Four Brothers and a Bride

get the chance to while dating. Does that make sense?"

Mila dips her eyes to her Jimmy Choo shoes. "It does but | don’t know if | believe you, Ashton. I'm worried that

the longer we wait, the easier it will be for you to slip off my fingers."

"Not if we're too busy rediscovering and falling head over heels in love with each other. | don’t want to walk you

down the aisle because our families wantto. | want to do it because | can’t imagine anyone else walking

towards me. Please Mila, this is how you'll get the best ofin this relationship. If we get married three or six

months from now, you'll be getting a man who isn’t obsessed with you yet. Would you prefer that?"

She shakes her head. "Promiseyou'll work withto get there."

"| promise me."

| kiss her again, this tslowly, savoring her lips. When | pull away, she’s smiling.

"I'll get going. Stay close to your phone at all times. You know how much | overthink when you don’t take my

calls."

"I will." I kiss her forehead and pass her bag to her. "Tell your father | said hi." | don’t mean it but it means

something to Mila whenever | remember to be cordial to her dad. She blowskisses before leaving.

The smile remains on my face as | watch her strut her stuff. My eyes wheel to my right where someone stands a

few bleachers away watchingeverything that just happened between Mila and I; Liam. He forces a smile

when our eyes meet and waves creepily at me. | ignore him and grab my phone to check the text message | just

got. Relief floods my chest as | realize it's from Keith. He drops an address and the tfor our meeting today.

| get there ten minutes earlier and find a comfortable booth in the café. Though it’s a little packed for my liking, |

rely on my dark sunglasses to helpblend in. Keith comes in at exactly two pm, findsand slides into the

booth next to me.

"You averse to people or something?" He jokes, pointing to my glasses.

"Haha, very funny. You could have chosen somewhere a bit more..."

"Private? Scanty? Yeah, | could have but | don’t trust you yet, Mr. Rollins. Besides, we agreed to do this on my

terms."

"So, what answers would you be givingtoday?"

"That depends on the questions you ask but before you begin, you should know I intend to ask questions of my

own too."

"That seems fair."

A waiter brings sburgers and drinks to our table. Keith dives into burger with a big bite. | am not hungry. |

just want to learn as much as | can about my sister.

"I'll start. How did you cto learn that your lost sister could be my foster sister, Zoe?" He keeps his eyes

trained oneven as he eats. He wants to gauge my reaction to better decipher the truth of my response.

"| got a tip from a trusted friend who knows about my lost sister and the tip ledto your family." | lean on the

table. "My turn. "Do you know where Zoe is right now?"

He shakes his head. "I don’t."

"Why do | find that hard to believe?"

"That sounds like a you problem." He sips his drink. "I never know where Zoe is at any given tbut that

doesn’t mean | can’t reach out to her if | wanted to see her." He notes how my facial muscles relax at the

explanation. "You just asked two questions in a row. Here's my second question. How did you lose Zoe in the first

place?"

| hesitate. His questions are calculated, like he is trying to test my truthfulness. Keith continues to watch me. |

have a hunch that he knows the answer to this question.

"Cat got you tongue?"

"We got separated as kids. She was only a baby. That's the much I can tell you."

This time, he pauses his food and watchessilently.

"My turn. Do you really plan on helpingreunite with Zoe or is this just a waste of my time?"

"Those are two questions..."

"Just answer me, Keith. | don’t enjoy games. Finding Zoe is very important to me. If you aren't going to help me,

you might as well say it. Don’t waste my time."

"I'm still thinking about it. | want to be sure that | am not making a mistake or falling for lies. In the end, it all

depends on what Zoe thinks. She hasn't gotten back to me. If she wants to see you, I'll arrange a meeting. If she

doesn’t, there's nothing more I can do to help you."

"You told Zoe about me?"

"I did."

If he knows what | think he knows about Zoe's past, then he also knows that telling her that one of her brothers

casking questions will only serve as alerting her to hide even better. She wouldn't want to see me. She has

every reason to be scared of me. Keith must indeed be out to waste my time. | rein in my temper and feign

indifference.

"There's something you can still do to helpwhile you await Zoe's response. | need her documents from the

orphanage where she stayed before moving in with your family. Your parents must have those."

"No, they don't."

"Why? Did you also burn those too."

He smirks at me. "They don’t have them but | do. The papers are carefully stowed away."

"Are you going to give them to me? | just want to know what her real nwas before your parents named her

Zoe."

"You'll be wasting your time. The orphanage also called her a nbecause she wouldn't speak when she was

brought in. Trust me, Zoe sounds better than Gertrude."

"Who brought her in?"

Keith finishes his burger and downs his drink. "That'll be all for today, Mr. Rollins." My hand shoots out and

clamps down on his wrist before he can move. His eyes dilate in shock at the sight of mine with my shades off.

"What is this? Have you lost it?"

"I should be asking you that, Keith. Do I look like a joke to you? You broughtout here to munch on a burger

and waste my time? How many more of these five question sessions are we supposed to have before | start

getting suseful information from you, huh?"

