“I never imagined I had another sister,” he said with a visible air of exhaustion. “You probably have no idea who I am. Brian Seaton.” He didn’t extend a hand for her to shake, and thankfully, he made no attempt to hug her either.

“That makes you my…”

“Oldest brother. I’m fifty-four.”

“You’re only four years younger than my mother.” That…was a regrettable thing to blurt.

He flinched. “Yes, I was seventeen when…”

Your father and my mother had an affair.

“Is everyone else inside?” she asked, rather than prolong the most awkward encounter of her entire life.

“They are. It’s just my brother, Paul, and my sister, Ruth. Our partners aren’t here at the moment. We thought it best if we didn’t overwhelm you with new faces.”

“I appreciate that.” She stepped forward, moved to pull the door open, but Brian stayed her with a brief touch on her arm.

“Dad doesn’t have long. I suspect he’s been holding on for you. I don’t blame you for not coming sooner—it’s so much to take in—but he’s suffered a lot the past couple months. I understand if you’re not kindly disposed toward him. I doubt I would be either. But it would mean a lot to the rest of the family if you could say you forgive him, even if it’s lie.”

“To let him go peacefully?” she guessed.

Brian. Paul. Ruth. Her siblings had names now. So did her elusive father, Dennis Seaton. She stared at the paper placard outside his door, the man Junie had loved and failed to keep beside her, the one who had chucked them both. She raised her face, wishing she felt nothing—that tears didn’t sting the back of her eyes.

Just then Trev strode up and registered the scene. He hugged her immediately. “You got this. I’ll be right here if you need me.”

Bracing, she separated from him, opened the hospital room door, and went inside. The smell hit her first—sickness overlaid with cleaning products, a faint mustiness that no amount of lemon solvent could scrub away. Paul stood by the window, staring out at the parking lot; he appeared to be the youngest—in his midforties, which still put him seven or eight years older than Leanne. He resembled his brother, Brian, though Paul lacked the same distinguished air. The woman, Ruth, had bright-blond hair that came from a bottle, and she wore plenty of makeup, unsuccessfully trying to conceal dark circles and pallor that came from spending all her time at the hospital.