CHAPTER 12

Tintin could feel the anticipation building up in his mind, something in him knew that there was a strong connection with this young man, could they be related? Alyssa parked the car in the driveway. The guy lived in a small stately home. There were a couple of bigger houses not too far away so Tintin surmised that they lived not too far from the landlord. There were wheat fields in the distance as well as tractors and a small pasture not too far away with a couple of cows grazing peacefully.

The scenery was relaxing, but this was a bit much for Tintin with all the excitement and yet the peaceful setting. They all got out of the car as Benton stood with his grey bowler on leading them to his front door.

"Welcome to my home friends, it's not much…" he welcomed. He opened the door and led them into a small den with two sofas and a small television by the front window. The furnishings were simple as an old rocking chair also sat near the window. The floor was littered with wooden blocks. The windows had long violet drapes as the walls were a lavender color. High up on a mantel above the fire place sat various glass jars that were all of a purple hue. The floors were made of hardwood and quite clean despite the mess of toys on the floor. Benton took off his coat and hat putting them on a coat rack behind the door.

"Someone must like the color purple" Alyssa commented.

"Yea, that's my wife, she loves purple" Benton laughed.

That moment Alyssa and Enzo could not stop comparing the uncanny resemblances of Tintin and Benton. The nose curves were exactly the same, the few freckles they had were almost in the same places on his face, and the green color for their eyes matched perfectly. They couldn't believe it.

"Please, sit down," Benton motioned as he disappeared down a small hallway.

"He's married with little ones!" Tintin thought amazed as they sat on the sofa finally noticing that in one corner a small castle like structure was built with the wooden blocks. The fire burned low by the fire place with a strong iron cage to keep curious children safe. A small wooden chest lay in the corner with more toys. More vague memories began flooding back to him; and in a distant past he remembered building a small town with another boy, possibly his brother, making a shop, a fire, police, and train station using wooden blocks. He could hear lots of laughter in this memory. He remembered lots of smiling and his mom and dad helping them even though he couldn't remember their faces as a single tear began to roll down his cheek.

"Tintin, are you ok?" Alyssa asked with concern noticing it almost looked like he was about to cry.

Enzo glanced at him in confusion trying to make sense of what was happening.

"Yes…" Tintin sniffled lightly rubbing his eyes returning back to the present.

Alyssa could see that this was an important moment for him and did not want ruin it.

"What time is it?" Enzo asked nervously.

"What did we tell you back in town Enzo?" Alyssa said a little annoyed.

"I'm sorry…" Enzo shifted uncomfortably.

They sat for a couple of minutes and could hear more footsteps and a woman's voice as Benton returned back to the main room. Tintin looked up eagerly to see who this young man's wife was. Benton came back out slowly leading two beautiful children, a boy and a girl almost identical in look. They both had blond hair while the girl had her father's green eyes and the boy had a greenish hazel color.

"Behave now, we have guests" Benton spoke to his children.

"Who's here dad?" the little boy asked curiously.

"Someone who helped daddy" Benton smiled as the children entered the living den waving. Suddenly a loud scratching was heard at the door.

"Oh Snowy, we forgot poor Snowy outside, do you mind if I let my dog in?" Tintin frowned.

"Of course!" Benton opened the door and Snowy came running in. The kids came over to pet him for a couple of minutes then returned back to their toys as Snowy lied next to Tintin.

Alyssa and Enzo smiled at the beautiful children as they quickly returned back to playing with their toys on the floor.

A woman walked in wearing a long green dress with a small brown house coat. She didn't appear to be a model of beauty, but more of a 'Plane Jane' kind of look. She had long golden brown hair braided all the way to her lower back. Her face was delicate looking and she stood only a few inches shorter than her husband. She had light amber colored brown eyes. One could tell by looking at her she was an active woman. She looked very lean and athletic.

"Hello everyone! My husband tells me how you stood up for him against those nasty scoundrels who strong arm folk around here," she replied in a sonorous tone.

