The Fifth Pillar

Chapter 9: The Invitation

Cecil's fingers were shaking, but the business card felt heavy in her hand. The edges were sharp, which made the card feel even heavier. The name Roland Wells was on one side, and on the other was a faded picture of a woman with a smile that seemed both familiar and very far away. She looked up at Roland, her head spinning. His jawline and the way his eyes looked were the same. Right now, his eyes were watching her with a painful, cautious hope.

"You're... my brother?" The words tasted strange on her tongue, like they were part of someone else's story. It was a question, but it was also a desperate plea for him to say that this was real and not just another cruel trick.

Roland nodded, keeping his eyes on the speaker. "Yes, Cecil. We didn't know you existed. "We've been searching for our mother for years." The words were an apology, an explanation, and a confession all at the same time. "We looked everywhere, searched everywhere. We never thought to look for a sibling, which was a part of our lives that we had kept secret”.

She remembered the shame and sadness she felt when she thought she was all alone. "Why now?" she whispered, her voice breaking. "Why now, after all this time?"

A deep sense of regret crossed his face. "We just learnt something new about our mother's past that we didn't know before. It brought us here. To you." He took a deep breath, and his voice got softer. "I want you to come home with me. To meet your other brothers, Dave and Victor. To be a part of the family you were always meant to have”.

The invitation hung in the air like a lifeline she couldn't reach out for. Her past, which was full of betrayal, told her not to trust him. This was too good to be true. It was a trap, a setup, and a mean joke. She had been tricked before. She started to feel panic, a cold fear that made her want to run away and hide from the man who had just ruined her life with his words.

"I can't," she said, this time with more strength in her voice. "I don't know you". “You are a stranger”. She stepped back from the counter, making space between them without thinking about it.

Roland stayed still. He just looked at her, his face showing a mix of understanding and sadness. He didn't push. He pulled out his phone instead. "I get it." “You don't have to trust me without question”. He brought up a picture of three young guys. "This is us." Me, Dave, and Victor. "See? You have a part of each of us in you."

She stared at the picture, her eyes lingering on the three handsome faces. All of them had the same fierce look of determination that she had seen in Roland's. A weak link, a tiny bit of hope, started to grow in her heart.

"What do you want from me?" she asked, her voice full of the pain of her past.

Roland shook his head slowly. "Nothing. We don't want anything from you. We just want to give you back all the love you didn't get. We want to be your brothers. That's it”.

He picked up the card and put it back on the counter. "You don't have to come home with me." “Not now, not ever. But I'd like to have coffee with you without all the noise and people in the cafe. My treat”. He pointed to a bench in the park across the street. "Just give me ten minutes, that’s all I’m asking for."

After that, he left the cafe and sat on the bench. She was left to deal with the rush of feelings and the offer that could change her life forever.