Caleb's point of view
"Caleb?" my mother says.
I watched the woman standing by the doorway. We had the same brown hair and green eyes, so did Caleen and so did the child in my arms. it was all Making sense now, the house was the same because she still lived here, I knew dad had given her the house as settlement after the divorce but I assumed she put it out on rent or sold it or some shit. I didn't think she'd remarry and move her new husband and her brand new children into my damn childhood home.
"I knew you'd come back, baby... I knew you wouldn't leave me forever" she whispers and reaches for me but I side step her with the kid still in my arms and all but run down the stairs.
"oh, Caleb, I see you've met Cal-" The man, her fucking husband starts but it cut off by my mother
"Caleb, Don't go, I just want too talk to you" she was right behind me and I wanted to run but I also wanted this, I wanted to see her.
"I'm not going, not yet but I need you to not touch me" she stays where she is and reach for me.
"Caleb, I-"
"Caleb... like your kid, Caleb?" He asks his wife and she doesn't say a word. "Margery?" he calls her name.
"yes, my son, Caleb, he's back" tears fill her eyes and she staring at me. "he's back"
"I'm not back... I just... I just need closure" I told her. I didn't even know what I needed to do to get closure but this was the mission.
"Closure?" she starts walking towards me. "what do you mean?"
"yes, what do you mean? your father played with your mother's heart, took you away from her and left her high and dry" The man growled at me. the anger in his voice shocked me because he'd seem so sweet before. I was guessing Caleen hadn't seen it before either because she was soon coming over to me and taking my hand in hers.
"don't leave yet Caleb, we haven't even had cookies yet" She said and tightens her hold on my hand. I couldn't help it, I picked her up and held her in my other arm, holding her to me as tight as I could without hurting her. I felt the sudden need to protect them, almost the same as I felt for Luke and Diana.
"I'm not leaving yet, Caleen" I whisper to her.
"you can leave, I don't really care" Calum says from my other arm and I nearly laugh. I would have if I didn't have two other people staring down at me.
"look, I don't know what you mean but my father never meant to hurt her, he-"
"never meant to hurt her?" he asked, cutting me off. "he took her child away and it did hurt her. I can't imagine having Calum or Caleen ripped away from me the way she had you ripped away from her... it would kill me"
"Antony, I —" my mom tried to speak but he didn't let her, he wanted to speak his mind.
"no, he deserves to understand how terrible the things his father did to you are" I did understand what he was trying to say. "The divorce tore her to bits but him taking full custody of you and not even giving her visitation rights was horrible, your father is horrible" Anthony says and I finally realized what was going on. she lied to him.
I couldn't help it, even as my eyes water, I laugh. "what the fuck did you tell him?!" I snapped so fucking loudly that it scared the kids in my arms. "shh, shh." I bounced them in my arms a little and Don't stop even as I speak. "you told him dad divorced you and took me away? Jesus!! do you ever stop lying"
"Caleb, I'm s– "
"what does he mean, Marge?" Anthony asked his wife but she didn't answer, she just looked down at her feet and kept muttering what sounded like my name.
"I mean, she lied" I tell him. "the truth is my dad hurt her, he was gay and in the closet in high school but he still dated ended up marrying her, they weren't happy and my dad didn't want it to go on any longer so he asked for a divorce when I was five"
"she said he divorced her because she wasn't enough"
"no, he divorced her because she wasn't for him... she outed my dad to his parents and filed for full custody of me, which she didn't get because—"
"Because of that faggot!! he painted me into a bad–"
"do not call my father that word!!!" I thundered at her and she jolted.
"Caleb, calm down... take a breath" Anthony tried to calm me. "bring the kids over, we don't need to scare them" I walked over to him and put the kids down by him. "okay, sweethearts, I'm going to need you to go upstairs, okay... we're having an adult conversation"
"is he like our brother now?" Calum asks. "because if he's our brother, he's not allowed anywhere near my room" he says as his sister leads him upstairs
"Marge, I don't like that word, it is a disgusting, hateful word and please do not use it in front of our children" Anthony warned her.
