Finding You: The Switched Series book one (13 page)

Chapter Fifteen

Where am I and what is that sound? I lift my head and look over next to me where my husband is. I still can’t believe I am married. We left my house to go straight to the airport and headed to Vegas that night. After doing a little clothes shopping because neither of us packed anything, we found an all-night wedding chapel and I officially became Callie Clayton. The only person we called and told where we were was Clay. It wasn’t my idea, but Ash wanted to let him know we had put the ring to good use and thank him one more time. He also agreed to keep our secret. He didn’t think it was a very good idea, but he would do anything for us. After spending the night in Vegas, we flew back to Miami and started packing my stuff. We rented a truck and trailer and brought back the few things I wanted to keep. We both decided to go furniture shopping together and make this place ours.

The truck and trailer, I’m sure everyone has seen it by now and that’s the sound.

“Ash, wake up,” I yell at him, jumping out of the bed to find some clothes. “Ash, you have to get up.”

“Good morning beautiful. Come back to bed, we don’t have to be anywhere today. Come on,” he says, trying to grab me and pull me back into the bed. He lets go of me when he hears the beating on the door, and from the sounds of it more than one person is here. That gets his attention. Jumping out of the bed he grabs jeans and a t-shirt and puts them on.

“What time is it?”

“It’s already ten in the morning and Saturday. You know none of them are working today. What are we going to tell them?” I yell, starting to panic. I didn’t think about what we were going to tell them, I just thought about what not to tell them.

“We don’t have to tell them anything. We are adults. Let them think what they want. I should have known they would be here as soon as they figured out you were. It’s going to be fine. Just act natural, okay,” he says, kissing my forehead. “You may want to take that ring off if you still want to keep this a secret. Up to you,” he says, making his way out of the room to open the door. I quickly slide the ring off of my finger and put it in a box on the dresser. Maybe we should just tell them we are engaged, at least then I could wear the ring.

I walk out into the living room and it goes completely silent. All three of my brothers turn around and just look at me.

“Hi,” I say looking from one to another. When my eyes hit Brody, he is just looking at Ash. Collin is the first one to me and picks me up in a huge hug.

“Thank you for coming back. I didn’t think you were going to. Please say you are planning to stay and that’s why there is a trailer outside,” he says, letting me go to look at my face.

“I’m staying,” I say, looking at them all.

“I hope you’re staying for all of us and not just this guy,” Brody says, pointing at Ash. I look at Ash then for the first time since I walked into the room and he just smiles at me.

“Can’t I just stay for all of you?” I ask Brody, smiling.

“I guess that’s okay, but where do you plan on living? Leighton went back to Miami since school starts next week and I’m pretty sure you don’t want to live in a hotel anyway,” he says.

“I was planning on staying here,” I say, looking at Ash, who just smiles back at me.

“Absolutely not,” Brody says, looking from me to Ash. “She is not shacking up with you man. I love you like a brother, but that is not happening.” Again Ash just looks at me and smiles. He knew Brody would be furious and refuse to let me stay here and he thinks I’ll give in and tell them we are married. Obviously he doesn’t know me that well after all. I just grin back at him and turn to Brody.

“Where do you think I should stay?”

“You can stay with me or even them,” he says, pointing to Jaxon and Collin. “Just don’t stay with him,” he says, pointing at Ash again. “Mom and dad are really not going to like it and I don’t either. You should be with family.”

I really didn’t plan on them having a problem with this, but I guess I was wrong. I thought they would just be so happy I was back that they wouldn’t care where I lived.

“Brody, thank you for caring so much, but I am staying here and no one is changing my mind. This is where I want to be and this is where I feel safe. I’m sorry if you don’t like it, but I’m not going anywhere.”

Brody just keeps staring at me before his lips turn up into the biggest smile I have ever seen. “Okay, I’m moving back in,” he says, turning to look at Ash who is just smiling and shaking his head.

“You want to move in here with Ash and me?” I ask, trying to think of a way to change his mind. He just smiles back at me and start nodding his head. He really thinks he’s going to win this little game. He couldn’t be more wrong.

“Okay, but don’t worry about taking the couch, your bed has been empty for quite some time now,” I say, before turning around and walking back into Ash’s bedroom. Ash will probably kill me for leaving him with that mess, but I have no idea what else to say to make him not want to stay here. I hope they aren’t out there trying to kill each other right now.

“It looks like we are getting a new roommate,” Ash says, coming to lay down on the bed with me.

“I’m sorry, how mad is he?”

“He’s not mad. He thinks he will eventually change your mind and you will move out. However, I am furious,” he says, leaning over to kiss me.

“Why are you kissing me if you are so furious?” I ask, pulling him on top of me.

“I didn’t say I was mad at you. I’m mad we have to be so quiet now. These walls are pretty thin around here. I wouldn’t want him to run in here and choke me to death because you are way too loud.”

“You need to get off my sister and get your tail in here and help us unload her crap if she’s really staying here,” Brody yells through the door, making me burst out laughing.

“Thank you,” I say to Ash giving him one more kiss. He looks down at me with a confused expression, “for letting Brody stay here and not getting mad at me about it. I know it’s not an ideal arrangement for newlyweds, so thank you,” I say to him.

“You are very welcome baby. He won’t really stay here anyway. I think he was just getting his bluff in. He knows you will be safe here. He wouldn’t be unloading your crap if he wasn’t okay with it. He usually gets what he wants,” he says, giving me one last kiss before getting up to go help my brothers. I am definitely one very lucky girl. I get up and follow him into the living room and start telling them where to put everything. It’s not much, but most of it has special meaning to me. After they have gotten everything unloaded, Brody turns to look at me.

