A Safe Pair of Hands (4 page)

A frown marred his brow for a second, just a second, but it
unsettled her immensely.

He sat up on the bed and grabbed her wrist – rubbing at the
flesh slightly.

“
Leave it wife!” he said as he pulled her down. “Your husband
has need of you!”

She was so startled, that she could not stop the surprised
exclamation.

“
Ouch! Rick, you’re hurting me!”

He leaned over her, and again she was disturbed to see a
shadow of anger in his eyes, and not even a little bit of
remorse.

“
Your husband has needs,” he said again as he began to tug at
her clothing.

“
He hurt me,” she whispered now, as a tear trickled down her
cheek. “He had been my first lover, and was so gentle at first… but
that day he was… he hurt me so much!”

Nick was round the table without even thinking about it – as
he sat down next to her and wrapped his arms around her. “Ssshh,”
he murmured huskily. “Sshhh… it’s all right, it’s over
now…”

Sadie had never really cried over that time, she had put it
firmly in her past and buried it.

She had thought that she was over all that hurt and heartache,
that she was stronger than that time.

Nick’s sympathy and understanding was so unexpected. She would
have died for that three years ago, but now she simply cried
instead.

Wrapped in his strong embrace; the tears, once they started to
fall, did not seem to want to stop.

And with the tears came such heart wrenching sobs that Nick
felt tears on his own cheeks as he shared in her pain.

Chapter Four

Once she started crying, Sadie didn’t think that she would be
able to stop.

She had never told anyone the details of her
marriage.

Oh people guessed some of it; her family had seen the change
in Sadie when she came home from her honeymoon.

Her vibrancy was dimmed. She looked tired and pale and her
lips seemed to have to fight to smile, whereas before there had
always been an upward tilt to her lips, as though her smile was
more than ready – and usually did, break out at the slightest of
enticements.

“
Maybe she’s just tired?” her mum had murmured to her dad. “It
was quite a long journey for them?”

But as the weeks went on and they saw less and less of their
daughter – concerns began to rise.

When they did see her, she was quiet and barely responsive,
and
never
on her
own.

Her doting husband was always by her side, stroking her hand
or patting her knee, kissing her cheek or flicking her hair to one
side.

To her friends and family this constant attention would have
been suffocating.

But then one day they were visiting Nancy, sitting together on
her sofa, when her sister noticed how Sadie flinched on one
occasion, and as though she had tried to cover that slight
reaction, Sadie sat forward to pick up her mug of tea.

The long sleeve of her dress pulled up and Nancy was horrified
to see the bruising, travelling up her arm, and out of
sight.

“
Dear god, Sadie, what have you done?” Nancy’s reaction had
been instinctive as she reached out to her little sister to brush
back the material and take a better look.

Sadie had given a little sob and she had tried to pull away
again, but not before Nancy clearly saw the finger
marks.

Her horrified look turned to accusing, as Nancy’s gaze turned
to Rick.

He was surprised and not prepared for this, and Nancy as she
looked at him saw such a look of hatred towards herself, that the
colour drained from her cheeks.

“
You did that?” she whispered. “You hurt my little
sister!”

Rick lurched to his feet his expression one of cold
rage.

“
What happens between a man and his wife – is of no business to
anyone else!” he snapped.

Nancy stood up as well, and thrust her chin, and her body
forward so that she was right in his face.

“
YOU hurt my sister!” she shouted again as the blind fury
rushed through her.

“
Rick please!” Sadie cried out anxiously as she tried to step
between the two of them.

Rick’s anger turned on his wife. “Why are you taking her
side?” he demanded as he shoved her out of the way, causing Sadie
to fall to the floor but not before knocking her head on the side
of the coffee table. “You should always side with your husband – no
matter what!”

He did not even stop to check her, to see if she was okay; he
simply spun on his heel and stormed out of the room, and Nancy’s
home.

Nancy heard the roar of his car's engine, but dismissed him
from her mind as she knelt beside her sister.

“
I’m going to ring for an ambulance,” she declared as she saw
the graze just above Sadie’s cheek bone, which would leave one hell
of a bruise.

Sadie sat up and put a shaking hand to her face. “No!” she
looked at her sister imploringly. “Please Nance… I don’t need that…
it’s not deep, it’s not necessary.”

“
The police then!”

“
NO!”

“
But Sadie…”

Sadie pulled herself up onto the sofa.

“
I’m really sorry that you had to see this Nance,” she
whispered tearfully. “But I have to say… that I’m a little bit
relieved too!”

“
You’re not going back to him,” Nancy declared forcefully, “If
you even think about going back to him… I swear, Sadie, I’ll call
the police!”

“
No, no I’m not going back… I’ve been thinking about it for a
while now, and just looking for the right time – or
opportunity…”

“
For a while?” Nancy frowned. “You’ve only been married for a
few months… when did all this start Sadie?”

A dull coloured flared across Sadie pale cheeks, and she gave
a shaky little sigh.

“
Just after we came back off our honeymoon,” she finally
whispered.

Nancy swore – something that Sadie had never heard her sister
do before.

“
You will start at the beginning, and you will tell me
everything,” she said angrily.

Sadie realised that her sister would not let this go, and
slowly and hesitantly she told her of the first time that he’d hit
her.

