Ruthless Revenge

Chapter 4

"Mommy! Mommy!" I jerked my head at the sound of the childish voice. I barely had time to catch my not-quite-three-year-old son as Kieran hurled himself down the hallway and into my arms for a hug. This was his usual response when I entered my neighbour's apartment.

"Hey, baby." I rubbed my nose gently against his. "Did you have fun with Ms. Johnson today?"

He nodded his head with a smile. "We made paper planes!" Kieran waved the string of paper figures at me with a smile. "I'm going to colour it."

I smiled at my son and drank in the sight of him, earnest blue eyes, rosy cheeks and fly-away dark curls.

"You yike it?" he asked lifting his plane to show me.

I nodded. "I love it."

What would I have done without him? Leaving Holding had been the worst nightmare a woman could ever have. One day, we were happily making love and the next I was walking away from him on bended knees.

Finding out I was pregnant a few days after my grandmother died was what kept me together. His birth gave me hope that I could be happy again.

I lifted my eyes to the older woman. "Looks like you two had a fun day. How long did he nap today?"

"Two hours." Ms. Johnson smiled. "He woke up about four."

"Thanks, Ms. Johnson, you're a lifesaver." She really was. There weren't many people who would offer to babysit a child for free but she did it willingly almost every day. She said Kieran kept her young and that he was the grandson she never had. Ms. Johnson had lost her only child to gang violence. Her daughter fell in love with a gangster and she ended up paying for it. She was only eighteen, fresh out of high school when she decided to move in with her boyfriend. She died shortly after. It's truly a sad story. Her daughter Trudy was the only family she had and when the girl died she lost everyone she cared about.

"No worries," my neighbour responded. "Kieran is a good boy. I love his company." I know she did but that didn't stop the twinge of regret. I couldn't afford to pay her and she has never asked for money either. However, sometimes I wish I could give her something for all that she has done for me.

Working as Holden's housekeeper would allow me to be home every day at a reasonable hour. Early enough to take care of my son. I didn't want Kieran growing used to an absentee parent too busy working to spend time with him. Especially since Kieran only had me.

With a salary like that, I would be able to pay all my debts by the end of the year. I could even eventually afford to move to a different community. It was painful for me to leave Ms. Johnson but she would understand.

She was always saying, "Girl get out of this place. This community is not for a nice girl like you. It's not a place to raise a son." She was far from wrong. As soon as a boy became old enough to hold a gun, he would get recruited by the gangs to do their dirty work. "No" wasn't an option, it was the gang or death.

Ms. Johnson grew up in this neighbourhood and just like her daughter, she had fallen in love with a gangster and he had fallen in love with her. Back then African Americans and Mexicans were at war and so her parents kicked her out when she was sixteen for falling in love with the enemy. She fell pregnant when she was seventeen and he promised to marry her after the baby was born. He died when she was eight months pregnant and she was left to raise her daughter alone with no help from his Mexican family and no help from her black family.

Hardship wasn't something new to Ms. Johnson, she was once a single mother and understood the struggles.

"Kat? What's wrong?" she asked with concern laced in her voice.