The Heart That Wouldn't Quit

Emma Parton sat in the Doctor’s Office. The news was not what she had wanted to hear. After so many years of battling the ovarian cancer that was draining her life slowly away, the Doctor told her she had 2 months to live. It came like a kick in the gut as she felt a heavy weight settle on her thin shoulders. Trying to hold back the tears, she thanked the Doctor and slowly walked out to the car where her husband was waiting.
    Emma was in her second marriage, this one as brutal as the last. Her three sons from her first marriage, now grown, were on their own. However, the two oldest, Charlie and Daniel were heavy drinkers. After being brutalized by both their own father and then their stepfather, they had gone into the hell called Vietnam. Both were in bad marriages. Emma knew she could only pray for things to get better for them.
Emma was most afraid for her 14-year-old daughter, Jenny. Jenny was shy and lived mostly in a world of her own. She had few friends, spending most of her time with her animals. In addition, she had always had so much trouble at school. Emma knew that she just couldn’t leave Jenny all alone with her father, Edward. Edward, despite his small stature, was a harsh, cruel man. Uneducated and mentally unstable, he would go off at the tiniest thing.
    Edward had quit working years before, saying he was unable to work. They were living on very little. As Emma became more ill, Edward became more and more unstable and violent. He had, the year before, moved his little family from the big old farmhouse in the suburbs to a small house far out in the country. Isolated from family and friends, his terrorization could reign free.
    Now, holding back sobs, Emma said, “Edward, the Doctor says I have 2 months left to live.” Pulling away from the curb, Edward said gruffly, “You ain’t no where near as sick as I am. You have not been a wife to me in a long time. I want a divorce, so I can find a woman who will be a wife to me.” Emma sat silently, as the tears streamed unchecked down her face. She knew that she could not tell Jenny that she was dying as sure as she knew that someway she had to hold on until Jenny was safe.