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Ever since they got the confirmation of their wedding date, it’s been on every calendar, with a big red circle and at least three exclamation points marking it as important. There’s even been a countdown on their phones, ticking away to the exact time that they would become husbands. Every day since then that passes, is just another day closer to the wedding.
From the moment the confirmation email came through, the planning has been going full steam ahead, and even though it was overwhelming at first, they were soon able to get the hang of it. From then on, it had been a breeze, luckily. There’s been barely any arguments over what flavour of cake to get, or what colour ties to wear. It’s been easy, simple even. It’s almost funny how this is now the second wedding that Callum has been involved in, and yet this time he actually cares enough to plan it, even caring about the table decorations and which song they may want to have their first dance to. It’s such a stark contrast to his first wedding, in every sense. This time, he’s happy. This time, he knows exactly what he wants - and that’s Ben.
Even though they didn’t argue over the little things, there’s always something that goes wrong with every wedding, or causes an argument. For Ben and Callum, that was the seating plan.
The thing is, Ben has a huge family, they both know that. Even with half of his family out of the country, it’s still massive. Even Ben doesn’t know how he’s related to half the people that call themselves his family, and he’s not entirely sure that they know either. He doesn’t want all of his so-called family there either, but he also knows that an argument would probably arise if he neglected to invite certain people, so his best bet was to just invite them to the evening reception. But then when it came to the actual seating plan, Callum had three people to put on it.
Three.
And only one of those three are his actual, blood related family.
Ben saw how much that had upset Callum, seeing everything put into perspective, seeing how many people would be there for Ben, and how little would be there for Callum. So Ben hatched a plan to find Callum’s mum.
His first port of call was Stuart, who had told Ben that Callum wouldn’t even remember her, but eventually had told him where he last knew her to be staying. It ended up being another week or two until Ben managed to track her down, and even then he didn’t know what to say. He just wrote a letter, explaining who he was, and how Callum wants family at his wedding. He left it in a letterbox, half the envelope still hanging out, just in case he decided against it and went back to pull it out, but by the time he was reversing away in his car, the edge of the envelope was gone from sight.
It’s two weeks and three days now until the wedding, and Callum’s job for the day is making sure that all the things for the table decorations have finally arrived. Ben’s out working unexpectedly, needing to go and deliver a car just over an hour away, so Callum’s downstairs on the sofa with a list on the coffee table and the decorations all over the floor. The wedding playlist is playing out of his phone, and he’s content. He’s just about to tick off the first lot of items when there’s a knock at the door. He sighs and puts the pen down, turning the music off before he stands up with a crick of his knees and walks towards the door.
“If you’ve forgotten your keys again I’ll glue them to your han-” Callum opens the door and finds a woman standing outside. She looks upset, nervous even. “Are you ok?” Callum asks thoughtfully, because it’s Callum.
The woman lets out a soft chuckle, her eyes never leaving Callum’s. He sees something familiar in her, but he’s not sure what. “Well I was expecting you to be taller than the last time I saw you, but not quite this tall!”
It’s as though his life almost flashes before his eyes, a million memories from his childhood coming back all in one big rush. He knows exactly who she is then. “M-mum?” He stutters out, his heart racing.It’s only a moment or two, such a short span of time, but he goes through so many emotions all at once - shock, anger, hatred.
“Are you gonna invite me in then?” She asks as if butter wouldn’t melt, as if she hadn’t left him one day, just walked out and never came back home.
Callum doesn’t have it in him to respond verbally, he just moves to the side, holding the door open for her. He watches as she walks into his home, and it’s something that he’s always thought of happening, but also has always known that it was stupid to even think about.
“What are you doing here?” He asks, shutting the door behind them. There’s something in his voice, a shakiness. Nerves. “How did you even find me?”
She sits down - his mum sits down - and the first thing she sees is a photo on the side, one of Ben, Callum and Lexi, taken on a day out at the beach. “Nice family set up I see.” She comments, nodding towards the photo frame.
A chill goes down Callum’s spine, worried and fearful because she doesn’t know him, not anymore. She doesn’t know who he is or what he’s been through or how he’s come out of the other side. His previous coming out to a parent didn’t exactly go to plan, and he doesn’t have the strength to go through all of that again, not now.
“I got a letter through my door the other day.” She states. “Someone called Ben? Is that him?”
Callum smiles to himself at the mention of Ben, though he’s still full of nerves. He nods. “So you know?”
“The wedding?” She asks. “Yeah. Apparently he’d spoken to your brother, and then did a bit of digging and found me. Wanted to ask if I would come to the wedding. Can’t imagine it’s gone down well with your father.”
Callum shrugs. “He’s nothin’ to me anymore. Never really has been. I’ve got my family now.”
There’s a quiet intake of breath, but she knows she deserves that. “So I’ve got a granddaughter. What’s her name?”
“Lexi. She’s Ben’s through and through.” Callum says, because it’s true. She’s getting his cheeky side more and more everyday.
“I remember when you were that little.” His mum reminisces, though the moment’s soon broken up by Callum’s loud scoff.
He looks her straight in the eyes and speaks. “I was younger than Lex when you walked out.” He deadpans. “You just left! You walked out and never came back. You know, I used to sit up at night, listening to Jonno drinking himself half to death, hitting Stu so he didn’t come and hit me, begging for you to come back and save us. But you never did.”
A tear falls down Callum’s cheek, staining his skin momentarily before he wipes it away. He’s never told anyone that before.
“I never wanted to leave you boys with him. I was trying to get away, find somewhere for us to live, and when I came back to get you both, the house was boarded up, you’d moved somewhere else and nobody would tell me where.” Her emotions get the better of her and she starts to shed tears too, wiping them away with the sleeve of her cardigan. “After that, I couldn’t find you. I didn’t even know where to start, you could’ve been anywhere, and then the longer it went on, the more I started to think that you didn’t need me anymore.”
Callum looks up to the ceiling, squeezing his eyes shut so tightly that his head starts to go light, and he sees patterns swirling in the darkness. “I still needed you! I always have done!”
“I’m here now Callum.” She says, and Callum knows that she means that. He can hear the honesty in her voice. “I’m here, and I’m never leaving you again.”