Brave the Storm and Embrace the Rain

"Morning Dad," I whispered as I noticed him standing in the living room. He glanced up at me slowly then to the kitchen and then he dropped his head back down and continued to tie his shoes after he replied with the same greeting.

I became confused. I looked into the kitchen and saw Karli disappearing through the sliding glass doors in to the backyard. I furrowed my eyebrows and hopped down the last few steps and went over to my Dad.

"What's going on?" I demanded with my arms folded over my chest.

Dad sighed and looked up at me with a shrug, "Nothing," He said, forcing a smile onto his lips.

"Oh come on, I'm not five, that's not going to work on me. Tell me what's going on between you and Karli or I'll go ask her." I threatened as I turned to go into the kitchen.

"Indiana, hold up," Dad shouted, "You can't go running off to other people to find the answers you want! I'm your father and if you want to know something you ask me. If I won't tell you you're supposed to shut your mouth and go along with it," He grumbled as he stood up straight.

I looked at him, shocked at his outburst. And then I replied, "Well if you would tell me what is going on, I wouldn't have to go to your wife!"

He sighed and shook his head, "Indy you need to knock it off."

I stood shocked, trying to figure out what he was talking about. "What?" I questioned as I stepped towards him, "Knock what off? I'm barely ever here for you to notice me doing anything wrong."

"That's exactly it!" Dad bursted, "You aren't here. You run off with a boy you know nothing about. I was trying to accept the fact that you're almost an adult but Karli can't. She's angry because I don't enforce you to stay away from those boys. She's angry because you run off and neither of us have any idea what you're doing." My Dad shook his head as if he was shaking off the anger. He looked at me, his blue eyes begging me not to yell and wake up the twins or have Karli come in and yell too.

"I'm 17," I murmured calmly as I stared him straight in his eyes, "You haven't been around for a long time. I've done things that you wouldn't want to know about and if you or Karli were to care that much you would've stopped me from doing them a long time ago. But I'm not doing anything with Eadon. I'm not sleeping with him, if that's what you're worried about."

Dad shuttered noticeably and nodded, although I could tell that he didn't fully believe me.

"You can tell Karli that too. Not that it's any of her business."

My Dad began to speak, "Of course it's her business! She's your mo-" But then he froze as my eyes met his. My eyes that were a hazel color instead of the blue that his new family possessed.

"You should really think before you talk," I whispered, "Because your wife is not my mother. My mother has dark hair and brownish colored eyes. She's not a doctor and she's never been to college. She didn't love her child like Karli and she's not around now. So you should really watch what you say." I turned and walked back up the stairs. I was tired again and all I really wanted to do was sleep.

At the top of the stairs came walking out of his room, rubbing his eyes and pushing his dark hair from his face. He looked up when he hear me coming. He smiled sleepily and asked, "Where'd you go?"

"To talk to Dad. Go back to sleep."

Wyly shook his head and reached out to grab my hand. I smiled down at him and reached to pick him up into my arms. He wrapped his arms around my neck and rested his head on my shoulder.

"Can I hang out with you today?" He questioned, "I don't want to be here. Mommy and Daddy were fighting last night."

I looked at him, confused, wondering how he knew that and I didn't. "Did you hear them?" I questioned, as I carried him into my room and shut the door behind us.

He nodded against my shoulder and yawned. I sighed and laid him down on my bed. I sat down next to him and then smiled sadly when he crawled into my lap. I never expected for Wyler or Maddox to get so attached to me. I never knew how little kids could trust anyone, even if they'd barely known them. I played with Wyly's hair until he zoned out, his eyes closing and his breathing evening out. I slid out from under him, hearing my Dad's voice talking loudly, challenging Karli to do the same. I hear her yelling a minute later. I wandered out of my room and shut the door behind me. I crept to the edge of the stairs and listened, knowing that they were in the kitchen.

"I get it, Nathaniel, She's your daughter, you love her. But I think that she's acting like a bad influence on my sons!"

"First of, Karli, they're my sons too! And second, it's not like she's going out and getting drunk and stumbling back home, ranting drunkenly at the twins. She goes out with her friends and comes home a little after dark! Then she spends the rest of her night with the twins! She fell asleep in their room last night, for God's sake!"

I heard Karli sigh angrily and then reply, "I don't like her attitude. She acts like she's queen on this house. She acts like she's an adult and can do what ever she wants with her life. You're her father, she should respect you."

My Dad groaned, "I don't even respect myself when it comes to Indiana. I walked out on her. Do you expect her to be completely happy here? To just jump into our happy family and accept her fate?"

"No," Karli shouted, "I don't. But I expect her to at least pretend she's okay with it!"

"Karli," Dad sighed and I hear something slam shut. Something that sounded like a cupboard. The sound echoed through the house and I knew that it had have woken at least one of the boys. "She takes after me. Do you think that if she wasn't already pretending that she would be this mellow with everything? She'd be throwing a fit, shouting, screaming, and pushing everyone out of her life. She's like me and she's trying her best."

Karli didn't say anything for a moment. Then they started to whisper, or at least talk normally. I sighed knowing that I wouldn't be able to hear anything more so I turned to go back into my room. But I froze when I noticed Maddox standing there, staring at me.

"It's your fault that Mommy is mad at Daddy," He whispered, "They weren't yelling until you came here." He accused while still walking away the sleep in his eyes.

I didn't have anything to say to the five year old because he was exactly right. It was my fault that their perfect little family was falling apart. Which caused me to wonder if it was my fault that my original family had broken too.

"Maddy," I sighed, "I'm sorry."

Maddox shook his head and it was then that I noticed the tears in his eyes. I immediately felt horrible, it was my fault the this little boy was crying. It was my fault that my father was becoming unhappy. I didn't want to make my dad so unhappy that he could ever think about walking out on these boys too. I didn't know if I could ever live with that.

"I didn't mean to make your Mom mad, Maddy. I'm just trying to have fun while being here. Because I won't be here for too long."

Maddy nodded and reached forward to hug me. I hugged him tightly, knowing that it wasn't me that he was mad at completely, just that I had done something to make his parents argue, something that he had obviously never seen or heard them do before.

Maddy took my hand and followed me into my room. Wyler was still asleep so I set up a game on my laptop and let Maddox play on it for a little bit while I texted Eadon.

"Do you think that my little brothers could come hang out with us today? All we have to do is take them to the park or something."

"Yeah. That park sounds kind of fun. You might want to warn them about the guys though."

"They won't mind. They just don't want to be left here, the parents are fighting."

"Oh. I'm sorry baby. Of course they can come."

I smiled at his words and then replied, "It's okay Eadon. & thanks."