Patsy Longhorn held her fussy two-year-old son in her arms and tried to soothe him back to sleep. He was exhausted, feverish and hungry, had been for most of the day, and she was getting desperate. Driving nonstop with a cranky toddler was beginning to take its toll.
She hadn’t intended to take another break yet. She’d wanted to put as much distance between herself and Oklahoma as she possibly could today, but she hadn’t been able to ignore Billy’s whimpers a second longer. She’d pulled into a rest stop and taken him out of his car seat, praying that holding him and rocking him a bit would accomplish what her pitiful repertoire of lullabies hadn’t.
So far it wasn’t working. Worse, he felt warmer, as if his fever had gone up a little more.
“Come on, sweetie, go to sleep. You’ll feel better after you’ve had a little rest.”
At least she prayed that was all it would take. She didn’t have money left for medicine and a doctor at this point. Even juice was stretching her tight budget. She’d been giving him sips of cool water and praying that would do the trick.
Billy shifted restlessly, still whimpering, his dark, dark eyes staring back at her, accusing her. Guilt, never far away, washed over her again.
Had she made a mistake leaving Will? Was she crazy to have walked out on her marriage? Walked out with only clothes for the baby and herself and a few hundred dollars from the checking account she had opened several months earlier and had kept secret from her husband?
Though she’d had every right, she hadn’t touched a dime in their joint account for fear Will would accuse her of theft. With her name on the account the wild charge wouldn’t stick, of course, but she hadn’t wanted to give the police any excuses at all to chase after her. It was terrifying enough that Will was likely to go ballistic.
That, she reminded herself staunchly, was exactly the reason she had left. She’d had no choice. Will’s temper was out of control. He never talked anymore. He shouted, he threw things. A vase had whizzed past her head, just a few nights ago, only inches from making contact. The violence in his eyes had terrified her. He hadn’t hit her or their son yet, but she’d heard enough about abuse to know that it was coming. She wasn’t going to stick around and wait for it, not when each scene was already escalating to a more dangerous level.
Nor was she going to waste time trying to convince Will to seek counseling. His pride and his very visible career would never allow him to admit he needed help. For once in her life, she was doing the smart thing. She was going to cut her losses before tragedy struck.
She hadn’t been so smart when she’d impetuously moved to Oklahoma City and almost immediately begun an affair with Will Longhorn. Barely nineteen, she’d been so anxious to get away from home and her overly protective parents, to be on her own. The irony was that she’d spent hardly a minute truly on her own before becoming entangled with Will.
He had been her first boss, a twenty-six-year-old attorney in the town’s top law firm with a dazzling career ahead of him. Everyone had said so. He was a Native American with the whole world spread out before him. There’d even been talk of a run for political office, first in Oklahoma, then for Congress. Will Longhorn had charisma. He was smart. He had unblemished integrity, as well, a rarity in politics.
And before too terribly long, he had a beautiful, blond-haired, all-American wife at his side and a baby on the way. The image had been set, the campaign posters all but printed.
At first Patsy had been thrilled to be a part of it all. She’d been caught up in every girl’s dream. She had been so proud of her handsome husband, so in love with him.
But all too soon, behind the public displays of affection, behind the jovial smiles for the camera, there had been the private dissension. Even as he showcased his trophy wife and beautiful baby boy, privately Will seemed to resent both Patsy and their son. And because she had given up her job to be a stay-at-home wife and mom, she was totally dependent on Will for everything. It was what he’d wanted, but he’d thrown that back in her face a time or two, as well.