"It was nothing, I wasn't going to stand there and let an innocent man get robbed" Tintin nodded.

"Lucille, this is Tintin, at least that's what he says…" he smiled jokingly introducing them.

"I'm sorry, but could the both of you tell me your names again?" Benton asked politely.

"I'm Alyssa, pleasure to meet you" she smiled.

"I am called Enzo" he bowed politely.

"No need to bow here, no royalty in this family" Lucille laughed.

"These are my children Matthew and Heidi" Benton finished. The two children looked up momentarily to acknowledge their father's introduction and quickly went back to playing with their toys. Heidi retrieved an old doll from the toy box that was made of rags.

Lucille suddenly became affixed to Tintin's face and kept looking back at her husband.

"Holy mackerel! You two look like you could be the same person!" Lucille exclaimed the more she stared at them both.

"Yes, the resemblance is amazing isn't?" Benton said as he too began to look at Tintin.

Alyssa and Enzo too could definitely see it the more they looked between the both of them.

"The facial structure, everything about them, the color hair, the eyes, even the stature…" Lucille pointed out.

"Dear could you fix us some tea?" Benton asked politely.

"Certainly" she dashed off to the kitchen.

"So Mr. Tintin, what is your last name?" Benton asked a bit more seriously.

"Truthfully, I don't know… I really don't have any birth records other than what I've been told-I've never really used a 'real' last name" he replied sadly.

"Horrible," Benton couldn't believe what he was hearing.

Enzo began playing with the kids on the floor making small blocked structures. Matthew began to watch Enzo carefully stack the blocks as Enzo was building a tower. Heidi remained content whispering to her doll near the toy box.

"So what do you remember of your past?" Benton sighed taking a deep breath.

"My earliest memory was maybe about nine maybe ten?" Tintin confessed.

"An orphanage?" Benton asked curiously.

"Yes, that's correct…" Tintin nodded.

"Outside Brussels?" Benton continued.

"Yes!" Tintin nodded liking where this was leading.

"That's where I was too!" Benton said in amazement. He quickly dashed back down the hall for a moment and returned with a really old photograph. It was black and white and a dingy manila color on all of the edges. The picture was of a young woman wearing a long white gown with her hair up holding a little boy's hand wearing similar Sunday clothing that Tintin remembered, while a young man with a thin mustache and goatee held another boy's hand dressed in the same outfit. Both boys were identical in appearance. The presumed father was dressed in a pair of trousers with dress shoes, dress shirt covered by a stately vest with a chain hooked to his right side. He also wore an old puffy hat.

Tintin stared at the photo and could not take his eyes off of it. Could this be his mother and father? He felt warmth from the photograph as it looked that the background was at a train station, but because the photograph was a full picture of the family, not much was revealed other than some train tracks and a field.

Tintin turned the photograph over and there was writing on it. It looked like the photo had been exposed to some water on the back because a lot of the ink had smeared and was no longer legible except for the a few words.

'Pierre L- & Elizabeth Hadley & Benton & Fenton at age 7…' and that was all that was written.

"So they were never married?! Pierre's last name looks different from Elizabeth's" Tintin pointed out.

"Yes, I know… the whole family is shrouded in mystery" Benton said darkly.

"Ok, I gave you my account, now you tell me your story" Tintin questioned.

"Maybe you are my long lost brother Fenton" Benton said clasping a firm hand on Tintin's shoulder drawing a small tear from his eyes.

A flood of emotions were beginning to overtake Tintin. Too much at once it seemed so overwhelming; but, Tintin had to listen, he had to know the truth or as much as he thought he could get from Benton. Enzo and Alyssa sat quietly both amazed at what was unfolding before them. It seemed as if a reunion was taking place over decade later.

"Tea time!" Lucille came in holding a large silver tray with a tea pot and numerous tea cup and saucers.

"Thanks!" Enzo and Alyssa said as Lucille poured them tea.

