Page 1 of Time To Learn

Prologue

Laura Turley

Breathe.

In.

Out.

Don't think. Don't look back. Don't be afraid that he's following you. Take heart that you've gotaway.

That you are free of him atlast.

My body is tormented with shivers, and my tummy clenches when I think back on how things went in court today. I clasp my fingers together, twisting and turning them in my lap until the pain makes megasp.

“You okay, babe?” Trish’s concerned voice pulls me out of the fog my brain’s been in the last couple of months.

I swallow the lump in my throat and try to smile at the part of her face I can see in the rear-view mirror.

“I’ll be okay,” I croak.

I haven’t spoken freely for so long. The unfamiliar tone of my voice surprises me, and I wonder for how long I’ve sounded so dull and lifeless. Now that I’m starting to see things more clearly, I know that’s not how I used tobe.

Her blue eyes soften at my vague answer, but just as I fear that she’s about to ask me more questions, her gaze shifts from mine and turns back to the road in front of her. I slump in my seat and close myeyes.

The truth is that I’m the furthest from okay that a person could possibly be—especially after just having been acquitted from cold-blooded murder.

“Mummy?”

I look to my left, at the most precious thing in the whole world sitting next to me—my daughter, Ailith.

“Yes, sweetie?” My smile is forced, crooked. I know she doesn't believeit.

“Will he...will he come afterus?”

My heart breaks at the trembling fear I can hear in her voice.

Shaking my head, I reach for her hand and glance at the road in front of us. My hand trembles badly, but the touch of her skin on mine is like a balm to my wounded soul, and I take courage fromit.

Thank God it's summer and the road is clear. At least we don't have to worry about a storm.

“No. He won't come after us, I promise,” I whisper. “He won't hurt us ever again.”

Silence.

“I hate him,” she whispersthen.

I want to break down andcry.

She’s too young to know what hateis.

I keep telling myself that Ailith doesn't really understand what's happening, or why Trish is driving us. I told her that we're going on an adventure, that we're visiting her Nan, and while that part is true, I didn't tell her that the duration of our visit will be permanent.

But I should've known better. My daughter is only six years old, but she's smart, perceptive. I wish she could've kept the innocence of childhood for longer; that I could've shielded the cruelty happening in our own home fromher.

I've failed in so many ways as a mother in the past, but nomore.

“I hate him, too,” I whisper before I clear my throat, trying to get my emotions under control. “I swear to you that I won't let anything happen to you,” I vow. I chance another quick glance at her, squeezing her hand in mine. The tears on her freckled cheeks break my heart.