“I don’t know.” Toby shrugged. “I hate her. She wouldn’t even let us call Dad and say hello.”
“You have a phone.” I reminded him. “Did you run out of credit?”
“She took them from us.”
“How was the week with her? Did you do anything exciting?” Maybe they have had a good time with her.
Mack shrugged. “She’s got a new boyfriend. They stay up drinking all the time. We had to walk to school on our own.”
“That’s a forty minute walk. It rained during the week.” I pointed out. Did this woman really not care about these boys at all? I wondered who this new boyfriend of hers was. “Does the man live at the house?”
Toby nodded. “We know. We got soaked and ended up late. He’s there most the time. Doesn’t talk much. They just tell us to shut the fuck up and stay in our room.”
Bloody hell. “How about I get us some cake?” Cake makes everything better.
Mack nodded, slowly looking back up. “And ice cream?”
I smiled, relieved he had stopped crying. “Yes, sweetheart. We brought ice cream today for you both.”
Toby stood with a grin. “What about sprinkles? Mum, you can’t have ice cream without sprinkles.”
Mum. I beamed. Fuck, I really did love hearing that.
“Yes, or toppings and whipped cream. Actually… we’re out of that.” I remembered and found myself blushing as I went to the fridge to start on their bowl of desserts. Griffin had eaten that last night with as much determination as he ate me.
Both boys jumped up, and I spotted Toby giving Mack a back rub. “Don’t worry. I’ve got your back if anyone picks on you at school. I’ll knock ‘em dead.”
“No fighting, Toby.” I pointed out. “Well, make sure it’s out of school grounds so you can’t get expelled or suspended.”
“I like the way you think.” He winked and gave me a thumbs up.
The three of us were in between mouthfuls of ice cream when Griffin walked back inside and strutted straight down to the bedroom. There was no pause or a look. He kept his head down and walked right by us. Mack made a sniffing sound, and I shook my head at him, telling him that everything would be alright.
He was on the edge of the bed, facing the wall when I walked into our room.
“How long have you known this for?” he asked, his voice barely audible.
“Since his birthday.” His eyes lifted, and the hurt was in them. “He didn’t tell me. I accidentally found out.”
He stood up and ran both hands through his hair. “How did you accidentally find out?”
“I caught him and his friend..”
His pacing stopped. “Caught them doing what?” His words were rushed and frantic. “Jesus, what were they doing?”
“No. Not that.” God, I would have died if I caught them doing that. “Just kissing, that’s all.”
“That’s all? Fuck, Ayla. I feel like I’ve just been blown up by a grenade. You should have told me. That was months ago.” Sitting back down again, he pinched the bridge of his nose. “You should have told me. After all the secrets between us and fights about trust, you kept this from me.”
Yeah, I know I did, and I’ve felt like shit every day for keeping it from you.
How could I make him see that from my point without making matters worse? “It wasn’t for me to tell you. I could have told you, but Mack begged me not to say anything. I promised him that. I couldn’t lose his trust, Griffin. I love that kid, and if he hated me….” It would hurt badly.
“Ayla…” he sighed.
I dropped to my knees in front of him, looking up with sorrow in my eyes. “Please, don’t be mad at him. He’s so afraid, Griffin. He’s terrified that you hate him.”
His voice dropped. He looked worse than when Mack revealed he was attracted to boys. “I could never hate him for that. I just wish he told me sooner. I should have known that my son is gay.”
“He hid it well.” I did not think there was any telling if he was or not. It was just something for him to come and tell on his terms. “He’s still the same boy.”
“Just likes boys, not girls.”
Yeah, that.
His sharp inhale caught me off guard, and I noticed he had tears in his eyes. “I can’t protect him from those kids at school when they find out about this. He’s going to get beaten up… teased.” His eyes widened. “Fuck, Mum will just love this.”
“Well, if she doesn’t accept him, then she can go get stuffed.” I was serious about that. “Don’t worry about the school kids. Toby’s got that covered.”
“Need I ask?” he questioned.
I shook my head. No, he did not need to know that I have basically approved him to beat anyone up who teases Mack.
I rested my cheek on his thigh, and his hand automatically began stroking through my hair. “You need to go talk to him.” I reached up, brushing my fingers over his. “I think Karen found out, and that is why they came in being that way. Toby said she took their phones from them and wouldn’t let them call you when they wanted.”
His jaw tightened. “Fucking bitch. God, if it were legal to kill someone, she’d be first on my list.”
“Who’d be second?” I wondered.
“Harvey,” he said without hesitation, and I smiled. I so knew he would say that. “I’d kill him with my bare hands if I had the chance.”
I doubted that. “Should I be worried about your need to murder someone? Sleep with one eye open, maybe?”
Shaking his head, his smile softened. “I’d never kill the woman I love.”
Standing up, I sighed, pulling him up with me. “Come on. There’s cake and ice-cream.”
“You’re an amazing mother, Ayla. Really, you are.” He smiled, bending his head down to give me a kiss. “The boys are lucky to have you in their life. I am too.”
“I’m the lucky one. I get you and them.”
