Chapter 4 CHARLOTTE

He stopped crying immediately and she took over from where he stopped. She cried from 5:30 till 8 o'clock. She had made a big mistake and she had found out the hard way. Some minutes to 9, a car pulled up at her driveway and she recognized it as hers. She knew immediately that it was Jon. The bastard! He had left her bleeding and unconscious on the floor. There was no way she was allowing him sleep at her house tonight. She trudged towards the door to lock it but before she could get there, a hefty dark skinned man barged in supporting Jon who apparently couldn't walk on his own.

"I found his car parked at the middle of the road", he started not bothering to give a name. "The brake lights were on and when I looked through the window, he was there sitting, blank. I tapped him and he gave me your address. Are you his wife?"

She wanted to shout "No" and kick the both of them out the door but the good part of her was strong enough to resist the urge.

"Yes", she said and assisted him to sit down. "Thank you."

"Wish your folks would do same", he said and walked out.

She knew he was talking about racism and it pricked her because she also knew she would not have stopped to drive a black man home if she found one daydreaming in his car in the middle of a busy road. She was not racist but she couldn't risk it. However, that was the least of her worries now. She turned to face her husband.

"Jon?"

He stood up immediately and cleaned his face with his palm like someone coming out of a trance.

"Where am I?", he asked. "Charlotte?..." He rushed over to her and saw the blood on the floor.

"Blood? What happened? Did anyone hurt you?", he caressed her cheeks. The same cheeks he had brutally slapped! She wanted to kick him in the balls and shout at him to stop the fucking act but she held her cool.

"No one dear", she said.

"Oui, I won't allow anyone hurt you." He walked over to where the baby was now lying asleep. "My little boy, my dear. What's his name again? I've been forgetting a lot lately."

"Har...em.. Martell", she said.

"Martell?", he frowned. "That rhymes with cartel but I see you like it. We could call him Marty for short. Oui?"

"Of course", she said confused. She couldn't understand what was going on. He had slapped her just a few hours ago because she refused to agree with him on Martell as the boy's name and now he had shown up asking her if anyone had hurt her and questioning the very name he had chosen.

He stood up and walked up to her. She closed her eyes expecting the worst but he held her in a tight embrace.

"I made the best decision of my life the day I put a ring on your finger. I love you Charlotte, more than you can imagine and I hope you see it through my actions.

Charlotte was unsure of what to say but she was sure of one thing. What had happened was a mistake and it wouldn't happen again. Of course she was wrong and that false assertion was only the beginning of her problems. It was the first time but it didn't become the last. A week later, he came back from work and beat her up because he heard her call him Marty.

"His name is Clyde", he had said.

The next week his name was Jonson and the upper week it was Hart. Every week, Charlotte received the beating of her life, or so she thought until the next week. The most annoying part of it was the drama that followed at 9pm. The same pattern. A stranger finds him blank in the middle of a busy road and brings him home. He feigns ignorance of everything, helps clean up the injuries he earlier inflicted and professes more love to her.

One day, Charlotte had gotten fed up. Jon was getting more creative with the names and his slaps were getting harder. She made sure she didn't call the child any name when he came back from work, she just breastfed him silently.

"What is his name?", he asked pulling his white sleeved shirt. It had to be a spell or something, Charlotte thought. Maybe it was the shirt.

"What is his name?", he asked again.

"I don't know. Jon perhaps?", she replied frustrated.

"Non", he shook his head slowy. "That is my name. His name is Spence." Charlotte braced up, received her two slaps and watched him take her car keys and wear his shirt. He walked out of the house and she waited for him to enter the car before she came out. She was going to follow him to wherever he was going and catch the stranger that would pretend to be a Good Samaritan by bringing him back home at exactly 9pm. She ran towards the garage and opened the door. She took the keys of an old Mercedes from the post, entered and drove out of the mansion. She sighted him immediately. He was already at the end of the street and preparing to enter the main road. She zoomed off, momentarily blinded by her rage. She was going to catch him today and whatever games he played would end. Following him was very easy as he wasn't on speed. Other drivers blasted their horns at him urging him to move faster but he didn't increase his speed one bit.

"Curses!", a man in a black jeep cried after maneuvering to leave his back. "You've been doing this for three months and I always get home late. Now my wife thinks I'm cheating." Charlotte paused as she calculated in her head. She remembered clearly that it had started exactly three months back.