Finding You: The Switched Series book one (2 page)

Chapter Two

I’m still staring at the picture when my doorbell rings again. I can’t believe Clay thought I would change my mind this quick. “I haven’t changed my mind that quick,” I am shouting at him when I open the door. Only it isn’t Clay on the other side. It’s someone I have never met, but have looked at a lot, my brother. I think he’s the oldest, but can’t be sure. They all look so much alike. I really don’t know a lot about them. I know they are all cops and one was in some sort of military. Maybe this one, he’s definitely built to be and definitely intimidating enough. He has the very popular dark hair that the entire family seems to have. He is also well over six feet tall and has arms full of muscle. One word to describe him at first glance would definitely have to be intimidating. This can’t be good.

“I hope you will change your mind if it means that you will come home with me,” he says smugly.

“I’m sorry. I don’t think I know you and I don’t have a habit of going home with strangers.” I have a sudden urge to hit him, hug him or just start screaming. I’m really not sure what I want to do, but I do know I am not ready for a family reunion.

“Look down at the picture and you will probably figure it out pretty quickly,” he says smiling. “I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean to knock on your door like this. I just saw you when the door opened and couldn’t stop myself. I’m Brody, by the way and I’m pretty sure I’m your brother.”

“I don’t remember taking any test to prove that and I’m pretty sure I would remember growing up with you,” I say. “What did you do, follow the detective here that your family hired to look for me?” I don’t see any reason to let him know I have known Clay for a while. He is after all, very good friends with this family too.

“Wow, you have attitude. I think we will get along just fine. I was afraid you were going to be one of those whiney, annoying victim types. I think you will be able to handle three brothers just fine. It would have been fun having you around growing up,” he says, making his way to my couch.

Why won’t he leave? This is getting weird. Maybe they have known about it all along and had to come looking for me because the hospital knows now. I just know I want this big bully out of my house now.

“Look, it was nice meeting you, but I really need to get to work, so there’s the door,” I say, pointing to the door.

He’s still staring at me with a smirk that I am really starting to hate. “You really don’t have any questions for me. I mean, you found out like five minutes ago that you might have another family and you don’t want to ask me anything? That’s a little strange. Most girls I know would be crying or throwing things right now. Not you though. You even made up a fake job to go to. You are very good at hiding your emotions.” I’m just staring at him in shock. How did he know about my job? How long has he known about me?

“Don’t look so shocked. I’m really good at my job. I was in the military, special ops. Now I’m a cop, undercover mostly. It wasn’t that hard to find you. I know you’re a teacher, so you are out all summer. We just let Detective Clayton look for you so it would look like we followed the rules.”

“Of course you’re a cop, must be the only profession around,” I say to him, wondering why they all waited a week to find me.

“I guess you can call it a family tradition. My dad and both my brothers are cops, I mean our brothers, all my best friends are cops too. We are pretty good people to have around.”

So that’s how he wants to be. Lucky for him I’m not a whiney victim. I can take care of myself. I have been for ten years now.              

“Is that so? My dad was a cop, didn’t work out so well for him.” Maybe that will shut him up. Nope, he’s still sitting there with that same smirk. “Don’t you have a real sister somewhere you can go bother? I’m sure she’s missing out on all of this sibling wonderfulness you have to give away.” That got his attention. He’s finally standing up. Walking over to the door he grabs my phone and starts typing something in it.

“You have my cell number now. Call or text when you decide you want to know the truth. We can do the test here. If you’re not my sister, I’ll go home and you will never see me again. If you are, you will go home with me and meet the rest of your family. I look forward to hearing from you. Bye Callie,” he says, walking out the door. I guess he doesn’t like to talk about his sister. That got him out of here finally. For some reason I don’t think it’s going to be easy to get him out of my life anytime soon.

I pick up my phone and call Clay. He answers on the first ring. “I’m glad you changed your mind. Go ahead and start packing and I will pick you up tomorrow and we can head that way.”

“I’m not going anywhere tomorrow,” I tell him. “I had a visitor today. Brody Taylor, do you know him?”

“Brody came to see you?”

“Yes, right after you left. Pretty much said he knew where I had been for the past week, just had to let you do your job and figure it out. How much do they know about me and you?” I ask him.

