known what a monster he was. Although none of them had imagined how totally deranged he was, but nothing about him shocked them much anymore. Finding out they had a brother was unexpected, but they wouldn’t be shocked to find another dozen siblings. It wasn’t beyond the realm of possibilities.
Joseph was all over the story of a missing sister. He wasn’t sure if it was true. Damien had been far too young to remember if his fake mother had grown round with another baby, so he’d taken her word for it when she’d said she’d left another child behind.
It was odd to think of Damien being raised by a woman who hadn’t been his mother. Hudson hurt for his mother for all of those years of thinking her baby was dead when they’d both ended up in the same area. It would’ve given her a lot of joy to meet Damien before she’d passed. Damien’s life would’ve turned out so much differently had he grown up with them. Why was he even thinking about this right now?
“What are you thinking?” Daisy asked, pulling him from his thoughts. He had the woman he’d been obsessing over for the past month sitting in front of him, and instead of focusing on her he was thinking about a long-lost brother. He was an idiot.
He looked at her, wondering what expression he’d been wearing. He could’ve given a cavalier answer, but he chose not to. He wasn’t sure why, but he wanted to connect with her on a deeper level. Maybe it was about more than sex when it came to Daisy.
“I recently found out I have a brother I didn’t know about,” he told her. Her eyes widened as if trying to figure out if he was pulling her leg or not. He waited to hear what she’d say. It didn’t take her long.
“How does that happen?”
“My dad was a terrible man. He had zero conscience. My mother had Damien first, who none of us knew about, because while she was pregnant with Finn, my father took Damien, convinced my mother he’d been kidnapped and killed, then gave him to his mistress.” Hudson paused for a moment. “Then my father faked his own death with the mistress, or second wife, whatever she was to him, and came back to my mother. She probably never told us about Damien because she thought he was gone forever, and she was simply trying to heal over the loss of her firstborn.”
“Oh my gosh, that’s horrible,” Darla gasped. “I don’t know how a person could get over something like that.”
“My mom was amazing. I’m sure she missed him to the day she died, but she was a great mother to all of us and loved us immeasurably. The world is a worse place with her being gone.”
Daisy looked at him with sympathy. She began to reach for him before pulling her hand back. He hadn’t told her the story to get a reaction from her, but he didn’t mind getting one. He’d be more than willing to open up if it took down a few of her walls.
“I’m sorry you went through that,” Daisy said.
“It’s no big deal. That’s all in the past,” Hudson said as he smiled at her. “I don’t let things like that get to me. It’s on my mind right now, but with a hot coffee and a good stroll the drama floats away like a balloon in the sky.” Daisy didn’t look convinced, but she didn’t argue with him.
“Wasn’t there something in the papers about Joseph and George’s triplet being taken at birth too?” Darla asked.
“Yes, a family as wealthy as the Andersons comes with a lot of drama. Richard was taken by the delivery room doctor, and Joseph and George’s parents never knew about it. Back then, there weren’t ultrasounds to know she was pregnant with triplets, and the father wasn’t in the room when the babies were being born. Add to that the fact that she had a bad delivery, and it was a recipe for disaster. When Richard came out, surprising all of them, the doctor decided to gift his wife with a child since she hadn’t been able to get pregnant.”
“That’s monstrous,” Daisy said. “I had no idea.”
Darla reached over and squeezed Daisy’s hand and smiled. “That’s because you don’t read the gossip rags,” she said. “Now do you understand why I’m so obsessed with them? There’s crazy stuff that happens in this world.”
“How did they find out?”