Chapter 2 - GIVE ME MY KIDS
Claire told the boys to stay behind her.
Then she opened the door only far enough to see Rachel.
Blonde hair.
Beige jacket.
Jeans.
Eyes bright with rage.
Rachel shoved the door.
Claire lost her grip.
The door slammed against the wall.
Rachel stormed inside.
“Give me my kids. NOW!”
Mason and Eli immediately hid behind Claire.
Claire stepped in front of them.
“You need to leave.”
Rachel laughed.
“No.”
“You have no right to force entry.”
“They’re my sons.”
Rachel lunged toward Eli.
Claire slapped her hand away.
“Don’t touch him!”
Rachel stared at her.
Then pointed directly into Claire’s face.
“They’re MY kids, you pathetic bitch!”
Claire stepped closer.
Her voice dropped.
“You gave up the right to call yourself their mother four years ago.”
Rachel’s face twisted.
“You stole them.”
“You left them.”
“I was sick.”
“You never told the court that.”
“I didn’t trust you.”
Claire almost laughed.
Rachel tried to push past her.
Mason grabbed Claire’s shirt.
Eli began sobbing.
“MOVE!” Rachel screamed. “You’re coming home!”
Eli’s face changed.
“NO!”
Rachel froze.
For half a second, the rage disappeared.
Something else replaced it.
Pain.
Then anger returned.
“I AM YOUR MOTHER!”
Claire did not look back.
She turned to the boys and knelt.
Mason was pale.
Eli was shaking.
Claire took both their hands.
“You do not have to go anywhere because an adult is yelling.”
Rachel snapped:
“Don’t coach them.”
Claire ignored her.
She looked at Mason.
Then Eli.
“Do you want to go back with her?”
Rachel’s face sharpened.
Claire expected no.
Eli expected Mason to answer first.
Mason wiped his tears.
He looked at Rachel.
Then at Claire.
Something in his eyes changed.
A decision.
“Yes.”
Claire stopped breathing.
Eli stared at his brother.
Mason squeezed his hand.
Eli looked at Rachel.
Then whispered:
“Yes.”
Rachel’s expression froze.
Not triumphant.
Terrified.
Claire slowly stood.
“What?”
Mason did not look at her.
“I want to go.”
Rachel’s lips parted.
Claire knew that face.
She had seen it when they were children.
The look Rachel got when something she wanted arrived in the wrong way.
Claire looked at Mason carefully.
“Why?”
He swallowed.
“Because Mom has something.”
Rachel snapped:
“Mason.”
Claire turned to her.
“What?”
Rachel’s face hardened.
“Nothing.”
Mason pulled Eli closer.
He whispered:
“Dad’s box.”
The room went silent.
Claire felt cold.
The boys’ father, Daniel Morgan, had died five years earlier.
Car accident.
Rachel had barely spoken of him since.
Claire looked at Mason.
“What box?”
Mason finally looked at her.
“The one Mom said burned.”
Rachel went pale.
Claire understood immediately.
The boys did not want Rachel.
May you like
They wanted whatever she had hidden.
And Mason had just told Rachel he remembered.
