"Gram! Gramps!"
Tess raced through the door and into the kitchen with Moe trailing behind her. She still held his hand in her's, so he couldn't shirk away like he wanted to.
All of Tess's brothers were already home. The brother only two years older than the two of them, Jake, noticed their hands, and laughed,
"Ah, Tessa brought her boyfriend over," Jake teased," Ain't that cute."
" It's isn't," Tess shot back.
" And it doesn't look like she brought her boyfriend home," Gram said wisely," It looks like she brought her twin home with her. Hello Maurice."
" Hello Mrs. Riley," Moe replied polietely.
" Call me Gram, you look like family and you sound like family," Gram ordered.
" Yes ma'am!," Moe grinned. Maybe being Tessa's brother wasn't so bad. They had been born on the same day, April 24,1970. They had only been born a few moments apart, Moe at 3:30am, and Tessa at 3:35am. He was five whole minutes older, and those mere minutes made a huge difference.
Tess grinned beside him. Moe had been like her brother since the first day they had met. They both had brown hair and blue eyes. They had similar facial structures, and body types. On the first day of Kindergarden, their teacher had mistaken them for twins, when they hadn't even met themselves yet! But after they did, they were great friends. And they decided that being mistaken for twins wasn't half bad.
As the years went on, they had become inseberable. You hardly saw one without the other. And they were close, so close, that Moe knew many secrets nobody ever knew about Tess, and vise versa.
" Hiya Gramp!," Tess exclaimed and threw herself onto her grandfather's lap. She wrapped her small arms around him. He hugged her tightly to him. Tess was his only granddaughter, and he knew she was as tough as any of her brothers.
" Hi sweetheart!," Gramp replied happily.
Maurice watched Tessa with her grandfather. He had never known either of his own. Cancer and a liver disorder had taken them before he was born. One of his grandmothers was dead too, and the other was his father's mother, and she lived far away. Somewhere in Virginia. But Tessa's family seemed to excepet him as one of their own, and it made him feel loved, especially after what he had just learned about his own parents.
At about 5:00pm, Moe pulled Tess aside. He had been planning to tell her he had to go, but she surprised him, saying her mother wanted him to stay for dinner, and he could call his mother on teh phone in the hall. He had almost declined, but she looked at him pleadingly, and he couldn't resist the sad puppy eyes she was giving him,
" Alright, alright," Moe sighed," I'll stay."
" Oh like I really twisted your arm," She rolled her eyes," But it's good you're staying. We're having Momma's mannicotti, and I know how much you like it."
Moe's face turned slightly red as he remembered the last time he had had her mother's mannicotti. Him and her second oldest brother, Jordan had had an eating contest. They both had scarfed down as much as they could. Jordan was bigger, so he won. But as soon as Jordan was done, he high tailed it to the bathroom ,and puked. Tess said their bathroom smelled like tomatoes for a week afterward.