Griffin took Mack down to his bedroom for a one-on-one chat while Toby and I stayed in the kitchen and ate our sweets. He showed me his homework, which he did have, and I sat with him, helping him work through fractions and other useless maths. Who the hell did fractions outside of school, anyway?
When the two emerged, Mack was smiling much brighter than before. Although, something was still wrong. If Karen knew he was gay, then why would they need to be punished for it?
Griffin’s hand slipped around my waist, and his kisses trailed down the bare skin of my neck. “Mm, you smell good.”
“Hands off until later tonight.” I smiled, trying to pry away from him. “How did it go?” I asked, looking up at the boys who were now in the living room, watching a movie.
“All good.”
“Care to elaborate?” I asked, turning in his arms. He tried to come down for a kiss, but I leant back more. “What did you say to him?”
He smiled. “Nothing. It's fine, Ayla.”
I laughed. “You’re not going to tell me, are you?”
“Nope.” His lips pecked my nose, and I gave his bum a squeeze. Pulling back, he just smiled again. “I just told him that it’s going to be okay, and that I was proud of him for being able to tell you in the first place. For him to come to you with this even if he was caught, he obviously looks at you like a mother.”
My gaze drifted back to those boys. They did not have a mother—at least not one who cared for them. “I want to be their mum.”
“You are.”
I shook my head. “Not what I meant.” I wanted to adopt them as my own. “If only we could make that happen.”
“Me too. She’d never go for that, unfortunately.” He sighed and pulled away, leaning against the counter. He picked up the bowl of cake and began to dig in. “So, what’s for dinner?”
“How about we be really lazy and order Chinese?”
“Done. So should I call the whale about what the boys have said?” he asked, “About their behaviour and being told to act that way?”
I laughed loudly with a snort. “Yeah, I thin
k you should, but maybe call your lawyer and see what he thinks first. You don’t want her coming after you for something else she’s concocted up and try to use it against you.” Who knew what else she could hit him with?
“You’re right.” Putting in another forkful, he paused and swallowed. Licking his lips, he frowned. “Why would I hit him over being gay? What would that prove?”
I thought about it for a moment, and he was right. It was still baffling. “Hey, boys. Come in here for a moment.” I called out then looked at Griffin. “We’ll find out in a minute.”
Both of them came over and stood opposite us. “Yeah?” Toby asked while Mack shuffled nervously on his feet.
“You didn’t answer before; Why does your dad need to hit you?” I asked. “Why do you have to be so naughty?”
“Does it matter?” Toby asked, sighing and looking ashamed.
“Yes,” I responded. “You both matter.”
Mack and Toby shared a secret glance that Griffin did not miss. “Come on. No secrets, boys. We can’t help if you don’t tell us the truth.”
I thought Mack was going to run to his room, but when he slowly lifted his shirt up, it all made sense. My hands clasped over my mouth as I stared in horror at the sight of the bruises covering his ribcage and stomach. Turning slowly, I bit my trembling lip as more bruises appeared.
“She read my messages to Samuel and went ballistic.”
It took us both a good few moments to gain some kind of control and unfreeze from the spot. The gay part? Yeah, I understand yelling, but to hit and belt him? No fucking way. There was no excuse for doing that to a child.
“Because she realised you and Samuel are more than friends?” I asked as Griffin visibly shook with raw anger.
He nodded, fresh tears springing to his eyes. “She was really mad. Called me a ff—She said I was disgusting and abnormal.”
“You’re not abnormal. There’s nothing wrong with you.” I wanted him to know it was okay. I was beginning to cry. What has she done to those boys?
“You’re dating Sam?” Toby asked through a mouthful of cake that he had grabbed. “You should have hit her back. She threw a glass sauce bottle at me once.”
My head snapped to Toby. “She did what!” I practically yelled. Jesus, those Heinz glass bottles of tomato sauce were not at all light.
“Yep. I called her a mad cow, and she came at me like one. Bottles, hands and feet.” He shrugged. “We’re used to it. She told us if we told Dad, she’d kill herself.”
No wonder they were terrified to do anything against her! I would probably do as my mother said if she threatened to do that too. It was sad that she had lied and hurt them. Who knew how long all of this had been going on for?
“You shouldn’t have to get used to that,” I said, giving his hand a firm squeeze. “Never.”
“Ayla’s right. I wish you boys would have told me. I could have helped you both. Don’t worry. You boys aren’t going back there.” Griffin found his voice, but it was cold and shaking. In a millisecond, he was heading straight towards the phone and starting to dial a number. Covering his hand over the speaker, he spoke to me, firmly. “Ayla, take photos of this. I’m getting the police involved. Mack, strip to your boxers. You too, Toby.”
I nodded as the boys began to undress in the kitchen, looking back to Griffin as I picked up the camera from the draw. I knew what was going to come. “You know she will use the tape.” I was worried for him, for them all. “What if she comes at you with all she’s got?”
His voice grew louder, bordering towards yelling. “I don’t fucking care. She beat them, Ayla. She beat them, and if I have to go to jail over smoking pot or drag racing illegally, then she can be charged with child abuse.” He put the phone to his ear and left the room as he began speaking down the line.
