Catch Him(54)

Their eyes met in the mirror. “Please don’t break my heart,” he begged her.

“I won’t. If you don’t break mine,” she answered him. “Again.”

“I’m so damn sorry.”

Her face softened and he could see it. Actual forgiveness. He probably didn’t deserve it, but since he was such a softy he would take it anyway.

“You done moping in here?”

He smiled. “We’re Irish…despair is our bread and butter.”

“Well I’m only three-quarters Irish. I’m ready for a little more happiness and a lot less despair. Come back to bed.”

It was a command he had no desire to disobey.



* * *

Mary poured water into the coffee pot and hit the button. It was early. Probably too early to be up, but she hadn’t been able to sleep thinking about Garrett’s return. She needed to be stronger. She shouldn’t have been so afraid about seeing him. How was she ever going to recover, fully recover if she still treated him like he was a bogey man?

It wasn’t even a fear he might hurt her again. She knew she could live through that. She had lived through that. It was the sudden transition from charming fiancé, to possessive husband, to monster that frightened her the most.

The night it happened he’d been drunk and hopped up on cocaine. Not that it had been an excuse. It just contributed to his loss of control.

But the signs had been there before he laid a hand on her. Clues that only had surfaced after she said I do.

She was a lawyer at Huntley and Partners in the DC office when she first met Garrett. He’d taken one look at her and come on strong. He’d been handsome and flirty and while she didn’t know if dating the boss’s son was the best idea for her career, over time he’d worn her down.

Worn her down because she’d been looking for… something.

They had dated for six months, and in that time she’d never once seen him drunk. A couple of drinks at dinner. Some beers at a barbeque they had attended with some of her friends. He’d always been so solicitous, so thoughtful of her wishes, her needs. He’d been the picture of what every young woman imagined she would want for a husband.

When he proposed, she knew it had been quick but he’d seemed so sure of them as a couple.

She’d wanted to have that kind of belief.

After the wedding, the first sign of his behavior shift was when he started drinking every night. Not a big deal, just a shift from how he’d been. Then came the news he wanted to transfer back to his father’s office in San Francisco. A place where she knew no one, had no friends. When she would complain about that, he would simply tell her all she needed was him.

They argued about her working. They both agreed now that she was married to him, she couldn’t continue to work for his father. Any advancement in her career would feel like favoritism. However, he didn’t want her to find a job at all. Insisted that she needed to focus on taking care of him. There were outbursts where he would yell at her at the top of his voice, a tone he’d never once used with her while they were dating.

It was as if she’d dated one man and married another.

Call after call, Dec would ask her how she was doing. If she was settling in. If she was happy.

Call after call, she would lie. She didn’t even know why, other than it was embarrassing to admit she’d made such a colossal mistake. And of course there was always this idea that she could fix it. Make it better.

After all, Garrett loved her. He said it all the time.

The night it happened she was late getting home. She had defied his wishes and gone on a job interview. Something she was sure she could convince Garrett would be okay. Yes, money wasn’t an issue for either of them, but she’d never felt comfortable not having some kind of purpose. Besides, a job might lead to making friends. She’d taken an interview with the Public Defender’s office, something she thought would be an interesting challenge.

When she’d told him where she’d been, he’d been furious. Furious and out of control. That first hit, a backhand across her face, had been as shocking as anything she had ever known in her life. It was as if her brain couldn’t process what was happening, which had prevented her from running away immediately. She’d needed that moment to figure out her husband, the man she’d married, had just hit her.

A moment that cost her a cracked jaw, two broken ribs, and a fractured right arm.

All the while he shouted and screamed at her that she was his possession. She would do what he told her to. When he told her to do it. His very own toy and he was going to play with her any way he liked.

She’d had to wait until he passed out before she could crawl, literally crawl out of the house, and down the street where she called for an ambulance.