Chapter 7 - The Safe Haven
“Mom? What are we going to do?” Maya’s voice was trembling, tears brimming at the edges of her eyelids.
I took a deep, shuddering breath, forcing the panic back down into the dark corners of my mind. “We are not going to break down. That’s what he wants.”
I grabbed my purse, took Maya’s hand, and pulled her toward the sidewalk. “Come on. We’re going to Aunt Clara’s.”
Clara was my older sister. We hadn't spoken regularly in nearly three years—largely because Robert had slowly and methodically isolated me from my family, convincing me that Clara was “toxic” and “envious” of our suburban lifestyle. In reality, Clara had seen through Robert’s controlling nature from the very beginning, and her sharp critiques had driven a wedge between us that I had been too blind to mend.
We dragged our two cardboard boxes down the three blocks to Clara’s modest, brick bungalow.
When I knocked on the red front door, it swung open almost immediately. Clara stood there in her paint-splattered apron, her grey-streaked hair pulled back in a messy bun. She looked from me to the heavy boxes on her porch, and then down at Maya’s pale face and wristband from the hospital.
She didn't ask a single question. She simply opened her arms wide.
“Get in here,” Clara said softly. “Both of you.”
Within twenty minutes, Clara had Maya tucked safely into her spare bedroom upstairs with a warm heating pad, a bowl of homemade chicken soup, and a bottle of pain medication.
Downstairs in the cozy, cluttered kitchen, Clara poured two large mugs of dark coffee and set one in front of me.
“He locked us out, Clara,” I whispered, staring at the steam rising from the mug. “He drained our savings. He changed the locks on our house while Maya was in surgery.”
Clara leaned against the counter, her jaw tight, her blue eyes blazing with a quiet fire. “I knew Robert was a cheap bastard, Sarah, but I never imagined he was a monster.”
“I don't have a job,” I sobbed, burying my face in my hands. “I haven't worked in fifteen years. I have no income, no credit cards in my name, and the hospital bill is going to be tens of thousands of dollars. He’s going to destroy me in court.”
Clara walked over, grabbed my hands, and squeezed them with ferocious strength.
“Listen to me, Sarah,” Clara said, her voice hard as steel. “He thinks he can bully you because he has the money. He thinks you’re weak because you’ve been quiet for fifteen years. But you walked into an emergency room, defied him, and saved your daughter’s life. You are not weak.”
She reached for her phone on the counter and tapped the screen.
May you like
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“I’m calling Evelyn Vance,” Clara replied coolly. “She’s the top family law attorney in the state. She also happens to be my college roommate. And Robert Thorne is about to learn what happens when you kick a mother while she’s down.”
