Chapter 38.

Callie

I could hear Brian's heavy footsteps coming toward my bedroom door, and I covered my head with the blanket. A sliver of light filled the room as he burst in, and came toward me. Laying as still as possible, I pretended to be asleep, while my heart raced in my chest. He grabbed my arm and pulled me out of bed. "Get up, you fucking whore!" He screamed. Even in the dark, I could see the hate in his eyes.

"What did I do?" I cried, standing on my knees on the cold floor, utterly confused.

"Shut up, you little bitch!" He jerked me to my feet and shook me hard, screaming at me, hurting my arms. He was drunk; his breath smelled like sour beer. I closed my eyes, cringing as he raised his hand to hit me. I felt him slap me across the face, and my cheek stung. My hand immediately flew to where I'd been struck, and I felt hot, sticky tears on my face.

"Callie!"

I opened my eyes, gasping for breath. Somehow I'd gotten off the floor and onto my bed. Sophia sat next to me in the dark. She was crying too; I figured Brian's shouting must have woken her. I could see her wet eyes shining in the moonlight.

I sat up. "What's happening?" My heart was pounding so hard I was sure she could hear it too. I looked around in the dark corners for Brian, remembering the fear I'd felt just seconds ago that had seemed so real. As my eyes slowly adjusted to the light, I could see that he wasn't there. He never had been; he was dead. But my cheek still burned where he'd slapped me.

My little sister threw her arms around me and hugged me hard. "I'm sorry," she sniffled. "I didn't know what else to do. You wouldn't wake up."

"What?" I drew the thin blanket around me, shuddering.

"You were having a nightmare," she said softly. "You were crying and stuff. I tried shaking you, but you wouldn't wake up. So I hit you. I'm sorry, sissy."

Finally starting to piece together what had happened, remembering where we were, I drew Sophia closer, wrapping the blanket around both of us. "It's okay," I said quietly, listening for any signs that we'd woken Helen up. But the house was silent. "You only did what I asked you to do."

"You're not mad?" she asked, looking up from where her head rested against my chest.

I shook my head no. "I'm proud of you, baby. I told you to wake me up, and you did. Besides, you didn't hit me very hard." I kissed her forehead and lay back, pulling her down with me. "It's okay now. Go back to sleep."

She cuddled against me and closed her eyes. I lay awake, longing for Stef to comfort me. But she was home, and I was here, and I couldn't be the kid right now. I had to be the parent again, for Sophia.

I couldn't remember when I'd fallen asleep after that. But I must have, at least for a little while, because one minute, I was laying in the pitch black room, missing home and watching over Sophia, and the next, pale sunlight was filtering through the bars on the bedroom window.

I looked around, groggy and confused. Sophia was curled up next to me, the scratchy sheet wrapped around her legs. I glanced at the clock radio on the nightstand. It was five forty-five. I had to pee badly, but I didn't want to wake my sister, and I certainly didn't want to knock on the wall for Helen to get up. I wasn't sure why I felt so strongly about the knocking thing. I guess it was just a pride thing; I wanted to preserve some of our dignity.

"Callie?" Sophia rubbed the sleep from her eyes and stretched.

"Good morning," I said, managing to smile a little.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah," I answered. "I guess so."

She snuggled closer to me. "I was really scared last night."

I combed my fingers through her hair. "I'm sorry, Soph. I didn't mean to scare you."

"I know," Sophia nodded, curling closer to me. "Callie?"

"Hmm?" I yawned.

"I want to go home."

"Me too," I said, stroking her back.

"Do you think Mom will come for us today?" she asked me.

Just as I opened my mouth to tell her that of course Stef would come, we heard a key turn in the lock outside our door. Helen looked in, dressed in slippers and an old housecoat. "Good," she said. "You're up. Go ahead and get dressed, then we'll have breakfast and get to work."

Stef

I woke up the next morning with a heaviness in my heart, and for a long, hazy moment, I couldn't remember why. Then, my brain fog cleared and it hit me all over again. My babies were gone, taken away.

I ran my hands through my tangled hair, not bothering to do anything with it, and threw on my bathrobe and went down to the kitchen. I felt as if I were on auto-pilot. "Please tell me there's coffee," I muttered, when I saw my wife standing near the counter. I paused when I realized that she was on the phone.

She nodded at me, and pointed toward the coffee pot. I poured myself a mug of muddy black coffee and took a sip.

