Beast of Venery

by Lawless, Isabell

  Quickly she peaked in the back seat and on the floor underneath the passenger seat making sure she was alone in the car, and that nothing else than her own belongings were in the vehicle. With the shock still making the adrenaline pump quickly through her body she pushed down the gas pedal a little too much and made it rev fiercely, but off she went. Away from what she previously thought was one of the most peaceful spots in the city.

  Chapter 12

  Her car spun up on the gravel covering their drive way and she parked it quickly along the side of the garage. Without grabbing any of her paper purchases from the back of the trunk she nearly ran up the steps to the front door, taking two steps at a time. She pulled out the house keys from her purse and unlocked the door with unsteady hands and stepped inside.

  “Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear...”

  Immediate silence fell over the room as well as the guests, whom apparently had been thoughtfully invited by Andy for a surprise birthday party in her honor of turning thirty. It startled her and she simply stared back at the group of people crowding their living room, and realized her expression seemed mirrored in their faces.

  “What the hell happened to your face? Are you okay?”

  Andy was the one who broke the silence and hurriedly placed his raised champagne glass down on the living room table which was decorated with birthday gifts in wonderful wrapping papers to her liking. They were all surrounding a large birthday cake in brown fudge with her name written in the middle as a centerpiece.

  No one uttered a sound. Only Andy's shoes shuffling over the hardwood flooring could be heard in the silence that stretched out among the guests, some close friends and the rest of his family; his parents, brother, and sister with families.

  He quickly walked over to grab Danielle's face in his hands.

  “Babe, what happened? Have you been in an accident? A car accident?”

  His eyes looked her whole body over and he felt with his hands up and down her arms, over her face again, ran finger tips through her hair before they turned back to her face and his gaze locked with hers once more.

  “Say something. Are you hurt? Should I call a doctor or do you need to go to a hospital? Your lips are swollen and your bottom lip looks like it has even been bleeding a little."

  His thumb softly brushed over the sore spot on her lip and automatically she winced back turning her head away from his touch and sucked her lower lip into her mouth to soften it up with saliva.

  “Your cheeks are very flushed and look a little sore. Please say something, tell me what happened.” Silence. Shock.

  “Hey mom, can you get some ice in a towel, for her face?” He didn't even look back at his mom for the request, just kept Danielle's face steadily in his hands, rubbing his thumbs over the pink skin that spread across both her cheeks, and his eyebrows knitted together in deep thought.

  Realization finally hit her and she understood she had to say something. She couldn't just imagine her thoughts being transmitted automatically into his brain, making him simply understand what had just happened downtown in the park.

  “Did you know that Brian was released from prison?” She finally managed to say, looking bluntly into his face.

  Andy's eyes became wider than she had ever seen them, and in utter shock, his hands fell away from her face and landed with a slap on his thighs. A united gasp filled the dead space of the room and a glass shattered against the floor at the back of invited guests.

  “Here you go dear, please sit down on the couch with me and I will get you something to drink.”

  Jo, Andy's mom, gently grabbed her by the arm and pressed the cool, moist towel filled with ice on the side of her face. Stunned and shocked from everything that had happened, she let Jo take the lead over to the couch where they both sat down together. She was holding the towel to her face and Jo was rubbing her hand softly over her knuckles on the other.

  Silence finally broke when Andy's dad, Vernon, turned to the quiet group of guests still hovering on the outskirts of the room, not really knowing how they should handle the situation. Not knowing if they should stay around or leave and go home.

  “Alright people, since we're all close family and friends we all know the story behind this and unfortunately I think we need to postpone this birthday party to a later time when things are not the way they are today.”

  Clasping his hands together, as if getting the attention of a heard of wild animals stumbling in different directions, he guided them out the front door. Guests left their birthday gifts on the side table by the front door, and patted Andy's back and shoulders on the way out of the house, mumbling heartfelt apologies and offering help if needed. Andy still stood in silence, his hands opening and closing into tight fists along his thighs, nodding frequently to each guest as they left the house through the front door held open by his dad.

  Andy's brother Greg and his wife Sara were the last ones to leave the party, but before they stepped onto the front porch Greg turned and faced both his brother and his dad.

  “Just let me know if you need me to shoot him, bro. I would not have a problem with that at all.”

  “Watch it son.” Pointing a firm finger in Greg’s direction. “A stupid stunt like that would end you up in prison yourself. If prison was out of the picture Brian would have been dead long ago. Believe me. No one treats a woman like this, especially not my daughter-in-law.”

  Vernon's eyes went dark and peered into Andy's face, which had gone from rosy anger to pale white relinquishment.

  “Don't let this get you down, bro. You cannot let him win. We're all in on this. Seriously, if you need anything, and I mean ANYTHING let me know.”

  With that sentence Greg left the party and stepped out in the darkness, walked down the steps of the porch before he hugged his wife tightly. Walking together they clung to each other until they reached their parked car in the driveway.

  'What was it about tragic events like this?' She thought, sitting motionless on the soft couch.

