The Only Exception.

Seven.

I laid in my bed with my back towards the door and music playing. I heard the door open, but didn't have enough energy to care who it was. I felt someone get underneath the covers and I was turned over. I came face to face with Ashton.

"Ashton what-" he cut me off.

"Callie I want to deal with you. I want to deal with all of you. I want to deal with your shitty father and your sick grandpa. I want to deal with how you handle things. I don't care how many guys you've slept with. I want to deal with you because I care about you more than I've cared about anyone before. I'm sorry I hurt you yesterday, I'm so so sorry. But don't shut me out, don't put your walls up and lock me out of your life Callie," he said, looking straight into my eyes as he said all of it.

I examined his face, and my eyes fell on his lips. Deep down inside of me, I knew he was being truthful. I knew he hadn't meant to hurt me, and I knew he wanted to put up with me, and that he cared.

"Callie I met you just 2 weeks ago but I love you and I can't let you-" I pressed my lips against his, cutting him off mid-sentence.

He paused for a moment before putting his arms around my waist and pulling me closer to him. It felt like someone had let a thousand butterflies go free inside of my stomach and it was a mixture of comforting, and absolutely terrifying.

"Callie!!!" I heard Marianna yell, forcing me to pull away from Ashton.

"Callie come here!" my mum yelled.

I sighed and we got up. Ashton took my hand and we hopped down the stairs. We walked into the living room, there was a police officer standing there.

"What's going on?" I asked, seeing Marianna with her knees pulled up to her chin and tears streaming down your face.

I looked at my mum; Calum, Michael and Luke all had one hand on their forehead.

"It's my dad isn't it?" I asked the police officer.

"I think you should sit-" I cut him off.

"Just tell me what happened," I said.

"A car jacking... Gone bad, earlier today a couple miles from here. This was found in his jacket pocket, it's addressed to you," the police officer handed me a manila folder and I looked at it.

"Thank you," I said.

He said a few other things, like when the body would be released to us and all of that before he left. I sat down in the love seat and held the folder in my hands.

"Callie... Are you okay?" Michael asked me.

I nodded, "Uh, yeah. I'm okay. It's just gonna... take a little while to process. Feels like half of my world is exploded while the other half has finally pieced itself together. Nothing can be simple and fair."

"I'm going to go make some phone calls," Mum said, wiping tears from her cheeks before kissing Marianna on the top of the head, then kissing the tops of the heads of all of the guys then coming to me.

I stood up and pulled her into a hug, then held her at arms length with my hands on her shoulders.

"Thank you," I said.

"For what love?"

"For showing them that session."

She kissed my cheek, "I love you Callie."

"I love you too Mum."

She left the room and I sat down next to Marianna and Ashton with the folder. I set it on the coffee table and opened it, tipping it over and emptying it's contents. It contained a letter, and an envelope of photos. Marianna put her legs down.

"What does the letter say?" she asked and I moved and sat on the coffee table.

"Uh..." I said.

"Callie just tell me what it says..."

"Marianna, I want you to understand something. I want you to understand, that everything I've done in the last 16 years of my life, I did to try and keep you safe from him. Every single thing I did, and every single thing I made you promise you would never do, I did to keep you safe."

"Callie," she let out a sob, "Please."

