Page 128 of My Vows Are Sealed

“There are elders in the room,” he snickered.

Peter snorted. “Thanks for making me feel old.”

“If you’re old, I’m ancient,” Gloria chuckled weakly. “And I’ve heard way worse than the word ‘fuck’ being married to that bastard, trust me.”

I felt like one of those cartoon characters with a rubber-like neck as my head snapped over to look at her. Even though I’d neverheardany colorful language from Darla’s father before today, knowing what I knew about him, it hadn’t really surprised me when I’d heard him ranting and raving. But Darla barely ever said anything stronger than “damn,” so hearing her mother use that kind of language shocked the hell out of me.

“Oh, my God.” Naomi let out a shocked chuckle, covering her mouth. “Guys, the pastor’s wife just dropped an F-bomb.”

“Life’s too short to worry about language,” Gloria sighed, then looked at me. “Brendan, sweetheart, can I talk to you alone for a minute?”

I nodded. “Of course. Let’s go grab a cup of coffee. I get the feeling neither of us is going to be sleeping tonight anyway.” Then I looked at our friends. “If they bring Darla back while we’re gone, tell her we’ll be back soon.”

“We will,” Marie promised as she leaned against her husband. “Go ahead.”

Gloria and I walked out of the room, and I led her toward the coffee machine in the waiting room, pulling out my wallet and grabbing a couple of dollars. I slid one into the machine and pressed the buttons for a coffee with cream and sugar, then handed the second bill to Gloria.

“Crappy coffee’s on me,” I chuckled weakly as I grabbed the paper cup from the machine, gripping it by the lip because it was too hot to hold anywhere else.

“Thanks,” she sniffled. “This is…I’m just…I’m praying they arrest him. Is that wrong?”

I shook my head. “No. If I didn’t love Darla more than I hate him, I’d kill him. For hurting her, and for hurting you. But killing him would mean going to jail, and the idea of life without Darla…I can’t even think about it. I was terrified when they cuffed me and took me away. Scared of never seeing her again. Scared that he’d hurt her. Scared that our baby wouldn’t make it through this. I’veneverbeen so scared in my life.”

Tears pooled in her eyes as she took her coffee out of the machine and looked at me, and it broke my heart. I could see the hopelessness, thehelplessness,written all over her face. The echoes of a lifetime of abuse and pain and having no one to turn to. This was what Darla’s life was like before she let me in.

“You’ve always protected her,” she said, her voice thick with emotion. “Ever since I’ve known you. Even before you knew you were doing it. I saw how you flinched and tried to shield her when he yelled at her. The terror in your eyes when she ran out of the room with her head down. You didn’t know what he was doing, but you knew she was afraid of him.”

A lump rose in my throat and I swallowed it, chasing it down with about half of the coffee-flavored water in my cup. I could see where she was going with this already, and I hated that she would blame herself for any part of what her husband had done.

“Yes, ma’am,” I managed to say, just above a whisper, as a few tears leaked out of my eyes. “I think I’ve always known that I was meant to protect her. Even before I really understood how or why.”

“I wasn’t strong enough,” she sobbed. “I couldn’t stop him. I tried. God, I tried. I let him do whatever he wanted to me if he would just leave her alone, but it wasn’t enough for him. It was never enough. And the older she got, the worse it was. But then she found you. I heard you in her room at night sometimes and I thanked God that you were stronger than I was. Thanked God that you loved her enough to want to take her away from that life.”

Wait. What? I knew from reading her letter that she’d known about us, but why hadn’t she said or done anything if she knew that I was sneaking into Darla’s room at night?

“You heard us?” I choked out, surprised I could speak at all.

She nodded. “After he went to sleep, I’d go kneel outside her door, praying to God for her protection. And He did protect her. He sent you to her. That’s why I wanted to talk to you. I need you to promise me that you’ll keep protecting her and that baby. That you’ll take care of them. Because I can’t. I wish I could, but I can’t. I can’t even afford the mortgage payment anymore if Abraham gets arrested.”

I swallowed the rest of my coffee in one long gulp, then tossed the cup in the trash and pulled my future mother-in-law into my arms, resting my chin on her head. I felt her tears soaking through my shirt, and I shed a few more of my own as I searched for the words to say. I wished I could tell her that I’d find a way to support her too, but I knew I couldn’t do that. Not while I was trying to figure out a way to support her grandchild as it was.

“I promise,” I whispered. “Darla’s my whole life. Her and our baby. I’ll always take care of them and protect them. And I’d die before I ever hurt them.”

* * *

It was after midnight by the time Darla and I finally got back to my apartment. But I was just glad the police had finished processing it and wecouldcome back. We both needed comfort and familiarity after the day we’d had, and we needed to be able to go to sleep in our own bed.

When I opened the door, which was already unlocked because Abraham had broken the doorframe forcing his way in, Darla froze. Looking ahead, I saw the broken coffee table and the vomit on the floor where she’d thrown up while he was attacking her, and it made me pause.

Maybe staying here for the night wasn’t the smartest idea. Especially since the best thing I could do to keep anyone else from getting in was barricade the door with a chair. The police had already told me that they were going to have someone come and fix it tomorrow, but we still had to get through tonight.

“Do you want to get a hotel room for the night, baby?” I murmured.

“I…I don’t know,” she mumbled. “I just want to sleep. And I’m hungry and in pain.”

“It’s just a broken table and a messy carpet,” I reminded her. “We’ll get it cleaned up in the morning, and we’ll have a new doorframe tomorrow. But if you don’t want to stay here tonight, we can go somewhere else.”

Darla just burrowed further into my side, and I felt some tears wetting my shirt. “I’m too tired to go anywhere else.”

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