Chapter Fifty-One
Georgia’s POV
“Mommy,” Rayne says as she tugs on the bottom of my shirt. I stare down into her eyes as she smiles up at me.
“What is it sweetie?” I ask her as I stroke her soft brown hair that she has pulled back in a green ribbon. She is wearing a pair of jeans and matching green shirt. She looks so cute and sweet. I smile at her softly.
“Its daddy and me day!” she says very happily and I smile at her stroking the side of her head.
“I know sweetheart,” I tell her as I shake my head lightly.
“Sweetie, are you ready to go?” Leo calls as he enters the room. He runs a hand through his hair while spinning the keys around his finger.
“Yeah daddy,” she says as she throws her arms around my waist. “I love you mommy,” she says and I hug her back smiling.
“I love you too, sweetie,” I say as I kiss her fore head.
“Go put on your shoes,” Leo tells her and she nods scurrying off. Leo walks over to me and wrapping his arms around my waist. “Sorry we have leave so early, it’s a long drive,” he says as he reaches up and strokes my cheek softly. I stare up into his amazing eyes, that are still the same shade of green that they were years ago. I remember meeting Leo and falling in love. From the moment we met it was sparks like on the fourth of July. I was this damaged, scared girl, with trust issues, and even depression. Leo was my super hero. He is just so kind, sweet, warm hearted and funny. He always knew to cheer me up and bring a smile to my face.
I know people talk about love fading as they grow old, but Leo’s and my love is just as strong today as it was twenty-three years ago. He makes me feel young and these past few months have been a struggle for us, but we push through it all. The struggles make our love stronger. The secret to lasting for ever and true love is when times get tough and you struggle, your love only continues to grow. When we first got together life was hard and I was something he wasn’t use to. I was troubled and depressed and quiet, he was outgoing, and charming. No one ever dreamed we would be together or last, but we did. Every time I look in his eyes I am taken back.
Leaning forward I kiss him; his kisses can still manage to get to me after all of these years. “Have fun with Rayne, she needs a day that she doesn’t have to think about Reece’s problem,” I say gently as I rest my head in his neck and he rubs my back.
“Will you be ok though?” Leo asks me and I force a smile and sigh.
“I’ll be fine,” I whisper into his neck. Truth is I’m far from fine, every time I watch any of them leave now I feel fear for the unexpected things that could happen and it eats me from the inside. I still remember that day all too well. It flashes in my head like a nightmare on replay. Any time I have to send my kids to school all I can think about is that day. That phone call and that fear, a fear I would not wish on my own enemy. A pain so bad, thinking that you may have to burry your child. A child you raised, treated when he was sick, loved through it all, a mother’s love for her child cannot be matched, so a mother’s pain for losing one is worse. It’s almost as bad as watching you child suffer and have problems he never did before.
The day he got shoot did not only take away his sight, it affected this family greatly and hurt us all a lot. Are family has never been perfect, but now we are all walk around Reece carefully, we don’t want him to suffer more than he already has. We all try stay happy and upbeat because being sad won’t change a thing and being sad only makes life worse. I don’t want Reece to see how much pain I am seeing him suffering with this. How much I wish that I could easily give him his sight back again. I would love to see him racing around the track again and his smiling face when he crosses the finish line first. I wish I could see him on the baseball diamond, his face in concentration as he draws up his knee and sends the ball flying to home plate and into the catcher’s hand. I would give anything to see him on Friday night under the bright stadium lights as the clock ticks down and it’s all on him. He releases a perfect pass and scores a touchdown winning the game. I would give anything to see this happen again. Not because I am one of those parents who pushes their child, but because I know how much it means to him. His face lights up very bright and he was always so happen. That’s a look I’ve haven’t seen since the accident, except the times he with Payton.
