David and Anna came down for breakfast to be greeted by a waft of disinfectant and curry and their mother on all fours scrubbing away at the living room carpet.  Her shiny face was a motley purpley brown and red - a combination of bruising, flushing and sweating.  She stopped for a rest and to request a cuppa but her kids just stood silent and open-mouthed in the doorway.  Eventually David’s expression turned to hatred and anger as he enquired through clenched teeth:

            “Did he do that to you?”

            Sarah looked down, then quietly and calmly explained that yes Greg was responsible but that it was never going to happen again because they were well rid of him this time.  She then faced her children and, noticing their doubting expressions, informed them with dogged determination that it was definitely final this time.

            David announced with just as much passion and resolution, “One day I’m going to get that scum bag back.  I’m going to give him the hiding of his life for what he’s done.  He is going to pay for this.”

            Anna joined in, “Yeah, he needs to be taught a lesson.”

Sarah looked at her children with such love and pride.  She was beside herself with self-loathing and guilt for not getting rid of Greg ages ago and for putting up with so much befuddled thuggery for so long.  But she decided that there was no point dwelling on it - she just hoped that her little rocks had not been damaged by the whole sorry episode.

            David and Anna looked so well-groomed in their school uniforms.  They were good, caring, intelligent and sensitive kids; far more mature than their tender years of ten and eight would have you believe.  David, the elder, was the resilient one with an admirable air of mental toughness, awareness and a strong sense of what’s right and just, although he often admitted that being self-reliant and single-minded did have its drawbacks especially where fellow pupils were concerned as they’d often target him for being ‘different’.

            Anna, a pretty, blue-eyed, freckle-faced blonde was the more quiet and conscientious child and the one more likely to tag along with what the crowd were doing regardless of whether it was right or wrong.  She walked over to her mum and threw her arms around her neck; her brother followed suit and the three of them remained locked in a solidarity embrace on the living room floor.   Sarah broke down in floods of tears, repeatedly saying that she was so sorry that she’d put them through the torment of their brutal stepfather to be.  They firmly reassured her, telling her that she mustn’t worry and everything would be ok now.

            Later as Sarah waved her children off by the front door she glanced at Greg’s car and remarked that she really should retrieve the baby seats because they belonged to her but she was reluctant to do so because Greg had warned her not to remove them or he’d report her to the police for theft and then he’d give her ‘another good smacking’.  David looked at his mother and with a ‘poker face’ expression told her:

            “You have to take the baby seats back.  YOU bought them.  Don’t listen to his nasty threats.  He’s a coward really and won’t carry them out.  And if he intends to, he’ll do it anyway regardless of what you say or do.  You can’t go on letting him control you cos if you do he’ll always be your master.”

            Such wise words coming from a boy of ten, Sarah thought, and wondered where he’d acquired such remarkable insight.  He was right, of course, and Sarah realised it was high time she called Greg’s bluff.  David had told his mother before that she has just as much say in things as Greg and that she should stand up to him.  Now she was beginning to listen to her enlightened son and to gain strength from him.

            As she watched her children heading off, she made a mental note to contact the head teacher to ask if a teacher could accompany them after school to the bus-stop on account of the very real threat of harm posed by her crazed ex-boyfriend.

She gave her dad a quick ring.

            “You’ll be glad to know I’ve dumped him - for good this time,” she said triumphantly.

            “I’m pleased to hear it; but I’ll believe it when I see it,” he responded.

            “Don’t worry, this time it’s final,” she insisted.

            “I’ll vet the next one for you,” he declared.

            “There won’t be any more.”

            “That’s what you say.”

            Sarah and her dad got along fine but were not terribly close.  He’d never been a family man.  Kids, especially little ones, drove him up the wall.  They were there to be seen, not heard.  Since Sarah’s mum died, he’d been enjoying his busy bachelor life - doing all the things that he’d always wanted to do.  But, to his credit, he does lend his daughter support when it’s needed.