Chapter 12

“What is this?” Lizzie asked, picking it up.

“His address, phone number and email,” I replied. “I’ll leave it up to you to decide what to do with it, but I can at least tell you what I learned. Most of it was easily accessible information.”

She seemed to brace herself emotionally for whatever I was about to reveal.

“After J.J. graduated from military school he went to L.A.,” I said, “he worked a lot of small jobs, the longest one for a construction company. At the same time, he pursued a counseling career. He works as a counselor at an Evangelic School and runs a support group out of his church. He is married and has two young children, a boy and girl, ages three and one. His wife works as a teacher.”

Lizzie stared at me with wide eyes, blinked a few times, then abruptly stood up and walked out of the room. I rose from my chair and followed her to the kitchen. There,

I found her leaning against the center island with one hand over her face.

“Are you all right?” I asked, moving closer to lay a hand on her shoulder.

Lizzie turned and surprised me by wrapping her arms around my neck, burying her face in my shoulder. “I’m so happy to hear this,” she sputtered. “Really, I am. But at the same time it’s excruciating. It’s like a knife in my heart.”

“Why?”

“Because he hasn’t wanted to call us or see us or introduce his children to us. Or his wife. He must think we’re horrible people.”

I held her tight and said, “He would have wanted to move forward, not backward,” I offered.

Lizzie stepped back, sniffed and rubbed her nose with the back of her hand.

“Rationally, I know that,” she said. “But it’s not easy to be objective when your recently deceased sister comes back from the dead to make sure you have your brother’s address and phone number.”

She became emotional again and turned into my arms a second time.

I didn’t know what to say. All I could do was hold her.

“Will you tell them?” I asked. “Will your parents want to know?”

She stepped back. “I’m not sure. Couldn’t they have found out this information on their own if they wanted to? But they didn’t. I’m pretty sure my mother would faint if I told her she has grandchildren she didn’t know about. As far as my father is concerned ... I’m pretty sure about how he is going to react. He is going to fly into a rage and warn us never to contact J.J. or there will be hell to pay.”

“What do you want to do?” I asked.

Furiously, she wiped away a tear. “I want to see my brother again. I want to meet my niece and nephew.”

“Then that’s what you should do,” I replied, feeling no regret whatsoever about encouraging her to defy her father’s wishes.

I wondered what Wendy would have thought about all of this, and suspected that maybe she was the one orchestrating it all.

There was no question I was fascinated with Lizzie by then. She seemed to be everywhere in my mind, all at once. It was as if I’d known her forever, which in a way, I suppose I had.

“I should get going,” I said moving to the door, I waited for her to open it, then stepped out onto the covered porch.

“Will you let me know if you’re going to get in touch with J.J.? I’d like to see him myself, but I don’t want to get in your way.”

Before I left, we exchanged cell numbers.

Lizzie stood in the doorway, holding the screen door open.

“I’ll keep you posted. The first thing I need to do is talk to my parents and tell them what you told me about J.J.,” she kissed my cheek.

“Call me or text me any time, Lizzie,” I said as I walked down the steps, going easy on my sore leg, as best I could. “I’ve got nothing else to do for the next five weeks.”

She smiled and waved me good-bye.