*This is a true story, though names and places have been changed for privacy.

Jacob was born as a poor, inner city kid. Like so many others, his parents’ relationship quickly dissolved into the black hole of alcoholism. His mother worked three jobs to afford necessities. Entertainment for Jacob and his older sister was found on the streets alongside other kids who had similar home lives.

Being guided by other, inexperienced youth, Jacob blindly wandered into gang life. To him, it was the family he didn’t have at home. They gave each other tattoos, got into fights and smoked a lot of weed. Jacob eventually dropped out of school.

When the gang started talking about ways to acquire guns, Jacob began having second thoughts. His sister had become worried, too, and decided to tell their mother. Jacob’s mom sat him down and insisted that he leave the gang. Jacob told her he would have to by “jumped” out. He would have to take a beating from all of the gang members at once for a full 60 seconds. And, if he fought back the beating would get worse. She told him he had gotten himself into it, now he had to face the consequences to get himself out. So, he did. He resolved to do it in honor of his mother.

Luckily, only half of the members showed up that day, seven in all. They surrounded him with clenched fists and angry faces. One of them shouted, “Go!” and it began. A punch to the face, one to the back, one to the ribs and an elbow to the spine forced Jacob to the ground. He curled up and protected his head while kick after kick landed everywhere else on his body until the longest minute of his life finally came to an end.

Jacob was slow to get up, but he dragged himself up without help. Leaning on one leg, hunched over with one arm hugging his stomach while the other dangled at his side, Jacob turned to hobble home. One of them asked him, “Hey, wanna smoke a joint?”

“Eat shit,” Jacob said, and made his way home.

The gang disbanded two weeks later.

Jacob’s dad made the decision to quit drinking and take responsibility as a parent. So, he gave Jacob an ultimatum. Either go back to school or get a full time job. Despite his father’s faults, Jacob still respected him and made a choice from those he was offered. He got a full-time job and began learning the construction trades.

He also learned the stakes got much higher where there was money to be made. And where there was money, there was also a drug trade. All sorts of drugs were offered to Jacob. He refused them. He had disappointed his mother once, he would not do it again. It was time to make better choices.

But, Jacob had never seen what a loving relationship looked like. He didn’t know such a thing could even exist. So, when an older woman came around and showed interest in him, Jacob simply thought it would be cool to have a girlfriend who was old enough to buy beer. Not much else was considered from his viewpoint. He just went along for the ride, completely unaware of the slow manipulation that was happening to him.

“You can move in with me and we can share the rent,” Tasha said.

Not too much time had passed when she said, “I really need to get health insurance. You know, if we get married I could go on your policy and it wouldn’t cost us a thing.”

Then, “My biological clock is ticking. I’d love to have a baby, but I’m going to need IVF.” All this before Jacob was 21. He just kept going along, because it was the easy thing to do.

It was twins. A boy and a girl.

“I can’t possibly keep working, we have twins!” Tasha said. So, Jacob took on full financial responsibility for the family.

“I’ve been with these kids all day, now it’s your turn!” Tasha would say as soon as Jacob came home from work. He fed them, bathed them and put them to bed, only to fall asleep beside them, then get up the next morning to be at work again by 6:00 a.m.

“I can’t believe you didn’t lay out their clothes this morning!” Tasha called Jacob in a rage. “You’re useless! I hope you wrap your motorcycle around a tree!”

And there was Tasha’s favorite reason to complain, “How dare you use the debit card to buy yourself a coffee this morning! You’re taking food from my babies’ mouths!”

“We need to buy a house. I’m not raising my kids in this dump of an apartment!” Tasha demanded.

Then, “Look kids, Daddy bought us a house right near the trashy river! You can’t swim there, can you? Now, we need a pool!”

Jacob worked so much overtime, that he didn’t notice Tasha was moving money into a separate account under her own name. He also did not notice that Tasha was having an affair.

