Free Glimmers of Change by Ginny Dye

now,” Alice responded, her eyes warm with compassion. “Janie?”
    Janie stared at the three women, swallowing back her tears at the looks of compassion and kindness on all their faces. She had not wanted to talk about Clifford. Starting a new life meant leaving him in the past. Most days she could do it, but then something would happen to trigger her memories, and she would be right back in the swirl of anger and fear that almost destroyed her.
    “I was married,” she began, smiling slightly at the looks of surprise. “Clifford was one of my patients. He lost an arm during a battle outside Richmond. We fell in love and got married.” She paused, gathering her thoughts. “The war changed him. Or maybe it was losing the war,” she clarified, the pain rising up in her again.
    “Take your time,” Elizabeth said softly, reaching over to put a hand on her shoulder.
    Janie took strength from the kindness in her eyes. “He became angry and bitter,” she continued. “He wasn’t the same man I married. It got worse every day.” She saw the understanding on Alice’s face and knew she was thinking of her brother who had gone off to war a happy-go-lucky teenager and returned a broken, bitter man. “When we returned to North Carolina after the war, he kept me hostage in the house, not wanting my liberal feelings about blacks and the war to impact his law practice and his political ambitions.”
    “Janie!” Alice gasped.
    Janie plunged ahead, wanting to get it over with. “Most of his abuse was verbal. He convinced me I was nothing but a worthless woman who deserved what he was dishing out.” She smiled softly. “My housekeeper convinced me differently. She gave me courage to search for a way out, so I began to put aside little bits of money so I could escape.”
    She swallowed back tears again as she told the rest of the story. “Clifford hit me the last night I ever saw him.” She flinched as she relived his fist exploding in her face, the pain and humiliation as fresh as the night it happened. “I escaped that night,” she said softly. “I had just enough money to catch a train to Richmond.”
    “He didn’t come after you?” Alice asked breathlessly.
    “He did,” Janie admitted. “Carrie’s husband, Robert, convinced him it wouldn’t be wise for him to come again.”
    “He beat him up,” Florence said bluntly.
    Janie smiled. “Yes.” The smile widened to a grin when the women cheered. “Robert helped me find a judge who would grant me a divorce.”
    “Not easy in Richmond, I bet,” Elizabeth said.
    “It helped that Carrie’s father worked in the Virginia government,” Janie added. “He was able to point Robert in the right direction.”
    “Pays to know the right people,” Florence murmured.
    “But you’re still afraid,” Elizabeth observed.
    Janie saw no reason to deny what they obviously saw. “Most of the nightmares have stopped, but I’m still afraid he will show up one day.”
    “Let him try,” Florence said threateningly, the look of battle in her eyes. “He’s never faced four angry women before.”
    “That’s right,” Alice said staunchly. “If we can put up with all the abuse people have dished out on us for becoming doctors, weakling one-armed lawyer can’t do a thing!”
    Janie laughed now, the fear ebbing away as the support and warmth of her new friends surrounded her. “Y’all are the best!” she exclaimed. “Do you know that?”
    Florence raised her eyebrows. “I still can’t believe I’m sharing a house with someone who says y’all ,” she said playfully. “And of course we know we’re the best.”
    “And modest too,” Elizabeth said ruefully.
    Florence shrugged. “My grandmother always told me I shouldn’t bother to hide my light under a bushel basket. If Janie wants to believe we are the best, who am I to refute her?”
    Laughter rang around the table, pushing aside all sadness and fear.
    Alice grinned. “We’re not done with dinner yet,”