CHRISTIANWe were all strapped in the chopper an hour later. Valerie was snuggled in my arms, sleeping soundly. She had cried some more while getting her wound disinfected and covered, so that must have worn her out, and now she had a bright blue and white ‘Olaf’ band aid wrapped around her big toe. Tina was sat beside me, and Hazel in front of me. She was directly facing me, or she would have been if she even spared me a glance. She didn’t. From the moment we got on board, she’d been staring out at the window with a small frown on her face.The apology at the tip of my tongue weighed me down like lead. I felt awful for even insinuating that she had hurt my daughter. But I wasn’t in the right frame of mind, I was paranoid and wasn’t thinking clearly. I could hear Valerie’s screams the moment I opened the front door, and naturally, I panicked. And it got even worse when she ran into my arms and I saw the pure look of pain and fear in her eyes. My judgement was clouded and all I could s

I was hanging out with Sarah and Mia today, and my nerves were at an all time high. I knew I was married to Christian but spending a whole afternoon with his mother and sister without him there seemed like such a big leap. I couldn’t stop worrying about all the possibilities. Like what if I said the wrong thing or did the wrong thing? What if I strayed from whatever perfectly crafted script Christian had already given them? What if they didn’t like me? I wondered if they hated me the way Christian did, and what if this was just one of the many ways he planned to torture me? I spent the drive to the restaurant biting my nails and sighing at interval, and willing the red light to take longer to switch to green, much to the concern of the driver who kept throwing me worried glances from the front mirror. The driver was one more thing I was worried about; what if Sarah and Mia thought I was pretentious? I had insisted I would drive myself or catch a cab but the driver insisted that Christ

Mark kept driving crazily, ignoring my pleas for him to slow down. We were driving into some shady streets I’d never seen before, and the fear pulsing through me was threatening to break my veins open. I tried to discreetly unlock my phone and dial 911 or something, but I wasn’t discreet enough, because Mark swore under his breath and reached out his hand to the back and snatched my phone before I could even react.“You fucking bitch.” He swore, throwing me a deadly look.“Mark please, we can talk this out. Please slow down, you’re scaring me. Please.” I begged, and as expected, it all fell on deaf ears.“Shut up!” He spat, causing me to shrivel back into my seat.The car came to an abrupt halt in a dirty alley. My heart was pounding loudly in my chest. Mark got out of the car and slammed the door shut, and then he came to my side and opened the door. “Get out,” he ordered.I scrambled out of the car, almost falling flat on my face but Mark grabbed my arm before I could hit the ground

We were going to a fundraiser tonight.That was all that was written on the small note that I found in my room this morning, and before I could go downstairs to find Christian and ask why he was just telling me about it at the last minute, Tina informed me that he was already gone. I ate breakfast alone with Valerie, silently cursing out Christian in my head. And by the time the afternoon rolled by, a thousand people that I didn’t know were in the house. One group was rolling suitcases in, another was bringing in racks and racks of clothes, and shoes. There was such an insane flurry of activity, and before I could blink, my butt was firmly planted in front of the vanity in my uncomfortably large dressing room. We still had five hours before the fundraiser, and when I made this fact known to the stylists and hairdressers hovering all around me, they graciously let me know that these things usually took that long. And boy, were they right!My hair was washed and blow dried, even though

It took me about ten minutes to locate the bathroom. Once inside, I turned on the faucet and cupped some of the water and lifted it towards my face, but one look in the mirror reminded me that I had a full face of makeup that I couldn’t destroy if I didn’t want to spend the rest of the night looking like a raccoon. I sighed wearily and stared at my reflection in the mirror. “You’ve got this, Hazel, you’ve got this. Don’t let those rich snobs get to you.”It was easier said than done though. They were quick to evaluate me like a lab rat even though no one said anything to me other than a brief hello. It was amazing to me how many women asked what drink I was having and if my bloated tummy was from the spaghetti or pregnancy. And although I was never one to be self conscious about my appearance, I could feel my skin getting hot under my dress as they were examining me.They don’t matter. I whisper to myself and roll my shoulders back. Then I touch up my lipstick and exit the bathroom.I