A Reborn Bride Pearl Emerging from Dust

"Callie, don't say that. You're not an outsider," Horatio said, clearly taken aback. "We've always been family. Why don't you come back home for Christmas

dinner? Bring Mr. Myers with you."

Callie gave him an apologetic shrug. "Sorry, but my family's right here. My brothers are with me."

"Wherever they are, that's home," she added, her voice warm and sure.

"But it's Christmas Eve," Horatio insisted, his tone almost pleading. "Shouldn't you be with your real brothers?"

Callie just smiled and looped her arm through Quentin's. Quentin was tall, strikingly handsome, and had that unmistakable military air about him. He looked at people with a quiet authority that made them instinctively straighten their backs. "Horatio," Quentin said, his voice steady, "Callie doesn't want to spend Christmas with you all."

"If you really thought of her as family, you wouldn't have made things so hard for her all these years. You all had time to take the imposter daughter shopping for groceries, but not your real sister, isn't that right?"

Norton and Julius, who had been grabbing other groceries, walked over, their expressions cold.

"That's only because Callie wasn't living at home," Horatio argued, frowning. "If she was, of course we'd have included her. Callie, if you want anything, we'll buy it for you. It's not right to keep bothering these guys. They're not your real brothers, after all."

His words sounded more like he was staking a claim than making an offer, like he was telling Quentin and the others that only the Jewell family were Callie's true siblings. If Callie needed anything, it should be her "real" brothers who paid for it.

Ulysses nodded. "He's right, Callie. Let us get you whatever you want. We're your brothers. It's only right that we pay for your things."

Callie gave them a cool, almost amused look. "You probably can't afford what I want. You should just focus on being Lisette's brothers. You've only ever been able to buy things for her, anyway."

She paused, then added with a shrug, "Oh, and if you want to buy gifts for yournoveldrama

real sister, I'm afraid you'll never get the chance."

Because their real sister had been gone for a long time.

Horatio bristled. "Come on, Callie, it's just a few things from the grocery store. Of course we can afford it." Don't hold a grudge. Family is about blood ties. There's nothing more real than that."

Callie shook her head. "So, Lisette isn't your real sister?"

Horatio faltered, not knowing what to say.

Lisette, standing off to the side, quickly jumped in, "Callie, these are your real brothers. Hanging around with a bunch of guys who aren't

actually related to you just ne

people the wrong idea. And shouldn't you be with your own family for the holidays?"

Callie looked her dead in the eye. "So, it's fine for them to spend time with you, but I'm a terrible person for hanging out with my brothers? You're pretty good at stirring the pot, Lisette."

"If I'm so awful for being with the brothers I chose, aren't they just as awful for being with you, the sister they chose?"

Her words landed hard. Lisette's face turned red as she glanced at the three brothers beside her.

Ulysses, suddenly unsure, looked at Lisette, as if seeing her in a new light. Maybe, just maybe, Callie was right, maybe Lisette had been playing them all along.