I thought I knew all my best friend’s secrets, especially the ones involving my family. But when she pulled me aside with tears in her eyes, I realized she’d been hiding something far more serious.
“Promise me you won’t tell Killian what I’m about to say.”
My best friend, Katherine, grabbed my wrist so tightly that I nearly dropped my champagne!
We were standing outside her wedding reception. Through the window, I could see my older brother, Killian, laughing with our father.
I nearly dropped my champagne!
Three weeks earlier, Katherine had announced she was marrying him.
Now, she looked terrified!
“Kat, unless you’re secretly married to someone else, I think we’ve survived the worst surprise.”
She didn’t laugh; she whispered, “Piper, I didn’t marry him because he’s sick. You deserved to know the truth.”
My stomach tightened.
She looked terrified!
My friend glanced toward the window. “Something happened years ago. Killian knows about it, but there’s something I’ve never been able to ask him.”
“Are you pregnant?”
“No!”
“Does he owe you money?”
“Piper!”
“Then stop looking like you’re about to confess to stealing a kidney!”
“Are you pregnant?”
She took a breath. “There’s a letter.”
Before I could ask another question, Killian appeared. “There you are,” he said to Kat. “I thought you’d escaped.”
“Still considering it.”
“Too late. I have the marriage certificate.”
“And I have your credit card.”
He grinned.
I stared at them.
“There’s a letter.”
My best friend and my brother had spent nearly 20 years acting like they couldn’t stand each other.
Now, they were married.
And apparently, their biggest secret involved a letter.
***
Kat had been my best friend since we were eight.
I’m 26 now, and until that wedding, I would’ve trusted her to tell me everything.
Their biggest secret.
Unfortunately, she and Killian had never gotten along.
As kids, they were always finding ways to annoy each other.
Killian was three years older than us and thought he was hilarious.
His audience strongly disagreed.
Never gotten along.
When we were kids, my brother once slipped a rubber spider into Kat’s jacket pocket.
She screamed so loudly that our neighbor came outside!
Three days later, while visiting our house, Kat secretly swapped the sugar for salt before Killian made himself a drink.
He took one sip and spat it into the sink. “You’re evil!”
“You started it!”
She screamed!
“I was educating you about wildlife!”
“And I’m educating you about seasoning!”
***
But Killian wasn’t always awful.
Whenever older kids picked on Kat or me, he was the first to step between the bullies and us like some hero.
“Leave them alone,” he’d say.
Killian wasn’t always awful.
My brother would stand there until they walked away, then turn toward us. “Honestly, I can’t leave you two unsupervised.”
Kat would roll her eyes. “We didn’t ask for your help!”
“You’re welcome, Your Majesty.”
Even as adults, the arguing continued.
Kat would roll her eyes.
“Your brother is still the most irritating man I’ve ever met,” Kat once complained.
Killian overheard her and grinned. “Funny. I was about to say the same thing about you.”
He criticized her coffee, her parking, and her habit of stealing fries.
She called him an arrogant potato.
I never questioned their relationship.
Why would I?
Kat once complained.
Then, Killian started getting headaches.
He was exhausted all the time.
After several appointments over the following weeks, doctors diagnosed him with an aggressive brain tumor.
They estimated that he might have only six months left.
Our family was devastated.
Killian started getting headaches.
I cried in my car after leaving the hospital because I couldn’t imagine losing him.
***
A month after my brother’s diagnosis, Kat came over for dinner.
I was shocked to find her sitting beside Killian on the couch.
Then, he took her hand!
I cried in my car.
“We have something to tell you,” my brother said.
Kat lifted her left hand to show me a ring on her finger. “We’re engaged.”
I laughed, but neither of them smiled.
“You two? Did the hospital accidentally prescribe you both something?”
Killian sighed. “Piper, we’re serious.”
“We’re engaged.”
***
