Mary heard the door creak open and leaned back into the counter taking a sip of her wine.
Robert and Joseph stumbled in not seeing her in the dark kitchen,not for the first time nor did she think it would be the last. Why did she let this carry on? Why couldn't she leave or at least stop being friends with Robert.
They knew she knew,she knew Robert felt guilty too but Joseph had a hold on both of them. It broke her heart,she was 20 when she first caught him in bed with another man. They had already been married 2 years and she knew she couldn't leave,good respectable christains just don't divorce.
They talked it over and he promised it would never happen again,it was a mistake and he was curious. She stayed.
It happened again,she came home late from a bible study with her friends and he was in bed with Robert,she didn't know him yet though. She screamed and screamed and told him to get out,he left for a week and then she realised she was pregnant. They hadn't started any proceedings yet,he was just staying with a friend until they could talk. And so she stayed because of the baby.
After he was born,she began to drink, alot. Wine was her crutch, she would go to the bar and she met Robert. She of course hated him at first but they grew closer over their anger at what Joseph put them through. The friendship was often tense but they had been there for each other.
Joseph kept sleeping around,she kept drinking, she pretended not to know and played the part of good wife despite her alcoholism. She sometimes hated Robert but he was just as much under Josephs thumb as she was.
Robert always tried to stay away but he kept going back,just like Mary. Mary knew one day it would be her or Robert and she feared she would lose. So she stayed and pretended it was ok.