Dear Ex Wife Please take me back by The Every Woman

ATHENA

"Mummy you just have to come with Daddy. My friends will laugh at me!" Rayen holds onto my hand as he pouts.

I sigh as I lift him in my arms and shower his cute face with kisses.

"Baby, Daddy will be busy." I lie.

But he shakes his head.

"No he won't. Daddy is never too busy for me. He comes to every school event. But can't you join him this year?"

His eyes widen as he cups my cheeks in his tiny hands. "Please, Mummy? Just this once?"

I hug him tighter, burying my face in his soft curls to hide the guilt clawing at my chest.

If only he understood how complicated things really were between me and Alex.

But how do I explain that to a three-year-old who still sees the world in black and white?

"Sweetheart," I whisper, brushing his hair back. "Mummy just... can't."

His face falls. The pout returns, deeper this time, but it's the sadness in his eyes that does me in.

"You don't love Daddy anymore? Is that why you won't let us stay together?" he asks quietly.

My heart stops.

I force a smile, even as my vision blurs for a second. "No that's not it."

"I wish I could show my friends I have a mummy. They laugh at me, saying, Aunt Leah is my Mummy, and she's in prison."

A sharp pain shoots through my chest as anger seethes through me.

I stroke his hair, my arms tightening around him instinctively.

"Who told you that?”

kids without real mummies are not allowed to come on the camping trip. And I want to go.

tight it hurts. Blood roars in my ears, drowning

mother teaches her child

mock my son for something he

rise in my throat like bile. Not just at Liam's

For letting this happen.

thinking distance was the answer when all it did was make him feel alone. I kept

kiss to Rayen's forehead, holding him as if I could shield him from every cruel word the world might

"Baby, look at me."

pulls back slightly, his eyes

with you, okay?" I say softly, but firmly. "You're not going to that trip without your mummy. I'll be there. I

His eyes widen with hope, so pure and sweet

you tell them the truth, that your mummy is a doctor, not a prisoner. And if that doesn't shut them up,

through his sniffles, and I smile as I wipe

at me, his green eyes holding mine, "Don't worry, mummy, I didn't let them see me

I laugh.

strong

kitchen!" He

own if I don't teach you

smiles t still have plenty of time. But Daddy doesn't. He almost burnt the kitchen when he tried to make. me an egg why don't you teach

back a

from last week

I can't hold

found me during

his

grounding me when Couldn't breathe,

blurred and my chest

it was caving in.

held me like I

in that moment, for a heartbeat, I forgot everything

I forgot the pain.

The betrayal.

The lies.

how he