Chapter 85
The food was served, and Callum was pushing it to Ciara to coax her to eat. She shook her head as she was not really comfortable eating. so Callum ate first and then offered Ciara to eat again
When Ciara saw that the food was fine and how he tasted it, her stomach grumbled, and she was now hungry as well
So when Ciara took the spoon and started eating too, Callum realized that she wasn’t comfortable with food and that she thought there was something to it
He could tell that it was because of what happened to her during the abduction, Callum’s jaw clenched a bit as he clearly saw the trauma that she still carries
“How many years have you been donating to the orphanage?” She asked.
“Almost four years now,” he answered.
their child
Clara was a bit shocked. It was also the number of years that happened to their child
The truth is, the orphanage has been Callum’s own therapy to deal with the loss of their child. It was his own coping mechanism that he was helping the kids, and he felt like he was also extending help to their dead baby..
Ciara has slowly seen the impact of the death of their child on Callum’s life too. He might not have experienced the same torture she felt, but she saw that, just like her, he was also carrying his own scar that wasn’t healing yet.
She suddenly felt guilty. She had been so blinded by the pain that she ignored Callum’s own pain as the father of their child. She thought that he had no right to mourn for the loss of their baby because he meant to kill it. He meant it dead.
But she was all wrong. She might not have seen how he suffered, but it reflected in the way he spent his life too. The way he seeks the presence of kids because he lost the life of his own child
Though the talk was only short and they needed to separate on that day, as soon as she went home, she was a bit at ease that a single thorn was taken out of her heart, and she felt light..
“Mommy,” Cara greeted and went to her mother while carrying a book with her.
“Are you hungry? I’ll tell Lala to cook dinner for you.”
“Let’s eat together. I want to tell you something too.”
They went together to the kitchen and Cara placed her book on the table.
“So, at the event I attended earlier, I saw your father there. He was also donating to the kids.
Cara’s face lightened a bit. “Really?”
Ciara smiled and nodded. “Yes. Well, small world, right?”
“Are you uncomfortable with his presence?” She asked.
“Well, I am not. I’m just not used to it anymore. But it feels nice seeing him again after how many years!”
Cara smiled. She has no bad blood for her father right after she found set up with Shane. The woman she hated the most
Dut
from C
Gwen as well that her father was innocent and was only
She has been continuously reading his letters, and she would also write back to him secretly, which Ciara would not really mind because she knew Callum was still Cara’s father.
“That woman is still in jail, mom. She can’t do anything to us now,” she reminded,
“I know. I’m just… worrying too much.”
Cara nodded. “You two deserve to heal and to be happy for real”
Clara’s chest was aching so badly. She doesn’t think she has that trust left in her to commit again and to let Callum enter her life for the third time because she thinks they would only mess it up and things would drastically change again.
She has completely lost faith in love. The feelings might still have stayed, but as she said, she doesn’t need to fall out of love to move forward. She just needed to move forward.
12:50 PM
Chapter 85
During the events at the orphanage, Ciara would see Callum there being invited, and every time his seat would be placed beside her, he would request to move it away from her.
It was after four straight events that Clara noticed he was insisting on it. That’s why on the fifth event, seven months after seeing each other at every event, Ciara decided to just tell the staff that it was fine with her if Callum was sitting next to her.
“You are?” Callum asked, a hit shocked that she was now comfortable.
“I’m quite offended now that you are sitting away from me like I did something bad,” she said and arched her brow.
Callum chuckled a little. Well, I’m just making sure you are comfortable all throughout the event. I don’t want to see the panic in your eyes.”
She suddenly remembered the time she first saw him at the event, and she panicked a bit
“By the way, Cara wants to see you. You might want to visit her.”
“In your place?” He asked.
She nodded, “Yes, I know that she’s sending letters to you. Lala told me about it.”
Callum licked his lips. “Yes. We’re communicating through letters.”
my of them.
Ciara nodded as she remembered the letters he sent to her, and she didn’t respond to any
“You can visit her at the house.”
