Chapter 18 Part 3

                                                                    18-3

    Carol Anne was feeling more like herself. Her ribs were still sore but she could move around again. Robert was surprised when he called her that morning and she was up and about already but she had to thank the iron will she had suddenly acquired for that. She embraced the pain and continued her day to day chores. Going about her day, her plan was always on her mind to get away from Robert and yet she wondered why she hadn’t done so before. Now… she told herself that all she had to do was make it to her brother before Robert could find her or take the money and run.

   He had been a gentle man over the past few days, almost as if he truly regretted what he did to her but she wouldn’t buy it for one more second. If she fell into that trap again then she would never build up the courage to get out.

   He was doting on her now, bringing her flowers and little presents when he came home from work and finally once he started talking about the little antique shop in town that he loved so much. Carol Anne knew that she would have to finalize her plan to escape soon. If she could get access to her bank account before he went into the store she could be gone right then. Even if she had to hide in an alleyway until he went away and then she could get to the police station further into the city. She would buy cloths later and had already stashed some of her belongings deep in the treeline on the property that she could go back for later with her brother. She knew those woods like the back of her hand but the main thing was her getting away from him long enough to go back and retrieve the bag she stashed.

    Robert never went into the woods. From the first time he heard the wolves howling in the night and the low growls of the bears he refused to get close to them at night. Fortunately for Carrie Anne that was exactly what she needed because when she went back for her things it would be under the cover of darkness. He kept everything related to the accounts in a safe she had no access to and on him at all times. More than once it occurred to her that she could hit him and knock him out, but the fear of that not going as planned prevented her from trying it.

    Sitting alone in her sun room she mulled over what she needed to do, putting everything in place. What would happen if she couldn’t get access to her card? She would have to come back and try again. It was the only option because he was not getting her inheritance; she was not going to let that happen. It had occurred to her that she could call the bank and report the card lost or stolen but then she would have no access either until she receives a new one. Even then it would be sent to the house. She wished that there was someone that she could trust to help her. She wanted more than anything to call her brother but once he saw what Robert had done and would do to her again there would be no stopping him and Robert would be a dead man with her brother in a cell instead.

    That didn’t sit well with her on any level.

   Carol Anne stood up and paced back and forth in the sun room slowly so she didn’t agitate her injuries. Absently she gently touched the leaves of the various plants in the room feeling a sense of calm while her brain moved from one thought to the next. She had so much in her head and it took everything she had to wait and be patient. Robert normally would have been very eager to go to Odd and Ends and his patience was a shock as well. Carol Anne had met a couple of the women that worked there when they first started going to the little shop and they seemed nice enough but after Carol Anne talked to them a bit too long one day Robert decided she was best left in the park outside of the shop where he could see her from the window and he knew that she wouldn’t dare leave.

    She stopped moving and turned her attention to the window. Her eyes automatically found the tall old growth trees towards the back acres of the property. She focused on a small cluster of trees that hid the path into woods where she had her few things that she could risk taking waiting for her. Once she could get free and to a phone she could start her new life and the only thing that was causing her any grief was knowing that she would have to go far away because Robert would not stop until he found her.

    Deciding that she didn’t want to think about that, she kept telling herself as she resumed pacing the floor that she would be free soon and would never let anything or anyone ever hurt her again.

    The violence that Robert exhibited towards her made her wonder how it was possible that he had ever loved her in the first place and when everything had gone and changed. She shook her head and decided that she didn’t care anymore why or how it happened just that it had and she was done being a victim.

    Suddenly she heard a car coming up the gravel drive and rushed as much as she was able to the Foyer. One look at the security monitors mounted in the wall by the door and she could see that Robert was home. Knowing that he would take a few minutes to collect his things from the car she walked back to the sun room and sat down in the chaise pulling a blanket over her legs.

    She had done everything she could around the house even though he told her to rest and with his new demeanor she didn’t want to rock the boat by not keeping things the way he liked them. She heard the key turn in the lock and the door swish open. Two steps to the right beside the monitors she could hear the soft beeps as his fingers swiftly put in the pass-code to the alarm. His footsteps echoed as he went into the kitchen and put the bags he had on the counter.

    Holding her breath Carrie Anne wasn’t sure what persona was going to walk through the archway to her and when she heard his steps coming towards the sun room she put on her loving wife face. She was right not to breathe because when he rounded the corner and entered the room. In his arms there were lilies, pink, orange and white all large and fragrant filling the whole room up with their aroma.

    He knew that she loved them, they were her favourite flowers and something her would buy her on a regular basis when they first started dating. Even on their honeymoon he had filled the hotel room with flowers. But then he spoke the words that let her know exactly what kind of mood he was in.

    “Hello Angel…” He purred with a smile.