The Best Years

27

"Momma! Daddy!" Chloe squealed excitedly as she ran towards them after exiting the front door of her school.

"Hi, bug!" Cal said, lifting her up on to his side and pulling her against his chest.

"What's wrong?" She asked, immediately looking from Calum's face to Holland's as she approached the car they stood just outside of. She had been perceptive for as long as they had known her and as her big brown eyes searched Calum's for answers he wished she were anything but.

"Where's Aunt Lexi? I have gymnastics." She said slowly.

"Not today, munchkin. We're gonna go home and have a movie night. We can watch whatever you want."

"Anything?" She questioned and Calum nodded, knowing that the glimmer in her eyes meant they were surely in for some princess movie he had never envisioned himself sitting through in a million years. He would suck it up and do it for Chloe though, they had to make the most of the time they had with her, every night they spent with her now had the potential to be their last and that was incredibly frightening for both he and Holland.

Their nights passed in panicked bursts, each feeling more ominous that the next. They had put off telling Chloe until their hand was forced. The shrill sound of Holland's phone, five days after their meeting with Elise and only two days before Calum's family was set to arrive, ruined the facade and shattered the glass house they had built themselves inside. They'd played pretend as long as was possible and now they faced a difficult conversation with Chloe.

Calum stood by the nursery door, leaning against the doorjamb as he waited for Holland to settle Knox into his crib. She stood over him a moment, watching his chest rise and fall with her hands clutching the wooden framing. Finally she turned to him, her hand sliding easily into his, the perfect fit, as they slowly trudged towards Chloe's bedroom.

The walls were still a sunshine yellow, even though their moods and expressions had soured to a stormy grey. 

"Hey Sissy." Calum said softly, the first one to enter the room, Holland's hand still held tightly in his as he pulled her after him and they sat on the edge of the bed.

"Hi." Chloe said, her voice small as she gingerly placed the dolls she had been playing with down and looked to her parents expectantly.

"Mumma and I just want to talk to you a minute okay?"

Chloe nodded and the confusion on her face caused him to pause, not even sure if he could continue.

"We went by and saw Mrs. Elise last week. We wanted to talk to her about you."

"Am I going to have to go back?" Chloe asked, her bottom lip quivering and fear in her eyes as she looked up at the two people she had come to trust more than anyone else in the entire world. "Pl-please d-don't m-make me go ba-back." She stuttered out, her breathing was escalated, short bursts of heavy air exiting her lips as she began to downsprial into a blind panic.

"No. No." Calum said, reaching forward quickly and pulling her into his lap. Her tears cascaded down her face and splashed onto his t-shirt. The wet patches darkened the soft grey fabric to an almost black hue. "You're not going back there, baby." He promised her as he rubbed soft circles into her back and kissed the top of her head. His eyes were desperate as he shot Holls a pleading look, begging her to help him.

"You know we love you, Chloe." Holland said, drawing the little girl's attention and she turned to look at Holland, her head still resting on Calum's shoulder as she wiped her hand across her face and blinked back tears that hadn't managed to escape. The little girl nodded, her hands clinging tighter to the sleeves of Calum's shirt.

"Well, it turns out that there is someone else out there who wants to love you too." Holland said after a moment.

Chloe looked up confused.

"There's a lady named Mrs. Linda. She was your other daddy's aunt and she didn't know about you until a few weeks ago and she wants to meet you."

"I don't want to." Chloe said simply and Holland looked to Cal who simply closed his eyes and shook his head, needing a moment to gather himself before speaking.

"It's not up to us munchkin or you wouldn't be leaving us for a minute, okay?" Calum told her. "Mum and I are going to help you pack your fancy new suitcase you picked out and tomorrow morning Mrs. Elise is going to come get you and take you to meet Mrs. Linda. You're gonna stay with her for one week, just seven sleeps and then you're going to come right back to us. Okay?"

"Then I never have to go back?"

"..uh.." Calum shot Holland another look, pleading with her to help him find some way to promise Chloe that everything would be okay when he wasn't so sure of that himself. There was a very real possibility that the state, known widely to value putting children with relatives no matter how distant, would side with this obscure aunt.

"Come here." Holland said softly to Chloe, holding out her arms and allowing the little girl to cuddle up against her chest. "You know we love you, right?"

Chloe nodded and her hand extended until she could lay it against Calum's forearm, holding both of her parents together, in more ways than one.

*

The night was a thief, robbing them of time they didn't have. What once had felt like a commodity suddenly felt scarce. The minutes turned to hours as the clock ticked on, a steady reminder that their future, Chloe's future, was full of uncertainty.

Holland nor Calum got any sleep that night.

As she fed Knox in the wee hours of the morning Holland wondered how her life had reached this point. She'd spent the majority of her life with no desire for children and now the very idea even of Chloe no longer being a part of her life shook her to her core.

She was a big believer in Karma, but she could think of nothing that she nor Calum had done to deserve this, certainly nothing for Chloe to deserve it.

The dawn of a new day brought with it a sinking feeling of dread. Calum didn't venture far from her side as the impending time of Elise's arrival neared. They didn't want to let Chloe leave any more than she wanted to go.

"Does she still have to leave if we let her sleep?" Calum questioned pitifully.

"The way things have gone lately? They'd probably send someone to march through the front door and snatch her from her bed." Holland said somberly, her eyes a mixture of sadness and pain.

"You're not wrong." Calum agreed, sighing and turning towards Chloe's bedroom. His feet seemed to weigh tons, every step down the hallway painful and heavy as the sadness of what was happening settled on his chest.

He cracked the door and moved quietly towards the sleeping girl he adored. "Hey, sissy, good morning! Time to wake up."

Chloe rolled away in her sleep, her eyes blinking but not opening.

"C'mon bug, time to get up." He said quietly, reaching out to run his hand across her back.

She rolled back to face him, her sad eyes connecting with his as her face immediately fell into a frown.

"I don't want to go." She said simply and Calum heard the sound of both he and Holland's hearts breaking.

An: So Chloe is off to meet Aunt Linda. What do you think her estranged Aunt is like?

Calum's parents are about to be in town to finally meet Knox! How will that go?

How will Calum and Holland handle life without their girl for a week?

Let me know your guesses! You guys comments have already changed my original plot more than once and I'm excited for how this is going to wrap up! Only a few more chapters until this trilogy comes to a conclusion!

As always I've got another story in the works that's pretty different from my usual plots and I can't wait to share "Who do you Love?" with you starting in a few weeks! I'll let you know when the preview is up!

ILY,

Sav