Auntie C hummed at her words but didn’t say anything else. Taking another deep breath, Olivia continued.
“The first time David hit me, I didn’t know what to expect. We had just picked up take out at the local Mexican restaurant. When I placed the order, I made sure to tell them that David didn’t want guacamole on his burrito. When he opened his box and the guac was there, he backhanded me and blamed me for being too stupid to place the order correctly.”
Tears were running down her face and snot had begun to drip out her nose. She felt Auntie C get up and head into the bathroom before she returned with tissues.
“I should have left then, but I was weak, and I loved him. He bought me a huge bouquet of flowers and the biggest box of Twix he could find and gave them to me the next day. I figured it was just a fluke accident and that he didn’t really mean to do it. David had a lot of stress on him at work and sometimes it bled over into our homelife.”
“I want you to know Olivia, that you aren’t weak. You are one of the strongest women that I know. No one should have gone through what you did, but you came out the other side stronger than before and I’m proud of you.”
“I was stupid and shouldn’t have stayed, but he convinced me that it was a one time thing and that he would never do it again. I shouldn’t have believed him because it never stopped. For two years he would hit and kick me, call me names, and make me feel like garbage. I was too weak to leave him.”
“But you did. You got out and ran. You made a way for yourself, Olivia, and that’s something to be proud of.”
“The last time he put me in the hospital, I ended up needing to have emergency surgery much like I did this past time. They had to remove my spleen because he had kicked me so hard it ruptured. Of course, the hospital records show that I was in a car accident. The anger that he had that night willhaunt me forever and I knew that, if I didn’t get out, I would never escape. I knew that, the next time he lost his temper, I wouldn’t end up in the hospital, I would end up dead.”
She felt Auntie C’s arms wrap around her as she cried about the woman she once was. Letting out all the emotions that had built up over the years.
Olivia didn’t know how much time had passed, when she felt herself being lifted in the air and settled in the crib.
She felt Daddy press a quick kiss on her lips, turn on her nightlight, and quietly shut the door behind him, as they slipped out of the room.
Olivia drifted off to sleep, feeling lighter than she had in years. She knew that she had a long way to go, but with Daddy by her side and Auntie C rooting for her, Liv knew that she could do it.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
OLIVIA
Over the next several therapy sessions, Olivia talked to Auntie C about life with David before she ran and what she had done once she escaped.
Auntie C had encouraged her to write a letter to the kind nurse who had helped her that night.
Olivia didn’t know if that nurse would even remember her, but it helped ease more of the hurt and pain from that time and that was enough for her.
She didn’t think that she was going to get a response but, about a week after she mailed the letter, she received one back from Nurse Hope.
Daddy read it with her and held her as she cried some more. Before now, Olivia wasn’t much of a crier. Even when David was tearing her down and abusing her, she still didn’t shed many tears.
Now it seemed like she cried at the drop of a hat. Olivia had mentioned it to Auntie C during one of their play sessions and she told her that it was normal to have these influxof emotions.
For so many years Olivia had been suppressing them, just trying to survive. Now that the threat was gone, there was nothing to hold her back from feeling them all.
Auntie C did make sure to mention that it wouldn’t always be this way and that she would eventually be able to think about this time and wouldn’t shed a tear. Olivia couldn’t wait for that day considering she wasn’t a big fan of feeling emotions.
Today Auntie C had come over again to talk to Olivia and instead of playing fashion barbies, Daddy had helped Liv set up a tea party for them.
They had spent all afternoon yesterday making cupcakes from the recipe book that Daddy had surprised her with.
Pepper North wrote a series with another author that was centered around cupcakes. When Daddy found out that a fan had taken the time to craft a cookbook based on their books, he bought one for Olivia to have.
That was something else that Olivia had been doing a lot since regaining some normalcy in her life. Daddy would let her play and cook in the kitchen, crafting up all sorts of new recipes. Some of them were great, while others tasted horrible.
He never once complained about the mess she made or how nasty the food sometimes was. He just smiled, kissed her on the lips, and would help clean up before ordering them take out food.
Pouring Auntie C a cup of tea from a real teapot that Daddy had pulled down from the cabinet, she settled back with her own cupcake in hand and waited to see what Auntie C was going to ask first.
“Let’s talk about the night that David came back.”
This is the one conversation that Olivia had been dreading. Reliving the memories were hard, but these ones were still fresh in her mind.
