“I saw the mark on her face, Wyatt,” Harrison countered.
“It was just a push,” Wyatt lied, turning to me with a bitter look.
“So now you are going to hide behind my dad? How brave of you, Mom,” he sneered.
“I called him because last night I realized that I cannot handle your violence alone anymore,” I replied.
Harrison opened the folder and took out the first sheet of paper, which was a request for a temporary protection order.
“This depends entirely on what you do today, but here is the cancellation of your access to your mother’s bank accounts and her truck,” Harrison explained.
He then placed a third paper on the table which was a legal notice preventing Wyatt from returning if he didn’t follow the rules. Finally, he left a brochure for a residential treatment center in Vermont that specialized in anger management and substance abuse.
“Your mother agreed to give you one chance at this center before she formally reports the assault to the police,” Harrison added.
“Do you really want to lock me up like I am some kind of crazy person?” Wyatt asked me with shock in his eyes.
“No, I think you have become dangerous to me and to yourself,” I told him.
“Dangerous? After everything I have been through? After he abandoned us for his new life?” Wyatt shouted as fury rose up his neck.
“I am not here to talk about the divorce, I am here because you put your hands on your mother,” Harrison said as he stood up slowly.
“You don’t know anything about my life!” Wyatt screamed.
“I know you quit every job you get, I know you stole money from her, and I know you have kept her living in a state of constant fear,” Harrison said.
Wyatt turned toward me and asked if I was truly afraid of him, and for the first time, I found the strength to tell him the truth.
