Friday Graham noticed an email from the dna test company. He was very tempted to open it, but since he'd told Aubrey that he'd wait, he did. Plus he'd waited 6 weeks, what was one more day?
That night Aubrey came and stayed over again. They tried one of the things the therapist had that the therapist had suggested and Graham felt they were moving in a positive direction. It was taxing his patience, but he convinced himself that Aubrey was worth it. Even if their relationship didn't last, he knew that he'd be happier with himself for helping her heal. Although the thought of them not working out made him feel slightly ill.
Saturday morning they made their way to Aubrey's apartment. They had agreed to meet with everyone at 11. When they walked in Graham was surprised to see that the apartment had been cleaned more than normal.
"Wow, did you guys do some Spring cleaning?" Graham asked.
"No, Gina's parents decided to come visit and will be here this afternoon, so we tried to make it look better." Aubrey said and Graham nodded.
"Well, now everyone's here, shall we sit and open our emails and see if there's anything shocking?" Lauren joked. "Actually, how were we going to do this?"
"I think all opening at the same time works." Aubrey said.
"Sure, let's do it that way." Gina agreed.
Graham sat next to Aubrey, and pulled out his laptop. He opened his email and was directed to the website as he'd suspected which is why he hadn't just used his phone. He logged in and it loaded. His face went white. It listed his parents as living! Russell and Samantha Reynolds. He then noticed that he had a sibling listed. Georgiana Reynolds, he turned to look at Gina. Could she possible be his sister, or was there another girl by the same name. His head was spinning.
Aubrey looked over at him at that moment and asked, "Is everything okay Graham?" He just shook his head and showed her the screen.
Aubrey gasped, "I thought your parents were dead." He nodded. "And Gina, what does yours show?"
Gina looked over at them and said, "Graham is my brother."
"You mean your brother that was kidnapped as a toddler?"
"Wait, what?"
"You were right!"
It took a few minutes for the shock and outbursts to settle down. Graham noticed he was shaking. He now knew that his whole life had been a lie. He didn't know what to believe or think. He just sat there and looked between all the people in the room and felt lost. He then wished he'd have opened his email in private the day before so he could have processed it without the extra people around. Then he turned to Gina.
"You knew?"
Gina took a breath, "No, I suspected that you could be but I didn't dare hope. My family has searched for my brother for my whole life. We've had many false hopes and I couldn't bring myself to really believe it could be you. But since you said I looked familiar and I look a lot like my mom and you do have a resemblance to my grandfather and to dad since they are so similar. I didn't want to have to explain it all and have it turn out you aren't my real brother. At that point this would have just been a fun little thing."
Graham had so many questions in his head, but the one that popped out was, "Is that why your parents decided to come visit today?"
Gina looked surprised. "Um, probably. They have done DNA tests with all the companies that have ever come out in case you ever did one. They probably got a notification and wanted to come tell me in person. They probably already sent you a notice that they wanted to connect with you in your profile."
"This is crazy. Is my Aunt even my Aunt?"
"I can tell you that she isn't either of our parents sibling, but I don't know who she is." Gina said.
"I need to hear your side of the story."
"Like from when we met or from when you were taken?" Gina asked.
"Let's go all the way back." Graham said. Aubrey put her hand on his back and he was very grateful for her presence there.
"You were kidnapped before I was born. Mom was actually pregnant with me when it happened. She hadn't been feeling well but went to the park with you and some friends and their kids. She noticed she hadn't seen you in a few minutes, but wasn't initially worried as that is a frequent occurrence with kids playing at the park. But as they looked for you, it was as if you had just vanished. No one had seen anything. The police and FBI were involved and still nothing. Mom has never given up. People think she lost it and is crazy but she always said that she knew you were still alive because she would have felt it if you died. That's why she and Dad did all the DNA tests and still do with every one that comes out.
"When we met I had a strange feeling that you might be him, but I also knew it was a long shot. That is why I knew I had to convince you to do this because it would show if my gut feeling was right or if you were just a look alike to Dad and Grandpa. I became more suspicious the more I learned about your past."
"That's why you we're always so interested when I talked about him!" Aubrey gasped.
"More interested than I would have been, yes." Gina said. "Graham I know this has been a shock to you, and can see you need time to process it. I want to be here for you and help in any way possible. I also know Mom and Dad don't know where you are right now but would love to meet you. But before you meet them, you should probably know that Graham isn't what they will call you."
"So you're telling me that even my name is a lie?!?"
"Actually I'm guessing it is probably that they didn't understand your name right when you were kidnapped and got close. Your given name was Grant. I was told you had a speech delay when you were young so it would have been easy for them to misunderstand."
Graham stood. "This is a bit for me to take in. I need to take a walk." And looking at his hand still holding Aubreys. He squeezed her hand and said "I need to be alone for a bit, I don't want you to think I'm pushing you away."
Aubrey nodded but could tell she was hurt, but he had his own hurt to deal with so he couldn't worry about hers right then. "Thanks. I'm going to leave my stuff here, I'll be back later to get it."
"No problem Graham." Gina said.