Chapter 5

Meanwhile, Logan had gone to his room for a little rest. "That was crazy that I thought Aidan was Connor." He thought to himself. "They were hard to tell the difference when they were younger, but it had been years since I've made that mistake. That was really weird. What really was weird is how well they were getting along after they had that big blowout yesterday."

Logan turns over onto his side. "When we were playing Monopoly today, Aidan was the one that was nice to me and Connor took me for everything I was worth. Connor ended up winning and Aidan was happy about it. Usually, he would get upset when he lost. I had to keep looking at Aidan and make sure he wasn't Connor." Logan falls asleep.

Back with the twins, Connor says that it was weird that Logan couldn't tell them apart for a moment.

Aidan has an idea. "How about if I dress up like you in your clothes and part my hair like yours, and you do the same?"

Connor asks, "So we look like the other? And then see if Logan can tell us apart?"

Aidan says, "Exactly. Make him think I am you and you are me. If we can fool him, he would treat me like you and you like me."

The figurative bulb turns on above Connor's head. "I get it now. We just won't be able to smile, because he will see our dimples on the wrong side of our faces. But what about our moles? They are in different parts of our faces. I have noticed that people will look at our moles to figure which one we are."

"Hum..."Aidan thinks. "Oh I know. We could use a little of our stage make up and cover our moles."

"Yeah." Connor says, "Then we could place dots from an eyebrow pencil to where our new moles should be placed. I think this could work. We should try it out on Logan first, before we try it out on the rest of the family."

"Good idea, Connorrr.. Wait!" Aidan says. "I have to call you Aidan and you have to call me Connor. Otherwise it might not work. Why would they question it? After all, we should know who we are."

Connor agrees and then they practice calling the other by the wrong name. They get into each other's clothes and do their hair accordingly. Then they put on the make up. Aidan reminds Connor not to smile, because their dimples are a clear giveaway. Connor reminds Aidan not to let their makeup smear.

A few minutes later, Logan walks into their room. He doesn't knock and never has. But if one of the twins wants to enter his room, they have to knock first and wait to be invited it. It's always been that way, so they don't complain. Anyway, Logan tells the boys, "Mom said that lunch is ready." He gets ready to close the door.

Aidan, disguised as Connor says, "Thanks Logan. Hang on a second, I want a hug."

Logan hugs Connor everyday, so he opens his arms. Aidan then hugs his older brother and Logan gives him a tender brotherly hug. Aidan just melts in his arms. It has been forever since Logan has given him such a hug and he doesn't want to let go. Aidan feels his love and can't resist telling Logan that he loves him. Logan kisses the top of his head and says, "I love you too, Connor."

Connor?! Aidan could feel his heart fall into his stomach. "That's right. He thought he was hugging Connor, not me." Aidan pulled away and turned his back, and Connor ("Aidan") said, "My turn." He came forward with open arms and Logan said, "Um, Mom said that lunch was ready so we need to go."

"Just a quick hug." Connor said, "After all, I let you stay at my hotels last night with a family discount."

"That's true." Logan said. "Okay, just a quick one."

Connor came into the hug and Logan was just stiff. Connor hugged him and Logan just patted his back and let him go after about 5 seconds. Connor stood their dumbfounded and shook his head with disbelief.

"What the hell was that, Logan?"

"What was what, Aidan?" Logan asked.

"Aidan? I'm Connor and that was a pathetic hug. Is that how you hug Aidan? With indifference?"

Logan was confused. "Whaaat?" He gave Connor a look over. He looked at his clothes, hair, mole and tried to see the dimples, but he wasn't smiling. He still was sure he was talking to Aidan. "What are you trying to pull, Aidan?"

Logan then puts his arm around "Connor" and pulls him around so he can see him. "Connor? Are you in on this too?" Logan sees a tear fall from "Connor's" cheek. He then wipes it off and the fake mole smudges and Aidan's real mole appears. Logan then inspects both boys before him. He tells them to smile and their dimples appeared.

Logan turns around and places his hands high on the door frame. He needed to think for a minute. Then he turns around and says, "Wait a minute! You guys fooled me on purpose? You made each of you look like the other. Connor? You even led me to believe you were Aidan by telling me that you let me stay at your hotels playing Monopoly. Why did you do that?"

The real Connor answers. "I had to know for myself. Aidan told me that you didn't like him and I didn't believe it. So we made you believe I was Aidan and Aidan was me." Connor puts his arm around Aidan an asked him, "How did you feel when you and Logan hugged."

Aidan blushes but he looks at Logan and then to his twin. "I felt wonderful. I felt loved and when I said, 'I love you' to Logan, I really meant it. But the felling was short lived when he called me Connor. It broke my heart. He didn't really care about me, he thought I was you."

