Cara
“Good Evening, this is Casey Adams with an update. I am here at the location of Laguna Beach California prison to inform you that a man with the name of Caleb Dove, who reportedly stabbed 19 year old Keith Remmingway last Wednesday, has been found. He allegedly stabbed Mr. Remmingway out of anger and jealousy. If not for his sister, Ashley Dove, the police would not have found him. And back to you Walter…”
Keith was staring at the TV with anger in his eyes. He was bouncing Crystal with one hand, and squeezing a stress ball in the other.
“Baby, they found him. That’s a good thing.” I say to him softly. I touch his shoulder gently and he hands me Crystal without looking at me and gets up. I watch as he walks over to the door and grabs his keys. “Where are you going?” I ask. Without saying a word, he walks out the door and slams it behind him. I sigh and walk over to the kitchen with Crystal.
Delilah was sitting at the island sipping coffee. She wasn’t doing so well either. She was very shaken up and frazzled from the incident.
“They got em’.” She says. I shake my head and open the fridge to get Crystal some milk.
“You two are obsessing over this. It’s not healthy.” I say quietly. I put heat the bottle up by placing it in a pot with hot water and apparently she heard me and got up and stood next to me.
“Your ex-boyfriend stabbed my son.” She said flatly. I sighed and looked over her face. She looked so distraught; she probably hadn’t slept for days. Her face looked older and pale; her hair looked as if it hadn’t been dressed in weeks, there were bags under her eyes and all of her wrinkles showed. I felt so badly for her. I gave her a wary smile and she looked away from me. I watched as she slowly went downstairs.
It felt as if they were blaming me for this. As if I had a part to play. I understand that Caleb loved me and I broke his heart, but I didn’t know that he would do that. I never knew that he was capable of hurting someone that I loved. And it isn’t like I talked to him after the incident. I ignored his text messages and I didn’t want anything to do with him. I’m actually thrilled that they caught him. I’m even more thrilled that Keith is okay. I sigh and sit down to feed Crystal. She was staring up at me, drinking the milk. I smile, looking at her innocence; taking in that she could do nothing wrong…yet. I hear Claire crying from upstairs and brought Crystal with me.
It’s been three days since Keith angrily left the house. I tried calling him, texting him and everything. I called his friends too. But nothing, non one knew where he was. The only thing I could do was wait. He had left in baggy sweats and a t-shirt, so I knew he couldn’t have been going to work.
It was eleven at night and the girls were already asleep. I hadn’t seen Delilah for a while either. Even though she was living in our basement, she never came upstairs. Of course she had everything she needed down there, so I could see why she wouldn’t come upstairs. So I was alone with the girls.
I was lying on my bed, staring at the ceiling, when my phone buzzed. I rolled over to the side-table and saw a text message from Becca.
Becca: hey
Me: hi becs
Becca: I heard
Me: yah, I think everyone did.
Becca: hows keith doin?
Me: don’t know. Haven’t seen his since we found out
Becca: r u serious? Where is he?
Me: I don’t know Becca…he just left after he found out they got caleb and I havnt seen him since…
Becca: have u called him?
Me: of course I called him Becca, c’mon now!
Becca: well I don’t know Im juss tryna help!
Me: sorry, Im just really on edge here. Delilah isn’t talkin to me either
Becca: why?
Me: don’t know. She’s been downstairs since she found out too. Im juss afraid to go talk to her.
Becca: well maybe u shld. I mean, its not gunna kill ya
Me: alrite. Ill try, but idk what to do nemore
Becca: juss talk to her. Txt me when ur done, mkay?
Me: yah, alrite
I throw the phone on the bed and let out a huge sigh.
I call her name as I’m walking down the steps.
“Delilah?” I yell. No answer. I walk into the area and she isn’t on the bed. I walk over to the kitchenette and she isn’t there either. I sigh and go over to the small room and she’s sitting on a chair with her legs crossed, reading a book.
