He told Nora we hated her.
That we would never forgive her for leaving.
That everyone would call her foolish.
That there was no point going back.
They moved repeatedly.
Cheap motels.
Friends’ apartments.
Eventually another state.
Caleb took irregular jobs.
Nora worked too.
But he controlled most of what she earned.
Whenever she talked about leaving, he frightened her into staying.
Sometimes with threats.
Sometimes by insisting he could make sure she never saw us again.
“He told her he knew where you lived,” Elaine said. “He made her believe contacting you could put you in danger.”
I stared at her.
“How long?”
“Almost four years.”
Four years.
My sixteen-year-old daughter had made one reckless choice.
Then she spent years believing she could never undo it.
“How did she finally get away?”
Elaine explained that Caleb was arrested after an unrelated incident.
It had nothing to do with Nora.
