Her expression as fierce as Naomi had ever seen it,Martha pulled out a chair and sat opposite her sister. ‘How many times has he done this to you?’
Willow raised her tearful gaze from the tissue she had screwed up into a tight ball and looked at Martha. ‘This was the first time, but he’s been very angry with me before. I just always seem to annoy him, and it makes him lose his temper.’
‘Oh, so that makes it perfectly all right then, does it?’
‘Geraldine, please, you’re not helping.’
‘Mum, it’s okay,’ said Willow. ‘Auntie Geraldine is only saying what you’re probably all thinking.’
‘Does he know where you are?’ This was from Ellis as he placed a mug of tea and a small jug of milk on the table in front of Willow.
‘I left him a note saying I was going to spend a few days here and that I thought it was a good idea to have some time apart.’
‘So he left for work this morning just like it was a normal day for him?’ said Naomi, a fresh wave of fury flaring in her.
‘Yes, he made me promise I wouldn’t go out. Or tell anyone what he’d done.’
‘I bet he did!’ muttered Martha.
‘Why didn’t you call me?’ asked Naomi. ‘I would have come for you straight away.’
With shaking hands, Willow added some milk to her tea. ‘I wanted to, but I couldn’t find my mobile. Or the cable charger for my laptop.’
‘I guarantee Rick took them so you wouldn’t have any way of contacting us,’ said Martha grimly.
‘Would he do that?’
Martha made an exasperated sound. ‘How can you ask that, Willow, after what he’s done to you? The man’s a control freak!Everything he does is about him wanting to control you. And if you factor that in when you think about all the little things he says or does, you’ll see them in a completely new light. It has nothing to do with caring for you, or even loving you, it’s about controlling you.’
‘He says that about you, that you boss me about and bully me.’
‘I know. He told me that himself on the phone.’
Willow looked surprised. ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’
Martha sighed. ‘Because it wouldn’t have done any good, and you might not have believed me, not if Rick denied ever having that conversation with me. He was out to come between us, and really that was his big mistake.’
‘What do you mean?’ asked Willow.
‘I was no longer taken in by him. Oh, he was very convincing to begin with, he had me thoroughly fooled, but then the cracks started to open up. Especially over that business with Lucy and Simon’s cat. If he could lie about that, I couldn’t help but wonder what else he would cover up.’
‘You sound like you’ve put a lot of thought into this,’ said Willow.
To Naomi’s surprise, Martha then turned to look at Ellis. He nodded back at her.
‘We both have,’ Ellis said. ‘I just had an uncomfortable feeling about him, but Martha felt concerned enough to do some online research and tell me about it earlier this morning.’
‘But you never said anything to me?’ said Naomi, reeling from this revelation from Ellis.
‘I didn’t want you to think I was interfering in family matters,’ he said.
‘If I’m permitted to speak,’ said Geraldine, throwing a look at Naomi,‘is what we’re discussing known as coercive and controlling behaviour?’
‘Yes,’ answered Martha. ‘Eventually Rick would have driven a wedge between Willow and the rest of us so he’d have her completely to himself and would then be free to do exactly what he wanted.’
Willow frowned. ‘That sounds a bit over the top.’
‘And it’s not over the top that the father of the child you’re expecting has hit you so hard you have a blackened eye and a split lip?’
