Beautifully Broken (28 page)

“Well I am excited to move too but I am even more excited
to meet James,” Amanda said smiling as she sat down
beside her sister on the couch.

“He is very excited to meet all of you too,” Cali muttered
as she was texting her father.

 

“Is he as good looking at Carl?” Claudia asked laughing
and Cali hit her playfully.

 

“It’s a fair question. Carl is a good looking man. Does
James look like him?” Natasha asked smiling.

“N, James and Carl don’t look alike at all,” Cali smiled and
bit her lip. “James is way better looking,” Cali giggled and
they all started laughing.

Ding Dong!

“Oh that must be the pizza,” Natasha said as she walked
over and answered the door. She paid for the pizza and
brought it back to the table. They all jumped in and
grabbed a piece.
“It feels so weird Lila not being here with us right now,”
Claudia sighed.

“I know, I feel the same way, I miss her so much but at the
same time we have to be happy for her, she is with her
family and she is happy,” Cali said, trying to be strong but
she was holding back her tears.

“I miss Lila too, but I don’t want to talk about sad things.
We have all cried enough in this house. I want to talk
about James, Ver... I mean Cali’s boyfriend,” Amanda said
smiling. “Sorry I almost called you Veronica again.”

“Well he’s James Vex he is all over the internet you can
check him out,” Cali said like it was no big deal.

“Wait a minute. Your James is thee James Vex? The guy
who spent his whole life in a mental institution and now
owns a multi-million dollar company?” Claudia asked, with
a shocked expression on her face.

“Yes that’s my James,” Cali said. “I thought you knew our
lawyer and friend is Carl Vex, they own the same
company.”

“James Vex is not only rich, he is gorgeous,” Claudia
shouted with excitement. “But he usually dates super
models, he is not who I would picture you with at all.”

“Yes I am aware of his past and he knows all about mine
too. He is amazing and he makes me happy,” Cali said
looking down at her ring as she smiled, taking a bite of her
pizza.

“Claudia, how do you know who James Vex is?” Natasha
asked curious as she was taking at drink of her grape
soda.

“I read teen magazine and watch TV, he is always on TV;
he’s kind of a bad ass. I’m a little surprised Cali that you
two like each other,” Claudia said.

“Well they say opposites attract,” Natasha smiled as she
looked at Cali.

They all ate their dinner, cleaned up and finished packing
the rest of the house. It was their last night together in that
house, they all had mixed feeling about leaving and
moving on. The house was all packed so Cali grabbed
some sleeping bags and started a fire in the fire place in
the living room and she open up a bottle of wine and
poured it in red plastic cups for their slumber party.

“I know that none of us want to talk about him, but I feel
like we should say good bye so we can all move on with
our lives,” Cali said quietly.

“I’ll start,” Natasha said in a strong voice. “Good bye
Harold, I hope you’re paying for all the bad things you did
in your life. I am stronger than you wanted me to be and
you didn’t break me down like you wanted to. I may be
scarred for the rest of my life, but you can’t control me
anymore. I am going to have a good life now that you are
gone, so good bye Harold Burns.” Natasha looked at the
fire. As the flames moved her eyes glowed with pain but
she didn’t shed a tear. “Good bye forever.”

“Daddy I am so mad at you, I hate you so much but even
more I hate that I love you. I hope that I have a better life
now that you are gone but I am scared to be without you.
As crazy as it is I don’t know what my role is anymore. I
don’t know who I am or who I’m supposed to be and I know
that I will always be damaged,” Claudia whispered as tears
ran down her face. She ripped off the necklace her father
gave to her and threw it in the fire.

“Dad I am so happy you are gone and can’t hurt us
anymore. I hate that you made me this way. I hate that I
don’t know anything but you, I wish I remembered my life
before this one. I am scared of people I am scared to go
places. I wish when you died you could have taken all my
memories with you because I will always be torn, never
fully whole because of you and what you did to me,”
Amanda cried as she took a deep breath and looked at the
fire. She quietly hummed
stolen moments
because it was
her dad’s favorite song.

