The Perfect Husband (26 page)

A set of traffic lights loomed up ahead,
still showing green. A second later, they switched to orange. With
her heart in her throat, she floored the pedal and prayed she’d
make it in time. She heard the sound of Nigel’s engine and knew he
was still very close behind.

The light turned red and she squeezed her
eyes shut with her foot still pressed to the floor. She caught a
glimpse of a truck and the horrified look on the face of the driver
and then it was all too late. A sickening, squealing grind of metal
on metal reverberated through the car. She screamed through lungs
that were short on air and pain raced through her chest. The car
went spinning round and round and she thought it would never
stop.

After what seemed like an eternity, the
spinning motion ended and she breathed a sigh of relief. The car
was still on its wheels. They’d been hit, but they were okay. She
struggled to get herself free of the seatbelt that was cutting into
her chest. At last, it snapped open and she turned to reassure her
children.

One look was all it took. She screamed and
screamed and screamed…

The blue and red of the emergency strobe
lights surrounded her. Everywhere she looked, there were police
cars, fire trucks, ambulances. Dazed and confused and more
terrified than she’d ever been in her life, Isobel pushed her fist
against her mouth and tried to retain a sliver of self-control.
Blood poured from a gash on her forehead and tears streamed down
her cheeks, but she paid no attention to either of them as she
searched frantically for her kids.

She grabbed hold of the shirt front of the
nearest paramedic and begged him. “Please, my children, where are
they? I need to see them! I need to know they’re okay!”

“I’m sorry, lady. You’ll have to step away.
They’re being treated at the scene. We have to get them stabilized
before we can take them to the hospital. Please, you need to stay
out of the way.”

His tone was gentle, but firm and he tried
to steer her away from the scene. She shook off his hands in
increasing panic.

“No! Don’t touch me and don’t tell me to
move away! They’re my children! I need to see them! Ben? Sophie?
It’s Mommy. Please tell me you’re okay!”

Her desperate plea remained unanswered and
fresh fear settled heavily in her heart.
Oh, God, what if they
didn’t make it?
When she turned around in her seat and saw
them… There was so much blood. She’d seen enough trauma victims to
know that amount of blood meant things were far from good.

“Are you the driver of the Toyota
Magna?”

She spun around and then gasped as pain tore
through her chest. It must have been caused by the seatbelt pulling
tight upon impact. A uniformed police officer regarded her
solemnly, a notebook and pen in his hand.

“Y-yes,” she stammered. She reached out and
clutched his sleeve. “Please, officer, my children. How are they? I
need to see them.”

The police officer’s expression remained
solemn, but compassion filled his eyes. “I’m sorry, it isn’t good.
The paramedics are working on them now.”

Her legs nearly collapsed out from
underneath her. She grabbed his arm and held on to him, trying to
stay upright. “Are they still alive? Please, tell me they’re still
alive.” A harsh sob caught in the back of her throat and hysteria
gripped her chest. She breathed so fast she was dizzy, but the
panic wouldn’t subside.

“I need you to answer some questions. We’ll
start with your full name and address.”

The officer’s gentle but insistent manner
gradually broke through her fog of panic and fear. She gave him the
information he requested. When he asked her to tell him what had
happened, fury struck her full force.

“My husband…Nigel Donnelly… He was chasing
me. He’d been tailgating me for miles. It started along Parramatta
Road. I-I accelerated to get away from him. I… I just wanted to get
away.” She looked around at the crowd of people, trying to find
him. “Where is he? Nigel, where is he? You need to speak to him.
He’ll tell you what happened.”

“We have. He said he was traveling behind
you when you suddenly sped away. You went through a red light.
There was a truck coming the other way. You were lucky the driver
was still gaining speed. If he’d been traveling faster, you all
could have been killed.”

Isobel shook her head back and forth at the
enormity of what had happened. “Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Please,
tell me my children are all right?”

The officer looked at her sympathetically.
“You’re bleeding, Mrs Donnelly. You need to be seen by a paramedic.
I wish I had better news. All I know for sure is that when they
were pulled out of the car, they were breathing.”

