Authors: C. J. Corbin
Christina just sat and grinned. Michael caught my eye from outside the patio door. The slider came open and he walked into the kitchen. The room became quiet. He put both hands on Christina’s shoulders. I could tell they were pressing down hard.
“You’re not letting Christina fill your head with all the family gossip are you?”
He said.
He didn’t acknowledge Nicki, although I knew she was there because her hand still pressed into my shoulder. I would not have been surprised if both Christina and I had bruises on our shoulders in the morning.
Nicki spoke in the same loud voice, “Michael, how are you?”
He no more than glanced at her.
Candace who had been observing everything from the sink quickly walked over to us. She took the paring knife from my hand.
“Well Elizabeth it looks like you’re definitely done peeling these potatoes. Why don’t you go out with Michael, I think they’re playing basketball in the front.” She looked at Nicki, “Nicki please go and wash your hands you can help with the yogurt sauce.”
Michael walked over to my chair, took my hand, and pulled me to my feet. He wrapped a protective arm around my waist.
“Thanks Mom.” He led me away from the three women. When we stepped into the living room, he whispered in my ear. “Sorry, I didn’t expect Nicki to be here.”
I turned in his arms putting mine around his neck. “You really don’t like her.”
He kissed me, “I don’t want to talk about her.”
We went outside to the front yard. Michael joined the basketball game and I sat on the grass and watched.
Dinner was a feast. The menu included turkey and all the fixings, and also barbequed lamb and baked ham. There were dishes I didn’t recognize too. Michael and Christina explained them to me as I took small tastes of each in the buffet line. We sat together with the girls and their boys as a family.
After dinner, everyone moved the chairs into a large circle into the backyard. Several instruments appeared and one of Michael’s cousins handed him a bouzouki. Michael strummed the strings.
I looked at Michael in amazement. “You play?”
He smiled at me and nodded playing a few chords. He chuckled, “It was either learn how to play or dance.” He pointed to a group of men
standing in a circle.
“I thought you liked to dance.”
Michael shook his head. “Not with other men.”
I clapped my hands together, “Oh good! They’re going to dance.”
Michael shook his head, “Only you would be happy to see men dancing.”
Leaning over I whispered in his ear, “Only you dancing and that would have to be naked.”
Michael laughed heartily and as he got up out of the chair, he leaned over and kissed me. “We’ll see what we can arrange.”
As Michael joined the other musicians, I appreciated his backside view and looked forward to the possibility of naked dancing later on in the evening. I settled back in my chair while Christina and the girls sat down next to me.
As the day wore on there was music, dancing, football, deserts and of course leftovers. While I was able to get to know more of Michael’s family, Nicki kept a wide berth around us and ended up leaving early. The evening wound down and the younger kids began to nod off. We said our goodbyes and loaded into the minivan.
The drive home was quiet. Everyone full of turkey was napping. When we hit our road behind our houses, Michael dropped Tammy and Jason off at Debi’s house. I felt sorry for them knowing that they probably faced another meal. Michael next stopped in front of his house to let Katy, Paul, and all the leftovers out. The next to last stop was my house.
I got out of the car and turned to Michael who was going to drop the minivan back at Angel’s house. “I’ll be only a few hours Michael. I promise. Let me finish the edits that Robin sent to me and then you can have me the rest of the weekend.”
Michael sighed and jokingly said, “Go, get thee away woman.”
I laughed and winked. “Get that bouzouki ready for the naked dancing.” I shut the door and he drove off.
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
As I unlocked the door, it hit me that the lights were not on in the house. I thought I had turned them on this morning, but in the rush to leave, I guessed I forgot. Closing the door, I fingered the wall for the kitchen light switch.
Before I knew it, I felt two arms grabbing me from behind. I didn’t have a chance to scream because a hand clamped tightly over my mouth. An arm held my arms and me tightly against his body. I struggled but he was strong and he pushed me toward the living room. I could smell sweat and alcohol on him.
“Well Liz, how have you been?” The voice, it was Kevin. I continued to struggle. “I’m going to let my hand off your mouth, if you scream, I will kill you. Is that clear?”
Kevin’s voice sounded deadly. I nodded my head. His hand moved from my mouth to around my neck and he squeezed my throat hard.
I managed to squeak out, “Kevin I can’t breathe.”
