DONOVAN (Book Three)

TWO

I clean the dishes, then hear the phone ring down the hall, making my body flinch and the plate in my hand almost slip.

"Hello?" Effie answered the phone. I listen. "Hi, Tita Helen. I'm good; the baby is good too. I just had a check-up the other day. Yes, he's with me 24/7. Don't worry." She chuckles. I can sense she is annoyed by my mother not liking the idea of her niece pregnant and eighteen, not ready for the real world. That is so like my mother.

So judgmental.

"Claire? Tita, I told you she isn't here. If she were, she would have called us. Yes, I will. Thea, Ares, and I are out looking for them. Yes, yes, I will. Okay, yes, bye, Tita."

I peer my head and see Effie sigh. She brushes her hair back and then finds me standing as she smiles. "Your mom called...again."

"Just keep telling her that Leo and I aren't here."

"She's going to keep calling."

I lean against the wall and cross my arms. "I know."

Since my escape, my mother quickly realized Leo and I were gone and probably had everyone looking for me. After a month of freedom, she finally called the Reids' house.

Every day she talked to everybody here asking about my whereabouts, and I had them all lied for my sake and my son's. My mother is going bonkers and demands to know where we are. She will never give up.

I told my mother everything about Eddie, how he hit me and Leo. My mother has pride in herself and her money. She taught me not to anger him again so he wouldn't hit me. In her eyes is money, and not purple and black bruises.

My mother adores Eddie. Even before he and I dated, she wanted him to be part of our family just because his family was wealthy. His grandfather owns the bank where my father works, which is why my mother is fond of him. She will never take my side and tell me to brush it off and be a good woman to my fiancé.

"C.J., what's going on?" Effie suddenly asks. She and her sister have been interrogating me upon our arrival, and I always give them the same answer.

"Nothing is going on," I say, returning to the kitchen. Effie, follow me.

"Something is going on. You didn't contact your parents, and avoiding your mom. You won't even tell us why you canceled the wedding two weeks before."

I scrub the plate with a soapy sponge while the water runs.

"And I remember you saying that he would hurt you." She continues. "Who's he?"

I stopped everything I was doing and felt my chest tighten. I didn't explain much that day. She doesn't need me to explain. Effie and her siblings need to know because they are the people who I trust in my life. I can tell them anything. They are family. But in this situation, I wish they weren't involved with my affairs.

Tears are already sliding down my eyes. I wipe my hands dry. I keep my back facing Effie.

"I met Eddie six years ago," I begin with a brief history with my ex-fiancé. "His grandfather owns a bank in London where my father works. He was sweet, generous, and funny. He is very sophisticated in his job as an investment banker. I would bring lunch for my father daily from the food I made, and Eddie and I would get to know each other. Then, we fell in love and started to date. My parents loved him and already considered him their son-in-law. I had never met a man like Eddie and fell too deep for him. After a year of dating, I was pregnant with Leo, and Eddie wanted me to live with him which I reluctantly agreed."

I begin to bring up happy memories with Eddie. I somewhat curve a smile just thinking of them.

"Everything was a dream living with the man I loved until after Leo was born, everything changed. He made me quit my job at the restaurant where I was training to make me stay home because he could provide us with a good life and have nothing to worry about. His true colors were revealed when I argued that I wanted to return to work."