Frank sat on a bench in front of the Sandersville Children’s Home and watched his brother from behind dark sunglasses, both to shield his eyes from the bright sunlight and to prevent Joe from seeing that Frank was blatantly staring at him. Joe was leaning against the hood of his car, hands shoved in his pockets, shoulders slumped, head down…so unlike Joe it was chilling. If not for one foot tapping a constant rhythm against the dirty blacktop of the parking lot Frank wouldn’t swear to the fact that this person was his perpetually-in-motion younger brother.

Frank glanced at his watch and sighed, not sure if he wanted Seth Connor to hurry and arrive or not show up at all. After Joe had called the sheriff that morning it was decided that it would be best to wait for Jodi’s test results to arrive before attempting to see Luke. As expected, they did indeed prove that Jodi was Luke’s mother. When Seth had called with the results he seemed sure he could quickly get a court order allowing them supervised access to the child, which brought them here, biding their time in a parking lot in uncomfortable silence.

It would still be a few days before Jodi got official legal custody, and Frank had thought better of broaching the subject of where and how Joe wanted to spend those days, at least for now. He was hoping Joe would want to return to Bayport – and Vanessa – immediately, since Luke’s paternity was still in question. Staring at his brother once again, Frank speculated about why he hadn’t been tested yet and wondered if maybe Joe thought being in limbo was better than knowing for sure, one way or another. If Luke were his son, Frank could only imagine the strain it would put on Joe and Vanessa’s relationship. Vanessa was one of the most understanding people he’d ever met, and she loved Joe completely, totally and unconditionally, but she was only human….

Still, when Seth called with the news that Jodi’s test results had arrived and she was most definitely Luke’s mother, Joe hadn’t bothered to protest when Frank insisted on calling Jodi himself to tell her the news. While he knew it was inevitable, Frank was still annoyed when Jodi announced she’d be leaving for Sandersville immediately. Recalling how Joe seemed almost grateful at not having to talk to her that morning, he wondered if it would be possible to arrange things so Joe wouldn’t have to see her at all. While he’d felt a release after his heated conversation with Jodi, he was sure she’d take out her anger at him on Joe, if only given the chance. He sighed inwardly, acknowledging that while it gave him some immediate, short-term gratification to vent his anger on Jodi, the ramifications weren’t going to be pretty.

‘Probably not my best idea,’ he thought in hindsight. Watching his brother, Frank realized he had to take some responsibility for Joe’s current state of mind. He shook his head, wondering what had come over him the previous evening. He’d never shared his dark secret of what could have been with anyone and he never intended to. But Joe was so adamant about what would’ve happened, so sure he should have been the one to die – the only one to die had he not been flirting – never for one second considering the alternative Frank had presented in a moment of anguish. Judging by his mood today, Joe had not only considered it, he’d probably spent most of the night dwelling on it, along with everything else that had come crashing down on him in the last few days.

Snippets of memory flashed through Frank’s mind, each of them a snapshot of the kind of thing that happens in the blink of an eye and can change a life forever: Iola’s death; the night Vanessa had been raped; Joe’s arrest for murder; repressed memories roaring back to the surface so quickly and painfully that complete denial seemed like the only solution. And now this…

Finding out that one night of not thinking clearly, one night of letting the overwhelming grief, depression and desperation all but obliterate any semblance of good judgment and self-control, may have resulted in a child, a son Joe never even knew existed until now. Wasn’t there some kind of limit on how many life-changing events one person should be forced to endure in a lifetime? Frank sighed and kicked at a small rock, watching as it skittered across the walkway and wishing he could banish all his brother’s demons so easily.

Damn, why did Joe have to feel everything so deeply? And wasn’t it ironic, Frank thought, that because he did feel everything so deeply – so sharply – that it seemed to have finally pushed Joe to the point where he was now shutting down and going numb as the only way to deal with it. Frank was saved from further introspection by the sound of a car pulling into the lot. He looked up to see a patrol car and swallowed hard. Seth was here with the court order. The inevitable had finally arrived. Joe was about to come face to face with the child who might be his son….

