We spent a few more hours in the room with Mandy, the medicine that she was being pushed calmed her down but made her tired so she slept most of the afternoon and into the night. My in-laws stayed with her while I went home to check on the kids early in the evening.
The kids were excited to find out how their mom was doing so I filled them on Mandy's progress. I didn't go into the details of what had happened but I tried to be comforting to their concerns, they told me that Uncle Jack had stopped by earlier in the afternoon and told them that Mandy was going to be ok. I gave the kids my best smile and let them know that their mom was thinking of them and that we could go see her in the morning together.
I made the kids dinner and we settled down to watch the Lego movie together and tried to relax. Both kids fell asleep from the stress of the day so I picked them up and put them in bed. Once they were both firmly tucked in I went to the office to confirm what Jack had really been looking for and why he had really stopped by.
I wasn't sure how he had gotten Eric's name but it was pretty obvious that he had gone through Mandy's papers looking clues. I'm not sure what he was hoping to find, a picture, an address, who knows.
I unlocked the computer and began looking to see if Jack had been on the computer and if he had found anything. I looked in the recent files and I found nothing in the last 12 hours. Feeling fairly confident that Jack didn't get into the computer, I started typing in google so I can read about how to best support a rape survivor. I wasn't even thinking when I click on the recommended sight but since I use my yahoo email while Mandy uses her gmail account, she just stayed logged in.
Yes, I did it. I couldn't help myself, I had to make sure there wasn't something that I was missing between Mandy and Eric so I checked her email. There wasn't anything interested in there, he was CC'd on a couple of emails but nothing of note.
I gave up on gmail and went to google to looking into how best to support Mandy. There was a lot of information on what Mandy might be thinking and how I can help her out. Advice for talking with kids, how to get back to "normal" (hint - you don't) following an assault.
As I was reading I could feel myself being filled with hate. Why did he do this to her (because he's an asshole)? What had she done to him to deserve this (not a single thing)?