“Nothing,” he says. “I wanted to talk to you first. Those boys are good at their jobs. I knew if I came straight here they would know I knew you, so I waited a week. We can tell them whatever you want about us. If you want them to know I have known you for ten years we can tell them. If you don’t want them to know, it can be our secret. They are some of my best friends, but honestly I haven’t talked to them much over the past several years.” Right now I don’t want them to know anything about me. I want to be selfish and keep my life to myself right now. I’m not sure someone who doesn’t even know they were raising the wrong kid deserves to know anything about their life. I know I’m being selfish, but that’s what I have to do. I have to protect me first.

“I don’t want them to know. Let’s just pretend we met today. Is that okay with you?” I ask him.

“That’s fine with me,” he says.

“Do you think I should do the test? If I refuse, will they just leave me alone?” I know I don’t want them to have any proof, but I don’t think me saying no is going to stop them either.

“I think you should. They aren’t going to give up if Brody has already found you. I’ll get the test set up and let you know. I can go with you or stay away, that’s up to you too. We will just go from there. I think you’re doing the right thing Callie,” he says, before hanging up. I hope he’s right. I never wanted to meet these people, but for some reason they seem to think it’s important.

I text Brody when Clay gets back with me on a time to meet to do the DNA test. It was a very short and sweet text, only time and place listed. All he texted back was “glad you see it my way.” Yeah, this is going to be fun.

We decide it’s best if Clay goes to the hospital with me. After all, he was the one who found me. When we get to the lab, Brody is already sitting there looking smug as ever.             

“Clayton, good to see you again” he says, standing to shake his hand. I completely ignore him and go over to sit by myself. After all, these are practically two strangers standing here staring at me.

“Callie, good to see you again too, thank you for doing this. It really means a lot to my mom. “

I just look up at him. It probably would have been really cool to grow up with a big brother like him. Always knowing you had someone there to watch your back and look out for you. But I didn’t and I have got to stop thinking this way. I didn’t have anyone out there for me. I’m not sure why we were switched, but I do know they should have figured it out and came for me sooner. I will not let these people make me want to be a part of their family. I can’t.

“I don’t think I had much of a choice. You seem like the type of person who always gets what they want,” I say to him, standing up to walk around the room. I can’t seem to be still right now.

He just looks at me with that smirk again and turns to talk to Clay. I don’t care what they are talking about. I just want this nightmare to be over. Of course, I know it’s just beginning. I have known the truth for a while now. Unfortunately their daughter hasn’t been so lucky. I can’t even begin to understand how she must feel. It has to be a scary feeling to find out your family’s not yours, but even worse, your biological family is dead and you will never be able to meet them. One reason I never wanted anyone to find out was to protect her. I can’t imagine how she is feeling. I can pretty much guarantee one thing. She is going to hate me.

After what feels like forever, the door to the waiting room finally opens. “Mr. Taylor and Miss Scott, we are ready for you both. Come with me,” a very perky nurse says, staring only at Mr. Taylor. I turn around to Clay and tell him to wait here hoping this won’t take long.

Finally, after filling out a lot of paperwork and having both of us tested, the nurse shows us back out to the waiting room telling us she will have the results in about two weeks.

  “Two weeks” Brody and I both say together. “That won’t work, that is way too long,” Brody says. “We need these results as soon as possible. Isn’t there some other way to get them quicker?” he asks the nurse.

“Of course, but you need a parent. It will be a lot more accurate with a parent anyway. I would suggest you testing with one if that is possible. That would definitely be quicker. I’ll let you know these results in about two weeks. Have a nice day,” the nurse quickly says, dismissing us. This is great. I already know what he is going to say when he looks at me.

“You have to come back with me, today.”

“I can’t do that, it’s not safe,” I say to him looking at Clay, hoping he will back me up. Clay is just sitting there looking at both of us not saying anything. “Tell him, I can’t go. It’s not safe for me back there,” I say again.

“Why do you think you wouldn’t be safe there? That’s ridiculous. I can promise you the crime rate here in Miami is a lot greater than Nashville. We don’t even live in Nashville. It’s a small town over an hour away. It’s practically the middle of nowhere. I’m pretty sure you can take care of yourself anyway,” Brody says, looking at me like he is daring me to come up with another reason.

“She’s here for a reason, Brody. I guess you didn’t do all of your homework on her,” Clay finally says.

