Week 316 – She felt instant relief as she caught sight of her son, dropping to her knees and folding him into a hug.

Maisie didn’t hesitate.

Shoving off the bed she ran for the door, heading for the room where Match had told her Milo was.

As she threw open the door to see her sweet little boy playing happily with trains and a wooden track she felt instant relief as she caught sight of her son, dropping to her knees and folding him into a hug.

“Mama, where were you? I wanted to play trains with you,” he said all huffy and she gave a watery laugh even as tears filled her eyes. Seemed her little sweet pea wasn’t in the least fazed about being kidnapped.

“Umm, I was sleeping, baby.”

“I’m not a baby, I’m a big boy,” Milo said with all the affront a four year old could muster.

“Of course you’re a big boy,” Match said from the doorway where he was watching them.

Instinct had her picking up her son and turning so she was between him and Milo’s father. Any residual love she’d harboured after he’d disappeared leaving her alone and pregnant had vanished when he kidnapped her and her baby like he had any right to come back into their lives.

“See, daddy says I’m a big boy.”

Her heart stopped beating.

The room suddenly didn’t seem to have any air in it.

Match had told her son that he was the boy’s father?

Without her consent.

Shock quickly morphed to fury. How dare Match. Who did he think he was?

Reigning in her anger only for Milo’s benefit she looked around, she had no idea how long she’d been unconscious but it was dark out and Milo hadn’t fallen asleep so it couldn’t be all that late.

“Have you had dinner?” she asked her son.

“You promised pizza,” he said immediately, drawing a small smile out of her.

“There’s pizza in the oven, why don’t you go wash up,” Match told Milo, who squealed and wriggled in her arms until she had no choice but to put him down and let him dart out of the room.

With her son temporarily gone she stormed up to Match, stood right in front of him, uncaring she had to tilt her head up to meet his gaze. “How dare you tell Milo you’re his father.”

“I am his father.”

“A father doesn’t walk away from the woman he claims to love, leaving her pregnant, alone, and struggling. Nor does he kidnap his child and the child’s mother. You don’t know what it means to be a father,” she seethed.

His hands darted out so quickly she didn’t realise he had moved until they clamped around her biceps and lifted her off the floor. “I didn’t know you were pregnant when I left. And I left to keep you safe.”

“Sure,” Maisie scoffed. Never again would she be stupid enough to believe a word that came out of Match’s mouth.

He growled and shook her roughly. “Loving someone in my world is a weakness, its something that can be used against you. You were my weakness ness and now you and our son are in danger.”