[This will contain characters from Devil in Me but is spoiler-free on the story. Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate and please consider donating to World Center Kitchen for Thankmas!]
Anthony stood at the door, debating whether or not he was going to knock. He had recently made peace with his past-- finally let go of his family and moved on from the tragedy-- only to get a call from this man claiming to be his younger brother. His living, biological brother. He wasn't sure he was ready to accept anyone else into his life.
On the other hand, a part of him always wondered about his biological family. Who were they? Why did they give him up when he was a baby? He took a breath and knocked.
The door opened and for a moment he stared at the face on the other side. It was like looking at a slimmer version of himself. Their faces were similar and though this version had more hair, it was the same color as Anthony's. Naturally this man didn't have a burned ear, and he wore glasses.
“Anthony. So glad you came,” the slimmer man greeted him. Charlie, Anthony remembered. His brother's name was Charlie Lonnit. The accent still threw Anthony off. Apparently his birth family was British. Maybe some part of him knew that and that was why he imagined the accent whenever he thought of the Little Hope witch trials. “Do come in,” Charlie gestured.
Anthony did so and was immediately overwhelmed by the number of people inside the house. Most of them were clumped together in groups chatting or already in the kitchen making food.
“Let me introduce you to my team,” Charlie offered. Anthony was grateful for the direction. Charlie led him over to one of the chatting groups. One of them turned and Anthony gave a little jerk of surprise. That face reminded him strongly of Vince when he was young. “This is Mark Nestor; he's my photographer.”
“Hi,” Mark nodded with a pleasant smile. “Nice to finally meet some of Charlie's family. Though I guess... the two of you are meeting for the first time too?” Anthony didn't know what to do so he just nodded. With Mark was Kate Wilder, the host of Charlie’s show. She seemed friendly enough and joked that she hoped Anthony wasn't as big as a pain in the ass as Charlie. Or at least Anthony assumed that was a joke. He was relieved when Charlie steered him to the next guest.
“These two are Jamie Tiergan and Erin Keenan. Lights and sound design, respectively. Jamie helped me find you,” Charlie informed him.
“Wasn't that hard,” Jamie shrugged. “Just plugged some information into Ancestry dot com and just like that--” she snapped her finger-- “I found you.”
“Thank you,” Anthony said quietly. He caught Erin's eye and she gave him an understanding smile. I'm shy and quiet, too, she seemed to be saying, and that made him feel a little better.
Charlie moved them on to his other guests. Anthony was a little surprised Charlie knew so many people, but his brother (still strange to think of Charlie that way) admitted he knew all of them through work. He'd gotten his start doing war documentaries before moving on to true crime.
“That's where I met these fellows,” Charlie concluded. He named them and Anthony nodded to each in turn: Jason and Salim Othman-Kolchek, married for almost twenty years now. They had a little girl with them and Anthony almost blurted out Megan? But no, her skin was darker than Megan's. Her name was actually Alima and Jason and Salim had adopted her.
“I was adopted too,” Anthony told her. She looked about Megan's age, he reflected, but also looked happier than Anthony remembered Megan being. “I had two sisters and a brother.”
“I have a brother too!” Alima chirped. “His name is Zain. We're going to visit him and his family in London.”
“That sounds nice. I hope you have a good time.”
Anthony got another shock when Charlie introduced him to Eric King. Something about Eric's face reminded Anthony of that officer who directed him to Little Hope a few years back. He also met Nick and Rachel Kay and Nick’s two nephews Alex and Brad. Alex’s wife Julia was in the kitchen helping with food.
Anthony was having trouble keeping track of all the names. Finally Charlie left him to his own devices and he wandered into the kitchen. He checked out the stovetop and let out a breath. Relax. This is a modern home. Everything's fine. Two of those in the kitchen were arguing with each other, one speaking in French and the other in Arabic. The French speaker looked a little like Jamie and Anthony wondered if they were related. The Arabic speaker turned and Anthony gasped. The man looked like his father! A different skin tone like Alima and a little heavier-set, but the face...
“Dar.” Eric stepped in, taking the Arabic man by the shoulder. “Did you want to take a break from cooking?” Dar’s expression softened at once (Anthony found it hard to imagine his father looking like that) and followed Eric back out to the party.
“Oh, good,” a voice spoke up. “More help. Could you take these out for us?” Anthony reeled back as yet another familiar face stared back at him. The man gave him a smile. “Don't worry, I get that reaction a lot.”
“Sorry,” Anthony sighed. “You just reminded me of someone.” Now that he could think straight he could see that of course this man wasn't really Dennis-- he was bald and Anthony couldn't imagine Dennis ever getting rid of his hair. This face was familiar for a different reason: this was Jonathan Finn, accused of being the serial killer known as the Trapper. “My brother,” Anthony clarified. “My, uh, adopted brother.”
“Funny,” Jonathan mused. “You remind me of a judge. Speaking of brothers, I work with yours sometimes as an expert consultant. Personally knowing the Trapper has made me quite the hot commodity in true crime shows.”
“That sounds... interesting.” He was a little glad he never told Charlie about his own time in jail. “I'm glad you turned your life around,” Anthony added. “I, ah, know a little something about that.”
“I figured you might.” Jonathan leaned forward and added: “If you wanna get out of here, just let me or Daniela know.” He nodded to a woman helping set up the tables. Anthony gaped yet again as the face reminded him of his sister Tanya.
They were here... they were all here. The only one missing was his mother. But just as that thought came to him, someone turned on the TV so they could watch the parade. And the woman on the screen had Anne Clarke's face. Or at least reminded Anthony of his mother.
Anthony had to take a seat then. He knew his family was gone, but to see so many who reminded him of them, of people he'd known, made him feel strangely safe. It was like they were telling him they would always be with him. That it was okay to welcome the new family of Charlie and all the people that were part of Charlie's life.