“What’s the reason?” Brody asks, actually starting to look worried. It’s a strange look on him. Maybe he does care, I don’t see how though, it’s not like he knows me.

“I don’t want to talk about it here. It doesn’t matter anyway. I’m not going back to Nashville. Not now, not ever. I did what you wanted. Call me in two weeks,” I say to him as I am walking out the door.

Chapter Three

I’m really starting to hate my doorbell. It has rung more in the last two days than in the five years I have lived here. I make my way to the door knowing it’s going to be one of two people. Please let it be Clay and not Brody. Please. I open the door to find Brody standing on the other side.

“I brought Chinese food, I hope you like it. I just want to get to know you, no fighting, no smart mouth, I promise.”

I step back and open the door for him to come in. He carries the food to the kitchen and sets it on the table, all three bags of it.             

“You do realize I am only one girl, right? This is a lot of food,” I say.

“I didn’t know what you liked, so I just got a little bit of everything,” he says quietly. I definitely wasn’t expecting that answer. I don’t know how to respond so instead I just go over and grab two bottles of water.             

“Thank you,” I say, setting the water on the table.

“You are very welcome,” he says, sitting down and pulling the food out. We eat in complete silence. I don’t think I have ever been in a situation like this where I had absolutely no idea what to say to someone. It’s very uncomfortable.

“Detective Clayton told me what happened to your parents. I’m sorry you had to go through that, especially by yourself,” he says, breaking the silence.

“It’s okay. I made it. I found a good family here in Miami to live with. It would have been better with my parents, but I guess we all have to deal with the life we are given. They were wonderful parents and I am very thankful I had them as long as I did. I just wish they had found who did it to them.”

“Me too,” he says. “I know you don’t feel safe going back to Nashville, but I promise we will all keep you safe. We will only be at the airport. After that you never have to go back to that city if you don’t want to. I know you don’t know us or trust us, but to us you are family.”

“You don’t know that, we haven’t heard from the test yet,” I say.

“I don’t need a test. I knew the second my mom looked at the picture of you. She knew it the second she looked at the picture of you. If you had a daughter out there, wouldn’t you want to meet her?”

He has a point. I don’t ever plan on having kids, but if I did, I would definitely want mine.

“Come sit in the living room. You can tell me about your family,” I say, standing up to walk in the other room. I hear him scooting his chair out behind me to follow me. I guess now is as good of a time as ever to hear about the life I was cheated out of.

He sits on the other end of the couch from me and slips his shoes off to put them up on my coffee table. “Please get comfortable,” I say sarcastically.

“I have a big family, it could take a while,” he says, smiling. “My parents have been married for thirty two years. They were really young when they got married. My dad was about to be twenty one and my mom had just turned twenty. They say they just knew it was meant to be. They had me two years later. I’m the oldest.  I joined the military right after high school. Before I knew it I was in the special ops division seeing all kinds of things. When my time was up, I decided to get out. I always admired my dad’s job trying to put the bad guys away, so I decided to follow in his footsteps. By the time I got out my two brothers had already decided the same thing and both were working as detectives. Like I said yesterday, it’s a family trait, being a cop.”

“If you are the oldest, who’s next?” I ask him.

“Jaxon,” he says. “Jaxon is twenty eight and a mess if it can stay between me and you. He decided to follow in our parents footsteps and got married way too early to the wrong girl. We tried to tell him, but he wouldn’t listen to us. He was so in love. He was twenty two when he married Maya. It lasted two years before she ran off with his best friend. Ex best friend now I guess you could say. I’m not sure he will ever get over it. He is also a cop, also very good at his job.”

He looks over at me and smiles. “Are you ready for the next one?” he asks, sounding unsure for the first time.

“Of course,” I say, trying to figure out why he seems worried about telling me the rest.

“Okay,” he says. “Next in the lineup are Collin and Molly. They are twenty six, but I guess you already know that.” He stops talking to look at me. I have a twin. How could Clay not tell me about this? This is what is going to do it. This is what is going to break me. I am fixing to break down right here in front of this man who is going to think I am a crazy person. I can’t stop the tears. They are falling out of my eyes quicker than I can stop them.

