Vanessa knocked on the door, which was opened by her mom after checking who was there through the peephole. It was nighttime after all. She took one look at her daughter with her grandson strapped to her body and threw the door open wide. ‘Come inside, quickly.’ She ushered Vanessa in before sticking her head back out and looking up and down the street. Her mom showed her and the softly mewling Wren into the kitchen where she made a calming cup of tea. Vanessa placed her sweet baby boy into the portable cot her mom had set up in the spare room. She watched him for a few minutes as he went back to sleep, delaying the time until she had to explain why she was on her parents’ doorstep in the middle of the night.

‘What happened, Ness?’ asked her mom quietly, when Vanessa walked into the kitchen a few minutes later.

‘Nothing.’

‘Vanessa,’ she warned, ‘don’t lie to me.’

‘I asked Mark for money to pay the electricity bill.’

‘Does he hit you?’ She asked, her hand waving in the direction of her face. She tried to hold Vanessa’s gaze, but Vanessa looked away.

‘When he can catch me,’ Vanessa said sadly. ‘I deserve this. It’s my trade-off for what I did. For having Wren.’

Her mom reached out and touched her daughter’s hand. ‘Darl, if you want to come home, just say so. We’d love to have you.’

‘No,’ Vanessa said quickly. She couldn’t live under the same roof as her dad again, not until her mom knew the truth. ‘It’s OK, I can deal with Mark. I just needed to give him some time to cool off.’

‘Well why don’t you and Wren stay tonight at least?’

Vanessa looked at the clock over the sink. ‘I’d better be getting home. I just needed a breather, that’s all. Thanks for the tea, Mom.’

‘Do you want me to give you the money for the electricity bill?’

Vanessa hadn’t felt this low in a long time. Her mom had given more than enough already, money that she herself couldn’t afford, but Vanessa was stuck. ‘Yes please,’ she whispered, ashamed but also grateful. She hugged her mom and then fetched Wren from the spare room. She hadn’t seen her dad and she didn’t want to. He would have heard her arrive and was deliberately staying out of her way.

He came home, out of the blue, during the middle of his shift. Vanessa had put Wren down for a sleep and was making potato salad for dinner when the front door banged open, rebounding off the wall. Startled, she didn’t register the look on his face until he grabbed her by the arm and dragged her to the bedroom.

They hadn’t had sex since the night that Wren had been conceived. He couldn’t stand her, and she couldn’t stomach the thought of him touching her. She had become so disillusioned with her husband; the only time he laid hands on her was when he hit her.