The doorbell rang, and Ciera ran to answer it. The guy on the other side of the door was gorgeous. Drop-dead, hyperventilation-inducing gorgeous. He was a few inches taller than she, with blue-green eyes, sandy blond hair that just touched the collar of his button-down shirt, and the face of a romance novel cover model. "Is Angela Morrow here?" he asked.
What could this living piece of eye candy want with her mother? "She's in the kitchen. Come in." She stepped out of his way. "I'm her daughter Ciera."
"Daughter, huh?" He studied her. "How old are you?"
She hated it when guys asked that. "I'm eighteen. How old are you?"
He laughed. "Twenty-three. Guess that makes you my baby sister."
Say what? Mr. Hunk was her brother? Ciera just stared at him. He had to be joking, right? He couldn't possibly be her brother. No way. A brother she didn't even know she had. Mom had been holding out on her. "Um, I'll go let her know you're here."
"She didn't know I was coming, so be careful what you say. I wouldn't want her to have a heart attack before I get to meet her."
"I'll do my best."
Mom was forearm-deep in a mess that would eventually become meatloaf. "Who was at the door, Cici?"
"Someone to see you. A guy."
"And does this guy have a name?"
Ciera hadn't thought to ask. "I don't know."
"Well, tell Mr. I Don't Know that he'll have to wait. I'm busy. Or maybe he could come back another time, unless he's a salesman, in which case he should never come back."
"He isn't selling anything." She hesitated. She didn't want to freak her mother out, but Mom didn't like surprises. "He says he's my brother."
Her mother turned slowly, dropping bits of ground beef on the counter as her face went dead white. "He said what?"
"He said he's my brother. Something you haven't told me?"
"Oh, shit! Grab me some paper towel, would you? And then tell him I'll be right there."
Ciera handed Mom a bunch of paper towels and turned on the faucet, then went back to the front entry. "She's washing her hands. She'll be right out."
"Did you tell her who I am?"
"Yeah. She wouldn't have been happy about being surprised, so I figured she should have a chance to prepare herself. What's your name, anyway?"
"Yeah, that was rude of me. I'm David Houston. Originally Mark Archer."
Archer. Mom's maiden name. So this long-lost brother had been born before she had married Ciera's dad. Ciera didn't remember her father at all; he'd bailed when she was a newborn. Her mother never talked about him, so Ciera had no idea when they'd been married. Apparently it had been less than five years before she was born, though, since David was five years older.
Mom scurried out of the kitchen and stopped short when she saw David. "Mark?"
"David," he corrected. "David Houston."
With them together, Ciera saw the resemblance. David's eyes were the same shape as Mom's, though hers were more blue than green. Their hair was the same color if she ignored Mom's grey. However it had happened, this guy was obviously Mom's son.
"David," Mom repeated. "Oh, god, I don't know what to say. I never thought I'd meet you."
"I sent you those emails. You answered. If you didn't want to see me, you didn't have to reply."
"I didn't say I didn't want to see you, just that I didn't expect to."
He'd emailed? More secrets. Why hadn't Mom said anything? If David hadn't shown up at the door, Ciera might never have known about him. "Hello, confused person here. What's going on?"
"Let's sit down." Mom headed into the living room. "We have a lot to talk about."
"Yes, we do." David followed her, trailed by Ciera.
Once they were settled onto the couch and chairs, Ciera said, "Okay, sitting. Now talk. Why did I not know I have a brother and why is he here now?" And why was he so fucking hot? He was her brother, but she couldn't help wondering how he'd look naked. So wrong!
"Before your father and I got married, I got pregnant," Mom said. "We were both only seventeen and decided we weren't ready for a kid, so we allowed him to be adopted. Come to find out, your father didn't want children at all, ever, no matter how old he was, which is why he took off after you were born."
"But you kept her," David said.
"I was older and had a decent job. If it had been up to me, I would have kept you too, but I let him talk me into the adoption thing. Actually, he tried to get me to have an abortion, but I didn't want to go that way."
"Glad you didn't. My family's pretty good, so if you didn't think you could take care of me I guess you did the right thing."
He didn't sound too sure, though. Was he angry that their mother had kept Ciera but not him? Or was there something he didn't want to say about his adoptive family? Ciera looked at him, trying to make a guess, but he didn't return her gaze.
