Vanessa looked at her mom as Wren settled back on the bed. ‘I kicked him out,’ her mom stated.

‘Oh, Mom, I’m sorry. I didn’t want you to be unhappy, I just had to tell you.’

‘Let’s not speak of that right now,’ she said, ‘not when we have a new addition to the family. What’s his name?’

‘Well, since Mark won’t care, I’m naming him Tyson, Ty for short.’

Wren smiled and her mom peered down at the baby now swaddled on her daughter’s chest. ‘Hey, Ty, welcome to the world. You are so loved.’

Vanessa swallowed the lump in her throat and looked over at her eldest son. ‘I couldn’t have done it without you, Wren. Thank you, honey.’

Vanessa knew that her mom wanted to ask where Mark was and why he wasn’t here, so she answered before she could. ‘He didn’t want to come. With Maggie, I suppose.’

‘I had heard the rumors. They’re true, I take it?’

‘They are.’

‘And she had the cheek to call you the S-word,’ she said over Wren’s head. Vanessa gave a quiet chuckle at her mom’s comment.

Her mom took a reluctant Wren home with her for the next few days, although they came up and visited Vanessa and Ty for a few hours a day. Vanessa used the time to think. By the day she returned home, she’d created a plan, but she needed her mom’s help to carry it out.

She had to leave. The safety of her children was paramount. She didn’t care about his threats anymore.

Vanessa had just started packing Wren’s suitcase when she heard a knock at the front door. She stuffed the suitcase into the back of the wardrobe and walked to the door. She moved aside the curtain and paused for a moment.

She opened the door. ‘Maggie. What are you doing here?’ she asked in a flat voice. She didn’t have time for this.

‘Can I come in?’ Maggie said, looking around her as if paranoid someone would catch the two of them talking.

If Maggie wanted to talk, then Vanessa didn’t have much choice, but she needed to make it quick. ‘Come in, but I really only have five minutes – I have to go and pick Wren up. What’s wrong?’ she asked, getting to the heart of the matter.

‘It’s cozy,’ Maggie commented, looking around the room.

‘Yeah, it’s a real palace,’ Vanessa said sarcastically. ‘Maggie, why are you here?’

‘I wasn’t very nice to you when you came to see me.’

‘That’s fine, Maggie.’ If all she wanted was absolution, then Vanessa was happy to give it to her, but she needed for her to go.