at bay. I went through the motions of feeding my baby in his high chair while my mind was in turmoil. And then the phone rang, it had only been two hours since I left the mall.
“Bring my son to me or I’ll make you regret the day you drew your first fucking breath.” And then he hung up. I dropped to the floor as my legs gave out from under me. My first thought once again was to run. I even went around the apartment grabbing stuff to take on the run with us. Calen Jr.’s favorite stuffed toy, his blanket that he came home from the hospital with and was hardly ever without…
Then I realized it was fruitless. There’s nowhere in the world I can hide from my ex. Not with his money, resources and connections. He may not have come after me, but I had no doubt that he’d move heaven and earth to find his child. So I did the only thing I could do. I cleaned my son up and took him back downstairs to the car and proceeded to make the drive to what was once my marital home.
It was only a short half an hour drive away but felt like a lifetime. Calen was waiting outside the Grecian palatial mansion for us when I pulled down the long winding driveway. He didn’t even look in my direction as his hand reached for the backdoor where our son sat bundled into the car seat.
“Open it!” His words came to me through the protection of the glass. My hand trembled and I felt like I was going to throw up any second when I reached for the button to open the childproof door. I remember the way he’d snatched the door open. The way he’d stood there looking down at the evidence of my perfidy only then realizing just what I’d done.
I watched as he covered his mouth with his fingers just above his top lip. Something I’d seen him do a hundred times when he was trying to calm himself down. He still hadn’t acknowledged my presence as he stared down at our son who had fallen asleep on the ride but was now coming awake. I felt my womb contract as I watched him watch our baby for the first time.
I knew very well what he was seeing. The sun-blonde hair full of wild curls, and those blue-blue eyes that mirrored his to perfection. His eyes flicked to me in cold anger for just a brief second but I felt that look in my soul. It hurt, oh how it hurt. Thankfully it didn’t last long as he returned his gaze to our son who’s never met a stranger and was already smiling up at this new person.
Calen squatted inside the car door and looked at his son with something approaching awe on his face. “Hello little one, I’m your daddy.” His voice seemed to choke on the last word and I felt ashamed of what I’d done, what I’d robbed him of.
Then he got to his feet and unsnapped the straps holding my son in his protective seat and I jumped out of the car on the other side. “Please…” My voice was a tinny whisper but he heard. The look he threw me over the top of the car which I was clinging to since I could no longer feel my feet should be labeled a lethal weapon.
“I’m taking my son inside, you can come if you want it’s up to you.” My eyes fell to the tic in his jaw and I got to see what I’d not seen the day I walked out on him without a word. Hate, murderous barely concealed hate. I barely held back the moan of despair as I followed them inside.
Giselle
He’d changed everything. I felt the painful jolt in my heart as the severity of what that meant sank in. This is the home he’d bought for me, just for me. Though we shared it, it was everything I ever wanted in a home, every little girl’s dream, mine anyways, down to the turrets and miles and miles of glass that had always reflected the afternoon sun.
The house had been built as a replica of an old, sixteenth-century Italian castle. My own real-life palace on a hill that overlooked a beautiful valley down below. It was surrounded by nature’s beauty outside and full of grandeur and elegance inside.