The Truth ✔

Chapter 52 ~

Kaleb's POV

It's been a little over three years since Layla killed her stepfather. At first, Layla was charged with second-degree murder. While the charges were scary, Layla was more than willing to go to jail if it meant to save her and our baby from Scott. Layla's case had gone nationwide. You never what a person is really hiding.  So many people failed to protect Layla.  Her parents, teachers, neighbors, friends.   Here was a sixteen-year-old girl trying to basically survive the world on her own. It still baffles everyone what she went through, but I've learned something from it. I always saw her as broken and fragile, but I wasn't completely right about that. You see, yes, Layla was broken. She was like a glass mirror. The weight of her world caused her to shatter, but she wasn't fragile. She turned those broken pieces into something much stronger. So many times she could have just given up, but she didn't. Even when she did want to give up, something always kept her going. What looked like a weakness was actually a strength.

It was confirmed that Adam is Layla's biological father. He still holds on to so much grief over the time he missed with Layla. He blames himself for what happened, but the truth is there was nothing he could have done to stop anything that happened. Every now and then he lets the what if's get to him. That's the thing with life though, we can't change the past but we can try and make a better future and that is exactly what he did.

Adam and my dad were Layla's attorneys for her trial. So many people came to Layla's defense from her neighbor, Eve, to her nurse at the hospital that day. Out of all the people who testified in Layla's defense, two surprise witnesses are what shocked everyone the most, James Davis, the man who Layla thought was her dad, and Austin Walker, her stepbrother. By the time both of them were through with their testaments, there wasn't a dry eye in the courtroom. Layla had no clue they were going to speak on her behalf. No one did actually. It turns out that there had been four officers at the hospital that day. Two had escorted our family out of the hospital and the other two had come to get me out of Layla's room. None of them were real. The plan was for them to actually kidnap Layla and bring her back to Derrick so they could be married. Not only did we find this out during Layla's trial, but James and Austin told the court everything they knew about Layla's life. For the first time ever, the truth of it all was revealed.

In the end, James wanted to try and make up what he did to Layla even if it was just a tiny bit. As for Austin, he really did see Layla as his blood sister. He had always loved her like a little sister but his dad's agenda had taken over him. His testimony on her behalf was one of the biggest factors in her case.

All charges on Layla were dropped as well as the charges on me and my parents. After hearing everything that Layla had endured in her life, the judge ruled it as self-defense and a mental breakdown. However, Layla was ordered to talk to a therapist three times a week for a year. With so much mental damage that was done to her and after killing her stepfather, no one was sure if she would ever be the same. For a while things were really bad, she ended up having to be hospitalized and put on suicide watch twice. No one thought we would get back the Layla we all loved and once knew.

Then she gave birth to Gavin. It was like the dark cloud around her vanished and we all saw a side of Layla that none of us had seen. She wasn't broken anymore, she wasn't fragile, she wasn't timid. She no longer flinched when people raise a hand near her. Loud sounds didn't scare her. She didn't spend the nights crying her eyes out until there were no tears left to fall.

She transformed into something so beautiful. She was strong, brave, and courageous. She could take on the whole world alone all because of our little baby boy, Gavin, but she didn't. She no longer needed to face the world alone because she had family and friends that were there to help her. She even decided to give Austin a chance at being her brother again. Turns out he wasn't a bad guy after all. He was just doing what he was taught was right. Austin carries a lot of regrets around with him because he feels like he should have done something sooner, but Layla fully forgave him and he's a part of our family now too.

"Hey Gav, where's mommy? I ask ou two and half-year-old. "We have a surprise for her!"

"Mommy is with Lacey," he jumps up and down with excitement. "Mommy! Mommy! We have prise for you."

Layla walks out of our room carrying our one-year-old daughter. "Gavin, you have a surprise for me? It's not a dirty pull-up, is it?" She questions him while eyeing me suspiciously.

"No Mommy!" he pouts.

She laughs. It reminds me of the first time I heard her laugh. It was the night she pretended to be hurt by something Connor said. "What is my surprise then?"

Gavin looks at me with panic in his eyes, "I not know mommy prise."

I can't help but chuckle at my son, as I pick him up. "How about we go for a drive?"

"A drive?" Layla questions. "What about my surprise?"

"Come on babe," I say kissing her forehead.

"Fine," she sighs and rolls her eyes playfully.

We place Lacey and Gavin in their car seats before I start driving to an unknown destination for Layla. "Kaleb, why are we in our parents' neighborhood? Is there something planned at one of their houses?"

"You'll see," I hum as we pass Layla's dad's house first.  They bought a house in my parents; neighborhood the moment the DNA test came back as a positive match for Adam being Layla's father.  We then passed my parents' house and Layla has a very confused look on her face.

"Kaleb, where are we going? You passed both of our parent's houses."

"I know," I chuckle as I pull into a driveway of a house that is on the same street as my parents.

"Whose house is this, Kaleb?" I just smiled at her and hand her a set of keys. Her eyes widen as shock takes over. "Y-you bought us a h-house?"

"Yeah, I did."

"And it's in our parents' neighborhood like I wanted?"

"Yep!"

She leans over the seat and kisses me before getting Gavin out while I get Lacey out. As I open the front door to our new home, Layla looks so excited. "Hun, how many bedrooms?"

"Four. It's bigger than our little two-bedroom apartment. The kids both get a room and there is an extra room so I can have my game room." I say proudly.

A strange look takes over Layla's face as she starts to bite her lower lip with her teeth, "About that..." she trails off.

"About what?" I ask suspiciously

"Ummmm I may have a surprise too."

"Yay," Gavin jumps up and down in excitement. "More prise!"

"Layla, what surprise?"

"She laughs nervously, "I'm pregnant."

"You're pregnant?" She nods her head with a huge grin. "You're pregnant! We're having another baby." I grab her and spin her around, we're having another baby!!! I love you so much, Layla."

"I love you too, Kaleb."

The End

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A/N:  This is the end.  I hope you enjoyed it.  I will eventually go back and edit it, but not anytime soon.  Anyhoo, if you enjoyed this story, don't forget to check out my other ones.  I write teen fiction/ young adult so my other stories are all in the same genre as this one.   Hopefully... Hopefully, my newest story, Uncontrollables, will start being posted within a month's time.  I am wanting to prewrite a few chapters so I can have an actual update schedule for it.

Again, thank you, thank you, thank you for reading The Truth!  Every read, vote and comment means a lot to me.  I love all of you and I am very sorry for the odd updating schedule I had with this story.

Also, if you are looking for a great community to join, check out my community CLNighters !  We're crazy but a great group of people.  Anyways, I love you all and don't forget to check out my other stories.