*****

Joe stared down at the black asphalt of the parking lot, his eyes following a discarded gum wrapper as it skidded and spiraled across the lot, having been caught on the light afternoon breeze.

‘Just like my life,’ Joe thought numbly. The past twenty-four hours he’d felt as if his life was skidding and spiraling out of control and he was just along for the ride, unable to control the outcome. An almost painful knot formed in his stomach as he involuntarily recalled the only other time he’d felt so out of control, a spectator in his own life. He could almost feel the cold steel snap snugly around his wrists, hearing Con Riley’s voice echoing from the past…

"You have the right to remain silent…"

He could still see the shock and disbelief, the disappointment, in Frank’s eyes that night and it hit him like a punch he couldn’t avoid – was that the same look he’d seen in his brother’s eyes the previous night? When the pieces finally fell into place and Frank realized the enormity of the secret Joe had been trying so hard to keep from him?

‘Of course it was,’ Joe thought, bitterly berating himself. ‘What else could it be?’

When, he wondered, had he gone from being his parents’ cherished golden child to the family screw-up? The briefest memory of a deafening explosion, flames reaching up to the crystal-clear blue sky…the day his life came crashing down around him. It was what had led him to Jodi only a few months later, and the incident that he was now convinced would haunt him forever. Even if it turned out Luke wasn’t his son, his secret from that night was out, at least to the two people whose opinions mattered the most to him? Would it color their view of him? Would Frank and Vanessa look at him differently from now on? Joe slouched down a little further at the thought, almost as if he were trying to close himself off, shut himself out of his own life.

‘If only…’ he thought with a bitterness so harsh it almost hurt.

Joe thought he’d turned it around, made something of his life – of himself – when he met Vanessa; yet here he was, seven years later, led right back to the one person who had saved his life and at the same time unknowingly and unwittingly became an accomplice in the biggest mistake of his life. How many people had he hurt that night with his selfish need to forget? How many people would still be hurt by it?

Before he even knew it was happening the little voice was back…the one that had whispered in his ear that night, reminding him of how many people had suffered, how many people had been hurt and the one who’d been killed because of him….And now there was another person to consider – an innocent child whose whole life could be permanently affected by the selfish decision Joe had made that night in a blinding moment of anguish. Wouldn’t they all be better off without him?

Before Joe had time to acknowledge the little voice, it was silenced by the presence of someone next to him and he knew without even having to look…

‘Frank.’

Joe instinctively leaned closer, suddenly desperate for the support he’d been wanting for days now, yet denying himself. He knew things were still shaky between him and his brother and could only hope that this time, he hadn’t pushed Frank so far away that the elder Hardy would choose this moment to honor Joe’s request to be left alone.

“That Seth?” Frank murmured, nodding in the general direction of a patrol car that had just pulled into the parking lot.

“Yeah,” Joe replied straightening up a little. Though unexpected, the sudden yet familiar feather light touch of a hand on his back didn’t totally surprise him. Even though he’d just questioned it, he still knew, somewhere deep inside…no matter how many secrets had been revealed, no matter what had transpired between them the previous evening, no matter how many issues remained unresolved, Frank would always be there for him…always.

“You ready for this?” Frank asked quietly.

Joe could feel his brother’s gaze on him, searching, concerned; he felt Frank’s hand still resting lightly on his back. It hadn’t moved, saying what Frank couldn’t put into words… ‘No matter what’s happening between us, I’m still here for you, bro…always here for you….’

Joe leaned back as if he could draw the strength he needed from his brother’s touch. “Yeah…I’m ready…”

Let the author know what you think of this story

Home Library Authors Rogue's Gallery Vehicles Chums Message Board Rap Sheet Links Contact

Disclaimer

The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The Hardy Boys Fan Fiction authors of the Hardy Detective Agency have just borrowed them for an adventure or two. The authors promise to put the boys back when they are done with them. The authors do claim copyright to the original characters in this story. Please do not borrow original characters without express permission of the authors.