Page 69 of The Other Side of Green

I snorted against his chest. “I’m beginning to think Grams should have kept less secrets. For a woman of God, she had more than Pandora’s box.”

“Maybe she was just trying to protect you, us.”

“Can’t stand the thought of you being my brother. Not after all this time; all the waiting, wanting, the heartbreak.”

He pulled back and studied my face.

“I always wanted you to be so much more.”

“And I will be, I promise.”

“Jack, you can’t promise me that, it’s not yours to make.” I hesitated and then steeled my resolve. “Alex and Eva want me to fly back with them to Boston tonight.”

“What?” His gaze widened and then hardened. “You can’t be seriously thinking of leaving without us finding a resolution.

“Jack, I don’t have any reason to be here. Mom says I can’t stay here. Where the hell am I meant to go?”

“Stay with Luca. Anywhere. We just need to get the DNA test done. I’m sure we can organize it tomorrow.” The hesitation flickered on his face.

“What? Spit it out.”

“So you are going back, to college?”

“Where else do I have to go? And I can’t let other people fight for me and not fight for myself.”

His smile widened. “That’s my girl.”

I couldn’t smile back. How could I? I might never get to be his girl. Might be something else instead.

“Stay one day. Tomorrow I will search the earth if I have to, to get a test done. It will prove what I know in my heart. You are not my sister.” He chuckled low and shook his head. “I can’t understand why you’d even believe the lie.”

“Don’t we need your dad’s DNA too?”

“Well,” His smile lifted at the left-hand side. “I only became an expert about half an hour ago, and admittedly it was Rhian who put on the doctor coat, but I think we can be tested against one another to see what genetic markers we have that are similar.”

My gut twisted. “I’m scared it will tell us something I don’t want to know.”

“Me too.” Slowly he leaned forward and brushed his lips across my cheeks. Nothing brotherly about it. “So you’ll stay? You won’t go back and fight a race row until we know?”

I laughed. “I’d rather not be fighting any race row. Especially as I might not even be black. How embarrassing would that be?”

“Lyra.’ He lifted my chin again. “It doesn’t matter what color you are. The fact is they shouldn’t have done it.”

“Have you… have you, heard from them, Miriam?”

“Strangely, no.”

“They can’t be letting you go that easily, can they?”

His lips pressed into a line. “I doubt it. But right now we’ve got other things to worry about.”

I pushed out of his grasp. “I’ve got something for you.”

That left lip hitch warmed his face again.

I stepped for my closet and pulled open the doors, then lowering to my knees I pulled up the loose panel at the bottom. Dragging the plastic packet from underneath I then straightened up and turned back for Jack.

“Here.”