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He would say that he hated what he’d done, but in the next breath
tell her she’d deserved it. That if she’d been more careful, it
wouldn’t have happened. That if she’d been paying attention or
hadn’t been so stupid, he wouldn’t have lost his temper. She tried
to change. She worked hard at trying to be a better wife and to do
things the way he wanted, but it was never enough.”
Katie could feel the pressure of tears behind her eyes and though
she tried again to stop them, she felt them sliding down her cheek.
Jo was motionless across the table, watching her without moving.
“And she loved him! In the beginning, he was so sweet to her. He
made her feel safe. On the night they met, she’d been working,
and after she finished her shift, two men were following her.
When she went around the corner, one of them grabbed her and
clamped his hand over her mouth, and even though she tried to
get away, the men were so much stronger and she didn’t know
what would have happened except that her future husband came
around the corner and hit one of them hard on the back of the
neck and he fell to the ground. And then he grabbed the other one
and threw him into the wall, and it was over. Just like that. He
helped her up and walked her home and the next day he took her
out for coffee. He was kind and he treated her like a princess, right
up until she was on her honeymoon.”
Katie knew she shouldn’t be telling Jo any of this, but she couldn’t
stop. “My friend tried to get away twice. One time, she came back
on her own because she had nowhere else to go. And the second
time she ran away, she thought she was finally free. But he hunted
her down and dragged her back to the house. At home, he beat
her and put a gun to her head and told her that if she ever ran
away again, he’d kill her. He’d kill any man she cared for. And
she believed him, because by then, she knew he was crazy. But she
was trapped. He never gave her any money, he never allowed her
to leave the house. He used to drive by the house when he was
supposed to be working, just to make sure she was there. He
monitored the phone records and called all the time, and he