-Chapter 37-

"Mom, what are you doing here?" Calleigh asked.

"I got out of Louisiana. I heard what was going on here in Miami and Duke told me your daughter was missing, possibly a causality but...I see that she's here. Safe from harm." She waved at Jayden. Her mom looked down at Calleigh's stomach. "Are you expecting another child?"

Calleigh nodded. "Jayden's safe and I'm expecting." Calleigh looked at Eric. "You remember Eric, my husband right?"

Her mother nodded. "Of course I do. We met at the wedding." She shook her blonde hair as if she was shaking off the last effects of being drunk.. "I said hey when I came in."

Eric looked from Calleigh's mom to her. "I'll take Jayden off your hands and finish feeding her." Before Calleigh could protest, Jayden was off her hip and in Eric's arms. He kissed her cheek and walked back to the kitchen.

What was the drama this time? Calleigh really wasn't in the mood for any new drama. This had been the hardest week of her life and she didn't need any new drama right now. Calleigh sat on the couch and invited her mom to sit. "Where are you staying while you're here?"

"I'm staying with your father, Duke," she answered. "I've been in town for about three days. I came by but no answer."

Calleigh ran a hand through her hair. "Yeah, we weren't home. We were at the hospital with our daughter." Calleigh actually never left the hospital. When Jayden went in, she went in. She didn't receive fresh air until Jayden received it. She was sticking by Jayden no matter what.

Her mother nodded. Caroline Duquesne. A lot of Calleigh's features came from her. She had long, blonde hair, blue/green eyes that often turned gray. "Is she okay? Are you okay?"

Calleigh nodded. "Yes she okay. I'm doing very good knowing that Jayden is okay."

"I never thought I'd see the day you'd become a mom," her mother admitted, thinking back on the days when Calleigh was a child. "You always said you would never have kids."

"I never said I didn't want kids. You suggested that I never have kids, not once but several times," Calleigh said sharply. She knew this was going to possibly lead to something else and like she mentioned earlier to Eric, her relationship with her parents were much better at arms length.

"Ah Calleigh," Her mom said, shaking her head. "Do you always have to sass me."

Calleigh frowned. "I haven't even..." She stopped. No. She wasn't going to go back to that place where she was a child and trying to explain herself. She was a grown woman, this was her house and she didn't have to explain anything. "Look, you came here," Calleigh said quietly. "You know what? I've had a hard week. Whatever you're here for, can you please give me time to recover from that?"

"Well I didn't come to stress you out, Calleigh. I honestly came to see how you were doing. Like I said, Duke saw the attacks on TV. He called me and said that it was your little girl."

The worst thing Calleigh hated was when people lied to her. "Neither of you have ever seen her before so how did you know that it was her?"

"Calleigh," her mother said. "Don't ever let that job of yours get to your head. Try again and talk to me like a person, better yet, talk to me like your mother and not a suspect."

Calleigh ran a hand through her hair and sighed. Twice in less that ten minutes and her mom succeeded in making her feel like a little kid again. Calleigh drew in her bottom lip and bit it softly. No. She wasn't going to submit to this. She stood up. "Take your problems to dad. I'm sleep deprived and I don't have time for this. I want to spend time with my family." She really hoped that her mom could take a hint and not start anything right now. She would really hate to have a showdown right here. Her mother could be just as strong headed as she was. It was on of those traits she'd picked up from her. She watched her mom stand up a little clumsy. "I really hope you aren't drunk."

"No, I'm not," Her mother said. "Duke has given me his car. I should be going to pick him up from the firm in downtown. I really didn't know he had a house and everything here. Its like he's really moved on."

Calleigh looked at the clock and noticed that it was almost six o'clock. "I guess you should get going then. You know how dad can be if you're late."

"I'll see you soon," her mother said, heading towards the door. "I'll be here for a few days longer."

Calleigh placed a smile on her face. It had a double-sided meaning. To her mom, it looked like Calleigh wanted her there. To Calleigh, she was happy that her mom was leaving. Calleigh closed the door behind her and smiled. Things should return back to normal for the night.

...

"Is everything okay with your mom?" Eric asked. "They'd just put Jayden to sleep and were now laying in bed themselves. It was early but they deserved the bed. Neither of the had been there since everything happened.

