The Toothless Smile

“Tommy get down from there, you’ll hurt yourself.” I say turning off the kitchen faucet, drying my hands and moving the phone from its ear-shoulder position into my hand.

“No sorry, I wasn’t talking to you.” I chuckled

“We’re just getting settled in and he seems to be taking it well. He’s just running around playing with the boxes.”

“I’m Superman mommy, I’m strong!” Tom exclaims to me as he flexes his tiny muscles.

“That’s great baby.” I reply smiling.

“Has he mentioned him yet?” my mother asks.

“No he hasn’t, I’m not even sure if he even knows what’s going on.” I reply

“Well you’re going to have to tell the child someday.” She tells me

“Well he is  four. I believe I have plenty of time.” I say wittingly

My mother chuckles at what I said. Then she pauses and sighs.

“I’m so glad you finally left him.” She says.

“I’m glad I found the strength to report him to the police.” I say sitting down on the sofa in the living room full of boxes.

“What held you back from telling anyone, from telling me for so long?” She asked sounding very concerned.

I started to breathe a little harder. I could feel my eyes beginning to water but I hold the tears back.

“I was scared. Every time he’d hit me, I thought it was love; that he cared for me so much that he didn’t want to lose me. He didn’t let me make friends or talk to you or dad.” I say trying my best for my voice not to crack.

“I guess it messed up my psyche. It made me believe that he was superhuman or a god. It made me think that if I would’ve told anyone that he would instantly know. He even threatened that he’d take Tom away if I told anyone. I just couldn’t do it.” I continued.

“I knew a seventeen year old shouldn’t be getting married, especially to a twenty-eight year old man with no career.” My mom said in an ‘I told you so’ kind of fashion.

“He was a musician mom. And I was pregnant with Tom, so we had to.” I reply

“Jenny dear, do you love Thomas?” She asks.

“Oh yes, very much.” I respond sniffling, still trying to fight tears.

“Then tell the boy. About his father. It’s better he knows now.”

“I’ll wait until the time’s right mother. Besides, I don’t know how he’d react. Jerry actually loved Thomas. He would never hit me in front of him. He would play with him and teach him how to play guitar. But Tom would always feel uncomfortable around him and run to hug me whenever I came home from my shift at Best Buy before going back out to my graveyard shift at Burger King.”

“I guess your boy is a good judge of character. He gets that from me you know.” She says chuckling.

“I get it mom, you were right.” I say still sniffling but smiling.

“Damn right, I was.” She jokes.

“Ok dear, I bet you’re busy with unpacking. I’ll come over later in the afternoon to help. I’ll bring the family. They haven’t seen you in three years.”

“I can’t wait to see you all again.” I say smiling but still teary eyed.

“Ok dear, I’ll see you later. I love you.”

“Alright mom, see you later. And I love you too.” I reply ending the call, taking the phone down from my ear.

Thomas was hunched over the coffee table for a few minutes.

“Whatcha doin’ there Tommy?” I ask wiping my teary eyes

He turned around with a drawing of our old apartment with me, him, and Jerry standing side by side holding hands.

“Look mommy, it’s our ‘fa-ma-ly’.” He says with the biggest smile on his face.

He was missing his two front teeth, so he had a black hole in the middle of his smile. It was funny, but the picture made me finally cry.

“It’s a pretty picture Tommy.” I say with my hand on my mouth and tears coming down my face.

He tilted his head in confusion.

“Huh? Why are you crying mommy?” He asked with his innocent voice.

I gather myself, wiping away my tears and sniffling. I knew it was time to tell him about Jerry.

“Because your father.” I pause to wipe a tear with my finger.

“Is no longer apart of this family.” I finish.

“So where is he?” He asked as he shrugged his shoulders.

“He went to a place where bad people go.” I tell him trying to sugar coat it.

“Oh.” He says as he looked down.

He looked disappointed. He spun around back to the coffee table, hunched over. I was confused as to what he was doing. But before I could ask, he spun back around.

“Look! I fixed it.” He said with his big toothless smile again.

He took a black crayon and scribbled over Jerry. I smiled, and opened my arms for a hug. He ran, with a crayon and the picture in one hand flapping around, and flew into my arms. I hugged him tight.

“I love you and your toothless smile.” I say.

“I know mommy.” He responses all mushed up against me.

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VOTE THEN READ NEXT CHAPTER. please.