One night, three weeks after she had caught her dad with Maggie, she had just put Wren down for a nap after a feed when there was a knock at the door. She glanced at the hall clock. It was after nine in the evening.

‘C’mon, Ness. Let me in, I want to explain.’ It was her father. He was drunk, standing on her doorstep, yelling at her through the window to let him in. She opened the wooden front door but left the screen door bolted.

‘I don’t want anything to do with you, Dad. Leave me alone.’

He tried to open the door until he realized that it was locked. ‘She came on to me!’

‘Like that makes it OK. You’ve known her since she was five, what the hell is wrong with you? What about Mom? Have you told her yet?’

‘I’m sorry.’

‘You’re apologizing to the wrong person.’ She hardened her heart against him. Two liars in her life was two more liars that she could handle.

‘I can’t tell her, she’ll leave me,’ he wailed.

‘Well, you should have thought about that before you fucked Maggie, shouldn’t you? I won’t forgive you until you tell Mom. Did you know she did it for revenge? Or are you so deluded that you thought she actually liked you?’

He shook his head.

‘Get out of here, Dad, I don’t want to see you again. I have enough shit without adding yours to the pile.’ Vanessa closed the door on him. He called her name a couple of times but she stayed strong. When it went quiet, she peered through the side window, watching as he sloped off to his house three streets away.

Mark would be home soon. She needed to clean her face. She’d been crying again. Wren was a wonderful baby and so easy to care for, but she was exhausted and cried all the time when Mark wasn’t around.

Who knew what kind of mood Mark would be in when he came home? She could usually tell by the way he pulled up and walked into the house. Sometimes he was cordial to her, treating her like a stranger that he had to be polite to, and other days, he was into her the moment he walked through the door. They lived in a small, two-bedroom home with a huge backyard. Vanessa loved taking Wren into the backyard to feel the sun on his face, drooling on her while she read a book, or tried to. These treasured moments with Wren were all that kept her sane. She had no friends, save her mom, and keenly missed having a chat to someone without having to watch and evaluate every word that came out of her mouth. In those first few months of motherhood, she grew up fast. She matured beyond her years. Her mom visited her every couple of days bringing nappies, formula and food for the pantry. While Mark had a good-paying full-time job, he often drank away the extra money, leaving them short on bills. Her mom helped, occasionally slipping money into her bag. Vanessa would cry when she found it, but she couldn’t afford to return it. Would they ever get out from under their mediocre lives?