Meg's unknown daughter
Cal was the daughter of Meg Dale. She had first come to the fictional community of Rosehill, New York, after intercepting a letter from her aunt Vanessa Dale, asking Meg to return to Rosehill to see her mother (and Cal's grandmother) Sarah Dale, who was in the hospital near death.
Sadly, she had been mercilessly neglected by her mother, just like her half-brother Ben "Beanie" Harper had been when he was younger. Vanessa welcomed the lonely Cal with open arms, as did the rest of her family.
Some time later, Meg herself had come to Rosehill, along with Ben. She had married the very corrupt mayor of Rosehill, Jeff Hart, and caused serious trouble between the two of them. Among his crimes, he had both Vanessa and Cal locked in a meat freezer at the local meat packing plant, when they discovered that the school "beef" that Cal was being served at school was really horsemeat.
Cal had met David Hart, Jeff's son, from a previous marriage, and had fallen in love with him. This was easy since they both lived under the same roof as their parents.
By this time, Meg had realized that Jeff was a true monster and had divorced him. She helped her brother in-law Bruce Sterling acquire evidence that would have impeached Jeff and had him thrown in prison. He was ready to leave Rosehill in due haste, but he had one last thing to do. He raped his poor stepdaughter. David Hart had caught him in the act, and shot him dead for it. For this, he was institutionalized in a sanitarium.
Cal was beyond distraught. Her compassionate Aunt Vanessa called her stepfather, Edouard Aleata, who had been the only father she had ever known, and he came to her side when she needed him. She still saw him as a father figure, and he showered his hurt daughter with the love that she needed at this time.
Meanwhile, Rick Latimer, a man who was seeing her mother, Meg, had been enchanted by Cal. Rick fell deeply in love with Cal, and this angered Meg. But, however, as was often the case, whenever she tried to get her way with things, failed.
Cal was so angry with her mother (and with Rick when he admitted what he had done), that she drove off totally distraught, and crashed her car into an embankment. This, added to the grief that she had dealt with during the rape, was enough for Edouard to come to Rosehill and he confronted Meg over what she had done to Cal.
Rick was very worried about Cal, which led to him breaking off with Meg and throwing her financial backing in her face. After she was well enough to do so, she and Rick got married. She proved to be a fantastic mother to Hank, Rick's son by his first marriage to Barbara Sterling. After all the trouble they went through dealing with the unrepentant Meg, Cal, Rick and Hank left Rosehill and moved to Montreal to begin a new life together.