“Is he back?” She says so softly, her voice hoarse and dry from not talking in so long. She looks up and searches for my eyes. I stare at her, seeing how terrible she looks. She looks so scared and sick. I rush over to her and hug her. She doesn’t hug me back but I continue anyway. “Is he back?” She repeats with harshness in her tone.
“No.” I reply. She turns away from me and sighs. I kneel down beside her and place my hand on hers. She looked down at me sadly with tears forming in her eyes.
“He could’ve died Cara…” She says. I nod sadly, closing my eyes. I know. I know he could’ve died. I was so close to loosing him. And I know how hard it was for me, I can imagine how awful it was for her. And she found him like that. I remember how scared I was, thinking that Caleb had killed Keith and took my babies. When I went to get them, I was mortified but relieved that they were still there.
She starts sobbing and I hold her close to me. She allows me to hug her and hugs me back. We stayed like that for so long. Eventually, my head started to ache and she was getting tired, so I walked her to her bed and turned out the light.
As I’m walking upstairs, I realize how mad I am at Keith. I’m mad that he would just leave his family and not even call us to let him know where he is! I mean, after what happened, he must know how worried about him we are! It’s just…selfish…
I take the baby monitor off the counter and walk into the living room. I sprawl myself on the couch and flip through the channels. I just can’t sleep not knowing if he’s alright. I’m too worried about him and it’s making me insane! I can’t stop wondering if he’s okay.
I finally settle on watching Friends and start to drift to sleep after watching four episodes. The last thing I saw was Chandler kissing Monica and her hair a total mess.
I awoke to the front door slamming closed and jump up. I hurryingly walk over to see Keith standing there staring at me. He looked awful. He closed were filthy, his face looked like he was on the brink of death, and he smelt terrible. I continued to stare at him, not knowing what to say. I part of me is relieved to see and, and another part of me is furious he left!
He slowly walks over to me and places a hand on my cheek. The touch of his hand stunned me and I couldn’t move. I look up at his face as his eyes close. He opens his mouth to say something but I put my hand to his mouth and his eyes flash open.
“Don’t. Say. A. Word.” I say bitterly. His eyes widen in shock and he stares into mine. I grab his elbow with my other hand and lead him towards the living room. I stop and punch his shoulder.
“Ouch!” He says.
“Good! Feel the pain!” I yell. Delilah comes running in then and looks at me, noticing the anger on my face. Her face turn into a scowl and she surprises him by hitting him at the back of his head.
“Ouch!” He says again, rubbing his shoulder and then his head. He turns around to look at her and his face changes. I bet he notices how sick she looks.
“Good!” She says, crossing her arms across her chest.
“Just let me explain-”
“No! There’s nothing to explain!” She yells.
“You just leave!? You can’t even answer your phone!?” I yell.
“My phone died…” He mumbles.
“It died the minute you slammed the door?” I asked suspiciously. His face softens and he sighs.
“I’m sorry.” He says. He walks over to me and holds my face in his hands. I stare up at him and look into his green eyes. I got completely lost and all my anger turned to sadness. I reached up and hugged him tightly. He hugged me back, stroking my hair with his hand while the other was on the small of my back. I felt tears run out of my eyes and stood there while he hushed me to stop my crying. I slowly pulled away and said,
“Why did you go? I was so worried, we were so worried!” I tell him. I look over at Delilah who was standing there with tears flooding her eyes. He turned around and walks over to her, wrapping his arms around her. She sobbed violently.
“I thought I lost you…” she whispers.
“I’m here.” Was all he said. They stood there for what seemed like ages. She wouldn’t let him go, she’d never let him go again.
The rest of the day went okay. I texted Becca shortly after Keith arrived and she was thrilled to know he was okay. The girls were good and caused no trouble at all. Delilah and Keith were outside enjoying each others company, talking about any and everything. Around lunchtime, I made sandwiches and lemonade and we ate outside on the deck. As we ate, the girls were on a blanket enjoying the sun.
“Isn’t tomorrow the day for the family picture thingy?” Keith said. I smiled.
“The family portrait? Yes. We have to go to the studio around 10:30 for our appointment.” I told him.