“We need to work on our marriage,” she told Jacob. “I think you should move in with your cousin for a while.”

The very next day, another man moved into Jacob’s house and put his clothes away in Jacob’s dresser.

“It’s okay, kids,” Tasha assured the twins. “This is mommy’s friend. He’s going to share mommy’s room.” Then, she added in a whisper, “He’s gay.” It would be the first of many lies she would use to manipulate their children.

Jacob only realized the truth when it was laid bare before him. He filed for divorce.

“You didn’t have to do that!” Tasha cried to Jacob. “We are supposed to be working on our marriage!” However, she already knew she was pregnant and the baby wasn’t Jacob’s.

The baby was born before the divorce was final. Tasha taunted Jacob that the baby would have his name on the birth certificate since they were still married and he would be responsible for child support of three children. Jacob went directly to the hospital to take a paternity test and sign the necessary paperwork.

The divorce was final soon enough after, but new trouble had begun. Tasha’s new boyfriend became abusive and she turned to alcohol and drugs. She was arrested several times. Child and Family Services became involved. After more than two years, they finally removed all of the children from the home. Jacob took full custody of the twins.

After a short sentence in prison, Tasha said she wanted visitation with her kids again. She cried to the court and was granted visitation every other weekend. It would only be a matter of time before she would relapse and put Jacob’s daughter in serious danger.

Jacob immediately returned to court to revoke Tasha’s visitation rights. The court called Tasha to come and speak in her own defense. But, she refused. Jacob went to court every day, all day for a full week. They called Tasha every day and every day she refused to appear in court. Finally, as the last case to be heard on Friday afternoon, the judge called Jacob to give testimony. Tasha was subsequently ordered to have no contact with her children until she could prove that she was sober. That would take three years.

In the meantime, Tasha became involved in a relationship with a new man, one who spent ten years in prison for attempted murder. It was while she was in this relationship that she requested resumed visitation with the twins, who were then twelve years old. The court granted supervised visitation for six months, first at a court appointed facility, then supervised by a family member of whom Jacob mutually approved. It was during the family supervised visits that the twins were introduced to their mother’s boyfriend, the felon.

Before the six-month supervised visitation period ended, tragedy struck. Tasha had broken up with the felon and moved on to another new boyfriend. The felon did not take kindly to being discarded.

Tasha was living with her mother at the time, who had taken custody of Tasha’s youngest child, then six years old. Tasha was there with the newest boyfriend, getting the child ready to go to school when the felon arrived. He confronted Tasha in the hallway and told the child to go upstairs. The felon shot Tasha twice, shot the boyfriend once, then turned the gun on Tasha’s mother. He pointed it at her face and pulled the trigger, but the gun jammed and did not fire. The felon fled.

Tasha was rushed to the hospital, where she died a short while later. The boyfriend was treated for a minor wound to the ear and the mother was treated for shock.

A citywide manhunt ensued for three days. It eventually ended when an elderly woman came out of her doctor’s appointment and noticed the trunk of her car was ajar. Upon checking, she found the felon lying there, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He had been hiding in her garage for those three days.

The story was all over the news and Jacob shielded the twins as best as he could. The stories told of a loving, devoted mother of three. There was a candlelight vigil where people went on tv to speak of what a wonderful person Tasha was to everyone who knew her.

Attempts by the press to contact Jacob or his family went ignored. His priority was, and always had been, his children. Family remains everything to Jacob.

Jacob is now remarried and owns a small construction company in a small town far from the city where he grew up. He is well known and respected in his town, and looks forward to building his own home where, someday, his grandchildren can visit.

The twins will graduate high school this year. Jacob gave them no other option but to get a diploma. As they are young, they are still working on healing from the trauma. But, if they know nothing else, they know without a doubt that it was the power of their father’s love that saved them and gave them hope for a better life.

Thank you , Jacob, for sharing your story. May you and your family continue to find healing and peace.

Copyright, L.M. White at The Empath’s Daily Guide