She looks down at the pictures for a few seconds before throwing her hand over her mouth.
“Are they okay?” she asks softly crying.
“THEY,” everybody else in the room screams at the same time.
“They are perfect,” I say looking around the room to find Clay. He just smiles and winks at me.
“I can’t believe you’re having twins,” Leighton says, coming over to give me another hug.
“I think we all need to get out of here to give you two some alone time. We will check in on you in a little later. We are all really glad you are okay. All of you,” Cindy says, making everybody leave the room.
“Congratulations, maybe it will be a boy and girl,” Collin says, walking out of the room.
“Alone at last,” Ash says, just as the doctor walks into the room.
“I hear congratulations are in order. Everything looks good. You will need to stay off of that leg for a few days and you are going to need to keep those ribs wrapped as long as you can. I can give you pain meds if you want, but they won’t be very strong. It’s completely up to you. Just try not to move around a lot and it shouldn’t be too bad,” he says, walking over to look at my chart. “You need to make an appointment for next week to take another look at those babies. Other than that, you are good to go. You better make sure she gets lots of rest and stays off the leg as much as possible,” he says, looking at Ash. “If you can do that, I can go ahead and discharge you tonight. Just call if you need anything or have any questions. Be careful going home,” he says, walking out of the room just as a cop is walking into the room. I don’t know this man, but Ash stands up to shake his hand.
“Congratulations man, I heard you were married with two kids on the way. You sure know how to keep a secret,” he says, turning to look at me. “I’m Detective Mason and I need to ask you a few questions about what happened if you feel up to it,” he says, while I just look at Ash.
“I will be here the whole time. You are going to have to tell what happened. We might as well get this over with now,” Ash says, grabbing my hand.
“Okay,” I say right before reliving another really bad day in my life.
Chapter Nineteen
This has definitely been one of the longest days of my life. I still don’t understand what is going on with Molly or why she was with that guy. I’m just hoping she had no idea who he was before today. I do know one thing, I need to talk to her now.
“Can we stop at Bo and Cindy’s before going home?” I ask Ash as we are pulling into town.
“I would rather get you home first. We can call them to come over if you want to see them. You need to rest, baby.”
“I need to talk to Molly. She will not come to me and you know it. It’s really important. Please Ash,” I beg.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea. They were just able to go back in a few minutes ago. They had to go over the scene and then clean the living room. I don’t think you need to go back in there.”
“Please, I really need to talk to Molly. It won’t take long, I promise.”
“Fine, but we are not staying long,” he says, turning around to go back to their house.
We pull into the drive and Ash gets out and comes around to help me out of the truck. He grabs my crutch from the backseat and tells me not to put any weight on my leg. This is going to be fun. We walk into the house to find Bo, Cindy, Jaxon and Collin in the kitchen.
“We didn’t know you guys were stopping by,” Bo says, looking past me to Ash. I guess he doesn’t think this is a good idea either.
“I want to talk to Molly. Is she here?” I ask, watching everybody just look at each other.
“She’s in her room. Up the stairs, first room on the right,” Collin says, while Cindy just looks at him.
“Thank you,” I say to him, trying to make my way up the stairs with a crutch. No one offers to help and I know it’s because they think it’s a bad idea. I don’t care though. Having these two babies with me has made me realize a lot of things today. One is I want a family. I want a family with Ash and my babies, but I also want a family with my real family and that is going to include Molly whether she likes it or not. She doesn’t have anybody else, but maybe I can help her. I know I haven’t been fair to her holding information about my parents to myself, but I am going to try and fix that tonight.
I take a deep breath before knocking on the door.
“I said I didn’t want to talk. I’m tired and it’s been a long day,” she says, through the door.
“It’s been a very long day for me too, but I really want to talk to you Molly. Please open the door,” I say, hoping she will want to talk to me too. “We can talk through the door if you want, but my leg hurts so I would really appreciate it if you would let me in.” Finally after a few seconds, the door opens to reveal a very horrible looking Molly. Not that I can talk, I know I look bad, but she looks absolutely broken right now.
“Can I come in?” I ask. She opens the door and lets me come in closing it behind me. I sit down on her bed and look around at her room. I don’t know much about this girl, but looking in her room tells me all I need to know about her. She is more like my mom than I ever could have imagined. “Did you draw all of these?” I ask, looking all over her room.
“I did, it’s good stress relief. I’m not very good, but I enjoy it,” she says. She is wrong, these are amazing. How could she think she wasn’t very good? “I’m sorry. If I had known what he was going to do or had done, I never would have called you. He just said he wanted to meet you. He said he thought it would be good if we talked. I had no idea he already knew all of that.”
“I know you didn’t. He was right, we do need to talk, maybe start over. I never wanted to take your family away from you. I just wanted to get to know them and you. I never planned on staying,” I say, hoping she will understand.