"me?! I'm the problem??" she screamed at Anthony. "that faggot lawyer told the judge that I was doing all this to get back at Andrew!!"
"because you were, you psycho" I told her. "you lost and rather than try again to win me back you called CPS and told them me and Luka were being molested by our dads simply because they were gay"
"wait, what?" Anthony was in shock. "Marge is that what you think of queer people"
"but it's true, if you can fuck a man, you can fuck a child and I couldn't just let my child stay in that house, with those... those—"
"don't say that word" Anthony warned her. "you separated two children from their parents, Marge, you tried to destroy their family"
"she also tried to kill me" I was having a breakdown but I need Anthony to know the woman he was with.
"what?!!" His eyes went wide with disbelief. "Marge, wouldn't do that"
"she did" I pull up my sleeve and show him the long scar "CPS placed me with her because she was still my parent... I told her I wanted to see my papi and she slashed her knife at my throat but lucky for me, I have fast reflexes and I blocked the knife with my arm"
"Marge, you didn't" Anthony was starting to see for what she was, an unstable woman that needed help.
"It was a mista–" she tried to plead.
"my dads planned this huge party for my sixth birthday, they planned to invite all the kids in the neighborhood, rent a bouncing castle and buy me a six layer cake but do you know what I did on my sixth birthday... I spent all day, curled up in bed in a stranger's home, crying my eyes out, missing my fathers and my brother" it was all her fault, it was never mine. No one was going to take my siblings away, not anyone, not this woman.
"Caleb, those people aren't your real family, I am" she told me. "look around, I kept everything the way you liked, I didn't even let the renters use your room... everything is just how you like it... I could move Calum out of your room, this is your house, Calum and Caleen could never replace you... you're my baby, my son"
"okay, now, you sound crazy" I palm my face. "I can't believe I destroyed my life because I couldn't get over the shit you put me through. I can't fucking believe I hurt the boy I love because I couldn't get over all THIS" I gesture at her entire being.
"boy?" her green eyes darken. "they turned you into a goddamn faggot!!" she screamed. she moved fast and grabbed a knife from the kitchen island and moves to block the door. "I won't let you leave, I won't let those people destroy and pollute you with their disgusting ideologies"
"Marge, please put down the knife" Anthony whispers softly. I could see the tears in his eyes as he begged. "please Marge, he's just a child"
"that man took my husband, took my son and now he's back again and I won't let him take him away again" tears streams her face as she points the knife at me. "I'm not letting you go back to him, I'm never letting you go back to him!"
Anthony stands in front of me. "put the knife down, Marge" he begs her.
"no, please let me do this... he doesn't need those people, he doesn't need Andrew and that man... but he's not going to stay with me, so he can't leave, he can't go back to them" she sounded gone.
"Marge, please" he begged, his voice, desperate. he takes a few steps back and whispers to me, "go upstairs and stay with the kids, keep the door locked"
I start backing away slowly when a knock came on the door. "Caleb, are you alright?" Amber's voice sounds from the door.
"who's that?" my mother faces the door and Anthony lunges for her.
"Amber get in the car, lock the doors and call the cops!!!" I screams as loud as I can. "do not fucking come inside!!!"
I hear her scramble down the porch at the same time I run up the stairs to get the kids. I go into the room and lock the door like I was told. i see Calum and Caleen sitting on the bed, Calum was crying and Caleen had her hand in his hair petting him.
"Caleb" Calum says as he see me. "is daddy alright?"
"come on, come sit with me" I evade his question and sit on the bed, pulling them into my arms, tuning out the sounds of struggling downstairs.
the sounds stop and I hear the sound of a siren wailing in the distance, I shut my eyes and tune it all out. "!Estás bien¡" I whisper to them, over and over again as we wait for help
no matter what, I will not let my mother mess them up the way she messed me up.