Chapter 3
As I sat there reading, eating a couple crackers, upstairs Lauren and Eva were fixing themselves a small lunch, discussing their new house guest. “Mom,” Eva said quietly, “her body is so badly beaten and scarred, I would be surprised if she doesn’t have internal bleeding or broken ribs.”
Lauren looked at Eva, “Really?”
Eva nodded, “I have never seen anything like that before, even with the other ladies we helped.”
They never mentioned names, not because they didn’t care but because they didn’t want to ever slip up at the wrong time for everyone’s safety. Lauren picked up her phone.
“Can you watch our soup please?” she asked. “I’m going to call Audra to see if she can come over later today.”
Eva took over at the stove and Lauren picked up her phone and made the call. “Hey, Audra. Eva and I were wondering if you were free sometime today to come over?”
Eva stirred the soup and watched her mom on the phone.
“Yes, we were really hoping you could today. We have a new kitten we want you to meet.” Lauren stated after a brief pause.
This was a phrase that had been agreed upon a long time ago to indicate they had a person who needed help. Eva knew that her mom’s friend would not hesitate now. As if confirming what Eva thought, she heard Lauren say, “That’s great Audra, we will see you in about an hour.” She put the phone down, and they both quietly got their lunch on the table and sat down to eat it.
“She couldn’t even pick out anything to wear from the closet,” Eva said quietly.
“Didn’t she see anything she liked?” her mom asked.
“She doesn’t know what she likes. She didn’t know what size she was wearing. I checked her clothes to try to see what size, all the tags were cut out of all her clothes. I asked her what her favorite color was, she didn’t even know that. She had to think about it.”
Lauren looked at her daughter in shock. She said, “I have heard a lot of things, but this man sounds like the worst type of monster. I’m sure there is a lot more that we can’t even imagine. That poor woman. I think we made the right decision today.” Eva nodded her agreement as they got up and cleaned up from lunch.
As they finished cleaning, the doorbell rang. Lauren looked at her phone and saw that Audra was there. “Well, here we go. Let’s pray that Mattie is OK.” She went to the door and opened it. “Hi, Audra. Come on in.”
Audra walked in, giving Lauren and Eva a hug. Lauren closed the door, turning toward Audra she said, “Thank you for coming, Audra. Let’s have a seat in here first, we will tell you what we know before taking you to see her.”
They all took a seat; Audra placed a bag on the floor next to her. Lauren filled her in on how they came across Mattie in the parking lot and the steps they took to bring her home with them. Eva described the episode in the bedroom, describing all of the bruising and scarring she witnessed.
Audra was shaking her head in disbelief. “I’ve seen a lot of abused women, but this sounds like an extreme case. I’m really concerned that if she has internal bleeding, we may not be able to take care of her here.”
“We can’t take her to the hospital, he will definitely find her there. I haven’t turned the news on yet to see if he has reported her missing, I am hoping we have some time before that happens. I am really hoping that we can nurse her back to health here while we make plans for her relocation.” Lauren commented.
“Do you have any thoughts on that yet?” Audra asked.
Lauren shook her head, “I don’t. I need to reach out to a couple of people yet to see what is available.”
Audra nodded, “She understands what you are doing for her, understands the danger you two are in right?”
Eva spoke up, “Yes, she understands. She has agreed to do everything we ask for our protection. Honestly, I don’t think she could do anything without permission at this point. I get the feeling that he had so much control over her that she had to have his permission for everything she did, so much so that I think it is possible she may have a difficult time adjusting to a normal life.”
“Do we know how long she has been going through this abuse?” Audra asked.
Lauren shook her head. “We haven’t questioned her very much; I feel like she is in shock right now. The fact that she has been rescued, in combination with probably being terrified that she is going to be found and forced to go back to him, is a lot for her to take in. I would say her most recent beating was last night from the looks of her face.”
Audra stood up, “Well, let’s meet her and see if she will let me give her an examination. I will do whatever I can to try to nurse her back to health here.”
Eva said, “I’m going to stay up here and do some homework. Let me know if you need me.”
Lauren nodded, “She seems to have a good rapport with you, so we may need you to come down to help keep her calm, but it may be good not to have all of us converging on her. If she is comfortable with Audra, I may come back upstairs to give them privacy. We will let her dictate who she wants around or if she even wants anybody at all.” Audra and Lauren head to the basement door and knock.
I heard the knock on the door and sat up, instantly afraid. I had been lying down reading, making my way a fourth of the way through the book already. I had forgotten how much I loved to read. I haven’t been allowed to read for five years. I took a couple deep breaths; I knew it was probably Lauren or Eva. I went up and unlocked the door, pulling it open.
“Come in,” I said, my heart beating fast in fear. Lauren came in, with another lady who was carrying a bag. I backed away a little bit, which did not go unnoticed by either of the women and then followed them down the stairs.
