It had been a whole week since the announcement of my mom's and Roberts divorce. Surprisingly enough my mom hadn't fought Robert about the divorce meaning she had been thinking about it too. She was just pissed that she wasn't the one who had asked for the divorce. In an attempt to console her friend Henry's mom had taken her for a little get away. We hadn't been able to talk before she left but she would be coming back soon and I intended to have her sign the papers as soon as she arrived.

Robert had left two days ago and it had been an emotional goodbye. He had grown on us and even though we would keep in touch it would not be the same without him around. My mom had married a lot of creeps in the past but Robert had been one of the good ones. He was the one person my mom didn't deserve to have so I was happy he was getting away from her. Charlie and I would too as soon as I got custody of him.

Since it was a Saturday and Jack had given me the day off so I'd decided to relax at home with Charlie, Alex and Henry. Jack had gone with Hannah to visit her mom. Wedding bells were definitely in the near future with how serious the two were taking things.

"Fresh lemonade."I announced walking into the backyard where the boys were shooting each other with water guns.

Everyone dropped their gun and ran towards me taking a glass from the tray I was holding.

"Thanks babe."Henry said kissing my cheek.

"Thank you Willow."Alex and Charlie yelled simultaneously before going to sit down.

"Where is your lemonade?"Henry asked me.

"I already had some in the kitchen."I answered him and he nodded.

"Wanna join us? We have an extra water gun. "Henry invited.

"Oh no, you boys have fun. I'm just going to watch."I replied.

"Are you sure?"Henry asked with a smirk.

"Yep."

"Okay if you insist."He replied before drinking his lemonade in one go and handing me back the glass.

Henry took a few steps back, took off his black tank top leaving him with only a pair of swim shorts. My eyes ran over his well sculptured body hungrily as I bit my lip, my thoughts immediately getting R-rated. Henry winked at me looking smug because he knew exactly the kind of effect he had on me.

The boys soon finished their lemonade and they went back to playing. I sat on one of the lounge chairs and watched them chase each other around in the backyard. My eyes were trained on Henry the whole time. He made sure to flex a lot so as to mess with me. Deciding that two could play that game I went back inside to change.

Twenty minutes later I came back out dressed in a floral two piece string bikini that left little to the imagination. I made sure that Henry saw me as I walked out of the house. I waltzed towards the pool made a dramatic stop at the edge and turned to face Henry. I winked at him watching as his hungry eyes ate me up before diving ever so gratefully into the pool.

When I emerged a minute later Henry was already stalking towards the pool. I grinned as I watched him dive before he swam towards me.

"That was a very dirty trick you just pulled."He scolded with a teasing gleam in his eyes.

"You started it."I replied taking the chance to run my manicured nails over his chest.

"Well I intend to finish it."Henry declared and swooped in to capture my lips in a kiss.

His hands played with the strings of my bikini as our legs tangled together, my hands trapped between us. Before it could get too steamy I pulled away remembering we had two young boys in close proximity.

"We have company."I apologized pecking Henry's pout when I deflected his kisses.

"Later then."He said with a hint of promise in his voice.

"Later."I rasped out imagining all the things we'd get into later.

I'd always underestimated the prowess of white boys in the bedroom department but Henry definitely proved me quite wrong. Our first time was a little awkward as Henry was shy but once I got him to relax, it had gotten better. Sex between us only got better with time.

"Boys no getting in the pool without floaters."I demanded when I noticed them running towards the pool.

"But willow we're eight. We don't need floaters."Charlie whined.

"I'm serious. You either get them or you're not getting in the pool at all."I instructed.

Charlie huffed but he knew arguing with me would get him nowhere. He led Alex into the pool house so they could get their floaters. I was not going to mess with their safety. Lord knows what Beth would do to me if her son drowned under my watch. They came back a few minutes later with arm band floaters and jumped into the pool. We splashed around for a while until Henry suggested we play shoulder wars. I carried Charlie since he was lighter than Alex. Alex and Henry won but only because I got tired of holding Charlie up, the kid was growing and fast now that he wasn't restricted by his wheelchair.

