Duncan pulled the baby photo out of the box and gazed at it. It wasn't him and it wasn't Shell. He didn't think it was Martha…he glanced at the back- Jamie! He knew it!
He searched for a date, but it had none. It was just a baby photo of a boy in a christening like gown. Duncan wondered what had happened to him? Why had he never been mentioned?
Carefully he climbed out of the attic and shut the door, placing the photo in his pocket. He put it on his bedside drawer and tied to go back to sleep. He would have to tell Shelley something in order for her to stop going on about that name, he could see that it clearly upset his parents.
All this time he had thought that he was the eldest child, the only boy- now everything was changing.
Duncan wondered what it would have been like to have an older brother, another sibling. Maybe that was why his parents had moved to Australia, never mentioned Glenbogle to him…
They probably had just wanted to forget, to move on with their lives, have other children. He pulled the other photo, which was of his mother and father when they were younger, properly when they were still at Glenbogle, which he had subconsciously grabbed out of his pocket and placed it next to the photo of Jamie.
They looked so young, and so happy. His mother must have still been in her twenties, and his father a bit older. It was weird to think that she had worked for him; he would have been her boss, how had they fallen in love?
Maybe he should write his Uncle Paul an email when his parents weren't watching. He'd be able to tell him all the family history; he would have grown up at Glenbogle with his father. He would have known his mother when she had worked for them.
'Yes' Duncan decided 'He'd do that later'
"Duncan?" Shelley asked wearily, she rubbed her eyes and in the dark room with the curtains still drawn she looked at him in the half-light of his lamp " I had a bad dream and Mummy and Daddy aren't in their room"
" Yeah, they've gone out together for a bit" Duncan answered
" Can I hop in with you for a bit?" Duncan nodded half-heartedly
" Who's that?" Shelley asked, spying the photographs as she climbed in next to him
" No one" Duncan covered, but she grabbed the photos before he could stop her
" Is that Mummy and Daddy?"
" Yes" Duncan answered
" Who's the baby?" She asked, curious "Is that you?"
" No. Listen Shell if I tell you this you have to promise to behave okay?"
" Okay" Shelley repeated
" I think that's Jamie, our elder brother"
" We don't have an elder brother" Shelley commented
" I think he may have died before we knew him and that's why we moved to Australia"
" Oh" Shelley answered softly
" I want you to stop using that name from now on okay, it upsets Mum and Dad"
Shelley nodded sadly " I'm sorry"
" We have to work all the secrets out Shell. Will you help me?"
Duncan's eyes searched hers
" Yes"