From the very start, when Wadean threatened my entire family, he successfully instilled fear in me. He was a brutish man with a very large physique in comparison to my father. At the time, I thought that Wadean could easily inflict some serious damage on my dad, who was of medium build, especially after witnessing first-hand what he was capable of doing to me.
I never once even heard Daddy raise his voice to anyone. He was a mild-mannered man, and I intended to keep the peace between him and Wadean. So I chose to keep my mouth shut.
Unfortunately, knowing God the way I do now, I can’t really say what my father would have done; I realize now that I denied him his right to protect our family. For that, I am truly sorry. He died never knowing the pain that I have endured.
The next morning, after what should have been my honeymoon, Wadean came by our house and greeted my father.
“How you doing, sir?”
“I’m doing just fine. Don’t I know you?” Daddy asked.
Wadean replied, “Yeah, uh, my name is Walter Eatmon, and I live up 18th street, and I’ve been away serving in the U.S. Navy. But, I’m home now, getting ready to be discharged.” He was charming, adding that he’d served in the same platoon as our next-door neighbor, Mr. Haygood (someone I’d often written to).
Because Daddy didn’t know what was going on, he returned Wadean’s kindness with hospitality.
After a short while, Wadean explained that Mr. Haygood had asked him to deliver a special message to me personally to thank me for taking the time to write to him; and he asked if he could speak to me in private. Daddy begrudgingly agreed.
Madea, on the other hand, was more guarded and skeptical. She peered out of the front window, wondering what this grown man could possibly want with their daughter, and at that time of the morning.
Daddy called out for me, and I came from out back and walked towards the front door, and looked anxiously over at Madea.
Madea focused intently on the man who stood in front of her husband, like a mother hen guarding her chicks. Her eyes shot daggers at Wadean as he stood at the bottom of her porch. Her eyes narrowed to slits as she bit her lip, listening to every word he had to say. Once Wadean stated his request, Madea shot a cold stare at me as if she knew something wrong was about to happen, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.
As Daddy entered the house, he insisted that Madea follow him to the back so that Wadean and I could talk. Only then did she relinquish her post as faithful guard dog.
As soon as they left, Wadean explained to me that he and Al had gotten a little too carried away with drinking that night. He stated that that they had been arrested and thrown in jail for public intoxication. For the first time, I actually looked at him as my husband, instead of as the monster who attacked me; and I thought: With the type of burden that you have placed on me, how could you leave me on the day we got married, and run around the streets with your friend? You should have been here with me, to help tell my parents that we had gotten married! Instead, I bit my lip to avoid saying anything, as I continued to think, That’s what you get for leaving me alone!
Even though I didn’t believe his story, I just allowed him to talk. But he insisted that they really had spent the night in jail, and that after they had both sobered up, they were released.
Next, he mentioned that he was leaving to go to New Orleans to get his formal military discharge papers, and that he’d be back for me soon. I agreed, because I basically wasn’t quite ready to run off with him and be his wife just yet. At the time, I hadn’t given any thought to the fact that he had raped me, or what a truly heartless man he really was. But I also thought that I was pregnant, and that I needed to take that time to prepare to be a wife and mother, and to figure out how I would tell my parents about our plans for me to move in with him when he returned.
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