After Abuse – 22

Peony had been an abused wife, and had examined every aspect, from the start to the finish.

She recalled the 2nd week of marriage when her husband, Gary, would say things to her, especially when they were in bed, which would make her cry.

As the abuse moved from emotional, to intellectual, to spiritual, to verbal, to physical, she didn’t perceive the actual pattern of attacks, nor that he had destroyed her connections to other people.

It was long after escape, when she reflected, when she went over what had happened, moment by moment, that she was able to see the tricks.

When she began to date she felt whole and completely capable.  

She met a man named Neil. He took her out to dinner, and just before dessert confided a tragic incident and she cried.

On the second date, he began another tragic recountation.  As her eyes filled, she was struck by the reality that this was the second time he was doing it.  

She immediately linked it to the emotional abuse she had suffered at the hands of her ex-husband, and ended her date and the potential relationship.