Sunsets and storms ✓

Chapter 25

MEGAN

Last night we ended up getting drunk enough, but I'm glad I don't have a hangover. Matthew and I ended up sleeping in our own rooms. We didn't want our first time together to be while drunk and we didn't trust our drunken selves enough to sleep in the same bed and not have anything happen. Especially after our little toilet adventure. I hear my phone ringing from somewhere inside the house.

"Hi, I'm looking for Megan Brown."

"This is she."

"I'm Owen Davis. Is it correct that your mother is Leonora Callas?"

"According to my birth certificate, yes. I have never met the women as far as I'm concerned."

"In that case we have the same mother according to our birth certificates."

Can someone hit pause? Or just hit stop. What the hell is going on. This must be a joke right. I don't even respond to this Owen dude as I try to process this. He continues explaining.

"I'm three years older than you, Leonora left my dad for a few years but when I was seven she came back into our lives. She never spoke of another child."

Well thanks mum. Great to hear you actually ignored the existence of your daughter. He continues his story.

He got a phone call from a Greek lawyer contacting him about an inheritance. My, or our, grandparents arranged for Leonora to get as little as possible, the rest of their inheritance was to be divided by the remaining relatives. I don't know if my grandparents knew I might have had a sibling, but I won't be able to ask them. The lawyers found out that my mum had two children and therefore we can both claim part of the inheritance.

Owen tells me about how he found out about me, about our mother and about himself. I'm still a little hesitant, but Owen promises to send me everything via email so I can take my time to go through everything. He says he kept some sort of journal from the moment he got that first phone call.

I see the email pop up on my phone right away. I promise him that I'll go through it and he tells me to take my time to process it since he's already known about me for a few weeks and still cannot wrap his head around having a sister he never knew of.

As soon as we end the call I start going through the documents he sent me. First a copy of his birth certificate, well we definitely have the same mother. I read through the journal. He wrote everything down so detailed, it's almost as if I was there with him. He also sent me a picture of him, with some personal information.

"Hey, what are you up to?"

I look up to find Matthew in the doorway, and empty glass in his hand.

"What's wrong?"

"I have a brother. And I didn't know for 21 years."

I don't know whether to cry or laugh. I've always wanted a sibling growing up, and here I was 21 years old and finding out I had one all along. Matthew seems rather confused and I don't blame him. If I hadn't heard that phone call with my own ears, I would not have believed it either.

And so I tell him about the call and about everything I've just read.

My mother has had a drug problem for decades. A few years after Owen was born she left and met my dad, two years later, when I was almost one, she left again. Only to be showing back up into Owen's life three years later. No one knows what she did in the meantime. Owen writes that she got into more and more problems because of drugs. She was in and out of rehab, but it never worked for longer than a few weeks. Owen had lost contact with her until he received that call a few weeks back. Leonora overdosed a few years ago and has been living in a care-house after suffering brain damage. Owen went to visit her once, to ask about me. She admitted to having another child with great difficulty, but managed to point Owen in the direction of some letters that were hidden in his father's attic. They were all letters from yaya sent to Leonora. They were about when she would come visit again, and later there were also letters about me. That's how Owen found out about who I was and that I was in contact with my grandparents before they died.

"Why would she do something like that? I spend all my life thinking I was an only child, and now I find out I have an older brother."

I cry on Matthew's shoulder as he holds me and slowly rubs circles on my back. Having him next to me makes me calm down a bit again.

"There's still plenty of time to get to know him. Tell me what you know about him so far?"

"He's moved to London with his girlfriend a few months ago. He's 24, studied English literature in college and wants to adopt a dog."

I show him the picture of Owen and his girlfriend that he send me in the email.

"You look so similar."

I take a better look at the picture. We do look alike. He has short, curly hair, the same brown colour as mine. The same green eyes. Our faces look a lot alike. There's no question we're related.

"Why don't you write down everything you want to ask or tell him and maybe we can call him later, or tomorrow."

I love how he says we. I've always had to go through everything in life by myself. This is just another issue I thought I had to face alone. Matthew makes it clear to me that he'll be right beside me for as long and as often as I need him.

"How can I be truly happy if I see you feeling miserable?"

I place my head back on his shoulder, this time without crying. I already soaked his shirt enough for today. All I can do is wonder what I did right in a past live to deserve someone like Matthew. He's so caring, making sure everyone around him is good. At that moment, I promise myself that I will spend the rest of my life loving him.

AN - I bet no one saw that coming. How do you feel about Megan finding out she has a brother?