Lily opened the door with a broad smile on her face. “Derek’s in the den. He’s been waiting for you.”

I slowly stepped in and followed the narrow hall to the last room. There he sat watching a muted TV. I softly tapped on the door frame. He looked over his shoulder and nodded an acknowledgment.

I took a seat on the couch next to him. After a few minutes of silence, I finally got up the nerve and said, “I talked to Dad,” while watching my fidgeting hands. He grabbed one of mine in his, and sweetly said, “I waited my whole life to meet you.”

That broke the ice. We just sat there and talked for hours about our childhood and growing up. As I listened to his stories, I saw flecks of my father in his face. Our father. Who knew I shared my button nose with someone else?

Finally we talked about us. “You know if I never moved here, I would have spent the rest of my life believing I was an only child.”

“No…” he countered, “I would have called you eventually.”

And then I leaned onto the shoulder of my brother.