nothing's gonna stop me now

Aidan got Carson on at the barbecue place, but Carson still wanted a place of his own.

"I've put you out long enough." Carson stayed in their guestroom through the holidays. "I shouldn't even be here." He'd found a room close to campus. Luckily, no one had snatched it before the new semester. Of course, it was the dead of winter and cold as hell. Wasn't likely, anyone wanted to budge in this weather.

Carson almost had the studio above the garage, but Henry was fixing the place up for his very own sewing room which still baffled Aidan. But here was his cousin who might not have been quite as upscale as he looked. No, Carson wasn't a lost poor little rich boy. He'd actually been the one taking care of his mother for the most part.

"I gave up, I know I shouldn't. But she won't change." He shook his head as he sat on the couch, stuffing his duffle bag with his belongings. "And then..when she told me before Thanksgiving ..that..that I have this brother..I never even knew about...I just..felt I needed to know. She'd talked about it when she was really drunk, you know. I wasn't sure I believed her or not."

Aidan didn't know what to say. He wanted to get up and go make tea. But he sat in the cozy leather chair that Audrey bought him for Christmas. It was suppose to be for reading by the fireplace. He watched the lick of flames now wondering how Carson really grew up.

Maybe they should have found Carson long ago and adopted him into his family instead of Vada.

"She left the baby in a dumpster." Carson told Aidan. "She said she wasn't sure if she'd killed the baby or not. It was like this murky dream. She didn't even know."

"So, did, you get an investigator, or something?" Aidan wanted to know.

Carson shook his head, no.

"I went to the local library. Did most of the research myself. Well, I had some help, from this librarian. She was really nice." He shrugged. "Anyway, I found this news story. And one thing lead to another. When  I found out he was here..."

"Have, you even met him?" Aidan still wasn't sure Carson knew what he was doing.

He shook his head, no.

"I thought it would be weird... to go at Christmas. You know, the holidays. But I'm going too. I want to know my brother. I want him to know he's got a brother." Carson sounded so hopeful, like a new beginning was about to start.

"Lets get you, in that room first." Aidan hoped Carson wasn't moving into a little side room with no door. "If it doesn't work out, you can always come back here."