Finding You: The Switched Series book one

by Brittany Bromley

  “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?”

  “We don’t hate you because that was not your fault. Callie, look at me,” he says, turning me around to look at him. “You need to understand something. I was doing my job that night. That’s what people do. Unfortunately that means they aren’t always around to take care of everybody else. I need you to understand this because there will come a time when you will want Ash home and he won’t be because of his job. It will get hard and it will get lonely, but you need to understand you will always be his number one priority, even when he is out in the middle of the night taking care of someone else who just went through hell. You need to remember he loves you and he is doing this job to try and make the world a safer place for you.”

  “I really wish you would stop making my wife cry, it’s been a long night,” Ash says, coming up behind me. “Molly just came in the back door. I told them we would sneak out the front. I didn’t think tonight was the night for a reunion. Cindy said to tell you she will call you tomorrow or just stop by. I don’t think she was too happy with your living arrangements either.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  I have hated holidays for the last ten years. I haven’t celebrated any of them in so long I’m not even sure I know how. Today is the Monday before Thanksgiving and I couldn’t be more excited. Leighton is coming in today to stay with us for the week. I haven’t seen her since the day we flew back from Vegas to pack up my stuff. We talk almost every day, but it’s still not the same. Molly and I can be in the same room now, but we never talk. I know that makes it very awkward and uncomfortable for everyone, but that’s how it is for now.

  Bo and Cindy do holidays up big here I’ve heard. They are having everybody over for Thanksgiving dinner Thursday. They are even including Clay and Leighton in on their big family dinner this year. Ash is very excited because I told him this morning I wanted to announce we were married at dinner Thursday. It has been really hard keeping this secret especially from Brody, but so far we have. He has no idea my true reason for telling them. I found out about that yesterday. I haven’t been feeling
very good the last couple of weeks or so. I just figured it was my body trying to get used to this cooler weather here. Miami definitely does not have the fall weather like we have here in Tennessee. I was digging through the bathroom for some medicine to try and get some energy back when I found something else instead. Something I haven’t used in several weeks but probably should have needed. After making that small discovery, I went straight to the pharmacy and bought the one thing I never ever planned on buying. I took it as soon as I got home and had two little pink lines in no time. I thought I would feel scared and mad, but instead I am so excited. I know Ash has always wanted kids, but he promised me not having kids wouldn’t be a deal breaker when we got married. I couldn’t get an appointment at the doctor until next week, so I want to hold off on telling the family about the baby until we know for sure everything is okay. I think finding out we have been married for three months will be a big enough of a shock.

  I wish I could tell Molly before so she has a few days to get used to the news before seeing us together. She seems to be really taken with the new guy Kyle. I still haven’t met him, but everyone says he is a really nice guy. I hope this works out for her.

  I have just picked up Leighton from the hospital when my phone rings. I have gotten a lot better about going out in public by myself, especially back to Nashville. It hasn’t been easy, but like they all said, it’s been ten years and I honestly probably wouldn’t be able to pick him out now anyway. They feel pretty certain I am not on their hit list after all this time.

  I look at the caller ID and can’t believe the name. “It’s Molly,” I say to Leighton.

  “I didn’t know you two were speaking,” she says, looking as shocked as I feel right now.

  “We don’t,” I say to her, before answering. “Hello,” I say, putting her on speaker so I don’t have to hold the phone.

  “Hey Callie, it’s Molly. I think we should talk. Can you come over?” she asks, sounding really short and really off.

  “I just picked Leighton up from the airport. I can drop her off at the house and come by in about an hour or so. Will that be okay?”

  “You can’t get here any sooner?” she asks, before quickly adding “I mean an hour will be fine. I’ll see you then.”

  “That has to be the strangest conversation ever,” Leighton says, looking over at me. “Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you? She sounds really weird.” She does sound weird, but I don’t think that’s any reason to be worried. We haven’t spoken much lately, so maybe she’s just uncomfortable asking me to talk.

  “Let’s not worry about it. It will be fine. She’s just a little strange. I haven’t seen you in forever. Tell me what you have been up to,” I say, trying to change the subject. I don’t know what Molly wants, but I have a feeling it’s going to be bad, very bad.

  I drop Leighton off at the house and tell her to come looking for me if I’m not back in an hour. She looks worried, but doesn’t say anything. I get back in the car and go look for Molly, not realizing this is going to be the new worst day of my life.

  I pull up to Bo and Cindy’s house, grabbing my purse, I get out of the car. I climb the steps to the porch and knock on the door. After a few minutes of waiting with no answer, I open the door and walk in. All of the lights are off and it looks like no one is home. I look around the house for a minute before getting ready to turn and get out of there. Maybe she changed her mind after all. There is definitely something up with that girl. I take one last look inside the living room when I think I see movement on the couch. I walk over to the light switch and flip it on. That’s when I see her. Molly is tied up on the couch with her mouth taped. I run over to her and pull the tape off.

  “Run,” she says.

  “What is going on, who did this?” I say to her, trying to figure out how to untie her.

