Page 13 of Chosen By Swift

Graham looked down the dimly lit hall where Wendel staggered away on unsteady feet and then back at her. “Oh, I see.”

Before she could explain the situation, she heard crying coming from the room behind Graham. He glanced back and then turned to her with a frown. “Do me a favor? Get her to stop crying and make her presentable. It’s near time for us to leave.”

Graham left without a backward glance. Awash in trepidation, Alys entered the dressing room. Her heart broke at the sight before her. Sobbing quietly, Bonnie was draped across a table, her bottom bare and her lacy underclothes torn at her feet. There was blood on the back of her left thigh and a stain on the hem of her dress, as if someone had used it to wipe between her legs.

Someone?

Graham.

Alys hurriedly shut the door. She rushed to Bonnie’s aid, carefully pulling down her dress to cover her naked bottom before gently helping her stand. Bonnie collapsed against her and buried her wet face in Alys’ throat. She embraced Bonnie with all the love she had in her heart. “Oh, Bonnie.”

“Mama said…. Mama said….” She stammered in between sobs. “She said it would hurt, and I might not like it, but she didn’t say it would be like that.”

“I’m sorry, Bonnie.” She didn’t know what else to say. “I’m so sorry.”

“He hurt me,” Bonnie wailed. “He said he loved me, and he promised he would take care of me. But he hurt me!”

“He shouldn’t have done that.” Alys couldn’t fathom why Graham would consummate their marriage here, in this dingy back room where anyone could have discovered them. “He shouldn’t have been so cruel.”

“It wasn’t like that.” Bonnie jerked away from their embrace and rushed to his defense. Her behavior confused Alys until she realized that everything they had been raised to believe made it impossible for Bonnie to speak out against her husband. “He wasn’t cruel. He...he was excited.”

“Excited?” Alys pointedly touched the torn neckline of Bonnie’s wedding dress. The hem had also been ripped, and the veil destroyed. There were red marks on her throat in the shape of fingerprints. “Bonnie, this was—.”

The door unexpectedly opened behind them, and Aunt Jimmie barged right into the room. “There you two are! We’ve been—” She froze, her eyes wide with horror at what she had discovered, and shut the door. When she turned around, she hissed, “Did Graham do this? Did he hurt you?”

“No! It wasn’t like that!” Bonnie immediately defended him. “I wanted—I didn’t understand. It’s...it’s fine.”

“It’s not fine!”

Bonnie started to cry again, and Alys looked on helplessly. She reached for Bonnie, dragging her back in for a hug and glared at her aunt. “You’re not helping!”

Aunt Jimmie’s brow furrowed. “What happened to your face? Why are you bleeding?”

Bonnie yanked back and looked up at her. “Alys! Your mouth!”

Alys touched her sore lips and pulled away her fingers to reveal blood. She had been so upset from Wendel’s assault and then finding Bonnie that she hadn’t even realized she’d been physically hurt.

“Your hair,” Aunt Jimmie said, “and your dress!”

“It’s nothing,” Alys lied.

“Wendel,” Aunt Jimmie stated. “I saw that pig hobbling away before I found you two.”

“I handled it,” Alys insisted. “It’s fine.”

“None of this is fine!” Aunt Jimmie blew up angrily. “My god, I will never forgive myself for not taking you girls away when you were little.”

The door opened behind Aunt Jimmie, and Mama appeared. “What is all this yelling?”

Aunt Jimmie jerked Mama into the room and slammed the door behind her. “Look at them, Lorna! Look at what you’ve allowed to happen to them!”

“What are you talking about, Jimmie?” Mama seemed dazed.

“Are you blind, Lorna? Look at them! Alys has a fat lip and a torn dress. Bonnie’s been mauled by her husband.”

“Mauled? Why are you always so dramatic, Jimmie? I’m sure it was only a little romantic tussle.”

“Dramatic? A tussle? Are you out of your fucking mind?”

---