When The World Caves In |C.G.

thirty nine

The siblings sat closely to each other on the couch, flipping through a picture book. Beau was slowly reading to Rory as Daryl shared a smoke with Eliza. She's just turned four, and loves when her big brother reads to her. 

Beau is patient with her, even when she asks a million questions a minute. He takes the time to carefully explain everything that's happening, not caring that he's already done so. 

Daryl has known Eliza since they were children. They were friends all throughout school, he was there when she got pregnant with Beau in her early 20's. He was the one that comforted her when she realized the kind of man that would be fathering her son. 

There's no denying that Rory was a drunken accident between two friends that have been in denial about their feelings for each other for years. Rory would never know that though, she just knew she had two parents that loved her more than she'd ever know.

"He's good with her." Daryl says, gesturing towards the blond boy sitting next to his daughter. "She likes having him around, maybe-" 

"D," Eliza says her voice breaking as she blows out a cloud of smoke. Daryl looks at the dark haired woman in front of him. 

"What?" Daryl asks, sensing the pain in the woman's voice.

"He's threatening to take him away from me." Eliza says staring at her eight year old son. She'd always dreamed of a happy family. Two kids, a loving partner, a nice house. 

She'd only gotten one of those things though. Her children were her life, until they weren't. The thought of  losing her son to his father weighed heavily on the woman's mind. She'd be trapped in a loveless marriage, simply to save her son. Eliza knew deep down in her heart that Daryl would take care of Rory no matter what. Beau's father though, he didn't give a damn about his son. He simply wanted to control Eliza, and raise a picture perfect family for the press. 

"What do you mean?" Daryl asked, cautiously. He looked back over to where Beau sits, the boys curls cascading around his face. His father is a prissy asshole, one that doesn't deserve the boy that's reading to his daughter. The kind of asshole that would throw money at anything in order to fix it, simply because he had the money to do so. The kind of asshole that would take Beau away from his mother just to hurt her. The kind of asshole that used his own son as a weapon. 

"He's forcing me to marry him, otherwise I'll have to sign over my rights to Beau." Eliza says, a sob wrenching through her gut. Daryl leads the woman into the kitchen, knowing Rory might come barreling over on chubby toddler legs if she knows her mama is crying. "He knows I can't afford a lawyer and take care of Beau on my own. He'll take me for everything I am." 

Beau's father is a top tier manipulator. He's the reason Eliza can't trust any one, the reason she's broken down and always looking over her shoulder. Even throughout her pregnancy with Rory, Beau's father was convincing her that she'd never be good enough for her daughter. That Rory was a mistake that should've been 'handled' from the start. Swept under the rug like loose change. 

"Hey, we'll figure it out." Daryl says embracing his best friend, the mother of his child, in a hug. "I got a little bit saved up, I can help." 

"No you don't understand." Eliza says, tears streaming down her face harder now. "I can't lose my son Daryl, not to him. I can't leave Beau on his own with him. He'll ruin him and I can't take care of him on my own. Rory lives with you because I can't be trusted to keep myself on my feet." 

"So you're giving up?" Daryl tells her and Eliza simply shakes her head, dark curls bouncing. "Liza, we can figure this out, this is black mail."