He loosened his hold around me ever so slightly so that at least he wasn’t cutting off my air. “What are you doing here?” I rasped out.
Kevin’s voice contained venom that oozed out, “Oh my dear Liz this is just a friendly visit. Since you cut off my money, you’ve put me in a rather bad position. I’m afraid something needs to be done.”
I struggled again to no avail and Kevin just laughed. “Please Kevin, let me go. You’re hurting me.”
“Oh baby, you’re going to hurt a lot more than this by the time I’m finished with you tonight.”
“Michael will be here any minute now.” I tried pleading.
He squeezed my throat again and I started seeing stars. “Liz, you know you are such a bad liar.” The words hissed through his teeth. “Michael is not coming over here, well at least not for…what did you tell him you
needed? Oh yeah, a few hours. So we’re going to have some fun first and we’ll see if there is anything left of you for him.”
I fought back again and this time was successful in breaking free from his grip. I ran toward the front door figuring it was a shorter distance than the back door. I slipped on the area rug and he grabbed me by the hair. His arms came crashing down on me pushing me to the floor. I screamed when I roughly hit the hardwood floor and he was on top of me in an instant. The fall had knocked me breathless but we continued to grapple on the floor. He was simply stronger than I was and he
quickly
flipped
me
on my back and was straddling my hips. I continued to wrestle with him with my arms.
“Get off of me Kevin, I mean it!”
He laughed and pulled a switchblade from his back pocket and when it popped open, the blade was long and large.
“I would suggest you settle yourself down a little Liz.”
I stopped moving as I saw the gleaming knife, “What are you going to do with that?”
He drew his face close to mine pinning my arms between us. I could smell the stench of the alcohol on his breath. Kevin had been drinking heavily which lead to his bravado.
“Let’s say this is my persuader.” He ran the knife’s edge against my jaw line. “You and I are going to have a little fun first. I would have preferred something more comfortable like your bed, but it looks like you chose the floor.”
Kevin moved his lips over mine and bit my lower lip hard. I screamed a muffled cry and ran my tongue over my lips to see if he had drawn blood. Unfortunately, he took the action as encouragement.
He smiled, “That’s good Liz, and all I want is a little cooperation from you.” His voice and eyes were full of venom.
As he straightened up, I could feel the tears welling in my eyes. They started to run out down to my ears.
“Please Kevin don’t do this, please.” I begged.
He laughed, “Oh baby you still know how to turn me on. I always loved those tears. They make me hot.” Kevin hissed again. He moved against me making grinding motions with his hips.
“Please Kevin, I’ll give you money. Whatever you want. Just stop this please!” I sputtered out in between sobs.
“Oh I know you will. But first, let’s work off some of this tension, shall we?”
He ran the knife up my blouse and the buttons ripped away exposing my bra. Sliding the blade under the front of my bra, he lifted up my bra and cut it open. Then he ran his sweaty hand over my breasts and pinched them hard with his fingers, his nails digging into my skin.
“I know you like this, don’t you? Tell me you like this!” He yelled.
Bile rose up in my throat and made me nauseous at his touch. I shook my head from side to side and cried, “No, Kevin. You’re hurting me, please stop.”
My tears turned to sobs. I struggled under him and as soon as I did, his fist came down onto my face. His hit was so hard I wouldn’t have been surprised if he had broken my jaw.
“Stop fighting me you stupid bitch or I’m going to make this even more painful!”
The pain on my face was unbelievable but I froze under him. He pushed my skirt up to my waist and he made fast work of my panties by cutting them off roughly. His knee forced my legs apart.
“Please Kevin, don’t do this.” I pleaded.
He laughed viciously, “Keep on begging. It gets me hotter.”
I shrank down against the floor as he waved the knife around me. He ran the blade down my stomach to the area between my legs.
He laughed again, “Hell, maybe if I fuck you enough, I’ll get you pregnant. Didn’t you always want that? What would your boyfriend do if you were pregnant by me?”
Shock and confusion registered on my face and when Kevin saw it, he sneered at me. “Yeah you stupid bitch, you were the gullible fool weren’t you? You never knew I slipped the birth control pills in your coffee every morning. I paid that damn doctor to lie to you. I always controlled everything.”
The tears ran down my face, my brain was not registering what he was saying. “Please don’t do this, you can leave, I won’t tell anyone, please.”