"Yeah, I guess," Calleigh said. "I have no idea about why she's in Miami. My guess, she's trying to get back with my dad." Her mind went back to when she was younger. "They divorced officially in 1990. I was sixteen years old then and truthfully, I'm glad they divorced. Most children hate it but I was truly happy. Had they not divorced, they would've killed each other. My mom was a drunk but she sobered up when I was about twelve. My dad never stopped. He'd work and drink afterwards. He'll come home late and finally my mom told him 'don't come home if he's drunk.' She would say it in an attempt to get him to stop drinking but it had the opposite effect. He wouldn't come home at all. When he did come home, mom would question him on his whereabouts." Calleigh laughed a little. "The worst thing my mom hates is for someone to sass her and my dad was good for it. He'll tell her that she was the one that suggested he not come home." She thought for a minute. "He really pissed her off one night when he told her that he drank so he could forget he was married. My mom picked up the closest thing to her and threw it at him. It was a bottle of hot sauce and when it crashed to the floor, I just remember thinking it was blood. I thought she hurt him. He left and came back two weeks later. Mom had thrown most of his stuff away. He was livid. I think that's what initiated the divorce..."

Eric couldn't imagine the hell that could have been. His family was so loving towards each other. At most, the worst argument could have been 'who drank the last of the milk?' Nothing ever so destructive like that.

"The divorce was slowly progressing. I thought it would be 'they divorced, lets move on' but it wasn't. I was probably a sophomore in high school. Anyway, in the end, my mom got his house and half of his money. She ended up with full custody of my brothers and I, telling the courts that my dad was an unsafe drunk and was unfit to raise any of us. We had to testify against him. They asked so many questions, the wrong questions and we had to answer them truthfully. My dad told us he loved us and that he understood what was going on. She left him with nothing but his car. For months, I wondered if he was okay but I guess he was. He stayed away for a year and after a few years, they tried to rekindle whatever they had before. The results in the end were always the same."

"How did you make it through all of that?"

"I ignored it. I pretended like it didn't exist. My mom's focused became making my dad's life miserable. Then she would tell me how she wanted him and I mean wanted him. I really didn't want to hear that. Dad would come home a lot of times and they'd sleep together. We were left out of everything. My brother Daniel understood. He was only three years younger than me. The other two were babies, they didn't understand anything." Calleigh shook her head. "I'm sorry. I know you asked one question and I gave you an entire book."

Eric grabbed her hand. "Calleigh, I love when you share stories with me." He squeezed her hand and kissed her cheek.

"Eric...I love you. I absolutely have no idea what I would do without you. I mean you're so full of sweetness. Sometimes...I just don't know how I got so lucky. I mean, you're just perfect. A perfect husband, a perfect father, a perfect man..." She could go on forever. "I love you so much."

Eric smiled, pulling Calleigh closer. "I love you too." He kissed her forehead. "You're perfect too, you know that?" He played in her hair. They locked eyes. He watched Calleigh smile as his finger brushed against her lips. He played with her chin and she closed her eyes and smiled. "I'm the lucky one. When I wake up with you in my arms, when I think about Jayden, when I think about our unborn right here, I think about how lucky I am."

Calleigh had that warm feeling in her body and she couldn't hide her smile. "Eric..don't make me cry."

Eric frowned a little. "Calleigh, you know I would never hurt you-"

"No." Calleigh cut him off by placing a kiss to his lips. "I mean your sweetness. You're so sweet to me and that makes me want to cry."

Eric smiled. Calleigh smiled. Their smiles didn't last for long because Jayden screamed. They jumped out of bed.

"No!!!" Jayden said, screaming. She sat up in her bed. Her door opened wide and horror crept in her face. The light came on. She realized who it was and stretched her hands towards them. "Daddy," Jayden cried.

Eric picked Jayden up and sat down, sitting Jayden in his lap. He noticed that she was shaking uncontrollably.

"He hurt me." She moved around and lay her head in Eric's chest and cried.

Calleigh sat down and rubbed Jayden's back to soothe her.

"He's going to get me." Jayden continued to cry and clutch Eric tighter.

Eric hugged her and rubbed her back. "As long as daddy is here, no one will get you."

"He's going to get me," Jayden said. She was so young and couldn't fully process what happened. This was the first time since she'd been kidnapped that she slept alone and all she could see was her kidnappers face. She cried some more.

Calleigh could see that Jayden was truly afraid and she looked at Eric. "Lets just bring her back to our room."

Eric stood and Jayden thought he was about to let her go so she grabbed tighter. "I'm not letting go, princess," Eric whispered. He walked towards the door and headed down the hall. Calleigh shut Jayden's light off and joined Eric in their bedroom.

Jayden's cries started to calm down after her parents tucked her protectively in the center of them. She probably never felt any safer than she did now. Her mom on her left and dad on her right. They both kissed Jayden good night and fell asleep.

Here's the chapter. I hope everyone enjoyed it. I'll try to update as soon as possible. I need to think about where this is heading. :D