The Moment She Knew

by Christine Farrey

  “Well only for a couple weeks, then I’ll be back in the city.” They paused and looked at each other. They knew he would be moving back to New York but it didn’t sink in until he said it out loud. He would be gone by the end of November, when he was done with his lecture. The distance was too much for them to see each other on a regular basis. She wondered how this was going to work, but now wasn’t the time to figure it out. They could talk about it later.

  They passed a fence and drove down a gravel driveway, a ways down the house came into clear view. The four story house was a pale yellow color with big windows all around. It had a wraparound porch, a characteristic Callie loved in houses.

  It was end of October in New England, the air was chilly, she was glad she went with a dress with sleeves. Outside of the house people gathered around to greet one another. There seemed to be more people than she would have guessed attending this family dinner. It looked to be an actual party.

  As they walked up to the house, people stopped along the way to wish Connor a happy birthday, Callie took at the décor of the house. Many of the walls were either light or dark blue with white trim. He placed his hand on her back, leading her down the hallway and into the entertaining room. The room was big and inviting. The walls were a warm brown color with gold curtains hanging from the windows. In the center of the room stood a long mahogany table with matching chairs and a chandelier dispensed from above. Antique frames and furniture took up most of the room. People were standing around drinking while waiters were passing out appetizers.

  “I thought this was going to be a small get together, not a party,” she whispered to him.

  “You and I both,” he sighed with irritation.

  “Reed!” Someone shouted. Callie froze and looked around.

  Connor waved hello.

  Callie looked at him. Reed? People came up and shook his hand; some women came up and kissed his cheek. “Did they call you Reed?” She asked, hoping she misheard.

  “Yea a few people but mostly family call me Reed,” he said as he shook some hands.

  “Why? Why do they call you that?”

  “When we, all my siblings, got adopted we knew our names because we were older. So our birth first and last name we kept and just added on Sterling. Like Dev, her birth name is Sara Devin, but her adoptive name became Sara Devin Sterling. We all go by our ‘middle names’ it’s weird I know, but it’s just what we started doing when we were younger.”

  “So your birth name is Connor Reed and they call you Reed?” Callie asked. She was shocked because it wasn’t a common first name but she could see it being a common last name.

  “Yea, is that a problem?” He laughed. “You can still call me Connor, I like the way you say my name,” he said and winked. More people approached him. He was trying not to get annoyed.

  A woman approached him; she just stared at an arm’s length, shaking her head, looking at him in a loving way. The woman gave him a kiss on the cheek and embraced their hug with a sign of contentment. As she hugged him, immediately Callie knew it was his mother.

  “You are so close now and yet you don’t visit.” She was a beautiful woman. She had salt and pepper hair that she kept in a short bob. Standing at about 5’4’’ in her cream snake skin Louboutin pumps. She wore a cream colored knee length fitted dress but her turquoise statement necklace gave her outfit a nice pop. She was a woman with style.

  “I have been a bit busy. I’m sorry,” he offered his apologies.

  “I see,” she said smiling at Callie.

  “Callie this is my mother, Amelia... and that man over there is my father, Mason.” Mason came over and gave his son a firm handshake and a hug. “It’s been too long buddy.” Mason had dark brown hair with some gray mixed in. He wasn’t a tall man; Connor had a few inches on him. He wore gold wire frame glasses. He had the ‘professor’ look to him.

  “It’s lovely to meet you both, you have a beautiful home,” Callie said as she looked around.

  “Thank you dear, would you like a tour of the rest of the house?”

  “I thought this was a small family dinner,” Connor interrupted.

  “It was but you know, you invite one and you have to invite them all,” his mother explained.

  His hand washed over his face in frustration.

  “Dear, you need to relax and enjoy the night. I have something for you later remind me to give it to you before you leave.”

  “Will do,” he replied.

  Amelia locked her arm with Callie’s and she began to give her a tour of the house.

  Chapter 20

  “Wow this is just a lovely house.” There were brick fireplaces in almost every room. The kitchen was huge and had a granite top island displayed in the center of it. The kitchen was an open area that led into a dining room. The house had a more formal dining room complete with china cabinet and table that sat ten guests. She guessed the room was more a display and was only used on holidays.

