My Second Chance

The memories of that night still haunted her.

Sprawled out on the kitchen floor, Jenna curled up into a ball, her arms wrapped tightly around her head to protect her battered face. Her left eye was swollen shut and her right blurry. She recognized the warm, iron-flavored liquid. She had tasted her own blood often enough.

Her tongue found the split upper lip and explored the fleshy cavity where her tooth had been. She tried not to cry. Her tears would only fuel Doug's anger.

"I bust my ass to put a roof over your ungrateful head. All I ask is to have a decent meal waiting when I get home. And what do I get? This slop!" He poured the kettle of hot beef stew over Jenna's head. She screamed in pain as she frantically brushed the scalding food from her face.

Doug threw the kettle against the wall.

"How do you like it?"

Clawing at the tile, Jenna struggled to crawl away. She prayed Doug was finished.

The force of his kick to her side flipped Jenna onto her back. She gasped for air.

"I never should have married your sorry ass."

Doug reached down and grabbed a handful of her sopping hair. He pulled Jenna to her feet and threw her against the counter.

"Now make me something decent to eat or as God is my witness I'll..."

He stopped when he heard the little voice.

"Don't hurt Mommy."

Jenna turned to see her daughter. Three-year-old Bella stood in the doorway crying, holding her bear.

"Honey, go back to your room," Jenna choked out. "Mommy will be there in a minute."

Bella didn't move.

"You heard your mother, go back to your damn room, you whiney little brat."

Bella took two steps forward, arms outstretched, tears streaming down her face. "Mommy, come now!"

"And you couldn't even give me a damn son." He looked over at Bella. "I'll give you something to cry about."

Jenna's fingers coiled around the handle of the bread knife.

***

The scream, then the punch woke Chris up. He wrapped his arms tightly around her body as she struggled to free herself.

"Jenna, it's me! Chris. You're safe. No one is going to hurt you anymore." Chris knew he would have to explain another black eye when he went to work. He jokingly told the other paramedics his new wife was a wildcat in the sack. That story was a lot easier to spin than the truth.

"Tell your bride to go a little easier on you. I can't send my men out looking like they've gone twelve rounds with Mike Tyson," his supervisor had told him. Everyone laughed. Everyone but Chris.

"I'm so sorry," Jenna said, when she was fully awake and saw her husband's face. "Does it hurt?"

"Naw, I blocked most of your punches."

"Maybe we should sleep in separate beds, at least until I stop having these nightmares."

"Dr. Connors told me you're making great progress. Besides, we're newlyweds."

Jenna smiled at that. She kissed him. "I love you. You know that, don't you?"

Before he could answer, they spied the small figure in the doorway. "Sweetheart, did Mommy wake you up?" Jenna asked.

With an oversized bear in her left hand, Bella nodded.

"Here, climb in bed with us." Jenna lifted the covers.

Bella ran and jumped up on the bed. She kissed Jenna then Chris. With Bear held tightly in her small hand, she slid under the covers between them. Chris left the lights on until both of his girls had fallen back asleep.

***

One year earlier, Chris had been on duty at the firehouse when dispatch received the 911 call. A domestic with injuries.

"I hate these calls," Kenny said, weaving the ambulance in and out of traffic. "Some guy gets a bug up his ass and takes it out on his wife. We patch her up, she won't press charges, and boom, we're back a couple of weeks later."

They realized as soon as they walked into the kitchen that this was no ordinary domestic dispute. Blood was everywhere. A woman sat at the kitchen table clutching a little girl. They were both covered in blood. The woman was a mess. She looked like someone had taken a bat to her face.

Chris put on latex gloves to check them over while Kenny called dispatch.

"Miss, you're going to be fine."

She said nothing.

The little girl turned to face him.

"Honey, what's your name?" Chris asked, as he cleaned the blood from her arms with alcohol swabs.

"Bella, and this is Bear." She held out a blood-spattered teddy bear. "Daddy got mad at Mommy." She pointed to the body at the far end of the kitchen.

"Did your daddy hit your mommy?" She only nodded.

Bella had no open wounds. The blood on her must have come from her mother.

"Sweetheart, why don't you and Bear sit with this nice man while I help your mommy."

Chris handed her over to Kenny.

"What's your mommy's name?"

"Jenna," Bella said in a tiny voice.

"Jenna, my name is Chris."

She didn't respond.

The woman appeared to be in shock. Her upper body and clothes were covered not only in blood but what appeared to be cooked food.

Chris systematically checked her for wounds. Besides the injuries to her face, she had multiple cuts and bruises on her body. After cleaning up what he could see, Chris surmised that the man lying on the floor was the source of most of the blood.

"Dispatch, transporting two females to Mercy Medical Emergency Room," Chris said over the radio.

With Jenna strapped to a stretcher and Bella and Bear in tow, Chris and Kenny loaded them into the ambulance and took off, sirens blaring.

While Kenny drove, Chris monitored Jenna's vitals. Bella silently looked on.

How could anyone do this to another person, especially his wife? Chris wondered.

Jenna moaned and flinched at his every touch. "Don't worry, no one will ever hurt you again. I promise. Chris felt her sorrow deep within his heart.

Chris and Bella never left Jenna's side that night or the following two nights. Since Jenna had no family close by, Chris told her that Bella could stay with his mother.

Jenna was never charged. The District Attorney ruled it self-defense.

"I can't go back to that house," Jenna told Chris when she was discharged.

She never did.

Chris took the couch and let Bella and Jenna have his bedroom. She called it her sanctuary. After two months of therapy they all held hands as they walked in the park after dinner. After another month, they kissed for the first time. After three more, Bella and Bear sometimes slept on the couch for an hour or two. Chris proposed nine months later.

***

Stroking his hair, Jenna watched Chris sleep. He had pulled her from a dark place and given her a second chance at happiness. Jenna rubbed her belly bump and glanced over at the picture of the ultrasound on the night table. In four months she would give Chris a gift that Doug had never deserved, a son.