Until Now

Ch.15

More time had passed, it was December 20th meaning Christmas was only five days away and Dee had managed to get her life together a little more over the past few days. She had had a few productive days, getting all of her Christmas shopping sorted and wrapping presents before hiding them in her closet so that no one would find them until Christmas Eve when she would place them under the tree.

Her and Judah continued their FaceTimes calls daily and texting as much as they could, she felt much better these past few days also after discovering she could look at things in a positive way. She sees every day as a day closer to seeing him, which was her motivation to keep going.

With the guys in the back yard, obsessing over their quad bikes, Elizabeth, Taylor, Skylynn, Malakai and Dee were currently sat in the living room, watching The Santa Clause with Tim Allen.

"This has always been one of my all time favourites at Christmas" Dee grinned as she stared at the TV. Elizabeth smiled at the girl, feeling happy she was happy. She had seen a change in the girl over the past few weeks, she was a much happier and bubblier version of her self. This made her feel at ease. Ever since she took the girl in she felt pressure to keep her safe and ensure she was okay, she felt like she had failed her after her own son had gone and broken her heart. Despite the situation being completely out of her hand, she couldn't help but beat herself up about it. But ever since Judah came into the girls life, she was finding her purpose again.

Elizabeth had noticed the girl was practicing her singing more and practising her dancing more whenever she could, performing was her passion and it was refreshing to see her gain her passion back.

"Hey mom, have we got any Diet Coke in the fridge?" Hayes asked the woman as he jogged inside from the garden.

"Yeah there's a bottle in the fridge" she told him, pointing to the entrance of the kitchen. Hayes thanked her and headed for the kitchen, but it didn't take Elizabeth long to stand up and follow him in there. This didn't even catch Dee's attention, she was too invested in the film to even notice the boy had walked in speaking and the woman had left the room.

As Elizabeth entered the kitchen, Hayes was pulling the bottle of Diet Coke out of the fridge.

"What? Don't trust me to not make a mess?" Hayes chuckled as he spotted his mother entering the room. His face dropped however when he saw the distressed look on his mother's face.

"What's wrong?" He questioned her, still clutching onto the large bottle of Diet Coke.

Elizabeth sighed and pulled an envelope out of her back pocket before handing it over to the boy. He scanned it for a moment before furrowing his eyebrows in confusion.

"This is addressed to Dee" he told her, handing it back to her.

"I know that! Look at the address it came from" she told him, pointing at the top corner of the envelope.

He gave her a confused look before glancing back down and widening his eyes.

"Is that from her dad?!" Hayes whisper-yelled at his mom, holding the envelope up in shock. Elizabeth nodded, glancing at the door to the kitchen every now and then to ensure Dee didn't walk through it.

"The dad she hasn't spoken to in over a year?!" Hayes spoke.

"Yes that's the same person, Hayes" Elizabeth snapped in distress, feeling uncertain on what the best thing to do in this situation would be.

"Well you can't give it to her" Hayes stated, handing it back to the woman as he shook his head. She stared at him blankly for a moment.

"I have to, it's addressed to her and it could be something important. It's obviously for Christmas so I'll give it to her Christmas Day" Elizabeth spoke, trying her best to believe that was the best thing to do.

"Okay, but I don't wanna be there when that happens because she's gonna react badly in some sort of way" Hayes told her, knowing the girl too well.

"It's the only option I have, Hayes" the woman muttered, shoving the envelope back into her back pocket.

They both exchanged looks for a moment, knowing this was not a good situation but exited the kitchen without another word said anyways.

Hayes returned to the back yard whilst Elizabeth reclaimed her seat on the sofa and started watching the movie again, acting as if nothing happened.

***
Dee sat on her bed, scrolling through her social media's when she received a new text from Judah.

J- How's your day been? Xx

She smiled to herself, clicking on the message and replying straight away.

D- alright, I've not done much really😂hbu? Xx

J- me neither honestly😅I'm about to have dinner but I'll face time you after? Xx

D- I'll be waiting :) xx

She continued smiling to herself, feeling happy with her boyfriend and happy with her life in that moment.

Whilst she waited for Judah to call her, she decided to remove her makeup and do her regular skincare routine giving that it was already 8:30pm. This took her about 25 minutes overall and just as she had sat back down on her bed, her phone rang with Judah's name lighting up on it.

A/N just a filler chapter x