I heard his jeans unzip and actually hoped he would be aroused enough because if he wasn’t I would pay for it in more beatings. When my body didn’t excite him enough, hitting me usually did. I looked down at him and he was still flaccid.
His punches began. First to my ribs and I felt something give way deep inside of me. I screamed from the pain. My breaths came in short gulps because it hurt to breathe.
Following quickly, he delivered an openhanded blow to the other side of my face. Wetness started to trickle from my nose and mouth. Another raging blow to my face made my vision blurry. I closed my eyes. The fury and loathing on his face was startling. He wanted to kill me. I was not going to let this happen.
I started struggling again, yelling, “No!”, and “Help me!” Someone had to hear me. I fought him with everything I had.
I did not see the knife go into my body. I did not even feel it at first. I became conscious that he had buried that large blade into my left shoulder when I turned to look at it. I don’t think he realized that he had done it
either. When he pulled the knife out, I heard it grind against my collarbone. That was when the sharp searing pain started. The pain was hot and burning as it flashed through me. I screamed. It was as if I woke Kevin from a dream. His eyes stared as he held the bloody knife up and it slowly dripped my blood onto my bra.
I screamed again. Again, his fist connected with my face, pounding me on the side of my head. His fingers wrapped around my throat and squeezed to prevent my screams. In the distance, someone was calling my name. My real name. “Elizabeth!” It was Michael’s voice. I was sure of it. I couldn’t see anything except black spots. I felt a heavy weight lifting off my body, and I heard scuffling and breaking glass. I wanted to scream, “No Michael, he has a knife!” but the world went all black.
chapter forty-four
I awoke to the incessant alarm clock. All I heard was beep, beep, beep.
“Will someone turn off that damn alarm clock? It’s too early to get up.” I said drowsily. I moved to reach over to shut it off, but someone held my hand. My body hurt. Why did my body hurt?
“Oh, god.” I moaned. I hurt badly.
“Dad, she’s awake.” It was Tammy’s voice. What was she doing in our bedroom?
I looked over to the person holding my hand. It was Michael. Why was he sitting on a chair next to the bed with his head on the mattress? Why wasn’t he cuddled up next to me? I tried to move again but there was something sticking to my arm.
Michael raised his head to look at me. “Shhh … Babe … it is okay.” He pulled my arm down. “No honey, don’t pull those out.” He motioned to the tubes sticking in my arm.
I looked around, and I concluded we were not in our bedroom. This was a hospital. I was in a hospital bed. The persistent beeping was a machine next to me.
All the memories flooded back to me in a flash. “Oh god Michael, Kevin.”
“It’s okay my love, it
i
s okay.” He held my hand against his lips.
I brushed my fingers along his cheek. He had a deep bruise under his eye.
“They’re letting us take turns in here. Your dad and Lisa are waiting outside. Do you want me to get them?” Michael turned to Tammy, “Please let the nurses know that she’s awake.”
Tammy nodded and left the room. Michael turned back to me. I continued to cling to his hand, and he brushed through my hair with his other hand.
“Tell me what happened, Michael. Why is your eye like that? I heard your voice calling to me.”
The doctor and a nurse bustled in. I could hear Tammy and my family talking before the door closed again. The doctor had my chart in his hands reading the pages.
He leaned over the bed, “Good morning Elizabeth, I’m Doctor Howard, how are you feeling?” He reached above me and flipped a switch that turned off the beeping. “Susan will you get another bag?” He instructed the nurse.
Michael started to back away but I clung to his hand so he remained seated.
“Elizabeth, let go of your husband’s hand, let me examine you. He’ll be right there.” Doctor Howard said.
I flashed Michael a look but he just smiled at me and winked.
The doctor started to probe my chest and rib area and I cried out in pain. “Still a little tender there? We’ll take care of that.” He checked his watch and wrote on my chart. “Susan, let’s give her some more of the pain meds too.” He lifted up the bandage covering my shoulder and I looked over to the area. There were neat stitches in a row where Kevin had stabbed me. “This looks good.” The doctor looked at me and smiled, “The blade didn’t go as deep as we first thought, so you should heal up very nicely. I’ll stop back this afternoon and we’ll see how you’re doing. If everything is going okay, we’ll think about sending you home tomorrow.”