Lauren said, “Hi, Mattie. This is my best friend, the doctor I spoke to you about earlier, Audra. She would like to talk to you, maybe do an exam to make sure you are OK. Can we sit down?” I tried to relax and let go of the fear, nodding my head. They walked to the kitchen table. Audra set the bag she was carrying on the table, turning toward me.
“Hi, Mattie. It is so nice to meet you. Can we just visit a little bit? Get to know each other a little?”
Again, I nodded my head, feeling stupid, for some reason I couldn’t speak. We all took seats at the kitchen table, I found myself staring at my hands, unable to look at either of the women.
Not put off by my apparent inability to look her in the face, Audra started talking to me. “Lauren and Eva filled me in on how they met you this morning, how you came to be here with them before we came down here.” I flinched, remembering the parking lot incident. “I was wondering if you would feel OK with answering some questions for me. I would like to ask some questions, ones that could be hard for you to answer. We will take our time, if you don’t want to answer that is fine. Just understand that the more I know about you and your situation, the better I can help you. Is that OK?”
I glanced up at Lauren and then toward the stairs. Lauren seemed to read thoughts. She offered, “Would you like me to go up and send Eva down?” For some reason that I couldn’t fathom, I nodded my head. “Not a problem,” Lauren smiled at me, “I will go get her.”
She went up the stairs, and within a couple of minutes, Eva came down. She walked straight to me, sitting next to me at the table. I nodded, feeling so much gratitude toward her at that moment. She sat down, I reached for her hand, not knowing why exactly. I felt like I needed her strength and courage, to see if I could draw my own strength and courage from her. I glanced up at Eva, she smiled at me.
“Ready Mattie?” Audra asked.
Taking a deep breath, I managed to finally find my voice. “Yes, I think so,” I said.
“Perfect. Just remember, we can stop any time you want to. If there is something you do not want to answer or talk about, all you have to do is just say so. Let’s start off with something easy, how old are you?”
Even this simple question took me a couple minutes to think of the answer. I had to think back to my last birthday party and then calculate how old I would be today. “Twenty-three.”
Audra nodded, not displaying any signs that she noticed I had to calculate my own age. “It is obvious to all of us that you have been abused by someone. I assume it is a man. Was he your husband?”
“Yes,” I said.
“How long have you been married?” Audra asked.
“Five years,” I stated after another brief period of calculation.
Audra nodded. “That means you were 18 when you got married. When did the abuse start? When was the first time he hit you?”
I couldn’t help it, but I started to cry again. “On our wedding night.” Eva gave my hand a little squeeze for encouragement and support. “I knocked over a glass of champagne at our reception. When we got to our hotel that night he called me a clumsy cow, hitting me in the stomach. He had never shown even a hint of a temper before.”
“That is not unusual, happens that way all the time,” Audra stated. “Women never see the abusive side of the man until they are living with him. How often did the beatings occur?”
“At first, it wasn’t very often, maybe just every couple of weeks or so, with one or two punches to my back or stomach. Probably within six months or so it started to become a lot more often. Soon he would find things on a daily basis where he claimed I failed to meet his expectations.”
Quietly, Audra asked, “You didn’t have any family, friends, or coworkers you could turn to? He isolated you from everyone didn’t he?”
I nodded. “I have no family. He wouldn’t let me work, moved me away from any friends I had.”
Audra replied. “That is typical of most abusers, they want to have total control over their victims. I am not going to ask you to go into further details about the past and bring up all the bad memories that I am sure are fresh in your mind. What I really need to know about are the details about the last time he beat you. I can see by the bruising and swelling on your face that it was very recent.”
Again, I nodded. “Last night. It was different than all the times before.”
“Different how?” Audra asked encouragingly.
“It was the first time he hit me in the face. Usually, the beatings were more controlled. He only hit me in places where the bruises and cuts could easily be hidden by clothes. But last night…” I trailed off.
“He lost control?” Audra asked.
I nodded, “Yes. It seemed like, I don’t know like he couldn’t seem to be able to regain control of himself again.”
Audra looked at Eva. “I think you and your mom found Mattie just in time.” Looking at me she said, “I believe he would probably have killed you soon, the beatings would have continued to get worse over time. Mattie, your decision to trust Eva and Lauren is probably the most important decision of your life.” I just sat there, staring at my hands. I had actually been expecting, actually waiting for him to kill me for a long time. The thought that my life was safe now was hard for me to wrap my head around, I didn’t believe it yet. Something in me knew for a fact that if he didn’t kill me in a few days, I would kill myself .
I knew I would never be free of him.
“Mattie?” Audra asked. I looked up at her, coming back to the present. “I’d like to give you a physical examination to make sure you do not have any serious injuries. Would that be OK with you? There will be nothing written down or recorded in any way, so there will be no paper trail at all.”
“Yes,” I said after a few minutes. “I suppose that would be fine. I haven’t actually seen a doctor since I was a little girl.”
“We will go slow, take our time. I will explain what I am doing every step of the way. Do you want Eva to stay?” Audra asked.
