AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Sure it is. And I’m your uncle.” She didn’t move but stood in front of the door. “When I was seventeen, I had this friend in college that was being beaten by her boyfriend. Every little thing she did, he would beat her for it. If she got a good grade, she was fucking the professor. Had to stay after work, it was because she was getting a little on the side. Then one night, he killed her. Not because she was doing any of the things his mind told him she was, but because he was a fucking prick that liked beating the shit out of a person smaller or weaker than he was. Show me what he did to you, Judy. Then you and I are going to tell Del and David that you need someplace safe to live until he’s in prison.”
“I’m going to have a baby. If he finds out, he’ll take it from me. He’ll blame Del or any of the other men that I come in contact with.” She asked if that was why she went with David all the time on calls. “Yes. For some reason, he thinks married men are above having affairs. Or maybe just affairs with someone like me.”
“Someone like you? What the hell—? You know what? I don’t care. Take off your blouse and let me have a look at his handiwork. After we talk to Del and David—because they’re your best bet in getting someplace he can’t find you—then we’ll head to the hospital. All right?” Even though she was terrified out of her mind, Judy removed not just her blouse but her pants as well. “The mother fucker needs to be dead. Holy shit, Judy, how are you even walking upright?”
It was too much. Bursting into tears, she didn’t care how much touching her hurt. It was wonderful when Merce wrapped her arms around her and held her. Merce didn’t let go until she did. Then she helped her get redressed. It seemed as if she hurt more now that she had someone to confide in. Merce didn’t even knock when she opened the door to Del’s office and told him to get David in here right now.
It seemed like in no time, she was off to the hospital. The police were going to meet her there and fill out the paperwork to have Mark arrested. This had happened before, and she felt stupid about it. But Merce told her the only stupid person in her relationship was Mark, and he was going to pay big time.
“Are you going to kill him?” She had no idea why she asked the other woman that, but it frightened her a little that she didn’t answer her. “Don’t do it, Merce. You’re the first real friend I’ve ever had, and I’d hate to have to visit you in prison. And Del would be so upset too.”
“Yeah? Well, you’re my first female friend too. Mostly women are intimidated by me. Go figure.” They both laughed. The pain was getting out of control now, and Judy cried when the nurse told her she had something for that. “You rest, all right? I’ll tell Del and David that you’re in good hands. They’re working on a safe place for you. I think you’re going to be staying with his mom. That is a woman not to mess with. She’s scary calm too.”
As soon as the drugs hit her system, Judy closed her eyes. She felt safe right now, for the first time in ages. The baby, they told her, would be just fine with the meds they gave her since it was only a little bit to take the edge off. It was enough to put her over the edge, and she fell into a deep sleep.
When she woke up, she was in a different room, a pretty little room with pictures on the wall and a large television hanging across from her. Turning her head gently, she was happy to see Merce there, and she was with an elderly gentleman she thought might be her grandda. They were playing a game of chess.
“Who taught you how to play?” Merce told the man that he had. “You cheat. I didn’t teach you to cheat. Especially an old man like me.”
“You’re only as old as you feel, Grandda, and I don’t cheat. I’ve matured in my way of playing. You’ve over matured.” She laughed when he snorted at her. “You know, I do that too. Snort when I think someone is full of shit. By the way, checkmate.”
“Where?” When Merce showed him, her grandda laughed. “I have to let you win once in a while. Otherwise, you’d not want to play with me. You should know that a friend of mine at the nursing home told me Harley called there looking to have me transferred. This friend of mine was sitting at the desk talking to the boss lady when the call came in. She sure did give him an earful. Wish I could have seen it. But then I’d be sitting in that place rotting away from the inside out.”
“That’s a disgusting thought you just put in my head. But I wish I could have seen it too. After they told me you had to work for the extras you needed, I wanted to hunt them both down and beat the shit out of them. Christ, Grandda, how did they come from the same two people that I did?”
“I don’t know, but I’m surely glad as I am sitting here that you were born, honey. I surely am.” Sitting up a little didn’t hurt as much as Judy thought it would, but it did have both Merce and her grandda turning to her. “Well, hello there, pretty lady. We were thinking you were going to need a kiss from a nice prince to wake you up. I volunteered, but there were a whole bunch of men younger than me wanting to be the one to wake you.”
Judy started crying, and the man left them in the room. Merce handed her a tissue, and she told her how sorry she was. Merce pulled the chair to the side of the bed and took her hand into hers.
