“Trust not in him that seems a saint.” Thomas Fuller
Her cell phone rang almost as soon as Avery got into her car after dropping Heather and Lexie off at school.
“Hi, there. What’s up?”
‘I…I need someone to talk to,” Eva cried.
“Sure. What’s wrong? Are you okay. Are you at school? You sound like you’ve been crying.”
“Can I come over?” Eva asked, not answering Avery’s line of questions.
“Uhhh, sure. I just dropped the girls off. I’m on my way home. You can meet me there in about twenty minutes.”
“Thanks. I’ll see you then.”
The call went dead. Avery drove out of the school parking lot and headed home. She had planned to run a few errands, but from the sound of her friend’s voice, she knew that she needed her. What could have happened? She hadn’t talked to Eva since the night of Derek’s surprise party. She thought everything was well. Harper had surprised Eva by showing up at the party, and it seemed like they had a good time. What possibly could have happened between then and now, four days later?
Eva stood in front of the bathroom mirror and made up her face. Harper was gone and for that she was grateful. He actually left early that morning to film several shows. From there, he was off on a month long book tour.
When he showed up at the party the other night, she was surprised. He had told her that he had emergency surgery, so she had no idea that he would be done in enough time to make an appearance. They spent the evening dancing, eating, talking to friends, and enjoying the birthday celebration. Harper was always good at socializing whether he was the host or the guest.
He mingled with people, many of which knew him already and didn’t require official introductions. He spent time after they finished eating talking to Emma Winters and also to her grandsons. During the course of the evening, Harper, Derek, Ryker, and Carlton spent time huddled together laughing and talking, too.
When Quentin came back up to her and asked for a second dance, she looked out the side of her eye and saw Harper’s accusing stare and politely excused herself from his presence, and hurriedly ran off to rejoin some other people she knew at the affair.
After the party ended and they were on their way home, he talked about the party and how much he enjoyed himself. Eva felt relaxed and relieved that he wasn’t going to go off into one of his rampages. Everything was normal until they arrived home—that’s when Lucifer himself showed up and all hell broke loose and he accused her of sleeping with Quentin. The more she denied it, the more he questioned her about how long she’d known him, how long they had been sleeping together, and on and on he went until the sun came up. She begged and pleaded for him to stop accusing her of things that were not true. They argued for hours until he finally relented, and practically ordered her to bed because they had to ‘get ready for church’ in a few hours.
Eva undressed, showered, and got into the bed while Harper did the same. When he exited the shower, she had given in to sleep. Her body and mind exhausted.
She had yet to divulge to Avery, or any of the housewives, about Harper’s changed personality and abuse. Why would she when she was the one to blame for his erratic behavior? If only she had kept her legs closed and not given in to Seth.
The next morning, following the party, they got up, went to church, came home, and enjoyed a nice brunch together. He didn’t mention anything else about their explosive argument. It was like the old Harper. The Harper who was gentle, kind, attentive, and loving. The next two days were also good days.
Yesterday is when things took an abrupt change. Eva had an enjoyable day at culinary school. She was learning more than she ever had about cooking utensils, knives, and all types of food. They made a meat dish, something that she would think would be relatively simple, yet was surprisingly detailed. She had envisioned attending school and jumping right into preparing food, but it wasn’t like that. It was so much more to learn and she soaked in every piece of knowledge she could.
When she got home that afternoon, she showered, changed into some casual clothes, and chilled. Marissa had prepared dinner, as usual, and she had very little, if anything, to do.
She watched several shows on television well into the evening, and video chatted with her family in Bolivia, which always put a smile on her face and made her heart glad. After that she got prepared for bed. She had learned not to expect Harper until late at night—tonight was no different. She studied her culinary book for a couple of hours until sleepiness overtook her.
In her sleep, she dreamed about owning a chain of restaurants and saw herself traveling all over the world. There was a man in her dreams too. He had swept her off her feet and travelled the world with her. At first the face of the man wasn’t visible, but just as she felt a deafening thud against her head, she saw the face of the man belonged to Quentin Winters.
Eva screamed as she was beaten awake by Harper. He accused her of having an affair with Quentin again. Another night of torment. She raised her hands to shield herself from his vicious blows across her semi-nude body. She wanted to get away, but she knew she had to stay.
Eva drove along the private drive leading to Avery’s home. Once inside the foyer, she was met by Avery who had been waiting on her best friend’s arrival with eager anticipation and worry.
“What’s going on? Come on inside.” She took Eva by the hand like she would Heather or Lexie and led her down the long, winding foyer and hallway to the far side of the house where there was a luxurious room with an expansive view of the beachfront.
“Sit down, take off your sunglasses. Relax. You sounded uptight over the phone. It scared me.”
Eva slowly removed her sunglasses to a horrified Avery.
“Oh, my God. What happened? Were you in an accident?”
Tears poured out of Eva’s blackened eyes and trailed down her face. Silence.
“Eva, talk to me. Tell me what happened? I asked you if you were in an accident.”
Avery got up, exited the room, and returned with an opened box of tissues. She walked over to where Eva was and sat down next to her. She wrapped her arm around her friend. She was worried. What had happened? Why wouldn’t Eva tell her what was going on?
“You know you can talk to me, Eva. You’re my best friend. You can trust me.” She pulled out a couple tissues and began wiping Eva’s face. As she wiped away her tears, Eva’s concealer came off on the tissue and Avery placed her hand over her mouth to stifle her own cries.
