“No parents?” Tessa asked curiously.
He looked somber as he said, “Not anymore. They died a year ago.”
Tessa took her hand from his and put a palm lightly on his face. “I’m sorry. How did it happen?”
“My dad retired early, moved to California with Mom to avoid the cold winters. There was a home-invasion robbery. My parents were both murdered. Xander was the only one there with them, and the only one who survived . . . if you want to call it survival. He was able to reach for his cell phone and call the police. There was a shootout with the murderer a few miles from my parents’ home. The guy who killed our parents died, too, but I don’t think it made any of us feel better.”
Tessa’s eyes watered, her heart aching for Micah. She had lost her own parents, and she knew the pain of losing both of the people she loved most in the world relatively close together. But the shock of losing both of his parents at the same time to murder had to have been devastating. “What do you mean? Your brother did make it, right?”
“He’s alive, if that’s what you mean. But he’s never been the same man. He was an incredibly talented musician, and he was world famous. Unfortunately, he gave up his career. He still hasn’t recovered. His physical wounds healed, but he’s scarred and messed up emotionally. Drugs, alcohol, and severe depression. I get to the West Coast as much as I can to see him. Not that he wants to see anybody, but someone needs to keep an eye on him. Right now, I’m not sure whether he cares if he lives or dies.”
“I’m so sorry,” Tessa replied, a lone tear trickling down her cheek.
“For what?”
She rested her hand back in his and squeezed. “Because you’ve had to be the strong one, the person who took over when your parents died. I’m sorry for your brother, that he had to see your parents die. Was he badly injured?”
“Pretty bad. Both of my parents were shot multiple times, but Xander was shot once, then cut up, stab wounds everywhere. He was in the hospital for a long time. We weren’t sure he was going to make it.”
Tessa had met Julian briefly when he’d been in Amesport. Xander had never made the trip for any of his cousins’ weddings or events, except Sarah and Dante’s ceremony, nuptials that Tessa hadn’t attended. But she remembered hearing about how handsome all of the Sinclair men had been together in a group. Xander had never come to Amesport again. Now she knew why. “What about Julian?”
“He’s living his dream right now. He worked so damn hard to make it in the movie industry. After he got the Academy Award for his first movie, he’s been in high demand. He’s just wrapping up his third film.”
Tessa could tell that Micah was proud of Julian, but was it fair that he wasn’t really sharing with Micah the burden of Xander’s problems? “But surely Julian could help. You have a business to run, obligations of your own.”
Micah shook his head. “He’s on location most of the time.”
“You don’t want Julian to know how bad Xander is doing,” Tessa concluded, frowning at Micah. He couldn’t keep shouldering all the burdens he was carrying. His obligations to his company had to be demanding. Then, he was traveling from coast to coast for his younger brother? He may have stopped some of his personal participation in extreme sports, but he still had duties as the leader of a very elite skydiving team, Xtreme Dive Crew. Even if a person wasn’t into skydiving, there were very few who hadn’t heard of Micah’s troop of professionals, or seen them perform some crazy dangerous maneuvers. The group was the best of the best, and Micah sponsored and led the team. They were named after his own company, Xtreme Dive Sports Equipment.
“Julian would give up his career if he knew, or severely limit it, to help with Xander. My youngest brother already threw his career as a musician away. I don’t want that for Julian.” His jaw was firmly set, his eyes shuttered.
A memory flitted through Tessa’s mind. “You said Xander was a musician. Was he a rock star?”
Micah looked at her curiously, raising a brow. “Yeah. He was. Were you into his music? He started pretty young, probably before you lost your hearing.”
Tessa shook her head. “What does he look like?” There were definitely coincidences, but her Xander, a kind man she’d never forgotten, and Micah’s younger brother couldn’t possibly be the same person. What were the chances of that?
“Dark hair. Brown eyes. He just turned thirty.”
Tessa quickly thought about his age and description, realizing that they were definitely talking about the same guy. How many successful rockers named Xander could there be in the world?
Her heart ached as she explained, “I met him. Years ago when I lived in Boston. He was doing a concert there. He helped me. I only met him once, but I never forgot how much his assistance meant to me.”
Tessa quickly recounted how she and Xander had become acquainted, unable to imagine Micah’s younger brother as anything other than how he’d been with her . . . an adorable, cheeky rock star.
“Sounds like something he’d do,” Micah agreed. “He’s . . . different now.”
She couldn’t help but be sad about such a nice guy having something so terrible happen to him. Life was so damn unfair sometimes. “Maybe it will just take some time,” she suggested, her heart squeezing like it was being clenched by a merciless fist.
“He’s not getting better.” There was sadness and frustration in Micah’s expression.