Page 8 of Ozzie

He squeezes my hand. “I have all day.”

How do I tell this amazing man how I ended up with an asshole like John? Will he understand? “Has Durango told you about my parents?”

He shakes his head. “He hasn’t told me anything. One day, he mentioned you were going to stay with him and attend college out here.”

I get why Durango doesn’t like to talk about my parents, his aunt and uncle. They couldn’t be more different from his family.

“Well, my dad comes from a wealthy family. His father was a real estate broker, and my dad followed in his footsteps. My parents have strong opinions on how we should behave.”

“You’re saying they are strict?”

I laugh. “That’s an understatement. I have an older sister, Millie. After she came back from college, my parents introduced her to their friends’ son, Cain. He was very charming and moved fast. One month later, with my parents’ blessing, he and Millie were married.”

“Why so fast?”

Thinking about it makes me so angry. “They wanted to merge the families before they made some business announcement…at the wedding reception. Millie had no idea, but her husband did.”

I shift, trying to get more comfortable. “Cain first cheated on her while they were on their honeymoon. And he hasn’t slowed down since.”

Ozzie sits up taller. “Why doesn’t she divorce him?”

“Our parents don’t believe in divorce. They told her if she left him, they’d cut her out of their will.”

“It’s better to be happy than to inherit some cows,” Ozzie says.

I lick my lips. “My parents’ real estate business is more than a few cows.” Although I don’t blame him for thinking they own ranch land. Many of their neighbors do. “And Millie has never had a job. She went to school and partied. My parents know she won’t defy them. And they thought I’d be the same way.”

He stiffens. “They set you up with an abuser?”

“No, they had no idea. John can be very charming. And I never picked up on anything wrong until we’d been together for a year.” My mind goes back to when everything turned.

“What happened then?” Ozzie asks.

I glance up at him, really not wanting to share this part, but he has to know the truth. “I told him I loved him. He’d been telling me he loved me for six months. Once I told him, he smiled, and we had a great day. But the next day was the first time he hit me.”

Ozzie stands up. “He waited until he thought he had you trapped somehow.”

“Yes. He told my parents we were in love, and he planned to propose. My parents were happy and startedtalking about the wedding, even though there had been no proposal yet.”

He turns to me. “Did he propose? Did you say yes?”

I shake my head. “He didn’t get a chance to, and I never would have said yes. After he hit me, I had to get away from him. I just didn’t know how. That’s when I spoke to my sister and found out what all she had been dealing with.”

I scoot to the edge of the couch to stand up.

“Don’t get up. What do you need?” Ozzie asks.

“Water, please.”

He goes into the kitchen, and I resettle on the couch. The doctor did tell me I should rest and use my leg as little as possible for the next few days. That won’t be easy for me.

Ozzie returns with the water.

“Thank you.” I drink half of it down. “My sister couldn’t help me; that was clear. I did talk to my mom and told her what happened with John, that he had hit me. She told me I must have misunderstood. He was probably being playful.” Tears rush to my eyes at the memory, but I wipe them away.

Ozzie sits next to me and takes my free hand in his.

“I tried to put off seeing John, telling him I had too much homework. I was taking an extra class that term. But my family hosted a party that next weekend and there was no getting out of that. John was on his best behavior, and I thought everything would be all right.”

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