Chapter 2 - The Brother I Never Knew
Nobody moved.
I kept staring at the photograph.
The man was younger in it than he had been the night he died.
Maybe twenty-six.
Maybe twenty-seven.
Dark hair.
Square jaw.
A crooked smile.
There was something disturbingly familiar about his eyes.
My eyes.
“No.”
It was the only word I could manage.
My father gripped the back of his chair.
“Vivian—”
“No.”
I picked up the photograph.
On the back, written in faded blue ink, were three words.
Daniel. Kuwait. 2002.
My fingers went cold.
Nathan took one step toward me.
I lifted my hand.
He stopped immediately.
“Who was he?”
Dad looked at Mom.
That made me angrier.
“Don’t look at her. Look at me.”
My mother began crying.
“Vivian, please.”
“Who was he?”
Dad sat.
For the first time in my life, Robert Morgan looked old.
“His name was Daniel Mercer.”
I knew the name.
Petty Officer Daniel Mercer.
Attached temporarily to a joint reconnaissance element.
The man we had spent forty-seven minutes trying to save.
The man whose blood had soaked through my gloves.
The man who had grabbed my wrist and whispered something I had never understood.
Tell him I tried.
I had assumed he meant his commanding officer.
Or his father.
Or God.
My stomach turned.
“Daniel Mercer was my brother?”
Dad nodded.
“How?”
He looked down.
“Before I met your mother, I was involved with a woman named Elaine Mercer.”
Mom’s eyes closed.
Dad continued.
“We were young. I left. I didn’t know she was pregnant until years later.”
“How many years?”
“Seven.”
“You knew about him before I was born?”
“Yes.”
The word nearly knocked me backward.
“You knew.”
“I tried to make contact.”
“Did you?”
“Once.”
“And?”
“Elaine wanted nothing from me.”
“So you walked away.”
“I thought it was what she wanted.”
I laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“You’re good at that.”
“Vivian.”
“You walked away from him, and then you spent my entire life mocking me for walking toward things everyone else was afraid of.”
“That's not fair.”
Nathan’s head turned sharply toward him.
I saw the commander in his expression again.
Dad saw it too.
He stopped.
Lillian stood.
“Dad, how long have you known Daniel died in Basra?”
Silence.
That was the question.
Dad’s eyes dropped to the photograph.
“Twenty years.”
My mother sobbed.
I felt something inside me crack.
“You knew?”
“I received a notification through an old contact.”
“And you knew I was there.”
“Yes.”
“You knew I had served in the same operation?”
“Not immediately.”
“When did you find out?”
His silence answered.
I stepped closer.
“When?”
“After you came home.”
The scar beneath my ribs seemed to burn.
“You knew I was wounded.”
“Yes.”
“You knew Daniel died.”
“Yes.”
“And you never thought to ask whether I knew him?”
Dad covered his face.
“I was afraid.”
“Of what?”
“That you would discover what kind of father I had been.”
The answer was so selfish that for several seconds I couldn’t speak.
Twenty years of silence.
Not to protect me.
To protect himself.
Nathan’s hand tightened around the back of his chair.
Lillian whispered, “Oh my God.”
Dad looked at me.
“I didn't know you were with him when he died.”
“Then why keep his picture?”
His eyes filled.
“Because he was my son.”
“No. He was Elaine’s son. You were a photograph he probably never got.”
Dad flinched.
Mom stepped between us.
“Vivian, your father made terrible mistakes.”
I looked at her.
“How long have you known?”
She froze.
That hurt worse.
“Mom.”
“Since 2005.”
The room seemed to tilt.
“You both knew.”
“I begged him to tell you.”
“But you didn’t.”
“I thought it had to come from him.”
“You had twenty years.”
“I know.”
The words came out broken.
I looked around the room.
Forty strangers had witnessed my family split open.
I wanted air.
I walked toward the balcony.
“Vivian.”
Nathan followed.
Outside, harbor wind hit my face.
I gripped the railing.
For several seconds neither of us spoke.
Then Nathan said, “I didn’t know.”
“I know.”
“If I had—”
“You couldn’t have.”
I stared at the darkening water.
“I remember him.”
Nathan stood beside me.
“He was funny.”
That surprised me.
“You knew Daniel?”
“Only for a few days.”
Nathan smiled faintly.
“He cheated at cards.”
I almost laughed.
“He did.”
“He owed me forty dollars.”
“He owed everybody money.”
Nathan looked at me.
“You remember that?”
“He told me while I was trying to stop him from bleeding to death.”
Nathan’s smile disappeared.
I shut my eyes.
“He kept talking. People do that sometimes when they’re scared. He told me about a motorcycle. A woman named Rebecca. A dog he had when he was twelve.”
I swallowed.
“And then he said, ‘Tell him I tried.’”
Nathan stared at me.
“I always wondered who ‘him’ was.”
Behind us, the balcony door opened.
Dad stepped outside.
I turned.
He was holding another envelope.
“This belonged to Daniel.”
I didn’t move.
“He mailed it to me three weeks before he died.”
Dad held it out.
“I never answered.”
I stared at the envelope.
My name wasn’t on it.
His was.
Robert Morgan.
I took it.
The paper inside was yellowed.
The handwriting was Daniel’s.
I knew immediately because I had signed his casualty paperwork.
I began reading.
The first lines were ordinary.
Then I reached the final paragraph.
My knees nearly gave way.
Daniel had written:
I found out you have daughters.
I don’t want money.
I don’t want your name.
I just want to know whether they know I exist.
Then one final sentence.
If I don't come home, please tell them they had a brother.
I looked at my father.
“You had this for twenty years?”
“Yes.”
“And you said nothing?”
Dad began crying.
“I was ashamed.”
I folded the letter carefully.
Then I walked past him.
Because if I stayed, I knew I would say something I could never take back.
Lillian caught me near the doorway.
“Vivian.”
“Not tonight.”
“Please.”
I expected her to ask me to stay for the wedding.
Instead she wrapped her arms around me.
My body stiffened.
Then she whispered:
“I wish I had known him.”
That broke something entirely different.
I hugged my sister.
“So do I.”
She pulled back.
“Will you still come tomorrow?”
I looked at Nathan.
Then at my parents.
Then at Daniel’s photograph in my hand.
“I don’t know.”
Lillian nodded through tears.
“I understand.”
I walked toward the exit.
But Nathan called my name.
“Admiral.”
I turned.
He was holding the challenge coin.
“You should take this.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
He looked confused.
“I gave it to you for a reason.”
Nathan closed his fingers around it.
Then I added:
“But tomorrow, give it to Lillian.”
His eyes softened.
I left the yacht club alone.
Halfway across the parking lot, my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I almost ignored it.
Then something made me answer.
“Rear Admiral Morgan?”
A man’s voice.
“Yes.”
“My name is Thomas Mercer.”
I stopped walking.
Mercer.
“I’m Daniel’s son.”
My breath caught.
May you like
“And I think your father has lied to you about more than you know.”
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