heard about that. He says I was the reason he failed his exams, but it’s not true. He was obsessed with me. I hadn’t wanted to get married so young, but he was insistent. He didn’t want anybody else to have me. And then I got pregnant. I didn’t want to tell Gary because I didn’t want to distract him from his finals. I decided to tell him on the night of his results - a double reason to celebrate, I thought.’
Penny gulped back the tears and wiped her eyes. She lowered her head and looked at Leo.
‘But he failed. He was so desperately disappointed, but I couldn’t believe it when he blamed me. He said it was my fault that he’d failed - he was spending too much time looking after me, and not enough time on his studies. He started to hit me. And then he got me on the floor and he kicked me. He didn’t know I was pregnant, though. It wasn’t his fault.’
Leo could feel this poor woman’s pain.
‘Penny,’ Leo said gently, ‘it’s not about whose fault it is. It’s not about blame. It’s about stopping it happening again. One of the first steps is admitting that it is happening, and you’ve done that now. Does Ellie know?’
‘No. Nobody knows. As I said, he rarely hits me. He likes to pinch me - not only on my arms. His favourite place is…’ Penny paused and mopped her streaming eyes with the now soggy tissue. Leo fished in her bag for another one and passed it over without a word.
‘He likes to pinch the underside of my breasts. And it hurts, Leo. It really, really hurts. I’d rather he hit me, if I’m honest. But nobody sees, and I have spent the last few years of my life learning not to cry out when he does it. But it only happens when something has upset him. It’s just that in the last few weeks, especially this last week, he seems more upset that usual. That’s why. It’s not always so bad.’
Leo didn’t know how she was going to get Penny to stop excusing Gary’s behaviour, and she knew better than to ask about the child that Penny had been carrying. If this had been when Gary finished his training, both their girls were far too young, so she could only assume that Penny had lost the baby. Leo felt a strong desire to inflict some bodily pain on Gary herself, and she knew exactly where she would like to hit him.
‘Do you have any idea why Gary’s more upset this week? Has he told you?’
Penny’s head dropped to her chest, but there was the slightest nod. Leo waited.
‘It’s another woman.’
Leo felt a heaviness in her chest. Could this get any worse?
‘Has he told you that he’s got another woman?’
Penny didn’t react for some time, but she was clearly trying to find the words - words that would somehow make the situation seem better than it was.
‘There have been times over the years that Gary has needed another interest. He gets bored easily, and sometimes that interest has been another woman. I’ve always known, and he hasn’t tried to hide it. I can’t explain, Leo. It’s too difficult.’
Leo stood up and made her way into the kitchen. She was going to fetch Penny a glass of water, and give her a bit of space. If she’d never admitted any of this in the past, the pain must be ripping her in two.
By the time she returned, Penny had wiped her eyes and put her sunglasses back on. Leo placed the glass on the table, and sat down.
‘You don’t have to tell me, Penny. I know this must be almost impossible for you. But I think you have to tell somebody. If you don’t want it to be me, I’ll find you somebody who can help. That’s a promise.’
Penny gave a half laugh and blew her nose.
‘I can’t do this again. Now that I’ve started, it would be easier to tell you, if you don’t mind.’
Resting her hands in her lap and sitting up straighter, as if to give herself strength, Penny unleashed a torrent of words, spoken quickly as if that way she could get it over with as fast as possible.
‘The trouble with Gary is that he likes the chase. He loves to woo women, and he loves them to be bowled over by him. He’d got me, and not only was I his, but he