The Color of a Dream by Julianne MacLean

Jacob
Peterson.”
    Jesse looked to be about my age. He was slim
with medium-brown hair, blue eyes, and a goatee at his chin.
    When he finished shaking our hands, he
removed his rain jacket and draped it on the back of his chair.
Then he looked down at Nadia and me as he sat down. “You’re twins,”
he said with some surprise.
    “Yes,” Diana replied. “Identical, though we
weren’t raised together. We didn’t even know about each other until
two years ago.”
    “No kidding.” The corner of Jesse’s mouth
curled up in a smile. “How did that happen?”
    “It’s a long story,” Diana said, “but here’s
the condensed version. We were separated at birth and put up for
adoption. Then by some miracle we ended up in the same city,
working only a few blocks away from each other.”
    “Wow,” he said, “that does sound like a
miracle.”
    There was an awkward silence while Jesse
glanced back and forth between the two of us. “So which one of you
is—”
    “The mother of Rick’s baby?” I finished for
him. Raising my hand, I said, “That would be me.”
    Our eyes met and held for the first time and
he regarded me with curiosity, as if there were a hundred questions
he wanted to ask. “So you’re Nadia…”
    I nodded, and felt a little flustered.
    “I’m sorry,” he said, “my head is spinning
right now. This is strange.”
    “My head is spinning too,” I replied. “It’s
been a weird couple of days.”
    I was referring not only to the news of
Rick’s custody suit, but also to the letter I’d received from my
donor’s family. But Jesse didn’t know anything about my heart
transplant and I wanted to keep it that way for now. There were
other, more important things to discuss.
    “You didn’t bring your daughter with you?”
he asked.
    Diana leaned forward. “No, we wanted to meet
you first.”
    He turned to her. “I see. To make sure I
pass the litmus test?”
    She shrugged. “Well…I’m sure you can
understand…”
    “Of course,” he replied. “You don’t know
anything about me. I don’t know anything about you, and this is all
a bit strange.”
    There was a sudden tension in the air.
    “Yes, it is,” I replied. “And I’m sorry we
caught you off guard. It must have been a surprise to hear from
Diana, and I’m sure you’re not exactly comfortable with the idea of
talking to us, because Rick is your brother and you don’t even know
us. But I love my daughter, Mr. Fraser, and I need to do everything
I can to—”
    He held up a hand to stop me from completing
the sentence. “First of all,” he said, “call me Jesse. And second,
let’s not waste each other’s time here. You don’t want to lose
custody of your daughter, and I get that. So what is it, exactly,
that you need from me? Because whatever it is, I’ll give it to
you.” He picked up his water glass and reclined in his chair. “Just
tell me what happened between you and my brother. And what’s he
asking for?”

Chapter Thirty-three
     
    I nearly sprayed my water out on the table
because I didn’t expect it to be this easy. His reply absolutely
thrilled me.
    Diana’s reaction wasn’t quite the same,
however. She frowned and sat forward.
    “How long has it been since you’ve spoken to
your family, Jesse?”
    Great. Let’s cross examine the witness. He
might be hostile.
    “About a decade,” he replied.
    She paused. “Can you tell us why you lost
touch?”
    He gazed at her for a moment. “Are you
Nadia’s lawyer as well as her sister?”
    “Today I am,” she replied. “But when this
goes to court she’ll be represented by a colleague of mine because
there’s a slight conflict of interest here.”
    Slight ?
    “How so?” he asked.
    I kicked Diana under the table, because I
didn’t want to air our dirty laundry this early in the game. Jesse
had just agreed to help us. I didn’t want him to change his mind.
But Diana ignored me.
    “I’m the reason Nadia got involved with Rick
in the first place,”