Chapter 17
Northern Minnesota
Sam curled next to Alice in the bed at the shelter. “Mom, are we gonna go home again?”
“I don’t think we can, Sam.” She pulled him closer.
“Why? ’Cause Dad will hurt us?” His innocent freckled face gazed up at her.
“Yeah, he might.”
He pulled away from her, and his voice filled with worry. “So, where are we gonna go?”
“I don’t know, Sam.”
“Does that mean you’ll have to take care of us now, Mom?”
As Sam’s words reached her ears, reality hit Alice in the face like a baseball bat, leaving her head swirling with worry and concern. She was going to have to do more than just leave Jake and sit with her children in a women’s shelter for the rest of their lives. She was going to have to do something. She detested Jake because he sat on his a*s waiting for the
