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“You gave him up?” Maya managed to ask as I felt her relax ever so slightly.
“I should have. I should have told the police every dirty detail that I knew, but I was stupid. I believed he loved me, and he would protect me. That he would throw himself on the sword and keep me out of jail. Even the detectives were trying to get me to see that he didn’t care about me. That he had left me holding the bag. I didn't talk though, and he never manned up. He sent me right down with everything.”
I could see that it was still a bit painful to her. I didn’t know if it was painful because of the betrayal of her first love or because she had been sent to jail. “How long?” I asked.
“I spent ten years in a medium security prison. I can’t put into words how hard it was to be there every day. I did what I could to stay away from people and just make it through. It was about two months into my sentence when I discovered I was pregnant. I was heartbroken because I knew I would never be able to keep you. They weren’t about to let me go because I had a baby on the way. They gave me the choice of having the baby or terminated the pregnancy. Obviously, I said no to the latter.”
“Why?” Maya asked, and I was a bit shocked by that. It wasn’t generally a question that people asked others.
Hellen gave her a deep rich smile as she spoke, “Because I knew before you even grew fingers that you were going to be amazing. That the world needed to have you in it. It was my mistakes that landed me in prison. I was not about to let you pay for them as well. I wanted you to have a life, even if that meant I would never get to have you in mine. When it came time for me to give birth, Social Services were there in the room. I got to hold you for a few minutes before they took you away and my rights were terminated. I couldn’t look for you until you were of age.”
“And what do you do now?” she had said she had more money than she could spend, but that could mean she had obtained it through any means. I needed to make sure they were illegal means.
“Being pregnant in prison was a massive wake up call. I studied and got my GED. Once I had that, I took college courses in business. The prison I was in offered different trade courses for inmates with good behavior. I learnt all about building and renovations. When I got out fifteen years ago, I started a small business renovating kitchens, and it grew from there. Now I have multiple locations throughout the country and a few thousand employees. I donate to charities and speak to at-risk youth, so they don’t make the same mistakes that I did. I never married, and I never had another child.”
“Thank you, I appreciate you sharing your story with us,” I said with a small smile.
I had no idea where we were gonna go from here. I didn’t know if Maya wanted to stay or leave. I didn’t know if she believed Hellen or not. I was leaving all of this up to her to decide how we were going to proceed.
“And Max? What happened to him?” Maya asked.
“He overdosed in prison. He didn’t make it. You were about three at that point. He didn’t have any family, and I only had my grandparents. They passed away before I was convicted. Unfortunately, the list of blood family is just us.”
I didn’t know if that was true or not. It was certainly convenient we wouldn’t be able to speak to others to see if what she was saying was true. Lucas had his work cut out for him. The waitress came back over with our drinks as she spoke.
“Are you ready to order?”
I was just about to tell her that we needed a few more minutes when Maya spoke, “Yes, I’ll have the bacon cheeseburger with waffle fries please.”
“Of course. And for you both?” she asked Hellen and I.
“I’ll have the same,” I answered. I didn’t actually expect for us to eat, but I was more than happy to keep staying here for as long as Maya wanted.
“I will do the cheeseburger and sweet potato fries, please,” Hellen said, and I could tell she was also surprised that we were going to stay as well.
“Perfect, I’ll send that back for y’all,” the waitress gave us a warm smile before she headed off.
I leaned in and whispered into Maya’s ear soft enough that only she could hear me. “I’m surprised you want to stay.”
“I really want a bacon cheeseburger and waffle fries,” She softly whispered back, and I couldn’t help but laugh. Looks like the baby was already making the calls, and that was more than fine with me.
Maya
“Okayyouwereright;this was exactly what I needed.” I said as I slipped deeper into the tub.
Charlie wrapped his arms around me as I curled into his chest more. “See, every now and then I have a good idea.”
“This was a great idea.”
When we had gotten back from dinner, Ms. Wilson had already gotten Zoey tucked away in bed. She was asleep when we went to check on her. I found I missed not being here tonight to put her to bed. We would normally read a new manga that she had started. We still watched Naruto every day, but I was also reading her a My Hero Academia manga. So far she was liking it, and I figured once we ran out of Naruto episodes we could always watch that one next. I had to be careful with what I introduced her to, because not all anime was appropriate for someone her age.
“I was surprised that you wanted to stay for dinner. I would have figured you’d want to run away the second she finished explaining herself.”
“That makes two of us. It was my plan to just listen to her and then leave, but I really was hungry.”
“And?”
“And I was hoping she would slip up, maybe change her story or reveal more about herself. I don't know what to make of her.”