  Her family spread and moved apart when things got tough, but Andy's parents and siblings seemed to turn any issues into feeding events for closeness, and bonded together like superglue to fingertips. That's what she loved about Andy, about his whole family really. Nothing was dealt with personally, it was all a family event. Throughout the years when anyone mentioned Brian, they had all patted her back and told her how strong and beautiful she was and how unlucky he was to have been such a creep and lost her to Andy. They always told her she was way too good for him. Said she was almost too good for Andy, and winked at him jokingly.

  “I know. I'm a very lucky guy.” Was his standard answer, flashing a grin that made her insides melt like jello on a hot summer day.

  The Drew family had always seen her as one of them, and Jo and Vernon repeatedly said they were so happy to have another daughter in the family. She wasn't in love with only Andy, she was in love with his whole family.

  When Danielle and Andy sat down with the family during one Sunday dinner, about a year into their relationship, they decided to spill the beans about Danielle's background living with Brian, and what type of relationship they'd had. The silence had spread among the guests around the table, just as it had done today at her birthday party. Andy's sister's fork stopped and stayed midair, carrying a piece of chicken, during the whole explanation.

  Andy helped Danielle fill in some gaps of words whenever she found it too embarrassing to finish a sentence about Brian's behavior, or rubbed her back while she explained gory details of the type of relationship Brian demanded, and how and why she finally left him.

  When it was all over she had shyly looked over at Andy who softly smiled at her and nodded, rubbing one of her hands in his. She did the right thing telling everyone around the table her story. His other hand never left her back as he turned to face each and everyone around the table and said,

  “Well that's it. Now you know. Those are the things we're dealing with at th
e moment.”

  Jo's eyes turned watery in the middle of the discussion making her excused herself to quickly walk into the bathroom down the hall and close the door behind her. When she returned a few minutes later Vernon's hand rested soothingly on hers, rubbing his fingers over the thin skin of her knuckles, the way Jo held Danielle's hand today.

  “That was very brave of you to tell us your story.” Vernon eventually said, still holding on to Jo, looking straight into each of his children's and in-laws' eyes around the table, before turning his warm gaze back to Danielle.

  “We're a very tight knit family, as you might know, and what concerns one of us concerns us all. I just want you to know that you don't need to be embarrassed about any of this, and if he would ever cause you any problem in the future, you'll always have our back. No matter what.”

  At that point everyone around the table nodded in unison. In a split second Jo slid her hand out from beneath Vernon's on the table, left her seat to rush around and grab Danielle by the shoulders. She pulled her into a long, tight hug that seemed to last forever, swaying her back and forth. When she finally stepped back a few small streaks made from tears went down her delicate face.

  “You can always talk to me, my darling girl. Always.” She said, and kissed Danielle's cheek. She squeezed Andy's shoulder on the way back to her seat at the other end offering them all the support they would ever need.

  Perhaps it wasn't as bad as she thought it would have been telling them all her darkest moments before she met Andy. It felt good telling them the back story she felt could doom the whole family if Brian one day went nuclear crazy and came after them all. He had always been a loose cannon, very unpredictable, and she didn't want anyone else to get hurt or stuck in things when and if the shit hit the fan.

  “My high-school boyfriend slapped me once too when we were going out, because I wouldn't sleep with him in the back of his car.” Greg's wife Sara suddenly blurted out breaking the precious moment. All heads turned in union.

  “Hey,” she said, arms held up on each side of her body in defense. “I figured since we were already sharing things I thought it was the right moment to add this to the pot. And, Danielle needs some support here.” She turned to her sister-in-law. “Don't worry darling, we all have our shit to deal with, so never think you're alone. Somehow we've all been there and we all came out stronger on the other side. And being in this family helps a lot, trust me. These men would hunt anyone down.”

  “Well, Jonathan's ex threw a rock through the windshield of his car once, while he was still in it, demanding he walked her to the door after a date in high-school.”

  All eyes in the room were immediately directed on Andy's sister Annie who pointed her fork, with the piece of chicken still dangling on it, at her boyfriend sitting at her side. Although they had only been dating for a few months, she seemed to know him and his past pretty well already.

  “Thank you sweetheart for sharing that lovely memory.” Jonathan smiled. “Oh, the joys of previous relationship and exes. Seriously, Danielle,” Jonathan continued, and moved his hand over hers, squeezing it a little. “In this family you're in the best of hands, and if I know Andy correctly, which I think I do, he would probably kill Brian before he ever got close to you again. There are many ways to do that too.”

  “What about you,” Danielle needed to aim the focus onto something else but herself and her problems. “The three siblings Drew, have you ever had a problem at all in life, or is it just us, your other halves that have had our fair share of relationship drama?” She blurted out as she'd heard both Sara's and Jonathan’s confessions but nothing from the family members themselves.

  “It never got that far.” Vernon said. “I would always stand on the front porch with my rifle when Annie came home from a date, and both Andy and Greg would have had to sleep outside, or find another family to board with if they treated a girl in any way that wasn't respectable. Right Jo?” Vernon's voice boomed through the air as he turned to Jo, who patted his hand, which still hovering over hers, and smiled.