Eva cried even harder, and Avery pulled her to her bosom like she was one of the girls. She patted the back of her head. “Who did this to you? Please, Eva, talk to me.” She pushed Eva away from her. Tears gathered in the corners of her own eyes at seeing Eva bruised and beaten.
“Harper.”
“What did you say? Please tell me that you didn’t tell me Harper did this? Why? I don’t understand.”
Eva used the tissue to dab at her own face and then she tearfully and shamefully confessed to Avery everything that had been going on over the past months.
Avery listened intently to every word, her anger fuming, and her disbelief mounting. Harper? Harper did this? He was capable of exacting this kind of violent, vile act on another human being when he had taken a vow as a doctor to save people’s lives? No matter what she’d done, she didn’t deserve this, no one did.
“Why are you still with him, Eva? Why? Did you call the police?”
“Haven’t you heard anything I’ve said?” Eva retorted, trying not to be angry with Avery. She understood that Avery wanted what was best for her, but she didn’t think Avery understood how much Eva stood to lose.
“Yes, and I understand that he’s taking care of your family. I know you want to finish culinary school and try to set up your own restaurants so you can be self-sufficient, but my God, who says you’ll be around to do that? If Harper is capable of doing something like this, God knows that the man could kill you in one of these fits of rage you say he goes into. You have to leave, Eva. You have to get as far away from him as you can.”
“I left for a few days, got a suite at the Setai.”
“And you went back? Why?”
“I couldn’t stay there forever. It was on his account. He didn’t say anything to me about it, but I knew that at any moment all he had to do was call the Setai and tell them to kick me out of there. I wasn’t going to wait until that happened. I don’t have any money saved. I trusted Harper and so I haven’t put a dime aside. I should have been saving money whenever he gave it to me, but the truth is, he’s never given me lots of cash. I mean, I always use a credit card for spending. And before you say it, I’ll say it first--I’m estúpido. Stupid, stupid, stupid.” She started crying again.
“You are not stupid. You were in love. You trusted him and you had no reason to believe things would end up like this. Listen, you can stay here in one of the guest rooms for as long as you like. And if it’s money you need, I’ll give you enough to get your own place or go to a hotel. Whatever you want to do.”
“No, I can’t do that, and I won’t take your money. I have to go back. I have to do as he says until I can make things better for my parents.”
“Oh, my God, this is unbelievable.” Avery stood up and started pacing. “Is he still going out of town? I thought you told me he was going to do a tour for that new book of his.”
“Yes, thank God he left this morning. He’s supposed to be gone for a month.”
“So, he did this to you before he left? Some parting gift, huh. You’ve got to talk to Ryker. He’ll help you.”
“No, please….you can’t tell anyone, Avery. Please, I’m begging you. Not until I figure some things out. Let’s talk about something else.”
“Come on. Let’s go for a walk in the garden.”
“Yes, that would be great,” Eva agreed. She stood up, and before Avery could reach the sliding doors leading to the outside, Eva was at the doors pushing them back.
They walked along the beautiful landscaped grounds.
“How are you coping with having a baby after all these years?” Eva asked.
“I’m good. I think I’m almost back to normal. I’ve been seeing my therapist, and she says I’m doing a hundred percent better. She didn’t have to tell me that, I can feel that I am.”
“Good for you. Have you given anymore thought about ruining your marriage to Ryker for that low down, sneaky, dressed up like an angel, Carlton Porter?” Eva felt her anger rising and she tried to calm herself down. Lately she had been like a different person and she knew that it was because she had been suppressing her own horrible secret about Harper’s abuse. She was so glad that she had finally told Avery everything. It had been killing her to keep things to herself, but she had to be careful. Harper had already warned her about what he would do if she breathed a word to anyone about what was going on inside their marriage. She was not about to cross him again, but she needed Avery. She was the only one she could fully trust.
“I’ve decided that I’m going to try my best to keep my marriage intact. Ryker and I are finally in a good place, a real good place, and I don’t want to do anything to jeopardize that. Anyway, this baby has his name and as far as I’m concerned, RJ is his kid. Yes, I’m heartbroken over how Carlton treated me, but I know God is in control of everything, and that all things work together for our good, but I just can’t see any good that can come out of this situation for Carlton, not in the long run at least. I’m trying to move forward with my life. You were right, Eva. I have too much to lose. If Ryker ever found out about Carlton and me he would get my kids and leave me with nothing. I can’t take that chance, no matter how much I love Carlton.”
“Then you should understand the situation I’m in. It may not involve children, but it’s my family.”
“Oh, Eva,” Avery said. She stopped walking and embraced her friend. “I do understand, sweetie. I really do, but Ryker is not a violent man. Look at what Harper has done to you. I’m afraid for you.”
“Don’t be. I’ll be okay. I’m glad you’re going to accept that RJ is Ryker’s. Let things stay the way they are.”
“The baby is Ryker’s”
“How do you know that for sure?”
“I did one of those over the counter DNA tests.”
“How did you get Ryker to agree to that?”
“Let’s just say I had my ways and it worked out just as I planned.”
“Are you sure it’s Ryker’s child?”
“Ninety-nine point nine nine percent sure,” Avery said, smiling as they started walking again.