Forever ➳ O'Brien [3]

➳ 53

"Cara, are you alright?"

            Cara lifted her eyes from the photo album in her hands, meeting Dylan's worried gaze. Her husband stood in the doorway, watching his wife with drawn brows and a frown, cradling a sleeping Ollie to his chest. His eyes flickered briefly towards the photo album, and then he stepped further into the room. 

          "I'm fine," Cara forced a smile, "It's just— it's just this whole thing with the Masons and everything."

          Dylan came further into the room, kneeling down beside Cara, who sat on the living room floor with her legs crossed and a handful of photo albums scattered around her. She followed his gaze to the album once more, to the photos taken decades ago of her family before Richard Mason abandoned them all. Photos of the man she once called Daddy, smiling as he played with his children. The photo her eyes were drawn to, however, was the last photo they'd taken as a family. It was taken in the backyard of their home, Richard Mason and her Mom were stood side by side, with her Mom holding baby Moony, while Cara and Oliver each perched on their Father's shoulders— Oliver had fallen off soon after the photo was taken, but he'd been caught by their Father before he reached the ground, and he'd had to catch Cara soon after, since he'd jolted her off his shoulder in his bid to save Ollie.

           "Talk to me, Cara," Dylan whispered, reaching across to take her hand in his.

           "It's just— I've tried so hard not to let his abandonment affect my life, you know? He just took off, and he didn't tell any of us why. He never came back for us, he never wrote, or called, or anything. And that kind of thing— it damages people, you know? We all— we all blamed ourselves for him losing. Mom— Mom thought she didn't love him enough for him to stay, Oliver—," her teary eyes flickered briefly towards her sleeping son, who stirred in her husband's arms, "— Oliver thought he wasn't a good enough son, thought that he drove him away because he wasn't what he expected. Moony— Moony thought her birth disappointed him, that there was something about her that just wasn't right to him, that maybe she overwhelmed him to the point of leaving. And I— I was so sure that it was my fault. I thought he hated me— that one morning he just woke up and decided that I was a failure. I used to write to Santa, asking if he could bring my Daddy back. I told him that I'd promised to do better— that I'd become the daughter he always wanted, and yet... he never came back, Dylan. He never came back, but his daughters did."

            "It's not your fault, Cara," Dylan whispered, letting go of her hand to wrap his arm around her shoulders, pulling her into his side and pressing a kiss to her forehead.

           "I know— I know, but it's not something I can just stop thinking, you know? I mean— what drove him to have the affair? What was it that made him wake up one day and decide he wanted to start a new family?" She curled one hand around his jacket, squeezing the fabric tightly in her fist as she tried not to cry— to sob and to scream— to demand to know why her Father left her without a word of warning. "And I'm terrified, Dylan— I'm terrified that one day, you'll wake up one morning and feel whatever he did. I'm terrified that you'll decide you don't love me— love us anymore. I'm afraid to wake up one morning and realise you're gone and you're never coming back."

           "I'm never going to leave you, Cara," Dylan whispered, pulling her impossibly closer to him "I am not Richard Mason, okay? I'm Dylan O'Brien. I'm awkward, and clumsy, and I make inappropriate jokes — sometimes at inappropriate times —, and I'm incredibly, inexplicably, indefinitely in love with you, Cara. There's not a universe that exists where I would ever stop loving you. You're my forever."

            "I love you," Cara sniffled against his shoulder. Her free hand moved to take a hold of Oliver's hand, "I love all of you."

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lmao this sucks but o whale