She told Nancy about the hitting – but she could never tell
her about the other stuff, could never look her sister in the eye
again if Nancy knew that too.

“
He just gets so angry,” she said almost in an effort to excuse
him.

Nancy swore again – several times, it seemed that now she had
reason to swear, she could not seem to stop.

Finally she gave an angry sigh.

“
You’ll stay here of course,” she said instead of more
pointless cursing at the man who had hurt her baby
sister.

Sadie smiled a little grimace. “Thank you Nancy… I was praying
that you would let me.”

**

Her tears dried, and her sobs quietened, as she sat wrapped in
Nick’s arms.

The man who hated and despised her, and already he knew more
about her abusive marriage – than the rest of her family put
together.

“
Thank you,” she finally whispered. “I didn’t realise how much
I needed to do that.”

He didn’t respond at first, and so Sadie pulled away, and was
disappointed when he let her go immediately.

“
It’s late and you must be tired,” he said quietly, and Sadie
braced herself, waiting for him to make his excuses and then
leave.

He stood up, but instead of heading for the door – he picked
up the tea pot and walked over to the sink.

“
You must be shattered,” he said over his shoulder. “But if you
could talk to me some more, Sadie – I am here to listen, and I
think that it will be good for you in the end… and me.”

She sat watching as he moved around Nancy’s kitchen. Boiling
the kettle and rinsing out the cups.

“
There’s not really much to tell,” she began hesitantly. “I
mean it was all pretty much…” she laughed a brittle laugh. “It was
all very repetitive…”

“
Oh… so give me an example then, something that most sticks in
your memory?”

She sat thinking for a moment, searching her memory, but
shying away from some of the worst.

Nick sat down next to her and placed the mugs side by side on
the table.

He took her hand in his and looked into the shadowed grey of
her eyes, so obvious now. How could he not have seen such pain
before?

“
Tell me about the first time he hit you.” He used his best
boss’s voice – the tone of authority that always had his employees
jumping to oblige.

She was his employee too, and had heard this tone – perhaps
more than the others.

She was no more immune to it than them though.

“
It was two days after we got home from our
honeymoon…”

Rick had gone back to work for the first time this morning,
but not before making long enthusiastic love to his
wife.

It was almost a relief when she saw his car disappear around
the corner.

She gave a little sigh as she stripped off the little black
negligee that he liked her to wear in bed, and stepped under the
hot spray of the shower.

She gently soaked her skin, soothing away the aches and pains,
and the tenderness and the bruising.

She had just finishing towelling herself dry when she heard
the doorbell.

Sadie slipped on a light robe and ran to answer the
door.

“
Good morning luv!” the delivery man gave her a wide
appreciative grin as he held out the bunch of flowers.

Sadie blushed in embarrassment as she hid behind the
door.

“
For you – from an admirer, I guess!” he grinned.

“
Thank you,” Sadie took the flowers carefully, and the delivery
man relinquished them with a little chuckle.

“
You have a good day now, ducks!” he called as he strode back
down the garden path.

Sadie was just about to close the door, when a movement caught
her eye, and she looked up again.

Rick was standing across the road, and he looked absolutely
furious.

“
He didn’t even let me explain,” she whispered softly. “He just
came bursting in… and calling me all sorts of horrible
names!”

She looked at Nick in remembered bewilderment.

“
Answering the door looking like that!” Rick fumed as he glared
at her little robe. “What were you trying to do… give him a cheap
thrill… or maybe you wanted to invite him inside? Maybe I’m not man
enough to satisfy your needs!”

“
Rick… please!” Sadie gasped anxiously. “I never thought… I… I
just…”

His slap across her face silenced her as she staggered back
from the force of the blow.

The flowers fell to the floor, as she shook her head, trying
to clear her vision.

“
You’re nothing but a lying, filthy, little slut!” Rick
snarled.

He grabbed her wrist as his hand went back to land another
open handed blow.

“
It seemed that once he started hitting me, he couldn’t or
wouldn’t stop!”

“
But it did eventually?” Nick kept his voice cool and calm,
even though his body burned with fury.

“
Yes, he seemed to have run out of steam, with the hitting and
the name calling… but then all he wanted to do was…” she looked
away and the colour stained her pale cheeks.

Nick clenched his fist under the table, causing his knuckled
to go white.

“
Say it, Sadie… just once, say it out loud, tell me what he did
next!”

She gave a little sob.

“
Then…” she whispered hoarsely, “Then he dragged me up the
stairs, and then he… he… raped me!”

The sobs began again and Sadie let them, she welcomed them,
she embraced them, as Nick embraced her – she embraced the pain and
anguish.

She visited it one last time, for a little while she simply
wallowed in it. But then she buried it – she buried it for good
this time!

*

It was very late… or rather very early in the morning before
Nick was prepared to leave her.

He held her and comforted her through her emotional storms,
and when it was over, he still waited; he made more tea, while
Sadie popped upstairs to wash her tearstained face.

She entered the kitchen looking tired, rung out, but
calm.

There was a serenity to her, which caught at his
breath.

She sat down across from him, and cupped her hands around the
steaming mug.

“
Thank you,” she whispered meeting his eyes
squarely.

Nick nodded and smiled in acknowledgement, realising that she
was thanking him for more than the tea.