Page 123 of The Other Brother

“And your father blamed me,” Mum says.

Something breaks in Frank’s face. He chokes back a sob. “Oh, Julia. I never blamed you. I blamed myself. I knew you were exhausted. I should have listened to you when you wanted to take him to the doctor that morning.”

Tears continue to slide down Mum’s face.

“It was a terrible, terrible tragedy,” Dad says, going over to give Mum’s shoulder a squeeze. “No one’s to blame.”

Oh, my God. My eyelids feel hot, and my throat is scratchy. I look at Cody. He’s watching his dad, his face pale, blinking rapidly.

“I can’t believe you kept it a secret from us,” Mel says.

“Yes, why didn’t you tell us?” Kate demands. “We deserved to know.”

Mum’s lips tremble. “It was just too hard to talk about. I kept on thinking that one day it would get easier, that he could become something we talked about…” She draws in a breath before continuing. “But it just became harder and harder as the years went by…”

“Is that why you guys split up?” Mel’s gaze darts between them.

Frank’s shoulders slump, and he rubs at his forehead. “The death of a child is a hard thing for any marriage to bear. And we were young. We had three babies very quickly…”

There’s an awkward silence.

Shit, it explains so much. Why they loathe each other. Both of them coping by turning their grief and guilt into anger against each other.

“But you’ve never dealt with it.” Kate straightens her back. “You moved on and didn’t talk about it, but how you handled it affected us. He’s been a ghost in all of our lives, but we just didn’t know it.”

I swallow. I don’t dare look at Cody right now.

Mum’s shoulders hunch up. Frank stares woodenly at the floor.

“Ryan and Cody were right, what they said before,” Mel says. “You can’t keep going on like this. Turning everything into a battleground between you.”

Mum wipes the last of her tears away.

“I know.” The words fall from her lips. “I don’t want…” She glances down at Ethan who is now asleep in his infant carrier. She takes a deep breath then raises her gaze to Frank. “I don’t want things to continue like they are. What the kids said earlier is true. We need to try harder to get along. At least make more of an effort not to argue.”

Frank just stares at her.

“Because we both want the best for our kids. That’s one thing we’ve got in common.”

Frank continues to stare, unmoving. Finally, finally, he nods. “You’re right,” he says quietly.

Mum gives him a half-smile. He gives her a weak one in return.

It’s like a thousand miracles happening right here. They should update the bible with this.

I want to look at Cody, but I force myself to look at my knuckles instead. I hate that hope is trickling in, despite my best efforts. Will a thawing in our parents change anything between us? Will it mean anything?

“Since we’re talking about secrets,” Heather says. Her words are slow and laborious. I jerk my head up to look at her. To my surprise, she’s staring straight back at me. “Is anyone going to tell me what’s going on between Cody and Ryan?”

It’s like she’s sucked all the oxygen from the room.

“What do you mean?” Frank’s voice is strained.

“The way they look at each other…” she trails off. A deep trench opens up in my chest.

“Nothing’s going on…” Cody says. His words seem to hover in the air for a minute before he finishes. “Anymore.”

The finality in his voice grabs me by the throat, choking me.