looks at a stranger who has somehow learned every secret in his house.
And I was looking at the document as if it might disappear if I refused to read it again.
I turned back to the desk.
“Explain the agreement.””
Tasha sat down slowly.
“When I first met you, Marcus was already part of your life. He was always around. You two did everything together.””
“That's not an explanation.””
“I know.””
“Then explain.””
She wiped her cheeks.
“Before I met you, I knew Marcus.””
The room fell silent.
I remembered the first time I introduced Tasha to my brother. Marcus had shaken her hand, smiled, and told me privately that I had finally found someone who could tolerate my stubbornness.
I had laughed.
Tasha had laughed, too.
It had never occurred to me that they might have shared a history I knew nothing about.
“How?”” I asked.
“We met through friends.””
“When?””
“Before you and I started dating.””
I felt my heartbeat in my throat.
“Were you together?””
Tasha looked down.
“For a short time.””
The words seemed to knock the air from my lungs.
“How short?””
“A few months.””
“And you never told me?””
“No.””
“Why?””
“Because it ended before you came into my life.””
I stared at her.
“You married me without telling me you'd been involved with my brother?””
“I wanted to tell you.””
“But you didn't.””
“No.””
I pressed both hands against the desk.
“Did Marcus know you were pregnant when we got married?””
Tasha shook her head.
“No.””
“Did he know Maya was his daughter?””
Her eyes filled again.
“He found out before she was born.””
I felt something inside me break.
“When?””
“About two months before the delivery.””
I turned away from her.
Through the office windows, the terminal continued its ordinary rhythm. A family walked past carrying matching suitcases. A child ran ahead of his mother, laughing as she called him back.
I watched them for a moment, then looked down at the document.
“How did Marcus find out?””
“He contacted me after he discovered I was pregnant.””
I faced her.
“You told him?””
“No. He worked it out.””
“How?””
Tasha hesitated.
“He remembered the dates.””
I closed my eyes.
Marcus had always been observant. He remembered birthdays, small promises, and details that everyone else overlooked.
He had also been fiercely protective of the people he loved.
If he believed Maya was his daughter, why had he never told me?
“Did you tell him you were going to have the baby?”” I asked.
“Yes.””
“And what did he say?””
Tasha's voice dropped.
“He said he wanted to do the right thing.””
“What did that mean?””
“He wanted to be involved.””
I laughed once, without humor.
“And you decided to hide it from me?””
“I didn't know what to do.””
“So you made an agreement behind my back?””
She shook her head.
“Not at first.””
“Then when?””
Tasha glanced toward Maya.
My daughter had moved to the far end of the sofa, sitting quietly beside Officer Lewis. He had given her a paper cup of water and a packet of tissues.
She was listening.
Every word.
I lowered my voice.
“Keep going.””
Tasha took a shaky breath.
“Marcus came to the hospital the night Maya was born. You were in the waiting area. I was in the delivery room. The doctors were worried about complications, and I was terrified.””
“I remember.””
“Marcus found me before the baby arrived. He told me that whatever happened, he wouldn't let Maya grow up without knowing she was loved.””
I stared at her.
“That sounds like him.””
“It was.””
For a moment, something softer passed across her face.
Then it vanished.
“He also told me he had a medical condition.””
I frowned.
“What condition?””
“He'd known for years that he might have trouble having children. He'd been told it was unlikely he'd ever become a biological father.””
I shook my head.
“Marcus never told me that.””
“He didn't want people to know.””
I could almost hear my brother's voice telling me to mind my own business. Marcus had guarded his private life fiercely, especially anything that made him feel vulnerable.
But this was different.
“If he knew he might be Maya's father,” I said, “why did he agree to keep it secret?””
Tasha looked toward the document.
“Because he didn't want to destroy your marriage.””
I stared at her.
“You're telling me my brother knew he might have a child with my wife, and he decided to protect my marriage by letting me raise her?””
“He loved you, Malcolm.””
“Then he should have told me the truth!””
“I know.””
“Every birthday. Every family photograph. Every time he held Maya. He knew something I didn't.””
Tasha began to sob.
“He never asked me to keep you away from her. He only asked me to wait until I was ready to explain.””
