Gemini
Prologue
1998
I worshipped my father. You hear that is what little boys do and that is exactly what I did. He was a big man, freckled with a shock of red hair combed straight over the top of his head. He always wore a suit and smelled like starch, drying cleaning and leather.
Daddy always drove a nice car. This year it was a 1998 BMW 5 Series. To Daddy, appearance was everything and this was his first big purchase. I guess that should have been Mama's clue right then. Daddy was moving up in the world and Mama still had her feet mired in the Florida sand.
Daddy was still a young man back then who was climbing up the ladder in the South Florida real estate market at the height of the Clinton boom years. But the hours were long and he worked late and came home even later. Sometimes when Daddy kissed me and my brother goodnight I wondered why Daddy smelled more like perfume instead of leather.
Tony and I had noticed that Mama was crying more and more and that Daddy and her were yelling behind closed doors. But this last week had been the worst and I had hardly seen Daddy at all. But what happened next turned my world upside down.
Now you have to understand that me and my brother were the best brothers in the whole world. We were twins, and that meant that we were supposed to be together. We stood up for each other on the playground, we shared our toys, we shared our books, we shared everything.
I was the older by a whole fifteen minutes and that meant I was the protector. Nobody got away with pushing my brother around. Tony, he was the brains. He was the one that charmed the deli lady at the Publix grocery store out of more cookies when Mama was not looking. He's the one that snuck up behind the bully on the playground on his hands and knees so I could push the bully down. We were only six, but by God we knew what it was to have a good wingman even then.
But that all went to hell that night when Daddy came home.
Me and Tony were in our room playing on our bunk bed when we heard Mama start screaming. "NO! No! No! You can take my baby away from me Edward! You just can't!"
We could hear Daddy's muffled yelling through the door. "Shut up Elizabeth. The court's decision is final. You get Eddie and I get Tony! Now I'm giving you three weeks to pack your shit and get the hell out of my life so I can sell this damned house."
Mommy was nearly hysterical. "Edward Masen! Don't you dare seperate those two! You know it will break their hearts."
"I don't care Elizabeth. I know that Irina wants just one kid and one kid only, and that's all I'm bringing home."
Mommy was screeching by this point. "Irina! That whore you've been cheating on me with? I will be god damned if that bitch gets within twenty miles of my baby."
"That's where you're wrong Elizabeth. Tony is mine and I can do with him as I please."
That was the last time I saw my brother. Daddy slammed the door open, grabbed Tony by the arm and dragged him out hollering and screeching the whole way. Daddy did not even stop to grab Tony some clothes.
I grabbed Curious George off Tony's bed and threw it to him as they were headed out the door. George was his favorite stuffed animal and losing him would have killed him for sure. I was the protector, remember?
I never saw Tony again after that day. Later on I learned that Mommy and Daddy's divorce was not "amicable". Daddy cheated on her and to her that was an unforgivable sin.
I never mentioned Tony to Mommy either. Every time I did she would start crying and would tell me to go to my room. Even after she married Garrett and had my little sister Charlotte and little brother Peter she never responded when I tried to talk to her about Tony.
After a while I guess I wondered if Tony ever even existed or if my twin was just some fantasy I had cooked up in my six year old head. The only thing I had to prove he was real was a picture I had hidden in the treasure box in the bottom of my closet. It was the only one Mommy never found and burned.