  There were doors all over, Callie could get lost in this house easily. There was a massive wooden stair case that went all the way to the top floor. The bathroom on the first floor was about the size of her apartment. In total there was something like 5 bedrooms and 3 baths. Not including the half baths. They came across a formal living room that looked like it had never been touched. She walked around and saw the pictures on the wall. Amelia and Mason proudly displayed their four children and their accomplishments. She couldn’t help but linger on the pictures of Connor. Amelia noticed and gave her a peak into his childhood.

  Amelia wanted her children to be well rounded and have opportunities. Each child took up a language and sport. Amelia explained they tried to make it fun for the kids. If they found it boring, then they would quit. Connor and Dev spoke Italian and Spanish well. Parker tried but couldn’t grasp any language. Quinn spoke Spanish but loved Latin. Both girls took up dance, while Parker played any sport he could. Connor wasn’t much for sports other than boxing. Callie remembered him talking about his fighting stage. Lastly there was a picture of the family in a living room. Connor sat behind a piano with Quinn by his side. Dev was lying across the top of the piano and Parker was sitting on the couch between Mason and Amelia. Amelia came over and smiled at the picture. Callie could see her reminiscing that day as her eyes watered.

  “Goodness, the children were all teenagers. This was one of the last times we all sat in the living room together. We would have dinner as much as we could as a family. After dinner we would do into the living room to relax and have some family time. The kids wanted to start a band when they were younger. They were really into it, so we bought them instruments and they self-taught themselves. It was hard on the eardrums. It didn’t last long but they were doing something together and Mason and I would support anything that got them to bond. Devin was the singer, Parker on drums, Connor on guitar and Quinn, well she just was played the tambourine.” Amelia was laughing so hard, she held her chest. “Connor learned the piano, so we would all gather in the living room and Connor would play the guitar or piano as Dev sang.”

  Callie was eager to know more about Connor. Amelia took a look around the room, placing her hands on the back of a chair. “This house is too big. It’s just Mason and I, now Quinn is moving back but she will find and apartment soon. I was thinking of moving to Branford. I know a woman who lives in these nice condos by the water and they are the prefect size. This is a nice house for a couple who wants to have a family, we aren’t that couple anymore. Our kids have all grown and left the nest,” she said as she walked around the living room.

  “Branford is a nice area.” Callie had nothing else to say.

  “So how are you? I heard a little about you. It’s nice to finally meet you.” her tone was kind. Amelia sat on the couch, crossing her legs at the heel. She was formal and fancy but not overpoweringly so.

  “You heard about me?” Callie was excited to know she was being spoken about.

  “I have talked to Reed a few times. I’m sorry,
Connor. I also heard about your run in the Devin.”

  “Oh, about that.” Callie was caught off guard and looked for words to say.

  “No need to explain dear, she takes things to a whole new level sometimes. I’m her mother but I’m not naïve.” Callie was relieved.

  “Oh well, what do your want to know?” Callie was an open book. Ask and she answered.

  “Everything,” Amelia replied.

  Callie gave her a rundown. She mostly talked about her schooling, her job and her future plans.

  “I think it’s wonderful you plan on developing a graduate program. Have you thought about getting your PhD?”

  “Yes I have but I don’t have the finances for it just yet. I’m not just paying off my undergrad and MA in English, I also have another MA degree I had gotten before the English degree. So I have that to pay off as well. But I plan on getting it, eventually.” She was starting to feel a bit nervous.

  “Wow that’s impressive. What is your other degree in?” Amelia asked.

  “It’s in Communications, marketing mainly.”

  “Well I think you have a good head on your shoulders and you seem to have your ducks in a row. Let me know if there is anything I can do to help. I see why Reed likes you. He has never brought anyone home. Actually he has never even mentioned a girl to anyone in the family. I think he had his reasons why he waited. I get why, he was waiting for you. He said you know about his past; the fighting, the drinking, the women. There is so much he doesn’t know about his past, but it will make sense.” A waiter came into the living room, “Excuse me, ma’am, the cake has arrived.”

  “Thank you.” Amelia turned to Callie.

  “Shall we go back to the party?” Callie nodded. She liked Amelia, she asked questions about Callie and seemed interested, not nosy. She was on her way back to the party and thought about her conversation with Amelia. According to Connor he knew nothing about his past, was she going to tell him? Callie saw Ryan as she entered the room.

