When The Bough Breaks

The movie had ended and Jesse was getting grumpy; he wanted to get out of his pjs but there wasn’t anything for him to wear. I had to wake Josh up, I really didn’t want too; he looked so sexy and comfortable as he cuddle close to me while he slept.

“Josh?” He made a noise as I gently shook him but he remained asleep. “Josh?” I kissed his cheek, “Honey wake up.” He stirred, tightening his arms around me and Jesse, his chin rested on my shoulder and he mumbled incoherently.

Jesse got up on his knees on my lap, “Daddy wake up!” He yelled as his open hand connected with Josh’s cheek.

Josh jumped, his eyes flew open, and he stared at his son in disbelief. “Did you just hit me?”

Jesse plopped back down on my lap crossing his arms over his chest. “I want go home!” He yelled, “No wear ‘piderman” as he pulled on his pjs.

Josh shot me a questioning look then looked back at Jess. “Come here," he said as he held out his hands to him.

Jesse’s eyes opened wide, “No daddy! I sorry!” He jumped off me and ran out of the room, down the hall and into a room, slamming the door behind him.

Josh got up and looked down the hallway before turning back to me. “Did I miss something?”

Jordan, who was watching all this stood up and quickly closed the distance between him and Josh. “Looked like a natural reaction of a scared little boy to me. A boy who expected his father to hit him.”

“I would never hit my son!”

“Oh really? Then why is he so scared?” Jordan turned to me, “If he hits the kid, what makes you think he won’t do it to you?”

“Jordan! Josh doesn’t hit Jesse.” I looked up at Josh, “But I’m betting I know who does.” I started down the hallway towards the spare room where Jesse ran.

“I should go talk to him.” Josh stopped me.

I shook my head and continued to the door. “Jesse? Sweetie, it’s Anna. Can I come in?”

“Daddy too?” Jesse’s asked, his voice shaky, it sounded like he was crying. I told him his daddy wasn’t there and he said ok. I slowly opened the door and peeked inside; he was sitting in the far corner facing the wall, with his knees drawn up to his chest. He looked over his shoulder at me; his eyes were bright red from his tears.

“Hey sweetie,” I sat down next to him on the floor and rubbed his back. He stood up and crawled onto my lap.

“Daddy mad?” He wasn’t looking at me; he was staring at his hands on his own lap.

I shook my head, “No honey your daddy is worried.” I lifted his face up so I could see him. “Are you scared of daddy? Did you think he was going to hurt you?”

He shook his head, “Daddy not mean.”

I kissed his forehead, “Is someone mean to you Jesse?”

“I gonna be big brother, like daddy.” He smiled up at me. “Mommy have baby.”

“Yeah, I heard. How do you feel about that?”

“I be a good boy and I help mommy with baby.”

I frowned, “You help mommy with the baby?”

He giggled, “Baby no here.”

“Oh!” I smiled, “If you are a good boy you can help mommy with the baby?”

He nodded and his smile disappeared, “I bad boy.”

“Who says you are a bad boy?”

“I mean to daddy, I bad boy.” He lowered his head again. I went to say something but he continued. “Mommy mean to daddy. Mommy say daddy a bad word.” He lifted his head and stared at me. “You like daddy?”

I grinned, “Yes I like your daddy, very much.”

“Ama not mean like mommy, you be my mommy Ama?” His little eyes lit up as he said it. “I be good boy!”

I chuckled, “Jess you are a good boy.” There was a knock at the door, Jess and I looked towards it at the same time.

Josh poked his head in, “Can I come in?”

Jesse climbed out of my arms and ran to his dad. Josh scooped him up, hugged and kissed him. “I sorry daddy,” Jesse kissed Josh’s cheek and giggled. “I have some juice?”

Josh laughed, “Sure just let me speak to Anna for one minute.” The moment he put Jess down, he went running out into the living room and asked Jordan for some juice. Josh shook his head, “I think he likes Jordan.”

I grinned as I wrapped my arms around his waist. “Of course he does, Jordy’s a good guy.”

Josh nodded, “I guess he is. I’m still weary around him though. Speaking of that, we still have to talk.”

I sighed, “Yeah I know.”

“You don’t want too?”

“Oh, I do. I’m just not sure I want to hear what you were talking about last night.”

He laughed. “Scared?” He asked as he kissed my cheek.

I nodded and tried to change the subject. “So about what just happened.”

Josh sighed, “I’m going to call my lawyer when I go home, see if I can talk to him this weekend. I really don’t want to send Jesse back there.”

“Ok, so you are going to do that now?” I smiled at him.

He chuckled, “You really don’t want to talk about it, do you?”

“Yes, I do. I just thought that you’d want to deal with this issue first.”

Josh agreed. “Can you come over tonight?” I nodded. “Good.” He smiled, “We’ll talk about it then.”