  “If either one of my two boys made a girl cry they were not allowed back in the house until the problem was fixed. Greg once stayed out for two days, sleeping in his car, when he broke up with a girl but she refused to leave the seat until he took her back.”

  “Did you? Did you take her back?” Now Danielle was intrigued turning to her brother-in-law next to her side. The two goodhearted brothers obviously hadn't always been so grounded and mature as they gave a hint of today.

  “Well, at first I was considering taking her back so I could just get her out of my car and drive home, because it was getting really late. But then I figured that the same problem would keep repeating itself every time I would try breaking up with her, so I told her this romantic story about our family heritage being Native American, even though we're all blonde haired with blue eyes, and being Native American you had to figure out if we were really destined to be with each other or not. So,” He continued, all eyes glued on him. “I would flip this medallion in the air to then see which side it would land on. One side was a rose, the other a skull. Hint the turnout of each picture.”

  Greg's comical story made the tension around the table evaporate and having Jonathan fill up wine glasses for everyone, the dining room seats suddenly seemed exceedingly comfortable and a roaming giggling erupted to the stupidity of the tale.

  “Yeah, well, she didn't by my bull-shit romance story at all, so I simply pushed that cheap, toy medallion back in the pocket of my jacket and told her I had actually gotten an STD from sleeping around on her at camp that summer.” Insane laughter spread through the dining room, watery eyes being wiped down. “She got furious at first, telling me she would spread the rumor to everyone at school, but then suddenly her fury kind of just disappeared and out of nowhere she punched me right between my legs, really hard too, fisting her house keys into my jeans, before leaving the car. The window on the passenger side was rolled down and the last thing I heard her say when I drove off was how disgusting I was putting my junk into random people at camp, and that I needed to grow up.”

  The giggling around the table didn't stop when Sara squealed about the odds of him still having an STD that she didn't know about. When she shockingly realized where the scar on his upper thigh came from, the giggle around the table turned into pure outrageous laughter.

  The combination of wine, good company, and watching Greg trying to defend himself and his made-up STD to Sara made that Sunday dinner into one of the best Danielle could remember.

  Andy later defended himself against all kinds of acquisitions regarding a few girlfriends in high-school and college who had called the house demanding to speak with him when he had left them hanging. Some had even come stomping angrily up the steps to the house, wondering why he hadn't showed up to certain dates, or movie theaters, or picked them up in different places. Poor girls.

  “At least I never had an STD.” It was the last thing he said holding up both his hands in defeat, looking jokingly at his brother, who innocently turned back to face a worry-looking Sara, pleading her to believe that he was telling her the truth.

  At that point, barrels of belly laughter exploded around the table, and Jonathan raised his glass for a cheer to romance among exes, and smilingly told Sara that she should probably hold off on Greg until he got himself checked out for that illness that might still be lurking in his pants.

  “I'm calling Dr. Stanton tomorrow morning and you better go unless you want to move back in here with your mom and dad.” Sara said angrily, devastating Greg, but making everyone else wheeze with laughter.

  “Damn it Jonathan, now I have to go get checked!” Greg cursed. “Do you know what they do down there when they test you? Ah, man, damn it. Damn you.”

  Jonathan just returned the accusation with a grin, a swig of wine going down his throat. “You started it man, telling us about your days as a hot stud making out with girls in cars.”

  “Well, I once go
t sent to the doctor, by my lovely Jo here, in an attempt to check my hearing, as she said I never seemed to listen to what she was saying.” Vernon blurted out in an attempt to save his son from falling further down the latter. “But it turned out my hearing was perfect and I just tuned her out when she was talking, so I had to bribe the doctor into writing me a note saying my Eustachian tubes were swollen from a bad cold.” He continued. “I guess we're all accused of something. But at least I didn't have to pull down my pants in front of the pretty female doctor I had at the time, only let her shine that little pretty flashlight in my ear. I wish you good luck with your pants tomorrow, son.”

  And with a little nod aimed at Greg, he raised his glass and downed the red liquid to everyone's enjoyment.

  Chapter 13

  “This is so embarrassing”. A quiet whisper slipped out of Danielle's swollen lips, where she sat with closed eyes on the couch next Jo, who kept rubbing and patting her hand gently. The birthday guests had left the party leaving them to themselves.

  Jo was the perfect mother. Danielle wished she was hers. But marrying Andy made Jo's hers in one way, and she knew she would never find a better motherly figure even if she kept searching for the rest of her life. Perhaps her own mother could take some lessons from Jo, and actually focus more on what a family should be like, and what a child deserves from a family, instead of running off after another companion as soon as the bank account seemed to dwindle into the low numbers.

  “Sweetie, there is nothing to be embarrassed about here, please tell me what happened.” She said softly.

  Andy parked his rear on the coffee table and let his elbows lean forward on his knees and placed his warm hands on Danielle's legs. Vernon locked the door and was already busy in the kitchen making them all warm, dark, vanilla scented coffee. Just the way he knew Danielle loved it.