Hard as Stone(37)

“Jesus Christ,” Jacob hissed through his teeth.

“When he realized that I was gonna black out if he kept it up, he let go. He walked away from me, but he was still ranting. When he saw me eyeing the door, that’s when it really started.”

Jacob ran a hand down his face as Harmony started to tremble. “Baby…”

“When I started to make a move for the door, that’s when he grabbed me by the hair. He was careful, though… he didn’t leave a single mark that anybody could see. He kicked and punched and…” Harmony swallowed, unable to continue as her body began to shake more violently. “I don’t know why he finally stopped hitting me that night,” she whispered as Jacob grabbed the afghan draped across the back of the couch and wrapped it around her quaking shoulders. “Maybe he got tired. Maybe he realized that he was on his way to killing me. All I know is that he finally stopped. I can still remember the way he stood over me as I was sprawled on the floor, his sweat dripping on my face as he caught his breath. He told me if I said a word to anybody, he’d kill me. And, dear God, staring in those crazy eyes of his, I believed him.” Lifting an unsteady hand, Harmony brushed at the wet tracks on her cheeks. “I stayed on the floor until I heard the front door to the trailer close behind him when he stormed out of the house. Then, I managed to pick myself off the floor and get myself cleaned up. That was the first beating Tanner ever gave me, but it wasn’t the last. It wasn’t even the worst.”

Shifting to sit on the coffee table in front of her, Jacob reached out to take one of Harmony’s cold hands in his. “Listen to me, Sweetness. You can stop now if you want to stop. I don’t wanna push you into a corner where you feel you can’t get out. If you never wanna say another word about that sack of shit, I won’t push.”

Meeting his concerned eyes, Harmony shook her head. “I can’t stop now. If I do, I’ll never make you understand….you won’t see…”

“All I see… all I’m ever gonna see is a woman that’s had the shit end of a miserable stick for entirely too long. I’m looking at a beautiful woman that should have been loved and protected, but was verbally and physically abused to the point where she can’t even recognize that these sins belong to one person. And that person isn’t you, Harmony. It was never you, baby. I know this story gets worse and if you wanna share it, I’m here. I’ll listen. I’m here for you however you need me to be,” he promised, chafing that chilled hand in his as he did his best to bring her some warmth. God as his witness, if it was the last thing he did on Earth, he’d find a way to exact some justice for the woman in front of him.

Breathing hard, Harmony bit her lip. “I wanted out, but I was afraid of him from that night onward. It was like he was two people. One for anybody watching us and another behind our closed door. After a while, he stopped making noises about contesting the will. No matter how bad those whippings got, I never caved… I never gave him that satisfaction. In public, he was still doing his best to show folks that he was a changed man. He started steadily working at the café, helping Aunt Orla manage the place. She didn’t exactly trust him, but with raising three girls, she needed the help. Uncle Jethro oversaw the farm, and life went on as best it could. Looking back, I can see what he was doing, trying to drill a path to the family money through the back door. Then, though, I was so confused that most days I couldn’t tell you if it was day or night. He still continued to go into his rages once we got home, although even those lessened because he wasn’t around much. He’d started really stepping out on me by then. It was okay,” she said quickly when Jake’s face turned thunderous. “If he wasn’t there, he wasn’t hurting me. Occasionally, he still wanted to… you know … but at least he wasn’t using force. As long as I laid there…”

“Harmony, I’m beggin’ you, darlin’, unless you want me to find a gun and hunt this bastard down tonight, leave that statement where it lies,” Jacob warned tightly, unable to bear the idea that this asshole had regularly raped his wife. There were some places that he couldn’t allow his mind to go and that was definitely one of them.

“Okay,” Harmony agreed huskily, licking her dry lips. “I let the Jekyll and Hyde act go on for about three more months,” she explained tightly. “Until he let something so awful happen that I couldn’t… I WOULDN’T ignore it. Not ever.”