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- 01/24/2022
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Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you.
Timothy - 83. Chapter 83
“Tim, when Ann Marie first told me about her rape, I was afraid. I didn’t want her to become depressed, and I didn’t want my friends to know. Your father never knew, and I didn’t tell him until the day Ann Marie was hospitalized after receiving your letter. He was angry at the boy who did it but angrier at me for not telling him.”
“Is that when you started to see Bruce?”
“No, I encouraged Ann Marie to focus on her education. I found an all-girl college and told her to enroll there. The first time she came home, she couldn’t leave the house. From that time on, I encouraged her to take summer courses. Instead of coming home, she went to the homes of her friends. She had a good friend who was focused on studying and wasn’t into boys. That was how she met Mr. Struthers. She told me he reminded her of Dad, except he was older. When she graduated, she told me Mr. Struthers asked her to marry him at the urging of his daughter. She asked me what I thought, and I told her she should give it some serious thought. Since he was older, I thought that he wouldn’t be interested in having marital relations with Ann Marie. I was wrong. Ann Marie called me crying; I told her to see a doctor and ask for a prescription for sleeping tablets. Whenever he became amorous, she gave him a sleeping tablet and then pretended they had sex in the morning. She did that, but one tablet wasn’t enough, now she gave him two tablets. One night he was tired. She had given him two tablets, but he didn’t know that, and he took two on his own. That was when he died.”
“He knew about the sleeping tablets?”
“Yes. On occasion, Ann Marie needed them, as she was having nightmares.”
“Why didn’t she come home when he died?”
“I told her not got come home. I was afraid she would relive her rape all over.”
“Why did you go to see Bruce?”
“I wanted to see him and find out if he felt anything for what he did. But when I saw him, I decided to make him relive that night. I wanted him to feel guilty. But he wasn’t. I would tell him I knew he raped my daughter when you canceled my appointment. Then you became involved. You found out who raped Ann Marie, and he left town. If I had told your dad, he would have gone after him, and I was afraid he would have killed him.”
“Does he know all of this?”
“No, he thinks Mr. Struthers died of natural causes..”
“Are you going to tell him?”
“No, Ann Marie is doing well, and he is happy to see her getting better. I think leaving this behind us is the best.”
Stephen and Dad returned, “I thought you would have prepared the rest of dinner.”
“We made coffee. It won’t take long to finish preparing dinner.” I saw Mom smile as she set a coffee in front of Dad.
Stephen sat in his chair, looking at me and then the table. I took the hint and got a coffee for him.
I wasn’t sure. If I were Dad, I’d want to know, but it isn’t my place to tell him. Maybe it will be the right time to tell Dad in the future, and it will be Mom’s choice.
That night, lying in bed with my head on Stephen’s chest, I told him what Mom told me.
“So she feels guilty about Mr. Strutter’s death.”
“Yes, and she didn’t react when Ann Marie told her about being raped.”
“That is a heavy burden to carry.”
‘Yes, but now that she has told me, I think she will tell Dad everything.”
“I hope you are right. The sooner she tells your dad, the better she will feel.”
“I don’t know what she has told Ann Marie but if she hasn’t, she should apologized to her.”
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Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you.
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