Family Secrets

The First Night

"Goodnight, Olivia. Sweet dreams." My mom said tucking my little sister in to bed. Her room was across the hall and with both of our doors open, I knew I was the last awake. Alex fell asleep at ten. Luke went to bed not long after and now at eleven thirty, Olivia is asleep. I smirked at this. My uncles and dad are downstairs, and Mom will join them shortly. I don't know why Luke isn't interested but I love sneaking down to listen to everything they talk about. I like finding out the little family secrets from the past. The mom and dad we don't know.

Once I heard Uncle Nick groan and the wine cork pop, I knew I was clear to sneak to the stairs in order to listen to their conversation, as they were all on the lowest level of our home. Sometimes the layout of the house was annoying but when I wanted the eavesdrop, the stairs were perfect. I could hear Uncle Jonathan laughing at dumb jokes the group had from their past. I loved hearing them all together. It's nice for Mom and Dad.

"So Amelia's nineteen now. Are we gonna have another you two happening?" Uncle Nick asked. I tried not to laugh. When my parents met, my mom was nineteen and dad was twenty-three. They met through mutual friends and would occasionally flirt back and forth but nothing came of it until Mom was twenty-one. There was no way I would be like my mom considering I have only had one boyfriend in my life and that was a good two years ago.

"No. She's really focusing in on school. She hasn't dated anyone since Drew when she was sixteen." Mom told my uncle. My dad laughed. Him and my uncles never really cared for Drew so when that ended I knew they were happy secretly. For the next half hour, my parents caught my uncles up on everything they had missed with my siblings since being gone. It got quiet so I peaked around the corner, trying to see if they had dozed off. They hadn't. Mom was putting her dark brown hair up into a bun. Dad was cleaning the lenses of his glasses. Uncle Nick seemed to have headed to the bathroom while Uncle Jonathan was looking for more drinks for everyone in the fridge. Well, I assumed. I could only see the reflection of the light in the fridge off of his shiny, bald head and glasses.

Once everyone returned to their seats, I knew I was finally going to get the secrets I was waiting for. Uncle Jonathan's brown eyes connected with my dad's green eyes. I knew the big guns were coming.

"So. Are you ever going to show them the band?" Uncle Jonathan asked. Uncle Nick let out a laugh. A band? Who had a band?

"Which one?" Dad shot back. No way. How did Dad have a band and Luke and I never found out about it?

"Well, not ours. No one else needs to hear that one." Uncle Nick stated, clearly being a bit too prideful to discuss that phase. Dad shrugged. Luke and I have some serious digging to do tomorrow. Uncle Nick slammed his bear and went to grab another. The light of the fridge now making his brown eyes much more apparent.

"Ok ok. Enough about us, tell us how home has been." Mom said breaking the awkward silence. Uncle Nick laughed. Uncle Jonathan looked down.

"Well, if you must know," Uncle Nick stated, "I got kicked out by Melissa because I was talking to a female coworker about work at a bar about a month ago. But I have seen Delilah and Jake so they're doing well. They don't entirely understand everything though. They just keep asking me to come home from work earlier." I froze. Aunt Melissa kicked out Uncle Nick. I continued peaking around the corner to see that my parents had the same shocked reaction. How could she do that?

"Yeah. I will say, Henry loves having Uncle Nick so close to make breakfast everyday though. Big fan of Irish breakfast." Uncle Jonathan said, with a slight chuckle. Everyone exchanged awkward half-laughs. "But Lucy loves the help around the house and it's great having a buddy so close."

"And I always thought Allan would be living on my couch. Not me on someone else's." Uncle Nick said with a sigh. The four sat in silence for a while. I didn't know what to do. I clearly wasn't supposed to know of this and now I feel like I need to help but I can't do much good in this situation. The awkward silence was broke by Uncle Nick after a few minutes.

"So, Jenny, how have you been doing?" He spoke.

"I've been good. We've all been pretty good. The hospital isn't too busy and Allan's been doing great at the park district so we're doing pretty good." Mom explained.

Things were calming down so I wouldn't get my drama. I heard Uncle Jonathan groan, which is the international symbol of a dad standing up. I turned and crept back into my room. I heard him and Dad come up the stairs, leaving my mom and Uncle Nick in the basement. After waiting fifteen minutes and hearing some snores from Uncle Jonathan, I crept back to the stairs.

"But really, how have you been doing?" Uncle Nick said, now sitting next to Mom. Her blue eyes seeming the pierce through the dim-lit room. She sighed.

"It's tough. We are so far from everyone. Brad and Allan's parents come out a lot since, you know, they're outdoorsy but I feel like I haven't seen my family or my girl friends in forever. It's hard but the kids are happy and he's so happy. It works." She said, sounding defeated. Suddenly, I wished I wasn't listening. I wish I could have unheard the sadness in my mom's voice. I see my uncle pull her into a hug. The two of them were always really close and it almost felt like they were siblings to each other.

"You two did a great job with these kids. Amelia grew up so fast. Same with Luke. Alex and Olivia have so much excitement for the world. You two did a great job. Better than I could have." Uncle Nick stated while finishing off his beer. "Hey, you remember when you used to only drink shots or vodka cranberries?" He added. Mom nodded. "You've come a long way yourself. Drinking wise and in general. Don't beat yourself up for missing people. You have gone through a lot and I'm sorry for that. I really am." He gave her one last hug then stood up. Mom stood up with him and the two headed for the stairs. I crept back into my room and laid there, listening to them both come up and then part to their own rooms.

Once the coast was clear, I snuck out once more to go find Luke. He was awake and just sitting in his room in the dark. It was about three in the morning so he slept a decent amount. He looked at me confused.

"Why are you up?" He questioned. I shushed him and sat next to him.

"I found out a lot tonight. Maybe more than I should have but we have some internet searching to do. Dad had two bands, one with Uncle Nick. We gotta find them." And thus began, the search to find our father's secrets.