Delilah didn’t want to be part of it. She wanted us to do a portrait and individual pictures alone as a family and to make it a tradition like she did with her family. I look over at her, smiling up at the sun with her eyes closed. She already looked a little better against the sun. I smile at her and Keith notices as well. He leans over and kisses his mothers forehead lightly. Her smile widens and we all laugh. Keith gets up and walks towards the girls. He puts his hands on his hips and laughs.
“Cara?” He asked, still laughing. I look up at him and peer over my sunglasses. “Which on is which?” He says. I shake my head. I knew he wouldn’t be able to tell. I purposely didn’t dress them in their designated color today as a punishment for him. I laugh as he scratches his head and bends down to look at the closely. I get up and walk over to him. I look down at the girls, moving around and making noises. I look over at Keith, laughing at his confused face. I already knew which was which. They were my babies; I’ll always be able to tell. Although they were identical, they had things that stood them apart. I sit down on the blanket and usher for him to sit as well. I pick up Crystal and hold her on my lap facing him.
“Who is this?” I asked smiling. He squinted his eyes and turned his head to the side jokingly.
“Claire.” He says, proud of himself and confident about his choice. I laugh loudly which makes Crystal smile.
“Nope! This is Crystal.” I say. He scratches his head again and looks disappointed.
“Dang, I can’t tell the difference between my own daughters! How do you know this is Crystal?” He says suspiciously but also eagerly.
“Well, Crystal has darker hair. Even though they don’t have much hair yet, I can still see the difference. She also has more hair. And Crystal is more lively and active.” I tell him. He nods his head understandingly. I pass her to him and he bounces her up and down.
“But another way to tell the difference is Claire has a beauty mark. She has a small beauty mark on her right cheek and she also has smaller eyes. Crystal’s eyes are bigger.” I say as I pick Claire up.
“Wow, that’s amazing he says while gently touching Claire’s cheek with the tip of his fingers. I smile, looking at how great of a father he’s turning into.
The next morning was very hectic. Once Keith and I were dressed, we had to dress the girls. For some reason, they were being quite unreasonable that morning. They cried so much and kicked and screamed. We had issues looking for socks and I couldn’t find Claire’s pacifier. Delilah went out for the day and Keith was a mess. For some reason, he was nervous. I told him that all he had to do was do what the camera guy asks and smile! Crystal was missing a shoe, Claire was missing a sock. Crystal was missing her hat, Claire was missing her shirt. It was very crazy. And all the time, they were crying.
Once we finally found everything and their bags were packed, we buckled them into my car and were on our way. But of course Keith forgets his phone on the kitchen table, and halfway there we just had to turn around and get it. Then Keith ends up taking a wrong turn and we end up in some quiet little town.
But when we finally get there, everything becomes easy again. First we took some pictures inside. Then girls took a couple together and then we separated them. The camera crew was very confused because they were wearing the same outfits and they couldn’t tell who was who. It was funny to Keith and I but we helped them out. I took a picture holding Claire and Keith took a picture holding Crystal. Then we switched and I was so happy how everything turned out. I took a picture by myself. I was wearing a red medium length dress and my long blonde hair was straightened and pushed back with a thick black headband. I wore my mothers pearl necklace and black open toed heels. Keith wore a black suit with a red tie and his hair was gelled back and he looked amazing! He took his picture sitting in a big red chair that hard beautiful dark brown woodwork. He was slightly bending down with his forearms on his legs and he looked up at the camera. It was a nice picture. I had sat with my legs crossed on a chair similar to what Keith was sitting in, but mine was a smidge smaller. The girls were placed on red carpet lying on their stomachs at first and then lying on their backs in front of the same yellow background. The last picture we took inside was a picture of all of us together in front of a fake fireplace holding the girls. The walls were still yellow and there was a huge painting behind us so it looked as if we were inside a house. Then we took one last picture outside under a big and beautiful cherry blossom tree. They cleaned up the grass so that it looked fresh and green and took up all the petals off the ground. They placed a yellow blanket on the ground and we sat there holding the girls and smiling. It was the best picture and the best family moment since the girls were born.