“I hate that I actually believed you were my father. My real
dad is a good man that would never hurt anyone. I always
believed that I loved you but the truth is I was conditioned
to obey you. I was terrified of you and all I ever wanted to
do was make you happy. For the first time in my life I am
content and I am not scared to go to sleep or wake up
anymore. You broke me so bad and I hate what you did to
all of us and even more I hate that I wasn’t strong enough
to stand up to you earlier. But I want to say thank you for
one thing,” Cali paused and took a deep breath. “Thanks
for my sisters; they have always been my strength, my
reason for living and they will always be my best friends.
You took everything else from me but you can’t take them,
they’re the one thing that you gave to me. You will always
haunt me and I will always be broken but you didn’t
destroy me, you destroyed yourself. I am moving on with
my life now. I have people that love me and that will never
hurt me. Good bye Harold Burns, good bye Veronica
Burns.” Cali reached into her jean pocket and pulled up a
folded piece of paper. She unfolded it and tossed it in to
the fire. She watched the sketch of Harold Burns turn to
ashes.

It was a long emotional night for all of them. They talked
about the past and they talked about the future. They were
all excited but still so scared of the unknown. They had all
been sheltered away from the real world, it was so scary
finally being free to explore. Cali didn’t sleep much that
night; she lay awake watching the fire. She woke up early
before the others and she went and sat outside on the
porch with her sketch book and a cup of tea. The sky was
blue and the sun was warm, even at seven in the morning.
Cali enjoyed her cup of tea and took in every last moment
of this life. As she was sitting on the porch looking
through her sketch book, a car pulled up in front of her
house and she recognized the baby blue color. Cali felt
light headed as she put her sketch book on the chair
beside her. She was so excited to see him, she had goose
bumps all over body and she was breathing heavy. She
ran down the steps and he was standing in front of his car
waiting for her. She smiled when she saw his perfect face.
She ran up to him and threw her arms around him, she
was so happy to be safe in his arms. He pulled her in
close and held her tight. He looked at her with his dark,
green eyes and she was captivated by him. He touched her
face as he brought his lips to hers and he kissed her so
passionately. He looked and smelt amazing, as always.
She was so happy he was there, that he still wanted her
and that what they had was actually real. She didn’t know
how it was possible that he could love her as much as she
loved him.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” Cali said smiling as she released
him from her arms.

 

“It’s so nice to see your smiling face,” James said. Looking
at her happy face made him feel happy.

 

“You’re here so early,” Cali mutter “I wasn’t expecting you
yet.”

“I figured you all would be up early, and I thought you
might want some breakfast,” James said as he open his car
door and pulled out Mac Burger bags and a box of
Jimmy’s Donuts. He handed Cali the box as he reached
back into the car and pulled out a tray of coffees. “I didn’t
know what your sisters would like so I got six different
Mac’s breakfast specials and a box of mixed donuts and I
didn’t know who drank coffee or tea so I got three of each.
I figured someone would drink them.”

“That’s great, thank you so much,” Cali said smiling as
they walked to the house. The girls were all still sleeping
so they just set the food on the dining room table and
grabbed their coffees and a donut and went back outside
on the porch.

“So how are you feeling?” James asked as he touched her
hand and looked into her eyes. He missed her and was so
happy to be close to her again.

“I am ok, I will feel better when this place is gone and I
don’t have to be here anymore. I am happy about moving
on with my life, but I will always be haunted by this house
and my memories. I think with the help of my family and
you I will be just fine,” Cali said as she took a sip of her
coffee.

“Have you started therapy?” James asked.

“I started a couple weeks ago. Laurence has been taking
me, I mean my dad,” Cali muttered and made a funny face
she still wasn’t used to calling him her dad. “My sisters
start in a couple of weeks.”

“So how is it going?” James asked while eating a donut.
“Ok so far, I mean I am a lot more open to talking about
what happened than I was before. I am still working on
building a report with my therapist. I like her so far, her
name is Dr. Pearson. Once I feel more comfortable I will
open up to her,” Cali breathed as she was thinking about
where her life was a few months ago and now where she
was. So much had happened in such a short time.

James was watching her think, he missed her so much and
he loved looking at her as she bit her lip. “So how are
things between you and your sisters?”

