Oh, Ara

Chapter 18

Previously: Ara reunited with Cole and her brothers, learned she's been gone for three months, and suddenly someone walked through the door...

Ara's POV

"Dad?" I ask, eyes strained to make sure what I'm seeing is real," If you're here, where's mom?"

"Hi Ara, boys do you mind if I have a minute alone with her?" Dad asks.

Cole squeezes my hand and gets up and kisses my forehead, "I'm going to go get you a hot chocolate."

"Mmmm, my favorite," I smile.

He grins," I know."

Cole leaves and I look at Carter who shakes his head, "I'm staying."

"Very well," Dad nods his head and pulls a chair out and sits down beside me so we're eye level.

"There is so much I want to say to you, and I have no idea where to begin. Firstly, I'm going to say that I am unbelievably sorry for how your mother and I have abandoned you and your brothers. I always denied it because I never wanted to admit to myself that we were neglecting you. We see so many cases and patients where the parents are just absolute messes and not there for their children, but I never in a thousand years thought that I could be like them.

"Second, a lot has transpired in the last month you were gone. Firstly, I didn't know you were taken until it was all over the news. Your mother didn't tell me. Well, your mother didn't tell me a lot of things. Like the fact that she believed we had an open marriage. I did not believe this. I'm," he sighs, "I'm not trying to blame your mother for everything, because I know I am extremely at fault in this situation as well, but I want to do whatever I can to fix this. To repair our family that Jason has held together for way too long. Jason should be able to be a kid, and so should the rest of you. If you're wondering how on earth I started to notice everything, you can thank your grandfather for that. About a month ago, he came to the hospital and set me straight. Honestly, I wish he had done it sooner. Your mother and I are getting a divorce and I'm going to be severely cutting down my hours at the hospital and I am hoping that we all could get a chance at being a family again. I'm hoping, and I know I don't deserve this, but I am hoping that maybe we could all move back to penthouse and have a real shot at being a family. What do you think?"

My mind is reeling and spinning and I have no idea what to think. 

"I know what my answer probably is, because this is what I've dreamed you would say to us every single day, but could I get like an hour to process or something?" I ask.

Dad smiles, "of course, sweetie. I'll come check in a little bit. I'm going to go talk to your doctors and see where they're at."

Dad pats Carter on the shoulder and leaves. I lean forward in my bed and my hands grasp in my hair. I close my eyes and take some deep breaths. I look up at Carter who is now sitting on the edge of my bed. He takes one of my hands.

"Hey, hey, Ara, it's okay," Carter squeezes my one hand with both of my hands.

"I - I - that was... a lot to get in one go," I stumble through my words trying to figure out what I want to say. I avert my eyes trying to reel in all my emotions. I take a deep breath.

"How did you all react, what are you and the boys thinking?" I ask.

"Well, we've had a long time to process. It took a few of us a very long time to get on board, but all of us are willing to give it a shot. Are you?" Carter asks.

I think about what this means. This means we'll finally have a parent. Jason can act his age and not have to worry about taking care of all of us. This is exactly what I wanted my entire life. Except with two parents. They're really getting a divorce? 

"Mom's been cheating on dad? They always seemed like a single unit to me," I say softly.

Carter nods his head, "Dad didn't even tell you the worst part about that."

"What?" I ask, scared I don't actually want to know.

"She's pregnant with some other dude's kid." Carter answers.

My mouth falls open, "She What?!"

"Yeah," Carter nods, "but before you ask, we are all Dad's kids, Mom didn't start cheating until about 5 years ago."

"That's, that's insane," I shake my head.

"What do you think about moving back to the penthouse with Dad?" Carter asks, maintaining an impartial face but his eyes look a little hopeful.

I cast my eyes down and mull over the weight of the entire situation. After a minute I look up and smile, "I say that we deserve a chance at some normalcy. Let's do it! I mean, I'm gonna miss living at William's Manor because my boyfriends right down the hall-"

"Ara that's a bonus not a loss," Carter grins.

"For who?"I exclaim.

"For us! Now we don't have to worry about you sneaking off to Cole's room in the middle of the night and us waking up to find you two-"

"Gah! Carter stop!" I shake my head," I get it, I get it!"

Carter laughs,"I so deserve a token for that!"

My mouth falls open again and I shove his arm," I've been back for thirty seconds and you're already messing with me!"

Carter shrugs,"it's my job."

"Well, I think you should apply to a new occupation," I insist. Carter's face falls.

"What, Carter?" I ask and he shakes his head," No seriously, what is it?"

"Nothing, Ara, nothing for you to worry about at all! I'm going to go tell the others and Dad if I can find him," Carter squeezes my hand once more and exits the room.

Something's up with Carter and I don't know what, but I'm going to get to the bottom of it.

Cole re-enters with my hot chocolate and a chocolate chip cookie the size of my face.

"The hot-chocolate is courtesy of the Dunkin Donut's across the street because only the best for mi'lady. The cookie the size of Jupiter is courtesy of your grandmother who will be wanting to stuff you with food everyday until you're back to healthy proportions," Cole bows and offers the food above his head and I laugh and shake my head. I tear into the cookie first and moan in delight at how good it is. Oh how I have missed grandma's cookies. I take a sip of hot chocolate, burn my tongue as usual, squeal, and stick it out to cool it down.

"Really, Ara, you're back for thirty seconds and you've already burned yourself?" Cole asks.

I shrug," What can I say? I may have been gone for way too long, but I'm still me."

I KNOW I AM THE WORST! But I have had massive writer's block because I didn't know who I wanted to walk in. But now I have a clear mission for the book again and I think I know the trajectory it's gonna follow. 

The POVS will mostly be in Ara's from now on, I think. AND I think I have a really cool idea for a spin-off book surrounding a certain brother. If you guys would want a brother spin-off book, or multiple spin-offs, let me know!

Also, there's still a lot left to this story, I just didn't want to stay in the kidnapped place for too long, but a lot of time has passed in the story.

UNEDited and Thanks so much for reading, and commenting and voting! It really means the world.

Love

M

xxx

I'll update soon, I promise! :)