"Come Fenton, I mean Tintin…" Benton said leading Tintin back down the hallway he came from earlier.

"Don't you want any tea?" Lucille asked.

"We will. We're in the middle of something very important right now dear, we will return shortly," Benton nodded. Snowy got up and trotted behind them with a keen ear.

"So are they learning anything?" Lucille asked looking to Alyssa and Enzo.

Enzo shook his head, "I am trying not to listen as it is none of my business" he said busy showing Matthew how to build a high tower without all the blocks falling down.

"It sounds pretty serious" Alyssa admitted.

"So are you two just friends of his or what?" Lucille sat down in the rocking chair as they began to drink their tea.

"Yes, we are just friends" Alyssa nodded not really wanting to go into too much detail without Tintin being present.

Tintin and Benton went back to his bedroom, it was decked out in purple wall paper, drapes, and even the furniture was all painted purple, even an old antique dresser. The bed sheets and quilts were purple too.

"Lucille really likes purple doesn't she?" Tintin grinned.

"Oh yes, purple is definitely her color" Benton nodded as he began to look through his closet. Finally he took out an old shoe box.

"These are the only mementos I have left of mom and dad" Benton said taking out two silvery lockets on silver chains handing them to Tintin. Tintin opened the lockets to see one more picture of his presumed father and the other of his presumed mother. Each locket had initials engraved on it. One locket had P.L. engraved while the other locket had E.H.

"So tell me your story" Tintin urged him.

"Just as you were I was put in the same orphanage but for some reason they kept us apart" Benton explained. "Do you not remember when you arrived at the orphanage?" Benton asked curiously.

"No, that's about as far back as my memory goes…it's all foggy somehow, but I've been having dreams as of late about our childhood perhaps?" Tintin paused for a second.

"You know, I think I do remember seeing you but I was told you weren't my brother and they called me 'Tin' thus how I came up with my pen name Tintin," Tintin continued.

"They had only half of a birth certificate on me with my original name Benton. They couldn't figure out father's last name so I got mother's last name instead which you know is Hadley. Oddly enough, I only remember seeing you a few more times and shortly thereafter I was adopted by an old widow in Manchester England by the name of Wendy Hadley," Benton paused for a moment to show Tintin his old crumpled and half burnt birth certificate. The date of birth was missing, his parents' name except Hadley was missing, so his last name was listed as Hadley.

"Do you remember before being at the orphanage?" Tintin asked eagerly.

"Like you, my past is a mystery as well. There are only bits and pieces of my younger childhood I can remember. I also have a family tree of the Hadley's. Continuing on, two weeks after I moved in with Ms. Hadley in her estate, which was only a two story home with a couple acres of land, it mysteriously caught fire one night and burned to the ground. Ms. Hadley died in the fire," Benton paused again pulling up his shirt showing Tintin where had been burned.

"How did you survive?" Tintin couldn't wait to hear the next part.

"Her cat woke me up, and I tried to save Ms. Hadley, but to no avail, I was devastated. I called her grandmother because for the first time I felt I was with someone I could trust then I lost her...but you saw my wounds. My wife's parents were in Manchester during the tragedy, I only had the clothes on my back and this shoe box of memories. They took me in their home and I have lived with them ever since. I of course ended up marrying their only daughter Lucille. They own this property and it was given to us as a wedding gift. They aren't extremely wealthy but they are fairly well off," Benton paused again.

"So you went to school and worked in this area all of this time?" Tintin asked in disbelief.

"Yes, I worked in banking for some time, but it was too boring, so I became a fisherman because…" Benton stopped.

"You like adventure!" Tintin finished.

"Exactly!" Benton nodded. "So how long were you in the orphanage?"

