My Path To Serenity

Chapter twenty three

ALLISON'S POINT OF VIEW
                     Later on that morning
I rolled over to see Jasper sound asleep next to me, which gave me much needed comfort that I've been missing over the last few months. With all this family drama and work chaos, I guess you could say I've been longing for that feeling of peace. Today, this morning, I finally felt that. I opened the blinds a little and seen the snowflakes dancing from the sky onto the  green grass. I smiled as I gently shook Jasper's shoulder. "Merry Christmas honey," I whispered. He slowly fluttered his eyes open and wrapped his arm around me. "Merry Christmas," he told me in his sleepy voice. I kissed his cheek as I scooted closer to him, feeling his heart beating with mine. This morning felt like a breath of fresh air in my lungs. Every Christmas morning, Benjamin, Charlotte, and I would wake up our parents bright and early at seven in the morning when we were kids. I don't think they necessarily wanted to wake up that early by any means, but they knew we were excited so they did their best to make it a good Christmas for us kids.

I'm sure my mom and dad still had their disputes, but they did a good job at hiding it around the holidays. I remember one Christmas actually, I had to of been about nine or ten.. my dad blew his entire christmas savings on lottery. I could faintly hear my parents discussing it in the kitchen, when they thought I had already went up to bed. My mom still made it work, however. She gathered all the money she could, just to make sure we were happy. My father's intentions were good, I guess. He spent the savings in hopes of doubling his money, so there would be more to spend on us that year, but he never realized he lost more times than he ever won, and that buying lottery was a vacuum to his wallet. Jasper didn't necessarily have the best Christmas's growing up. He kept a cheerful attitude he always told me, but deep down he wanted his real parents to be there- but they weren't. He checked the mailbox every holiday for a card, but the mail box was empty every time. But this year, we're determined to have a good Christmas no matter what. That was until we were abruptly interrupted by a loud knock on the door and crying. I looked over at Jasper and he looked at me equally as confused. "Come in," I answered as I slipped out of bed and rushed over to the door. "What is it? What's wrong?" I wrapped my arms around Charlotte and gave her a hug as she just continued to sob into my shirt. "What's going on!" I asked her in panic. Jasper got up out of bed and walked over to the two of us. "Everything okay?" Charlotte shook her head and wiped her tears, but then more kept streaming down her face. My anxiety was rising fast, and I couldn't wrap my head around what could possibly be wrong. "Tri-Tristian!" She answered unsteady. "He- he ran away from Meadow falls." My jaw dropped to the floor. "What? How do you know?" I asked frantic. "His mom called me just now." She couldn't stop crying, and my heart ached for her. "Charlotte..." She shook her head in disbelief and buried her head in her hands. "He really had to fucking leave?!" She asked out loud. "Like why! He was finally getting it together." I sighed as I patted her back. "I don't know," I answered. "I don't know. Did you hear anything else?" She shook her head and wiped her tears, rolling her eyes. "Just that he ran away and the cops went to his mothers house. Apparently they're looking for him. That's all I know." Jasper and I didn't say a word, we didn't really know what to say at this point.

She looked up at me, "I think the next time I see him I'm gonna break things off. It's obvious he doesn't care about his future, or even our future right now." I didn't say a word. "I think that's the right thing to do," she finished. "As much as I love him, I'm not even sure he loves himself." She sucked in her cheeks and sighed. "I wonder where the hell he could be. I mean, sure he didn't like rehab, but he was safe there. Out there in the middle of some town he's not familiar with.. that's not safe." She tied her long curly brown hair into a pony tail to get it out of her face. Oliver's cry projected from the baby monitor as Charlotte disappeared to go get him. I put my hands on my hips and looked at Jasper to see his reaction. He scratched his head. "Merry Christmas," he said sarcastic. We headed downstairs and all gathered around the Christmas tree, because we weren't going to just cancel Christmas. I could tell Charlotte was trying to put on a smile for Oliver, but it was taking everything in her. "What's that gift in your hand, sweet boy?" She asked Oliver as he eagerly opened up his gift. "A race car!" Charlotte smiled with her worn out, tired eyes. "Thank you, Santa," he beamed as he held the race car against his chest, giving the present a big hug. Jasper handed me a small navy blue box with a silver bow on it as he rubbed my arm. I looked up at him with the 'you shouldn't have' look as I eagerly unwrapped my present. It was a necklace, with a charm on it that showed the sound waves of the words "I love you" from when we were nineteen. He kept a recording of the two of us at the park eating lunch telling each other how in love we were. So he turned my words into a necklace, and I think it's so beautiful. "Jasper," I looked up at him with a tear in my eyes. "This is the sweetest thing you've ever done for me. Besides of course agreeing on the adoption."I handed Charlotte a couple boxes and bags from the two of us, before handing Oliver and Jasper theirs. The gift exchange was sweet, but there was a lot of tension in the living room this morning.
We were all thrown off by complete surprise when the front door swung open, and we seen Tristian standing in the door way. "Daddy!" Oliver exclaimed as he ran over to him and Tristian swooped him up in his arms. We all just sat there with our eyes wide in utter shock. Charlotte was the first to get up from the couch, and Tristian grinned so big like I've never seen before. She walked over to him with her arms crossed, angry. "You didn't think to knock?" "I live here.." he said slowly. "Right? This is still my house, right?" He looked up at Jasper and I. "You left Meadow falls?" Charlotte stepped closer. "You've got to be kidding me!" I got the hint it was best to take Oliver's hand and step outside to go admire the snow on the ground. I really didn't want him to hear them argue.
"Charlotte, I-" she cut him off. "What excuse do you have?" Her face was flushed red in anger. "I needed to see you today, and Oliver.." "you couldn't give a call?" She yelled enraged. "I lost my phone call privileges when they docked a point from me the last time you visited. Look, I was going crazy in there. I needed to just give you a hug, and my son. I'm sorry for the way I treated you that day you came to visit me. I'm truly sorry for everything I've put you all through." Charlotte bit her tongue and just rolled her eyes, shaking at this point. "Please, don't be mad at me." "Mad?!" She yelled. "You're gonna be in such deep shit for this. The courts are on your ass now more than ever. Don't you ever use your brain Tristian? Don't you realize rehab was saving your ass from jail? Now you get to experience both once they catch you. Oh and I'm not letting you stay here. My sister and Jasper aren't taking the fault for this and getting in trouble for housing a run away." Tristian didn't say a word, he just listened. "I don't know what you were thinking leaving that place, but look I can't be with you anymore." Tristian's eyes widened and his stomach sank from hearing those gut wrenching words. It pained him so bad to hear her say that. Pain is an understatement. Those words were like a knife to the chest. "We're done. Go back to your moms house, or do whatever you choose but I'm done with you." "This isn't the reaction I was expecting from you, Charlotte.." he cried. "I.. I thought you'd be happy to see me." "You had me worried sick!" He looked away. "For heaven sakes I'm having our second child here in the next few months and you're still trying to get your shit together. You have a long way to go, and I'm not going to fail my son or myself in the process of trying to fix you." He sat down on first step of the staircase and stared at the floor, speechless. "So go. Leave," Charlotte added. Jasper intervened, "Come on Charlotte, we know what he did was completely wrong but aren't you being a little bit hard on him right now?" Charlotte whipped her head around towards Jasper and snapped. "I've kept my calm for way too long. I've let a lot of shit slide. But this? It goes beyond just running away from the law, it's about not thinking about the future! About us."