I found my Family (On Hold)

Chapter 15: Thoughts over Thoughts

Liah POV:

I found myself in the garden with Caleb and Rome, neither of us had said a word and we walked quietly around the neat garden. Rome hadn't stopped me from carrying Caleb or walking and I knew he was thinking about everything that had been said earlier just as much as I did.

After walking for a few more minutes, I found a little bench under a tree, I sat down with Rome and put Caleb on the ground. Caleb immediately started running and playing around in the garden completely ignoring our sullen moods. I leaned my head on Rome's shoulder not knowing what to do now or what to think. Rome simply placed his arm over my shoulder and rubbed slow circles on it.

I had a thousand questions running through my head but I couldn't form any sentences to let them out, to ask something or to talk about it. Whenever I thought of a start another question pushed forward.

What confused me the most was that Jonathan said they thought I was dead. Yes, we had that crash when I was seven and I was quite a bit injured, but it wasn't life threatening. What I could say was that my life took a change after that.

We moved to a different state and mom, no Joseline, got a lot stricter with me and super paranoid after the crash. I guess that was the time were things turned bad. She didn't let me out of the house other than for school or if she went with me, which barely ever happened. We also started to move places for the strangest reasons. The first time we moved after the crash I was eight years old. We moved because I stayed at a classmate's house without asking Joseline for permission first, I knew she wouldn't have allowed it anyway.

At first I thought she was scared for me, that something like the car crash could happen again, but her reasons and motives weren't adding up with that. Still, her favorite words were 'I'm doing this to protect you.' She should have protected me from herself. I was naive and so dependent on her that I never questioned her until I met Adira and Ethan. They were our neighbors three years ago and my only friends and Caleb's biological parents. I went to school with them and they befriended me even though I was younger than them. When Joseline found out she pulled me out of school, soon after that Adira and Ethan died and we moved yet again.

To this day it is a miracle for me that Joseline allowed me to take Caleb in and raise him.

Caleb wasn't just my baby now but he was the best reminder of my only friends. Every time I looked at Caleb I remembered them, he was the spitting image of them both. He had his brown wavy hair from Adira and his sparkling hazel eyes from Ethan. I missed them so much. They were like my big sister and brother, they taught me everything I missed out on and helped me realize that my mother, Joseline, was not as kind and loving as I thought she was. I wouldn't have left if it wasn't for them, I would have never even thought about trying to find my father or leave at all.

And here I am now, in my biological father's house, finding out he intentionally gave me up. No matter the good intentions he had, I wasn't sure if I could ever forgive that. I wasn't a patty person and Adira always told me I was too nice and sweet but even I knew not to forgive this easily. I might not know much about the world or what goes on in normal families but that was wrong.

I glanced at Rome, we were still holding hands while he was watching Caleb's every move. He was watching him but his expression was distant and somewhere else, as if he wasn't here with his thoughts. He probably wasn't, just like me.

I barely knew Rome for a few days, yet I couldn't imagine him not being here anymore. I didn't know if it was because of him being my twin or just that he was the first person I ever felt at home with. He gave me a feeling of love, affection and care that I had never felt in any way from someone before. I couldn't imagine knowing about him and not being able to meet, or even worse thinking he was dead.