The Penance of Black Betty Read Online Free PDF Page B

“I talked to the doctor last night,” he said. “He might let you go home today.”
                  She blinked a few times, like the word home was foreign to her. She didn’t remember his house. Her home. Their home. It wasn’t like she’d been there very long, and now she couldn’t even recall ever stepping foot inside the door.
                  “I live with you?” she asked, but it was more a confirmation than a question.
                  He nodded. “Is that okay?”
                  “I…I guess. If that’s where I live then it’s okay, right?”
                  “If you’re asking if I still want you there, there’s no question. I’ll always want you there.” He took her hand. “If you’re not there, it’s not home. I might as well live in hotels and not bother with a house if you aren’t there with me.”
                  He watched her face blush slightly. If he wasn’t witnessing Bethany, “Black Betty” flush for himself, he would’ve never believed it. The past ten years had made her into a totally different person. This woman before him was vulnerable, delicate. Everything Black Betty had despised and vowed never to be again.
                  “But, I was thinking,” he said, leaning in closer, “if you would rather go somewhere to recuperate, I know the perfect place. We’ve been there before. You loved it.”
                  “Where?” she asked, tentative, but the word was edged in eagerness.
                  “Somewhere we vacationed. It’s where we kind of…what’s the right way to define what happened…came together, I guess. Admitted we had feelings for each other and wanted to be a couple.”
                  “Oh.” Her eyes darted from mine, down to our hands. “I wish I could remember.”
                  “I know. In the meantime, we can go back and you can relax and let the sun warm your skin. What do you say?”
                  She looked thoughtful, but a crease above her left eyebrow told him something was troubling her. “Do you know my family? Should they be told about this?”
                  Alistair rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb. “You don’t speak with any family. It was just you. Then us.” He couldn’t resist running a hand through her hair, pushing stray golden strands off her face. “I’ll take care of you.”
                   “You’re all I have?” Again the question was more a statement, a confirmation.
                  He gave her a smile. “I hope I’m enough.”
                  She stared at him, expressionless, but clung to his hand like she hoped he was enough, too.
                  ***
     
                  That afternoon Bethany was released. Alistair went home and packed both of them a suitcase, called a repair man, the cleaning lady and a realtor. There was no way he was ever bringing Bethany back to this house where she’d been brutally attacked by her ex. The realtor would find them somewhere else to live while they were away. The big, square, modern house they’d been living in was what Heather Winston had envisioned for her and Alistair, anyway. He’d always thought it was ugly. So did Bethany.
                  They’d start over, her memory fresh and their home a new place just for them.
                  When his driver pulled up to the hospital, she was waiting in a wheelchair with an aide right inside the doors. Alistair hopped out of the black SUV and lifted her up onto the seat.
                  “I can manage,” she said, but her protest was meek.
                  He’d had a pair of yoga pants and matching track jacket and t-shirt dropped off at the hospital for her with her personal, womanly supplies from the bathroom at home. She had her hair up