It took a while to get the boys tired enough for them to actually want to leave the pool but it was fun playing with them. We all freshened up afterwards and ordered Chinese for lunch. We were just about to settle down for a movie when the front door opened and my mom waltzed in dragging her suitcase behind her. She looked surprised to see us all in the living room and I expected her to pass us without saying hello but she surprised me by leaving her suitcase by the entrance and approaching us. She looked like a sales lady on vacation dressed a white paint suit and a wide brimmed hat.

"Good you're here, I need to talk to you both so can you send you little friends away."My mom demanded ever so rudely.

"You can't just barge in here and ruin our day. We're not sending them anywhere."I retorted.

"Willow don't test me right now, I am not in the mood."Mom screeched.

"You aren't in a position to make demands and I ask you to respect our friends."I retorted.

My mom was about to reply when Henry interrupted us "Willow it's okay, Alex and I will be in Charlie's room. Why don't you just hear your mother out?"

I nodded even though I wished I didn't have to. Henry took Alex's hand and led him away leaving me, Charlie and my mom alone.

"They are gone now, what do you want?"I asked wanting to get straight to the point.

She had already ruined our afternoon and I was not about to let her take too much of our time.

"First of all drop that tone, I am still you mother."She demanded and I scoffed.

What kind of mother went away for a whole week without communicating to her children. She didn't care if we ate, if we were safe or if we were still alive. A terrible mother, that's who.

"Second you need to start packing, we're leaving Crescent very soon."She added.

"No we're not."Charlie yelled back.

It was the first time he was ever talking back to my mom and as I was proud of him for standing up for us but it made my mom very angry.

"Don't you yell at me you brat. Stop teaching your brother to disrespect me."Mom huffed stomping her foot angrily.

"He's not a brat and I didn't teach him anything. If you actually did your job as a mother maybe you could teach him how not to yell at you."I retorted.

"You are ungrateful brats but I do not have the time to discipline you. Robert and I are divorced now and we can't stay here anymore so you two need to stop being so hard headed and start packing."Mom instructed.

Charlie was about to yell again but I stopped him by placing a calm hand on his shoulder. I nodded discreetly at him to assure him that I would handle things.

"To rephrase what Charlie said we are not leaving Crescent, you might be but it doesn't mean we have to follow you everywhere. I have my finals in a week so we're not going anywhere."I replied as calmly as I could.

"You dare defy me? After everything that I've done for you!"Mom screeched getting angrier.

"Pray tell mother, other than giving birth to us, what other thing have you ever done for us? Take your time, it might take a while for you to actually think of something."I asked.

"You will not speak to me like that."She demanded pointing a long manicures finger at me.

"Don't even bother trying to think, you might pop a vein. I'll make it easy for you, you have never done anything for us mother. You've only ever thought about yourself and we've followed you around one failed marriage after another but only because we didn't use a choice but we do now. I'm eighteen and a legal adult, I don't have to listen to you or go anywhere with you."I retorted getting angry myself.

Instead of getting pissed like I expected her to, my mom got this sinister look on her face that spelled trouble.

"Okay miss legal adult, you stay put but Charlie is still a minor so he is coming with me."Mom declared with a smirk.

Charlie looked up at me alarmed but I squeezed his shoulder to assure him that I was going to handle things.

"He's not because you are going to sign over custody of Charlie to me."I replied.

My mom laughed sarcastically before she responded"And why would I do that?"

"Because I've raised Charlie not you and because if you don't I will report you to child services for all those years of emotional and psychological abuse. We can do this the hard way or the easy way mother but I can assure you, it will end with Charlie in my care."I demanded.

My mom looked taken aback by my words because she had not expected me to have everything so properly planned out. I was not afraid to go to the courts to win custody of Charlie but my mom would not risk her reputation by dragging her name through a custody battle. I knew I would win so if it came to it I would fight for my brother.

"Wow, I never saw that one coming but I've got to give it to you girlie for actually having the guts to go one on one with me. If you want to raise your brother then fine, you can have him, I never did like any of you anyway."She replied giving in faster than I thought she would.

