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“The… beatings,” she whispers and she seems to curl in on herself.
“Your mom again?” I snarl and she flinches.
“Yeah, and her boyfriend. Or fiancé. I don’t know what he is now.”
“Son of a bitch! Please tell me that you called the cops.”
“I did, and they were arrested, but it was their word against mine. They said that I started it and then I hit them first and since I had offensive and defensive wounds, they couldn’t prove that they were lying.”
“Corrine, I’m so sorry.”
My heart breaks for the sweet girl who only wanted to be loved and instead got one shitty hand dealt after another.
She’s still here though and she’s stronger than ever.
“I’m proud of you for trying and for getting away from them.”
She nods, sniffling as she wipes away a few tears.
My stomach churns as I think about talking about the attack, but I would do anything to get her mind off the memories that I’m sure she’s replaying right now.
“We were in Afghanistan and I was out with my unit. We were forward staging to the next base and it was just meant to be a short trip.”
She looks over at me, her eyes still wet with tears.
“The Humvee in front of us hit an IED, and we stopped. We were going to go try to help when the first shots started. Richmond and Slater both got hit and I tried to help them but they were bleeding so much. They had nicked Slater’s femoral artery and he bled out. It happened so fast,” I whisper.
Corrine moves closer to me and grabs my hand in hers.
“I remember standing to go try to help Richmond and I got shot in the back. Right here,” I say as I turn slightly and lift my shirt.
Her smooth fingers brush over the wound and I let out a shallow breath.
“The shrapnel got stuck in my nerve, the sciatica one. They couldn’t repair the nerve, so now I have permanent nerve damage.”
“I’m so sorry, Heath.”
I nod, dropping my shirt and grabbing her hand again.
“I found out later that Richmond had been shot in the heart. He was dead before he even hit the ground.”
She squeezes my hand, and I try to take a deep breath. Talking about all of this sucks, but part of me feels lighter and more at peace now that I have.
“My military career was over. I move certain ways and get stabbing pain. I’ll never be back to the level that I was at.”
“But you’re still here. You’re so strong and I can’t even imagine how devastating all of this has been, but you’re still here fighting to get better.”
“Thanks,” I say, my throat feeling scratchy at her words.
She moves closer to my side, wrapping her arms around my waist and we lean back into the couch cushions, both of us processing what we just told each other.
I wrap my arms around her and wonder how I’m ever going to let her go now.
TEN
Corrine
“I’ll finish up here,”Heath tells me when I try to take the dish towel from him.
