Page 3 of Hidden Heir

“Yes!” Tiff claps her hands together. “It was being so rude over cake time and I said, I said, you can’t be loud because cake time is quiet time and the penguins just wouldn’t stop being loud! So I tried to find ‘annah and tell her, but she was hiding, and the penguin was being naughty so I tried to make it hush like this?—”

I glance in the rearview mirror to see her place her hand over her mouth.

“—and it bit me!”

“Oh no!” I say sadly. “You got a booboo?”

“Yes, a booboo but then when I found ‘annah… look!” She thrusts her hand toward me. “No more booboo!”

“Oh no!” I gasp, barely able to hide my smile. “What happened to your booboo?”

“I dunno!” Tiff says. “I think the penguin was magic but I told ‘annah if I see him again, I’ll tell her.”

“That’s a very good idea,” I smile widely. It definitely sounds like a dream mingled with reality, but Tiff speaks so seriously that it’s impossible not to be amused. “Did you have fun with Hannah though? Despite the penguin?”

“Yes!” Tiff declares loudly. “We drew pictures and we colored and we made pasta out of playdough. But Mommy you can’t eat it because it doesn’t taste good.”

“How do you know it doesn’t taste good?”

“Someone else ate it. Not me, though.” Tiff sighs dramatically, and the way she gazes out of the window reminds me of someone recalling something truly terrible. I suspect she was the one who ate the play dough.

“Okay, I won’t eat any of the pasta,” I assure her. “I’m glad you had a good day. What do you say we order a pizza and then watch a movie before bed?”

“Yay!” Tiff kicks her legs and claps. “Can we watch The Little Mermaid?”

We’ve watched that movie fifty times. What’s one more? “Sure. Maybe we’ll see something different this time.”

“Mmm-hmm!” Tiff begins humming along to some of the music from the movie. I split my focus between listening to her and driving. By the time we reach my apartment, the sun has disappeared below the skyline, and the lingering winter cold, not quite thawed by the presence of spring, sends chills through me as I unload Tiff from the car.

She yawns widely in my arms and I can feel it in my soul. Despite the exhaustion, I keep a smile on my face while balancing her on my hip. “Do you know what kind of pizza you want?” I ask as we step inside. Kicking the door closed, I toss my keys onto the entryway table and head for the living room.

“Cheese!” Tiff declares loudly. “Lots and lots of cheese!”

“Cheese it is, I just need to?—!”

Upon entering the room I’m shocked by what I see, and my heart drops into the pit of my stomach. Instinct has me drawing Tiff tight against me, immediately shoving her face into my neck.

“Ant?” I gasp.

My older brother is slouched over on the couch, dead to the world. There’s a heap of vomit just beneath his face, a tell-tale needle dangling from his arm.

2

BROOKE

“Ant!”

Time screeches to a halt. I’m frozen in place, staring at the body of my brother. I can’t think. I can’t breathe.

Did he overdose? Did he fall asleep? Is he just so high that he has no fucking idea I’m even here?

Is he dead?

He’s rooted to the couch like one of my beloved plants. An acidic burn crawls up my throat as I take in the scene before me. Tiff squirms in my arms, irritated by my action of hiding her face and she begins to wail. That kicks me into gear and I immediately back out of the living room as tears form behind my eyes.

“Mommy!” she says. “Let go!” She begins squirming in my arms like a snake, but I keep her clutched against me as I run to the bedroom. The moment I set her in her toddler bed, she bursts into tears.

“No Mommy! It’s not bedtime!”

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