Finding You: The Switched Series book one (4 page)

When you’re a baby, you don’t really remember hearing your parents voice for the first time, it’s just a voice you have always known. I guess I should be happy that I just got to do something most people never get to do. I got to hear my moms voice for the first time. I don’t think I will ever forget that moment. I have done my research on this family. I knew what they all looked like. I knew what they all did for a job. I did not know what they would sound like. Maybe if I had seen her first, I would have been more prepared. All I know is I just heard a voice I will never be able to forget.

I’m still a mess when we arrive at the airport. Brody just turns the car off and sits there while I try to find some way to stop the tears.              

“I’m sorry,” I say, wiping tears from my face.

“I’m the one that should be sorry. I shouldn’t have answered it on speaker. I didn’t think that one through. I am really sorry,” he says. “We need to go if we are going to make the plane”

“I’m ready,” I tell him opening my door. I’m just praying that I really am ready.

Chapter Five

The flight to Nashville wasn’t too bad. It was smooth and quiet. Thankfully Brody didn’t feel the need to make small talk. I guess he knew I was a ticking time bomb ready to lose my mind at any second.

Now we are sitting in the plane waiting to exit and I am about to have a full blown panic attack. Not because I am fixing to have to go meet the family I never wanted to meet, but because I am back in the same town with the man who killed my parents. I haven’t been back here in ten years and I’m beginning to think ten years still hasn’t been enough time.

I turn to look at Brody who is staring out the window. “I changed my mind. I don’t think I can do this. I can’t get off this plane,” I say.

“Too late now, we are here and you are going to do it. My family is not bad. They just want to get to know you. I convinced you to come with me and I can guarantee I’m the scariest one of all. That’s why I wouldn’t let them come. They’re too nice,” he says, finally turning around to look at me. His eyes widen, I guess he is finally realizing I am about to have a full on freak out right here on this plane. “Are you okay?” he asks.

“No, I am not okay. I don’t care if I have to go meet your family. I actually wish they were here now so I wouldn’t have to step off this plane. I can’t go into this city again. I am scared. What if he’s here just waiting for me? You don’t know what he looks like. I don’t even know what he looks like for sure. He could be on this plane. What if he’s on this plane?” I know I am talking a little too loud at this point, but I can’t help it. I never wanted to come back to this town and here I am.

“Hey, look at me. I ‘m here and I give you my word that you will be okay. I will protect you with my life. My mom would kill me if I let anything happen to you. All we have to do is get our luggage, get to my truck and make a quick stop at the hospital. After that we will head out of town and you never have to come back to this city again unless you want to. I promise you will be okay. Just stay close to me and remember to breathe. You’ve got this. I’m here if you need anything. We have to get up now,” he says, reaching for my hand.

I let him take my hand and lead me off of the plane. I am trying to think of anything and everything that will clear my mind of the two things that I don’t want to think about. I don’t want to think about running into those blue eyes that I will never forget. I definitely don’t want to think about that. I also don’t want to think about meeting this family for the first time. My family.

We go straight to the baggage claim. Brody grabs his suitcase and one of mine while I grab the rest of mine. We head out the doors and go straight to his truck.

“Just one stop at the hospital and then we can head straight home,” he says, putting the key in the ignition. I just nod my head and look out the window. I stare at all of the things I haven’t seen in years. I always loved this city. It’s so full of life. I’m not a big country music fan anymore, but there’s no denying this town is all about it. There’s always something to do around here.

We pull into Vanderbilt Hospital and find a space in the parking garage. We both get out and start to head inside the building. Brody pulls his phone out and opens up a text he got earlier with the room number we need to find to have the test done. Since it is so late, they are doing it as a favor to us.

After I have taken the second DNA test in two days, we are finally ready to head home. I didn’t really think this through and have no idea where I am supposed to stay tonight. They really wouldn’t expect me to stay with them, would they? They say this town has nothing, does that mean there’s no hotel available? I am about to ask Brody this when an older lady steps in front of us with her eyes directly on me.

“Grams, what are you doing here? I thought you were staying with Molly tonight,” he says to her. Oh no, this is his grandmother, so she is technically my grandmother. I definitely wasn’t expecting this.

