God Bless The Broken Road (Jonathan Toews)

Origin Story

Maisie

"Come on Jackson, light a fire under it" I joke as I collect my things. He finally gets his shoes on before returning to my side and looking up to me brightly.

"Is daddy and sissy coming" he asks putting on sunglasses and grabbing my hand as we head to the car.

"Nope, just us two" I assure him and he smiles. I get him into the car seat and drive off to the one place I vowed I would never go again. I pull up to my old house and take a deep breath. I look across the chained fence to the beautiful city I always dreamed of living in as a little girl. The buildings are just out of reach so you can't touch them, close enough you can sometimes feel their shadows but far enough away to know that a better life was out of the question. I close my eyes as everything hit me like a truck and my breathing becomes sporadic. I hear Logans voice in the back of my mind telling me to calm down and that I can do this. I get out the car and grab Jackson out the back and sit him on the sidewalk. We sit there with our feet in the street looking at the old and abandoned looking white house.

"What is this place" he asks picking up a pebble on the road and throwing it across the street.

"This... this was our old home" I say softly and he looks up to me confused.

"The one you had with my real dad" he asks and I let out a laugh. Man this was not going to end well.

"There's something I need to tell you, but I need you to trust me. Okay big man" I ask messing with his hair.

"Yeah yeah, just keep your hands off the money maker" he replied giving his hair a tease.

"Okay, here we go. You... you are not my son. I didn't give birth to you like I did Everly. I am your mother in the sense that I care for you, so much, and I think of you as my own, but I am not technically your mom. There is no Mathew who died in the war. Your real mom is in the house right there, she might be awake, she might be dead, she might be fine. I never could tell the difference. She's a bad person who abandoned you the second she found out she doesn't have to breast feed. And your real dad..." I trial off.

"Jon" he says with a tear falling down. I wipe it away while shanking my head.

"No baby. Your real dads name is Brian and he's not a good guy either. He actually... he almost killed you. When you were real small, a little over a year old, he dropped you and your head hit the counter causing it to split open. That's where your scar in your head is from, it's not a birthmark. It's a reminder of how I almost failed at protecting you. I almost lost you. But the doctors saved you and I ran away with you never looking back to this house ever again. You were still young enough to forget about all of this stuff and I could still give you a better life. One nothing like what I experienced. I never told you because I wasn't ready for you to know. I don't want you to love me any less because I didn't have you or for you to think I love you any less because you're not mine. I will always love you with all my heart. I might have saved your life but you saved mine first. I didn't want you to think you did something wrong or was getting punished for something. I wanted you to believe that you had parents who saw nothing but happiness and joy when they saw you. A little boy should know his parents love and want him, not nearly end him then run away. I guess it running is in the family" I shrug.

"If you're not my mom, then who are you" he asks with a shaky voice.

"I'm your sister. Your parents are my parents" I explain and he nods.

"You will always be my mommy" he says causing me to smile. He sits himself in my lap and I wrap my arms around him. I hold him tight because I didn't want this to change everything. I know he sees things differently, but sometimes change isn't bad.