When we got to the car, Jasmine was already behind the wheel and already had the baby strapped in. She told me that we were going to the hospital, and that she had called my parents. She said it like there was nothing that I could do about either of those things. She also told me that the baby and I would be staying with her until my parents got into town the next day. Drama and Shayna were down visiting Kenney, and just happened to be at Jasmine's house when I called. And Kenney just happened to be at work. Divine order, she called it. They probably hadn't told Kenney anything about this, or he would have definitely been there, too.

And things would have probably gone...the opposite of how they thankfully went.

Jasmine made it clear that I would not be staying with them at Kenney's house. Drama co-signed. They were right. I was waaay too wide open to be around Kenney right then. Shayna was most likely already back over at Kenney's smoothing over any suspicions.

A mess.

What a mess I brought to the table.

I looked over at Sammie, nice and snug in her new car seat...no idea why Jasmine had that...and held her hand. My precious baby...who almost lost her life that day.

I prayed quietly. "Thank you God, for my beautiful precious baby girl," tears started to fall uncontrollably. "Thank you. Thank you..."

"Tanch chu," Samantha repeated and I smiled at her.

Then I thought about Jasmine and looked at her in the rearview mirror. She was already looking back at us, a faint smile on her lips.

"Thank you Jasmine. Thank you for coming to get us."

"No problem, kid." She looked back out at the road.

"Thank you, Drama." I gave him as big of a hug as I could with the seat in the way. "I love you so much. I love you, too, Jasmine. Thank you for letting us stay with you. I love all of you. All of you." I teared up again and stopped talking.

Sammie picked up where I left off. "Tanch chu!" She raised her little arms above her head and started clapping. Then she started munching on her snack again. Jasmine...or Drama...or Shayna, had thought of everything.

The hospital was one of the most horrifying experiences of my life. My exam was pretty bad. I didn't realize how much pain I was in until the adrenaline wore off and they started poking at my ribs...three of which were broken. But that wasn't the bad part. When we got there, I told the doctor that I had fallen down the stairs. And, of course, Jasmine and Drama immediately gave each other the side eye. I guess the doctor caught that, and peeped the blood on my pants, because he immediately brought the baby into it by asking if I was holding her when I fell. I said "yes" because she may have also been hurt and I wanted to get her checked out, too. As soon as I admitted that she was a part of the "accident," he went straight into the "legally obligated to examine her for abuse" speech.

I didn't know if that was true. But I also didn't know what Collin had done to her while I was locked in the closet to make her scream so loudly, either, so I gave my consent...like I had a choice at that point, and we went our separate ways. Jasmine went upstairs with the baby and Drama went with me. He waited in the waiting room while they examined me, and then as soon as they were done we rushed upstairs to the baby's exam room. Again, Drama waited in the pediatric waiting room.

The killer part of this whole thing was seeing the doctor's hands on my baby. I know he was doing what he was supposed to do, but as soon as I walked into the room and saw him with her, I wanted to punch him right in the face. I guess Jasmine felt the same way, because she looked upset by the time I walked in. As soon as she saw me coming, she handed Sammie to me and exited stage left.

The baby's exam was pretty routine, but Sammie had always been so afraid of doctors – with all of their poking and prodding and crazy utensils – that she cried big crocodile tear after tear the whole time, like he was hurting her. That's what got me, and I think that's what got Jasmine, too. When the doctor finished, he said she was fine and, after I told him that she was crying for a while after the fall, he said that she had probably just had a really bad scare.

That's when I started crying. A really bad scare... He didn't know the half of it. He eyed my blood stained pants again and asked once more if it was just a bad fall. He also asked if we were currently in any danger. I said no, and after giving Sammie an extra-long once over, he handed her a green lollipop and sent us on our way.

I always thought it was weird when doctors gave kids candy. I mean...they should know that's not good for them, right? Said the woman who left a perfectly safe place and brought her baby home to a raving lunatic, I thought, and shook my head at my own damn self.

When we got out into the waiting room, Jasmine was going through her purse nervously, looking for nothing in particular, and Drama was on the phone with Shayna. I could hear their conversation as we walked up.

"...and diapers." He looked at the baby. "I don't know...like regular baby size, I guess. Big baby size." He chuckled, mostly likely at Shayna's response to the big baby sized diapers request and said "Ok, I love you, too." He hung up and watched us walk over to them. "What'd he say?"

"That she probably just had a really bad scare."

Drama looked pissed and shook his head. Jasmine kept searching through her purse like she didn't even hear me.

"And you?" he asked.

"I have three broken ribs."

Drama looked real pissed at that. Jasmine looked up quickly and her eyes iced over. Her face blanked out, too, like Kenney's did when he didn't want you to know what he was thinking. Then she looked over at Drama.

"Don't tell Kenney."

He nodded at her like that was obviously the plan, and then Jasmine looked at me, which she didn't even have to do because I already knew.

Drama reached for the baby. "Well give me this heavy munchkin right here!" He grinned at her and gave her a hug. "Hey shortcake." He and Shayna both went gaga every time Sammie came around. Two peas in a pod.