“Grandda is all right. He sometimes forgets that women aren’t used to being charmed. I have some things I have to tell you. Do you like it a little at a time
, or do you want the bandage ripped right the fuck off?” She told her she didn’t know. “I can understand that. How about we start off with some good news, and I’ll sprinkle in some of the bad for you? That’ll be something you can handle, right?”
“Yes. Is the baby all right?” Merce smiled and said it was. “That is the best news I’ve had in a very long time. Thank you.”
“You’re so very welcome. All right. Good news. Del is going to have you stay with his mom for a few weeks. The doctor said you’d need to rest and put your feet up. Also, someone will need to help you with the bandages. They stitched you up with about two hundred stitches. Some of them were to remove scar tissue that was causing you some trouble.” Judy asked her if she had sprinkled her yet. “No, not yet. I’m working up to it for you. The police went to arrest Mark, and he was killed.”
Judy didn’t know what to say about that, so only laid there holding tightly to Merce’s hand. She was speaking. Judy could hear her, but what she was saying was beyond her. Mark was dead. He’d not be able to hurt her again. Looking at Merce, she thanked her.
“I didn’t do it. I wanted to. You have no idea how much I wanted to kill the fucker when they told me what you had endured. Oh, it’s been about three days since you were brought in. You had surgery to remove some of the fragments of glass they found in your skull during x-rays.” Judy told her how he’d thrown her through their back door. “Fucker needed to be dead a while ago. You all right now?”
“Yes. You don’t understand sprinkling, do you?” They both laughed. “What happened to him? I’m sure you told me, but I zoned out there for a moment.”
“He didn’t want to be arrested, basically. Did you know he was doing some major drugs?” She said she had thought so but was afraid to ask. “Good idea. Mark was high when they got there, and he reached for one of the officer’s sidearm. Once he did that, all bets were off. They didn’t kill him then, but he did manage to try it again and got it. One officer was injured but is going to be all right. Another was killed.”
“Whenever the neighbors would call the police on him for us making too much noise, he’d tell me after they left how much he hated cops. I guess before meeting me, his desire was to be one, but somehow I messed that up for him.” Merce didn’t comment, but she could see her mind working. “He wasn’t always like he was. I mean, it wasn’t until he found out I was pregnant the first time that he seemed to have changed. Like he became so jealous of everything I did.”
“Men are like that. Women too, I guess. Men don’t hold the patent on being abusive. However, now that he’s gone, there are some things you need to be made aware of. Good things, I think.” Nodding, Judy watched as Merce pulled out her phone. “I had to write it down so I’d not fuck it up. You had an insurance policy on you and your husband from your employment with Del and David. That will be cashed in as soon as the autopsy is finished. It’s for five-hundred-thousand. Also, there was a rider on your house mortgage that says if either of you were to die, it would be paid off. The house is now yours free and clear.” She looked at her. “Del’s brother Peter has been working on things for you while you were resting. Your hospital bill is paid too. By Del. He said that since you had to work for him, you deserved a perk now and then. Let him do this. He and David both feel terrible that they never noticed you’d been hurt. All right?”
“Yes, all right.” She told her again that she’d be staying with Katie for a few days. “I don’t know her very well. Are you sure she doesn’t mind?”
“I have a feeling that if she minded, she’d let you know.” She put her phone away. “There is more, but I think that’s enough for now. Oh, you need to start taking some kind of vitamin for the kid. I don’t know a lot about that sort of thing, but Darrel, another brother of Del’s, has been in here a few times to see how you were doing. There is a warning stuck to the bottle that you need to take it with food. I guess it’s very nasty if you don’t.”
“I think you saved my life.” Merce said she’d only bullied her a little. “I know better. I would have kept going home to him and been beaten up. It’s the only place I could go. There isn’t a shelter around here. The ones in the other cities around here are full all the time.”
“That’s another topic I’d like to speak to you about. My grandda and dad need a project. They want you to help them get a shelter here so women and men can be safe when they need a place to hide out.” She said she didn’t know anything about helping them. “No, but you can help them in ways that only someone who has gone through this sort of thing can. Knowledge. Like on things they might need to put in. What sort of building do you think would help? They have it in their head that it would have to be a place no one would suspect of being a hidey-hole like a couple of condos that are close together. I think my dad has a couple of them. He’s retired now and left me the business.”
“That’s wonderful, right?” She said it was, but she was a little nervous about it. “I believe I would be as well. I just thought of something—you were to have a date with Del. Did I mess that up for you?”
