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He hit her again And again By the time he tossed her on the bed and unzipped his pants, the world had becoray blur
“You won’t learn,” he said, as he caood wife but you—just—won’t—”
Dawn moaned as he seated himself deep inside her She could feel her dry flesh tear as he pounded into her again and again until, finally, she felt the hot spurt of his discharge He fell against her, his breathing harsh, the reek of hie in her nostrils She could feel wetness between her legs Was it from him, or was it blood?
I hate you, she thought, God, I hate you, Hare I wish you were dead!
No It rong to think such things This was her husband She had taken vows that bound her to him He was the father of her child
Maybe he was right Maybe all this was her fault She didn’t lie with other men, she didn’t even talk to other ry She could learn to do things his way The right way She could—she could plan a little better, look at the sink and notice that she’d put the soap dish in the wrong place or see that she hadn’t folded his work shirts the way he preferred them folded
She could leave him
No She could never do that It wasn’t right A as supposed to cleave to her husband Besides, there was the baby to consider She’d grown up without a father; she knew that a child deserved better than that And Harman didn’t mistreat the baby He’d never raised a hand to him Tommy loved his daddy He loved him Wasn’t that worth the world?
Dawn lay stiff and silent under her husband’s suffocating weight He was a heavythe timber on the mountain She was small, just like her mother But she knew better than to co tirunted and rolled off her
Daaited Then, slowly, carefully, she began inching toward the edge of the mattress She had to wash, put soetting older The last tione hen he saw her in the
“Maers to the cut on her lip
“No, darlin’,” Dawn had answered, “no, Mama’s fine…”
“Where you think you’re goin’?”
She gasped, jerked back as Harman’s hand closed hard on her wrist “Nowhere Just—just to the bathroom”
“You was goin’ to check on the kid”