Payton coming into our lives was a miracle. I never thought we could be so lucky, but we are, very, very lucky to have her in my life. I believe that she was a gift to Reece from God, because if it wasn’t for her I have no clue how he would have ever made it through this. I don’t even know how are family would have survived without her. When Reece is with her, now a days, her face shows with pure adoration.
“I love you honey,” Leo says as he presses his lips against my forehead.
“I love you too,” I sigh with a sigh and he smiles at me before giving me a soft hug and walks away going to his Rayne.
A sigh escapes my lips as I slump against the counter. The house is silent and I am home alone. Juliet went to a friend, Conner is doing something for college and Reece is probably with Payton. I take a deep breath attempting to keep myself calm.
The phone ringing breaks the long lasting silence and I quickly answer it with a hello.
“Hello, I’m calling regarding the request of an appointment with Doctor Martin. Is this Georgia Collins?” a lady’s voice says through the phone.
“Hi, yes this is Georgia Collins,” I confirm as I stand up a little more alert.
“Hi, I wanted to form we have an opening tomorrow morning and if you would like you can bring your son in and Doctor Martin will take a look at him run some tests and see what he can come up with. So will eight in the morning be okay with you?” she asks me and I am astounded we can by now.
“Yes, yes that’s fine! We will be there,” I say to her very quickly! All I can think is how happy I am.
“Alright then, we will see you then. Have a nice day,” the lady says in a sweet tone.
“Thank you so very much! You too!” I say quickly smiling as hope feels me.
As soon as I hang up I dial Reece’s number waiting as it rings through. “Hello,” his voice says as he answers my call.
“Hey, Reece, honey where are you?” I ask a little bit worried about where he is and why he’s not home. I figured it was cause he with Payton, but I am still a little worried.
“At the hospital, Payton’s sister woke up,” he says and I scrunch my face in fear. Why is Payton’s sister in the hospital? Since when does she have a sister? I am so confused.
“I would ask for you to elaborate on what you are talking about, because I don’t know why her sister would have not been awake. But if Payton wanted me to know she’d tell me and I respect that. Is she at least dealing with what is going on okay?” I say understanding that she probably didn’t tell me for a reason and I respect that. I know I wouldn’t want someone prying into my life.
“She’s fine mom, she’s really happy. But she is also tired so we are going leave soon so she can take a nap before returning to the hospital,” Reece tells me. I am glad to hear she is okay and I am sure she is plum wore out.
“That’s so good! Are you guys coming back here?”I ask wondering when the silence in the house may dissipate.
“Yeah I think so. Is there any certain reason you called?” He asks me and I can tell he’s not being rude, he is just wanting to know.
“Oh yes, yes there is! I talked to the eye sight doctor today,” I tell him with a bright smile as I balance the phone between my ear and shoulder while I pour my cup of coffee.
“You did? And?” he asks me with a slight excitement in his voice.
“You have an appointment there bright and early tomorrow morning,” I let him know with a smile and take a sip of my coffee.
“Really?!” he asks in a tone of shock, as if he doesn’t believe me.
“Yes, so you will have to miss a day of school,” I add as I carry my coffee into the sitting room and placing it gently on the table by the fire.
“Oh alright, thanks for letting me know,” he says and I can tell by the change in his voice he is thinking.
“You’re welcome son! I’ll see you soon,” I reply and sit down on the couch.
“Yeah see you soon,” he answers me.
“I love you,” I say with a smile because I never want him to forget I love him.
“I love you too mom,” he replies to me and I smile as the line falls dead and I sit the phone aside.
As I sit on the couch I pick up a book and begin to read it from where I left off. I am attempting to keep my mind off of everything that is happening now and escape into the world of the book! Hours go by and I am brought slightly from my world by the sound of the front door opening. Reece must be home, I think as I glance over at them gleaming fire. I hear the light sound of footsteps entering the room as I read the next sentence in my book. The footsteps are too soft to be Reece’s so I am guessing it’s Payton.
“Hey,” Payton’s soft voice says as she walks around and sits on the couch. I can see her shyness showing.
