Lies Our Fathers Told Us

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

After a nine hour flight and five hour drive into Northern Michigan, Atticus pulled his rented jeep into the driveway of his childhood home. The house once was filled with laughter and joy until his adoptive mother, Vanessa died. Then the place became a mausoleum, frozen in time as reminder to what was lost. Love, laughter, and a sense of family were buried along with her body. Standing before the two story tudor style house, Atticus debated if he should knock or just walk in. It really wasn't his home anymore and the memories from his childhood seemed tainted in a way since finding out he was adopted. His entire life of being the eldest son of Nico and Vanessa Esposito was a lie. Pulling down the sleeves on his black button down shirt and wiping his hands on his jeans, he decided on the knocking approach. He rapped his knuckles against the thick cherry wood door. Muffled footsteps approached and Atticus fought the instinct to place his hand on a gun at the ready.

The door flew open revealing a small gray-haired man. “Atticus?”

“Dr. Martin?” Atticus returned the question with an equal amount of surprise. Nico must really be in bad shape if the doctor was making house calls. Dr. Martin had retired the same year Atticus left town, he was the only other doctor besides Gavin Walker to have ever treated Nico. Since Gavin died almost two years ago in a car accident that also claimed his wife, they must have made Dr. Martin come out of retirement to treat Nico.

“I was heading out to the car to get some more painkillers after checking on your Dad. He doesn’t have much longer, ” he admitted sadly. Dr. Martin stepped past Atticus and walked down the driveway before pausing and turning back. “You’ve been missed Atticus.” Atticus watched as the doctor continued on his path to the car, a heaviness filling his chest.

Taking a deep breath Atticus walked into the house and looked up as he heard footsteps pounding down the wooden staircase to the foyer. Seeing the hazel eyes, that were more green than brown, and the perfectly coiffed blonde hair of his little brother Atticus couldn’t help but smile. Luca was always very fastidious about his hair even when he was younger and it looked like nothing had changed with his Edward Cullenesque hair-do. His brother definitely had filled out. Growing to around 6 feet with broad shoulders he was dressed in a pair of jeans, grey t-shirt and red hoodie. He now stood only a couple of inches shorter than his older brother. There was no hiding the dark circles under Luca’s eyes and guilt racked Atticus yet again for abandoning his little brother for so long. The brothers stood staring at each other for what felt like an eternity. The closing of the front door signaling Dr. Martin's return snapped them out of their locked gazes.

“Brother” Atticus said stepping forward pulling his younger brother toward him and slapping his back in a manly hug.

“Somebody grew up” Atticus quipped eyeing Luca from head to toe as he stepped back.

“Atticus….it's good to see you” Luca said, but Atticus could hear the wariness in his voice.

“How long has it been?” Luca asked his body stiff and uncomfortable.

“A long time” Atticus answered quietly. Atticus of course knew exactly how long it had been. He left Harbor Springs and Nico 5 years ago, but it had been 4 years, six months and ten days since he had last seen Luca. He and Brynn had traveled to the East Coast to visit Atticus after basic training before he shipped out to Iraq. Luca left angry that Atticus was going to fight oversees. Angrier still that Atticus offered no answers as to why he left Michigan so abruptly and enlisted to go into a war zone where he could get killed. A roadside bomb had killed two soldiers from a town thirty miles north of Harbor Springs and it convinced Luca that Atticus would meet the same fate. The younger Esposito idolized Atticus and if he knew the real reason for leaving was a lifetime of lies, Luca would leave Nico without a backward glance. Atticus didn't have the heart at the time to tarnish the image Luca held of Nico. He didn't want to be the one to disclose all of the lies so he kept silent. Usually he was all for honesty, but at the time he felt it was better to let Luca hate him in order to keep him with Nico. Since the death of his wife, Nico had been a shell of a man and even Atticus wasn't so cruel as to take away his one biological child leaving him truly alone. This was despite Atticus's undercurrent of feeling that being alone was something Nico deserved.