“After speaking with him, I believe we need to take action to resolve this issue.”

Ella gave him her full attention. But the way her fingers were caressing the stem of her wineglass was distracting.

He should have stuck to iced tea. And taken his chances with her mood.

“What does that mean, take action? What kind of action? You aren’t suggesting that we turn him over to the authorities, are you? Because that’s not what this is about, Brett. The whole point here is early intervention. To help him before it gets that far.”

He’d been right about her irascibility. In a past life, at home after a hard day like hers obviously had been, he would have suggested that she drink some more wine, the words accompanied by a grin, and followed up with a kiss, to which she would have responded with all of the tension inside her and they’d have made love hard, followed by a softer, slower coupling.

They might or might not have made it to the kitchen for dinner...

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you.”

The apology drew him out of his mental fog. And made him aware of his lack of response in what was only a business conversation.

“No apology necessary,” he said, pushing everything away but that meeting’s agenda. “And no, I’m not suggesting we call in the authorities. Nothing along those lines. On the contrary, I’m not convinced that the root of Jeff and Chloe’s problem is Jeff.”

Ella blinked. “What?”

A woman from the next table looked over.

“How can you not think the problem is Jeff?” She leaned forward, her voice quieter, but no less intense. “He’s been verbally abusive and now has escalated to pushing and shoving and restraining. You know as well as I do what the next step in that progression will be.”

“Jeff admitted to taking out his work frustration on her,” Brett said. “Much like you’re doing with me now.” He had a talent for getting to the point.

Sitting back, Ella took a sip of her wine, watching him.

He withstood her scrutiny with ease. He was a professional at the boardroom table.

“I asked Chloe about Jeff’s behavior,” he continued. “When you took Cody to play in the sandbox. She said pretty much the same thing he did. That he snapped at her, said things he’d give anything to be able to take back, simply out of frustration. That he apologized. Bad days are a part of life. Husbands and wives fight. People say things they don’t mean. None of that equals abuse.”

“I had a feeling she downplayed things for you,” Ella said, her tone equally professional now. Equally serious, too. “She wants your help. And she thinks, as I do, that you’re our only real hope in getting Jeff to see that he needs help before things get completely out of control. But she’s also a bit intimidated by the fact that you’re the founder of a women’s shelter. She’s afraid that you’re going to turn Jeff in, and she most definitely doesn’t want that.”

Should he be straight with her? Let her know that he was working with a different set of facts? That he wasn’t attempting to get Jeff to admit that he had anger issues that needed attention? “Jeff thinks that Chloe is going through some kind of emotional blip. Similar to the postpartum depression she suffered from after Cody was born.”

“I know what Jeff thinks. We need to change his thinking. He has to be able to see that this is his problem, and if he keeps blaming someone else, he could very well lose his family and maybe even end up in jail.”

“But what if he isn’t wrong?”

“You think this is all Chloe? That she’s making up the incidents of verbal abuse? The shoves and pushes? Of slamming Cody into a chair so hard he screamed?”

“I’m just suggesting that maybe she’s embellished them in the retelling to you because she’s slowly losing parts of herself by always putting Jeff and Cody first and is struggling with a way to understand herself and be happy.”

He knew when Ella took a long breath that she was considering his words. One of the things he’d loved so much about her was her ability to take a step back and look at both sides of a situation.

With one exception. She hadn’t been able to see the possibility that he could one day turn violent. Something that had, at least partially, ended their marriage.

He lost faith in her ability to hear his truth. She knew about his upbringing, of course. Understood and sympathized. And was completely certain he only suffered from abuse-based fear, not from the same latent violent tendencies that had struck his dad.

Her refusal to see, to believe in the possibility, had made it impossible for him to continue to share those fears with her. She gave them no credence. They fell on deaf ears...

But as good as she was at putting herself in other people’s shoes, she’d never seemed to figure out, or understand, that if he opened up and gave her all of the emotions he kept in check, all of the passion and the love and the joy, he’d also risk exposing her to the shadowy side of all of that. The anger that had lurked inside his father just waiting for a life challenge that was too big for him to handle to trigger it. And could possibly lurk inside him, too.

The tension that had built within him during the repeated fertility treatments had been a sign to him. He’d thought, at first, that he was experiencing the normal reactions most couples in their situation experienced. He’d only realized, after Ella finally got pregnant, and he couldn’t share in her joy, that his tension stemmed from something else. He wasn’t prepared to be a father. Wasn’t willing to have a child, as his parents had, knowing that at some point, he could turn from a loving father into a monster...

Ella wasn’t aware of the danger. But he was.

“I saw the bruises, Brett.” Ella’s voice was completely different now. Soft. Almost pleading. And a shock to him, following on his thoughts...

“Chloe told me she was bruised when she came here.” He gentled his voice, as well. Because Jeff and Chloe—they didn’t fit the pattern of abuse. They were just a normal couple. “She said she fell into a doorjamb during the last argument. He’d said something to her about bombarding him with her crap and pushed past her just as she was stepping back away from him...”

Breaking eye contact, Ella took a sip of her wine. Watched as the couple at the next table, the older woman who’d stared when Ella raised her voice, paid their bill and left.

“They had a victim at the Stand a while back,” Brett said. “She was young. Fifteen. She claimed that her brother had hit her. More than once. He was older, about our age. The brother had raised her from infancy...”

He had Ella’s full attention again.

“He claimed that he’d never touched her. And that he wouldn’t ever do so. There was no indication through medical or school records that there’d ever been an issue with him. Or her, either, for that matter. But it was clear to Sara and Lila and others that the girl was afraid of her brother. And that she’d been abused. Charges were going to be pressed against him, on her behalf. He stood to lose custody of her. And would have, if not for one person, an attorney, who believed him enough to do some checking on her own.”

“You said would have. I’m guessing that means he wasn’t charged?”

“He didn’t abuse her. There were other things going on. He’d lied to his siblings about his past. His little sister found out his secret at the same time she witnessed something else that weakened her trust in him. She felt angry. Afraid. And had to get away from him.”

“But he’d never hurt her?”

“More like he was father-of-the-year material.”

“But her distress was valid.”

She was getting it.

“Yes.”

“You’re saying that you think something else could be going on here with Jeff and Chloe.”

“I’m saying I believe Jeff when he tells me he’s not abusing his wife. I also know he doesn’t fit the profile. He’s never been involved in any sort of violent activity. He’s never shown signs of having a temper or anger issues. He comes from a good, loving family. Your folks were respectful of you both. And still are.”