“Sophie, you have to talk to him,” Catherine said finding a home for yet the fifth bouquet of flowers that Alex had sent.
“What am I supposed to say: Oh, by the way, I have a psychotic ex-boyfriend who enjoys terrorizing me and beating me up among other things? How could I possibly subject him to that?” The flowers just kept coming. Every hour since 9 am, there was a new delivery. It pained her to read the cards. They all read “I’m sorry - Alex”. She took an orange lily from the latest bouquet and sat on the couch with it. Its fragrance was soft and delicate. Lilies were her favorite, besides orchids, and they were only one of several kinds of flowers. There were roses and daisies and posies and sunflowers. She sighed heavily as Catherine joined her on the couch.
“Sophie, you have nothing to be ashamed of. It’s not your fault.”
“I know.”
“Don’t you think he deserves an explanation?”
Sophie was quiet. Catherine didn’t see the anger in Alex’s eyes. That anger scared her. She’d had enough of that to last a lifetime. The doorbell broke the silence once more and Sophie leaned over on the couch and buried her face in a pillow. Catherine answered the door to another bouquet of flowers, red roses this time. There were a dozen at least. Catherine’s eyes grew wide for a second and she called to Sophie.
“Sophie, you need to come get these.”
Sophie rose from the couch and slowly made her way to the door.
“What’s so special about these?” she asked and then saw him standing there flowers in hand.
“I’ll just leave you two alone,” Catherine said and slipped out the door closing it behind her.
“Sophia.”
“Alex, stop, you didn’t do anything wrong. Why are you sending me all these flowers?” she stepped closer to him and took the flowers from his hands.
“You were very upset. I think maybe I scare you a liitle.”
“Alex, come sit down,” she said leading him by the hand to the couch. They sat together. She did not let go of his hand. “I’m sorry,” she began, “I didn’t react well. I was embarrassed.” She took a deep breath.
“I want you to tell me, but is your choice,” he said, his fierce blue eyes staring into hers.
She took another deep breath and began her story. She started with meeting Dave and how his wild side was so appealing to her. After a while, things started to get bad and then he started to take his frustration out on her physically. She told him about her desperate phone call to the police and how Dave had retaliated. She told him how Dave had beat her with a leather belt and then used the same belt to tie her wrists together and then he raped her. Then he’d continued to beat all the fight out of her until the day her life turned around. The day he went to jail. Her story flowed out of her like a river and having started she couldn’t stop. She told him about Dave watching her from the street, following her through town and how two days before Alex had appeared on her doorstep, Dave had confronted her and given her the bruise. She didn’t even realize that tears were falling down her cheeks until Alex brushed it gently away. His hands were shaking as he put his arms around her and pulled her into his strong chest. He held her until she stopped crying. Then he held her until she felt safe.
“Sophia, I will not let him hurt you again,” he said quietly, gently stroking the hair away from her face.
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