The police were called-she crawled for the door-his rage was still not assuaged. She lost consciousness, and somehow ended up laying on the stairs outside of the door. Strong arms lifted her, someone was wrapping her head in a t shirt-They half carried-half dragged her back into the house. She went back to sleep. The beating had stopped-why? She wondered…but, only momentarily. When next she woke she was being loaded into the back of an ambulance-her eyes rested on several policeman holding Shawn at gunpoint on his knees-she heard some shouting, and cursing, but vaguely-she forced herself to sit up, demanding the location of her children. The attendants pushed her back down, murmuring softly that her father was there with the kids. Gratefully, she fell back into the rest of the unsleeping….

She woke in the hospital-she was being held down on the bed-someone was probing her head…She yelled for release-demanding that they release her from the hospital as well-What if Shawn got out tonight? He would go back to the house for her father and the kids if he couldn’t get to her…She needed to be released-she knew her rights….They informed her that her rights were null and void if she had enough alcohol in her to be classified as legally drunk. She had only had four glasses of wine-how could she be drunk-legally or otherwise? It had been hours ago. This time when she demanded her release-she felt a sharp sting in her shoulder, and felt leaden immediately. She was vaguely aware of having restraints applied….

She drifted-but thought that one of the attendants had said that Shawn was in jail, and would not be released that evening.

In the morning she was still in her restraints, and she guessed that she no longer qualified as legally drunk because as soon as she requested to be released from the restraints she was, and shortly thereafter she was signing herself out of the hospital to go home. Her father picked her up…It was early afternoon-everyone was gone except the kids-she lay on the couch while they did their best to care for her.

A couple of hours later-a representative of Child Protection Services showed up. They were opening an investigation-based on the fact-according to them-that she- Caroline- had allowed him to drink to excess in the house in front of her children…

Caroline went to Social Services, and applied for benefits on Monday-she was informed that she would have to leave school to pursue a job….She did not even bother to let the administration know-she simply left. The paper happily reported the incident-giving out her husband’s name and their address…The children were hearing about it at school-great grist for the gossip mill-her family did not visit….

Two months later Shawn was released until his sentencing…another two months away. He could not return to the house-several orders of protection were in effect-a temporary one from criminal court, another one from family court…

.First he began sending her messages through mutual acquaintances-she threatened to report him if it continued-then, he started calling her-she disconnected the telephone, and bought a cell phone-limiting the people who had the number-then, he began to appear-in places she frequented-the local country store, the gas station-just riding by the house to wave-her friends’ homes….

There was nothing illegal about him being in the same place at the same time as her as long as he did not directly approach her…..She decided to move…Which is exactly what she did Easter weekend-it would still be six weeks before he went to court-that big tax return that he had anticipated for over a year-bought her a different car, put the rent and security into a new place, and had all of her utilities hooked up….She moved.

She heard very little from him then-each time he managed to get her cell phone number she changed it. She did go to his sentencing however, but did not stay.

When she walked into the court room shortly before his arrival-she saw him being led in wearing cuffs and manacles. Her stomach lurched for a brief second-his eyes met hers, and she knew it would be the last time she ever saw him again. No matter what the sentence was-she would be under the protection of the court when he was released.

Her feelings about this were mixed-a great deal of relief mixed with sadness, and guilt. There would still be some rough roads to travel-Child Protection was not letting up-she had left school-she had no job, and was dependent on the system for now.

At least these fights would not leave twenty one staples in her scalp, one cracked rib, and the hearing on one side affected for the rest of her life.

The staples had been removed by then, and her hair was growing over the scars, her rib had healed, and the hearing damage was not too severe…..She stood up to leave-glancing back at her domestic violence advocate- “Will you call me and let me know what the sentence was?”

She agreed to do so, and when Caroline exited the courtroom she did not look back.
She hadn’t won the war yet, but she had won this war.