My Broken Bowl

Challenges and Tests

Cayden's POV

Some time after that, Charlotte passed away. She had some health problems that she didn't know about until she was older and had a stroke and died. I would always be thankful to her for giving us a family. I miss her all the time. It was crazy... just like that... she was gone. But I knew where I stood with her. We loved each other and appreciated each other. I never had doubts about her.

So, with our girls and our son, we grew up in this farmhouse. We had chickens, ducks and pigs at some point. We both joined the volunteer fire department nearby.

I should say that Dean joined the department and loved it. He learned a lot. It was extra work on top of his prison job but he loved it. Cady and I were stay at home moms. Honestly, Cady was in front more when the kids were small.

Cady cooked a lot. She loved to try new recipes and loved to feed the family. We had family meals every night and I loved that.

We argued and fought and lived but we loved and cherished and prospered too. I learned a lot from our kids.

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We did all the stuff with the kids and they were happy. Except one. Our son, my step son. I always considered him my son. He was funny and made me laugh a lot. I loved him.

Arizona began to spiral. He got so bad that we sent him to live with his mom. It was what he wanted. He was a nightmare at the house. He stole from our neighbors, lied, stole from school and there were other things. Things I couldn't take.

I couldn't allow our house to end up like my childhood. Everything was about him... My girls were on the floor playing and being amazing and all we discussed is what to do with Arizona. Blah.. I couldn't allow that. I put my foot down.

Arizona told us that he would make us send him to his mom.

To recap, his bio mom didn't want him. She hadn't had him since he was four. I had been there since he was six, night and day. At eleven, he didn't care about that. His mom could do no wrong. He said this. It hurt me.

But we sent him, finally. That was a tough year for us. So when he was twelve, we sent him to live with his mom two states away. Dean was crushed. He loved that kid and sacrificed so much for him. But Arizona had his own story in his head. His mom walked on water with Jesus apparently.

Arizona would learn that wasn't true but he already hurt me too badly. I couldn't let him back in. I couldn't get hurt again. I couldn't. I told Dean that I couldn't do this to our girls. They deserved a better life. I also told him I would leave him if he didn't. I wasn't joking. I couldn't sit by and watch that kid treat us with disrespect and cruelty while our girls suffered and got the most damage from it. Not happening. I was serious and Dean knew it.

Once Arizona moved, Dean noticed. Our whole house sighed in relief. It was the exact same feeling when the half brother, dipshit, left our house when I was little. We all felt relief.

Dean sighed as we waved at the kid leaving us for his mom. He sighed. "So, he was stressful! I feel relieved that he's gone!"

I nodded. "Me too." We all agreed.

Our house became what I always wanted. It was fun and relaxing. It was a place I wanted to live in.

So, our girls grew up. Dean and I officially got married on paper but our date of marriage was January 2007.

We fought and disagreed and lived and loved in that old house. We had birthdays and sad times. Celebrations and tears.

With the fire department keeping us busy, Dean always had them over. One even lived in our house for a year. Dean got the idea to rent out our second floor. Like who does that?

It would have been fine if they were decent and paid rent and food... but he found trash that didn't pitch in or pay rent. By the time we moved, we had four people living upstairs and none of them were paying for anything.

I had to get the fuck out of there. It was no long a home and it wasn't relaxing. We mostly hid in our rooms and Cady quit cooking. Even our girls stayed hidden during this time. Sometimes, we would all be in my bedroom, hiding. I hated it and it was uncomfortable.

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Thanks for reading!