pin this bastard’s ears back!”
“You’re kind of terrifying,” Lauren said.
“Terrifying is what you need right now, since you’ve been pounded into mush. Don’t go anywhere. I’ll be in touch.”
Lauren made one other call, hoping it had not been a mistake to involve another person in her drama. She called Divine Redeemer and asked to speak to Father Tim. He was very surprised to hear from her and she sensed a little hesitation in his voice, but he offered to help in any way he could. “There is something I could use help with, if you have the time. I need to talk with you about Beau.”
“Of course,” he said. “I’ll make time.”
Lacey knocked on her door at ten in the morning. Her beautiful Lacey, wearing white summer jeans, torn in all the most fashionable places, a fitted tee that showed her midriff, tall, lean and tan all over.
“I can’t believe you,” Lacey said before she said hello. “You sent him to jail?”
Well, that explained one thing. Brad had called his favorite daughter.
“I called for medical assistance and the police came. They took him to jail. But thanks for your concern.”
“He said your new boyfriend did this!”
Lauren made a sound that was almost a distorted laugh. “Please, it hurts to laugh.” She pulled her phone out and clicked on the ring icon. She turned the volume up so Lacey could hear her father snarling at her and then slapping her, hitting her, calling her a whore. Lauren winced at the sound of her own begging, whimpering.
The look on Lacey’s face illuminated her shock. Her pretty mouth hung open. Her eyes welled with tears. “This is fake,” she said. “This must be fake. He wouldn’t lie to me.”
“He has always lied. He’ll say anything.”
“Tell me the truth, Mama—did you fake this?”
“Oh for God’s sake! Of course not! The police arrived within five minutes of when I called them. This is a closed circuit security camera. I showed the officer and paramedic. The officer emailed himself the video and they arrested your father for battery domestic violence.”
“You could have told them he’s not like that.”
“He is like that! And they didn’t take him to jail because I told them to—that’s the law!”
“I lived in that house! He didn’t beat you!”
“Honestly, Lacey! Do you think I’m getting a divorce because he adored me and treated me with love and respect?”
“You have a boyfriend?”
“Oh my God, of course not!” She split her lip open and a little trickle of liquid ran down her chin. She wiped at it thinking it was drool, but it was bright red. She went for a towel in the kitchen. Holding the towel against her chin, tears rolled down her cheeks. “The man is a neighbor, a man I met months ago in the Divine Redeemer gardens and again at the Andy’s kids fund-raiser. Your father met him, too. I ran into him at the market and we discovered we both live in the neighborhood. He hung some shelves for me and I bought him a beer and sliders to thank him. He’s a friend. He’s kind and honest and helpful. But I’m sure this face and the presence of a violent husband will end the friendship.” She went to the freezer for an ice cube. She pressed it to her lip. “He wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
Lacey was sitting on the sofa, weeping quietly. “I don’t know why you couldn’t just manage the way you always have.”
Lauren’s eyes filled with tears that rolled down her cheeks. She just shook her head. She had longed for a husband who would tenderly hold her, comfort her, especially after her babies were born. She had craved kindness and love, praise for everything she did to keep him happy. Appreciation. She’d learned how not to admit how lonely it was in that house sometimes. Lauren and a couple of babies, her husband either away or finally home but angry.
“You can think about that awhile and maybe you’ll come up with an answer,” Lauren said.
“I know you’d get impatient with him, but—”
“Impatient? Oh Lacey... If he didn’t have his way all the time, he was intolerable. Just avoiding his abuse was a full-time job!”
“He didn’t abuse you!”
“He called me a liar! He kept telling me I was poor and uneducated, that I was weak and stupid! He inflicted pain! He could be a monster!”
“But he was also good to you!” Lacey argued.
“By allowing me to live in a big house? Wear good clothes? Take vacations?”