CHAPTER 9
He stood up slowly, as the two men approached, and Sean enthusiastically shook his hand; then turned to his partner.
"Christian, this is John Grant, he saved my life, I guess you could say. John, this is Christian Troy."
The two men stared at each other in silence.
Rachel shook her head, in disbelief, and Stacey's mouth dropped open. Standing together, they were breathtaking. Sean, who had had more time than most to become accustomed to their amazing likeness, smiled watching the reactions. Bailey walked up, accompanied by Julia McNamara, who broke the silence, by throwing herself into Sean's arms.
"Oh Sean, what happened, I was so worried about you," she said, before turning around and realizing that everyone was not looking at her, but at the two men who looked so much alike. "Christian? – Christian, I didn't know you had a brother," she said accusingly to him. "In all these years you never told me!" She placed a hand on Christian Troy's arm, breaking the trance in which he seemed to be lost.
Christian shook his head a little, as if to clear it, and said the first thing that came into his mind.
"I didn't know either," he said quietly, almost emotionlessly. He reached out and shook John's hand, still staring intently into blue eyes that exactly matched his own.
Seen side-by-side, Rachel could see some slight differences between the two men, but they were minute. Christian Troy was a little older than John, his hair was styled differently, and he was fractionally taller, but there wasn't much in it. They could have been twins.
John recovered from the shock he was feeling, and smiled tentatively at Christian.
"This doesn't happen every day," he said to the still stunned doctor. "Sean thinks we must be related. After seeing you, I do too."
"You two don't know each other?" asked Julia, in amazement. "I've seen identical twins that don't look as much alike."
Christian finally let John's hand go. He didn't want to, - he had never had any family at all, and he felt really strange inside, thinking that perhaps there was a possibility - that perhaps there was someone whom he could claim as 'family.'
Only Sean could tell of his inner conflict, only Sean knew him well enough to know how emotional he was inside, and how fragile. To the others, it looked as if he were stiffening up, becoming 'arrogant', when he dropped John's hand and turned to leave, without saying anything more.
Sean flicked a look at John; then turned to follow his partner, and Julia trailed behind. For a long time John said nothing, but then excused himself to Bailey and Rachel, and the other interested onlookers, and went after them. He caught up with the three just before they reached the car park, and called out to Christian to wait a moment.
"We should talk," he said to the doctor, who nodded, still not saying anything.
"Sean said you don't know about your family?" he continued, glancing at Sean, who nodded at him.
"Can we go somewhere, just the two of us, and talk?" he asked again, watching emotions play across the face of the man opposite him.
Julia McNamara moved closer to Christian and glared at John.
"We are Christian's family," she said to him, unable to stop staring at him, but Sean came and took her arm, pulling her off Christian.
"You go," he said to his partner, who still hadn't spoken, "I'll go with Julia, and you bring my car back when you've had a talk with John. Go on, it will do both of you good."
As he was speaking, Sean pressed his hand on his partner's shoulder, in a gesture of comfort, and led a protesting Julia away.
"Do you know where they sell decent coffee?" asked John, and finally Christian took a breath, and his shoulders relaxed.
"There's a café just down here," he said. The two turned together and began walking across the road, where they found a diner, and sat and ordered coffee.
The waitress did a double take, eyeing the two men as if in disbelief.
John sat down at a window, and looked out across the road, for several minutes, then sensing that Christian was overwhelmed, turned back towards him, and smiled tentatively.
"Sean told me you were adopted out as a child," he said, gathering his courage. "I think there is a strong, more than strong possibility we are related."
Christian gave a small ironic laugh. "I don't know anything about my parents," he said. "I was fostered out to a family, here in Miami, a not very nice family. I've never had one of my own. My foster mother died before I really knew her - my foster father…." He stopped suddenly, his breath catching, his voice flat, unemotional, but his eyes told another story.
John bit his lip for a moment. "My mother was wonderful," he said slowly. "She died when I was 18."
They sat there for a moment, John stirring sugar into his coffee, Christian wanting to know more, but not knowing how to ask.
"I've thought a lot about what my family would have been like," said Christian finally, almost longingly. "Can you tell me?"
John rolled his eyes dramatically and chewed some more on his bottom lip. "First, let me tell you, that I don't get on with my father, or speak to him at all. His name is Patrick O'Doyle, and he is a moneylender out of Boston, with strong ties to the mob there. My mother ran from him when I was a child, and I've had very little to do with him since."
Christian raised his eyebrows a little at that, and nodded slowly.
"He was a violent man, and he hit me and my mother a lot." John went on to say, staring down at the tablecloth, and wondering, even while he was saying it, if his father's violence was not preferable to what ever it was he saw in Christian's eyes.
"You really think there is a chance we are related?' asked Christian again. John looked up at him, chasing away the shadows of his childhood, and smiled.
"The O'Doyle's of Boston are quite a group," he said. "There is my father, who was the black sheep of the family, his brother Jamie, who is a computer salesman, or some such thing, and his sister, my aunt Bridget, who was one of the beauties of her day, and who married a doctor. My cousins are all girls, all of us dark hair, blue eyes. From what I remember when we were younger, we all looked like carbon copies, like we'd been churned out from a factory somewhere, except of course, I was a boy. My grandfather, who was also a violent old bastard, and very controlling, used to say the O'Doyle's stamp their mark on their own."
He looked across at Christian once more. "I believe you are an O'Doyle as well. You look like my father. And to some extent, my uncle Jamie, but more like Patrick, more like me."
"So there is a possibility that we could be – brothers?" asked Christian carefully, playing with the sugar container on the table.
"Yes," replied John. "A strong possibility. My father toured around quite a lot when he was younger. Look, this is a lot for you to take in, a lot for me as well. Think about things for a while, and if you want, I can answer any questions you might have. If you are really serious in wanting to find out, we could always do a DNA test or something. Here's my card, when you are ready, come and see me in Atlanta. I can point you in the direction of the rest of the family, even if I won't go there myself."
Christian accepted John's card, placing it in the breast pocket of his shirt.
John finished his coffee, and stood up. "I have to go," he said, with some reluctance. "Bailey won't hold the plane long. I hope you will come to Atlanta, soon."
Christian stood also, and put out his hand. "I will," he said, squeezing John's hand tightly for a moment. "Have a safe flight back – and take care of that feisty redhead."
"Oh, I intend to," John laughed squeezed Christian's hand, and then walked away quickly.
Christian stood there for a long moment, and took John's card out of his pocket, turning it over and over in his hands as he stared after John, watching him cross the road, and walk back into the Police station. Finally he threw some money down on the table, and walked out himself, realizing he had an appointment with a client in less than 15 minutes. He unlocked Sean's car, and climbed in, stopping for a moment to eye the pretty girl who pulled up and parked next to him. As she smiled shyly at him, with a blatant invitation in her eyes, he drove out of the park, and headed back to the clinic, feeling a little strange but happier than he had for a long time.
A/N - I really hope you enjoyed reading this story, and thank you again for your reviews.