"Dear Callie: It's taken me 16 years and a punch in the face from you, to realize all that I've done wrong to you and to realize, that the real reason that you did all those things when you were a teenager, were because of the things I did to you while you were growing up. I showed you that men shouldn't be trusted, I showed you that all men do is hit their child and lie to them," tears swelled up in my eyes as Marianna started to cry, "I taught you that there was no hope in the world for you. I made you think that no man would ever love you the way you should be loved and I made you give up on yourself. And I was wrong, I was wrong to show you those things, I was wrong to teach you those things and I was wrong to make you feel that way. Valentine's Day, 1994 at 9:43 in the morning, God showed me that I had a purpose in life. And I treated that purpose like trash and I could never tell you I'm sorry enough times to ever make up for the things I put you through. I'm writing you this letter, to tell you I've given up on myself. And that when I return home, you won't have to be burdened by me anymore. I'm going to do you, your sister and your mother a favor with this. And all I can do, is hope that God forgives me, and that I see you all again someday and we can all start over and be happy." I let out a sob and Ashton held onto my knee with tears in his eyes. "One day, you'll have grand kids and they'll ask you about me. And I'm begging you to lie to them, so that they don't have to grow up hating someone they'll never meet. I want you to have a happy life, and I want your sister to have a happy life. I know that you've both met people, and that you're having more trouble than Marianna is with accepting any form of feelings for someone who has to ability to hurt you. And I want you to remember, that the boy you care for, he isn't me, and he isn't the men you've dealt with in the past. And I hope, that Marianna will also know, that her boy, is not me, and is not going to be the same as any other boy she's ever known. You've both grown up so much, and all I can do is apologize for putting you both in the position where you had to be adults before you were old enough to even know what that truly meant. You're going to make amazing mother's someday. I love you both, and I'm begging you not to miss me when I'm gone. Forever yours, dad."

Marianna looked over at my mum, standing in the doorway with tears staining her cheeks, just like the rest of us. She stood up and looked at her.

"Did you know?" Marianna asked and my mum just started crying again and shaking her head, "Did you know he hit her?!"

"Marianna stop it!" I stood up, "No one knew. He told me that if I didn't tell anyone he wouldn't hurt you or mum. So I kept my mouth shut. The worse of a child I was, the less he took his anger out on mum because it all landed on me. I didn't want to put you in the position of knowing any of the things you've found out about me today. I never wanted you to know these things about me Marianna. All I've ever wanted to do is keep you safe. You're the only person in the whole world that's been there for me to talk to no matter what. You never told any secret I ever told you and you never judged me for even a second. You've been my best friend since Saint Patrick's Day of 1998 when I first met you in the hospital. And I made a promise to you that day that I'd never let anything bad happen to you. And I tried my hardest for the last 16 years to keep that promise to you. And I'm so sorry if I ever failed you."

She hugged me and started to cry.

"I'm so sorry," she said, "I'm so sorry you had to be hurt to keep me safe."

I just held onto her. Eventually, she calmed down and hugged my mom. I sat back down on the coffee table and picked up the envelope of photos and took them out.

"Kids," Mum said, "It's late, I'm going to try and get some sleep. I'll see you all tomorrow. I love all of you."

"We love you too," we all said.

She kissed the tops of each of our heads once more before going upstairs. Marianna sat back down.

"What are the pictures of?" she asked.

"Trips we took when we were little, before things got bad and some other photos that dad had always liked, from when things were bad but not as bad when he wasn't around," I said, "Like, our first trip to Melbourne."

I handed her the photo.

"And when we used to go camping at Gregory National Park. Our first trip to Perth, and our first trip to Sydney. And our first time in England when we toured Europe with just mum. Paris, Berlin, Rome, Venice, the Vatican, Ireland, Scotland," then I held a photo in my hands and laughed.

"What is it?"

"A random action photo from that time I threw my Batman action figure at you like it was a throwing star and it hit you right in the chest," I said, handing her the photo, causing her to laugh.

"That seriously fucking hurt though," she said, showing the boys.

"Nice throw," Michael laughed.

"This one was my favorite trip we took, when we went to America when you were 14," I said.

She laughed, "The Naked Cowboy. That was a nice trip. That was like, the only time when you were 17 that you didn't hide away all the time or leave the house without telling anyone where you were going."

I nodded, "It was a rough age for me."

"I'm glad you're better now," Calum said.

I smiled at him, "So am I."

We continued to look through the photos, then Marianna went with Luke, Michael and Calum over to their house, and Ashton and I went upstairs to my room.

He held me close to him and kissed my neck once than looked at me.

"I'm sorry you had to go through all of that stuff," he said.

I gave him a smile, "It's okay. I wouldn't be who I am now if I didn't go through all of that. But now, I can try to be happy. I don't have any more secrets I'm keeping from Marianna and I think that it was making it hard for me to be happy, not being honest with her about everything."

He nodded, "I hope that you can be happy. I want nothing more than for you to be happy."

"Well, I want to be happy with you. You make me happy," I said, lacing my fingers with his.
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