-November 15th-
~Jade's POV~
I sat on our aunt's couch as more tears pricked at my eyes. I stared down at the very photogenic picture of Liam. Miles wraps an arm around me, and I look to the side at him. He's smiling, but his eyes are like mine, swollen and wet. I smile back as another tear falls.
I can tell what he's feeling, he's relieved, just as I am. I look up at our aunt as she stares at us in pure confusion. Miles notices as well and pulls his arm from around me, and takes out our father's wedding band, and I do the same with our mother's. Our aunt gasped at the sight of the first ring, but then slapped a hand over her mouth at the second. "That Amity family? That was us. Your brother. . . Our father, and our mother June, had to make the hardest decision that day, and that decision was to choose only two out of the three of us to keep, and raise." I say, and the explanation came out dolefully.
Our aunt let her tears fall once again, "so this w-whole time, he's been my real nephew? . . . And the engraving on the ring?" She questioned looking nearly baffled. I nod my head with a smile, seeing her obvious tears of joy stain her cheeks. "The J + A .H. stands for June and Anthony Harris. Our father gave up his wedding ring with Liam when it was time to say goodbye to him." Miles says, letting his eyes fall in sadness at the thought. I lean my head on his shoulder in attempts to comfort him, and to also remind him that we found him. I eventually stand, and so does my aunt and brother.
We don't say anything, but we all know it was due time to let the one person finally know the truth, and that's Liam. I hug our aunt first, and then so does Miles, just before me and him leave to find our brother. We walk the halls of Dauntless, thinking of all the places he could be. We decide to check the pit first, like we were going to before running into our aunt. We descend through the tunnel, and scan the large sunlit hole in the ground.
I could see people all over the floor of the pit. I could see kids running around, people laughing and talking amongst one another. I watched as two men began to roughhouse in the center of the pit. It was an act that would be looked down upon if done in my old faction. But not here. Here it's an act of playfulness, an act of friendship.
I shake my head and focus back on the task at hand, and continue to search for Liam while walking beside Miles. Suddenly, I get this gut urge to look at the adjacent exit of the pit. I hesitate at first, but eventually I do. And there he was, leaving the pit alone. "There he is! Miles come on!" I raise my voice, and point at the same exit before running in that direction.
I can hear my brother's footsteps behind me just as I can hear my heart pound in my ears. Soon we were a good twelve feet behind him, then five feet, then two, we kept running until we were just behind him. He eventually noticed us, "Oh hey. What's up wonder twins?" He greets us, and the label felt undeniably strange, coming from Liam especially. And yet just a few days ago, it would've felt normal, and expected. "C-can we talk to you? In private?" I ask, and I couldn't stop my voice from shaking when I set eyes with him.
Hazel on hazel. It kind of felt like I was staring back at the male version of myself. He now looked at me and Miles with slight concern, "are you guys alright? Cuz like, you two look like you've been crying." He says. Me and Miles look at each other and realize he was right, his eyes were bloodshot and swollen. And I definitely didn't need a mirror to know mine were too.
"Trust me, all will be explained in due time." Miles says quietly, and he was right, the teared stained faces will all be cleared up once we break this life changing truth to him. "Alright, I'll take it whatever it is is serious?" He asks us, and I nod. "Serious would be an understatement in this case." I say, and he nods, "Let's go up to the roof so we can be alone then yeah?" He asks us, and we agree. We head towards, and then eventually up the flights of stairs that led to the roof of the large, red brick building. Once we all made it, Liam pushed open the door to the roof and cool air slapped my half wet face. My heart was still pounding in my ears from how anxious I was.
To see his face stand out in shock, and his eyes sparkle with tears maybe. Or even to see him jump for joy at the news of having a long lost family. I just hoped not to see a look of disbelief, or worse; a look of disgust, or betrayal. I watch as both my brothers walk to the very ledge of the building, the same ledge I remember jumping off a train over with Tris and Christina the day of our choosing ceremony. One brother, fully aware of our biological connection, and the other, completely clueless of it.
The wind blew against my hair, making my curls lightly thrash in the breeze, and the hair on my neck stand. I stare at Liam as he turns and leans up against the ledge, "so what exactly do you guys wanna talk to me about?" He asks casually. I look to Miles, and he looks right back at me, unsure. "We'll get to that. We actually uh, just want to know a few things, about you." I say, a little calmer then before. Liam smiles and laughs, "Alright. What do you want to know?" He asks.
I wipe my sweaty palms on the hem of my shirt and slip both into my front pockets. I feel my mother's wedding band in the left one, and I begin to nervously play with in inside my pocket. "Anything, just tell us about yourself. Tell us things we don't already know about you. After you do, we'll explain the reason for this interrogation." Miles says, and it felt right. I did want to hear about him, from him. Even though I am grateful for running into our aunt, I wish I had heard the truth from Liam himself.
"Okay, even though I'm a little worried, and mildly confused, I'd be glad too," he pauses with a slight quirk, "well first things first, I guess I should tell you, my first name isn't really Liam. My full name is William Sean Carter. I split my first name in half and went by Liam ever since. Umm, . . . my birthday is December 1st, so I suggest you not forget that." He says with a squint of his eyes, and it makes both me and Miles laugh, considering that's our birthday as well. "What else you wanna know?" Liam asks them, obviously out of ideas to say about himself. I think for a moment. I've always wondered what his aptitude test results were, so I asked. "Believe it or not, I got Dauntless, Amity, Abnegation, and Candor. Four out of the five." He answers.
