Page 28 of Diluted Truths
“Are you ready to meet the legendary Theodora?” I asked Will as the car came to a stop.
“Legendary?” he asked as he stood and exited the car.
I mirrored the action and met him at the sidewalk where he had our bags. He had insisted that as a gentleman (his words), it was his duty to carry my bag. I rolled my eyes when he told me this but he succeeded and had carried my bags since.
“She really is. All of us James’ siblings are.”
Will laughed and looked to begin to respond as a tiny body flew out the front door.
“Auntie Jack, you’re here!!” Vi screeched at the top of her lungs. I scooped her up in my arms and spun her in her circles until we both fell into a pit of laughter on the front lawn.
“I told you I would be here,” I responded as I finally caught my breath.
“You should just live here. Mama said you used to,” Vi reasoned as she moved to sit on my stomach.
“I agree,” I heard Theo say. I looked to see my sister standing on her front porch. Our bags were sitting next to her as Will leaned against the stair railing. In my distraction with Violet, I missed both of them. “You should move back because I need the help with this tornado.”
Theo and I resembled each other in all of our features except our coloring. Where I had our mom’s blonde hair and our dad’s brown eyes, she had the opposite with her blue eyes matching mom’s and brown hair matching dad’s. Other than those minor differences, we could be mistaken for twins.
Not identical, but damn near close.
I continued to stare at my sister as my niece finally made her way off of me. “Did you cut your hair?”
Theo laughed at my question. “No hello? No, ‘Hi my dear sister, I missed you so much. You are my favorite person and I will forever regret moving away?’”
Will began laughing, hard, next to Theo. “You two are so similar it’s kind of crazy.”
Theo looked at Will, as if assessing him. “You must be Dr. Bly.”
“I am. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Theo.” Will then turned to me as I stood from the lawn and made my way over to them. “Did you tell everyone to call me Doctor?”
I chuckled.
Idefinitelydid that.
“Nope, I would never do anything of the sorts.”
Theo chuckled. She knew me too well and knew I was the culprit. She then pulled me into the tightest hug.
“Missed you, Jack,” she whispered in my ear.
“Missed you too, Theo.”
As the four of us made our way through the entryway, the memories of the house hit me like a freight train. As I walked into the living room, the burn marks over the fireplace reminded me of when Nate thought it was a genius idea to get the fireplace started using gasoline. Or the dent on the back wall I caused while learning to skateboard. I was later told to only practice outside.
The walls were lined with pictures of Nate, Theo, Vi, and myself. There were some with our oldest brother Kai as well. Pictures from when we first moved here when I was only fourteen, pictures from graduations, birthday parties, late night drives when we were too broke to do anything else.
There were pictures of all of Vi’s firsts. First steps, first cake, even first time eating solid foods. Theo and I had almost no pictures from before Nate got us, so she overly documented Violet’s life in compensation.
As I perused the pictures, I came to a stop at the picture that always broke something small in me.
It was Nate and I. I must have been fifteen at the time. The day that picture was taken, a girl at school had found out my siblings were raising me. She had spent the entire day making fun of me, calling me the ‘orphan’. I had come home and broken down in tears in Theo’s arms. I was so confused why she had been so mean.
Nate had come home from work and saw me crying. When he learned the reason why, it was as if something had fractured in his eyes. Without a word, he took me by the hand and led me out the back door. We walked along the beach of the Pacific Ocean for close to two hours. We didn’t talk about anything important. In fact, I couldn’t remember a single point of conversation we had that night. After a while, we sat and just listened to the waves. It was at that moment I began to truly understand everything Nate had given up for me and Theo.
That was when Theo snapped a photo of us. The picture had begun to show the signs of its age, but there Nate and I were. Sitting on the beach side by side, existing in each other's presence.
Nate never got to be a reckless teenager or have his wild college phase. I don't remember him going on a single date in the seven years we had all lived here. He never complained, never spoke ill will against the situation, he just loved us with everything he had.