“Mom and dad are having a cookout tonight and really want you to come. Molly should be there, so they didn’t know how you would feel about that. Clay will be there and I guess Ash will have to be there if you are,” he says, smiling.

“I can handle Molly,” I say, turning around to look at Ash. “Can you handle your dad being there?”

“I can handle anything for you,” he says, grinning. “I told you I am good with my dad and I meant it. I have actually talked to him twice in the past week so he would know what was going on with you.”

“You talked to him twice and he didn’t even ask to talk to me?” I practically scream at him. He looks up at me shocked.

“You were busy both times, he did ask about you though. Do you have a problem with me talking to my dad?” he asks. Brody, Jaxon and Collin take this as their cue to leave. They tell us bye and they will see us tonight and head for the door. 

“I don’t have a problem with you talking to your dad. I’m just not used to him not calling to check up on me. I’m really glad you are talking to him again. He really is an amazing person. You two actually remind me a lot of each other,” I say, walking over to him. “I’m sorry I got upset. I guess I’m just not used to sharing him with anyone. It might take a little getting used to. I’m just glad I have you all to myself right now,” I say, reaching up to kiss him.

“How about a nap?” he asks, leading me back into the bedroom.

The last time I saw everyone that is now seated around this table was when I let it slip that I had known about them for ten years now. I had no idea how they would react to seeing me again. I guess somewhere way back in my mind I thought they would be mad that I never wanted to meet them. I was expecting the worst and once again, they treated me like nothing had happened. I was so nervous when Ash and I walked through the front door, but as usual this family put me right at ease. I walked into the kitchen to find Cindy getting everything ready for tonight. She just looked up, smiled and walked over to give me hug. The same happened when I walked outside to find Bo cooking on the grill. He just gave a hug and a quick kiss on the forehead and thanked me for coming back. So far no one has said anything about that night. Everyone is here, everyone but one person. The one person I have been dreading all day seeing. I don’t know how we will ever make this work, but I know we will have to find a way if I want to stay here and really have this family in my life. Everyone is just sitting around making small talk when I blurt out,

“Where’s Molly?”

All of the talking stops and everyone starts staring at me with big eyes.

“She said she had a date and she didn’t want to cancel,” Cindy says.

“Okay, that’s nice,” I say, wondering what guy in his right mind would want to take her on a date.

“Who is she out with?” Collin asks.

“His name is Kyle. I met him for a second before they left. He seemed really nice, very cute. A little shy, didn’t have a lot to say. She seems to really like him though, so I didn’t make a big deal about her not being here tonight. I hope that’s okay,” she says, looking around the table at everyone.

“Where did she meet him?” Collin asks. I can’t imagine having to go through the high school days with these three probably scaring off every guy who seemed a little interested in you.

“She didn’t say. She didn’t tell me about him until he was already here to get her. She said they had actually been dating a few weeks now, she just didn’t say anything with everything else going on. Why don’t we talk about something else?” she says, still looking at Collin.

“I would like to talk about Molly, if that’s okay,” I say, watching all heads turn back to me again. Clay seems to be the only one eating anything tonight. He just keeps looking around at everybody else.

“Okay, what do you want to talk about?” Cindy asks me.

“I need to know what I need to do to make her not hate me so much,” I say, looking around at all of them. “I know it’s not going to be easy, but I also know it’s not just me and Molly this is hard on. It’s probably harder on all of you than it is us. I just wanted to know what I could do to make it easier on everyone involved.” Ash grabs my hand under the table and squeezes. This was a subject we had talked about a lot, but had never been able to come up with how to fix it.

“I think she just feels cheated. She feels like you got two families and she just got one that isn’t even hers,” Bo says, sitting back in his chair and putting his napkin in his plate. I guess I just ruined dinner.

“You are her family. She has been so lucky to have had you all in her life forever. I would have done anything to keep my parents with me forever. Even now, I miss them every day,” I tell them, hoping they understand what I am saying. I know I am lucky to have found this family, but my parents were my parents and I would do anything to see them again.

“We know that and we have done everything in our power to make her understand she will always be our daughter, but we want you to know we want you too. We don’t know what to do here either. We will tell you what we told her, we are not going to choose between the two of you. We know we are very lucky to have you both,” Cindy says, getting up to clear the table.

“I think she would feel better if she had something from your parents. You have to have something from them she can have. She knows nothing about them. I told her you were the only person who could give her answers, but she doesn’t think you understand. Don’t you have something she can have that belonged to them?” Jaxon asks, looking at me. I do have things from them. I have a necklace, a pocket knife and two pieces of art my mom did. Four things that mean everything to me and I will not share with anyone. They were my parents, not hers.

“I don’t have anything. I was sixteen and had just lost the only two people I had in my life. I was more worried about not getting killed myself and getting somewhere safe. I didn’t know ten years later I would regret not taking everything I could out of that house,” I say, standing up. “I need some air, I’m not going anywhere, I just need to think for a minute,” I say, before walking out the front door.  I go outside on the porch and sit down on the front steps. I hear the door open behind me. I feel someone come sit down beside me.

“How are you holding up sweetheart?” Clay asks, before putting his arm around me.

“I’m okay I guess. Sometimes I wonder if it was a mistake coming here.”

“I’m really glad you came here. Congratulations by the way, I’m really happy for you and Ash,” he says.

“Thanks,” I say, looking over at him. “I’m so sorry,” I say to him feeling the tears that are starting to pour down my face.

“Sorry for what?” he asks, wiping the tears off of my cheeks.

“If I hadn’t begged you stay with me that night, you would still have your family. How can the two of you not hate me?”