Page 31 of Escaping the King
I was betting, yes.
“Dada's at work.Momma's taking you on a little trip.”
Her chubby face scrunched into a frown.“Trip?”
I nodded.“Yes, watch.”I flipped over the paper menu to write on the back.“Oh, there's already a map on here.”
I knew Dani had no clue what a map was, but I might as well try to explain where we were going.
“So, we started here.”I grabbed a green crayon and made a small dot for where Chicago was.“This is Chicago.”I wrote the word above the dot.
“Chicka-gee,” Dani copied me and made me giggle.
“That's right.Chickagee.And we are going way, way, way over here.”I drew a line down to Denver.“To Denver.”
Dani suddenly pulled the crayon out of my hand.“No, Chick-a-gee.”She pointed to the green dot.“Dada.”
Yeah.
She was way too smart.
“Maybe one day, honey.But we won't be back to Chickagee for a while.”
We were interrupted by Sheila's cheerful voice.“All right, folks.I have your drinks.”She placed my coffee in front of me.And handed a lidded cup with a straw to Dani.
“Juicy!”Dani squealed with excitement.Sheila and I laughed at Dani's excitement.
“I dare say I've never seen anyone that excited about apple juice before.”
I smiled at Dani and then looked at Sheila.“She doesn't get it very often.It's a novelty.”
Sheila nodded.“Good plan.My kids used to bounce off the walls whenever I gave them juice.”
And just to keep the conversation going—for some reason—I asked, “How many kids do you have?”
Sheila leaned one hand on the table.“Four, God help me.And three grandkids.They all drive me batty each and every day.I thought this was supposed to be an eighteen year deal.But my oldest called me an hour ago.She asked me when her last tetanus shot was.”She dropped her head back and laughed.“Can you believe that?She's thirty-five years old.How in all holy Hannah am I supposed to remember something like that?”
I laughed along with her, but I also tried to remember when my last tetanus shot was.
Yikes.
It had been a while.I'd have to look that up.
“This job's for life, Momma.”She gazed down at me, and I nodded.
“I figured,” was all I said.I could tell her how motherhood hadn't been my idea.That it had been forced upon me.
Literally.
And how, the second after I found out I was pregnant—I knew—I just knew I had to find a way to escape.
Or die trying.
Because there was no way I would allow a child of mine to be brought up in that kind of hell.
I'd accepted it for myself.Figuring that Sergio would let me go when I wasn't able to give him the baby he so desperately wanted.
But then my body betrayed me and allowed him to plant his baby inside of me.
