Two Sons, A Mother's Divided Heart

was a mother to Cale, the kindest boy in the world, and the woman

fight brought it

natius-my son, the one Ham

ffice floor and begged for his forgiveness, j

sick son to drag me back into his world, th

and the one I was forced to abandon, a

a chance for revenge, but only if I played

a pawn

r ag

pte

ne Jack

y past, brick by painful brick. It only took on

ing in my stomach. A "minor altercation," he' d called it. But I knew Cale. My Cale was quiet, gentle. He read books thicker than h

oy he' d

e clothes on my back and a heart so thoroughly shattered, I didn't think it could ever beat properly again

old was a merciless thief, stealing the feeling from my fingers and toes, whispering promises of a fi

s he worked with. He didn't ask questions. He just wrapped me in his coat, took me back to his small

le boy, Cale, whose mother h

His son, Cale, became my own. Calvin never pried into the shadows of my past. He saw the scars, but he never as

ix colors on a palette, I read to him every night, and I held him when he was sick. He was my son in every way that matter

a fragile sanctuary. And now, that

t, his lip split and a defiant terror in his eyes. Across from him, a boy with an expensive blazer and a

finally cracking. "There was a disagreemen

e," Cale mumbled, his v

lse, and gently tilted his chin up. "It's ok

am so sorry about what happened. Cale is not a violent bo

ng eyes. "You're his mother?" The question was laced with d

y voice firm. "I

"Fine. If you're so sorry, then prove it. Get

tly. "Ignatius, that is

pths. The world seemed to fall away. All I could see was Cale's frighten

I d

d floor of the principal's office. The fabric of my jeans scraped

ar despite the tremor of humiliation running through me. "I am

my skin, a physical manifestation of the shame. A single, hot

aw cry of anguish and self-bla

ody shaking with sobs. The pure, selfless love in his cry was a

remity of my action. I saw his expensive le

rd. "Mrs. Byrd, please, thi

. As I started to push myself up, my blurred vision caught the nameplate on

r, Ig

e dark, a name I had chosen. A name that belonged to the son Hampton had torn from my arms five years ago. My eyes, still blurry with

burying it deep. It was t

" I said, my voice raspy as I finally stood, pul

to get Cale and run back to

hadn't heard in five years but had relived in a thousand nightmares. P

inful, Jo

t crack. It exploded into a

ere, and my past had fi