"I understand," Lena said into the phone. "But isn't there something you could do?"

She paused a minute, and her face fell. "Please, try to see the situation from our point of view."

Another long pause. "Yes, I understand. Thank you." She hung up the phone hard. "For nothing," she mumbled under her breath.

"What's wrong?" I asked her, dreading bad new. "Tell me, love."

Lena raked her long, slender fingers through her curls, then sat down at the table. "That was someone from the courthouse," she explained. "I tried to talk them into giving us an extension, but the woman I spoke to said there's nothing the judge can do today. It looks like the girls are going to have to stay in the other foster home over the weekend.

"No," I said, looking into my mug.

"Honey, what else can we do?" my wife sighed.

"I'll tell you what," I said, dumping the rest of my coffee down the sink. "I'm going down there, and I'm not coming home without our kids."

It was late when I finally got everything sorted out at the courthouse, after nine o'clock. All that was left to do was get my daughters. The social worker accompanied me to their foster home, where they were staying with a woman named Helen.

I rang the doorbell and waited. Finally, an older woman answered. "What?" she asked.

I cleared my throat. "I'm here for my daughters," I said firmly. I looked down at the ring of keys in her hand, thinking horrible thoughts. "Where are they?"

"Hold on," said Helen. "I'll get them." She crossed her living room to a closed door and unlocked it. "Girls, your foster mother is here," I heard her say.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I clenched my jaw, heat rising up my neck to my cheeks. "She locked them in their room."

The social worker placed her hand on my arm. "I'm sure they're fine. We'll deal with it later."

Before I could open my mouth to reply, Callie and Sophia came out into the living room. Sophia's face lit up when she saw me. "Mommy!" she cried, running into my arms.

"Hi, baby," I breathed, catching her and hugging her tight. "I missed you!" I held out my free arm for Callie, pulling her into the hug. "Both of you, so much."

"We missed you too," Callie said, resting her chin on my shoulder.

"I thought you forgot about us," said Sophia.

Callie elbowed her lightly in the ribs. "We knew you'd come for us eventually."

I planted a kiss on each of their cheeks. "I'm sorry it took so long. I came as soon as I could. But I would never forget about you. I love you both too much."

I let go of the girls after a few more seconds, so they could gather their things. I was left alone in the living room with the social worker and Helen, and I couldn't keep my mouth closed for another minute. "So, you locked my kids in their room?" I asked the older woman. "Was there a reason for that?"

The social worker cleared her throat nervously.

Helen sniffled a little, making a dry sound with her nose. "I know what they did. I don't mind giving those girls a place to sleep, but I'm not about to take a chance and end up with a bullet in my head."

I looked past Helen's shoulder to see the girls standing by the bedroom doorway, holding their bags. "Come on, my loves," I said quickly, hoping they hadn't heard Helen's and my exchange. "Lets get you home."

I grabbed their bags and ushered them quickly out of the house and to the car. Once they were in the backseat, and we were on our way to the house, Sophia spoke up behind me. "Mom, are people always gonna be afraid of us?"

I sighed. They'd heard. "Don't listen to that woman, honey. Either of you."

"But that was why she locked us up in that room with bars, right?" Sophia pressed. "Because she thought we might hurt her?"

I watched my daughters in the rear view mirror for a moment. Sophia eyed me intently, and Callie seemed sullen, her hair hanging down around her face. "People fear what they don't understand, Soph," I told my little girl. "Unfortunately, ignorance may be something you'll have to deal with from time to time, from people who don't know the whole story about what happened to you. They'll think what they want to think."

"I don't like it," she said sadly.

"I don't like it either," I replied. "It isn't fair. But that's the way life is sometimes. Just know that what other people think doesn't matter. You have a family that loves you unconditionally, and we know the truth. That's all that matters."

Callie

Stef was quiet the rest of the way home. She kept her eyes on the road, but she seemed a million miles away. Sophia was even quiet; we both sensed that Stef wanted to be alone with her thoughts.

When we finally pulled into the driveway, my heart lifted. I was anxious to get away from the awkward silence of the car, and excited to be back home, in our warm, safe house again. It was like the sad coldness of Helen's house had seeped into my bones. I unbuckled my seat-belt and hopped out of the car before it even completely stopped. Stef grabbed our bags, and we went inside.

