Vanessa understood the allure of love and of Mark; she too had paid the price. In school, she had thought he was the one, but after they’d married, she’d seen the real Mark. The man who was a powder keg waiting to explode.

‘I’d better go. I don’t want him to find me here.’ She looked around her as if expecting him to catch her in the act at any second.

‘Maggie, I’m glad you came. Maybe we can get past this and be friends again.’

‘I’d like that. I’ve missed you, Ness.’ Vanessa touched her on the arm briefly, saw her to the door and watched her drive away. She empathized with her, she really did, but she had her own worries, namely protecting Wren and three-day-old Ty. She would ensure that they were safe from their dad. Forever.

5

Vanessa was walking down the street on her way to the grocery store, so intent on finding her cellphone in the depths of her bag that she didn’t see the man in front of her until she collided with something unyielding. Gasping in shock, she took a step back and looked up. At first there was no recognition there until he said in a surprised tone, ‘Vanessa?’

She took a good look at the large man whose bulk blocked the sun from her view. ‘Oh my God, Billy! Hi, how are you?’

‘I’m great.’ She noted his eyes as they ran over her, taking in her long, scruffy, tangled hair, the blue-black tinge under her eye and the yellowing bruise that marred the side of her face. Suddenly she was self-conscious and tried to flatten down her hair into some semblance of order.

‘You look good,’ she said, and he did. Billy had been a friend from school. They hadn’t exactly travelled in the same circles, but he was one of the few people who had been nice to her after everything with Mark and Maggie back in school.

He gave her the signature smile that she remembered: lopsided and sincere. She felt her stomach do a lazy turn and was taken aback by it. She hadn’t showed an interest in anyone, so gun-shy she was with men. Mark may have played the field and slept around, but she had been faithful to a man that would have cared if she had cheated but only because it would have reflected badly on him. She was his, he’d told her often enough.

Ignoring the feeling in her stomach, she asked Billy what he was doing in town. Last she’d heard, he had been living in the city.

‘My mom passed away recently and I’m here to sort out her house so I can sell it.’

‘Oh, Billy, I’m so sorry, I didn’t even know she was sick.’