“He hurt you?”
Her startled gasp revealed his guess had been correct. The anger fueled by that knowledge stunned him, as did the proprietary way he pulled her into his arms.
She tensed. With her back to him, he curled himself around her. When he did little more than smooth her hair and rest his chin in the crook of her neck, her muscles seemed to relax.
“What happened, Chelsie?” This time, he tensed, sure that as much as he’d wanted to hear the details of her past, he wouldn’t like what he learned.
“I’d volunteered at a women’s shelter in college and had seen too many women abused who then went back for more.” She drew a deep breath, causing her body to quiver. “I never thought it would happen to me. For all my parents’ faults—and they have many—they never raised a hand to each other or to us kids. I never thought I’d allow it to happen to me.”
“You don’t always know someone, even when you think you do.” Thanks to his mother and ex-fiancée, Griff had discovered that himself, though not to the extreme Chelsie had.
“Shannon and Jared were lucky, don’t you think?” Chelsie whispered the words.
He nodded in answer. Despite his poor track record with women, Griff envied his brother’s ability to create a happy home with the woman he loved. For the first time in his life, he wondered if he was capable of the same, if a woman existed who would break down his notions and barriers and love just him.
He glanced down at Chelsie. Comfortable silence drifted around them. “What happened?” he prompted.
“We graduated from the same law school. He went to work for a large firm, I worked for the D.A. He wanted money and power, I wanted to help others. Maybe that should have told me something.”
“Come on. Lots of people have conflicting ideals and still make a marriage work. I’d hardly call that missing a sign of something serious.”
“Maybe. Anyway, we were married for less than a year. With the hours first-year associates work, I rarely saw him. The few times he displayed his temper, I fell right into the trap. I accepted his apologies and believed he wouldn’t do it again.”
He sensed her anger at herself and at her ex.
“Obviously the marriage never got off to a strong start,” she said. “One night, we went to a cocktail party at his law firm. One of the associates recognized me from my work at the local women’s shelter. He’d been drinking and caused quite a scene. Blamed me for talking his wife into leaving him.”
“Sounds like the guy was a real winner.”
“Yes, well, when the shouting started, the senior partners weren’t too pleased. Seems they were courting major clients at the time.”
In what had to be an unconscious move, she curled into him. He wrapped his arms around her in a protective gesture, knowing as he held her that he never wanted to let go. Holding her tight, he mentally prepared himself for the untold part of the story. “And then?”
“My husband dragged me out of there. I thought he’d be disgusted with his associate and frustrated with the way the evening had turned out. Maybe he’d rant and rave a little, but a while had passed
since he’d raised his hand, let alone his voice, so I figured that would be the end of it.”
“I take it he said plenty?” And lashed out even more, Griff thought with dread.
“The elevator in our building had broken and I followed him up the stairs with him yelling the entire way—about how I caused that scene, how I should keep my nose out of other people’s personal lives, how I should get myself a real job and start earning some money to help support us. You get the picture.”
What Griff pictured was a spineless man too cowardly to stand up for his wife and too selfish to care. “And?” he asked softly.
“And he turned toward me to finish his tirade.” Her voice quivered and her skin, which had been so soft against his, suddenly felt damp. At that moment, Griff knew he didn’t want to hear any more. But Chelsie seemed lost in the past, as she had been so many times before. He shut his eyes to the darkness surrounding him, but he couldn’t block out the truth.
“He grabbed my shoulders and shoved me against the railing. He wanted my promise that I’d quit, that I’d stop volunteering, that I’d do something with my life that he could be proud of instead of having to hide his head every time someone asked what kind of law his wife practiced.”
Griff held her close, soothing her with gentle kisses against her neck, but she continued her story as if unaware of his touch. She began to tremble in his arms.
“My back was pressed against the metal railing and each time he shook me, my head hit the concrete wall. The first time, I was so stunned, I thought it was an accident. But he just shook me harder.
Each time, my head hit that damned wall. He had a firm grip on my arms and I couldn’t move. By the time he stopped, I was dizzy. I couldn’t catch my balance. I think he knew that, but he released me anyway.” She sucked in a breath of air, as if needing the fortification to continue.
Griff decided to spare her. “And you fell down the stairs,” he finished for her.
“When I came to, the paramedics were there. They said, and this is a quote, ‘Consider yourself lucky you have a husband who cares’.”
They lay in silence. Soon, her trembling subsided and she slept in his arms. He had more questions, but none that mattered in the least. What she revealed had been bad enough. The details of what happened after were unimportant. But the sudden need to protect her signaled a serious problem.