Callie POV
January 9th
I was standing in the middle of the hallway looking around the house. It was so quiet here. I swear, I could hear crickets from outside. Everyone went to Jesus wrestling match, which left me all alone in their house.
I was actually surprised that Stef and Lena trust me enough to leave me here alone. If I was in their place, I would have locked the house up and ordered me to stay in my room in the garage. No way in hell, I would allow some kid, who I barely know, to roam around my house, while I am not there.
For the first 10 minutes, when I was alone in the house, I stayed on the first floor. I walked around the house at least 4 times. After the 4th round, I stopped at the living room bookshelf and examined the books on the shelf. I was wondering whether I would be allowed to read these books as well. There are only maybe a handful of books left, that I haven't read from the bookshelf in the garage.
Once I was done looking over the books, I walk to the hallway and look to the stairs that lead upstairs to their bedrooms and the bathroom. I start to walk up the stairs, but stop when I reach the little hallway. A small smile appears on my lips, when I look at the bedroom door, which had a number plate with Jude's name on. It was these little personalized details, that made this house into a home.
I won't touch anything, I will just have a closer look at his room– I swear to myself as I walk towards Jude's and Jesus room. I knew walking in other people's room, when the person is not at home, is not a good idea. I knew that! But I couldn't help myself. All I wanted, was to have a quick glance at Jude's room.
I stop in front of the doors and with a light touch I push the doors open just a little pit. They creek quietly as they open. I walked few steps inside the room and looked around.
Posters were hanged up all around the room. It was a little bit messy, some clothes were laying on the ground, there were shoes in the middle of the room, skate boards, baseball equipment, football, music disks, sport jersey. Jude and Jesus sides were separated by a big book shelf. Yes, they shared a room, but at the same time it seemed as if they had their own separate rooms. Jesus side form Jude's side differed a little. Jude was a little bit more organized and instead of sport equipment and posters of players and some bands, he had his drawing hanged up to his side of the wall. This was another one of those little personalized details - Jude was allowed to decorate his side of the room however he wanted. No other foster parent had ever allowed that.
I was just about to leave the room, when one object in the room caught my attention. On the shelf that separated Jude's side of the room from Jesus, stood a picture frame. It caught my eye because of two reasons. First, I knew it was a recent photo because of how old Jude looked. And second, I knew the other person in the photo and it was not one of the Adams Foster family members.
I walked up to the Jude's bed and reached for the the photo frame. Holding the frame in both of my hands, careful not to drop it, I stared at the photo of Jude and Donald. They both had wrapped their hands around each other shoulder with smiles on their lips. It has been 8 years since I last saw our dad. It was the night, when mom and dad went out to have a date night. That's the last I saw of him. After that he was arrested and locked up.
I wasn't sure how I felt about Donald. Part of me was still angry with him. Because of him, our mom is dead. I am not sure if I can ever forgive him for that. But the other part, the little girl in me, sometimes still missed him. He was still is our dad after all. And seeing that Jude has had contact with him, made me restless, hurt and confused. If dad had met up with Jude, why hadn't he tried to find me as well?
I got frightened, when my phone buzzed in my pocket. The sudden buzzing and loud sound scared me so much I jumped and almost dropped the picture frame, shattering it in pieces. With shaky hands I quickly place the photo frame back down on shelf, where it will be safe, and leave the room.
Before I even got my hands on my phone, I had already imagine who texted me. In my mind, Stef was texting me, because somehow she knows that I had snooped around the house, when they were all gone. I can already imagine the full on lecture I could be receiving from Stef in some hour or so. In my mind, I could picture sitting on the couch, head down, while listen to Stef's lecturing me on privacy and how she trusted me and I let her down. But Lena right next to her would be giving me a stern look, saying that they had expected more of me.
Who knew that I would be so scared of disappointing Stef and Lena...
When I had run downstairs, I finally reached for the phone in my pocket to see who actually texted me. It was Rita, who once again sent me my daily reminder – Give Stef and Lena a chance. Don't push them away, Callie. They might surprise you!
"Ugh..." I groan and push the phone back in my pocket. Every single day, since the New Year's Eve, Rita has been sending me different type of messages, to remind me to give Stef and Lena a chance. Some days she sends me quotes, other days she sends me her own wise words.
I look around the house again and decide to go sit down at the living room couch. Once I am slumped down on the couch, I reach for the remote and turn on the TV. For few minutes I flip through the channels trying to find something to watch. But while I do that, my mind was still on that stupid text message Rita had sent me.
