1 Chapter One: Homecoming

I open my eyes, as the gentle morning light streams through the window on the other side of the room. Taking a deep breath in, I roll over to look at the clock on the nightstand as every muscle in my body protests the movement. I groan and see the clock says 6:15 am. Sitting up, I stretch my arms up over my head inhaling deep in the cool morning air as I begin to plan my day in my head. The only thing I can think about is the millions of boxes downstairs that still need to be unpacked, and how I really don't want to do it. As I stand, my eyes scan the room looking for my robe and slippers. I find them over by the door and slip them on heading down the stairs, with Willow following right behind.

When I reach the kitchen, I find the box with appliances and pull out my coffee pot setting it on the counter, and filling the pot with water. I pull my bag of coffee out of the cupboard noticing it is empty. "Son of a bitch!" I grumble under my breath tossing the bag into the trash and stomping back up the stairs to get dressed.

"Damn, mom! Could you be any louder?" Anni says, as she emerges from her room, hair a mess.

"I'm sorry baby, I just realized I'm out of coffee and have to go to the store. Stop cussing I don't like hearing that shit come out of your mouth."

She raises and eyebrow at me, questioning my logic. "I'm an adult young lady, you are not." I say justifying my statement and pausing in the doorway to my room. She shakes her head and retreats to the bathroom. I head into my room locating the box containing my sweatpants and slip them on. As I sit down on the bed to put on my shoes, Anni enters my bedroom brushing her teeth. "Can we get food at the diner down the street before we come back and unpack these boxes? I bet they have coffee." she asks, tempting my stomach. "Go get dressed and we will see if they are open." I reply.

She skips out of the room back to the bathroom and then sprints to her room. I chuckle and look down just as my phone starts buzzing on the bed beside me. Micheal.

I reluctantly pick up the phone. "What?" I answer shortly.

"Is that a way to answer the phone to your husband Eliza? Micheal asks smugly.

"Ex-husband! Micheal what do you want? I'm busy erasing you, remember?"

"Wow, it's like that is it? Fine, I will get to the point. I want to see my daughter. Where have you taken her Liz?"

"That's none of your business. You walked out remember? You left, not me! All you need to know is that I have taken her to a better place. She will have a better life where we are now."

"You've taken her home haven't you Liz? You know what will happen if she stays there! Things will change! Do you really want that for her?" he says frightened.

"No one has to know about us. They don't know when she was born. Besides we left before anyone found out. The only one who knew was Stephanie, and no one came looking for us. It will be fine. As far as seeing Anni goes, when the courts decide to grant you visitation, then we will talk about it. Until then sto-"

"Mom? What are you doing? Let's go." Anni says entering the room.

"I have to go now. We can talk about this some other time." I hang up and smile at Anni, grabbing my coat off the bed post. "Let's go baby."

"Mom, was that dad?"

I hesitate. "No honey, it was my old boss. Let's go get some food." We walk down the stairs and out the front door.

As we climb in the truck I get this strange feeling like we are being watched. My head whips around looking for the culprit. "Mom? Why is that lady staring at us?" Anni asks. I look in the direction she is pointing and see an old lady standing on the sidewalk about a hundred feet away just staring intently at our truck. "I don't know honey, sometimes people stare. It's rude but what can we do?" I smile at her nervously, feeling uneasy about the look that old woman is giving us.

We drive off headed down the street. "Wow," I say, "this town hasn't hardly changed."

"You've been here before?" Anni asks confused.

"Yeah, I grew up here. Did I not tell you that?"

"No, you didn't. Is this where dad is from too?"

"Yes. Your dad and I--well we grew up here. We met in elementary school. Second grade. His parents had died in a car wreck so he came here to live with his aunt and uncle, and that's how we met. It wasn't until high school when we started dating, but he lived next door to me so we were best friends."

"Wow, how come you never told me that before?" She asks with a sadness in her voice.

"I guess it just never came up."

We pull into the parking lot of the diner and she hops out immediately. I sit there for a second taking in the view of the diner. My mind flashes back to the last time I was here.

FLASHBACK:

"Oh come on Liz, you know you can't just leave. They'll never allow it." Stephanie whispers, as she picks up her glass and takes a sip.

"Steph, please." I beg her, "I can't stay here anymore. I'm scared. Things are getting crazy and Micheal wants to leave. We have to get out of here."

"I can't. No, I won't. you know how much this means to me. Besides, where would you go? Graduation is in two days, and you have no plan. You can't just disappear Liz." She says with a look of concern on her face.

"Well, Micheal said that he wanted to wait till after graduation. We would leave that night. But I need your help." I look around nervously and lean in close, "They can't know. You gotta help me Steph. I just found out I'm pregnant. I can't raise a child like this you know what they'd do if they found out. I can't risk it."

"You're pregnant?" she asks looking shocked. "Why did you wait till now to tell me? I'm your best friend Liz."

"The only one who knows is Micheal. That's why we want to leave. To give her the best life we can. Please Steph, do this for me?"

"Okay. We leave at ten the night of graduation. Meet me by the church."

"Thank you! I can't thank you enou-"

END FLASHBACK

"Mom! Come on let's go. I'm hungry as hell!" Anni yells banging on my window.

"Okay, I'm coming." I sigh and step out of the truck. Anni looks at me strangely. "You alright mom? You look kinda pale." I nod my head yes, and we walk through the doors into the diner.