"Hi Theo." Etienne said softly, standing up, his gumbo forgotten. He hadn't expected to see his brother that soon, and it threw him off, but he made the best of it. They both did.
In a state of shock, Theoren looked at Tante Mattie. "Am I dreamin'?"
Mattie chuckled softly. "Non, Chil', you're not dreamin'. I know Jean-Luc tol' ev'ryone dat Etienne was dead, mais he told me de truth. I've always known dis would happen someday."
Theoren and Etienne stared at each other. Theoren couldn't get over how grown up his baby brother was. The last time he'd seen Etienne, the kid was only thirteen years old. Now, ten years later, a tall, well-poised young man was standing before him and Theoren was amazed.
Rory got impatient with the two brothers. "Well are you gonna hug or what?"
Etienne laughed. "She has a point." He said to Theoren, who nodded.
"Oui, dat she does. C'mere, kid." Theoren replied, wrapping his arms around his little brother, feeling like the luckiest man on the planet at that moment.
When the hug finally ended, Mattie got Theoren a bowl of gumbo and he joined them all at the table, the look of astonishment never leaving his face. Etienne introduced him to Dani and Rory.
"Theo, dese are my best friends, Dani Potier an' Rory Alouette. Jean-Luc sent me to live wit' dem ten years ago, deir moms took care of me."
Theoren studied the two girls. "Oh dear Lord…Claude an' Genard are gon' flip over dis. Dey've been waitin' to meet you two for, well, all your lives! It's really nice to meet you…although I feel bad 'bout getting to meet you b'fore dey do…"
Rory giggled. "You can always go get them and bring them here before anyone else shows up, so we can meet them next."
"Oui, I can, an' I prob'ly will, when I get dis gumbo finished." Theoren replied. He kept looking at Dani, who was starting to get uncomfortable.
"Let me guess," she said. "I look uncannily like Claude and you can't get over it."
Theoren blushed slightly and found he couldn't put into words what he thought of that. "It…you…he…you're…yeah!"
Etienne laughed. "Oh way to express yourself dere bro."
"Hey be t'ankful I'm expressin' myself as well as I am!" Theoren returned, also laughing. "Dis is turnin' into quite de day."
"I'm nervous." Rory admitted a little while later. She, Dani and Etienne were sitting in the living room with Tante Mattie. Theoren had gone to get Claude and Genard so they could finally meet their little sisters after twenty-four years.
"You too?" Dani replied. "I feel like there's a whole fleet of butterflies doing the Macarena in my stomach."
"Girls, dere is not'ing to be nervous 'bout, although I can see why you would be." Tante Mattie told them. "Claude an' Genard are very nice boys, an' dey are gon' be jus' t'rilled to meet you after all dis time."
"Is Theoren going to tell them why he's taking them here?" Rory wanted to know.
Tante Mattie shook her head. "He got a surprise when he walked in an' saw Etienne, an' he wants dem to get surprised as well. It adds to de reunion, I t'ink."
"Yeah, I can see how it would. But I'm still nervous." Dani commented.
Etienne chuckled. "How do you t'ink I feel? A little later, I'm gon' be seein' my two best friends for de first time in ten years…an' one of dem has always b'lieved he was responsible for my death. It's gon' be hard."
"It will be easier den you t'ink, Chil'." Mattie comforted. "Trust me."
"You know I do, Tante."
"Theo, what's dis all 'bout?" Genard asked as he and Claude followed their friend up the walk to Tante Mattie's house.
"Yeah…" Claude agreed. "We were kinda busy."
"You weren' too busy for dis," Theoren laughed. "B'lieve me guys, it'll be better if you're surprised."
"If you say so…" Genard replied.
Theoren opened the door a bit and looked inside. Getting the okay from Tante Mattie and her guests, Theoren opened the door fully and led his two friends inside.
Both Claude and Genard noticed Etienne first. They looked at Theoren.
"He's alive?!" they said in unison, eyes wide.
Theoren laughed. "Dat's pretty much what I t'ought when I saw him. Apparently, Tante Mattie has always known dat, but Jean-Luc asked her not to tell. Right, Tante?"
"Dat's right, Theoren." Mattie replied with a smile at the three thieves. "Mais, Etienne isn't de real reason Theo brought you two here today."
Dani and Rory had been looking at their brothers since the two men came into the room and they were so excited and nervous they could hardly contain themselves. Dani whispered to Rory,
"My God, I really do look like him!"
Rory giggled. "I can see it!" she whispered back.
Claude realized what was going on and as he looked at Dani, he couldn't help thinking he was looking in a mirror. "Whoa…" he said softly, a smile slowly spreading over his face as it occurred to him just who he was looking at.
Dani returned the smile. "Uh…hi. I'm Dani."
"I know." Claude replied. "I'm jus'…wow. I've been t'inking 'bout dis day for twenty-four years…I…wow…I can' b'lieve you're actually here."
"I'm having a hard time believing I'm here too. I mean it's one thing for Mom to tell me about you, but it's quite another for you to be standing right in front of me. Are you…uh…are you glad I came?"
"Oh Dani…" Claude said softly, moving and sitting down beside her, taking her hand in his. "Of course I am! You're my little sister, how could I be anyt'ing but t'rilled to finally get to know you?"
Across the room, Genard and Rory were having pretty much the same conversation. Theoren and Etienne were talking as well, getting reacquainted with each other. Tante Mattie watched over the three pairs of siblings with a loving expression on her dark features. She wished Jean-Luc were there to see these reunions taking place. He had been the one to help both Claude and Genard through the pain of their mothers leaving them and moving so far away. He had also been the one to counsel Theoren through the "death" of his young brother. She made a mental note to talk to Theoren at a later date about his feelings regarding the truth. As happy as he seemed, she knew this couldn't be easy on him.
Oddly enough, as Theoren was talking to his younger brother, his mind was elsewhere. He wasn't thinking about the fact that Jean-Luc and Tante Mattie had lied to him for ten years. He wasn't even really thinking about Etienne, even though the young man was sitting in front of him. He was thinking about Remy, Jean-Luc's adopted son, the current Guild patriarch. He had always blamed Remy for what he thought had happened to Etienne, and in a large sense if it hadn't been for Remy's mutant powers, it wouldn't have happened in the first place. But now that Theoren knew the truth…
'I t'ink I owe Remy an apology for de way I've been treatin' him for de past decade.' He thought with a slight sigh. That wasn't going to be an easy conversation. He was glad it would be a little while, a few hours at least, before he had to have it. Before that, he had the welcome task of telling Remy and Emil Lapin, who were both Etienne's best friends, that their supposedly dead friend was alive and well.
Even better, he brought two charming young women home to New Orleans with him. And as Theoren glanced at his friends and their sisters talking and laughing with each other, he knew it was going to be a good couple of weeks.