I turn off the TV, place the remote back on the coffee table and lean back to the couch rest. For another minute or so I stare up to the white ceiling, trying to clear my thoughts. But no matter how hard I tried to clear my head of all the thoughts, two things kept on bugging me. One was that stupid text message Rita had sent me, but the other was about Donald. I let out a frustrated breath as I run my palms over my face.
For now, I could only deal with one of the things. I reach in my pocket and pull out the phone to read the text message again. As I read the text message again, I hear Rita's voice in my head as she says these things. That just makes things worse. I throw my phone at the other end of the couch.
I cross my hands on my chest, pout and stare the other direction of my phone. Yeah, I was giving my phone the fucking silent treatment, thinking that would help me get Rita's words out of my mind. I managed to last for about 2 minutes.
"Ughh!" I got up from the couch, grabbed my phone and headed towards the front door. I hated that Rita could do that, get under my skin so easily.
As I lock the front doors I mumble to myself impersonating Rita in a frustrated, whiny teenager tone "Give them a chance...Don't push them away...They might surprise you...ugh...UughH! Why don't she make friends with them herself...she obviously liked Stef sooo much...Don't push them away - easy to say, Rita hasn't been let down 100 times before..."
Stef POV
After this round, it was Jesus time to wrestle. He was up against, what was said to be, one of the best wrestlers in the opposite team. But Jesus was not bad himself. In fact, he had proved to others, he was not to be taken lightly. Jesus may not be doing this for too long, but he was damn good at it. He had the strength, the quick feet and the technique to take down this guy. I had no doubt in my mind, Jesus will win.
We were all sitting together. I was sitting next to Lena. Mariana was sitting between Lena and Jude. When Connor had come to the gym and he saw us there as well, he came to join us as well. Connor sat on the other side of Jude.
Mariana winced when one of the wrestlers had thrown the other one on the ground and pinned them down. Lena was watching with one eye closed as well. Jude and Connor seemed to be talking to one another and completely forgotten about the wresting match that was going on. I, personally, didn't like some parts of the wresting as well, but I was clearly handling them better than my daughter and wife was. Wrestling could sometimes get a bit aggressive.
I was watching the guys wrestle, when Lena whispers to me excited "Honey, look!"
"What? What am I looking for, love?" I look away from the wresting match and try to see whatever Lena wants me to see
"Callie!" Lena says nodding to one of the entrance doors on the right side of the gym
Callie was standing awkwardly at the entrance doors. She was looking at the wrestling match that was going on and shoved her hands in her pants pockets. Callie's then turned towards the grandstand and tried to find Jude or us, or just someone who she knew. She looked kind of lost, awkward and shy to be honest.
"Look at that! She came," I say surprised and glance to Lena by my right side "What about her rule..."
"Honey, don't say anything about it! Just be glad that she showed up," Lena says before she waves her hand in the air, to try and catch Callie's gaze. Callie pulls her hands out of her pockets, when she noticed Lena waving at her.
"Who are you waving at, mama?" Mariana asks watching her mom
"Callie's here," I tell Mariana and nod to the direction where Callie was. She tapped on Jude's leg instantly and gave the news to him as well. Looking down to the floor, Callie started to make her way towards us.
"Why am I feeling the same kind excitement, when Mariana finally started to talk to us?" I ask Lena in a whisper, when I watch Callie walk up the few steps to the row where we sat
"Because in a way, Callie is finally starting to talk to us as well. She is starting to open up and it's just as exciting and overall a great feeling," Lena whispers back, when Callie was almost up to us. The girl squeezed pass the other people on the row to get to us.
"Hey, Callie!" I say happily, when Callie sits down next to me
"Hey, you came!" Jude leans forward to see his sister
"Yeah...I got bored at house," Callie replies rubbing her hands to her thighs. Somehow, I don't truly believe what she said. The girl spent two days in her room and barley talked to anyone. She was not bored. There was some other reason as to why she came.
"You have a great timing, kid!" I smile at the girl "Jesus is about to wrestle any minute now!"
"Um...I don't know anything about wrestling" Callie admits shyly when she glances to the middle of the gym where the match was going on
"Join the club!" Mariana tells her as she leans forward to see her
"We tried to understand the rules," I explain, sharing a brief glance back to my wife "But none one really gets it. We read the official rules like 5 times and we have been to countless matches, but still-"
"Yeah, not a clue!" Lena finishes what I started and laughed softly
"We liked him better when he was playing volleyball," Mariana adds with a small laughter, Lena nods back to that
"Just cheer and clap whenever you see Jesus teammates cheer!" Jude gives his sister a little advice "At least that's what I do!"
Callie nods her head back and then glances back to the wresting match "Which team is Jesus on?"
