The Luna: Braver Than We Are

This day started the wrong way. The worst of many possible ways. All Viola hoped for was to stay out of Mason’s sight and get by to the evening, but it appeared that luck wasn’t on her side. Mason drank his coffee with a smirk on his handsome face, that made him look cold and cruel and after he finished, he gave Viola a heavy gaze. And she knew what that meant. “I told you I wanted the blue one.” She ironed him a white shirt for today’s meeting. It was perfectly ironed, not a single wrinkle. But it wasn’t blue, although she was sure he didn’t say a word about it. “When did you tell me, dear?” She asked, still hoping that simple reasoning would bring him to his senses. It never did, but she tried on and on. “If you’d listened to me, you’d know,” he snapped. “You are disrespectful. And stupid. You can’t memorize simple commands.” It was always like this. Viola felt a sharp pain inside. When did he start to act like this? He was so sweet and considerate when they met. The only one who was considerate of her. This time she had to be very careful, not provoking him. She had an appointment at the clinic. She couldn’t have any bruises or scratches on her body. The face wouldn’t be the problem, she would cover it with thick makeup, she was a really good makeup artist, but not the parts she was going to show. “I’m sorry,” she muttered, trying to make her voice sound obedient and remorseful. “Next time I will prepare you more shirts so you can choose what you like.” She smiled nicely. Mason looked at her. “I’m in a hurry, we will talk about it in the evening.” He took his jacket and suitcase and left. Viola sat at the table, sipping her tea slowly. She would prefer a strong black coffee, but she didn’t know if she was allowed. Not for the next few hours. She was nervous, she knew well what the talk in the evening meant. It wouldn’t have ended well today. Her best chance was that he would get distracted by some very good news. Viola desperately tried to bring back all the good memories from the start of their relationship. How he was caring and loving, considerate, how he listened to her and assured her that there was nothing she should be afraid of because he was and would be with her and for her. She was raised in a rich family. Many of the people she met tried to take advantage of her. She became cautious and reserved and all of her self-confidence was gone because of those people who cared only for her wealth. Especially when she inherited her family business at just 20. When she met Mason, she desperately wanted to believe that he took an interest in her, not in her money. And he made her believe it. Now, after 5 years passed, she knew she had been misled by him. She was young and naive. He used her most of them all and stripped her of all the strength she had left. He did it in silky gloves, piece by piece, reassuring her that he is doing it all for her good. At first, he made her sack off all her old and trusted staff in their home and the company. And they didn’t hire the new house staff, because he convinced her that he loved it when she cared for their home herself. She was madly in love, so she agreed. And she wanted their house to be perfect. That didn’t leave her any time to work at the company and when she went there a few times to meet with Mason, there were no people left who would remember her. He explained that he audited the company and all the people her family had as trustworthy were bringing the company down. And she believed again. It was 3 years ago when his behavior changed. He started abusing her, diminishing everything she did, forcing her to do things she didn’t want to do. And it was getting worse every week. That was why she ignored the first few syndromes, thinking it was because of all the stress she was enduring. But now she couldn’t ignore them, so she made the appointment and she was truly afraid of it. Viola finished her tea and went on with her daily routine. She cleaned the house and prepared the meat and groceries for dinner. She knew she would need to hurry in the afternoon, so she wanted to get as many things ready as she could. She was getting tired faster than usual, so when she finished, she dreamt of a quick nap, but she didn’t have time for it. She took a quick shower and drove to the clinic. *** The doctor was jovial and friendly. Viola was very stressed during the examination and he tried to ease her. When he finished and she dressed, he invited her to his desk. “You need to take good care from now on,” he looked at Viola seriously and showed her a little black bean on an ultrasound printout. “Congratulations, you are 8 weeks pregnant. I will give you a prescription for some medicine because your results indicate that you are anemic.” “Thank you, doctor. Is there anything I should take into consideration?” She asked, smiling faintly. “No alcohol or cigarettes. And try to avoid stress.” “And coffee?” she asked. “You can drink coffee, of course, you should be reasonable, as with everything in life,” the doctor smiled a fatherly smile. “This will be all for today, we should schedule the next meeting in 2 weeks. If there is anything unusual or disturbing, catch me on my mobile.” Minutes later, when Viola sat in her car, squeezing her results in her hand, she started crying.