Mandy

Chapter 48

And that's the beauty of this grace
It can put the pieces back in place
And shine reflections of forgiveness
In a million different ways
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   Mandy took a deep breath. "Well, Caleb and I met online, in a chat room. The chat room was for people with mental disorders."

   "Mandy and I got to know each other, quickly realizing that we were similar in a lot of different ways. Our home lives were both messed up."

   "For me," Mandy paused, "My depression was hitting hard, but my parents never cared. They always said that I didn't have any mental disorders, I just worried too much."

   "And for me, my family was just messed up." Caleb added.

   Mandy nodded. "Caleb lived with his older sister, Liz, and his mom. His dad was there off and on."

   "Liz was great, she was more of a mom to me than my actual mother. I remember one day my mother and I went to the store, and Liz was left home alone." Caleb continued.

   "Liz was about twenty-three then, so it wasn't as if anyone thought she'd be in any danger." Mandy explained.

   "Yes. But apparently...she was. Our 'dad' came home and..." Caleb trailed off.

   "A couple weeks later, she found out she was pregnant." Mandy inserted softly.

   "That's when her and I decided to get out. I had three older brothers who were living near by, and the five of us were finally going to make something of ourselves."

   Mandy nodded. "I got a message, Caleb told me their plan. He asked if I'd like to go as well...and I agreed."

   "We waited until after our birthdays, until we were both 18, then Liz and I drove over to Mandy's in our mom's car."

   "They picked me up, then we went over to the farm where the other three had been working, and picked them up."

   Caleb nodded. "Then we drove. All the way to Arizona, where we found a small apartment that we could afford."

   "About a month later, Commander Robin met us, and offered Caleb and I scholarships into his academy."

"We spent two years there, and we both graduated with honors. I joined the military, and Mandy went home." Caleb said.

"Liz, the boys and I started an acrobatic group. Liz choreographed our routines. That was about the time I legally changed my name."

"You guys got state that first year, right?" Caleb asked.

Mandy grinned. "Yeah. Caleb came home the next weekend and Ethan, Caleb's older brother, asked me to marry him."

"Ethan Sr." Caleb clarified.

   "Yes. We got married a couple months later." Mandy replied.

   "Then, three years later Rainer, one of our brothers, ran off and got married. Two months later, his wife, Alice found out she was pregnant. That's when we all decided to stop competing. We had done pretty well, and our work payed off."

   Caleb smiled. "We built a house, with a room for everyone."

   "It's a large house." Mandy added. "But yes, we built a house. Amilee was born there, and Rainer and Alice were so proud of that little girl."

   "I think it was about three years later when Mandy and Ethan told me they were expecting." Caleb added.

   Mandy nodded. "About that long." She took a deep breath. "Caleb went somewhere then, and we couldn't have any contact."

   "I was just glad Mandy told me before I left."

   Mandy met Caleb's gaze. "Two months later, Ethan and I found out I was carrying twins." She told him.

   Caleb looked at her, shocked.

   Mandy gave a small smile as she continued the story. "When they were born, Ethan and I were told that our little baby girl only had a couple hours to live. Rainer and Alice held Ethan Jr, and the rest of us spent what little time we had with our little girl."

  She took a deep breath. "She only lived about five hours, and all of us were pretty shaken up. Two weeks later, us adults were going to go out to a movie and hang out; while a babysitter watched Amilee and Ethan Jr. But I wasn't feeling very well that night, so I decided to stay home and watch the kids while the others went to the movie.

   The police called me a couple hours later," Mandy wiped a tear off her cheek. "They told me an accident had taken place. A drunk driver hit my family. None of them made it, so I gained custody of little Amilee."

   Caleb hugged Mandy as she wiped her tears away.

   "So when Caleb came home two years later, we decided to open this inn, in Liz's name. She'd always talked about wanting to open one, and hadn't gotten a chance to fulfill that dream. So we decided to carry out her legacy."

   "So here we are." Caleb finished.

   "Here we are." Mandy agreed.