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"And he chose her"

"Yeah" She sighed "Lucky her"

"Do you see the back there Once I left for college, that was it I wasn’t going back there ever again"

"Don’t you at least wonder how your mother is?"

Her shoulders sluet her away froet her to co back there She refused, said Daddy needed her and she couldn’t come"

"So she chose him over you" He swept his hand over her hair "I’m sorry, honey"

She batted back the tears that threatened It had been too e Never again "She made her choice to put up with him and his demands She has to live with it now That doesn’t mean I have to"

"So you never went hoe?"

"No Never I was free and I wasn’t going back I was on full scholarship, and I worked during school I had no reason to go back"

"So they never once came out to see you?"

"No I’m sure my father was afraid if my mother left the state, she’d so her in that little town, and obviously she’d do whatever she was told"

"She never called you or wrote?"

"Oh, sure She’d call and asksuh ti"

He didn’t speak for a while She knehat he was thinking "You think I’m a cold-hearted bitch, that I abandonedat all, Elizabeth You weren’t supposed to be responsible for her Your parents were supposed to be responsible for you"

"They were They fed ot a decent education and I wasn’t abused"

She heard his soft laugh and tilted her head to look at him "What?"

"Come on You’re smart, surely you know"

"Knohat?"

"Elizabeth, your father was an abuser"

She shook her head "No, he was a prick and a controller But he never hitto face her "Honey, an abuser doesn’t always hit Abuse is emotional, too Don’t you think that’s what your father did by controlling yourher to live in as essentially a prison?"

Talking about it o back there ever again, had sworn she wouldn’t, not even in her ht than she’d ever wanted to She shrugged off the blanket and hopped off the swing "I’ht, and I’d really just like to go to bed"

She walked away, didn’t look back to see if he was following, just headed straight for the bedroom, stripped off her dress, and crawled into bed without turning on the light

She had to shut it all out, to forget, to shove the past where it belonged so it couldn’t coain

Within a few minutes Gavin joined her, his body chilled from the cold air outside He wrapped his arainst hio of her until she relaxed her body against his

He didn’t ask for anything, didn’t say anything, just stroked her hair The silence and his breathing finally calmed her, and she was able to shut her eyes

But she couldn’t shut out the o away

NINE

RAIN AND WIND BATTERED THE DECK AND WINDOWS, co down so hard Gavin couldn’t even see the chairs

The rain kept thea to do but stay inside