Fraser Family Ties - 2

Chapter 1 - Chantal Caplin

"Chantal.... CHANTAL."

She turned and smiled. "Hi.. what's the verdict!."

"The house is yours.. they've accepted the offer.." the estate agent said with a smile. "You can pick up the keys in the morning."

Chantal looked at the kids, they loved this place already. This was finally the first place that she had bought, she didn't need to rent a property anymore. And it felt like such a significant achievement. She wanted to lay down some roots for her kids.

"that's quite a brood you've got there." The estate agent said, looking at the kids playing happily in the front yard of this house.

"I know..

" that has to be difficult looking after all those by yourself?... I mean I noticed that it was just your signature on the deeds."

"i've been separated from their father for just over two years... He doesn't live around here, his business keeps him where he needs to be." She said.

"okay, well I need to move on and see some more clients... I will see you in the morning for the collection of the keys. Congratulations on your new home." She said as she walked away.

Chantal Caplin was in fact Charisma Fraser, she had changed her identity as soon as she left LA 2 years ago. She had laid low for a long time renting properties and making no real friends. She kept contact with new people to less than a minimum. The kids were at school and Josh had become less angry and violent towards others. Arlen and Josh both doted on their little sister Venice who was now 2 and a half and Lani who was just over a year old.
Charisma had fallen pregnant and didn't realise until after she had left.

Lewis loved Charisma and he was a good boy that followed her everywhere.

She worked in a local store and she was studying in her spare time to practice psychology therapy and teach it too. She wanted to help victims of domestic abuse, and she had already begun to do this a night a week in the local area.

"Mommy is this our new house?." Arlen asked.

"Yes.. as of tomorrow this is our new home." She said and the kids all screamed with excitement and ran around together. Venice brought her baby sister back to her mother. Lani hadn't long been walking and she was still mastering the art. She grabbed hold of Charisma's leg and clung to it, she grinned at her mommy as she looked up at her. "Ma-ma"

Charisma picked her up and hugged her as they all made their way back to the car so they could go back to their rental apartment for their final night.

Charisma thought about Keegan a lot. She loved him, she just couldn't be with him. She had gotten herself into such a bad place, never in her mind before had she ever thought about killing somebody in such a way that she did when he was laying in that hospital bed. It shocked her that she could feel this way. And that was when she realised that she had to break free or one of them would end up dead and she didn't want this impacting on the kids.

A while later they pulled up at the apartment, the boys helped Charisma with the groceries as she carried Lani inside. "Chantal.."

She turned to see her neighbour Morgan looking at her. "Oh hi.. you're back."

"Yeah.. thanks for looking after the place for me...

"How did it go? Did you and Malachi bond again?." Charisma asked her.

Morgan raised her eyebrows. "Yeah.. I mean the sex was great and all but as for me and him spending any kind of time together outside of The bedroom" she shook her head. "Yeah, that ain't gonna happen."

Charisma smiled. " me and the kids move out tomorrow..

"Oh hell... I actually found somebody that I like to talk to and you go and move... my life sucks"

"Well, why don't you come in tonight for a glass of wine.. i'm not moving too far away, we can keep in touch."

"i'm going to hold you to that" she said as she turned and walked back towards her own front door.

Charisma had gotten on quite well with Morgan, she didn't divulge anything about herself as being charisma. Instead she concentrated on her life as Chantal Caplin. The story that she had given was that her and the kids father had drifted apart, his work kept him on the west side and she moved over to the east side to study. No one ever questioned it, which she was glad about.

When she got inside the apartment the boys were already sat in front of the TV watching cartoons. She put Lani down on the floor so that she could toddle across to her sister, who was at the kitchen table already colouring in. Arlen watched his mom for a second and then he walked out to where she was. "Mommy.."

"Yes baby...

"Will we ever see daddy again?."

She knew these kind of questions were going to come up from her sons as they remembered him, much more than Venice and Lewis. She crouched down to his level and held his hands. "I'm sure you will one day... He still loves you very much, you need to remember that. It's just that sometimes adult problems get in the way of us wanting to be a family." She told him.

"I miss him."

She took a deep breath. "I know you do, I know you all do... I miss him too... but he's all the way over in LA and we are all the way over here hours and hours away from each other. If he wants to come and see us he needs to get on an aeroplane." She said making it sound exciting as she raised her eyebrows. " and your daddy is very busy, but I promise that you will see him one day... Why don't you go back over there and watch TV with your brothers."
She stood up and watched him go back to his seat. She felt bad that she had not been in contact with Keegan to let him know how the kids were. The kids didn't understand the severity of the situation, how could they they were too small. All they knew was that they just didn't see their father anymore.

She pushed it to the back of her mind and began putting food into the oven for the kids. She put a bottle of wine to chill in the refrigerator because she knew that Morgan would be over, there was no way that girl was going to pass up a glass or two of wine.