“Was Adam like that as a little boy? Did he always want your toys?” Lily immediately felt like a therapist again.

“Oh, yeah”—Mack nodded—“and our mother’s attention. He had to be number one, no matter what it took. He couldn’t stand it because I was close to Dad. He thought he’d won another feather for his cap when our folks moved to San Antonio to be close to Dad’s Alzheimer’s doctor. I guess Adam thought since Dad wasn’t in the goat business anymore that he would finally be number one with him, too.” Mack paused. “I don’t know why I’m telling you all this. You’ll think I’m a big pushover.”

Lily’s heart went out to Mack. “I don’t think that at all, but why didn’t you stand up to him?”

“I got tired of the constant fighting. Besides, what did a toy matter? It wasn’t until Brenda and Natalie that I realized he had this uncontrollable urge to take everything from me. The crazy thing was that I thought he deserved it. After all, he was the pretty one. He was the athletic son and the charismatic twin,” Mack answered. “When he took away not one but two of my girlfriends, that’s when I stopped giving in. It’s when I figured out that in my own right I’m equal to him, and I got comfortable in my own skin. It’s been tough on him ever since.”

“Sounds to me like Adam has NPD, but until he realizes that he has a problem and gets some help, it’s not going to go away,” Lily said.

“I’d forgotten that you were a therapist.” Mack grinned and asked, “What exactly does that mean?”

“School counselor to begin with, and then a therapist. I’m not a psychologist or psychiatrist,” she replied, “and NPD stands for narcissistic personality disorder. It means that he’s got exaggerated feelings of self-importance, a need for self-admiration, and a lack of empathy. People with that problem spend too much time worrying about success in everything, as well as their personal appearance. They tend to take advantage of the people around them. The problem usually starts early in childhood. He should’ve had some kind of therapy when he was a little boy.”

“How do I help him now?” Mack asked.

Lily just shook her head. Mack was truly a good brother if he’d taken that kind of abuse all those years and still wanted to help his twin.

“He’d have to agree to therapy and be willing to admit he had a problem, and then he could work on making changes,” Lily answered.

“I don’t see that happening. What causes this disorder anyway?” Mack asked.

Lily shrugged. “I only had two students with those symptoms that I thought should be sent for a full evaluation. One came from an affluent family and had siblings. The other came from a poorer home and was an only child. They displayed the same traits. So all I can tell you is that you’ll have to ask someone far smarter than me what causes it.”