Turning to Logan, Connor asks, "Now be honest. How did you feel when you hugged Aidan even though you thought it was me?"

Logan felt like he was put on the spot but knew that an answer was deserved. "Well, I felt a lot like I usually feel when we hug. You have always been very loving and sweet and I like it. You have a way of making people around you feel special and, well, loved."

"But it wasn't me, Logan, yet you felt loved." Connor said. "I could also see that when he told you that he loved you, you felt it and had a special moment. You told him that you loved him. I know you thought it was me, but you still felt it, didn't you? You think about that. You don't need to answer right now, just think about it. Then when you did give me a hug, thinking it was Aidan, it was pretty pathetic. No wonder he thinks you hate him."

Logan was not happy being talked to like this. He is the older brother and an adult now. "Listen Connor! I don't need to be lectured by you or anybody else right now. I'm outta here." He turns and walks out the door. For a moment he stops, and says, "Just so you know, I don't hate you Aidan." He walks out of the room and gets ready to leave the house. Barbara asks him where he is going, and he says, "Out!"

Connor sits down on the bed next to Aidan. A couple minutes pass without either of them speaking. Connor is first to speak, "I think that went well. There were things that had to be said and things he had to hear. I'm hoping he will have a long conversation with himself." He puts his arm around Aidan.

"Wait." Aidan said. "You think that went well? I'm confused. I think I feel worse than before. I don't know." He fell back onto the bed. "I just don't know."

Connor places his hand on Aidan's shin and rubs it a little. "For starters, Logan got to see how much he treats you different than me. I got to see it too. He also got to feel the brotherly love with you. You got to feel his love too. Neither of you can deny what you've felt. I think he felt guilt when he heard that you thought he hated you. Trust me, this is going to be fine."

Aidan sits up and looks at his twin brother with gratitude. "I sure hope so. Maybe he really doesn't hate me after all. Thank you Connor. I just want to tell you how much I appreciate you. I'm not sure how I would have been able to get through all of this if it wasn't for you. How I could think that you would do me any harm is beyond me. In spite of how I treated you yesterday, you have been such a wonderful brother. I am so very sorry for hitting you. It is the worst thing I have ever done in my life. Yet, you have stood up for me, forgiven me, helped me in so many ways that you may never know how much. I used to think that I wanted to be different than you, yet it would be my greatest achievement to be like you. I look up to you…. I love you, Connor. I love you very much. Thank you! I thank you with all my heart."

Connor had never heard kinder words from his brother. "I…" Connor tried to speak but he was so choked up that he couldn't say anything else. The only thing he could do was to hug Aidan with all his love. "I…" Again he tried to say something. "It's okay, Connor, I know. I know." Aidan said this while still in a loving embrace with his twin. Neither was willing to break the hug, so time passed. How much time passed they do not know.

There was a knock at the door, but they did not respond to it. After a moment, their mother opened the door. She was going to ask why they didn't answer and then she realized that her twin son's were having a special moment. She thought that she should walk back out giving the boys their privacy, but seeing them like this, just warmed her heart. She just stood there feeling the love that was present. It was just yesterday that they were at odds with each other. "Now look at them." She said to herself.

Finally Connor was able to speak. "I love you too, Aidan."

Barbara was confused. Did she just hear her son Aidan say, "I love you too, Aidan?" That didn't make sense to her. The only explanation was that she mistook Connor for Aidan. She couldn't clearly see the twins while in the embrace. She just assumed who was whom by the clothes and hair style.

"Boys?" Barbara said and then the boys turned toward their Mother and only eased up on the hug. She couldn't help herself and put both her arms around her sons, gave them each a kiss and told them that their lunch was getting cold.

"It's okay, Mom." The boys said in unison. Then they kissed the two sides of their mom's cheeks and walked down to the kitchen with Barbara following behind them.

Ron has finished his lunch and when he saw the boys, he said. "I don't know what is going on today! Logan walks out without any explanation, then you guys take your sweet time to come down here. Your Mother worked hard to make a hot lunch for her family and all three of you have disrespected her!"

Barbara raises her hand, "It's okay, Ron. It's fine." She said.

Ron slams his napkin on the table. He probably thought it would have more of an impact. "It is Not okay! I don't know what is going on around here, but it's going to stop!"

Barbara gets closer to her husband and looks sternly into his eyes. In a voice louder and more commanding than before she says, "Ron! I Said that it is okay! You don't know everything all the time, but you need to let this go!"

Ron's face gets a little redder. "Fine!" He bellows and walks out of the room.

"It really is fine." Barbara says to her boys. "You Father doesn't understand and I'll have to explain it to him. Don't worry about him. He'll got over it."