I thought about it. I was nervous enough to have one person see the results of all the beatings, I didn’t think I could handle two. “Can we do the exam in the bedroom while she waits out here?”
Both Audra and Eva said that would be fine, so Audra and I went into the bedroom after she got her bag off the table.
In the bedroom, Audra requested that I take my dress off, and put the robe on. As I was doing that, she got her stethoscope along with some other things out of her bag, lying them on a clean blue chuck pad she brought as well.
“When you are ready, just have a seat on the end of the bed. I’ll start by just listening to your heart and lungs and then check your pulse and temperature,” she instructed.
I tied the sash on the robe and sat down on the side of the bed. Audra took my temperature and pulse and commented that those looked good. She put on her stethoscope, asked me to take some deep breaths, listening carefully and then said I could breathe regularly as she continued to listen with her stethoscope. She examined my face closely, pressing as gently as she could, feeling for broken bones.
“Your heart and lungs sound good. Your face looks worse, probably feels worse, than it actually is. I don’t detect any broken bones. The swelling and bruising should go away in a few days. Now, if you would lay back, I’ll listen to your stomach and check for abdominal injuries. I need to open the robe to look at your bruises and wounds.” I nodded and lay down.
After she finished the exam, she told me to go ahead and get dressed again. She cleaned up all of her things by putting everything back in her bag. She threw away the trash, washed her hands and then reached back into her bag, pulling out a box.
“Mattie, have a seat, let’s chat for a couple minutes.” I did as she said, and she sat down. “Mattie, you probably do have some internal bleeding, but I do not think it isn’t very bad. I think with some rest and fluids, you will heal up just fine. I would like you to stay on bed rest for a couple of days. You can get up, shower, use the bathroom, and fix something to eat, but other than that no heavy lifting. I would like you to do the rest of your time either in bed or relaxing on the couch.”
“Oh, OK,” I agreed.
“There are symptoms that I want you to watch for, worsening pain in your abdomen, fever, basically anything out of the normal for you. If something like that occurs, let Lauren and Eva know, they will contact me. This is important, I will review this with them also. I think one of them needs to stay in the home with you at all times,” Audra stated.
She looked at me intently before she went on. “There is one other thing I need to talk to you about. This could be a difficult subject for you. Mattie, could you be pregnant?”
I stared at her in stunned silence. Pregnant? A baby? Without even thinking about it, my hands went to my stomach. “I don’t think so,” I said.
“When was your last period?” she asked.
I looked at her, trying to remember. “I don’t know. I’m not regular at all.”
Audra nodded, “All the trauma you have been through—the stress, the anxiety, all the emotions—I am not surprised that you are not regular. I have a pregnancy test here; I would like you to take it. If it is positive, then we need to do some further testing to make sure the baby is healthy in order to let you make decisions regarding what you want to do. The nausea and the dizziness you had could be related to the injuries you sustained; I believe you probably have a concussion. There is also the chance it could be pregnancy-related. I feel we need to make sure.”
She held out the box containing the pregnancy test. I looked at it for a minute, then reached out and took it. She explained how to do the test, so I went into the bathroom.
When I came out, Audra and I moved into the living room where Eva sat, waiting. I automatically walked over to where she was, sitting down next to her. She took my hand, looking at me with concern. “Mattie?” Audra asked. “Can I call Lauren down to talk about the examination and explain what we need to do?”
I nodded my head and Eva squeezed my hand, “It will be OK,” Eva said .
I didn’t say anything. For some reason, Eva made me feel safe. The fact that this young woman I didn’t even know could make me feel that way surprises me. Maybe it is her confidence, her maturity. Whatever it is, I am glad that she is here with me. Audra went up the stairs and opened the door, calling for Lauren to join us. They were both soon back downstairs, sitting across from Eva and me.
“I wanted to speak to you both about things that Mattie and I discussed. She has given me permission to share with you,” Audra began. “I gave Mattie as thorough an exam as I was able to here without the full benefits of in a hospital or clinic setting. I don’t feel that we need x-rays as luckily, she does not seem to have any broken bones.”
Lauren said, “That is a relief.”
“Yes, it is,” Audra nodded. “I do believe she has some internal bleeding in her abdomen which is not severe. I have instructed her that I would like her to be on bedrest for a couple of days. I have gone over warning signs with her, I’ll do so with both of you also. If at all possible, I would like someone to be here with her, at least in the house, until I can see her again in a day or so. Would that be possible?” Both Eva and Lauren nodded, indicating that would not be a problem for them.
“Great. I will make arrangements to come back soon. There is one other thing we may need to discuss, but I need to check the test results.” With that, Audra got up and walked into the bedroom. Lauren and Eva looked questioningly at each other and me, but I couldn’t bring myself to meet their gazes.
Audra was only gone a few seconds. When she came back out, she knelt in front of me, took both my hands, and then said, “Mattie, the test is positive.”