I realized all three of us got Dauntless as our first result, and that fact makes me think of our father. He left Dauntless for a peaceful life, only to have three Dauntless children. Only to have three Divergent children. Sometimes, I wish he hadn't left, so I'd be able to see him right now. But then again, if he hadn't, he would've never met our mom, therefore the three of us wouldn't exist.
"What were the both of your guy's results?" Liam asks us, knocking me out of my thoughts. Miles looks up at him, "I got four as well. Dauntless, Abnegation, Amity, and Erudite." He tells him, right before Liam sets his eyes with mine again. "I got Dauntless, Abnegation, Erudite, Candor, and Amity. Exclusively in that order." I say, and I watch as he raises his eyebrows in surprise. "You're. . . You're all of them?" He says with slight disbelief coating his tone. I nod, "Yes. My test administrator told me I'm the very epitome of Divergent." I say, which was true since Tori did say that just before she literally dragged me out the back door of the testing room.
I will forever be grateful for her. "Wow. That's crazy. I had heard from my administrator that getting three results on the aptitude test was the highest amount recorded. I wonder why we're the only ones that have exceeded that number. . ." Liam says with a pondering face aimed towards the ground. It was then I knew it was time. I looked to Miles and we both stepped closer to Liam. Once again we didn't say anything, but we knew exactly what the other was thinking.
"We know why. . ." I say quietly, grabbing Liam's attention. "You do?" He asks, and his expression held curiosity. I nod, "Yes. In fact, we know more about you than you think." I say looking into his eyes. They bounce between both me and Miles. "You do. . . ?" He asks again, and I clear my throat nervously.
"We already knew your name was William. And we already knew your birthday was December 1st. We also know about your aunt. Aunt Lacy right?" I say carefully, and it's then his eyes widen, and his eyebrows furrow. "How did you. . ." - "We also know about your mom, Jane. And how she passed." Miles says wearily. I noticed he's slowly slipping his hand into his right pocket a bit. Liam stands up straight and tense, "Okay, I know for sure my aunt told you guys that. But why? Why on earth would she tell you that?" Liam asks aloud. He seemed distraught, and red, as if he had just been publicly embarrassed.
I looked at Miles one more time, and he tipped his head a bit, it seemed like he was queuing me for something. He then pulled his hand out of his pocket, and in his fingers, was the ring. He held it up, and Liam's hazel eyes landed on it in an instant. I watched as he tensed up and glared at Miles, and I knew why so, in that slip second I found myself holding my mother's wedding band directly in Liam's eye sight. And it was like time, stood, still.
I held my breath as Liam slightly relaxed, and bent his neck like a curious, and confused puppy. I try to swallow the lump in my throat, "before you do something stupid, please let us explain." I nearly plead as both me and Miles step closer to him. I carefully take his hand and place our mother's ring in his palm, I take one look at Miles and he does the same with our father's. Seeing the two rings together reminds me of all the times I'd use to see one of them on our mother's hands, at the dinner table, or shining, out in the Amity fields. Thinking of such made the weight on my heart even heavier then it already was.
I watch Liam unhesitatingly look at the inside of both rings. "Your aunt told us all these things because all we had to do to earn her trust was tell her our last name." Miles says, and Liam gives him a funny look. "What? Why would she. . . What's your last name?" He asks us. "Our last name is Harris. Natalie and Miles Harris. Children of June and Anthony Harris. Those are our parents wedding rings. And the engravings? Those are our parents initials and the H stands for Harris. Which makes your aunt, our father's sister. And you only had one of these rings all these years because our father sent it off from Amity to Dauntless with a baby seventeen years ago. And that baby? Was you. You're not William Sean Carter, you're William Sean Carter-Harris. . . .You're our little brother, our triplet little brother." I say, and I can't fight back the tears anymore. They came out and I blinked them from blurring my vision as I spoke.
Miles notices and wrapped an arm around me, he too had tears pooling in his eyes. I watch Liam stare at the rings in shock. I could tell he was perplexed by the news because he refused to blink. I leave Miles's side and step closer to him, causing him to look up at me. ". . . I-I have . . . A family? . . . I have, . . . Siblings?" Liam muttered nearly silently.
The words came out in a slight huff but, I could've swore I saw the corners of his lips curve up. I smile as I nod while tears continue to fall. And in that moment I was picked up from around my torso and spun into the air. It was Liam, "I have a sister!" He shouted as he held me up. By the time he set me down I was already laughing.
"You also have a brother y'know." Miles laughs, and Liam and him bro hug, and then transition into a real hug. They hugged just as long, and it was a heartwarming sight for me. They both stayed partially embraced as they opened up each of their arms for me. And I gladly hugged both of my brother's, both now fully aware of our biological connection. We all pulled away and looked at each-other, all with wide smiles and tears down our faces.
I wiped my own and then rubbed my eyes. But apparently, as I was rubbing, Liam had leaned over and whispered something to Miles. And before I could process what was happening, both of them picked me up. Liam locked his arms under my armpits, and Miles grabbed my feet. I laughed and wriggled in their grips, realizing exactly what they were planning to do.
Considering the dark whole the laid 7 stories below was just adjacent from us. "You two better not!! Put me down!!" I shouted playfully, and they just laughed as they stepped up onto the ledge. "Toss her over on three okay?" Liam says, and I watch Miles nod, and they begin to swing me back and forth. "One... two... three!" And as the sound of the number three left my little brother's mouth, they released me. And unlike last time I fell down this hole, I laughed the entire way down. With nothing but my brother's on my mind.