Chapter 10
Five years later.
I’m sitting on the porch of our new house.
The one I bought all by myself.
No mortgage.
No husband.
No lies.
It’s bigger than the last one.
It has a pool.
A huge backyard.
A treehouse that Noah and I built together.
Noah is thirteen now.
Almost as tall as me.
He’s in eighth grade.
He plays football.
He makes straight A’s.
He has a girlfriend named Emma who comes over every weekend and beats him at Mario Kart.
He’s happy.
Healthy.
Whole.
He hasn’t mentioned Ryan in three years.
And when he does, it’s like he’s talking about a stranger he saw on TV once.
Not his father.
Mia still lives with us.
She met a woman named Claire last year.
They’re getting married next spring.
Noah is going to walk Mia down the aisle.
We’re all going to be a family.
A real one.
Jenna is a nurse now.
She works at the children’s hospital downtown.
Liam is five.
He and Noah are best friends.
They call each other “half-brothers.”
They spend every other weekend at our house.
Jenna comes too.
We barbecue.
We swim.
We watch movies.
We’re family too.
Diane got ten years.
She’s up for parole next year.
But it doesn’t matter.
The lifetime restraining order still stands.
If she ever gets out, she can’t come within a mile of us.
And even if she tried…
Well.
Let’s just say I’m still prepared.
Ryan is still in prison.
Maximum security.
He’ll die there.
He’s tried to contact Noah a few times.
Letters.
Cards.
Birthday presents.
We send them all back unopened.
Noah doesn’t want them.
He doesn’t need them.
He has everything he needs right here.
Tonight is Noah’s thirteenth birthday.
We’re having a big party.
All his friends are here.
The pool is full of screaming kids.
The grill is going.
Music is playing.
Noah is in the middle of it all, laughing, throwing his friend into the deep end.
I watch him.
And I think about that day.
The day I came home early from work.
The day I found Diane hitting my son.
The day I found the phone.
The day my whole life fell apart.
And I realize something.
That day was the best thing that ever happened to me.
If I hadn’t come home early…
If I hadn’t found the recording…
I would still be married to a monster.
I would still be living a lie.
And Noah would have grown up in a house full of hate and violence.
Instead, we got a second chance.
A fresh start.
A real life.
Noah runs over to me, soaking wet, grinning from ear to ear.
“Mom! Mom! Did you see that? I did a backflip off the diving board!”
“I saw, baby! It was amazing!”
He hugs me.
He’s getting too old for hugs.
But he still gives them to me.
At least when his friends aren’t looking.
“Thanks for the party, Mom. It’s the best one ever.”
“You’re welcome, sweetie. Happy birthday.”
He runs back to his friends.
Mia walks over and hands me a glass of wine.
She leans against the porch rail next to me.
“Penny for your thoughts?” she says.
I smile.
“I was just thinking. We did good, huh?”
Mia laughs.
“Are you kidding? We did great. Look at him. Look at all of this. We took the worst thing that ever happened to us and turned it into the best life ever. Screw Ryan Carter. He thought he could destroy us. Instead, he made us stronger. He made us better. He gave us this.”
She gestures at the party.
At the kids laughing.
At Claire flipping burgers at the grill.
At Jenna chasing Liam around the yard with a water gun.
“Life is funny like that,” Mia says.
“Sometimes the worst things that happen to you are actually the best things in disguise. You just have to be strong enough to see it. And brave enough to fight for it.”
I take a sip of my wine.
I look at my son.
At my family.
At the life I built with my own two hands.
And I know she’s right.
I went through hell.
I lost everything.
I fought for my life and for my son’s life.
And I won.
Not because I was lucky.
Not because someone saved me.
But because I was strong.
Because I was brave.
Because a mother’s love is the most powerful force in the world.
And nothing can stand against it.
Not lies.
Not betrayal.
Not monsters.
Nothing.
The sun is setting now.
The sky is pink and orange and purple.
It’s beautiful.
Noah yells for me to come jump in the pool.
I put down my wine.
I kick off my shoes.
And I run.
I jump into the water with all my clothes on.
Noah screams with laughter.
He splashes me.
I splash him back.
For a moment, there’s nothing else.
No past.
No pain.
No fear.
Just this.
Just now.
Just us.
May you like
And it’s perfect.
The End.
