Her stomach twisted and what had happened with Maryanne was right there, bumping up against the surface, threatening to break through. But what the hell was she supposed to do? She had legal obligations. “It wasn’t, and I’m going to have to tell the sheriff.”
Carrie’s jaw went stubborn. “You don’t know that it wasn’t an accident.”
“I know someone’s fist met your face.” There were some injuries that couldn’t be explained away, and Lila had made damn sure she’d detailed every single element of this one. She had X-rays and pictures. The fact that Carrie had allowed her to document her injuries made her think she was on the edge of admitting what was happening. “This wasn’t a door or you falling down. You were in a fight and you lost.”
Carrie was silent for a moment, staring down at her hands. “You told Sheriff LaVigne about the other day and Bobby was so mad.”
At least she’d admitted it. She needed to get Carrie talking. “I have a legal obligation to talk to the sheriff if I think you’re in danger, and I definitely think you’re going to keep getting hurt if you stay where you are.”
Carrie’s stare was on the floor. “He said he won’t do it again. He brought me flowers this morning.”
“But he didn’t bring you to see me.”
“He put a bandage on my face. He tried to take care of me when he realized what he’d done.”
“Then why did you come in here? You risked a lot to come to this clinic.” And that’s why she had some hope that she could get through to the younger woman. She wouldn’t be able to cover up the fact that she’d gotten medical attention. “He’s going to know you came here. You couldn’t do those stitches yourself.”
“It wasn’t closing up right.” She brought her hand up to touch her cheek.
“I think you know you have to get out. I think you know he’s going to take it too far one of these days, and then no amount of sweet words or apologies is going to bring you back from the dead.”
Carrie sniffled and used the tissue Lila had given her when she’d started crying during the exam. “I thought he loved me.”
That was the horrible thing about it all. She was sure Bobby told her regularly that he did love her. Bobby likely thought he loved her. “His love is twisted. It’s a nasty, selfish thing. It doesn’t have to be this way. There are good men out there.”
Men like Armie LaVigne, who had all the strength in the world and chose to use it to protect the people around him. He had the scars to prove it.
“None of them were ever interested in me,” Carrie said forlornly. “No one ever noticed me until Bobby. I thought I would spend my whole life alone, but then he asked me on a date and it was good. I know he was older than me, but he was handsome and he said he needed me.”
She’d heard that story before. “When did the abuse start?”
“The first time he hit me was a few days after our wedding. He never did anything to me before that. He was nice. Quiet but nice. He was good to my mom, and she was sick at the time. But then we came into Papillon for supplies and I met up with some friends from school. He didn’t like that. I wasn’t doing anything. I wasn’t flirting.”
“It wasn’t your fault.” She needed to make this very clear. “Carrie, even if you had been flirting, he didn’t have the right to hit you. If he walked in and you were making love to another man, he doesn’t have the right to lay a hand on you.”
Tears slipped from her eyes. “Mother Petrie told me it was my fault and I had to learn how to submit to my husband.”
“Mother Petrie is a righteous bitch.”
Carrie’s eyes widened and then she laughed. “She is. She really is.” She sobered. “She told me she went through the same thing with her husband and I should suck it up and be a woman. She told me she would kill me herself if I turned in her son. She doesn’t care about anything but her sons.”
She might need to have a conversation with Mother Petrie, but first she had to get Carrie to understand what needed to happen. “You can’t go back there.”
“But then where would I go?” The question came out in a dead tone, like she’d gone over this a thousand times and believed there wasn’t an answer. “My mom died a few years back. I have a cousin I grew up with, but she’s got three kids. I can’t put them in danger. I don’t have anywhere to go. Would they keep Bobby in jail?”