Jasmine looked at me. "You ready?"

I could tell that she'd had enough of the hospital and I nodded quickly.

On the ride home, Jasmine re-iterated that no one would be telling Kenney anything about that day, and that Samantha and I would not be staying over there with him. I couldn't blame her. Just the fact that Jasmine – who had stayed completely out of the me and Kenney saga for years - would now get in the business, even a little bit, let me know a whole lot. Kenney must have been really bad off when we'd left him the first time. I didn't really see it as leaving him at the time, but I guess that's pretty much what we did.

No wonder he never called me back.

The realization sank my heart all the way down to the bottom of my stomach and by the time we pulled into Jasmine's driveway, all I wanted to do was crawl into bed. My own bed. At home. Our home...that Sammie and I no longer lived in. Displaced again.

I looked over at my sweet baby, sleepy eyes drooping, chewing on her little Graham crackers – which Jasmine had replaced the sucker with - still visibly upset by the hospital visit, and it was all I could do not to cry. What. The hell. Were we going to do? Jasmine was right to call my parents. I was all out of ideas...and steam.

I needed a break. From life. Which was not an option, so...

When we got out of the car, Drama moved the sucker that he had snagged from the baby, by way of Jasmine, to the other side of his mouth and gave me a tight hug.

"Love you, shorty." He kissed the top of my head.

"Love you, too." I squeezed him back. "Thank you."

"Anytime. Anytime." He pulled away and looked over at Sammie. "And you, shortcake. You already know." He balled her little hand up into a fist and dapped her up. He had been trying to teach her "the pound" for half the ride home. "You're gettin' it!" He pulled his hand back and made an explosion noise. She cracked up. "Secret shortcake handshake."

He kissed her chubby little cheeks and dapped her up one more time. It didn't occur to me until then, but they were probably happy as hell that she was still alive by the time they got there, too. I would be a fool, a real fool to take her back to Collin after that.

A real damn fool.

"Shayna will be over here tomorrow. Me and Mike and some of his boys will head over to your place to pick up your stuff...before your dad gets here."

Drama looked at me, waiting for an objection. I didn't have one. He was right. My dad in the mix would have probably made things go way differently, too. Maybe. Maybe not, though. My dad was a lot like Drama. But waiting for him before potentially coming across Collin again would be a hit or miss that wasn't worth the gamble.

Drama looked over at Jasmine, who was holding the baby and wiping crumbs off of her little bow-shaped mouth. "Mike said you'd be cool with that." Jasmine nodded and made a little face at the baby. Sammie made one back and cracked up. She was really taking to Jasmine. Then again, my baby...and Aunt Jasmine...had never met a stranger. Drama looked at me. "You cool with that?"

I nodded. "But I want to come with you." Drama and Jasmine exchanged glances over the baby's head. "I just..." I was totally overwhelmed and they knew it. "I just can't remember what's in the house. What the baby needs. What I need...all our stuff..." I swallowed back panic.

Jasmine handed the baby to Drama, and then put her arm around me. "It's ok. I'll come with you." She put her slender hand under my chin and lifted my face up. "We'll pull it together, little sister. It'll be ok."

I nodded and walked with Jasmine into the house. Drama followed with the baby. Shayna was gone, but all of the stuff that she'd bought for us was spread across the dining room table. I guess she didn't know where to put it...or us. Drama stayed for another hour or so making plans with Mike, who they had apparently also not told where they were going, until Drama called him from the hospital waiting room. I figured that Mike was probably at work when they'd left, too, like Kenney. What a mess that would have been if Mike showed up. Collin never forgot a face. Never.

Divine order, indeed.

Drama was probably sticking around, too, to make sure that the baby was ok. He left right after she fell asleep, which we all took as a sign that she had finally calmed down. After Sammie went to sleep, of course I went to sleep. But I woke up a few hours later and wandered downstairs into the kitchen. Jasmine was still down there, at the table, reading. She looked up from her book when I walked in.

"You alright little sister?"

"I'm ok. Are you alright?"

She looked at me for a long time and then smiled. "Thank you for asking me that." She grabbed my hand and squeezed it. "I'm fine." She went back to her book for a second, but when I didn't leave, she looked up again. "You understand why I don't want Kenney in this, right?"

"Yeah, I do."

"Thank you for understanding. He has his own stuff that he's working through right now. The baby has brought a lot of feelings out of him that he didn't realize he was still holding on to." She gave me that look through your eyes and into the back of your head look and said, "You both need to be whole, first. Before...anything else."

I got the message loud and clear.

"Natasha..." She reached out for my hand. I gave it to her. "I have to tell you something that you're not going to like. But I want you to promise me that you will not contact Kenney about it. About...any of this."

I nodded my head and agreed quietly, "I won't."

"Natasha..." She looked deep into my eyes. "He's moving."

My heart took a sharp dive straight into my grave. "What?"

"He's moving," she said a little louder, "to Chicago. You know, that's where he went after..." Her voice trailed off. I just stared at her. "Shayna and Rob are here to help him pack up the house." I continued to stare at her. "He needs to branch out, sweetheart. He needs to see what this world has to offer him..." Her voice trailed off again when I smiled faintly. That sounded familiar. She continued. "He won't do that if...you know..."

