Chapter 27
“ I think she went out to meet my parents or something; I'm not sure she left after you did.”
"Oh, okay, I'll be in the kitchen.”
This was hell. We were together, and we were sneaking around her. I walked into his bathroom, and we took a shower together. He got dressed, and then he left. I locked the door behind him, about fifteen minutes later I received a text message from him saying that she was already out of the apartment, so I came out of the room and went to get dinner.
When Jace and Crystal saw me, I explained to them what happened. They just shook their heads. We sat and ate dinner silently. I was watching TV around eleven when Anthony walked in and from the look on his face alone. I could tell he was pissed the hell off, but what pissed him off, I had no idea. When he saw me, his eyes softened. He came to me, grabbed my hand, and took me to the room, locking the door behind him. He walked straight into the bathroom. A few minutes later, he came out, and we were lying in bed.
“Anthony, are you okay?”
“I'm fine, baby.”
“Okay, just know you can talk to me.”
“I'm okay, love, I promise.”
That night, he held me so close to him that it also almost felt like he was afraid of losing me or something. What the hell happened last night?
Anthony
Everything has been going staright ahead; it's been five days, and Rachel has always been there. I've hardly had any time with Callie. Even though she acted like she was okay, I knew she was hurt. I was sitting in my office going over some papers when Jace walked in and dropped himself into one of the chairs. His face had a whole host of emotions. Just by looking at him, I knew something had happened.
“What happened? Is Callie okay?” He didn't answer.
“Jace ?” Still no answer.
“Jace ?”
He was starting to scare me. I got up and walked around the desk to him. I pulled the other chair, sat in front of him, and grabbed him by the shoulder.
"JACE, WHAT HAPPENED? WHERE'S CALLIE?”
“She's not my sister; the test came back negative.” He said it in such a low voice that I knew it was hurting him.
"Jace, I'm sorry.”
Jace did something I've never seen him do in all the years I've known him. He was fucking crying.
“This is going to hurt her. Anthony, I can't let her find out; I can't lose her. I've spent my entire life protecting her. I love her; she's always been my little sister, and now she really isn't. My father really wants her to be his daughter, and he loves her too. Mom lied to him. She told him I was on drugs and Callie was a dancer; that's why she kicked us out.”
“What the fuck are you serious ?”
“That's why he never contacted us; she told him not to. This is going to hurt him too.”
“Jace ,stop. She won't find out. We're not telling her.”
“We can't hide this from them; they're expecting the results today.”
“Let's go back to the doctor; we'll get another one. This is going to be with us for the rest of our lives,but I can't lose her. I know we're being selfish, but she's too important to us. We'll give them what they want.”
“Okay ”
We left and headed back to the doctor's office. I called her to see what she was doing. The way she spoke, she told me she was with Rachel. After we got to the doctor, we explained the situation to him. He was hesitant about falsifying the document, but after much persuasion and a very large donation, he agreed.
When we left, Jace was a bit more composed. He called Callie and his father to meet him at my office. We didn't want Rachel anywhere around when we did this. When we got back to the office, Jace was pacing my office floor.
“Jace relax”
“I can't. What if they don't believe it? What if they see through our lie?”
“They won't relax; they're coming.”
I watched her walk into my office. I walked over to her and kissed her. “Are you okay, baby?”
"Yes, I'm fine. What's going on?” She looked at me, then Jace said,
He raised the envelope and showed them, and she grabbed my hand. She was trembling.“Is that the result?”
“Yes ”
His father looked at him. “What does it say, Jace?”
He opened it in front of them and read it. He just walked over to her and hugged her.
“I told you, you're my sister, and you'll always be my sister.”
His father took the paper from him and read it. He just walked over to her and hugged her.
“I'm so sorry that I didn't call you sweetheart; you'll always be my little Callie; you're both my kids; I'm sorry if I made you feel any different.”
“You didn't, Dad.” She just hugged her father and cried. He just wiped her tears away.
“Don't cry, sweetheart; everything is okay now. I've got you and your brother. We'll be okay.”
Callie
He was my father, and Jace was my brother; that was all that mattered to me. I had them, and Anthony. I would be okay. I pulled away long enough to look at Anthony.
“I need to call Crystal and tell her.”
“I need to go back home; I've already started moving my stuff out.”
I looked at him. I was hurting for him. “Dad, are you sure about this?”
“I am. I loved your mother, but the things she has done, I can't forgive. Truth be told, we fell out of love with each other a long time ago. Take care of yourself, Jace, and your sister. As soon as I'm all settled in, I'll let you know.”
We hugged him and said goodbye after Jace left. It was just me and Anthony in his office.
“I want to wear a red wedding dress, Anthony.” He walked over to me, grabbing me by the waist and pulling me into him.
“You can wear whatever you want, baby girl.”
“Really?”
“Yes ”
“I've already spoken to your mom about the wedding, and she's planning ours because I'm busy with Rachel.”
“You're letting my mom plan our wedding.”
"Yes, because she's your mom, and it makes her happy. Thank you, Anthony.”
“For what?”
“For keeping Rachel so busy, she's not focused properly.”
“Anything for you, baby girl, but I've missed you. It's been five days now since I've had you or spoken to you properly.
“I know, and I'm sorry besides. I have a surprise for you tonight.”
“I like surprises.”
“Just call and say you're working late, and I'll send you the address.”
“Now this is interesting.”
“I have to go. I need to do some shopping and get back to the apartment.”
I kissed him and left. I headed back to the apartment. The minute I walked in, I was standing face-to-face with Rachel. I had an extremely hard time suppressing my disgust for her. I smiled at her.
“Hey, Rach, what's wrong?”
“Where were you?”
“I had to pick up some materials for your wedding dress, plus I had to take Marcy over to Anthony's office so she could take his measurements. You did say you wanted his jacket to match your dress, didn't you?”
“Oh yes, I did. You could have told me you were going there.” Well, she was antsy as hell.
“I didn't know I would be going there; it was a last-minute decision by Marcy. Anyway, we're done for today. I need to take a shower and get dressed.”
“Where are you going?”