Page 33 of Catching Dreams

“I don’t know anything. I had no idea I had a brother. I hate to say it, but I’m really upset with my grandparents for not telling me. I will be honest and say my feelings are all over the place.”

“That also comes with pregnancy,” Dom’s mom commented. “Let me tell you the whole story.”

“Very true,” Tyler said with a squeeze of my hand. “What do you know about Molly and Dominic’s parents?”

Jessica began to tell us how she and Dominic’s dad, Jeff, had tried for years to have a baby without any luck. They had two failed rounds of in vitro fertilization before beginning the adoption process. It took them two years and many interviews, but they finally met a young high school-aged couple from New York named Nicholas Green and Jennifer Sawyer. She said Jennie was eight months pregnant, but they would have never been able to tell with the baggy clothes she had been wearing. They had been together since their freshman year but had already been accepted to college. They didn’t feel they were ready to be parents yet. They wanted the best for their baby and immediately felt a connection with Jessica and Jeff.

“Did they say anything about my grandparents?” I had to ask. “Jennie’s mom and dad?”

“Yes.” At my small gasp, Tyler pulled me closer to him and kissed my temple. I was so glad he was here for all this. He was my rock. “Jennie was afraid of disappointing her parents. They were so proud of her getting a full-ride scholarship into college for graphic arts, so she couldn’t bring herself to tell them. She commented that she was glad it was winter for the end of her pregnancy so she could wear Jeff’s hoodies and conceal her baby bump.” Jessica paused in her story and smiled sweetly over at her oldest son. “They found out they were having a baby boy but decided not to name him so they wouldn’t get attached and change their mind. Jeff and I were able to name him. We thought about doing all J names, but that seems to be done all the time. We decided on naming him Dominic since his bio dad’s name was Nick. When we told her that Dominic’s middle name would be Thomas after my dad, your mom got very emotional because Thomas was her dad’s name, too.”

“Papaw would have loved that his grandson had his name as a middle name. Thomas Sawyer was an amazing man.”

“I wish I could have met him,” Dominic said as he patted my shoulder with a smile on his face. “That’s pretty cool about how I got my name. I figured my middle name came from Grandpa Tom, but I just figured you liked the name Dominic.”

“So my grandparents had no idea about my brother?” I asked quietly.

“They had no idea, Molly,” Jessica said with confidence.

I felt the tears begin to roll down my cheeks at the relief that my grandparents had no idea. They hadn’t lied to me. I would never know if my parents would have told me that I had a brother when I got older, but I was now at peace.

“I also have a few pictures that your parents mailed us over the years to share with Dominic. I was so happy when they graduated college and got married. Those were the last pictures we received. I will also say that neither your parents nor the adoption agency ever told us about you. We were only notified about your parents’ deaths.” Jessica handed me a stack of pictures. Tyler and I looked at them together as my tears dropped on the photos. There were pictures from their college graduation, a small wedding ceremony I recognized as in my grandparents’ backyard, and photos of them taking selfies together. I had never seen some of these pictures. “I made copies of those pictures so that you can have those.”

“Really? Thank you so much!” I said and clutched the pictures to my chest. I pulled them back out and looked at them again.

“I think your parents are just a few years younger than we are now in this picture,” Tyler said as we looked at a picture of them lying together on a beach. Maybe they were on their honeymoon. “You look exactly like your mom!”

“She really does,” Jessica agreed.

“Can I hug you?” I looked up to see Dominic standing in front of where Tyler and I were seated. He had tears in his eyes. Tyler gave me a little nudge, and I stood up and was wrapped in the embrace of my brother.

“Hi, big brother,” I said with a watery laugh.

“Hi, little sister,” he said with a chuckle.

We sat and talked with Jessica, Emma, and Braden for a while longer. I found out Emma was a preschool teacher and was working on writing and illustrating children’s books. Braden was also very athletic like Dominic and played hockey for the AHL minor leagues. Emma told us that he was probably going to be called up to the NHL soon.

“You know they are adopted with their athletic genes because neither Jeff or I have an athletic bone in our bodies,” Jessica said with a laugh.

Jessica was a librarian at the local library and had obviously passed on her love of books to Emma. Jeff was an accountant, and even though he hated to play sports, Braden and Dominic both agreed that he never missed one of their games, if he could help it.

I felt Tyler tense next me at the mention of supportive parents. “Hey, your dad apologized, and he’s being supportive now.”

“I know, but I wish it hadn’t taken a tornado to open his eyes.”

I nodded and agreed with him. “He asked when your first game back with the Lighting was going to be. He wants to come.”

“Seriously?” Tyler asked in awe. “Wow. That would be awesome.”

“You say that now, but when you have a whole section cheering for you when you play the Crestwood Chargers, you might change your mind.”

“I don’t live that far from Crestwood!” Emma said. “Maybe I’ll come to the game, too. When is it?”

“That would be awesome! The game is actually this weekend.”

“Dom, you need to hurry up and get moved up so you can play there, too.”

“Em, I wish I could get called up, but I’m kind of old now.”

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