Free Liberty by Ginger Jamison Page A

Kyle’s care. Lexy would have if she could, but working as a librarian’s assistant she couldn’t afford to support herself much less pay her brother’s huge bill.
    So she asked her husband to do it, and he never let her forget it. Especially when he was drunk.
    “You better do as I say, Lexy, or your brother will be out on the street,” he slurred. “If it wasn’t for me he would be dead.”
    She hated him a little more every time he held her brother’s welfare over her head. At first she thought he was bluffing, but he wasn’t. One time after she refused to have sex with him he didn’t pay the bill. It was then she knew she couldn’t allow him to have that kind of power over her.
    Golden Hill was one of the best in the state and with such excellent care came a high cost. She looked into cheaper facilities that would solely be covered by his insurance. But seeing those places, seeing how miserable the patients were, made her realize that she could not leave him there.
    So she got another job, picking up shifts at the Calloway—the restaurant her grandmother used to be the cook at. Ryan thought it was to help out with the household bills. They were in serious debt. He thought she didn’t know about it. She knew his paycheck went to alcohol and cars and to a woman that wasn’t her. But she didn’t care about that. She only cared about her brother.
    So she did the only thing she thought she could do. She told him her brother had died. She wouldn’t allow him to play with somebody else’s life. From then on she worked double shifts in addition to her day job, stashing away every penny she could while she paid for Kyle’s care in secret. She was going to use that money to leave Ryan. But three years ago he almost knocked her into a tailspin. He had found her stash hidden in a coffee can in the back of a kitchen cabinet. She thought he was going to get angry about it, but he didn’t. It never occurred to him that she might leave him. He just looked at her, told her it was stupid to keep so much cash in the house and then went to deposit it in their bank account.
    She never saw that money again.
    She couldn’t protest him taking it because that would cause him to ask questions. She was so close to leaving him. It was hard to pretend the loss of three thousand dollars didn’t nearly kill her.
    Looking back, it was a blessing in disguise. She had no plan then. No place to go. Nobody to lean on. Now she was smarter. She had opened up a bank account that he couldn’t access. She visited a counselor at a women’s center who helped her make a plan. All the pieces had recently just fallen into place. And then Ryan got hurt.
    And she hadn’t worked for a month—at either of her jobs. Their property taxes were due and Lexy had spent a lot of money caring for Ryan while he was in the hospital. And she still had to pay Kyle’s bill. It would take her a little while to recover. But she tried not to let it get her down. Maybe by the time she was ready to leave, Ryan would be well enough to survive on his own. Then they could both move on with their lives.
    “I’m sorry I was gone for so long.” She took Kyle’s hand in hers. It was softer than the last time she held it. The muscle tone noticeably different. “Ryan got hurt and I had to go take care of him.”
    “Oh, Mrs. Beecher, it’s nice to see you again.” Dr. Hebert walked into Kyle’s room. “How’s your husband? I was sorry to hear that he was injured. I hope it wasn’t too gravely.”
    “Ryan will make a full recovery,” she said with no doubt in her voice. There was no other option. He had to get better so that she could leave.
    “That’s good. Please thank him for his service to our country.”
    “I will.” She looked back to her brother. “How’s Kyle been? He doesn’t look as good as before.”
    “No.” The doctor shook his head sadly. “His illness is progressing. His body is reacting the same way any patient with his type of