"The red one. Anchor Beach team," Lena tells her, right when the match ends
The crowd claps and cheers as the Anchor Beach team had gained few points in the last match. Jesus was on next. He walked to take his stand, cheered on by the crowd and his teammates. Jesus and his opponent both took their positions and then the match started.
Jesus managed to win his opponent, earning his team few very valuable points. In the end Anchor Beach won, even thought after the first 3 matches, they were not in the lead. After the wresting match, Jesus went out with his teammates to celebrate. Mariana met up with her fried Tia and the two of them went to the mall, but Jude and Connor wanted to go to the movies together. Now Callie was the only one left.
As we were walking towards the car, I ask her "Do you have any plans for the rest of the day, Callie?"
"Actually," Callie says when we stop at the end of my car "I wanted to ask you something, if that's okay..."
"Sure. What's on your mind, Callie?" Lena asks and blindly reaches for my hand to hold
"I was thinking about Jude's adoption..." Callie started nervously. In my mind I instantly thought about what she could say. I got a little bit scared thinking - maybe she had change her mind completely and wouldn't want us to adopt Jude at all and would restart the battle of custody with us.
"While I walked here, I read few articles about adoption on my phone and..uh...all of them mentioned that, if the kid is under 18 and a birth parent is still alive-" Callie couldn't keep the eye contact, one moment she was looking at the ground, next to her hands, then to the street on her right, then to us "-then you need to get the birth parent to sign away their parental rights"
"You are wondering if your dad has signed away his rights?" Lena ask her carefully, sensing where this was going. I had the same thought as well.
Callie hesitated a little, but eventually got over her lips "Yeah!"
"Donald signed away his rights few months ago," I tells her honestly "Back when we first planned to adopted Jude."
Callie took in the news and then asked curiously "Did that happen…in person? Did Jude see him?"
Lena and I share a worried look. To me these questions seemed a little bit out of nowhere. I thought back to the important dates, like their mom's death anniversary, birthdays, their father birthday...Neither one was anytime soon. They were all after July. Callie didn't seem so anxious this morning, so something must have happened, when she was at the house alone. I wish I knew what it was.
Lena explains to Callie "Well, we did not talk to him until after he signed away his rights."
"Donald has actually been to our place three times," I added after Lena
All of the times were before the first planned adoption. The first time was when Donald came to visit us, to see the house and meet the family, who wanted to adopted him. We were told at first that he wasn't going to sign away his parental right, but after the first visit - he changed his mind. The second time he visited was when he brought the signed paperwork to us. Jude and him talked for some 20 minutes that day. But the third time was the longest visit. It was just 3 days before we thought we were going to adopt Jude. Donald stayed over for few short hours, we had dinner together the two Jacob's spent few hours together, just talking.
Callie stood still for while. Her eyes were focused on the ground, mouth was slightly open. Lena and I both could see, she was trying to wrap her head around the news. The longer I watched her, the more hurt she looked by the news.
Her head suddenly snaps up "Do you know where he lives?" By the sound of her voice, I knew she was not leaving until she got an answer
"We do," I reply as I continue to watch the girl in front of me closely
"The address, please?" Callie states looking at Lena
"We can take you," I offer before Lena managed to say anything
"No! I don't want you there!" Callie snapped back harshly at me. Neither one on of us liked the attitude and harsh tone she was using. Callie took in few calming breath and turned to Lena "Sorry, I just..." she chocked on her words, her apology and pleaded to Lena "Can you, please, tell me the address!"
Callie POV
Donald was renting two bedroom apartment on the second floor in this hotel like building. I stood in front of the doors for a while, till I got the nerve to raise my hand up and knock on the doors. When I heard someone walking around in the apartment, I took a step away from the doors and held my breath, till he opened the doors.
The two of us stood still, staring at each other for quite some time. We both took in each others appearance. He hadn't changed a lot - he had few more gray hair, looked more sadder than I remember him and there were few more wrinkles on his face. But overall, he looked just like I remember him.
Seeing a picture of him was one thing, but seeing him standing right in front of me, hand reach away, was defiantly something else. It brought back memories. Happy childhood memories. They flashed through my mind, until they stopped at the one memory of a social worker telling us, that our dad and mom had gotten in a car crash.
Here he stood. The man who ruined our lives. The person, who killed our mom, because he thought driving while drunk was a good idea. There was so much I wanted to tell him. But I didn't. I bit my tongue, clenched my teeth and I remained quite.
"Callie..." He finally says my name and takes one step towards me
"Hello, dad!" I reply in a flat tone as I continue to stare at him