My heart broke for each of them—such angelic, sweet boys who now both wore panic across their faces and bruises all over their bodies.
One gay, the other straight. It did not matter. They were now the same. Abused.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Photos were taken. Lawyers were called. Police arrived, and then we were all interviewed.
Mack was first, a shaking, crying, and afraid mess. They took him into a separate room. Although he still needed a parent, they thought he may speak more if Griffin or I weren’t in the room with him. There was nothing for us to hide, and Griffin allowed it.
Mack copped the worst of the beatings we found out. His sexuality was just the tip of the ice. She had been flicking and pushing him around for years. He never actually fell down the back step and broke his arm. She pushed him, and he fell, landing the wrong way and breaking it.
I watched my husband fall apart over and over as he was reading back the statements. I, myself, began to cry, but I tried to remain strong. These three guys needed me. They needed a woman in their life to care for them. Karen and Griffin’s mother weren’t that type of woman. They were not caring or gentle. They needed the loving, tender side of a mother—a woman who would comfort them when they needed it.
After Toby came out, he was quiet and scared. Karen was still their mother. She gave birth to them, and I could understand the need to protect her still, but they were doing the right thing. A mother should never bash their kids the way she had done. I just hoped they could forgive themselves for turning her in and speaking up.
They were brave boys and deserved more.
“How is your relationship with the mother?” The constable had asked me, her judging eyes awaiting an answer.
How was the relationship? I would have laughed if it was not such a serious question. “As you’d expect, tense.”
Maybe not the right word. It was anything but.
“Do you and she get along?”
“No,” I said, blunt and straight to the point. “She hates me.”
Nodding, she began to write everything down. “And why do you assume she hates you? Do you and she ever exchange words? Have you ever done anything to upset her?”
“If you mean starting a relationship with her ex, then that would be it. I know she hates me as she’s made it quite clear.”
The writing stopped, and she looked up. Pausing, she asked me, “Has she ever made any threats towards you?”
I nodded, tucking a hair behind my ear. “She had me fired from my job. A few months back, she came in and started a fight in the women’s bathroom while I was cleaning—”
“Did you ever strike her back?”
“I defended myself. She punched me first, and then I hit her back.”
“I see. Was there a charge filed against this attack?” she asked, going back through her paperwork.
I shook my head. It was probably a bad move on my part. I should have done something about that right away. “There’s no surveillance in the bathrooms, and it would have been my word against hers.”
“Hmm…” She began to write again and sighed. “Anything else? Any threats made towards you or your husband?”
Plenty. I began to tell her about all the crazy things she had done to us and finished with threatening to bury me if her sons ever began to call me mum. “I have never pushed them to say that. They started it on their own, and she found out.”
“Well, as you can see, if you’re a mother, then hearing your children call another woman mum would be quite heartbreaking. Did you ever tell them to stop it?” I was really beginning to dislike this woman.
I just gave her an odd look. “Why would I tell them to stop it? Their own mother, if you want to call her that, has been beating them. They call me mum because I show them what a mother should be like. I treat them as my own children.”
“Do you have any children, Mrs James?”
Of course, that needed to be brought up. “No, I don’t. Are we done now? I’d like to go and check on the boys. I didn’t wait for her to answer me. I got up and left the room.
I gave Griffin an annoyed look and walked out. He came over, assuming I was mad at him. “
Everything okay?”
“No. Just hate the police,” I said with a grumble under my breath.
He chuckled, pulling me close and brushing a hand through my hair as his lips met my forehead. “I know how you feel, baby.”
It had been a crazy evening, the police were thorough. They went back and forth with every little detail until the boys had talked themselves half-asleep. It was near midnight when they had all they needed and finally left. After tucking them into bed, Griffin and I had to sit down with his lawyer and go over what was to come next.
Even if we both knew, we still needed to hear those words.
We should not have smiled, but it was almost impossible once we were told that the boys were staying with us, that this was enough to keep them both and gain full custody. They just needed a Judge to sign off on everything tomorrow morning, and they would be ours.
Lifting his arm as he glanced down at his wrist, Griffin looked happy. “You think she’s been arrested yet?”
I nodded, hoping so. “I reckon. They were going straight there to pick her up.”
“Think she’ll squeal like a pig on the slaughter floor?” He said, referring to his pot smoking and racing.
I nodded. “Yeah, but like your lawyer said, that’s just a slap on the wrist compared to hitting the kids for so long as she had done.”
“True.”
She could blab her mouth all she wanted, but Griffin was not going anywhere. He had even told the detective about the racing one night, smoking as he gave a statement and offering himself up before she could try weasel some deal with a cop. The detective wrote it all down, but that was not their focus. He did not seem too interested in those as they were a thing of the past and he was already paying for the driving.
Walking towards him with my arms outstretched and reaching around his waist, I clung to him. “We got our boys back, baby.”
He offered me a smile, a gorgeous smile that reached his eyes. It was one I had not seen since he first heard they were not coming back here. “We got our boys back. We did indeed.”
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