Miss Marie thought that her big brother coming out was the biggest news of the summer...

Let's see what happens when she chances upon a private phone conversation later that night...

...

They call me an eavesdropper. I call it being in the right place at the right time.

That night, after Kevin had come out, I walked past his bedroom after grabbing a snack from the kitchen, and I could hear him talking to someone.

I stopped for a second. I thought he was talking to Jack, but I could hear Jack in his room playing Xbox. And my parents had retired to their room long ago to watch the nightly news. So who on earth could Kevin be talking to?

I slunk over to the barely-open door and peeked in in, biting my lip so I would be sure not to make a sound. Kevin was sitting on the bed facing the wall, his phone plastered to his ear.

"Yeah, yeah I did it!" Kevin was saying, his voice joyful. "And everything turned out perfect!"

Someone else knew about Kevin being gay before us? I thought. How is that possible? He always tells us everything first!

I strained my ears to hear the voice of the other person, but all I heard was garbled gibberish.

Kevin laughed at whatever the other person had said, and then paused for a moment while the mysterious somebody kept talking.

"About you?" he said. "That'll be tomorrow. One bombshell at a time!"

I furrowed my eyebrows. More big news? And it involved another person?

My young 11-year-old brain slowly put two and two together. My eyes widened. Not only was my brother gay, but he was…with someone.

My hand flew to my mouth to block any noise of surprise that would give my presence away. I strained my ears even harder, but I still couldn't understand what that someone was saying.

Instead I heard Kevin chuckle and say, "Well, I'll call you tomorrow, okay?" Then, after a pause, "I love you too!"

I quickly tiptoed back to the end of the hallway. I now had a plan in mind. I would pretend that I was just coming upstairs and heard the end of the conversation, and then I'd casually enter Kevin's room and ask who he was talking to. Foolproof. Absolutely foolproof.

I took a deep breath and walked normally down the hall to Kevin's door, and knocked. With no hesitation, he called out, "Come in!"

Well, I thought. That was easy. I entered the room. Kevin's eyes lit up. "Hey, little sis!" he said. "What's up?"

"Oh, nothing much," I casually said as I climbed up onto the bed next to him. "Who was that you were talking to?" No use beating about the bush.

Kevin hesitated. "Oh, ummmm…well, I, uh…I was talking to…somebody I met…in Uganda! Our District Leader, actually!"

I raised one eyebrow. "Oh, really?"

Kevin blushed. "I guess you heard that last little bit," he replied. "I wasn't going to tell until tomorrow."

He looked genuinely embarrassed, so I decided to humor him and play dumb. I cocked my head curiously like a puppy. "Tell what?" I asked.

Kevin nervously cleared his throat. "Well…ummm…our District Leader…and I…are…ummm…we're a couple," he slowly answered.

My eyes widened and my mouth dropped open. I shifted from my butt to my knees and grabbed Kevin's hands, my eyes wild with joy.

"Tell me all about him! What's his name? Where's he from? How long have you been together? Tell me everything!" I was so excited, I could hardly keep still. I bounced up and down on my knees, making the bed (and us) rock.

Kevin chuckled and shook his head. "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" he said. "One question at a time, little missy!" I giggled innocently.

Kevin smiled and kissed the top of my head. "I'll tell everyone everything in the morning, okay?" he said. "I think it's time we both went to bed."

My shoulders slumped. "Kevvie…" I whined.

With another chuckle and a sly grin, Kevin scooped me up like a sack of potatoes. I shrieked and giggled the entire way back to my room. He stopped at the side of my bed, pulled back the covers, then held me up a little higher. "Ready?" he asked.

I giggled even harder. We hadn't done this in years. "Ready!" I answered. Kevin slammed me down (gently, of course) onto my bed. My sides ached from laughing.

Kevin tucked me in and kissed my forehead. I folded my hands together and looked up at him with pleading eyes. "Puh-leeeeaaaaaase tell me, Kevvie?" I asked sweetly.

Kevin smiled sympathetically and hugged me. "You'll find out in the morning, I promise," he replied. He kissed my forehead again and gently squeezed my hand. "Now get some sleep." He reached over and switched off my lamp. "I love you, little sis."

I smiled. "I love you too, big brother." I rolled over and pulled the covers over my shoulder, watching as Kevin walked to the door and blew me one last kiss before pulling my door almost completely shut.

I waited until I heard his own bedroom door close, then I heaved an exaggerated sigh and slapped my arms down onto my covers. I had to wait until morning to learn about my big brother's new love? My clock read 9:00. Morning was hours and hours away…

I suddenly remembered. The drawing. I pulled out my journal from under my pillow. I quietly turned my lamp back on and frantically flipped through the pages until I found it. Five faces smiling up at me. Five faces of a family that was still together. The heart above them meant so much more than ever before.

I smiled and set my journal on my nightstand, keeping the drawing open. Before switching my lamp off I lightly touched it with my fingers. My family was still perfect.

And, as I was going to find out the next morning, it was about to get just a little bit bigger…

...

So there's somebody else in the picture! And I think all of us BoM fans know who it is ;)

Stay tuned for the big introduction!