The Secret They Had Been Keeping
Mason reached into a folder on the table and slid several documents toward me.
I frowned.
“What is this?”

“Just read it,” Noah said.
Confused, I picked up the papers. The first page held legal documents. The second showed property information. The third, ownership records.
I stared. Then stared again, certain I was misunderstanding.
“What exactly am I looking at?” I asked.
Mason smiled.
“A house.”
I blinked.
“What?”
“A house,” Noah repeated. “We bought you a house.”
For several seconds, I couldn’t process the words.
Then I laughed — not because it was funny, but because it seemed impossible.
“You bought me a house?”
“Yes.”
“With what money?”
The twins exchanged grins, and suddenly everything began making sense. The summer jobs. The side businesses. The tutoring work. The landscaping company they had started together. The countless hours they had spent saving instead of spending.
Mason leaned forward.
“We’ve been planning this for almost three years.”
My eyes widened.
“Three years?”
Noah nodded.
“We knew this day was coming.”
I felt completely lost.
“What day?”
“The day we’d become adults,” he said, his voice softening. “The day you stopped having to carry us.”