The doctor closed the chart and handed it to the nurse.
He
left the room and Michael moved back over to the bed to take my hand.
As the nurse left she asked, “Your family is waiting to see you. You can have two visitors at a time. Would you like me to let one of them in?”
“Thanks,” I said, “but, give me a few minutes please. I’d like to talk to Michael for a moment.”
She nodded and left.
I gripped Michael’s hand and looked at him. “Husband?” I queried.
He looked chagrined and ran his free hand through his hair. “Yeah, it was easier. The paramedics wouldn’t let me ride with you unless I was your husband. Then later here at the hospital you seemed to calm down more when I was in the room with you. So we just continued with the charade.”
“My dad and Lisa went with it?” I asked.
Michael smiled, “Yeah. You seemed pretty upset every time I left the room.”
“Was I conscious?”
“In and out.” Michael sighed squeezing my hand to his cheek. He appeared as if ready to cry. “You don’t remember?”
I shook my head with a bewildered look.
“I guess it was the morphine they gave you. You were in a lot of pain.”
He said bringing my hand to his lips.
“Why does my side hurt so much?” I felt around under the covers and found my torso covered with tape.
“You have two cracked ribs and bad bruising, but thank God no internal injuries. God, Elizabeth it was so awful. That animal beat you with his bare hands.”
He shook his head and rested his forehead on the mattress. When he lifted his head, tears ran down his cheeks. My heart felt like it was breaking when I saw his face. His eyes showed nothing but deep pain.
“There was so much blood everywhere. On your face, your body, the floor,” his body shuddered, “I thought I had lost you. I wanted to kill him, and to break him with my own hands. You were lying so still. Then I saw your shallow breathing. Oh god, I cried when I saw you breathing.”
“You were there, I heard you, I couldn’t see you, but I heard your voice. How did you know to come?”
Michael drew a long breath and wiped the tears from his face. “I was talking to Lewis after bringing back their car. All of a sudden, I remembered that the lights were not on at your house when I dropped you off, and I recalled you turning them on before we left. If I hadn’t seen the scene so clearly in my mind I wouldn’t have panicked. I took the keys yelling at Lewis to call the police. It was dark in your house but I heard you screaming and I saw him on top of you hitting you. Oh god Elizabeth, the blood it was all over his hands and the knife.” His forehead rested again on the bed while he shook his head back and forth.
He took another deep breath and raised his head to look at me. “Oh baby. I pulled him off you and he had his pants open. I knew what he wanted to do to you. He went for me with the knife. I was able to get the knife away from him. I wanted to kill him.”
My eyes widened, “Michael did you…?” I stopped before finishing the sentence.
He shook his head. “No, we fought and he heard the police car siren and ran. I just wanted him out of my way so that I could get to you.”
“Where is he?” I asked shifting uncomfortably in the bed.
“The police caught him just outside of town, he is in jail.” The worry in his eyes was evident. As much as it appeared I was clinging to his hand, I knew he was holding on to me too.
I closed my eyes feeling dizzy. How did this all happen? “What day is it?”
“It’s Sunday.”
How could I have lost three days? All I remembered was the attack and that was Thursday.
The door opened and my father’s head popped in. “Hey Sweet Pea, how are you doing?” Just like my father, never waiting for an invitation.
He walked over to the bed.
“Hi Daddy, I bet I look like a mess.” I said trying to smile, but it hurt.
Michael stood to leave. “I’ll give you guys some privacy.”
I grabbed Michael’s arm and cried out, “No! I don’t want you to go.”
“Honey, Michael has been right by your bed for days. Why don’t you let him go home so he can get some rest?” Dad suggested.
I looked at Michael and realized that I had not noticed his three-day beard. I looked ashamed, “I’m sorry Michael. Yes, of course you can go.” I let go of his arm.
Michael leaned over and brushed my lips with his. It was the barest of touches and I could feel that my lips felt swollen. I remember how hard Kevin had hit me to make my lip bleed. He straightened up and squeezed my free hand. “I’m not going anywhere Babe. I’ll be right outside.”
I saw my father give him a hard glance but Michael just ignored it. I nodded, “Okay.”