I look up from the page I am reading and smile at Payton gently. “Hi there Payton,” I say casually with sweetness hoping to make her more comfortable.
“Hey,” she says again sounding mush more comfortable. I can see how tired she is. Her eyes have bags under them and they are watery from being tired. Her brown hair is messing and her makeup is smeared.
“Where is everyone?” she asks me with a tired voice and I feel so sorry for her. Whatever she was going through, I know it must have been hard.
“Leo took Rayne to go and have a father daughter day; I think they may have head to a amusement park or something. Juliet spent the night with one of her friends and as for Conner, I think he is doing something college related. I’m guessing Reece is here though,” I tell her raising my eyebrow, joking of course because I know he is here.
She laughs tiredly and nods her head. “Yeah, he’s showering,” she says.
“So what brings you here? Want have some girl talk? Complain to me about my son? He may be my son, but if he did anything to you I would have to hurt him,” I say being very serious. I love my son to death and I hurt for him every day, but Payton is a sweet, kind girl and if he ever hurts her I will punish him.
“No, no!” she says while waving her arms. “He didn’t do anything,” she tells me and allows her laughter to die down. “I just needed to talk to you about some stuff,” she finishes and her tone is a hundred percent serious.
“Okay sweetie, we can talk about whatever it is,” I tell her becoming more serious as I see the sad look on her face that tells me she wants to talk, or more like needs to talk. I can sense that she needs to get some things off of her chest. I fold the page of my book knowing I can finish it later and sit it onto the table.
“Can I ask you a question?” she says taking a deep breath.
“Sure, sweetie, ask away,” I tell her moving my hand to show her that she can talk.
“Why are you so nice to me? I mean not just me, but everyone. From the first moment we met you have been so sweet and kind to me. You didn’t even know me that well and gave me your car to use. Nobody I know is as happy and kind as you,” she asks me with confusion which I can understand. I feel like sometimes people need kindness. You never know you; you being nice to someone could make a difference.
“Has Reece told you anything about my past?” I ask in shock and release a sigh as I mess with my hair, a nervous habit Reece inherited from me.
“No, not really,” she tells me shaking her head.
I take a breather deciding to reveal to her my haunting past. “When I was 5 my mother died from breast cancer. After that my father and I barely got by living in a trailer park. Over a short amount of time after her death he changed and wouldn’t even look at me. Then, he began to drink; he would drink so much until he passes out. He lost his job when I was six and everything began to fall apart. I remember some nights I went to sleep hunger and had not eaten the whole day before. There was this really nice old lady next door who would see me all hunger and give me some soup or a sandwich. A lot of the times I thank her for me living. Eventually one night my father drank all his pain away. I found him on the couch holding a picture of my mom. I tried to wake him because I was cold, but as I touched him to shake him I realize how abnormal his temperature was. To this day I still remember it all to well. When I was not able to wake him I rushed out the trailer and to the one next down. With my little six year old hands I banged onto the old lady’s door. Fear was seeping into every part of my body and tears were clouding my eyes. Finally the door flew open and when she seen me she wrapped me into her arms asking what was wrong. I told her that daddy would not wake up and she rushed over to the trailer and then called 911. I was later told he died from alcohol poisoning. Never once did I ever blame him for anything that went wrong. He couldn’t help it. He missed my mom,” I tell her as I tell her all of this. The images past through my eyes, I see my mom funeral and all the back. I remember I clung to a stuff animal she gave me. The images of my father growing cold towards me and drinking. I see the day that I went to wake him and he wouldn’t wake. I kept praying that he would just wake up soon, but he never did. I still remember the way his body was laid across the couch and how pale he was. I fight back the tears that are begging to break free. As I look at Payton I see she has tears streaming down her cheeks.
“I’m sorry,” she whispers lightly and I just shrug it off running my hand once again through my hair.