I nodded and hugged her. "I won't contact him, Aunt Jasmine. Thank you for letting us stay with you."

With that, I went back to bed.

And then cried until the sun came up.

The next day, we went and got our stuff out of the house. I can't even think about it. Drama and Mike put in on a storage unit and put everything in it so that it would be one less thing for me to worry about. When my parents got there, they were completely on autopilot. I could tell. The weekend was like a walking checklist. When they finally left, I was definitely ready for them to go. I also wanted to go with them...kind of.

Actually, they asked me what I wanted to do before they made any moves. I told them that I wanted to stay in VA and keep everything as normal as possible, so they helped me get a townhouse down the street from Hampton U. I was also going to start teaching again in the fall, since I contacted my old principal and that offer was still on the table. So that at least two things were crossed off the list. I loved Hampton. It was familiar and comfortable, and right then I didn't really want to be anywhere else. It did kind of feel like I was right back where I started – only now with a baby, but that was cool with me. I needed to start that thing over again anyway. For real, for real. Completely and totally over.

I was glad that Sammie and I were able to put down roots and get our stuff out of storage so quickly. I'll thank my parents for a million years for that one. I was so grateful for not just them, but everyone. Not that I didn't think they would have our backs if I decided to leave Collin, but you know how it goes. Everyone says get in the water, but after you're in there nobody has time to teach you how to swim.

I was so incredibly grateful for how smoothly the transition went, but honestly, it was a little too smooth. You know what I mean? Like when was the other shoe going to drop? When was Collin's crazy ass going to show up and throw us in the Hampton River? He never did come after us, but at the time, Iwas so obsessed with that thought that I made sure Sammie knew how to swim before the summer was over. It took everything I had not to just throw in the towel when it was time for my parents to go home, especially after they ended up staying a week longer than they said they would.

Which gave me plenty of time to realize that this was really happening.

All of it.

And I was really on my own...with a baby.

I think my mom was more worried than she let on, too, which is how I ended up in the gated townhouses, rather than in the initial apartment complex that I'd planned to move into. It was cute and looked like rows of gingerbread houses, but no alarm and no gate. And, anyway, even if I did go back to Maryland with them, guess whose dad lived right across the street? And mom, too, by then. His parents had gotten back together years ago, and if she was anything like me, and if Collin's dad was anything like Collin...I could finally see how that had happened. And I knew from experience that there was nothing anyone but the two of them could do about it. I didn't really feel like being around all that right then, so...

Because I couldn't really see any way around the nightmare, I just decided to live it all the way through and see what was on the other side. My mom, of course, damn near tied me up and threw me in the backseat when it was time for them to go, but my dad in his ever-calm way explained that I was a grown woman, not "her baby," and that if I felt like I needed to come home, I would. My dad was like that. We had also had a long talk in private the day before and, I guess I downplayed the Collin situation well enough for him to be ok with leaving me there.

Plus, Jasmine's husband was a cop. That held a lot of weight with him. Of course, they didn't know Mike, so they weren't about to just let us stay at Jasmine's house with him until the job started and my paychecks kicked in, but they were incredibly grateful that I had such a strong support system around me. Parents always feel better when they know that other people are watching out for their kids, too. I know I do.

Surprisingly, my dad asked about Kenney a couple of times, wanting to know if he was going to stop by before they left. The answer that he got from anyone that he asked was always a quick "He's at work." He didn't really get into the me and Kenney thing any deeper than that, but the fact that he asked about Kenney more than once led me to wonder if he thought that Collin and I didn't work out because of Kenney. One day, with this far behind Sammie and me, I decided that I would tell him how far off the mark he really was.

Not right then, though. There was too much other stuff going on.

I had a feeling that my mom probably knew exactly what was going on, though. And I wondered if she had suspected that Collin was abusing us that whole time. But I couldn't go too deep into that thought. My emotions were already all over the place, and adding to my already extensive list of things to be pissed about would have been "counterproductive," as Jasmine liked to say.

I spent a lot of time with Jasmine those first few months after I left Collin. I left the baby with her a lot, too, since she was free during the day and only went to the club at night. She was an angel in disguise. My guess was that she always had been. I learned a lot from her, and the more time that I spent with her, the more I understood why Kenney had always seemed so calm and level-headed. She was big on praying and big on looking at the bigger picture, and the more time that I spent with her, the more time that I spent doing those things, too.

The one thing that she wasn't big on - I was surprised to find out, after hearing everything that she had been through - was holding on to anger. She always said that we would all eventually do something to someone else in our lifetimes, and that eventually we would all have something done to us. The order that this happened in, tended to shape the way we moved through life, but we should try not to let it dictate too much. Life was just life and there was nothing that we could really do about it. The best that we could do was try to treat people the way that we wanted to be treated, keep our loved ones and even the loved ones of others as safe as we possibly could, be the best person that we knew how to be, learn from the lessons that life taught us, and teach those lessons to someone else. And after we had done all that we could do, we had to just let God take care of the rest.