Take It From Me

chapter one

I lightly knock on my son's door and hear a quiet "come in", and I walk in.

"You should get up now if you don't want to be late for school," I walk over to his window and pull back the blinds.

"Can I stay home today Mommy? I won't be missing anything at all, I just really don't feel like going today..." he nuzzles under his blanket even more.

"Sure thing, you promise you don't have anything going on that's important today?" as he shakes his head no, I smile. "Okay, well I'm home today so we can relax together!"

"Yay!" he giggles and I sit on his bed and brush back his morning hair. 

"But you do need to get up and brush your teeth," I playfully gag and he nods. I leave his room, but I notice he quickly dozed off again. Kids.

I walk into my cozy little living room and turn on the tv for some background noise as I do some work from home and munch away at my breakfast. 

Not even ten minutes in I hear a knock on my door. It's odd for someone to be knocking at my door at 8 am. I get up to answer it, quickly looking into the peephole cautiously. Standing there are two men in nice suits, looking intensely at the door. I open the door cautiously and greet them.

"Hello, may I help you?"

"Are you London Winget?" One of the men asks and I open the door wider.

"It would appear so," I say glancing at what the man is holding in his hands. It's a light pink envelope, wrapped as if it held the world's future in its grip. The man hands me the envelope and nods. 

"Have a nice day Miss," the other one says and they both walk away. Again, this is very odd. I look down at the envelope, but it doesn't appear to have a return address on it. 

I close my door and double-check to make sure I lock it before sitting back down on my couch. I stare at the envelope for a few minutes, unsure of what to do next. I sigh and just place it down on the couch beside me and ignore it.  

Just then Joseph comes prancing into the living room and sitting down next to me. 

"Who came by Mommy? Their knock woke me up again," he says glancing over to the envelope beside me reaching for it. "Oo, that's pretty can I open it?"

"Joseph no, I don't know who those men were, and I don't know what's in there. It could be unsafe, please don't touch it."

"Could it be something from Daddy?" he asks bouncing up and down and I tense up, oh dear I hope not. I let out a sigh and grab the letter, I've prolonged this enough.

"Honey, go grab your breakfast before it gets cold," I say not taking my eyes off the envelope as my heart rate quickens. It does look like something he would pull. Joseph gets up and runs off into the kitchen as I begin to open the letter.

I unwrap the piece of paper, slowly reading the first line.

Dear London Wingten

Oh no. I feel the tears well up in my eyes as I read through the letter, that sly bastard knew how to get to me. (the letter is in the prologue) The tears continue cascading down my cheeks and I let out a sob. 

Joseph runs in after hearing my soft cry and sits next to me. He hugs me and doesn't say anything. I look inside of the envelope and there's a picture of Ethan, Joseph and me two years ago, right before I left.

I look so incredibly happy and content with life, oh if only she knew what would follow the week after that picture was taken.

"I'm sorry Joseph, you shouldn't have to see your mother like this," I say as I hug him back.

"It's okay Mommy, everyone has those days," he says and pulls away. "Can I eat my breakfast in my room?"

I nod slightly and he runs off grabbing the picture on his way out of the room. I take a deep breath and put the letter back into the envelope.  I walk into the bathroom and wipe down my face. He found me, he really found me. Why did you hold on for so long Ethan, I was just a stupid girl.

I brush my hair and change and walk into Joseph's room.

"Hey you up for some ice-cream?" I ask him and my 6 year old jumps up from his table in excitement.

"ALWAYS!" he giggles and I can't help smiling, this was so worth it. 

We walk towards my car and I can't help thinking how this is the last piece I have left of him. I left everything behind in hopes to protect my family, and I had to start over from scratch. Ethan got me this car for my 21st birthday, who knew I would still be driving this car 5 years later. 

The drive to Dairy Queen seems longer than usual, my whole body feels tense and out of place, but Joseph is bouncing around in the backseat. Oh to be 6 again, and only feel pain for a few minutes. 

We walk into the Dairy Queen and get in line, and just as I'm about to pay for our ice cream a guy steps in.

"Let me get that for you," he smiles and I smile back.

"No it's fine," I say.

"I insist," he says and I nod giving in, not looking to argue.

We take our ice cream cones and I turn to thank the guy.

"Thank you, you really didn't have to do that," I laugh and he shakes his head. 

"It was no issue for a pretty girl like you, is he yours or are you babysitting?" the guy asks as we all sit down at a table.

"Mine," I shrug.

"Well you look way too young to be a mother, is there a father in the picture?" he chuckles, staring at me intently.

"No, there isn't," I chuckle looking around.

"Sir please stop talking my mother up," Joseph grunts pouting.

"Well I think if your Mom didn't like it she would say something," he smirks and I grimace.

"Thank you sir for the icecream, but please don't talk to my son like that, here I'll pay you back so there are no hard feelings. I think we're going to go," I say standing up and placing a ten on the table. "Keep the change," I say and grab Joseph's hand and we walk out. 

"I don't like him," Joseph says pouting and I nod.

"Me neither," I shake my head and we walk to my car, sitting down and locking the doors quickly.