Lynx Book 2: A Callie Torres Story

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"Your birthday is coming up baby," Jada said quietly as she snuggled into Callie's chest.

"Yeah... I'm old."

Jada looked over her shoulder at her wife. The excitement in Callie's face from looking at hotels in Paris was gone immediately when Jada brought up Callie's birthday.

Sofia was ready for bed as soon as the movie was over and Arizona and her fiancée headed home as well. That left Callie and Jada some alone time to cuddle together in the chair and talk about their upcoming planned vacations.

"You sound upset Calliope," Jada stated, using her wife's full name. They both knew that when the full name came out, the other meant business.

"I've just never been one for birthdays babe."

Jada turned around and dropped her legs over the armrest of the chair so she could lean her head against Callie's shoulder.

"I want to celebrate you Calliope. Because that's the day the love of my life was born and I can't thank the universe and your parents enough for creating you and bringing you to me."

Jada quickly started laughing followed by Callie. "That was very romantic," Jada mocked of herself.

"Very romantic," Callie teased. "Now my brain is stuck on hard images of my parents screwing."

Jada snickered. "I'm really not sorry but I'll say I'm sorry."

Callie managed a quick and small smile before her expression turned blank once again.

"You okay baby?" Jada asked, immediately picking up on her wife's demeanor.

"Yeah... birthdays just remind me of my parents. And when they disowned me on my 23rd birthday."

"I'm sorry baby," Jada said softly. "Will you give me one year to go all out for your birthday? Let me try to change your opinion on your birthday?"

"Jaelynn, I-"

"And if it doesn't work, then next year we can just hangout and maybe get dinner or something."

"Okay," Callie said glumly.

Jada leaned her forehead against Callie's and placed her left hand on Callie's cheek. "Is there something else bothering you baby?"

Callie took a deep breath. "I talked to my parents today," she began.

Jada jumped the gun a little too fast. "That's great!"

Her wife's facial expression told her that it was in fact, not great. Not even close.

"My mom found out she has breast cancer today," Callie let out and Jada immediately went into comfort mode to hold Callie. "And I-I don't know what to feel or what to think," she admitted softly.

"What do you mean?"

"I really don't know," Callie explained honestly. "My mom has missed so much of my life because of her stupid fantasy that she was going to change me and get me to fall in love and marry a man. I don't know if I can ever forgive her for what she did to me. Part of me... is not even upset. And that's sick!"

"Calliope," Jada began softly. "You are not sick. Your mom treated you so horribly for years. The woman she is now is not your mom. I understand how you're feeling and it's okay to be feeling like that."

"I just feel like I'm a psychopath for thinking like that."

"No you are not. You've pushed your mom so far out of your life, understandably, and you don't feel like you know her. And that's okay Calliope."

"I don't know what to do with Sofia," Callie continued. Lucia Torres had yet to meet her granddaughter. "They said it's in stage three already. I don't know if I want to let Sofia get attached to her and then her suddenly pass."

"And we don't need to decide that right now. Let's take some time to process first."

"And my dad..." Callie trailed off and began to cry.

"What happened Calliope?"

"His business is going bankrupt because of a bad investment someone made in his name. The government is investigating him and now my parents can't pay my mom's medical bills. My mom wants me to reallocate my grandparents trust fund they left to me, to them, and I'm not going to do that."

She took a deep breath. "That money is for our little family. It's going to pay for Sofia's first car, her education, and it's going to be there to help her through life. Now, I'm not saying we're going to hand her everything. She's going to have to get a job and she's going to have to work for things. But in the event she ever needs help, it's there. And if we decide to adopt again, it's for you and your mom and your family. You and your mom have been absolutely wonderful to me. I can never repay either of you, and especially your mom for how she welcomed me to the family."

"My parents will figure it out. My dad has to have some investment that he can cash in. The money was left to me, not to them and not to Aria. You, Sofia, and your mom are more my family then my biological family."

Hearing Callie speak so fondly of her family made Jada's heart melt. Michelle had wasted no time in welcoming a third daughter to the family. And Callie had previously said that Michelle felt more like her mom than her own mom.

"I'm proud of you Callie."

"You're proud of me?" Callie asked, very confused at the statement that had just come from her wife's mouth.

"For standing up for yourself and for our family," Jada finished. "You have such a big heart and there's something inside you that can't stop you from helping others. I've met your mom and I wouldn't be surprised if she was forcing your dad to fake the whole bankruptcy thing. I'm proud of you for standing up to her."

"We have each other, we have Sofia, and we have my mom and sister," Jada added. "And you and Sof are just as much part of our family as we are. We've got your back baby, don't ever doubt that."

"Thank you," Callie answered softly. "I just feel so overwhelmed. Everything just happened at once I feel lost."

"Have you talked to Aria at all lately?"

Callie shook her head. "Not since we went to visit."

Jada took Callie's hand in hers. "You are amazing. Sofia and I are so lucky to have you. You are the love of my life and I don't think I would be able to breathe without you, I am so, so in love with you. I want to plan something special for your birthday. Because we are going to turn that into a day all of us look forward too every year. It's going to be a day about our family."

"Thank you Jaelynn."

Happy New Years everyone! Big plans coming for 2023!