He wrenches his wrist free. "You're as insolent as they come. You should be grateful | am even entertaining you.

Going by what I have heard, | should have kicked you out of my father’s land the first day we met but | chose to

give you the benefit of doubt. | was wrong. You don’t deserve to know the gem that is my sister. She’s better off

without you and your family." He lurches to his feet, glaring at me. "We're done with this conversation, Mr. Rollin.

Stay away from my hand my family."

"Too late." | jut a chin in the direction of the door where his parents have just entered. When their eyes scan the

booths, | wave a hand to them.

"You invited them here?" Keith questions me.

"Can you blme? | also gave you the benefit of doubt and assumed you were a decent adult that | could

reason with but apparently, maturity doesn’t cwith age. You're just too distracted with playing the big,

overprotective brother so you can score brownie points with my sister and convince her she doesn’t needor

her other three brothers. | thought I'd invite other adults to this conversation so we can make sprogress."

Paul and Collette join us. Begrudgingly, Keith returns to his seat. | exchange pleasantries with the couple.

"Did you bring it?"

"Ah, yes." Paul responds cheerfully before digging into his satchel and unearthing a brown envelope. | accept it

from him and flip through it. A smile tugs at my lips.

"It’s Gracie not Gertrude."

Keith's eyes boggle in shock. "Why would you give that to him, dad? Where did you even find it?"

"Honey, you hide everything in the basement."

Keith runs a hand over his hair while | take note of the nof the guardian that brought Zoe to the orphanage.

| shut the file and keep it by my side.

"Thank you, Paul and Collette. You've been very helpful." Turning to Keith, | add, "I just had to remind you that

you're not the only way to finding my sister and after everything | have noticed, I'd like to add that | am not a

threat to you in whatever shape or form. You were there for my sister when I couldn’t be. | can sense how much

you love and care for her. You're the big brother she’ll always remember from her teens. No one can take your

place in her life. With that being said, can we cut the bullshit and get on with helpingfind my sister or would

you liketo exclude you from this meeting altogether?"

Keith stares at his parents. Collette stretches a hand and squeezes his.

"He's right, Keith. He means well. | can tell his heart is pure. Don’t stand in the way of Zoe getting reunited with

her true family. You know she has never felt like she truly belonged with us. Give her this chance. If she doesn’t

want to rejoin her family, she doesn’t have to but don’t take away the option of choosing from her."

Keith's red rimmed eyes wheel to me. "Fine. I'll help you for real this tbut keep my parents out of this. Zoe is

a very emotional subject for my family. | don’t want my parents reliving the pain of her absence again."

"That's no problem at all."

| watch him kiss his parents before sending them off on their way.

"We don’t need your money. Stop throwing it in their faces." He mutters angrily.

"I didn’t give it to them to show off or because they can’t survive without it. It was my way of appreciating their

hospitality and the help they offered before we met. They graciously accepted it like they would any other gift.

Don’t read unnecessary meanings into it. Now, are we doing this or what?"

He leans back on his chair. "Adriana Hutton."

"What?"

"Zoe goes by Adriana Hutton now."

Something unfurls in my chest. "And you're being completely honest right now?"

"I gave my word in front of my parents. | am telling the truth!"

When | return home, my chest is bubbling with excitement. Not only was Keith forthcoming with information

about Zoe or Adriana, he even promised to drawa recent picture of her.

| find my brothers in the groom. | contemplate telling them about our lost sister and the progress | am

making so far but decide against it when Asher calls my attention.

"You're late!"

"| didn’t know we were supposed to have a meeting." My mood changes at the sight of Ashley. He hasn't even

deigned to apologize toeven though | have no plans to forgive him easily. He is sulking as usual. Ashal also

looks downcast. Am | missing something?

"You would know if you bothered to check your phone."

"I was held up in a meeting."

"Weren't we all?" Asher rises to his feet. He has his serious business face on. "We haven't had a meeting in a

while and | have seen how badly things have been going wrong on different ends. We are all losing focus of the

most important thing in our lives; our familial bond. Without that, everything we've built all our lives crumbles;

our peace, prosperity, love for each other, happiness, every damn thing that even money can’t buy." He stares

across all the faces in the room.

"I have cto discover a few disturbing facts about each of us in this room. I'll let you all be men and handle

your business but if you disappoint this family and allow anything or anyone to tarnish our image or shatter our

bond, | will personally side with father and go to any length to preserve this family and her reputation."

Despite his cryptic warning, no one challenges him. Somehow, | suspect my brothers know what Asher is talking

about. They bob their heads silently while | look perplexed.

After Asher drops the fatherly reprimand and settles back to his regular self, | decide against telling my brothers

about Adriana just yet. I'll wait till | meet her first. My phone beeps. When | open the message, it's a picture of

my sister, drawn by Keith. She's a sight for sore eyes!

Another message pops in.

[Adriana reached back to me. She will like to meet with you]