Safe Haven

Fate

A few minutes after they moved us to a new room that's when my sister and my brother-in-law arrived. I was holding my sleeping son when the door bust open.

My sister walked in looking a little rugged.
"Oh Piper! I'm glad you're alright". My sister rush beside me and hugged me awkwardly, she's careful not to squish the tiny baby between us.
"I am so worried". She cried, but I can hear the relief in her voice.

"I'm okay, Jamie". I said and she was the first one to let go.

"Believe me, one of these days I'm going to punch Larry on the face and I won't even regret it".

"Allow me to do that for you". Mark chimed in. I look behind my sister and I saw my brother-in-law grinning. "I'll make him regret for hurting my little sister".

"I'm glad you guys are here". I mumbled and Mark embrace me.

"You're one tough little girl". Mark said after he let me go.

Mark and my sister had been together for 10 years so he pretty much saw me growing up.

Just then, my baby started to cry and stirred in my arms. I rock him gently and my sister peeked at him.

"Hey there little guy". My sister cooed. "Are you hungry?".

"I just fed him. He's fine".

"Do you have a name for him?".

"Yeah" I replied. "Larry Jr."

My sister stare back at me with a shocked face.

"You're not seriously thinking of naming your child after that son of a bitch!".

I chuckled "I'm just picking on you".

"You better be. Because God, forgive me. I'm gonna slap the shit out of you if you name my nephew after him".

"He's name is Jacob".

My sister smiled at me.
"I like that name... Hi Jacob, I'm your Aunt Jamie and this is your Uncle Mark. Your cousins cannot wait to see you".

Looking down at my son, so small and innocent, I can't help and wonder how our future is going to work out. The weight of everything that happened is slowly sinking in. I don't know what I'm going to do now. How am I going to take care of this precious, tiny baby?

I am scared and I hold my son closer to me and began to cry.

My sister, seeing my pain, embrace me and my son and started to cry too.

"Everything will be okay Piper. I'm here... we're all here for you. You don't need Larry, we will give this child a good life".

Deep inside, I knew I'd be alright. But sometimes It feels great just to hear those reassuring words.

~^~

It has been 7 years now and I still live in the same apartment that I moved in with Larry. The only difference is that it's just me and Jacob now. Larry, is out of the picture, well, not totally. Though I have the full custody of our son, but occasionally he would have Jacob around during the weekends. As much as I hate to admit it, Larry isn't really a bad guy. Immature, yes, but not bad. He pays his child support on time. Or rather, his parents. Thank goodness his parents were good people otherwise I won't even let him near Jacob. I always tell myself that it is important for Jacob to spend time with his dad.

I am also aware of the many women he has. I'm just grateful that sometimes or "in most cases" he kept away his girlfriends on those weekends he spent with his son. I wouldn't really have minded so much, except for the fact that his girlfriends were usually closer in age to Jacob than they were to him. And as a general rule always has the IQ of an earthworm. Even Jacob is aware of it. He told me one time that one of his dad's girlfriend decided that the best way to check if the electric stovetop was working is by touching the burner. I don't know what the hell she was thinking, but the good news is that the burns healed up just fine. The girlfriends were okay, they always tend to treat Jacob more like a little brother than a son.