Toby touched base with her less and less as time progressed. He could see that the café’s numbers showed promise so he was very happy with her. She had hired a part-timer, Leanne, a girl in her twenties who was able to take the shifts that Vanessa couldn’t. Quite often, Vanessa’s mom would pop down with the boys if she were working the late shift. Wren, now eleven, would come behind the counter and help her serve people, telling them to have a good day, or help her cook out the back. He was such great company, and those times together only served to highlight just how delightful he was. Her mom would sit out the back with Ty, who Vanessa cuddled whenever she could. He was growing up so fast, and her heart swelled with love every time she thought about her children.

She still thought about Mark often. He knew where she worked, the town was only so big, yet he’d made no effort to harass her. It unnerved her more than she cared to think. What was he playing at? She had seen him standing across the road staring at the café a couple of times. It was only a matter of time, she was sure of it. She tried not to worry, but subtlety was not one of Mark’s strong points, so of course she was wary. It made her uncomfortable knowing that he could come for her at any time.

Vanessa still worried about protecting her boys. She worried that she’d put too much weight on Wren’s small shoulders. After all he’d seen, to be growing up into such a wonderful young man was a credit to his personality. He was also a great big brother and would make a great role model when Ty was older.

Another few months passed without her seeing Mark at all. He stopped standing across the road, staring at the café. With her fingers crossed, it seemed like he was finally going to let her and the boys go. She had expected, well, she didn’t know what she expected, but silence from him wasn’t it. Over a year of silence.

She hadn’t seen Billy for a few days. He had decided to set up a new business since he was going to be in town for the foreseeable future, landscaping, like he’d been doing since he’d left high school. He loved working with his hands, designing gardens for clients. Although he’d used the excuse that sorting his mother’s house was taking longer than anticipated, Vanessa knew that his future depended on her; he was just too polite or scared to say so. With his landscaping business he sometimes had Wren help him do easy jobs like weeding. Wren got a kick out of driving around in the pickup, sitting up front, being treated like a man by Billy and earning some pocket money.