For the second time, her legs went weak and
she used the officer’s arm once again for support. He waited for
her to become steady before gently disengaging himself and stepping
away. A moment later, the doors to one of the ambulance vehicles
snapped shut and sped away, its lights and siren blazing. It was
quickly followed by a second.

“My babies…” Isobel gasped, following the
progress of the emergency vehicles with her desolate gaze. “Where
are they taking them?”

“I overheard one of the paramedics say they
were being taken to the Sydney Harbour Hospital. I need you to
answer a few more questions and then you’ll be free to go, for
now.”

She frowned in confusion. “For now? What do
you mean, ‘for now’?”

“We’re not entirely sure yet what happened.
The truck driver said you came through a red light. Your husband
confirms it. Depending upon the reason for your negligence, charges
might be laid.”

“Charges? Against
me?
You have to be
kidding! It wasn’t my fault! I was trying to get away! I have an
AVO against Nigel. Call Senior Constable Rogers at the Sydney City
Police Station. He knows all about it. Nigel kept coming closer and
closer, forcing me to do what I could to get away. If I’d slowed,
he’d have crashed right into me, that’s how close he was.” Her
voice cracked and fresh tears ran down her cheeks. “I had no
choice! You have to believe me! I had no choice…”

“We’re talking to a few other witnesses.
We’ll see what they have to say.” He looked at her, his expression
now curious. “Why was your husband chasing you?”

Isobel drew in a deep breath and let it out
on a shudder. “We have a violent history. For years, I’ve been a
victim of domestic abuse. About a month ago, I left him and took
our children. He… He didn’t take it well.”

“Was he aware of the AVO?”

“Yes, of course he was. Speak to Senior
Constable Rogers. He’ll tell you everything you need to know. There
was another incident before Christmas. It was also reported to the
police.”

“Were any charges laid?”

“Yes. My husband was charged with assault
and breaching the AVO. He’s currently out on bail.”

The officer wrote in his notebook and then
looked back at her. “I’ll look into it. If what you say is true, it
might be enough to relieve you of any responsibility, regardless of
running the red light. The courts take domestic violence cases very
seriously. In the meantime, let’s hope your children survive.”

He turned away and his solemn words echoed
around and around inside her head. The blood from the gash on her
forehead had slowed and the bruising on her chest from the seatbelt
was nothing compared to the pain in her heart. She looked around,
searching for some way to get to the hospital.

An unfamiliar woman broke away from the
crowd and came toward her. “Would you like a ride to the hospital?”
the woman asked quietly, with kindness in her eyes.

Isobel stared at her and then nodded
quickly. “Yes, thank you. I would. I need to see my children. I
need to make sure they’re all right.”

“I’m parked over this way,” the woman
replied, indicating with her hand.

Isobel looked past her and spied the
wreckage of the Toyota Magna. The door behind the driver’s side was
unrecognizable. It had been pushed into the body of the car so far,
she couldn’t imagine how anyone sitting next to it could have
survived.
Ben.
Ben had been sitting behind her. Oh, God, no…
She couldn’t complete the thought.

A whimper of pain escaped through the fist
she held to her mouth. She heard herself crying as if from afar.
She felt the stranger’s arm go around her shoulders to steady her.
As if in a dream, they walked past the mangled wreckage and toward
the woman’s car. Stumbling more than walking, Isobel didn’t know
how they made it, but a few minutes later, the kindly stranger
helped her into the front seat, watched her belt herself in and
then took her place behind the wheel.

“I’m going to take it slowly so you don’t
panic on me, but rest assured, I’ll get you there as quickly as I
can. Your children will be okay, I’m sure of it.”

Isobel wanted so much to believe the woman’s
words, but she knew as well as anyone that what the lady said,
meant nothing. The police officer wasn’t even sure of the status of
her children. There was no way a bystander would know. Still, the
woman was showing extraordinary kindness and Isobel kept her
desolate thoughts to herself.

“What happened?” the woman asked as she
pulled out onto the street.

