Rrrrring!

“Hey!” A bright voice says from the other end of the line.

“Hi Dia,” I reply wearily.

“Are you okay?” She asks more quietly.

“Not really. Did you see what I texted you?” I ask.

“Oh, yeah! What the hell is he thinking?!” She exclaims. “Is he doing drugs again?”

“Honestly, Dia. I don’t know.” I admit.

“This is just him being controlling again, Olive. He has nothing on you. He’s just a power-hungry douchebag. Don’t let it get to you...”

I’m getting ahead of myself. Allow me to explain what had happened.

The night before, when we were on our walk, I had received a text from… My husband.

August and I had moved across the country to stay with my mother the month before, after Steven had stated that he no longer wanted to be a part of our family and that he especially did not want to remain married to me. He’d used the “D” word.

Divorce.

The night I received the text we hadn’t heard from Steven at all for about a week and he hadn’t so much as inquired after his son for about two weeks and I was beginning to get over being pissed that he had so clearly written off our son and feel that it was better that he was no longer a part of our lives.

Needless to say, I was not prepared for what I read and the conversation held via text message that followed…

Steven: Did you know that what you did is illegal? And I am willing to drop charges if you let me talk to my son from now on.

Olive: What are you talking about? And don’t you dare threaten me.

Steven: You’re about to get felony kidnapping. Tennessee laws do not let one parent take the kid over 50 miles away. You go to jail and I get August. My lawyer can drop the charges if you become a decent human being and let me have contact with my son.

Olive: You signed a letter that we had notarized and I have kept. Also, it’s not kidnapping if tapes at the airport and witness statements will prove otherwise.

Steven: Doesn’t matter. There is a time limit and you broke it. I can push this Olive. So, let me start talking to my son and be a little nicer from now on.

Olive: I have told you several times that if you will COMMIT to maintaining communication with August on a regular basis- not just for 10 minutes when you feel like it- I would be more than happy to have you talk to him.

That was the last time I had heard from him and I’d spent the night fretting over the implications of what he had done. Not so much that he was claiming to have hired a lawyer, but the fact that he had the gall to threaten to bring me up on criminal charges when we both knew that what I’d done was completely legal and the move had happened with his consent. He had taken us to the airport and kissed us goodbye! He had decided he wanted a divorce! He had quit his job and moved in with his parents and did not plan to help support our son in any way!

I forwarded the conversation to his step-mother, one of my aunts and my best friend and begged them to call me in the morning. My best friend, Dia, got to me first:

“He doesn’t talk to you guys for weeks and then he texts you trying to scare you and control you. It’s just like old times. I swear Olive if you ever get back together with that loser I will murder you. You can do so much better!”

My aunt, Tia Carmen, reached me next:

“You need to stop letting that boy get into your head. Stop talking to him. Don’t text, don’t call, don’t e-mail. Radio silence that’s what you need. It’ll be good for you.”

And then his step-mother, Paula, texted back:

I’m sorry. I didn’t know he sent you this. But most of it is true. I don’t know about the kidnapping. Also, let me give both of you some Mama advice, don’t use August to get back at each other. Y’all do whatever, but let August have both parents. He did not choose this and don’t punish him. Y’all work on this between yourselves please.

Dia, again:

“Is she on crack?! You did not kidnap August. That asshole doesn’t have a legal leg to stand on! She is totally on his side in this, you know that right?”

Ugh.

I’m tired of hearing what everyone else thinks that I should do. I know that if he ever tried to use the law to get his way I could bury him. I know that he is just trying to scare me. I know that this is a power play.

What I don’t understand is how things got to this point. How he could make such a threat without a care or any consideration for myself or our son. How he became such a monster and came to believe that I was nothing more than a sheep ripe for slaughter.

How did I let myself get into this mess?

Radio-silence…That sounds like a really good idea right now.If it was possible, I’d drive off in a rocket powered car capable of taking August and I to the furthest uninhabited moon and put the world on radio-silence.

Next Chapter: Be brave.