Absolute

25

I thought for sure Gabriel would have an outfit change for me in mind. But to my surprise, and maybe a little bit to my horror, he, Kota, me, and Mr. Blackbourne all got into the same car and drove in the opposite direction that the others left in.

Kota had given his mother a kiss and a hug goodbye at the funeral, and I heard him promise her that he'd be home tonight. I wondered if I'd feel whatever Kota felt towards his mother, towards Lia today.

Probably not, I reasoned with myself.

We drove on roads that were vaguely familiar to me, but it wasn't until we pulled into the hospital parking lot that I realized where we were. I made mental note to study a map of our town and the surrounding areas. I felt like a child not knowing anything.

Sean got into the car and leaned forward to drop a kiss on top of my head, as he sat behind me. Mr. Blackbourne looked as if he expected nothing less, but still managed to sound scolding as he told Sean to buckle up.

We drove away from the hospital, onto the freeway. We only drove on the freeway for another thirty minutes before Mr. Blackbourne was exiting, turning down roads and getting deeper into a little down I'd never heard the name of.

I remembered how me and the baby I'd been swapped with had only been born an hour away from each other. Had Dad been moving both families with each other to make it easier on himself?

We pulled up to a gate, and Mr. Blackbourne leaned out of his window to punch a code into the keypad, making the automatic gate lurch as it opened for us.

"Do they live in a gated community?"

Mr. Blackbourne looked over at me while he rolled up his window, tilting his head a bit.

"They own this estate," he said, as he urged the car forward.

I turned to look behind us, watching as they gate closed on its own and got smaller as we drove away from it. Sean winked at me from the back seat, and Gabriel offered me a small smile. Kota was tapping at his phone, so I don't think he noticed.

I faced the front again, realizing I was missing what was in front of me. A hand rested on my shoulder, and I reached up to place mine on top of my favorite doctor's hands. Mr. Blackbourne reached out and petted his hand on my leg, once, twice, before retreating back to his own bubble.

I wasn't sure who had blushed more over it, but I was glad the peanut gallery in the backseat had no comments. The driveway was lined with pretty trees and it looked like the grounds were well kept.

I mildly wondered how many people had to live here to keep up with how much there was to do just outside. I tried to picture the house we were coming up on, but I soon realized my imagination did not compare to this reality.

The house was easily able to fit mine, Kota's, and Nathan's inside without touching each other and with room to spare. It was so large that when I tried to count the windows on the front side alone, I felt like I'd missed some part way in and had to restart counting several times.

I gave up when I saw the three boys come out of the front door. Two I recognized from memory, but the smallest one I knew I'd only seen in a picture, long ago. I hadn't focused on them very much when I'd seen the picture, but I knew he'd been much younger looking in the picture.

I realized that other than Ben, I didn't know how old my brothers were.

The car had stopped without me realizing, and when Sean opened my door for me, I scrambled to unbuckle myself and hop out of the car. When I did, something fell down to the gravel driveway and I heard it break before I realized exactly what it was.