He was looking for a weather report on the internet when he stumbled across an old article about the Hanson's and their brotherly love. We're each others best friends, the article quoted Taylor as saying.
Zac laughed out loud. He'd forgotten what liars his brothers had been. Had that question been directed at him, he would have told them the truth. That he hated his brothers. Then the reporter would have laughed, assuming he was kidding.
But it wasn't a joke.
All those memories came flooding back. He'd spent a lifetime trying to forget his family, even changing his name, becoming Zac Walker.
Zac Walker was an only child whose parents had died when he was seventeen. Zac Walker fell in love with Marion Kent the year he turned twenty-three and she died before he could tell her who he really was.
"Daddy?"
Zac turned to see his daughter standing in the doorway, silhouetted by the bright hallway light."Kaci, what are you doing up, sweetie?"
The tiny five year old climbed up into his lap."I couldn't sleep."She leaned back against him, snuggling into his warmth."Daddy who's that?"she lifted her head and looked back at him.
Kaci was pointing at the picture on the computer screen. It had been taken several years before Hanson's breakup. The three brothers looked disgustingly happy.
Zac couldn't lie to his daughter. He sighed."That's me, baby girl."
She stared at the screen for a moment."Which one are you?"
He pointed.
"But who are they?"she asked, looking confused as she pointed to Ike and Tay.
"They" were the two men he hadn't seen nor spoken to in ten years. "They" probably had children of their own by now. Zac had no idea who "they" were anymore.
"Those are my brothers,"he said finally.
"So,"Kaci said, wrinkling her forehead,"I have uncles just like Sara?"
Zac blinked back tears."Yeah."Suddenly all the fighting didn't seem so important anymore. He'd run away from his family because he didn't get along with them and in the process had deprived his daughter of the support system she deserved. She'd lost her mother when she was just an infant, it was time she had someone else besides him.
"Can I meet them?"she asked.
Zac knew his answer would change his current life course irreversibly. He handed her the phone."How about you call them?"
Kaci grinned as he dialed Taylor's old phone number. Miraculously, the number hadn't changed.
"Uncle Taylor? This is your niece, Kaci."
Soon, they'd all be back together again.