Chevelle's Story

chapter 27

Six encounters that make you realize your brother is not just your brother. That he is a complete person outside of you—outside of your family. He is a lover, a joker, a thinker, a fiancé, a problem-solver, a guardian, a loud heart and a quiet mouth. He is an elegy, carried to the other side by the broken wings of an eagle. Bits of himself scattered across everything he touches, everywhere he looks, everywhere he breathes.

1

You arrive at your brother's house and he opens the door donning a striped peach and white apron. He smiles at you and it is the kind of smile that lights up his entire being. You feel welcome here.

You enter the house and officially meet your brother's fiancée. She is in kitchen wearing a matching apron of her own, and you watch as they cook dinner together. He is familiar with the kitchen, and it shows. You are not used to seeing your brother outside of your parents' home, and it shows.

At home, your mother does not allow your brother to cook because 'that is not what men do,' and your brother, being as soft spoken as he is, he never fights it. But you can see here that he enjoys himself in the kitchen. That his ever-wandering mind appreciates the challenge of an intricate meal. You can see that, in this moment, he is actually the one running things in this kitchen.

He is not here to appease his future wife; he is not here to impress. He is here because he wants to be.

2

You're eating dinner later that evening; the meal was curried tilapia, roasted potatoes, and baked broccoli parmesan. You've had firsts, seconds, and another half plate that couldn't really be counted as thirds, but still, made all the difference.

As you finish your last potato, you tell your brother and his fiancée how great the meal was. You take your plate up to the kitchen and your brother follows your lead. He collects both his plate and his fiancée's plate, and you can see from the way she doesn't argue—the way she just looks into his eyes and smiles—that he does this often. That she has grown used to being looked after by him.

3

You are with your brother's fiancée in her bedroom, having your first of many heart-to-hearts, and already, you feel like old friends. You are sharing stories of your brother with each other—allowing each other to learn more about who he is on the other side. You have been sitting here for hours, the conversation like a well that fills itself up from the soil below.

Once you've said it all, more always comes.

Your brother enters the room to bring you both some mint ginger tea. Neither of you asked him for it, but you didn't need to. Your brother already knows that his fiancée likes to have something warm whenever she stays up late.

He smiles at his fiancée and then looks between the two of you. No suspicion, no mistrust, only a subdued happiness. You can see that your brother is pleased by the sight of his fiancée getting to know his sister. That her happiness is his happiness, her joy is his joy.

When your brother leaves, his fiancée sips her tea and tells you of how he does this for her most nights—often without even thinking about it. How it had become part of his routine. A warm drink for her and some stolen kisses for him; their two midnight snacks.

She tells you of how she had mentioned to him that she always drinks something warm before she can fall asleep at night. She had mentioned it just once, back before they ever lived together—one night when they were up late talking on the phone—and he had never forgotten.