  “Callie, I am so sorry. I didn’t realize when he said to call you. You need to get out now,” she says, before looking behind me with wide eyes.

  I turn around and look into the bluest eyes I have ever seen. Eyes I will never forget. How did he find me and why did he tie Molly up? She has nothing to do with this.

  “Hello gorgeous! Long time no see. You are definitely a hard girl to find,” he says, smiling at me like the psycho he is. There are moments in life you will never forget and there are moments in life you will never want to relive. I am having both of those right now. The last time I was in a living room looking into these eyes, I knew I was about to die. All I could think in that moment was all the things I would never get to do or see. It was a moment I never wanted to experience again.

  This time, looking into the eyes that let me go once, I refuse to let him kill me. It’s not about me anymore, it’s about my child. I know how my dad felt now, in that last moment when you know you are going to die. I’ve always said he was my hero because if he hadn’t made that last call, I would probably already be dead. I know right now I have to save my baby. I just have absolutely no idea how I am going to do it.

  He loses his focus on me for a second when he looks down to the couch at Molly. I take that opportunity to run around him and try to get to the door. Of course, he was planning on that, he had me around the waist and slammed down onto the couch beside Molly before I knew what was happening. He slowly stands up and takes something out of his pocket, a knife. He looks back down at me and smiles.

  “I let you get away from me once, I never make the same mistake twice,” he says, before taking the knife and slamming it down into my thigh. I look down and see the blood gushing down my leg. I can barely hear Molly screaming next to me over the roaring in my ears. I try to get up and run around him again. This time he takes his foot and kicks me in the stomach, hard.

  “That should keep you still for now,” he says, taping Molly’s mouth shut again. He slowly starts walking across the room to sit down. This guy really is a psycho. I know I am losing too much blood way too fast. I also know I have a gun in my purse that I can reach inside and get anytime I want. He watches me as I slowly put my hand inside my purse, but never says anything. I put my hand on the gun, but instead of pulling it out and shooting, I ask “Why did you do it? What did my parents ever do to you?”

  “Your parents took everything from me,” he calmly says from his chair. “They killed my mom. She’s the only person in the world I had and they took her from me. I thought you should find out what it was like to have no one.”

  “My parents would never kill anyone,” I say calmly back to him.

  “Our moms used to be friends. They were both up for the same promotion at the hospital together. Your mom got it, mine got nothing. A few months later your mom found out she was pregnant with her” he says, pointing at Molly, “and decided she didn’t want to work anymore. She wanted to stay home with her precious baby girl. She just gave up the job my mom had worked so hard for like it was nothing. For some reason they wanted your mom to help find her replacement. She didn’t choose my mom.” I still do not understand why he thinks they killed her. People miss promotions all the time. Why will he not get mad and scream and talk fast like other crazy murderers. I can feel the sweat breaking out on my body. My stomach is cramping, my ribs are killing me and I am still losing way too much blood, but I have to know what happened.

  “A few months later, you were born. My mom was working that night. I guess she still had some bitter feelings toward your mom, so she switched her baby with another one. Those mothers didn’t even know they had the wrong babies. Great moms you both had,” he says, laughing.

  “Your parents found out when you were three. They found a way to prove my mom had switched them. They threatened her and told her they wouldn’t turn her in if she would just quit her job. When she refused, they made it look like she was an addict that had been stealing pills from the hospital. Maybe she was, I don’t know. I just know she lost her job and no other hospital would hire her with that on her record. She killed herself two months later, leaving me with no one. That’s
got to make you feel good they knew all about you but didn’t want you,” he says, looking over at Molly for the first time.

  “Don’t worry though, I took care of them after that. Now you are all going to get to be reunited very soon,” he says, starting to stand up and walk toward us. It’s now or never. I’m not even sure I have to energy to lift a gun at this moment, but he is going to get what he deserves for taking my parents away from me. I grab the gun and lift it out of my purse and point it straight at him. The last thing I see is his smile on his face before I pull the trigger and the blackness takes over my body. I just hope I’m a good shot.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Ash

  This has been one of the longest days I have ever worked. I am so ready to get home to my gorgeous wife and take the rest of the week off. I know Callie hasn’t really celebrated holidays in a while, so I am determined to make this Thanksgiving extra special. Leighton is coming to spend the week with us and I’m really glad Callie will have her all week. I know she gets lonely staying around here with no friends. She has definitely gotten better about getting out of the house, but I can tell she is still scared to be around a lot of people. I’m hoping Leighton can give me some ideas on something special I can do for Callie this week.

  I pull into the driveway and notice Callie’s jeep is gone. I get out of my truck and go up to the door and unlock it. I open the door to find Leighton standing in my kitchen.

  “Hey, it’s good to see you,” I say, walking over to give her a quick hug. “Where did Callie go?”

  “Good to see you too,” she says, looking behind me and smiling. I turn around to find Brody coming in the door. I guess he knew Leighton would be here today. I should have known he wouldn’t be far behind me. “Hey handsome,” she says to Brody.

  “Leighton, where is Callie?” I ask her again, bringing her attention back to me.