They looked at each other for a long time.
‘But do we really think Dad is abusive?’ Tully said finally. ‘Dad? Our dad?’
Rachel started to respond, but then she got distracted. Her gaze darted to the corner of the room. ‘Uh . . . Tul?’
‘What?’
‘I think Miles just took a dump on the rug.’
Tully closed her eyes.
46
HEATHER
Heather sat in the passenger side of Stephen’s Porsche. Stephen kept shooting her pensive looks from the driver’s seat. Perhaps he was worried about what she might say when they got to the hospital. If so, he needn’t have been. She wasn’t going to tell anyone what had happened; she had too much shame for that. But she wasn’t going to put up with it either. She’d seen Stephen’s true colours now, and she’d made her decision.
Before they’d got into the car, he’d mopped up the blood, checked her arm for glass and then wrapped it in a clean towel. She’d fallen hard, landing right on the smashed glass. Stephen thought one of her cuts might need stitches.
As they drove to the hospital he was every inch the concerned husband, as if her injuries had been sustained as the result of a random accident rather than at his hand. Highest on his list of concerns was what she’d told him right before he let her go.
‘You’re really pregnant?’
Heather kept her eyes forward. ‘Yes.’
‘But . . . I thought you were on the pill?’
‘I am,’ she said. ‘But I was on antibiotics a couple of months ago, so maybe it happened then. I’ve heard that antibiotics can lower the effectiveness of the pill. And I had that stomach bug a few weeks back – maybe I vomited up a pill? I don’t know! It’s a bit late to worry about that.’
‘Yes,’ he said. ‘Yes, you’re right.’
They lapsed back into silence. It occurred to Heather that she probably should have taken an Uber to the hospital. She also should have packed a bag. She didn’t want to have to return to that house after this.
‘I’m leaving you, Stephen,’ she said finally.
Stephen glanced away from the road in apparent surprise. ‘What?’
‘What do you mean what? Do you really need me to explain it?’
He looked back at the road. ‘I’m afraid I do.’
‘Fine,’ she said. ‘I’m leaving because I won’t allow myself to be abused a moment longer.’
‘Abused? Heather, what are you talking about?’
She shook her head. She wasn’t going to fall for this again. ‘I was sober this time, Stephen, so you can’t say I was drunk and confused.’
‘I can assure you I wasn’t going to say that,’ he said. ‘Heather, can you tell me what you . . .’ He paused, shook his head. ‘Can you tell me what you think happened back there?’
‘You were there!’
‘Humour me,’ he said.
‘Fine.’ She glanced at him warily. ‘I told you I was having a drink and you pushed me up against the fridge and strangled me. When I told you I was pregnant you let me go, and I fell into a pile of broken glass.’
Stephen was quiet for several seconds. ‘That’s what you think happened?’
‘No,’ she said. ‘That’s what happened.’
He didn’t respond.
‘What’s your story then?’ she asked, as they pulled into the hospital car park.
‘My story?’ He laughed, but there was no humour in it. ‘I was trying to talk to you. I tried to take the wine bottle from you and you screamed at me. You dropped the bottle and it broke. Then you slipped in the wine on the floor. I grabbed your arm to try to stop you but you landed in the glass.’
She shook her head. ‘That’s not right. You strangled me.’ She lifted her hands to her throat where his hands had been. ‘You had your hands around my neck and I . . . I . . .’
Stephen pulled up the handbrake. ‘If I had my hands around your neck, Heather, where are the marks?’
Heather pulled the rear-view mirror towards herself and peered at her reflection.
She couldn’t see any marks, but it was dark in the car. She twisted her head back and forth.
‘I’m worried about you, Heather,’ he said. ‘I think you might need to speak to someone.’
Heather continued to stare at her neck in the mirror, suddenly less sure of herself. That, she realised, was why she didn’t want to tell him she was pregnant. Stephen was so clever at getting her all turned around. At least with her father she knew for sure she was dealing with a monster.