I looked down at the paper again.
A signature.
A date.
An arrangement that seemed to have been made when I was too frightened and distracted to notice that my own family was making decisions about my daughter's future.
“What did Daniel have to do with this?”” I asked.
Tasha wiped her face.
“Daniel was Marcus's closest friend.””
I remembered the photograph of the man holding the newborn baby.
Daniel Reed.
Marcus's closest friend.
The man waiting at the other end of a one-way journey.
“Why is he involved now?””
“Because Marcus left something with him.””
“What?””
“I don't know exactly.””
I slapped the document against the desk.
“Stop saying that!””
Tasha recoiled.
I immediately regretted raising my voice, but the anger had nowhere else to go.
“You keep asking me to trust you while admitting you know nothing about the secrets you've been keeping.””
“I know he wanted you to have the truth.””
“Then why didn't he tell me before he died?””
Tasha's expression changed.
Not guilt this time.
Fear.
She looked at Daniel's photograph.
Then she whispered, “Because Marcus didn't die knowing everything.””
I froze.
“What does that mean?””
She shook her head.
“I don't know what Daniel found out after the accident.””
“You just said Marcus left something with him.””
“He did.””
“What?””
Tasha pressed both hands to her face.
“A letter. Maybe more.””
I stepped closer.
“What was in the letter?””
“He wouldn't tell me.””
“Did you read it?””
“No.””
“Did Daniel?””
“I think so.””
I looked at the phone still lying on the desk.
The messages.
The one-way tickets.
The insistence that Maya be brought straight to Daniel.
I had imagined an affair, an escape, perhaps a plan to replace me in my daughter's life.
Now I was beginning to suspect that my brother's death had left behind a secret large enough to pull my entire family apart.
Officer Lewis returned to the desk.
“Mr. Carter, we've reached the caller. Daniel Reed is at the airport.””
I turned.
“Here?””
“Yes. He says he's willing to speak with you, but he has requested that the child not be present for the initial conversation.””
“No.””
Officer Lewis nodded.
“That was my recommendation as well. We'll keep Maya with a trusted adult while we establish what's happening.””
Tasha stood.
“I need to see him.””
I faced her.
“You've had weeks to see him.””
“He has something Marcus wanted you to have.””
“Then he can give it to me.””
She shook her head desperately.
“You don't understand. Daniel said the letter could change everything.””
I felt my pulse quicken.
“What letter?””
She looked directly into my eyes.
“The letter Marcus wrote before he died.””
My throat tightened.
Marcus had died on a wet road in the middle of the night. The police had told us it was an accident. I had attended the funeral, carried his photograph into the church, and spent months wondering whether I could have done something to save him.
Now a man I'd never met was claiming to possess a letter my brother had written before his death.
A letter that might explain why my wife had secretly taken our daughter onto a plane.
A letter that might explain the document bearing my brother's name.
I looked at Officer Lewis.
“Bring Daniel here.””
He nodded and stepped outside.
Tasha reached for my hand.
I pulled away.
“Don't touch me until you tell me everything.””
She lowered her head.
A minute passed.
Then another.
Finally, the office door opened.
A tall Black man in a charcoal jacket stepped inside. He looked to be in his early forties, with tired eyes and a thin scar near his right eyebrow.
I recognized him from the photograph.
Daniel Reed.
He carried a sealed manila envelope.
When he saw me, he stopped.
For several seconds, neither of us spoke.
Then Daniel looked at Tasha.
“You told him about Marcus?””
She nodded.
Daniel closed his eyes briefly.
“I was hoping you'd wait until I could explain it properly.””
I stepped toward him.
“You've had eleven years to explain it.””
He looked at me, and the grief in his expression was so raw that my anger faltered for a fraction of a second.
“Not eleven years,” he said quietly.
“I only discovered the rest of the truth six months ago.””
I stared at him.
“What truth?””
Daniel placed the envelope on the desk.
“Marcus wasn't the only person who knew Maya's parentage was complicated.””
He pushed the envelope toward me.
Then he added six words that made my knees feel weak.
“Your brother wasn't her only possible father.””
I looked at Tasha.
May you like
She covered her mouth.
And Daniel began to open the envelope.
