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“Duh! You know why,” Marlena said and looked around the diner. It was slow now. The rush would be in soon.
Adele touched Marlena’s hand. ???Honey, you like them a lot. They obviously care about you and the chemistry is there. You should take the chance and see where this goes.”
“And if they turn out to be using me, then what? Besides, I don’t think I can let it go that far. Not yet, anyway,” Marlena said, lowering her eyes and worrying her bottom lip.
“Marlena, I’m the last one to give advice to anyone about men. I lost more than I can explain because of my poor decisions. But, time heals everything. Moving here to Chance, the four of us finding one another was fate. We support you no matter what decision you make. But know this, don’t let that man from your past dictate your future. There’s differences between him and the Spencer men. You know it. You feel it,” Alicia told her.
“I know that. I do. In my head, at least.”
“No, in your heart and in your body, from what you described took place in your little cottage last night,” Mercedes teased. They all chuckled and Marlena’s cheeks reddened. She looked around the diner and made sure no one was listening. They were in the corner away from anyone and whispering low.
“I’m scared. For more reasons than I shared with the three of you.”
Mercedes looked at the others. What had Marlena left out about the man from Connecticut who was alcoholic and abusive?
“What I didn’t tell you is that Peter, well, he could be looking for me.”
“What?” Adele and Alicia asked at the same time. Mercedes took Marlena’s hand.
“Honey, shit, why didn’t you tell us?”
Marlena wiped the tear from her eye before it escaped.
“I’m embarrassed by it. I don’t want to face the fact that I could have to hightail it out here one day with no notice, no explanation, and just disappear.”
“No, honey. No, you can’t live your life like this. What did he do to you? I mean like being verbally and physically abusive is one thing, but what else that he could come after you?” Adele asked her this time.
Marlena took a deep breath and looked around the diner. She turned sideways and showed them her burn scar from Peter that sat below the raw, red skin from the coffee burn.
“This burn. The one I said happened when I was younger, well, it happened less than a year ago, and right before I came here and found Chance.”
“How?” Alicia whispered with tears in her eyes.
Marlena looked so scared. Mercedes could see her shaking.
“Well,” she started to say and closed her lips tight then forced the words from her lips as tears fell. “He tried to kill me, by setting fire to my apartment and the building with me in it.”
“Oh Jesus,” Mercedes said and stood up and pulled Marlena into her arms.
Marlena immediately pulled back.
“No. Don’t let anyone see us like this. They’ll ask questions. They’ll be concerned. It’s that type of town. It’s perfect here,” she said and wiped the tears from her eyes, took a deep breath, and straightened out her shoulders.
“I don’t think I can be intimate with Mike, Danny, and Jack. I don’t know if I can let the walls down and take that chance. There are three of them. Mike was a Navy SEAL. Do you know what damage he could do to me alone?”
Mercedes shook her head. “No, no, sweetie, they’re not like that Peter guy. When they look at you, and watch you, they have love, respect, and compassion in their eyes. You can see it.”
Marlena shook her head.
“You’re just saying that.”
“No she isn’t. We’ve all seen it. Hell, I wish someone would look at me like that,” Alicia added.
“It’s special, Marlena. You need to be honest with them. Maybe tell them about Peter, even if it’s just so that they’re aware and can protect you,” Adele said.
Marlena shook her head.
“I can’t tell them about Peter and what he did. I can’t let them know how stupid I was, how gullible and overtaken by Peter and his dominant personality. They could use it to control me. They could think I’m weak. I can’t let my defenses down no matter how good it makes my body feel.”