“I know you probably didn’t plan on staying, but I knew you would. My family is amazing. I have always been the annoying little sister that never fit in. I knew the first time I saw you that you were the opposite of that and you would fit in with them perfect. Then when I saw you and Ash together, I knew he would definitely be the reason you would stay. He really is an amazing person. I guess I have always had a huge crush on him. I lied about what I said about him. We were never together. I was just trying to hurt you.”
“I know you were. I know we haven’t known each other long at all, but I really can’t imagine my life without him, especially now.”
“Congratulations on the wedding and the baby. I hope you weren’t keeping it a secret because of me.”
“I didn’t want to give you another reason to hate me. I thought it would be best if we just kept it quiet for now. I sure didn’t mean to get pregnant.”
“So the baby is okay? He kicked you really hard,” she says, looking at my stomach.
“Yes he did, actually broke two ribs, but both babies are okay,” I say, hoping she heard the last part. I have decided no more secrets from now on out. I might as well get it out now.
“Twins, wow. That’s exciting. I know he’s not really mine, but growing up with Collin as a twin really was amazing. I really am happy for you.”
“Thank you, that means a lot to me,” I say, starting to cry again. “I’m sorry. I think my hormones are seriously out of control.”
“It’s okay. I know I haven’t given you a chance. I have been difficult and mean, but I really want to start over. I know you don’t trust me, but maybe we can try to get to know each other.”
“I think that’s a great idea. Can you take me home? I have something I want to show you,” I ask her. Maybe I do have something she can have to know more about her parents. It’s not much, but maybe it will be a good start.
“Okay. Do you really think Ash will let you leave with me alone?” she asks. She has a point. After today I don’t know if he will ever let me out of his sight again.
“There’s only one way to find out,” I say, trying to stan
d up again while she slips some boots on. When we both come down the stairs together, everybody just turns to stare at us. I guess it has been really bad with the two of us since I have been here.
“Hey baby, Molly is going to take me home. Give us around thirty minutes, and then you can come home. You can all come over if you bring food. I’m starving,” I say, walking by him and out the door with Molly. He grabs my hand and holds me back very easily.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” he asks.
“I’m sure. I’ll see you in a few minutes. I have something that belongs to her.” I say with the tears flowing again. “Now, go get me food. Your babies are starving in there.” He gives me a quick kiss on the forehead and lets go of my hand. I know after the day we have had that the last thing he wanted was for me to walk out the door with this woman. I really doubt we have thirty minutes.
I unlock the door to find Brody and Leighton cleaning my house. Was it really that dirty? There has to be something going on with these two. Right now, I have more important things to take care of.
“I was just packing up my things. I figured you two didn’t need a chaperone anymore,” Brody says, looking between me and Molly.
“You can stay as long as you want. Right now I need you to take Leighton somewhere for a few minutes. I need to talk to Molly, okay?” I say, looking at Leighton.
“Please,” I mouth at her.
“Sure, come on Brody. We will be back in a little while. Good to see you again, Molly. I’m really glad both of you are okay,” she says, pulling Brody out the door.
“Just have a seat, I’ll be right back,” I say, before heading to the bedroom to get a box out of the closet. I grab the letter out of the nightstand drawer and open it one last time before giving it to her. I take the letter out, unfold it and begin reading it for my final time.
My beautiful baby Callie
If you are reading this, then something really bad has happened and you are alone. No child should be alone and I don’t want you to be either.
I want to start off by apologizing for what I am about to tell you. I need you to know first and most importantly that you are and always will be my baby girl. I brought you home from the hospital. I sat up with you all hours of the night when you wouldn’t sleep. I saw every one of your firsts, your first tooth, first steps, first word, first lost tooth, first day of school, everything.
I also need to tell you that I may be one of the most selfish people in this world. I hope you don’t hate me for what I am about to tell you, but I need you to know you are not alone and never will be.
When you were three years old, you had a really high fever and ended up spending the night in the hospital. I was a nurse and was looking at your chart when I noticed something, your blood type. All children have to have either their mom or dad’s blood type. You didn’t have either of ours.
I talked to your dad and we did some research and found out you were not out biological daughter. You were switched with another baby in the hospital that day. We found that baby and went to see her soon after you were out of the hospital.
She went home with an amazing family who also had three boys. We found them at a park one day and you actually played with their little girl or I guess I should say our little girl. She was beautiful. She had the most gorgeous strawberry blonde hair. I loved her the moment I laid eyes on her. I also knew I loved you and her parents loved her just as much.
This is where my selfishness comes in. I decided not to tell anyone. They seemed like a great family and I didn’t want to share you. You were mine and they were not going to take you away from me.
We kept up with our biological daughter Molly. We attended dance recitals, ball games, even school functions so we could see her. I know this wasn’t fair to you or her, but unfortunately life isn’t always fair.
I hope you understand and don’t hate us for this decision. I also want to ask you one small favor. I want you find this family and tell them this story. Trust me when I say they will believe you just by looking at you.