Callum could sense Ciara was opening again, slowly by slowly. And he wanted to make sure that he wouldn’t do anything drastic to lose IL
“Daddy!” Cara called happily as soon as Callum showed up and paid her a visit.
Callum chuckled and hugged her so tightly as he buried his face against her shoulder and the side of her head. He could feel his chest tightening at the touch of his daughter.
“You are better than pictures. You’ve grown so much, my little princess,” he whispered achingly.
Cara’s tears escaped while she was smiling. While watching the two have their moment, Ciara slowly realized how Cara had been enduring their situation, it showed how she had been longing for her father up until now and how she was controlling not to cry about
What have I done? Did I focus so much on my own pain that I forgot to acknowledge their pain as well?
Tears loomed in her eyes. She felt bad for her daughter and that she needed to suffer together with her mother, who was traumatized.
When Cara noticed it, she pulled away from Callum.
“Mom, I.I’m sorry if I’m sending messages to my father. I know that you are having a hard time, but I miss him sometimes” she said apologetically.
Ciara immediately shook her head as she went to her and hugged her daughter.
“No, Cara. It should be me who’s apologizing to you. I dragged you into my own misery and jailed you in a life you don’t deserve. I’m sorry. You were so understanding, and I failed to realize that you might also be enduring it for me.
Cara hugged her mother tightly. “No, Mom. I understand you. Daddy understands your pain. And we both prioritize you. I know how hard it was for you. You’ve been traumatized, and I wanted to help you heal from it, Mom”
Ciara closed her eyes as she cried weakly. Cara reached for her father and let him join the hug until Ciara felt his warmth and his hug
Ciara glanced at Callum until their bloodshot eyes were there and tears were looming and reflected. Her eyes became more blurry until she sobbed more as she felt everything–the pain from the past, the healing, the regrets, and the ability to forgive herself for what she
couldn’t control.
“I’m really sorry, Callum. I should have listened to your side,” she confessed, as she finally got the guts to confront what she had been trying to escape.
Cara exited the hug as she let her father co
completely hug her mom, who needed it the most
Callum hugged her tightly as Clara slowly wrapped her hands around his nape while crying continuously.
0
Chapter 85
“I was…I was so scared. I couldn’t. I couldn’t trust you because I was afraid you would…you would only choose Shane again,” she confessed while her shoulder rocked.
“No. That moment I found out she hurt you, I cut her off completely, Ciara. I told you, you were my priority. Our family, just you and our daughter. I would never choose anyone else over you. Over the life I wanted to spend for the rest of my life, it’s just you.”
Ciara hugged him tightly as she got the courage to grasp the things she was too afraid to hold for how many years, afraid that owning them again would put her in the gutter.
“I should have trusted you. I took the life that you deserve to have and our daughter. I took the happiness you deserved,” she whimpered.
“It’s okay, hmm. If your healing needs to let go of me, then I will completely submit to it, Ciara. I could love you from a distance. I could wait. I don’t mind waiting. You can take your time. I understand.”
She cried softly in his arms as he hugged her tightening, as if she had found her home again after being so lost in the darkness, and finally got the courage to open the door she had been avoiding for years as she was so afraid to face what’s inside.
But as she has completely embraced it, as soon as she feels its warmth, she immediately recognizes the love she once had. The love that painted her dull life–the love that was meant only for her.
“Can you please stay?” she whispered. “I’m so sorry. Please come back to us. I’m sorry,” she pleaded while trembling
“I never left, Clara, I was just in the distance. But I never left. I would never leave you, no matter how much you hate The. I vowed to myself that I would not give up on you. I have loved you unconditionally, Ciara. No one can kill this. Not even you.”
It was right at that moment that Ciara knew that the love she tried to kill would always bloom for her, despite not watering it. Because love, no matter how painful and complicated it may seem, will always find its way where it should be..
Cara, who was watching her parents, wiped her tears with a smile on her lips, saying that the years of enduring it were worth it..
Welcome home, dad. We are finally together again. And this time, I know, no one can ruin or separate our family.
