Page 20 of Serve and Protect
“We married when we were eighteen and divorced a year later. It was a terrible, stupid mistake.”
She married him at eighteen? She must have married him not long after I left town. “Why didn’t you tell me this?”
“It was a nightmare experience, and I didn’t want to talk about it. Honestly, not many people in town knew. Maggie and Ruth did, of course. And Granny. But not many others.”
It’s hard for me to wrap my mind around the notion she was married once and never told me. I guess part of the blame falls on me. I wasn’t a good friend to her those four years I was in Phoenix. I didn’t come home to visit during that time because it was just too painful.
I was trying to get over Jennie. I was hoping I’d meet someone at school who could take my mind off of her, but I never did. No matter how many girls I dated, none of them could make me forget Jennie.
My mom passed when I was away at school, and Micah was off in the Army. My only friend—my only connection to Bryce—was Jennie, and I was avoiding her.
I didn’t return to Bryce until I’d completed my degree in criminal justice and was ready to start my career in law enforcement. According to Jennie, she and Dave were already divorced well before that time.
“You never once mentioned you’d been married.” I try to keep the hurt out of my voice, but it’s hard.
When she begins to tear up again, I pull her to her feet and wrap my arms around her. “It’s okay, Jennie. I’ve got you.” As she sobs against my chest, she slips her arms around my waist and grips the back of my shirt.
I cup the back of her head with one hand, while the other rubs gently up and down her back. I’ve never seen her this upset before. “Hey, sweetheart, everything’s okay. He’s gone. If he shows up again, call me and I’ll gladly arrest his ass for trespassing.”
She shudders in my arms. “You don’t know him, Chris. Nothing is ever easy with him. He’s here because he wants something from me, and he won’t stop until he gets it. He’s relentless.”
“What does he want?”
She shrugs. “What does he always want? Money. I imagine he’s broke, and he thinks he can get ahold of the inheritance Grandpa left me.”
I pull back a step, just far enough so I can see her face. I cup her hot cheeks. Last night is starting to make more sense. The way she flinched when she saw my hand coming at her. “Jennie, did he hurt you?”
My gut tightens as I watch the myriad of emotions that flit across her face—fear, anxiety, shame. “Jennie?” I brush her tears away with my thumbs. “Answer me.”
“Chris, please, don’t.” Her voice comes out as an agonized cry. She breaks then, and it rips me apart to see her like this.
Realization hits me hard. That bastardhurther, and I wasn’t here when she fucking needed me.
I failed her.
She’s close to hyperventilating, obviously having a panic attack.
“Just breathe, sweetheart.” My hands are still cradling her face. “I want you to breathe for me. Take slow, even breaths.”
I demonstrate, hoping she’ll copy me. She struggles to comply, but eventually her breathing eases.
I stare directly into her eyes, willing her to hear me and believe me. “I will not let him hurt you ever again. You hear me?”
Nodding weakly, she presses her palms on my chest, her right hand over my heart. As we stare into each other’s eyes, I swear I feel the ground shake.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I ask.
Her expression crumples. “I couldn’t bear for you to know. I felt so stupid and ashamed. By the time you returned to Bryce, he was long gone. It was over, or so I thought. I wanted to put it behind me and pretend it never happened.”
“He abused you?”
She nods.
“Tell me how?”
There is so much pain in her eyes. “In every way imaginable. He’s a monster, Chris. A sadistic, narcissistic monster.”
My blood runs cold.He hurt her.That son-of-a-bitch hurt her! I’m tempted to go after him, but I can’t leave Jennie like this. “Tell me.”