I love you more than anything in this world and I hope you understand one day what a mother’s love truly means.
Please don’t live your life alone. Find this family and see what it’s like to have a big family. Enjoy having three overprotective brothers. I also hope you and Molly can be great friends, maybe even sisters.
Just know we love you both more than anything and we are so proud to have known both of our amazing daughters.
Love always, Mom
PS Bo and Cindy Taylor are your parents
Brody, Jaxon and Collin are you brothers
And I pray every day you and Molly will be sisters one day.
I fold the letter up and put it back in the envelope with the pictures. I walk back into the living room and sit on the couch with Molly. Taking a deep breath, I hand her the letter.
“This is how I found out about us. This was in the bottom of a box of pictures I was going through after they died.”
She takes the envelope from me and pulls the letter out. She opens it up and begins to read it. I can see all of the emotions on her face I felt when I read it the first time, love, hate, anger, and sadness. It’s all there.
“There are a few pictures in there too,” I say, when she finishes the letter. She wipes her eyes and grabs the pictures. All of the pictures have one thing in common, her. There are pictures of her at parks, in recitals, and then there is the one picture of her with my parents, taken as soon as she was born before the switch.
“I’m sorry I didn’t show you any of this sooner,” I tell her, and I really mean it. It’s probably my fault all of this has been so hard on everyone.
“It’s okay, I probably wouldn’t have let you,” she says, trying to stop crying. “I can’t believe they didn’t tell anybody all that time. That has to be the most selfish things I have ever heard of somebody doing.”
“Yeah, try being sixteen and having no one to tell.”
“You never told anyone about this?” she asks.
“I told Ash the night you and I got into it. That was the first time I had ever talked about it. I have something else for you too,” I say, grabbing the box beside me. I take out the two paintings my mom made and give them to her.
“My mom painted these. I thought they might mean more to you.” It’s two paintings. One is blue and one is pink and they both have sweet little teddy bears painted on them.
“She painted them when she was pregnant. They didn’t find out if they were having a boy or girl, so she made both. They both hung in my room forever. You should have them,” I say.
“You should keep these. You are the one having two babies. One for each, I can’t take them,” she says, trying to give them back.
“I thought about this a lot today. She painted these with you in mind, not me. You were the one she was getting that room ready for. They are yours. I know if I made anything for these two inside of me right now, it would be for them, no matter what happened. I really want you to have them,” I say.
“Thank you,” she says, reaching over to give me a hug just as the door opens up and everyone walks in to find us sitting on the couch together crying and hugging.
“Is everything okay in here?” Ash asks, bringing in bags of food.
“Everything is great,” I say and for the first time in ten years I am starting to believe it. I am finally feeling like part of a family again and it feels wonderful.
Epilogue
Today is a very special day. Not only are my babies turning six weeks old today, but it’s also the Fourth of July. This date has been the worst day of the year to me for the past ten years. Ash and I decided this year would be different. We are having the entire family over for a cookout and of course fireworks. Everyone will be here including Molly. My relationship with her has definitely gotten a lot better. We still are nowhere close to being sisters, but we are getting there.
Leighton is also going to be here. She has been here since
the twins were born. That will definitely go down as one of the craziest days in my life, but it was also one of the best. I don’t know who drove the hospital more crazy, me or Collin. We were constantly making sure no one would switch my babies. There was no way I was taking home the wrong baby. Considering I had the only two four pound babies in the nursery, this shouldn’t have been a worry.
Ash and I have just gotten our beautiful identical baby girls, Ella Gracie and Annie Kate, down for a nap when Brody and Leighton walk in the door. I talked to Leighton when she got here about what was going on with her and Brody, but she still says they are just friends.
“Hey, I didn’t think y’all were coming until later. We just got the girls down if you just came over here to hold them,” Ash says to them. With a family this big, our babies may never know what it’s like to not be held.
“We actually came to talk to the both of you,” Leighton says, looking very nervous.
“We have some big news,” Brody says, before asking us to sit down on the couch. This must be serious.
The End
Thank you to all of my amazing readers for taking a chance with Finding You, book one in The Switched Series. I have loved being able to share the story of Callie and Ash with all of you. Your support has meant the world to me while starting this journey. I can’t wait for you to hear more about this family.
Brody and Leighton’s story is now available in Trusting You.
Jaxon and Maya’s story will be available soon in Forgiving You.
About the Author
Brittany Bromley grew up in both the states of Tennessee and Mississippi. She now resides in the wonderful state of Tennessee with her amazing husband and three beautiful daughters where they can usually be found watching reality television. She lives off of way too much Mountain Dew, unless of course she can find a refreshing Ski to drink instead. You can visit her at www.brittanybromley.com. You can also like her on Facebook and follow her on twitter @brittbromley. She loves giving random giveaways and really loves hearing from her readers.
Finding You: The Switched Series book one Page 14
