"And your parents?" I wanted to punch her ex, but I was glad his parents had stepped up. At least she wasn't completely alone.
"They were both still working when the kids were babies, and they lived over an hour away in Boston, but they helped as much as they could, especially with the bills and the mortgage. They'd set aside money for a wedding, for someday when I was ready. Instead, they took the cash and put a down payment on our bungalow. The first two years they paid most of the mortgage, though I know it made things really tight on their end. Without our parents, I don't think I would have made it. I definitely wouldn't have graduated from college or been accepted to grad school."
"You went to grad school where you teach now?" It was a guess since she talked about the house like they were still living there.
"That wasn't the plan, but you know how plans go. Forget about Italy or applying to a more prestigious graduate program. At that point, I didn't care. I was head over heels for Thatcher, even if I was starting to have major doubts about Elliott. The college only has a few departments that offer graduate degrees, but their arts program is robust. It's the reason I went there for undergrad. They also offered me an on-campus job that came with childcare, so it was a no-brainer. I worked my way through my graduate degree, basically bringing Thatcher to school with me, while Elliott bounced from job to job and eventually gave up on finishing his own degree."
"Why did you stay with him for so long?" The guy sounded like dead weight, and Scarlett wasn't a woman who took crap from anyone. I know she said he was good-looking, but still…
She let out a huff of breath that pushed her hair from her face. "I don't know. Mostly, those first few years, I was just exhausted and trying to keep my head above water, even with all the help from our families. Then, I finished grad school, got a job as an assistant professor. Thatcher was about to start preschool, and I started thinking about my options. I would have left Elliott then, I think, but I got run down in the winter and caught a sinus infection. The antibiotics messed with my birth control, and we ended up with August."
She glanced over and caught the look of pity on my face. With a sweet smile, she shook her head.
"I know you're thinking I'm nuts and this all sounds like a train wreck, but both my boys were worth every second and more. I'll never regret staying with Elliott long enough to have August. If I'd left earlier, I wouldn't have my little guy, and he's the best."
"He's pretty awesome," I agreed. I wasn't lying. He was a cool little kid, and the bond between the two of them was clear to anyone who spent time with them. If there'd been a way to have the kid without his jackass of a dad, though… that would have been a lot better for Scarlett.
"Elliott missed August's birth because he was playing poker and turned off his phone. On my actual due date. That was almost my breaking point. Then Elliott was so happy about the baby, and he offered to stay home with August so I could go back to work, so I decided to give it one more shot. I came home early one day to find Elliott gaming with a headset on while August cried because his diaper was soaked and Thatcher was puking from stealing sips of his dad's rum and Coke. He was five. That was it. I was done."
"He let a five-year-old drink his rum and coke? Poor kid."
"The worst part is, he never even noticed. Just made a drink—at nine in the morning—slapped his headset on and didn't give another thought to the kids. I was afraid Elliott's parents would be angry when I left him. By then, I was as close to them as my own mom and dad—but when I told them what happened, it was the last straw for them, too. They helped me find a lawyer and I kicked Elliott out. They even strong-armed him into signing the papers without trying for part of the house or my car, which was all we owned between us."
"That's good, at least. He could have gone for custody or support since you were the one working."
Scarlett laughed, this one tinged with the bitterness I'd expected earlier. "He threatened to. I'll never know what Connie and Bill said to him, but he dropped all his threats and let us go. In return, I've never kept him from the kids. Never said a bad word about him." She scrunched her nose. "You might have to hold me back when we find them. It's possible I'm going to undo all that maturity and kill him in front of Thatcher."