Chapter 24

Erin brushed her hair and marched up to the house, the owner said to return the papers to him by Friday, she sighed and Knocked on the door and smiled at the little girl at the door.

Her eyes were filled with tears. Poor thing, Erin realized she was in the middle of it all and so was George who seemed to be missing for most of the day.

"Hello there, where's daddy?"

"Inside" She heard a deep voice and walked inside gently.

"A pleasure to be with you mister Heffner. Where is your spouse if I might ask?"

"She's not home"

Erin turned dark immediately "You do realise that you both filled a petition to appear before the high court and the session is only in three hours?"

Dale panicked, why did he have to file for it early, he wouldn't know where she went off to, jeopardizing his attempt to leave her.

"Mister Heffner, this process might leave a scar on your savings account considering your evidence of income, demands and..."

"I thought of it"

"No you did not and if you did then I wouldn't spend a shitload of hours reading through your files and convincing..."

She glanced at Gracie and cleared her throat, embarrassed "Please forgive my sentiment the judge is not patient either_"

Gracie squawked shedding tears in need of attention and Erin patted her hand forcing her to cradle her still.

"My wife's not home," He said furious that she might have skipped to the next town, his long time grudge returned. He had to call her.

"Hello, the appeal is today, you better return home or I'll be sending you right back to your mother in law's, I don't care if we aren't legally separated"

He said and she put him on voicemail, his anger brewed, he could barely keep it under wraps, that crappy woman would pay for this. He wasn't going to take the blame for this even if he was the one who asked her to go to Alec if she liked.

"Rose!" He barked and marched to the other room where he saw her phone playing the message.

'This is Rose, I'm not home, please leave a message'

He paused it, where was she?

...

"You're skipping your exams? You need to get home and sort this out!"

Alec said to him and he frowned looking away, he didn't want to turn back especially not now that he burned his bridges. He worked his jaw folding his arms.

"I don't want to_"

"If you're coming to live with me, the least you could do is make something out of yourself, finish your exams, don't be like me George, even your dad was better off in our high school days"

"You or Dale?"

"He was hardworking, I dropped out" He looked ahead "I joined a band named the Afterlife and we used to grow our hair out and_"

"No..." George interrupted "... don't tell me that, ever again. I'll go home and do whatever it takes"

"Good. Do you know what you want to do in your life?"

George came to the part where he was confused, he didn't know and it bugged him. "Join a band? I'm a great drummer"

Alec glanced at him "No way, I was the drummer too, talent runs in your blood kid"

"I was joking," He said blankly blinking at him and Alec raised an eyebrow.

"Really?" He skipped all the phases and reached this one where bodies were changing and hormones were raging, emotions charging too, if teenagers had a manual, hell, he would buy one.

George seemed like a nice kid and a good looking one too. He felt like he was dreaming because they were in the car talking at the moment and he hoped it would only get better from there,

having a son wouldn't be easy and he was going to take full responsibility_a word that used to be foreign in his dictionary ever since.

"Do you know?"

"Mom!?" He tilted his head at the car parked a few metres away from the house, she stepped out and Alec's breath caught at the sight of her, he parked and let her know she was in the way, she stepped back and brushed her hair on the brink of tears.

"Mom_" He lurched to the side when she slapped him and Alec shut the door.

"Don't you ever do that to me again, do you know how worried sick I was for you?"

"How did you know, did dad tell you I was here?" His eyes blinked instinctively when tears welled up listening to her, her hair was straighter and he saw the bruise on her left cheek, she tried to cover it up too. Her tired eyes rose to his and her lips parted.

"No, I got a call from a friend of yours that you slept over at his house but you never told him where you took off to.

I'm disappointed in myself, I don't ever want you to feel that way, George, it's my fault you had to suffer like this and I would only ask you to have a heart"

"Rose"

She held her hands together, her eyes didn't meet his. He offered to take her inside and she was anxious, her fingers moved over her knee gazing at the house, the interior was painted a light blue with chairs, a massive TV with a home theatre system to go with it. A PC was far off with great lighting.

He gave her a glass of water and food to regain her strength, it was a long drive, maybe over an hour to get to Lavenders Grove.

She looked older from when he last saw her, there were wrinkles around her eyes and her devious smile she once had faded.

The bold and daring Rose was a shadow, this one was dreadful and jumpy, her ring gleamed on her finger when she drank from the glass.

"He treated you like this and you stayed, you even had George in the mix"

"You don't understand"

"Then make me understand, you knew Dale had a temper and you let him hit you and who knows he hits_"

"He never hits Gracie, I mean he has a soft spot for her, he would never" Her voice faded to a crackling whisper.

"You have a daughter?" He asked.

George was surprised, Rose was even better at keeping secrets than he thought, so good that Alec was completely in the dark.

"Yes, she's four years old" She dropped her glass

"Why?"

"I risked everything to come here to talk to you, both of you"