The unnerving calm.
“What the hell is going on here?” he asks, folding his arms across his chest.
“Nothing, um…Linc just stopped by on his way through town. What are you doing home so early?” I ask, trying to keep the fear out of my voice. I can’t imagine what this must look like. By the look on his face, he’s seen and heard everything.
He slowly closes the distance between us. “I had a doctor’s appointment at two, remember?” He lifts his eyes behind me.
Shit, I’d forgotten. Once Linc arrived, I’d forgotten everything but him and me.
Linc gets to his feet.
Caroline babbles a broken sentence into the baby monitor. “Go take care of Caroline, Sylvie.”
“Dean, please.” I don’t know what I am begging for.
Forgiveness?
Mercy?
His eyes snap to mine, his voice deep and low. “Now.”
“Don’t fuckin’ talk to her like that,” Linc shouts, walking closer.
“I can talk to her any way I want. She’s my goddamn wife.”
“You don’t have to put up with this shit, Sylvie.”
“Linc, please,” I beg, turning to face him. I don’t want to have this conversation now and especially not in front of Dean. This is our marriage and when I decide to walk away would be up to me, not him.
The space between them ripples with hate, anger, and years of resentment.
All because of me.
“Motherfucker, I told you she’s mine. You stay the hell away from her,” Dean grits.
Linc smirks and dread settles in my belly.
“She may be your wife, but I’ll always own her heart.”
“Linc!”
Dean’s eyes swing to mine, rage burning in their depths. I shake my head, denying Linc’s claim.
Dean returns his hard gaze to Linc. “As long as I’m standing here breathing, she’ll never be yours.”
Linc’s pleading eyes find mine; silently begging for me to say something, but there is nothing I can say that will fix any of this.
No matter what happens, someone gets hurt.
Caroline’s crying puts my feet in motion as I turn away and bound up the back porch. Entering her room, I nearly fall to my knees, the pain of it all almost too much to bear. As I scoop her up, I hold her close, clutching to her for dear life as she cries.
But I hold it together for my baby girl. I don’t want her to see her mama upset so I carry her to the kitchen, placing her in her booster seat at the table for her afternoon snack.
After I have given her a few crackers and her sippy cup, shouting begins, but their voices are garbled and muffled by my own despair. I’m standing in front of the sink, trying to pull myself together, when Dean walks through the back door. His fingers curl around my arm as he hauls me into the living room. “I don’t ever want to see him near you ever again. You understand me?”
“Dean, calm down.”
The monster is back and he’s more vicious than ever.
