‘I really should do it myself, but thanks, Vanessa.’ He gripped her hand back, giving her a gentle smile. Patting his hand one last time, she stood up and drove home, wondering what kind of man would beat up a defenseless old-timer. A thought crossed her mind, which she dismissed, but in the late hours of the morning she revisited it. Someone had broken into the café with the intention of completely destroying it. Maybe, just maybe, someone angry, out for revenge, trashed it and old man Phillips just happened to be there. He was certainly capable. Mark.

9

It had been nearly three months since the attack in her own home, but every time Vanessa walked down the hallway she relived the moment that he had thrown her to the threadbare carpet and done what he did. She couldn’t get the look of determination in Wren’s eyes as he smashed the lamp on his dad’s head out of her head. He would do anything to protect her, at all costs. Allies, confidants and friends as well as a mother and son. Theirs was a relationship that could not be broken. Billy had once said to Wren that he was the man of the house and that it was his responsibility to protect his mom and baby brother. So far, Vanessa couldn’t fault him.

But then again, Billy was shouldering much of the burden of protecting her family too. He was such a sweet and caring man, very protective of the three of them, like they were his family. She figured that since he didn’t have his own, perhaps they were. It felt nice to belong to something special. She knew that she was a lucky woman, having a man like him in her – their – lives. At school, their friend groups had overlapped; he was more friends with Mark, but they had got to know each other, bumping into each other frequently at parties that she would go to with Mark and Maggie. He had always been nice to her, and he was one of the few people that had still talked to her or stood up for her after the whole pregnancy thing. She had never forgotten the time he’d even stood up to Maggie.

Maggie had been calling her a slut, egged on by her friends. They had Vanessa cornered while Maggie went to town on her, unleashing her rage on her in the most vicious and public way. Vanessa had been on the verge of tears but hadn’t wanted to give them the satisfaction, so she’d forced a mask of indifference over her features.

‘Enough!’ roared a voice. Maggie, stunned, had stopped her tirade.

The crowd that had gathered to watch the drama unfold parted for Billy, heads above the rest as he’d shouldered his way through them.