After Michael left, my father sat on the edge of the bed, “You’re being selfish
Bess
. Michael has been here for three days. The hospital finally let him use the shower in the doctor’s lounge. He hasn’t moved from your bedside sleeping in that chair. Lisa and I are here we can take care of you.”
I didn’t reply but just looked at him. My father made me feel bad but I couldn’t bear to have Michael leave me. Not right now. Thinking that thought made my chest hurt.
My father told me that Kevin had stolen the car he was driving. He had borrowed heavily on the house in Torrance and it was in the foreclosure process. Kevin had a document in his possession that he was going to force me to sign to continue the alimony payments plus a lump sum. My father had already spoken to the county district attorney. They were going charge him with attempted rape and murder as well as extortion. Kevin would face a very long sentence.
When the nursed bustled into the room she looked at my father. “Just a few more minutes of visiting and then you need your rest.” She changed out the IV bag and then pressed the pain medication syringe into my IV. “We’re going to start pulling you back from the heavy duty pain meds. This should make you feel better. Your husband asked us to get you some
gelatin
and some broth because he was worried you’d be hungry. I’ll get that for you right away.” She left the room.
My father gritted his teeth and said under his breath, “Husband.” He huffed.
“Daddy, what’s going on between you and Michael?”
“Nothing for you to worry about Sweet Pea.” He patted my hand protectively.
“Dad?” I said insistently pursing my lips together, which made them hurt and I winced.
“Honey, you know Lisa and I can take care of you. You don’t need to have Michael around.”
I looked at my father squarely, “Dad, I’m in love with Michael.”
His eyes showed shock, “When did this happen?
Bess
, you have only known him for a couple of months. Please don’t go and make another Kevin mistake. Has he said he’s in love with you?”
I nodded slowly. “Yes.” The Kevin comment rubbed salt in my open wounds.
Dad raked his hand through his hair and sighed heavily. “
Bess
I want you to be careful.”
I pursed my lips again this time prepared for the pain so I didn’t wince. “I’m tired Dad.”
He sighed again and rose from the bed leaning over and kissing my forehead, which was probably the only place on my body not bruised. “I almost lost you my
s
weetest of
p
eas.”
Michael chose that moment to walk back in carrying gelatin and pudding cups. My father flashed him an even more hostile look and left the room.
Michael sat down again in the chair by the bed and put the food on the bed table. “The nurse is bringing you some broth.” He stuck a spoon into the gelatin. “Will you take a bite for me?”
“Only if you promise me to go home and get some rest.” I said taking the spoonful. I made a face as I put it in my mouth. “I hate gelatin Michael. Let me have the pudding instead.”
He scooped pudding onto the spoon and gave it to me. “I am not leaving the hospital until you are ready to go home.”
I ate the pudding slowly, licking it from the spoon. “Michael they are not going to release me today. So please for me, go home. I’m sure there are other people who can feed me pudding.” I motioned to all the flowers in the room. I felt the pain medication beginning to take effect. “Please Michael, go home. Take a bath. Get some rest. You can come back tonight, otherwise, I’m just going to lay here and worry about you.”
He rose from the chair and sat on the edge of the bed. Leaning over me he softly licked some pudding that had landed on my chin. His lips moved to my mouth and they kissed me softly. I couldn’t move my lips enough to respond to his kiss so I brushed my hand against his face.
“I love you my beautiful, strong woman. I will never leave you, but I will go home for a while.”
He continued to kiss me softly; his kisses touched my cheeks, eyelids, and all those places that surely showed terrible bruises. I wanted his arms around me, holding me close but I knew that would be a fool’s folly. I hurt barely breathing I didn’t want to imagine what actually moving was going to feel like.
Michael stood up from the bed resigned to leave. “I’ll be back tonight.”
He said.
“I’ll be here waiting.” I said closing my eyes
and
as he left
,
my sister came into the room.
True to the doctor’s words, the hospital released me the following day in a flurry of activity. I was bound to a wheel chair in my house for a week. Even though my legs had no injury, the doctor did not want me falling with my cracked ribs. I was supposed to allow someone else to push me around in the chair. I knew I was going to be a terrible patient at home.
My first act was to veto Michael’s suggestion that I stay at his house. Lisa and my father were downright shocked at the proposal. I hadn’t enlightened them that Michael and I were almost living together before the attack. Michael said it made sense because Lisa could sleep in my room and my dad could have my guest room.