"I do remember seeing you as your hair was always unkempt. It wasn't too much longer after the last time I saw you that a middle aged widow by the name of Mrs. Finch came and adopted me. I was about eleven I want to say. She owns an apartment building down just downtown in Brussels. She kept me busy always doing chores for her when people who lived in the building needed something to be done, and made me go to school which I am glad for her discipline she taught me. She was very strict with me and I had curfews I absolutely had to abide by or she would have tossed me out," Tintin sighed.

"It was hard work, but Mrs. Finch showed me love in her own way. I got a break when I turned fifteen at school when my writing talents in journalism were discovered by a news agency. I started writing about the locale and the happenings and next thing you know I had a job. When I turned sixteen I became a full time reporter selling my stories to agencies who would buy them. Mrs. Finch was really proud of me and gave me my own apartment and charged me nothing for the first few months. Next thing you know I ended up traveling the world! Even traveling as far as the moon!" Tintin recounted. Benton gave him a skeptical look when he mentioned the moon.

Both brothers were enthralled by each others' tales of growing up.

"Benton? Mr. Tintin?" Lucille's voice could be heard.

"One more second dear," Benton cried out.

"One more thing before we stop" Benton said taking out a small stone that was perfectly carved on the edges as if it was a piece of a puzzle. The etching was green and had a foreign looking type of hieroglyphics on it.

"Wow, what is it?" Tintin was intrigued.

"I don't know, but Ms. Hadley told me to protect it with my life the night before that awful fire" Benton explained putting it back in the box.

"Wow, I would really like to study that" Tintin replied.

"I would lend it to you, but just not yet" Benton smiled returning the shoe box back in the closet.

"Let's join the others, we'll talk more in private later" Benton promised as they returned back to the living den.

XXXXXXXXXXX

"You do realize it's almost three O'clock?" Alyssa mentioned as they entered the living den.

"Oh no, didn't think it was that late!" Tintin stressed.

"Is there a problem?" Lucille asked with concern.

"I'm afraid we are staying with friends and family and we were supposed to be back before lunch" Tintin explained.

"Well we just had tea and biscuits" Lucille explained.

"They're going to have us for lunch if we don't hurry back" Alyssa agreed with Tintin.

"I'm too scared to see Captain Chester when we return" Enzo said nervously.

"Here's my phone number, ring us later and the two of you can talk some more" Alyssa said handing Benton their phone number on a piece of paper.

"Call the house tomorrow if you can" Tintin beamed.

"We know the way back if mom doesn't take away the car privileges. They're staying at 778 Boxted Road toward Colchester" Alyssa mentioned.

Benton wrote down the address, "I think I may know where that is, maybe we can meet up tomorrow again?" Benton finished.

"I'm sure it won't be an issue," Tintin said as they walked out the door to the car. Snowy dashed out the door and jumped in the car unable to believe everything he saw or heard.

"Talk to you soon…Fenton, my brother," Benton said whispered as he watched them drive away.

Tintin had butterflies in his stomach full of excitement. He could not wait to share with Captain Haddock and Chester everything that had just transpired. "So my real name is Fenton...Fenton Hadley?" he thought to himself and liked how it sounded. Could this all be really happening or was it all just a dream he kept thinking expecting to wake up in his bed.

Tintin had to be realistic, he knew that before he got his hopes too high he needed to brace himself for the possibility of a huge disappointment although there were just too many coincidences. This had to be right. He knew that he and his friends were going to get an earful from both Captain Haddock, Chester. Mary Ann he thought may not be so upset except for the fact they had her car.

"So what are you thinking?" Alyssa asked as she could tell Tintin was reflecting.

"It's so much to grasp, I never really knew that I had a brother all this time…" Tintin trailed off back into his mind.

Enzo sat back with Snowy petting him nervously. The more nervous Enzo became the more vigorous he stroked Snowy, but Snowy didn't mind it as he liked to be scratched.

"What are you thinking Enzo?" Alyssa asked him.

"What do I think? I think Lucille is a nice woman, Benton is a nice host, and his children are really wonderful" he commented.

