Where The Thistles Meet The Thicket

Joseph

Mary Beth West had always been held to a high standard. The youngest of three sisters, she was her daddy's greatest love, her mama's confidant; their pride and joy. She was smart as a whip, quick and witty, and sweeter than pecan pie. She was second in her class with dreams to become the first equine vet in town and the entire town was rooting for her. She poured her heart into her job, which she'd had since she was very young, working with the horses at her family farm. The ladies at the salon downtown- the gossip site of our tiny, rustic town, Oak Village- would rave about Mary Beth's beauty while getting their hair done. They claimed that she must have been sent straight from above with those angelic features, no wonder God made her Daddy a preacher.

Maybe that was why, when the town superstar, Brian Ingrels-a boy held to a high standard himself-came knocking at the door, everyone pushed her so hard to like him, insisting they were a match made in heaven. He had been the star football player since he began peewee football in fourth grade. He wasn't smart, he wasn't even a pretty boy, but the town expected him to make a name for himself. Mary Beth never did trust him too much, always begging her mama to not make her go off on dates with him, or at least let one of her sisters tag along. She didn't like spending time with him, and she didn't like that everyone expected her to form a connection with him while breathing down her neck. Even still, she was always pushing herself, trying to make her family and townsfolk proud, and went along with the idea that Brian was really the man God intended for her. After all, if everybody else seemed to love him, why couldn't she?

But nobody seemed to notice the dark circles under Mary Beth's eyes, revealing late nights laid awake, terrified for her and her family's lives. Hidden in long sleeves and fancy jewelry, were the finger marks on her arm from a hand too rough, too demanding. And gone like a thief in the night, at no desire of her own, was the innocence Mary Beth had always believed she would have until her wedding night, ripped from her like her ripped panties. A wedding night she had promised to me so many years ago.

No, her mama and sisters never seemed to pay attention to the blood in her sheets or the puffy eyes on a tear-stained face. Mary Beth often wondered if they would even bat an eye if she told them, as they were always too enraptured by the praising words of their precious Mary Beth and Brian around town. No, no one else paid attention; but I did.

Even still, when Mary Beth's daddy offered to officiate their wedding when Brian proposed, she felt she had no choice but to accept. After all, Daddy always knew best. He was a preacher man, and he always told her what God would want from her. If she was to marry a man with a sharp tongue and even sharper hand, who was she to question it? She didn't allow herself to think about the man at home that she had loved way longer than Brian, the man that loved her more than he could ever imagine loving anybody else.

So, Mary Beth married Brian Ingrels on a hot, summer day in July, a week after her nineteenth birthday, because she felt she had no other choice. She was a vision in white, her gorgeous chestnut colored hair, coiffed in a perfectly messy chignon, reflecting the suns rays. As expected, nobody noticed the strain on her voice as she said her vows. Her tight-lipped kiss and crinkled eyes were met with cheers as if the people were completely oblivious to her discomfort. And the bruising grip of his hand on her arm during the overly noisy reception, as if anchoring her to the spot, was ignored. I often wondered if I was the only one watching.

They moved two hours away, from possible prying eyes and townsfolk that had known them since they were in diapers. Two hours away from me.

Brian had a job welding in the big city, making the big bucks. As such, he forced Mary Beth to stay home and keep the house up, keeping her away from social interaction. Despite her wish of going to college to be a veterinarian, she obeyed. Mary Beth had gotten herself into so much trouble that there was no other option but to obey. She left her beloved job on the farm, her family, her best friend, her cherished dog Leroy, and the future she had always dreamed of behind. Brian didn't give her another choice. This gave Brian freedom to do whatever he wanted, however he wanted. And Mary Beth took every slap, every beating, every word, and every touch because she didn't know what else to do; how to get out of the mess she had found herself in.

Mary Beth kept telling herself that this was what her parents wanted for her, that she was making them proud with the weekly checks her husband sent home. Each time Brian used his hands on her, she'd pray to Jesus that this wasn't the man for her, that her daddy had somehow made a mistake. She'd pray she would wake up from her nightmare and find herself back home, in the arms of the man she truly loved. But still, she endured. For Mary Beth had a family to support, a love back at home to protect, and absolutely zero respect for herself.

Mary Beth couldn't find a reason to leave Brian and she truly believed that nobody would believe her. She thought that nobody back home would protect her from the man others had convinced her to marry as if I wouldn't go to the ends of the Earth to keep her from harm if she'd let me. There wasn't a reason to leave until the day Mary Beth forced herself to visit the doctor, mottled with bruises and a healing gash on her right arm, to pee into a cup. Mary Beth was finally given a reason to leave when the nurse walked into the examination room with a sad smile informing her that the urine test she had taken proved she was pregnant, and that an incident report had been filled out on her part for suspected abuse.

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