  “Hey,” Ryan greeted her with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “Where did you go off to?”

  “Amelia was showing me around the house.”

  “Making nice with the boyfriends parentals? Well come and meet his sisters,” Ryan nodded in the direction of Quinn and Devin.

  “Callie this is,” Ryan started.

  “We’ve met,” Devin interrupted. She was not a fan of Callie and the feeling was mutual.

  “Ok well, this is Quinn, the baby of the group,” Ryan put his arm around Quinn. Quinn was the definition of petite. She couldn’t have been more than 5’2’’. She had long golden blond hair that was pin straight. Her hazel eyes had deep honey speckles in them. Her skin was fair and she looked like a doll that you didn’t want to touch for fear you would ruin her.

  “It’s so nice to meet you.” Quinn went up and hugged Callie, it was unexpected.

  “You as well.” Callie didn’t know what to do, so she hugged her back.

  Dev scoffed and left the conversation.

  “This is Parker,” Ryan pointed to a man who was about the same height as Connor. He had hazel eyes like Quinn and short curly dark brown hair. His olive complexion complimented his eyes nicely. Under Parker’s thin beard he had an angular face. He was slim and Callie loved that he wore Converse sneakers with his suit.

  “It’s nice to meet you finally,” Parker bowed and then offered her a handshake.

  “Nice to meet you as well. I love your sneakers,” Callie smiled. Devin was off in the corner mocking their conversation.

  “Don’t mind Dev, she can be a bitch,” Parker nodded over to Dev and everyone laughed.

  Everyone quieted down as Connor’s father was making an announcement.

  “I would like to thank everyone for coming. I hope you are enjoying your evening thus far. We have plenty more to eat and drink.” Connor appeared next to Callie, his arm around her waist. “We also will have some music playing shortly for those of you aching to dance.” There was some whistling in the crowd. “On behalf of Amelia and I, I just want to say Reed, Connor to some of you,” he winked at Callie, “happy birthday son. You make me proud, you always have and I know you always will. You have turned into a fine man that anyone would be proud to call son, I’m just blessed that I can be that man. Cheers.” His father raised his glass along with the rest of the room and clapping followed.

  The night consisted of drinking and dancing with a little eating here and there. It was a good time. Callie spent most of it with Ryan, Parker, Quinn and Connor. Callie felt comfortable and was relieved. There was sibling banter and swapping of stories. Callie heard about Connor as a kid and wished she could have seen him. Callie told them about the pictures in the living room. They all laughed about their band. They had fought over their name so each child called the band something different. In many of their stories Ryan was always with them. He was the ‘black sheep’ of his family and was a better fit with the Sterling’s, so he spent as much of his time there as he could. Mason and his brother, Ryan’s father, seemed to be very different.

  The party was coming to an end when Amelia came to Connor, asking to see him in the other room. Connor grabbed Callie’s hand, taking her with him.

  “I had this for a while but misplaced it when we moved to Connecticut. I recently found it and now that you are older, I think it’s a good time for you to have it.” Amelia handed Connor an embossed red and black wooden box. The box looked like a trunk or chest one might fine treasure in had it been bigger. Connor unlatched the antique handle and opened the wooden box, inside were documents and pictures from what Callie could see.

  “They are pictures of your mother and father as well as other documents from your childhood. I thought you should have them now.” Connor flipped through them and stopped at one picture. “That was your mother and father on their wedding day,” Amelia said. “I also think you should know more about your parents and their background.” His father was wearing his watch, the watch that Connor now wore thanks to Callie. Connor showed the picture to Callie, she froze.

  Connor watched a very still Callie. She said nothing, only stared at the picture. There was no mistaking it, in the picture stood a bride and groom, Meredith and Daniel Reed, her Reed. That was the moment she knew, there was so much more to her story than she realized.

  Acknowledgement

  I would like to sincerely thank everyone who has read this story, please know that I am grateful for you.

  I owe a debt of gratitude to Lisa and Yesenia who have heard me talk about this book for months on end. Not only did you put up with me but you also have sparked many of my ideas. I would like to thank the few who knew I was writing and for your never ending encouragement.

  Follow me on Twitter: @cfarrey

  Copyright © 2014 by Christine Farrey

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof

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