A New Addition on the Horizon

In September of 1988 my cigarettes started tasting funny. Even worse, they quickly started making me throw up! Then the smell of certain foods started making me sick. Three at-home pregnancy tests confirmed my suspicions. I was pregnant.

I was 26 years old and my biological clock had already started ticking. Even with all the horrible things going on in my home I knew I wanted this baby. Bob and I got married October 15, 1988 at his Big Daddy's house in Natchez.

My mother hated Bob so that she did not even come to my wedding. But my closest friends from my office came and that made me feel some better. My boss loaned me her daughter's wedding dress and shoes. It was tea-length, champagne colored and made with lace and satin. Absolutely beautiful!

We spent our wedding night at Big Daddy's. Nothing like having your grandfather in the next room on your wedding night! The next morning Bob went hunting – typical. But that was the only place he found drug-free solace. If we could have just lived outside in the woods things would probably have been a lot different but I'm not much on bugs and wiping with leaves!

Tragic thing happened the day after our wedding. The judge that married us walked out his front door and fell dead from a heart attack! I should have run for an annulment then!

By the time we got back to Jackson my lower stomach was starting to get that firmness that is the first sign of showing. I was so happy! Soon we would have a baby and that would make Bob turn his life around and all would be well. But in the meantime it seemed nothing had changed.

We had taken in a stray dog that Bob had built a pen for in the back. Our house was street level but there was a steep drop which required a steep set of steps to get out our back door. One evening Bob asked me to take Jose' out for the night. Now here I am 5 months pregnant, it's freezing cold, dark and he wants me to take the dog down the steep steps to his pen. I snapped back that I thought he should do it all the while putting the dogs leash on him, opening the door and starting down the steps. The next thing I know, I felt a foot in my back kicking me down the entire flight of stairs and onto the cold ground below. I just knew I had lost my baby. The tears came as I saw Bob slam the door and lock me out. I managed to get up. There was no blood, no pain in my abdominal area just my back, arms, legs and head. I actually got poor Jose' who was scared to death into his pen.

I knocked on both the back and front locked doors for more than an hour, crying, begging for him to let me in. He finally did. I went immediately to the bathroom to check again for blood from the pregnancy and there was none and no abdominal pain. I had a cut above my right eye and scratches and bruises elsewhere on my body. I fell into bed exhausted. The next day was another sick day. Luckily I could cover the cut above my eye with lots of make-up and it was winter so I could wear long sleeves and my one pair of maternity slacks to cover the bruises on my legs so I was able to go to work the following day.

A couple of weeks later we went to Natchez one weekend so that he could hunt. We left late on Friday night probably around 9:00 as it was a last minute decision to go. I was usually in bed by 8:00 tired from the pregnancy. We were getting close to Natchez, probably 20 miles away on Highway 61. It was probably about 10:30. It was my understanding that Bob was going with one of his friends to hunt and the friend was picking him up from his Mamaw's to spend the night at the hunting camp. Bob said that I was mistaken. He was taking my car and there were no two ways about it! You've all hear the expression “It's my way or the highway!”. This was an example in the most literal sense. Bob started hitting me in the head with his fist (while driving) and told me that if I didn't get out of the car right now he was going to kill me right then and there. So I got out.

Bob screeched away and sped up the road. I kept thinking he would turn around and come back to get me, but he didn't. So here I am at nearly 11:00 at night, crying, six months pregnant, walking in the dark on a lonely highway. What scared me the most is when one car passed by me and then turned around, came back and pulled up beside me. At fist they didn't roll down their window to say anything. They just slowly drove beside me. They finally did roll down their window after what seemed like forever. It was a carload of drunk men and they asked me if I needed a ride. I looked up and here came Bob down the other side of the highway coming to get me. I don't think I have ever been so frightened.

Nothing was said in the car the rest of the way to his grandmother's house. I got my tote bag out and he sped off. I didn't tell Mamaw what had happened. I was just thankful to be in a warm house and climbing into a warm bed. I had walked for more than 2 miles.