Yes.
Because I will survive this. I will find a way to fix this. To escape this.
And the entire time I am doing that, I will be the strongest mother my two girls could ever need. They will never know the struggles I am facing. They will never feel the burden of what I’m carrying.
“Miss?”
A voice drags me from my thoughts, and I realize we are stopped outside my apartment building.
“Oh, sorry, I was lost in thought,” I smile tightly.
“No problem, miss. That's your total,” he gestures at the screen, and I tap my phone against the box to pay him for the ride.
“Thank you, have a wonderful day,” I mutter on autopilot, still deep in thought and distracted.
As I climb out of the cab, I notice a moving van parked out front near the entrance doors of the building.
Two bulky-looking men come out of those doors carrying my new sofa, and I groan. Yes. This is very, very real.
I push past them, not bothering to talk to them because they're just doing their job, and head upstairs to see my kids.
The girls are sitting on the floor in the corner of the living room, playing games with Stella.
Stella stands up when she sees me, cocking her head to the side.
“I almost called the police!” she says.
“I know, I’m so sorry,” I laugh. “They only told me about the added bonus of moving to a bigger house this morning, and then they had the movers and everything ready, so I said, sure, go ahead.”
“Well, just before you texted me, I was about to beat one of them up with a frying pan. The man just barged in here and announced he was taking everything,” she scoffs.
I giggle, picturing Stella chasing one of those giant men with a frying pan. She’s rather petite and doesn’t look like the type to resort to violence.
I feel horrible that she had to go through that fright. Of course, if I were in control of any of this, I would have given her much more warning and time before anyone came to move anything. But Josiah is bullying his way through everything, and for now, I am forced to sit back and go with the flow. But it doesn’t mean I’m not taking in every detail in search of a way out.
Kelsey and Kira realize that I’ve walked in and jump up from their games.
“Mama!” they both shout in unison.
“Hi, babies, have you been good today?” I ask.
“We aren’t babies, we’re big girls now,” Kelsey complains. She always complains when I call them my little babies. Kira still seems to enjoy it.
Kira wraps herself around me and snuggles her cheek against my hip. “Are we going to a new place?” she asks, looking up at me with her father’s dark blue eyes.
I swallow hard, pushing away the dread.
“Yes, munchkin. It’s so exciting. We’re going somewhere even better than this!” I say, gesturing around the small apartment.
“Where?”
“You are just going to have to wait and see,” I grin. In truth, I have no idea where we’re going.
Looking up at Stella, I smile, trying to hide my anxiety. “I didn’t get a chance to ask you yet, but I want you to move with us,” I say, raising my brows, hopeful.
“Of course, yes. You guys are stuck with me,” she smiles.
I breathe a sigh of relief. It’s one thing I don’t have to worry about.
