Free Double Trouble by Erosa Knowles Page B

after seeing the caller ID. “Did you open the letter?” She worried over his response if he'd read Trinity’s card.
    “No. I put it in your room. Got a call from Adam’s job.”
    Her heart slammed into her chest and she was sure she would have fallen if not for Donnie and Blaine. “What happened?” she whispered, afraid of what he might say.
    “No…nothing that serious. He fell and is at the emergency room, they need you to pick him up. That’s all.”
    Abe’s “that’s all” was a lot in her opinion. “Where is he? Which hospital?” Donnie and Blaine stepped back giving her some space. “Okay, I’ll head over there now.”
    “What’s wrong with Adam?” Blaine asked, drawing her attention.
    “He’s been hurt, I’ve got to get to the hospital.” She glanced at the address on her phone again. She unlocked her car door and sat down inside, quickly punching the directions into the map program in her car.
    “Not seriously, I hope?” Donald asked.
    Anything that required a doctor’s visit was serious to her. “He fell from the back of a truck at work.”
    “Who’s Abe?” Blaine asked at the same time.
    “My son, Adam’s twin.” She gazed up at them as the GPS gave its first direction. The slack-jawed expressions on their faces would have been comical if her son wasn’t hurt.
    “You have twins?” Donald whispered as he stepped closer.
    “I have a son?” Blaine asked with what sounded suspiciously like hope and excitement.
    “I have twin boys. From you.” She pointed at each of them as her face warmed. Not knowing exactly who her sons’ father was had always been a sticky point for her. It was hard to explain to anyone who didn’t know these two. But telling them she didn’t know which of them fathered her sons embarrassed the hell out of her. “I have to check this out.”
    “We’ll go with you.” Donald slid into the back seat.
    “Tell us what’s been going on,” Blaine said, walking on her other side.
    “What kind of truck?” Donald asked.
    “Where is Abe?” Blaine asked.
    Exasperated, yet pleased with their concern, she took a moment to pull the seatbelt across her chest. How much to tell them? If her memory was correct, they wouldn’t stop until they were satisfied with her answers. Stubborn as pit bulls, that’s what she had called them when they… She shook her head to cancel the direction of her thoughts. It was too late for that. Things had changed. She bit back a sigh of regret.
    “I am headed to the hospital now…Adam's been having a hard time adjusting to the city. It’s a bit different from what he, what we’re used to. But there was no one else…” she did not want to air her family’s sordid history with them. It was taking everything within her to remain focused on getting to Adam rather than the two men sitting in her car.
    “Has this happened before?” Blaine asked from the front passenger seat.
    Exhaling, she nodded. “Yeah, like I said, he’s having a bit of a problem adjusting to the area.
    “Tell us about him, we’d like to…” Blaine paused and she wondered at his hesitation.
    “We’d like to meet him and his brother,” Donald said from the back seat.
    Now that she knew they had not known of the boys before, the request to meet their sons was no surprise. If they hadn’t, she would have been shocked. But she needed to process everything first and Adam’s health took precedence.
    “We’ll discuss that later, right now I’ve got to see about my son. Now’s not the time to catch up.” She pulled out of the space, forcing her thoughts away from the punch in her gut. Their father lied. They had not known… all these years.
    An internal war raged. Anger fought reason. Reason unleashed hope. Hope pleaded that she forgive. Memories of her struggles through the years fed her anger. Uncertainty reared its head and she shut it down.
    “Adam is in a mentoring program, he was doing fairly well. Or I thought he was.” Lately, he'd been