"Why do you stay with a man who would do this to you?"
The woman looked at me through swollen, blackened eyes, wiped her tears and answered, "I love him." Exasperation made me sink onto the couch beside her. When would she learn?
Mary and her husband Tom had moved into the house next door the previous year. They appeared to be a normal couple in their early thirties. They had no children. Mary had explained to me over coffee one morning that Tom felt children would be a drawback to his career plans at the present time. She spoke wistfully of the children she would dearly love, and would one day have. She laughingly admitted that Tom loved her so much that he didn't want to share her with anybody at this point. I remember thing that I should be so lucky.
Mary Clark was an extremely beautiful woman. She was always perfectly groomed no matter what the hour of the day, but I thought she was always a little bit on edge. Whenever she and Tom attended one of our many neighborhood gatherings, she was never far from his side, and appeared to me to be constantly watching for signals from him. Being a very handsome man, I suspected that maybe she was a bit wary of other women being attracted to him and was afraid of losing him. To whom though? Compared to her, we were all just a bunch of "also rans" who had no converstion outside of domestic problems. I really envied her. She drove a late model car, had expensive clothes and her home was beautifully furnished. It was all we could do to keep up with out mortgage payments on my husband's mechanics wage.
One morning after getting the kids off to school -- I had two rambunctious boys of 9 and 7-- I went over to ask Mary if she'd watch for the plumber arriving and let him in while I ran an errand.
She opened the door, perfectly groomed as usual, but she had an ugly bruise under her left eye.
"Old man find out about you and Mel Gibson?" I joked.
She smiled weakly and answered, "It's the silliest thing, I was trying to hang a picture Tom bought me and I hit myself with the hammer.
Tom is furious with me. We're having his boss for dinner tonight and how is he going to explain my looking like this. I've tried make-up but it's still noticeable isn't it?" She went on, "How could I do this to him, he's so good to me and I'm such an idiot."
I told her it looked fine and left thinking that Tom seemed to be more concerned about his boss than he was about her shiner.
Oh well, different strokes for different folks.
About two weeks after that incident Tom showed up at our door.
It was around 8 pm and I was just putting my boys to bed, not an easy task but one I was finally managing to master. I invited him in for a nightcap with my husband Dave, but he declined.
He told me that Mary wasn't feeling too well and was going to take it easy for the next few days. He asked that I not visit until she felt better. I asked if there was anything I could do and he answered, sternly I thought, "Yes, don't visit her for the next few days. She'll call you when she's feeling better."
I was a little hurt. I felt as if they thought I was making a nuisance
of myself, but if that's how they wanted it then fine with me.
Several days later Mary called to apologize and say that Tom had acted out of concern for her and that I shouldn't take it personally.
She sounded so anxious that I thought, Oh heck, and invited her over for coffee. She declined, saying that she was expecting a call from Tom and he would worry if she wasn't there.
I didn't see Mary for another week. I was awakened in the middle of the night by what sounded like shattering glass followed by loud voices and I thought I heard a scream. I sat up in bed and listened, but the noises had stopped. I wondered if I should go over and see if everything was ok at the Clark house but decided against it considering Tom Clark's atitude the last time. My husband Dave, having drank too much was snoring loudly so I couldn't talk to him. As I drifted back to sleep I made a mental note to talk to Mary the next day.
The following morning as I was putting out the garbage I saw her. She looked awful and tried to duck back inside her basement door when she saw me. She was wearing a bandage the length of her left arm and her face was covered in scratches.
"My God! What happened? I heard something last night, was that you?"
"Yes it was. I got up in the middle of the night to get a glass of water, didn't put the light on and tripped on the rug and smashed into the patio door in the kitchen. I could have been killed. If it wasn't for Tom's quick thinking I might have lost a lot more blood.
We had to go to the hospital and poor Tom hardly got any sleep at all thanks to my stupidity. I don't know why he loves me so much."
She's was badly hurt and in obvious pain but was more concerned about the inconvenience caused to her hero! Something didn't feel right, but it was none of my business.
For the next month nothing unusual happened and Mary seemed happy enough. She wanted me to take up golf but it was out of the question on our income. She didn't seem to make friends with any of the other neighbors. Oh she was nice enough to them, but I was the only one she seemed to want to have as a friend.
The last Sunday in August was our annual neighborhood bar-b-que and we were hosting it this year. We were expecting around 25 people, including the children and everbody was bringing their own food. The beer and wine cost we all shared.
Tom showed up without Mary. He said she was suffering with menstrual cramps and would appear later if she felt better.
A cold shiver ran up my spine, but he acted as though all was well with the world - his world. Several times that day I would catch him looking at me strangely. Funny, I'd never realized how cold his eyes were till then. I didn't like Tom Clark. At one point I offered to take Mary a bite to eat, but he quickly refused my offer and told me he's take care of her. 'I just bet you will', I thought.
I couldn't sleep that night and Dave had had too much to drink and was snoring loudly. Once more I was alone with my concerns.
Before finally drifting off to sleep in the early hours I made up my mind that I was going to visit Mary the next day. Something was definitely going on in that house and I couldn't ignore it any longer.
Dave was his usual grouchy self as he dragged his hangover to work that morning. I watched as a little later Tom Clark pulled out of his driveway. I finshed my coffee and headed next door.
I knocked on the side door and didn't get a response. I walked around to the newly installed patio door and found it wasn't locked. The house was deathly silent.
'She must be still asleep" I thought, and started to leave.
Something held me back. 'I'll just have a peek into the bedroom and if she's asleep I'll come back later"' was my thought as I entered the kitchen and headed down the hall to the bedroom.
The sight that met me when I quietly opened the bedroom door was not a pretty one. Mary Clark was slumped in a chair by the window. She couldn't possibly see anything as both her eyes were swollen shut. Her tiny upturned nose was red and bulbous.
I gasped out loud and she turned to look at me.
"Well, now you know" she almost whimpered.
"I can't believe this! Did he do this to you?" I almost screamed at her in shock.
"He didn't mean it" she immediately replied.
"My God Mary, how can you defend him?" I asked in disgust.
"I love him." she replied
"Love him? He's a monster. He's going to kill you.""I love him" she reiterated and added "It's my business and my choice, I didn't ask you to help me. I can handle this on my own, I have for years. So what if he kills me?, I'd die without him anyway."
"This is insane" I cried, "you can't let this continue."
"I can and I will, you can't stop me. I owe him, he took me from a life of nothing and gave me all this." she gestured around the beautiful room. "He made me the person I am. You're always saying how pretty I am and how lucky I am, I'd be nothing and have nothing without Tom. Can't you understand?
Please don't hate me and please don't tell Tom that you know, about this, it would hurt him terribly."
I walked out of that house knowing my life would never be the same. Thanks to that pathetic woman I knew what I had to do.
I was taking my boys and leaving Dave. The emotional and occasional physical abuse I'd been putting up with for years was ended. Mary clark had made me take a good look at myself. The excuses I'd made for Dave, blaming it on his drinking. We were no different she and I.
I left a note for Dave saying I was going to be at my parents house until I got things sorted out and if he wanted his family back he'd have to seek professional help. As I drove away unsure of my future, I felt fear. But I'd lived with fear for a long time and I was confident that I would survive.
.
