No words leave my mouth. I feel like every ounce of air in me has been knocked out.
I furrow my eyebrows and look at her in utter disbelief. This isn't possible, it isn't possible.
I tilt my head and take a cautionary step forward. "Mom?"
Her mouth breaks into a wide smile, her eyes look to have relief in them as she straightens up. "Hey, Allie Bear," she says softly. "Can I," she glances over to Asher, who's still standing by the door, "Can I come in?"
Asher looks over to me, as if asking what to do. Without an answer, mom starts to take a step but I immediately raise my hand out to signal for her to stop. "No... no you can't," I utter out the words.
She looks at me with confusion and a bit of hurt. "I don't understand, I-"
"What are you doing here," I cut her off, trying my best to stay strong. To not show any sign of weakness.
"Well, I... I came up to see you and... your father said you'd moved out and that you'd been living with your boyfriend. So, I did some digging, found out he lived here, and came to find you," she said anxiously.
"Alright, well you've seen me, you can go now," I say shortly.
She looks at me with sorrow filled eyes. "C'mon baby, can't we just talk about this. Just come back to Texas with me, you can enroll in school there, I think you'll like it down there."
I look at her dumbfounded. "So let me get this straight, you leave me when I'm just nine years old with an abusive man and don't talk to me for eight years, and now I'm supposed to just go back to Texas with you? I don't even know you."
She tilts her head. "Abusive? No, no your father was always just very grumpy but never.."
I suddenly pull my shirt up and her eyes scan down to all the scars on my torso. A gasp leaves her lips and her hand flies up to cover her mouth.
"Not abusive my ass, now leave," I growl.
"Allie I-" she shakes her head. "We'll discuss that later but.. I'm not just going to leave you here with these... strangers."
My eyes glance over to Asher. He's standing there by the door, mouth slightly open, his eyes trained on the floor. He looks up at me, his eyes glossed over. He shrugs slightly, shaking his head. I think my heart just broke a little more than it already has.
"Mom..." I say lowly, threateningly. "These people are not just strangers. In fact, they've been more like a family to me than you and Dad have ever been. I love him," I point to Asher, tears swelling up in my eyes. "I love him. And I love these people. And you're not going to take them away from me just because you all of a sudden decided to be a mom after eight fucking years. Now.... leave."
She's still standing in the doorway, mouth agape. She suddenly crosses her arms and looks at me scoldingly. "You're still a kid, you don't have a say in this matter."
I take slow steps forward as a few stray tears fall down my cheeks. "You may have forgotten, but my birthday is in three days. In three days, I'll be eighteen. An adult. So get the fuck out. And never come near me again."
Her jaw is practically on the floor now, and she looks furious. "Well, I..."
"I think you need to leave," Asher jumps in.
She looks up at Asher in a disgusted way. But he just takes a step towards her, and glares down at her. "Leave. Or I'll call the police."
She makes an exasperated sound, but nonetheless starts stepping backwards. As the door closes slowly, her eyes stay on me, until it's fully shut, and I can't see her anymore.
My eyes fall to the floor as I let out breaths of disbelief. I hear something suddenly, so I slowly turn around. Just now do I realise that the entire family was here when that happened.
Luke is sitting on the couch, mouth open. Joann is standing in the middle of the room with a compassionate look on her face, like she almost feels my pain. Even Andrew is standing by the hall, looking somewhat sorry.
It's dead quiet, no one speaks. Everyone barely even breathes. But then, Joann takes a step towards me, and slowly opens her arms out. "Oh, darling, come here," she whispers.
And that's all it takes for me to break. I run up and crash right into her arms. Joann makes me feel everything I've missed from a mother. She holds me tightly, and strokes my hair while whispering in my ear that it's okay, that's she's here. Right now, I just need a true mom. Joann is that for me.
"I'm sorry, I didn't even ask if you even wanted me to live here," I cry, pulling away to look at her face.
"Sweetie, of course we do. We don't want you to leave, we all want you here," she smiles softly, stroking my tears away.
She holds me for a little while longer, and then suggests I go rest. Asher takes me up to our room and lays down with me, holding me tightly under the blankets. "I'm so proud of you," he whispers to me.
I turn around and look at him with teary eyes. "I'm sorry I've brought all this into your life," I cry softly.
He strokes my cheeks with his thumbs. "Baby, you're the best thing that's ever happened to me. Whatever you're dealing with, I am too."
I smile softly and close my eyes to try to get some rest.
****************
A knock on the door wakes both Asher and I up. Luke comes barging into the room and then immediately covers his eyes dramatically. "Woah, woah, sorry lovebirds, didn't mean to interrupt anything," he laughs.
Asher groans, rubbing his eyes with one hand, his other hand is draped over me. "Shut up, Luke, what do you want?"
"Just wanted to let you guys know that we're about to have breakfast if you wanna come," he chuckles, walking back out.
Asher squints his eyes and checks his phone. "Shit, it's morning, we slept all night."
I sit up slightly, rubbing my eyes. "Really?"
"Yeah." Asher slumps back down beside me and pulls me closer to him. "Too tired, let's just stay here."
I laugh and snuggle closer into his chest. "No, we don't need to be rude, let's go."
With a little while of convincing we both finally get up and head downstairs. In the dining room, Andrew is already sitting at the table fluffing out a napkin, and Joann and Luke are sitting plates and food on the table.
"Hi, lovelies, food's ready," Joann smiles brightly, sitting down with Luke.
I smile and take a seat at the table next to Asher, he sits pretty close to me. This is pretty unusual. In my time so far here I've never seen them have a meal together. It's nice though, I've never had a family dinner, let alone a breakfast.
Everyone gets their food and we all begin eating. "Allie.." Joann says. I snap my head up and see everyone but Asher looking at me. Asher's too indulged in his food, keeping one of his hands on my thigh rubbing comforting circles into it with his thumb. "Allie, we'd like to talk to you."
My heart flips in anticipation as I sit my fork down. "Okay," I say timidly. She smiles comfortingly at me and then looks to Andrew.
"Well, we just want to say that.. with your mother having left and you not feeling comfortable with her, and then your dad being... the way he is," she says cautiously. "Well... we know you're already living here and we just..."
"We just wanted to say that you are more than welcome to stay permanently," Andrew finishes for her. "We... well I mean we certainly love your company and we've never seen Asher happier. If you are happy here, then, just live here permanently."
My mouth hangs open as I gape at them. They're inviting me into their home, to stay, what, forever?
I look over at Asher and he just grins at me with a mouthful of food. I smile, and then look at Luke, at his beaming face, and then at the couple in front of me.
I stand up, surprising everyone. "I can't... I can't thank you enough," I say tearily. "You guys are the closest thing I've ever come to a real family."
Joann smiles and gets up, walking around the table to me and then wrapping her arms around me. "Well, you're part of this family now."
I smile into her hair. My eyes scan down to Asher, and I see his eyes gleaming and his grin bright. My life is about a million times better all thanks to Asher.