Stay(124)

If it weren’t for my family, Jackson and I would have nothing. My parents welcomed Jackson into their house with no hesitation, though it hadn’t been easy for them to accept him. They wanted their daughter back, but had envisioned the old Adeline. My therapist still had to remind me of that too. I came back not only a changed person, but pregnant and with someone I wasn’t willing to let out of my sight. It was a lot for my family to take in. Jackson had been my rock, my reason to keep fighting, and my freedom. He was just a stranger with a dark past to my family at first.

More than once my mother hinted that she wondered if I really loved him or had developed some sort of deep dependence on him while we were captive. There was never any doubt in my mind. I loved Jackson.

Our life wasn’t ideal. I never thought I’d be married with a child and still living in my parents’ house … without even graduating. Jackson and I shared my old room, and the guest bedroom upstairs and been turned into a nursery.

Even if I hadn’t suffered from crippling anxiety, I wasn’t willing to leave Jackson and Grace and go back to school. I tried going to a local community college, but dropped out after just a few days, unable to deal with the questions and the whispers. Instead, Jackson and I both took online courses.

I didn’t know if either of us would ever be able to get a job and support our family. I had cried over that many times. I wanted a normal life for us … for Grace. We still talked about our dreams. I still wanted to be a nurse, and Jackson wanted to work in law enforcement, putting guys like Nate and Zane behind bars. If it didn’t happen next year, then maybe the year after that. Someday, we’d both have jobs. Someday, we’d have our own house. Someday we would have that normal life. But for now we had each other. And that was enough.

Now that Grace was here, my parents didn’t want us to leave. They loved their first grandchild almost as much as we did. It was hard for Jackson to adjust to being free and a father. Neither of us knew what we were doing. We read every baby book we could during the pregnancy, which did little to prepare us. I loved being a mother, and I loved my daughter more than I could ever thought possible. Jackson was wonderful. He was unsure of himself and nervous, but he was a great dad who loved his little girl.#p#分页标题#e#

“It’s so scary,” Luke said. “I had no idea that kind of stuff happened around here.”

“Not a lot of people do,” Jackson told him, unable to look him in the eye.

“You’re so brave, Addie,” Lynn said. “Both of you are. What you’re doing is amazing.”

I smiled. “Thanks.”

Mom came back into the dining room with the baby in her arms. Grace caught sight of me and smiled. She had dark almond shaped eyes just like her father, and her wispy hair was brown with a slight curl to it. She was the perfect combination of the two of us.

“Hey there, pretty lady,” Dad said and extended his arms. “Let Grandpa hold you.”

“You had her before dinner,” Mom told him. “It’s my turn.” She held Grace up in front of her and made a silly face, causing Grace to giggle. “Grandma loves her little angel, doesn’t she?”

Jackson put his hand on top of mine. I turned to him, our eyes locking. I felt the familiar flutter in my stomach that had never gone away. Despite the horrors we had gone through, we were happy. We chose to be victors, not victims, going through hell and getting out of it not only alive, but also stronger … and together.

No matter what, together is how we would always stay.