“Getting better, it was really hard on all of us when Lila left
but I we are happy for her. I think they all look at me
differently now, but I guess I have changed. I am different
now; I am stronger and more determined now. Before I was
scared of my own shadow and I always did everything for
everyone else but now I want to be happy too,” Cali
whispered looking into his eyes. “Things are going really
well with Laurence, my dad. He is a very nice man and he
has been helping us out a lot. I am scared to meet my
mother. I want to wait until we are settled in our new house
and into our new lives and then I’ll meet her; this has all
been so much.”

“I understand you feel nervous, I’m nervous about meeting
your sisters and your dad,” James admitted looking at her
with his charming smile.

“Well just be your charming self and they will all love
you,” Cali said smiling at him as she leaned over and
touched his face, pressing her lips to his. She needed to
kiss him, she missed him so much. She needed to feel
close to him, she needed to feel his love.

A black SUV pulled into the drive way and Laurence got
out of the car. Cali stood up and held her hand out to
James. He took her hand and they walked down the stairs
to meet him as he was walking up the drive way.

Cali walked over and gave Laurence a hug. “Hi dad.”

“How was your last night in the house?” Laurence asked
as he kissed his daughters forehead and his eyes glanced
at James.

“It was emotional but we are all so happy to be moving on
with our lives.” Cali said as she released her dad from her
hug and she walked back over to James.

“James this is my dad Laurence Quinn and dad this is
James,” Cali said smiling and laughing as she was trying
not to cry. Her whole life she never imagined being able to
introduce her boyfriend to her father without horrific
consequences. But that was her old life and this was her
new life.

Laurence and James shook hands and they all went and
sat on the porch.

 

“I’m going to go in and wake up the girls. Your brother and

Marie will be here soon and then we can go pick up the
truck,” Cali said looking at them both. “Are you two going
to be ok while I am gone?”

“Yes of course, we’ll be fine, go get your sisters,”
Laurence said smiling as James nodded in agreement.

 

Cali walked into the house leaving James alone with her
father.

“So James, I see you on the TV all the time with a new
supermodel girlfriend on your arm. I don’t know what you
must think of me, a man who lets his own daughter get
kidnapped, but I love Cali very much and I don’t want to
see anything bad happen to her again. She is too fragile to
handle any more heart ache, so please don’t hurt my little
girl,” Laurence muttered in a low voice as he looked at
James.

“Sir I don’t think anything bad about you, I can’t imagine
what you have been through. My intentions are honorable.
I honestly believe Cali is the person I am meant to be with.
All I want to do is protect her from ever getting hurt again.
I can’t take back the things I have done in my life but Cali
is the only thing that matters to me now,” James replied.

“That’s what I wanted to hear, thank you.” Laurence said
as the two men shook hands.

Cali walked back outside with Natasha, interrupting their
conversation.
“James this is my sister and my best friend Natasha,” Cali
said introducing them. She was so excited to have all the
people she loved together.

“Nice to meet you,” James said as he stood up and shook
Natasha’s hand. “I have heard so many wonderful things
about you.”

“Yes it’s nice to finally meet you too, Cali talks about you
all the time,” Natasha said smiling.

 

“Good things I hope,” James said smiling his incredibly
charming smile.

 

“Great things,” Cali said laughing.

 

Amanda and Claudia came outside and Cali introduced
them to James.

 

“It so nice to meet you both, Cali told me such nice things
about her sisters,” James said shaking both their hands.

“James Vex it’s so nice to meet you,” Claudia said smiling,
“Wow you are even better looking in real life.” she
laughed.

“Claudia, behave yourself,” Natasha snapped.

Carl and Marie pulled up behind James and Cali and her
dad went to get the moving truck. It took the eight of them
only a couple of hours to get the house empty. Most of the
stuff they gave away because it held such horrible
memories for them. They shut the door to the truck and
everyone packed up and left. Laurence drove the moving
truck and Amanda went with him, Natasha and Claudia
took Laurence’s SUV. Marie and Carl drove together and
Cali was going with James, she just had to do one last walk
through of the house.