smiled to her herself, thinking fondly of her best friend.
“ Lee started to take my wage, pointing out that as I was living in his house my money was his. He bought what he wanted and the food he liked to eat. Then as I grew bigger with Holly the insults started . . , ” Deanna trailed off, recalling Lee’s offensive words.
She felt Nate ’s hand tighten reassuringly and she continued. “It was just names at first . . . I . . . he called me things like ugly and fat. He was really nasty about my hair, he hated it. As I got closer to my due date he hardly looked at me. When my waters broke I was alone at home so had to call an ambulance to take me to hospital. I rang Lee at work and he said he would be there. The difficult labour went on for hours. I went through it with no one by my side. Everything inside me changed though when I saw my beautiful baby girl for the first time. I thanked God she was so like me. When Lee finally arrived he glanced at the baby and the expression that crossed his face truly scared me. He turned to me saying I had let him down, his exact words were that ‘the little shit looked nothing like him’. He walked out and I didn’t see him again until after being released from hospital. I hardly saw him after that, he only came back for clothes. His insults grew worse and he’d completely ignore Holly, disappearing again for days. This went on for weeks. It was just me and Holly and I was happy with it just being the two of us. Megan came round a lot and I eventually confided in her about our difficult home life. She mentioned her brother had asked her to come and live with him in Scotland, but nothing had been arranged. I admitted that I was unhappy and scared living with Lee and didn’t want to stay with him much longer. We agreed that I should gradually move some of our things over to Megan’s. But then when Holly was nearly nine months old Lee’s behaviour changed. He started spending more time at home and drinking heavily. Then . . . the thing I feared most happened,” Deanna paused, swallowing to clear her dry throat.
“ One evening I was struggling to get Holly to sleep. She was crying and I could hear Lee stomping around. His anger increasing as he’d had too much drink. She was finally settling when I heard him enter her room. He just grabbed me by the back of my hair and dragged me to the floor. I was so shocked that before I could even scream he laid into me. All I could do was curl in a ball and listen to Holly screaming from her cot. When he eventually tired he turned and shouted directly into her face. She stopped crying immediately, whimpering in fear that tore at my heart. Then he left and stumbled downstairs and passed out. I crawled to Holly and held her in my arms. I was in so much pain and bleeding as I rocked her. It was in that moment I knew I needed to do something. I was so scared, more for Holly than myself,” she stopped for a moment, feeling drained.
“ When he left for work the next day I contacted Megan. She came round and begged me to run and take Holly with her to go stay with her brother. I immediately agreed, knowing it would only get worse. She had to contact her brother to get things sorted. We planned to leave in a few days’ time. I just had to keep Holly and myself out of his way until then. However, just a couple of days before we were due to leave it became vital that we got out of there fast. I accidentally burned Lee’s dinner and he flew into another rage. He beat me again but much worse this time. That was the night we ran and came here.” Deanna looked at Nate and smiled gratefully. She noticed his eyes glowing as he struggled to contain his raging emotions.
“ I did check for missed calls after arriving but there was nothing, so I destroyed my old phone. Megan also contacted the manager of the restaurant where we’d worked and he said that someone had been in looking for me once. That’s everything.”
Deanna felt exhausted, not
“ Lee started to take my wage, pointing out that as I was living in his house my money was his. He bought what he wanted and the food he liked to eat. Then as I grew bigger with Holly the insults started . . , ” Deanna trailed off, recalling Lee’s offensive words.
She felt Nate ’s hand tighten reassuringly and she continued. “It was just names at first . . . I . . . he called me things like ugly and fat. He was really nasty about my hair, he hated it. As I got closer to my due date he hardly looked at me. When my waters broke I was alone at home so had to call an ambulance to take me to hospital. I rang Lee at work and he said he would be there. The difficult labour went on for hours. I went through it with no one by my side. Everything inside me changed though when I saw my beautiful baby girl for the first time. I thanked God she was so like me. When Lee finally arrived he glanced at the baby and the expression that crossed his face truly scared me. He turned to me saying I had let him down, his exact words were that ‘the little shit looked nothing like him’. He walked out and I didn’t see him again until after being released from hospital. I hardly saw him after that, he only came back for clothes. His insults grew worse and he’d completely ignore Holly, disappearing again for days. This went on for weeks. It was just me and Holly and I was happy with it just being the two of us. Megan came round a lot and I eventually confided in her about our difficult home life. She mentioned her brother had asked her to come and live with him in Scotland, but nothing had been arranged. I admitted that I was unhappy and scared living with Lee and didn’t want to stay with him much longer. We agreed that I should gradually move some of our things over to Megan’s. But then when Holly was nearly nine months old Lee’s behaviour changed. He started spending more time at home and drinking heavily. Then . . . the thing I feared most happened,” Deanna paused, swallowing to clear her dry throat.
“ One evening I was struggling to get Holly to sleep. She was crying and I could hear Lee stomping around. His anger increasing as he’d had too much drink. She was finally settling when I heard him enter her room. He just grabbed me by the back of my hair and dragged me to the floor. I was so shocked that before I could even scream he laid into me. All I could do was curl in a ball and listen to Holly screaming from her cot. When he eventually tired he turned and shouted directly into her face. She stopped crying immediately, whimpering in fear that tore at my heart. Then he left and stumbled downstairs and passed out. I crawled to Holly and held her in my arms. I was in so much pain and bleeding as I rocked her. It was in that moment I knew I needed to do something. I was so scared, more for Holly than myself,” she stopped for a moment, feeling drained.
“ When he left for work the next day I contacted Megan. She came round and begged me to run and take Holly with her to go stay with her brother. I immediately agreed, knowing it would only get worse. She had to contact her brother to get things sorted. We planned to leave in a few days’ time. I just had to keep Holly and myself out of his way until then. However, just a couple of days before we were due to leave it became vital that we got out of there fast. I accidentally burned Lee’s dinner and he flew into another rage. He beat me again but much worse this time. That was the night we ran and came here.” Deanna looked at Nate and smiled gratefully. She noticed his eyes glowing as he struggled to contain his raging emotions.
“ I did check for missed calls after arriving but there was nothing, so I destroyed my old phone. Megan also contacted the manager of the restaurant where we’d worked and he said that someone had been in looking for me once. That’s everything.”
Deanna felt exhausted, not
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