Rich in Love: When God Rescues Messy People by Irene Garcia, Lissa Halls Johnson Read Free Book Online Page B

Domingo. They loved him, but I think they knew what was going on.
    When Domingo came home and found a partially empty house, he was outraged. He got my new number from my mom and called me right away, wanting to come over. I could tell he had been drinking, so I told him no. I felt a sense of freedom I’d never had. It felt good to be a working adult, on my own, in my own place. For the first time in years, I was not afraid. Every night I could go to bed without fearing I’d be awakened by an angry man. I didn’t feel the ocean of anger pushing at me to say things I was ashamed of. As I drove to work, I knew for the first time that I was Irene Garcia and I was in charge of my life. I was capable of taking care of my boys.
    Then one day Domingo came over and I let him in. He stomped in and demanded I come home. Instead of being afraid, I felt sorry for him. For once, I didn’t say awful things back to him. His voice softened, and he told me he would no longer hurt me. I asked him to leave and told him that if he wanted to see us, he had to come sober.
    Domingo honored my request. We had some really good times in my apartment. In fact, he went a long time without drinking. Yet I knew it was hard for him, especially when we went out on a date; he would have to drop me off and go home to a house without his family.
     
    After six months of being separated, thinking that starting over might help, we decided to sell our house and buy another one. Domingo promised not to drink and hurt me anymore. We made money on the sale of our house, so we had extra funds to do fun things with the boys. Over the next two years we went to amusement parks, Hawaii, and Acapulco. I now looked forward to the weekends when Domingo was home rather than dreading them. I stopped working Saturdays so we could have concentrated family time. It finally seemed as though we were going to make it.
    broken nose
    One Sunday afternoon, when we were getting ready to go to a family barbecue, I noticed that Domingo had already started drinking. I wanted so badly not to say a word and keep quiet, but rage and anger took over and the fight began. In my stupid thinking, I felt it would be wrong to go down without a fight. Besides, I was determined to become stronger and not continue to be the weak person I hated.
    “I hate your guts!” I screamed at him, then added a few cuss words. “I’m so embarrassed of you. I don’t want you to go with us. I’m going with the boys without you.”
    The next moment I saw stars. Pain surged through my face, and blood was everywhere. As Domingo pressed towels against my face, the taste of blood went down my throat. When my vision cleared, I saw a look of panic on Domingo’s face. When I looked in the mirror, I knew why. Panic filled me as well. All I could think was, How am I going to explain this one?
    As we silently sat side by side in the emergency room, I ran ideas through my head. If I told the doctor what really happened, he would call the police to arrest Domingo. I looked over at Domingo and felt sorry for him as he sat there, slumped over, looking devastated, even though I was the one bleeding. Misery consumed him.
    When they took me in and asked what happened, I told them I was playing softball and got hit in the nose. My nose had been broken in three places. It needed immediate attention, so they scheduled surgery for the next morning.
    When I woke up from the anesthesia, the doctor told me that he had discovered I also had an old break that had left scar tissue and that he had tended to that as well. He didn’t ask when the other break had happened, and I was glad. I had no idea since it could have been any number of times. And would he have believed the same story twice? I doubt it.
    Domingo sat next to me, still looking miserable. I knew he was sorry. I could see it on his face and throughout his entire body. We never talked about some of those things, the times when he hurt me worse than others. When I