Shattered Hearts

Chapter Eleven

Taking the cold washcloth and pressing it to her bleeding forehead, Rain stared at her reflection in the mirror. The wound was thankfully not deep, only superficial as she had caught the edge of the table as she fell but she would need a band aid. And to get that she would need to go back downstairs to the kitchen. She had never been truly afraid of Bret but he had terrified her that afternoon; she had never seen him so angry and so out of control. Unsure if she could face him, she stayed in the bathroom as long as she could and then tentatively unlocked the door, opening it slowly and peering up and down the hallway. There was no sign of him and so she headed towards the stairs, then paused hearing him downstairs. He was sobbing.

For a moment Rain stood frozen, uncertain what to do. Gripping the banister she made her way slowly down the stairs, avoiding the living room and heading through to the kitchen where she retrieved a band aid and applied it to the cut on her head with a wince. She realised that the sounds coming from the living room had stopped and turned slowly towards the door to the kitchen. Bret was standing there, his eyes red and his mouth down turned. Rain took a step back, avoiding his gaze.

Bret looked across at her, his eyes searching her face, seeing the bandaid which already had vivid bruising coming up around it. He had caused that; he was responsible for it. Sickened with shame he took a step towards her but stopped when she held her hands up in front of her protectively. Bret put his hands out at his sides and stilled, keeping his body language as unthreatening as he could.

"Rain I'm sorry," he said. She just nodded, wordlessly, biting her lip. "I didn't mean anything I said in there. I was just angry and I lost control. I wouldn't have hit you, Rain. I wouldn't have. I'm sorry. Please, please believe me." His voice caught on another sob and she glanced across at him, seeing the angry red mark left from her hand on his cheek. She swallowed hard at the sight of it, but didn't speak. For a moment they remained opposite one another unspeaking but then he cleared his throat. "What can I do Rain? What can I do to make this right?"

She looked at him wide eyed and shook her head, unable to speak to him.

"Do you need a doctor to look at your head?" Again she shook her head, wordlessly. She had been accustomed to managing her own injuries when she was married to Marc and had managed to deal with the cut on her head without needing any help from anyone. Bret took a deep breath.

"Please, please speak to me Rain. I'm so sorry. God you don't know how sorry I am." He bowed his head, miserably but she still didn't respond. When he looked back at her, he saw that her face was white and her hands were trembling violently. With another shock of horror he realised that she was terrified standing in the same room as him, absolutely terrified and he stepped back from her. "I'm sorry, I... I'll let you get yourself sorted. Maybe we can talk later? I won't come near you, Rain. I won't touch you. I talked a lot of shit in there cos I was angry. I won't hurt you... I won't."

She gave him a doubtful look and he moved away from the door, but she wouldn't move until he had completely left the room. Standing alone in the living room, Bret heard her footsteps on the stairs and then the sound of a door closing upstairs and he sank into the armchair, dropping his head in his hands. How could she ever forgive him for this? He had taken every fear she had and thrown it in her face and then raised a hand to hit her. He didn't deserve her; he didn't deserve anything good.

***
Rain went into their bedroom and carefully gathered her things together, moving them into the  bedroom set aside for Bret's girls. There was an en-suite in there that she could use so that she could avoid him as much as possible until things calmed down. Every instinct in her told her to run,  but she fought against it and satisfied herself with the move to a different bedroom. She certainly wouldn't be able to sleep in the same bed as him after what had happened. The girls' room had a key so that she could lock herself in there and keep him out which made her feel a little better too. She remembered then that they had said they would go to his parents' the following day and knew that that would not be a good idea given that both of them would be sporting bruising to their faces and God alone knew what Stu and Helen would make of that, not to mention Eva. She sent them a quick message saying that Bret was very tired and could they leave it a couple of days. Stu replied to say that was fine and asked if everything was ok. She messaged back to say it was all good; they were both just worn out.