Chapter 61 Dorothy
Dorothy
Fifty Years Before
Dorothy wasn’t supposed to go to the meeting. She hadn’t even known it was happening, but when she saw the flier attached to a tree she found herself heading for the town hall.
She was so deeply unhappy with Bobby. Her prince had quickly turned into a monster not long into their marriage and she was at her wits’ end.
She just wanted to hear the talk on women’s rights, that was all.
To feel empowered, even for just a moment.
To take back some control. She wasn’t planning on saying anything about her own situation. Bobby would never need to know.
The hall was already crowded when she arrived, full of women in their warm coats and woolly hats, stamping their feet together against the cold and blowing on their gloved hands.
The talk was already underway and Dorothy slipped in next to a woman around her own age wearing a smart tweed jacket.
The woman turned to look at Dorothy with kind eyes, her gaze roaming over Dorothy’s face and the fading bruise on her cheekbone.
Their eyes met in mutual recognition, and for once in Dorothy’s life she felt that she was being seen. Really seen.
‘Hi,’ said the woman, smiling kindly and offering a gloved hand to Dorothy. ‘I’m Annette.’
‘Dorothy,’ she replied, taking the woman’s hand in her own. And she felt a spark, like they were kindred spirits. She felt instantly that this woman understood her and that she would help her. She could tell that Annette had been through something similar.
And so, after the talk, when Annette asked Dorothy if she’d like to grab a drink, Dorothy had said yes.
Since marrying Bobby, she had lost most of her friends, but with Annette, it was like having a sister.
A soulmate. During the day when Bobby was at work she would arrange to meet Annette and they would talk, really talk, about everything.
Sometimes in cafés with Annette’s toddler on her lap, other times in Annette’s beautiful kitchen overlooking the river.
Slowly, as the weeks wore on, they became more comfortable with one another.
‘You know, Dot,’ she’d often say. ‘You’re the first person I’ve met that I feel I can truly say anything to. I know you won’t judge me.’
And Dorothy felt the same.
Then, one evening while Bobby was away for the night with work, Dorothy had gone to stay with Annette.
Over copious amounts of wine in Annette’s kitchen, with her son asleep upstairs, they opened up to one another.
Annette leaned into Dorothy, so close that she could smell the booze on her friend’s breath, and admitted the truth about her husband.
She had set him up for fraud. He was serving a prison sentence because of her.
‘It’s something to think about with Bobby,’ she said with a wink.
‘Sometimes it’s the only way to get revenge.
By the end I hated him, Dot. I hated him and I wanted him out of my life, and this was the only way.
You know what the police are like. They wouldn’t have done anything.
He was clever. He hid his abuse behind respectability.
But our wealth came from my side of the family. Not his.’
‘I don’t know if I could do that to Bobby. What if he gets out of prison and comes looking for you? He must know that you set him up?’ Dorothy was genuinely worried for her friend.
‘He won’t come looking for me. I made sure of that too.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I know people who know people.’ She tapped the side of her nose. ‘He won’t be getting out of prison. That’s all I’ll say.’
Two weeks later, Dorothy heard that Annette’s husband had hanged himself in his cell.
‘Was it …?’ she’d dared to ask.
‘What do you think, Dot?’
Dorothy hadn’t known whether to be terrified or impressed.
One thing she did know was that she respected Annette.
She was taking back her power. She was an inspiration.
And Dorothy felt, for the first time ever, that she could change the course of her life.
That there might, somehow, eventually, be a way out.
Yes, she was supposed to meet Annette on that cold winter’s night. It was fate, and for the first time in a long time she felt hopeful for the future.
Annette was going to save her.
THE END