I wanted to dance in happiness but I held myself back because it was not the time and she still could change her mind.

"We don't like you either." Charlie replied earning himself a glare.

"Please sign this and you will never have to deal with us again."I requested picking up the custody papers from the coffee table and handing them to her together with a pen.

She didn't even read them over, just signed all the required slots angrily.

"He's your problem now."She sneered tossing the papers back at me.

"No he is my blessing. You should thank the heavens for Charlie because were it not for him one of us would have been dead long ago and I can assure you, it ain't me."I replied with a sinister smile on my lips.

In that moment Pamela realized that she had lost and didn't have power us anymore. She turned around on her heel and started heading up the stairs.

"Where are the damn maids? I need them to help me pack."She shouted stomping up the steps.

"I fired them all."I yelled after her.

"You did did what?! Why would you do something so dumb?"She asked stopping midstep to turn around and glare at me.

"Because I am the owner of this house and what I say goes."I replied calmly.

I knew the news I was going to deliver next would hit her hard and she wouldn't take it nicely.

"Owner? What owner? This is my house."She demanded.

"Not anymore. Robert left it to me before he went to Africa. It's in my name now so my house, my rules."I answered with a grin.

It was so much fun watching all kinds of emotions play out on her face. She went from frustrated, to angry then super mad and all other extreme emotions.

"That dimwit ex-husband of mine has surely done it now."She growled.

"Don't disrespect Robert in my presence. You were the disgrace in the marriage. Robert is a good man and he deserves better than you."I replied defending Robert.

"So now you come to his defense you ungrateful twit."She scoffed.

"Insult me all you want mother, I'm used to it and frankly I don't care. Now if you'll excuse us, we have a movie to get back to. You on the other hand can pack your personal belongings and leave. You're not welcome here."I declared.

"You can't just kick me out."She whined.

"Oh yes I can and I am. You have till tomorrow night to move out, otherwise I will report you for trespassing."I said very serious with my threat.

"You wouldn't dare."She gritted out.

"Try me Pamela, try me."I smiled pissing her off more.

She didn't say anything after that, just turned around and stomped up the stairs cursing at us the whole time.

A small body latched itself an my legs and I smiled hugging Charlie back.

"It's okay now, she's gone from our lives forever."I assured him.

"Thank you Willow for being the best sister ever."Charlie mumbled against my leg.

"Always bud."I whispered back kissing his hair.

"Let's go get Alex and Henry so we can continue with our movie."I suggested.

Charlie nodded and let go of my legs so we could both walk to his bedroom. Henry and Alex didn't even noticed us come in as they were too engrossed in the game they were playing. I approached Henry and took his headphones off giving him a back hug. He put his controller down and turned around so I fell in his lap ignoring Alex's protests.

"How did the talk with your mom go?"Henry asked nuzzling his face against my neck.

"As well as could be expected. She signed the papers and will be gone from our lives by tomorrow."I replied.

"Wow, that's great. You and I can now start making plans on where we want to go after graduation."He said pecking my lips.

"I can't wait."I smiled feeling free and happy that my mom was no longer part of our lives.

"When will you tell your family?"I inquired.

"Probably never."He muttered with a sad sigh.

"That's not right, you need to say goodbye to them properly. Say all that you've ever wanted to say to them so that when we leave you won't have any regrets."I advised.

"I don't know."He mumbled burying his face in my neck.

I ran my fingers through his hair massaging his scalp.

"It's for the best."

"Will you be there?"He pleaded.

"If you want me to be, yes I'll be there."I assured him.

"Okay but I'll do it after graduation."Henry said agreeing to my suggestion.

"Perfect."I smiled kissing his hair.

I looked over at the boys to see Charlie had picked up the game from where Henry had abandoned it. Charlie was yet to tell Alex we were leaving but we would deal with one issue at a time. For the moment we would celebrate our victory of finally being free of our mom. It was long due and now that it had finally happened I couldn't be more relieved.