“It’s alright. I got put in faster care and bounced from house to house. Most of the time the conditions were poor and I never had a lot of money. When I turned sixteen I was adopted along with a boy named Asher. The family was a nice middle class family, who were unable to have children. They both knew that younger kids got adopted before older kids so they wanted to make a difference in the older kid’s lives so they adopted me and Asher, who was 17. We didn’t have a lot, but we had each other. My adopted mom, Anne, often times made our clothes and she let me help. That’s how I discovered my love for fashion design. When we would buy clothes they were cheap or hammy-downs. We lived and got by just fine,” I say as I whip away the tears going down my cheeks.
“I am so sorry,” she says again.
“Yeah it’s okay. It all made me who I am today. I worked really hard got a scholarship to college, majored in fashion design, became a designer and now I make clothes for lower income people and middle class. I design clothes that are in style, well made, and not too expensive. I met Leo at college, he was studying business. His family had money, but he wanted to make money separate from them. We fell in love got married both became big, and successful. Now here we are,” Payton smiles, I don’t blame her though because I love the fact that I got my happy ending.
“So dear tell me your story,” I tell her softly as I reach out grabbing the mug from atop the table and taking a sip from it, using the warm liquid to calm me.
Looking at the ceiling Payton begins sharing her story with me. “My sister Delilah got sick with Leukemia when she was eight years old. It was one the hardest things we have been through and my mom and I were already struggling by. She was fine, and happy, dancing around all smiles, and then she relapsed. The leukemia came back and this time worse. She had to have surgery and something happened with the annastisia and she didn’t come out of it for months. Last night she woke up and it felt like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders,” she says as her tears cloud her eyes and I cannot help but look at her in shock because I never excepted them.
“What about your father during all of this?” I ask he genuinely concerned.
“Um, my father left when my sister was young. I have no clue where he is, hopefully he’s in hell. My father was very bad dude. He use to beat me, and my mother would come and defend me only to be beaten a long with me. I’d cry and he see it as a sign of weakness, and be me harder to make me ‘tougher’, when I was silent he sees it as he was not hitting hard enough. Nothing would stop him, he wasn’t even a drunk either he was just a jerk. I use to lock myself in a closet hiding from him. As he beat me or when he seen me he would call me names and constantly tell me how ugly I was, how stupid I was, how fat I was, and much more. When Delilah was born I took more beatings trying to protect her from the monster who was our father. Finally he got up and left and without him it was hard to pay the bills and everything, but we are managing. Life is better without him and I can honestly say I don’t miss him,” she tells me as the tears roll down her checks. I lean forward and take her into my arms and she allows her tears free.
“Shh… I’m sorry sweetie. It’s ok. You can cry. Let it out,” I whisper as I stroke her hair trying to calm her. Her hands cling helplessly to my back as she cried. We stay like this for a long time.
She finally begins to calm down while I keep my tears at bay. “Honey go get some sleep so you can return to the hospital to see your sister,” I tell her as I pull away and drying Payton’s face.
“Thank you Georgia,” she says softly, with a cracky and tired voice.
“Your welcome sweetie, I am here anytime you need to talk. Talking helps, trust me,” I say and she nods as she stands up forcing a tiny smile. My face turns up into small, weak smile. Once Payton is gone and the tears streams down my face. Payton is so lucky to have Reece! She is a part of my family no matter what. I whip away my tears. I wonder if Reece told Payton about the surgery. I sure hope so!
Hey guys!!
Sorry this is late!
I have been super busy with practices and then competing!!! I got 3rd in public speaking contest!
I hope you enjoyed this!! This is the only chapter I will post in this POV!!
Next chapter is when it gets good with Reece's POV!
Thank you all so much for your support and love!!
PLEASE
VOTE
COMMENT
SHARE
FAN!!
Please!!! I love you all so much!!
It counts I plan to enter this in Watty Awards 2013.
I got to go now!!
I love you all!
Keep up the support!
update will be hopefully Sunday!!