‘Not this again,’ she said impatiently. ‘Just sign them.’

‘Or what?’

‘Or I’ll show the cops the security footage of you assaulting me at the café.’

‘What?’ His condescending smile slipped a little. ‘There are no cameras.’

‘Actually, Toby had them installed after his dad was beaten up and the café trashed.’

She slid the papers across the bar. ‘Sign them.’ She watched him carefully as he reluctantly signed and initialed every page. ‘We’ll be officially divorced in six months, maybe less and we’ll never have to see each other again.’ She slid the signed papers safely back into her bag.

He didn’t need to know that there was no security footage…

12

Wren and Ty took the news of her and Billy’s engagement exactly how she expected them to: they were both overjoyed that Billy had finally asked her to marry him. Wren shook his hand like the man he was becoming, but Billy pulled him in for a hug anyway, and Ty came racing up to him and threw himself into Billy’s arms.

‘You know he asked my permission first,’ said Wren proudly to his mom.

‘He did?’

‘Yup. Said that I had been your protector for such a long time and he couldn’t think of a better person to ask. I get the feeling that he wouldn’t have asked you if I’d said no. He knows that I’m your best friend.’

She felt a swell of love toward her eldest boy. He was her protector. He was her best friend. Ty came over to her and gave her a hug. ‘I’m glad that Billy’s gonna be our dad now.’ The young boy smiled.

‘Me too, sweetheart,’ she said, giving him a hug, then tousling his hair.

The official divorce papers came through six weeks after she’d filed them. Much sooner than she had expected. She looked at the notarized certificate with a sense of pride; she felt like framing it as she kissed it with glee. She was finally, truly free of Mark. He would never want to see the kids, so she wouldn’t have to even see him again. She quickly thought of Maggie, safely tucked away at her dad’s place. Mark still hadn’t found her. She had been there for over two months now and, knowing Mark, he would still think that she would come crawling back to him, unable to make it in the real world.

Vanessa thought of how much her mother would have loved to have seen this day. She missed her so much. Her getting divorced from Mark was reason to celebrate. She couldn’t wait to tell Billy and the kids.