Not sure if she could even bring herself to
think about it, Isobel surprised herself by blurting out the awful
course of events that had led up to the tragic accident. When she
finished, the woman simply nodded.

“I can see it in your eyes that you’re
telling the truth. I’ve been there, too.”

Isobel gaped, shocked to her senses as she
realized the woman wasn’t talking about the accident.

“I’ve also escaped a violent marriage,
although it was many years ago now. He was a lawyer and well
thought of in the community. I was his picture-perfect bride. We
were the perfect couple, or so everyone believed. Little did my
friends and family know I lived in fear and isolation for nearly
twenty years before I finally found the courage to leave.” Her
voice softened.

“Your eyes are such a beautiful green, but I
recognize the hurt and the horror. It’s there every time you
mention your husband. You don’t have to try and deny it. Over the
years, I’ve come to realize my experience has given me a sixth
sense about these things.”

Isobel stared at the stranger and slowly
shook her head. “
Twenty
years? You poor, poor woman.”

“Don’t feel sorry for me, honey. Yes, it was
a long time and yes, it was as horrible as you can imagine, but I’m
free now and I’ve found the love of my life. My children are grown
and most of the time they’re happy. My second husband is the
gentlest, kindest soul on the earth and I thank God every day that
I found him. I’m blessed and these days, I feel like I’m the
luckiest woman in the world.”

She turned to Isobel and gently touched her
hand. “I just want you to know you’ve taken the first step toward a
better life. Whatever happens, you’ll never be trapped like that
again, with fear and depression your constant companions, always by
your side. Be proud of yourself for finding the courage and for
doing it so early into your marriage. I’m sure it feels like you’ve
been living like this forever, but believe me, you’ll look back and
realize it wasn’t.”

Returning her attention to the road, the
woman continued to drive them to the hospital. Isobel tried to come
to terms with what the stranger had said. How could she have known
just by looking at her that she’d suffered those years of horror?
Was it that plain to see? As if she could read her mind, the woman
spoke again.

“Don’t upset yourself, honey, over what
people see. I see it because I’ve lived through it. I know exactly
how it feels. I know how it overwhelms you until you feel like
you’re drowning, like there’s never enough air. You’re gasping for
breath and nobody knows. Nobody sees a thing. People see what they
want to see. It’s just the way it is.” The woman drew in a deep
breath before continuing.

“You need to try harder to make the police
see. They need to know what you’ve been through. They need to
understand the sheer terror you felt when your husband drove up
behind you today. They need to know you had no choice; that you had
to get away. You have to make them see, Isobel, for all of us. And
there are a lot of us, the victims of our silent pain.

“Out of shame, we hide it from our friends
and neighbors, but we’re not the ones who should feel ashamed. Our
only mistake was marrying a man who was unwell. And it is a
sickness. Their need to control and hurt and humiliate isn’t
normal. It’s a disease, just like any other. It’s a pity most of
society doesn’t see it that way. People like you and I can make a
difference, if we’re brave enough.”

She reached into her handbag that sat
between them and handed Isobel a business card.
‘Women Without
Weapons’
was printed on one side with a phone number.

“We think we’re helpless, but we’re not. As
individuals, maybe, but as a united voice, we can make a difference
and it doesn’t take a caustic tongue or a pair of wayward fists.
We’re a peaceful organization and more and more people are paying
attention. For too long, domestic violence has remained hidden
behind closed doors and that’s exactly how the perpetrators like
it. It’s time we turned the spotlight on it and exposed it and all
its ugly truths. It’s the only way we can change things for the
better.”

Isobel took the proffered card, her thoughts
in a whirlwind of disbelief, confusion and panic.
How had this
woman picked her out of the crowd and known exactly what she’d been
through?
She didn’t know how and right now, she didn’t have the
time or energy to think about it.

The car pulled up outside the Emergency
Department of the Sydney Harbour Hospital. Isobel shoved open the
door and scrambled out. She turned to the woman who’d helped her
and held the card up to her lips. She mouthed a silent thank you
and then slowly turned away. A moment later, she stepped into the
ED. Her fear and panic returned full force as she headed straight
for the counter.