"So why are you here now?" she asked. "How'd you find Mom?"
"When I turned eighteen, I got her name and the name of our father from the court. I spent a few years wondering if tracking them down was the right thing to do, and finally decided it was. If they didn't want to see me, at least I'd be able to get medical information and that kind of thing. I wanted to know before I decided to start a family of my own so I'd know whether to watch out for anything."
"It's always good to know that kind of thing," Mom said.
"Yeah. So I did some online searching and finally found both of them. Our father didn't want anything to do with me, wouldn't even answer my questions about medical history, but Mom here emailed me back and seemed to want to get to know me better. I was heading this way for a job interview, so I figured I'd stop by and meet her." He looked at Mom. "You didn't tell me you had a daughter, though."
"I didn't want you to be angry that she was with me and you weren't."
"Yeah, well, that didn't work too well. I am a little upset. If you kept her, you should have kept me. But I guess I understand. There's a big difference between seventeen and twenty-two, and if you'd kept me Ciera probably wouldn't be here." He winked at her. "That would be a shame."
"Yes, it would," Mom said. "So tell me about yourself. Whatever you want to tell me. Are you an only child?"
"I have two brothers. One's also adopted, the other's my parents' biological son. We get along pretty well. I'm the middle of the three of us. My parents split up a couple years ago, after my younger brother graduated high school, but when I was growing up I didn't think there were any problems between them."
Sounded like he'd had a better life than Ciera in some ways. She'd always wished for a brother or sister, but Mom had never gotten involved with another man after Ciera's father left. Dated other men, yes. Fucked them, most likely. But never anything long-term. Ciera had grown up with only her grandfather, whom she saw only a few times a year, for an adult male figure in her life. That was something else she'd missed. Most of her friends had had a mom and a dad, even if those parents lived separately. She'd had only Mom.
"That's good," Mom said. "I'm glad you had a good family."
"So am I."
"What job did you have an interview for?" Ciera didn't want to hear any more about his family.
"It's an entry-level at a software company near here. I majored in computer science, just graduated so it's time to find work and get those student loans repaid. It was total coincidence that their office was near here. I just sent out a bunch of resumes without really paying attention to where the companies were."
"Well, if you have any other interviews in the area you're welcome to stay here," Mom said. "We have a spare room."
"Thanks. I do have a couple more interviews, not really close to here but this is closer than where my parents live. If you're sure you wouldn't mind..."
"Not at all. Ciera, go make up the bed in the spare room, would you?"
What the heck was happening here? They'd gone from oh my god, what are you doing here to hang out in our spare room in less than ten minutes! Ciera went to the spare room and dug a set of sheets and a comforter out of the closet, which they used as a linen cupboard since the house didn't have one, and bent over the bed to put on the sheets.
What was her mother thinking, letting a total stranger stay with them? If it hadn't been for the obvious resemblance between them, she would have questioned whether David, or Mark, or whatever his name was was even really related to them. But Mom just took him at his word and offered him a place to stay. Guilty conscience, maybe?
"What do you think about this?"
Ciera jumped at the voice behind her. "Sneak up on people much?"
"Sorry. I'm not exactly quiet; I thought you'd heard me in the hall." David walked over to the bed. "What do you think about me staying here?"
"I think it's probably one of Mom's stupider ideas, but since she owns the house she gets to make the decisions."
"Why is it stupid?"
"We don't know you or anything about you. You might be who you say you are or you might not. Even if you are, you could be a con artist or worse. I wouldn't let you stay here if it was up to me." She went back to making the bed and peeked over her shoulder to see if he was watching her bend. Damn it, he was her brother; she shouldn't think that way!
"I see your point. No worries, though. I'm not a con artist or an axe murderer or anything like that. Besides, even though this is our first face-to-face meeting, your mother—our mother and I've been chatting by email for a couple months now, so she knows me better than you think. So this is the spare room?"
"That would be why I'm putting sheets on the bed."
"You haven't known me long enough to dislike me so much. Kind of freakish having a brother pop out of nowhere, huh?"
"Freakish doesn't begin to describe it. You're ticked that Mom kept me and gave you up, and for me it's the other way around. You had a family, and they probably had enough money to get you things you wanted or needed, right?"
"Yeah. Both my parents make a pretty good living, always have."
