Chapter 4 - My Other Name
We went upstairs together.
Mom tried to stop us.
Michael didn’t touch her.
He simply said:
“Diane, if the truth is harmless, let her see it.”
She stopped.
That frightened me more than screaming.
The green box sat beneath winter blankets in her closet.
I had seen it hundreds of times.
Never cared.
Now my hands shook as I unlocked it.
Inside were old photographs.
Court papers.
Medical records.
A tiny hospital bracelet.
And a birth certificate.
I picked it up.
BROOKE ELIZABETH REEVES.
Father:
MICHAEL REEVES.
Mother:
DIANE REEVES.
I stared at Mom.
“Reeves?”
Michael answered quietly.
“We were married.”
My head snapped toward him.
Mom had never been married before Gary.
At least that was what she told me.
Then I saw another certificate.
ETHAN MATTHEW REEVES.
My confusion deepened.
Michael shook his head.
“That one’s not real.”
Mom whispered:
“Michael…”
“What?”
He pointed at the document.
“I never signed that.”
I stared.
Ethan’s birth date was nine years ago.
Michael had supposedly been gone for seventeen.
“How could you be listed as his father?”
“I’m not.”
“Then who is?”
Silence.
Gary turned away.
My stomach dropped.
I looked at him.
“No.”
Gary’s jaw clenched.
Mom started crying.
Ethan stared at us.
I lowered my voice.
“Ethan, go sit in my room.”
“No.”
“Please.”
“I want to know too.”
He was nine.
Terrified.
But he deserved the truth about himself.
Michael crouched so they were eye level.
“You should know something first.”
Ethan looked at him.
“Whatever the paper says, Brooke is still your sister.”
Ethan immediately reached for my hand.
I almost cried.
Then Michael stood.
He pulled another document from the box.
A paternity test.
Gary Carter.
Probability of paternity:
99.99%.
I looked at Gary.
“You’re Ethan’s father.”
“Yes.”
The word barely came out.
I stared at Mom.
“So Michael is my father.”
“Yes.”
“Gary is Ethan’s father.”
“Yes.”
“And you forged Michael’s name onto Ethan’s birth certificate?”
Mom’s shoulders collapsed.
“I had reasons.”
Michael laughed once.
No humor.
“You always had reasons.”
Then I found the death certificate.
Michael Reeves.
Cause of death:
Motor vehicle accident.
State:
Ohio.
But something was wrong.
The Social Security number had only the last four digits visible.
Michael looked at it.
“That isn’t mine.”
I looked closer.
The date of birth was wrong too.
By two days.
“This is fake.”
He nodded.
Mom closed her eyes.
Gary muttered:
“Diane, tell her.”
She turned on him.
“You tell her!”
The room went silent.
Gary looked at me.
Then Ethan.
Finally he said:
“Your mother didn’t fake Michael’s death alone.”
My stomach dropped.
“Who helped her?”
Gary looked toward the box.
“There’s another name in those papers.”
I searched.
Then found a notarized affidavit.
Signed seventeen years ago.
Witness:
THOMAS REEVES.
Michael went completely still.
I looked at him.
“Who’s Thomas?”
May you like
His face changed.
“My brother.”