“Molly is obviously asleep. She will be fine for a few minutes. Your mom said y’all would be coming by and I wanted to see you. Actually, I just wanted to meet her,” she says, looking back at me. “I’m JoAnne, but you can call me Grams. Everybody else does. If these boys give you any trouble, just let me know. I’ll take care of it,” she says to me.

This is all very strange to me and I have no idea what I should be saying right now. “Hi, I’m Callie. It’s nice to meet you,” I say to her not knowing what else we should be talking about right now.

“I know who you are,” she says, staring at me. “You are absolutely gorgeous and you have made us all very happy by coming to meet us. Now, come give me a hug. I’m a hugger, we all are, so get used to it,” she says, pulling me in for a tight hug. “Thank you for coming,” she whispers in my ear before letting me go. “Get her home, she looks tired,” she says to Brody, before turning around to head back down the hallway.

“I’m sorry about that. I should have known she would look for us if she knew we were stopping by. I didn’t mean for you to be bombarded like that,” he says, leading me back out of the hospital.

“It’s okay. She seems really nice. I liked her,” I say smiling. I really did like her. It’s funny how one person can make you feel like home. Maybe this wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

It’s a little over an hour and a half drive from the hospital to the Taylor’s home. I have no idea where we are right now. It’s getting darker and he keeps turning down a lot of back roads. I will never be able to find my way out of here if I need to make a quick getaway.

We finally pull up to a beautiful home sitting on a lot of land. It’s a smaller house sitting near the road. Behind the house is what I love. I can see a barn and a pond. There are two gardens and I can’t wait to see all of the animals that have to be hanging around here somewhere. “This is gorgeous,” I say, getting out of the truck.

“It’s been in our family for years,” Brody says, coming up beside me. “Are you ready to do this?” he asks smiling.

“As ready as I will ever be. Who all is going to be here tonight?” We haven’t really talked about what would happen once I showed up here. I have a ton of questions right now, the most important one being where they expect me to sleep.

“It will only be my mom, dad and brothers. You have nothing to worry about. I’m the mean one and you already love me, so they will be a piece of cake,” he says smirking at me. “Come on before they think you have changed your mind.” Once again, I really hope he’s right.

We walk into the house and I immediately start looking at all of the family pictures. I have all of mine hid in a box in a closet. I was so mad when I found the letter from my mom that I didn’t want them out anymore. This family is definitely close.

“Anybody home?” Brody yells, looking in the kitchen.

“In the living room,” somebody yells from the opposite direction.

It’s eerily quiet in this house. There is no sound, not even a television. Brody grabs my hand and pulls me behind him to the living room. Before we go in he turns around and smiles.              

“I promise this is going to be okay. They will love you,” he says. I try my best to smile back, although I’m pretty sure it’s more of a grimace. He pulls me into the room where four people are sitting like statues staring at a turned off television. What have I gotten myself into?

“We finally made it,” he says. They all stand up and turn to us at the same time. Four sets of eyes are all staring at me like I’m the greatest thing ever and I once again have no idea what to say.

“Hi, I’m Callie,” I say, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable.

“Hi Callie, I’m Jaxon,” the guy closest to me says coming toward me. He’s also very tall and very muscular. What is it with this family? Maybe I should be working out more. He surprises me by grabbing me and giving me a big hug. I like this one already. He lets me go only to be hugged again by another tall muscular boy.

“I’m Collin, it’s really nice to meet you,” he whispers in my ear. I’m not sure this one is going to let go. Suddenly it hits me who this is, my twin. This is not the first time we have been together. I guess technically we have spent nine months together already. I know I have tears falling down my face right now and there is no way I am going to be able to stop them. He finally lets me go and just stares at me for a while. “I’m sorry. We are pretty big huggers around here. I hope I didn’t scare you off,” he says, backing away from me.

“No, you’re fine. I met Grams earlier, she warned me that was a problem with this family,” I say smiling at him.

“She found y’all? I told her to stay away. I am so sorry.” I turn around to find what I will probably look like in another thirty years, my mom.

