Here I am again. Sorry but my muse was blocked by chemistry. I just passed my first exam, so there hadn't been so much time. And math is also waiting to get settled in my brain^^ I'm not quite satisfied with this chapter, so let me know what you think. As always enjoy. Mary

Chapter 2

If you were one of those to be befriended with Maur Isles you could count yourself lucky. She not only was a sophisticated young woman but she also was warm and gentle towards every living creature, if she trusted. And that was exactly her problem, there were only two people she trusted in her life. Her grandmother Louise and her daughter Emma. Animals, she cured and housed on her farm outside of a small village in Tennessee where her only friends, creatures she often talked to. Her grandmother knew her very well and the whole situation she had been through. The people of Ashland City thought of her as odd. They didn't understand when the son of the major had proposed to her and later married her. They also gave her the fault for his entry in the army and his later death while being stationed in Iraq. Nobody knew what had happened on the farm except for the Isles' and the Kennedy's.

When Maura had been twenty years old she just had finished college and decided to go on a three month field trip through some states in the east before her study for veterinary medicine started. So she had ended up in this small town travelling through and falling in love with Jack, the very handsome and charming son of major Phillip Kennedy. And from that on everything went down. She had only planned on staying for the rest of her vacation time but being young and naive changed everything.

After staying at Jack's and fooling around in the summer month' on their farm something happened she'd never expected. She got pregnant. Only having her grandmother living in San Francisco and her parents deceased in a car accident she had no real system behind her and so, to the disgrace of Major Kennedy, Jack and Maura married in the same year. So Maura had to give up all her plans to be get a successful vet had been crushed by one mistake. In the following April a sweet little girl had been born, Emma. It was the only thing that held Maura alive. She wasn't one person to be a stay at home mommy and just be responsible for the household. In fact, she hated it. And so the marriage of them went down the gutter in a very short time. Maura had been depressed and unlucky all the time and Jack had been angry about her misbehavior. She had been his wife for Christ sake so she had to full fill her duties.

At first Maura had fought him, every time he tried to have sex against her will, but he was stronger than her and after what felt like the hundredth time she resigned, gave up and let him do with her whatever he wanted. Nobody noticed the bruises and scratches whenever she went into to town do some shopping. They all thought she deserved it. She was a girl from the big city and that's exactly how they all saw her, some spoiled little girl with no life experience. So it had been Jack's right to educated her in the right ways and he was the major's son, so you didn't even breath in a wrong way towards him.

Maura had been only a shell of herself at that time, just caring for her daughter, to keep her save. She even had attempted to flew one night. Her bags had been packed and everything had been ready but Jack had come home to early, as if he had known something was off. It ended up in a severe beating and rape and two days in the cellar to get her lesson learned. After that she simply obeyed to minimize the threats against her and her daughter. She started writing diary after that and kept it hidden from her husband. She needed someone, something to tell what was going on on the inside of hers, otherwise she simple would have committed suicide. But she couldn't leave her daughter with that monster. So she needed to be strong for the only precious thing in her life. Emma was a clever girl, she knew that her daddy wasn't a good man and obeyed him as much as her mother did, just to reduce the violence towards her mother.

In the year when Emma had turned six years old, Jack decided to join the army. He knew Maura wouldn't run off because the whole town had an eye on her and she was to afraid of the consequences if she tried to run again. She was relieved when he shortly after absolving his primary training he was called in for a trip overseas. It had been the first time since she had gotten pregnant to be able to breathe freely. But it wasn't for long, only after four weeks her had returned, injured of course. A bullet wound to the thigh. Unfortunately the horror started over again as he demanded being taken care of in every way. For Maura the time of his recovery had been hell on earth but she just sucked it up, for Emma.

When Jack decided to return only a year later on another overseas deployment she was so grateful to be once be left again by her husband. Maura had never been a cruel one or a religious one but she had actually prayed to God to let her husband be killed. Every day she had prayed. She even had sought help from the priest and had gone to confession to relief her guilty conscience.

It had only taken three weeks for her to get notified that her husband had died in the line of duty. When she had opened the telegraph she had cried happy tears, she had laughed, but she had not once mourned for his death. She hadn't attended to the funeral. Had started renovating their farm and turned it into a vet station and a kennel. Everybody wanted to get rid of her after Jack ha died but she had bought the land around her farm and some crafts animals and made herself a wonderful and nice home. When she had entered the university for vet again she had gotten herself a car and called her grandmother to live with her. And fortunately her Nona had agreed to sell her house in San Francisco and move in with her granddaughter. In fact both of them had been a great team. They had rebuilt everything in a short time and Maura had been able to visit med school.

Phillip Kennedy had resigned from his position as major only two years after his eldest son had died. The people of Ashland City had changed their behavior towards Maura but she never forgave them for what they had done, or better say, not had done to her.

After only three years, because of private studies over the last years, she had finished her study with suma cum laude and opened her vet office on her farm. She had no grudge against the people of Ashland City, but being the only vet in a twenty mile radius made her a the only venue for those of Ashland City who owned pets or craft animals. She earned good money she saved for her daughters education fund and always could work on adjustments for the house.

So today was Emma's eleventh birthday and all her friends from school were on the farm. Maura enjoyed the company of children more than from adults due to her experience but she was now more open than just a year ago. It felt good to have her Nona and her daughter with her and she had forsworn men. Louise had told her to give it time to let her wounds heal but Maura wasn't able to ever trust a man aging.

"You're ready for some fresh lemonade and cake?" Maura asked as she stepped on the front porch overseeing the garden littered with toys. She never had thought that she once would have a happy birthday for her daughter. She chuckled when her daughter and five other girls came running up to her squealing and rushing inside.

"You know." Louise said and touched Maura on her lower back. "She really is an angel." Maura turned around and smiled at her Nona. She knew exactly what she meant.

"I know, she is the only good thing that came from him." she smiled sad and went over to the kitchen table.

"So who of you would like some chocolate cake?"

As you can imagine, Emma is a little Maura-me^^

I hope you are satisfied^^