Lena was waiting for us. "Hi, girls! Welcome home!" She gave us each a bear hug. "I hope I never have to say those words again."

"I missed you, Mama," Sophia told her.

"I missed you too, sweetheart," she smiled. "Things weren't the same around here without the two of you. You're probably hungry. I'll fix you something to eat." She turned to Stef. "You too, love."

Lena led us into the kitchen and made us grilled cheese sandwiches and heated up some tomato soup. My stomach growled loudly as I sat down at the table.

"I'm starving," Sophia said, taking a bite of her sandwich. "The food at Helen's house was really bad."

Stef picked at her sandwich tiredly.

"Honey, are you all right?" Lena asked.

Stef shrugged. "Can we talk in the other room?"

"Sure, of course we can," she nodded. She turned back to us. "Go ahead and eat, girls. We'll be right back."

They went into the living room. "What happened, Stef?" Lena asked her. Her voice was low. I strained my ears to listen.

"Lena, I'm so furious, I can't even speak," Stef said in a loud whisper. She rubbed her temples with her fingertips. "That woman had our daughters locked in a room with bars on the window!"

"Oh my gosh," Lena breathed, shocked. "Those poor babies." She reached out to her wife, giving her a hug. Stef pulled her close and clung to her.

"Honey, calm down now," Lena said quietly. "It's okay. The girls are alright." She pushed Stef's hair back and kissed her forehead. "You've had a long day sweetheart. Why don't you go upstairs and lay down? I'll bring your dinner up in a little bit."

A few seconds later, Stef and Lena came back into the kitchen. "Girls," said Stef. "Would you mind terribly if I went to my room to rest? I know you just got home, but I'm exhausted."

"We don't mind," I said quickly. "Go ahead."

"Thanks," she smiled. "We'll spend more time together tomorrow. I love you both."

"We love you too," I nodded. She smiled, then turned and went upstairs.

Lena poured us each a glass of milk, then rejoined us at the table. "So, are you girls glad to be back home?"

"Yes," I answered. "It's great."

"We missed everything about this house," Sophia told her. She had a milk mustache. "Especially your cooking."

Lena laughed, taking a napkin and wiping off my sister's mouth. "We all missed you too," she told us. "Even though you were only gone one night." She stood up, and put Stef's soup bowl in the microwave to reheat it. "I'm gonna run this up to your mom," she said when it was heated. "She missed dinner tonight, too."

"Is she okay?" I asked.

"She'll be alright," our foster mom explained. "She's just tired. She waited at the courthouse all day to talk to the judge."

I swallowed the last bite of my sandwich. "She did?" I felt my heart squeeze with love.

Lena nodded. "Yes. She was determined to bring the two of you home today."

Tears pricked my eyes. "Mama?"

"What, sweetie?"

"Can I bring mom her dinner?"

"Of course you can, if you want to," Lena smiled, handing me a plate with the sandwich on it. "Thank you, honey."

I went upstairs and knocked softly on the bedroom door. No one answered, so I let myself in. Stef was laying on the bed, sound asleep. I set the plate on the nightstand, then sat down on the edge of the bed. "Mom?" I whispered, gently shaking her arm

Stef opened her eyes and looked at me. "Callie, my love," she yawned. "I was just resting my eyes. Did you need something?"

"I brought you something to eat," I told her.

"Thank you," she smiled, sitting up. "That was sweet of you."

Without giving it a second thought, I leaned in and wrapped my arms around her ribs, giving her a tight hug; it was something that came so easily now.

"What's all this love for?" Stef teased, hugging me back. "Not that I'm complaining."

I let go of her and sat back, looking her in the eye. " Mama told me what you did for us," I said. "How you waited at the courthouse all day. And... I just wanted to say thank you."

Stef reached out to squeeze my hand. "You're welcome, love. But I only did what any mother would do."

"Well, thanks for fighting for us anyway," I said. "It means a lot to kids like us."

Stef smiled, bringing out little crinkles in the corners of her eyes, which were wet with tears. "I'll always fight for you, Callie. You're my little girls."

I nodded, then threw my arms around her and gave her another hug. "I love you so much, mom."

She kissed my forehead, pulling me closer. "I love you too, baby" she breathed, stroking my arm. "And now that you're home, no one is ever going to take you away from us again."

"I know," I said. I was going to make sure of that, but there was one more thing I had to do.

To Be Continued