Alyssa continued driving not looking forward to the tongue lashing she would receive from her mother for keeping the car out too long and that the blame would most likely fall completely on her, but she figured Tintin would take a bit of it as well from her uncle and Captain Haddock. It wasn't long before they finally returned back home. Alyssa, Tintin, and Enzo just looked at one another waiting for the barrage of tongue lashing to come bursting out of the front door once they stepped out of the car. It wasn't more than ten seconds the front burst open and out rushed Chester, Haddock, and Mary Ann. At first their faces were of concern and worry.

"Alyssa! Where on earth have you been?" Mary Ann came out running.

"It's ok mom, we uh, ran into some trouble" Alyssa was looking at Tintin.

"What kind of trouble?" Mary Ann asked worriedly.

"We took the car for a run where we usually go once a week" Alyssa whispered.

By this time Haddock and Chester had already arrived outside.

"Enzo, whose idea was it?" Chester asked him seriously.

Enzo's eyes darted to Tintin then to Alyssa and he only nodded slightly quite anxiously.

"Tintin! Thousands of Thunderin' Typhoons! Where on God's creation have all of you been?!" Haddock rumbled to him. "Don't lie lad, you know how I despise lies…" Haddock reminded him grabbing him by the shoulders.

"What?! All of you drove up to Ipswich!?" Mary Ann shrieked.

"What!?" Chester and Haddock echoed loudly.

"Here it comes," Alyssa thought.

"So you've been out joy riding all this time while we've been slaving away here? That's not right Alyssa, I've brought you up better than that" Mary Ann went on.

"No mom, we got what you asked for, the produce, and uncle Archie's whisky and tobacco" Alyssa defended herself.

"That's not the point girl! I know you're a grown lady but we've been waiting since almost nine this morning. It's now nearly four O'clock! I left dishes for you to do and you can dry the clothes. I got to start dinner," Mary Ann walked away with the produce sack in her arms. Alyssa followed her mother in the house to attempt to explain what had happened that day.

"Enzo, I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt, but you are still going to help Tintin out in the field for the next few hours, we'll talk more about this later…" Chester remained calm knowing Enzo wasn't really an adventuresome type and almost never deviated from orders.

"Yes sir," Enzo nodded.

"Good, now go get changed" Chester said slapping him on the back.

"Tintin, where's my whisky first of all?" he asked. Tintin quickly handed him the bag of the whisky and tobacco.

"Well at least you didn't forget" his anger subsided. "We still need to discuss what happened, meet me up in the room and get ready to work in the fields with Enzo for a few hours," Haddock turned around to walk back in the house.

Tintin knew that waiting until the Captain was ready to speak was always a more favorable time from past experiences, even before they became a couple. That Captain was more stubborn than any mule that existed and when his mind was set there would be no turning back.

Tintin quickly returned to the room figuring once the captain's anger subsided, a little bit of effortless teasing calmed him down quite nicely. Alyssa was already busy washing dishes while explaining what really happened in Ipswich. Mary Ann seemed to be listening carefully. He noticed a couple of baskets of clothes that needed to be hung outside so he figured she'd be out doing that as well. Chester and Haddock were wearing what they worked in yesterday. Chester was busy trying to open the bottle as they had two shot glasses ready. Tintin returned upstairs to his room to change into those grimy clothes. It wasn't long until Haddock came in with a nice glass full of whisky.

"Tintin, I need to know what happened from you" Haddock said sitting on the day bed.

"I'm sorry Tintin I don't want to hear this" Snowy snuck out the door.

"Snowy! You traitor!" Tintin accused as he watched Snowy disappear downstairs.

Tintin shut the door as Haddock took a drink looking at him but noticed he had an envelope in his hand.

"What's that?" Tintin asked curiously.

"It's a telegram from Cuthbert, we need to return to Marlinspike, we won't be able to accompany Chester and Enzo to Glasgow," he sounded a bit disappointed.