“Hey, do you want me to stop?” he asks. I just shake my head at him and hope he continues. “Okay, but if you want me stop at any time, just let me know and I will, okay,” he says. All I can do is nod this time. “Collin is also a cop, detective actually. Has no girlfriend and probably never will. He begged to come with me, but I wouldn’t let him. He wanted to meet you so bad. He thinks he will know just by being in the room together if you are his sister or not. We all wanted to meet you.”

My heart is breaking right now. I have never wanted to meet these people. I have tried to make myself hate these people for the past ten years. Right now in this moment though, I want to meet them. I want to meet the brothers I got cheated out of having in my life. I’m just not sure I’m ready to meet my parents yet. Brody is still quietly sitting there looking at me. I know he’s waiting on me to say something, but right now I can’t think of anything. I’m still not sure I can handle having all of these people in my life.

“We are all cops. My best friend is a cop who is always around. Collin has a great friend too who can help watch out for you. I know it’s scary to go back to a place that holds so many bad memories for you, especially when there is somebody out there that knows you saw them that night. But Callie, if he hasn’t found you in ten years, I don’t think he will. It’s probably been forgotten by now. It was probably a gang thing that went down and now it’s over. I promise we will keep you safe. Please just come back with me so we can all get to know you. I know you have all summer free. So please just come back with me.” I believe him. I really do think he would do anything to make sure I was safe. I could be walking into a trap, but I really do think I want to meet them. The only problem is the one person Brody didn’t want to tell me about, Molly.

“I only have one question,” I say to him.

“You can ask me anything. I promise to always be one hundred percent honest with you,” he says, suddenly looking very hopeful. Here goes nothing.             

“What about Molly? What does she think of all of this? I’m pretty sure she’s not going to be welcoming me with open arms. What about her?” He lays his head back on the couch and takes a deep breath before looking back at me.

“Did Detective Clayton tell you what happened last week?” he asks.

“He said she was in a bad car accident, but was going to be okay. She had a lot of bruises and scratches and she needed some blood, that’s how they found out she wasn’t your sister.”

“She was in an accident. She did lose a lot of blood and she does have a lot of bruises and scratches. She also hit her head……hard. She is in a coma right now, but they see no reason for her not to wake up. I talked to my mom this morning and she said the doctor had already been in and they still were very confident she would wake up.”

Wow. I could have sworn Clay said she was fine. Why would he not tell me this? I have no idea what to think now. Do they only want to meet me because they think their daughter is going to die? Maybe this is a bad idea. Brody is just looking at me with pleading eyes now. He knows what I’m thinking. He may even think the same thing. “Why are you really here?” I ask him.

“I am really here because I was curious. I wanted to meet you. I planned on coming here and begging you to go back with me for my parents, but I never planned on actually wanting you to come with me. I want you to come with me. I don’t want to leave you here by yourself when you have a family you could be a part of. We want you to be a part of it. I love my sister. My parents love my sister, but that doesn’t mean we don’t want you in our lives too. This week has been hard on my mom. Between Molly being in a hospital bed in a coma and finding out about you, we are all about to lose it. I really think it would help my mom get through this if you would come with me. I know it’s going to be hard on you. I also know it’s going to be even harder on Molly when she wakes up. We can figure it all out though, just please come with me. I don’t want to leave you here. I want you with us. Please.”

I am in shock right now. I want to go. I really do, but I don’t know if I want to be around when this girl wakes up to find someone else taking her place.

“I’m going back to my hotel to give you some time to think,” he says, standing up to walk to the door. “If you want to wait the two weeks, I understand. I hope you don’t, but I do understand. If you want to go back with me, have your bags packed in the morning. I’ll stop by on my way out of town. I really hope when I leave tonight you start packing.  I’ll see you in the morning,” he says, opening the door to find someone on the other side.

Leighton is standing on the other side and I don’t think I have ever been so happy to see someone in my life. She is exactly who I need to talk to, she usually gives me really great advice. Maybe she will know what to tell someone who just found out their whole life has been a lie. After all, I have just found out.

“Well hello there handsome. Callie didn’t tell me she had plans tonight,” Leighton says, staring a little too long at Brody. Very few guys get her attention. It looks like one finally has though. I don’t really know why, but I really don’t like it.

“Come in Leighton, he was just leaving,” I say, grabbing her arm and pulling her inside.

Brody just smiles and turns back to me. “I’ll be back in the morning. Please be ready,” he says, before walking outside to his rental car.