Page 92 of The Brothers Hawthorne

This was something for Grayson andhis sistersto do alone. Now that the truth was out there, the last remains of the barriers he’d erected against thinking of them that way crumbled. The twinswerehis sisters, regardless of whether or not he was anything to them.

“It’s been a while since we’ve heard from Jamie,” Xander added amiably. “He’s due for some yodeling. Take all the time you need, Gray.”

Grayson exited the SUV, waited for Savannah and Gigi to do the same, and then the three of them made their way up to Kimberly Wright’s front door. A three-foot-tall chain-link fence surrounded the front yard, which was all dirt and weeds, no grass. The house was painted a cheerful yellow that contrasted with the dark metal bars across the windows.

There was a No Solicitors sign on the front door.

Gigi knocked. Two seconds later, Grayson heard a dog barking, and two seconds after that, the door opened, revealing a woman in a ratty floral bathrobe. She used one foot to hold back a dachshund that looked remarkably rotund for the breed.

“That is a very fat dachshund,” Gigi said, her eyes round.

“It’s mostly hair,” the woman in the bathrobe said. “Isn’t that right, Cinnamon?” The dog growled at Grayson and attempted to get its front paws up on the foot that was holding her back.

It failed.

“I’d tell you I don’t want whatever you’re selling,” Kimberly Wright continued, “but you’ve got his eyes.” She was looking at Savannah when she said that, but then she shifted her gaze to Grayson. “You too.”

Gigi offered up a friendly smile. “I’m Gigi. That’s Savannah.”

“I know who you are,” Kim replied gruffly. “Down, Cinnamon.”

Cinnamon, Grayson could not help but notice, was already down.

“And that’s Grayson,” Gigi continued. “Our brother.”

Grayson waited for Savannah to correct her twin, but she didn’t.Our brother.

“Well, don’t just stand there,” Kim said, bending down to pick up Cinnamon—no easy task. “Come in.”

The house was compact: a den to the right of the front door, a kitchen straight ahead, and a short hall to the left, which presumably led to the bedrooms. Kim ushered them into the den.

“I like your recliners,” Gigi said earnestly. There were four of them in a room that wasn’t big enough for much else. On the back of each recliner, there was a crocheted blanket. The blankets matched; the recliners didn’t.

“You’re a smiley one, aren’t you?” Kim asked Gigi.

“I try,” Gigi replied, but the words didn’t come out quite as cheerful as Grayson would have expected. It occurred to him for the first time that maybe Gigi wasn’t just naturally sunny.

Maybe that was a choice.

Their aunt stared at Gigi for a moment. “You look like him, you know. My boy.”

“I know,” Gigi said softly.

Grayson thought about Acacia telling him that the resemblance had endeared Gigi to their father when she was very young, and for reasons he could neither pinpoint nor understand, his heart ached.

This woman was his aunt.Theiraunt, and she’d never met a single one of them.

“Are you here to tell me why your father won’t return my calls?” Kim asked bluntly.

Savannah was the first one to summon up a reply to that question. “Dad’s gone.”

Kim’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”

“He left on a business trip a year and a half ago and never came back.” Savannah’s voice didn’t waver.

“Did you call the police?” Kim dumped her dachshund on one of the recliners. Cinnamon hopped to the floor with a thud.

“Mom did, back then. But he’s notmissing,” Gigi told her aunt. “He left.”