"Well Captain you had to know this holiday was going to end sooner or later. We all have our own lives… Captain Chester has his with I'm not sure… and you have yours with me," Tintin explained nicely.

"I like your optimism my boy, you've always been able to cheer me up. It seems Marlinspike was attacked again after we left. Luckily neither Cuthbert nor Nestor was hurt; furthermore, we don't know if we are still being pursued. We need to return, so Thursday we are taking the ferry back home" Haddock informed him.

"Well that's a good thing…" Tintin smiled. The Captain sighed and took another drink.

"I want to know where you went" Haddock finally came out with it.

"Well, we did go to Ipswich and we got into a fight with some knavish brigands" Tintin explained partly.

"Tintin, you know I don't like it when you go out getting yourself in over your head in trouble" Haddock's tone of voice changed getting a little more aggressive.

Tintin noticed how handsome Haddock looked in that grey tank top and with those sailor pants. His muscles were bulging all over his hairy body with only a little beer gut.

"Those three were nothing, we took care of them fairly quickly" Tintin dismissed Haddock's worry.

"Don't try to make light of it landlubber! You know how I hate when you do that! What if something would have happened to you?! Then what?" Haddock seemed to get more agitated. Tintin began to undress to change and Haddock noticed Tintins lean smooth legs and nice round buttocks.

"I had Enzo and Alyssa who were both quite helpful" Tintin nodded walking over to Haddock sitting on his lap. Haddock put an arm tightly around Tintin holding him in place.

"Stop trying to seduce me you little siren of a ginger devil!" Haddock tried to sound agitated but failed.

"Captain, I have a twin brother" Tintin came out with it.

"What?!" Haddock sounded flabbergasted.

Haddock smelled Tintin's breath, "Have you been drinking behind my back laddie?" he started to smile looking him in the eye putting his drink down turning Tintin's cheek.

"No captain, I'm serious, the person we helped was someone who looked like me to the hilt" Tintin said seriously.

"You didn't get hit on the head did you?" Haddock started rubbing his head to feel for bumps.

"No I didn't captain, but Alyssa put a bump on the other guy who was choking poor Benton" Tintin explained.

"Two of you eh?" an evil grin spread across Haddock's face.

"He's married captain…with two children," Tintin replied.

Haddock couldn't even picture it, as he remembered how Martine pursued Tintin for a short time; but, that didn't work out in her favor. Haddock admitted to Tintin he was more than little worried for a couple of weeks. It was especially difficult while he was gone on a commissioned delivery to from Greece to Paris for a large sum of money. While he was away Tintin became ill with a bad fever. All of this happened before they officially became a couple. It was shortly thereafter that Tintin put any worry that Haddock had to rest making him a very happy man. Martine liked Tintin very much and was quite persistent to Haddock's annoyance.

"Is he as cute as you?" Haddock whispered.

"Close, but I'm cuter" Tintin laughed. Haddock embraced Tintin for a long passionate kiss as their lips and tongues met, but before things could get too hot someone began knocking at their door.

"Tintin, it's me Enzo, are you coming?"

"Thundering Typhoons he'll be there when I'm done with him!" Haddock shouted annoyed.

"Sorry…" Enzo walked away.

"Captain!" Tintin gave him a somewhat mortified look for yelling at Enzo.

"Tintin!" Haddock said holding him closer for one last kiss.

"I found out my name is Fenton" Tintin got up putting on his grimy pants.

"Fenton you say? Not bad… let's go downstairs lad, but this still doesn't let you off the hook completely" Haddock reminded him. "We'll finish this later" Haddock grinned wickedly.

They returned downstairs as Tintin joined Enzo outside in the garden working and plowing more land. Alyssa was out there with them hanging washed clothes with as much clothes line as they had. Haddock and Chester were having another drink and comparing Enzo's and Alyssa's story while Mary Ann listened and prepared dinner. Haddock shared what Tintin has told him and the only discrepancies were some parts that were omitted. Mary Ann thought Alyssa was a bit too much like herself.