“It’s okay, I really liked her,” I say, having no idea what I’m supposed to say in this moment. It’s not every day you meet your mom for the first time.

“I’m Cindy and we are very glad you decided to come,” she says, coming over to give Brody a hug beside me. “Thank you for getting her here,” I hear her whisper to him.

“I’m Bo and we really appreciate you coming to meet us. I’m sure it was very shocking hearing about all of this. Thank you for trusting us enough to come meet us,” he says, walking over and giving me an awkward hug. “We have supper ready for y’all if you haven’t eaten anything yet. Just come on into the kitchen,” he says, walking out of the room.

After an awkward supper that mostly consisted of everybody talking over each other and staring at me, we are all finally sitting in the living room. I’m assuming they were just letting me eat and get my thoughts together before they decide to bombard me with questions. I am very grateful for that, but I am starting to feel very nervous about what is about to happen now. I sit down on one of the sofas in the living room. Brody comes to sit beside me while everyone else finds a comfortable spot to sit down. It’s really quiet for what seems like forever before Cindy finally decides to start the questions.             

“So, Callie, I would really love to hear about your parents. What were they like?” she asks, looking at me like she really wants to know about them. I had imagined a lot of questions they would ask me over the years. This was definitely not one of them.

“They were really wonderful parents. My dad was a cop, which I’m sure you already knew. My mom was a nurse. She actually quit working when I was born. She stayed home until I started high school,” I say, not really knowing what they want to know about them.

“Did you have any pets growing up?” Jaxon asks.

“No, my mom was allergic to everything. We tried a dog and a cat once, but neither worked out.”

“They sound exactly like Molly. She is also allergic to everything. At least that’s what she says. We all thought she just said it because she hated them. Maybe she really is allergic to them since your parents were really her parents. You know what I mean? Anyway, do you have any pets now?” It was Collin asking this time. He was looking at me like this was the most normal conversation to have in the world. The rest of the family are all looking at him like he has lost his mind by saying that. I am pretty sure Collin and I will get along just fine.

“No, I never really thought about getting one. Maybe I should though, maybe a dog,” I say, wondering why I never have gotten one before. A dog would probably make me feel a little safer, especially at night.

“Well, we have all kinds of animals around here. Consider them all yours while you are here. Horses, dogs, chickens, cattle, and probably a few other critters we don’t even know about,” Bo says, looking straight at me.

“Thanks, maybe I can get to know them all, except maybe the cattle. They have always looked a little intimidating to me. Horses on the other hand, what girl hasn’t dreamed of having her own?” I say, immediately regretting it. They are all looking at me with pity right now. The one thing I can’t stand for people to feel for me. I know we are all thinking the same thing. If I had grown up with the family I was born to, I would have had all of these things. Unfortunately life is definitely not always fair.

“If Molly is so allergic to all of these animals, why do you have all of them?” I ask, not understanding why they would have all of these if they make her sick.

“Like I said, we all thought she was faking. She’s never been close enough to any of them anyway. She really hates animals of all kinds. Stay away from the black lab at Brody’s. He hates girls, especially Molly. Just a warning,” Collin says, smiling at me again. I’m beginning to think these boys aren’t so close to Molly after all.

“Why would you have a horribly mean black dog if it doesn’t like Molly?” I ask Brody, trying to figure all of this Molly stuff out.

“I don’t, it’s my friend Ash’s dog. He’s had him forever and he has never liked her for some reason. Anyway, it’s getting late and I know you are tired. We should probably figure out sleeping arrangements,” Brody says, leaning over tapping my shoulder with his. That’s the one thing I have been meaning to talk to him about all day.

The room is completely silent. Apparently no one has thought about this or they have all just assumed the same thing. “You are welcome to stay with us if you are comfortable with that. We have plenty of room,” Cindy says, looking at me.

“Umm”

“Why don’t you stay at my place tonight until we get something figured out? I can crash here or with Jax and Collin,” Brody says, looking at his parents.

“What about Ash? You can’t honestly think it’s okay for her to stay there with him?” Collin practically yells at Brody.