A week before her wedding, a wedding at which I was supposed to be the maid of honour, Juliet called me on the phone crying, “Ephraim threw a shoe at me, and it hit my lips.”

“Why? What happened?”

I was alarmed. She was more than a sister to me, and I had been at the centre of their wedding plans from day one.

She told me they had an exchange about the wedding. She realised he was getting angry, so she stopped talking. The next thing she knew, the shoe had landed on her lips while he was screaming from the corner, “Who has to listen to whom? Am I the one you should listen to, or should I listen to you?”

Her tears and how she had to make her voice thin to talk to me made me very sad and angry at the same time. I told her, “Dear, don’t go ahead with the wedding. You don’t know this man very well. Please postpone it and talk about things properly.”

They dated for a few months before Ephraim travelled outside the country. When he was coming back, he came with the ring and wedding dress for the wedding. It was a fairy tale that I even tapped into, but hearing about the abuse that night, I changed my mind.

I was on the phone convincing her to postpone the wedding when she whispered, “He’s coming,” and then hung up the call. I heard from her again the next morning. There was cheer in her voice. She said Ephraim had apologised and had promised not to do it again.

I whispered, “Babe, that’s not enough. You should see it to believe it.”

The wedding came on. I lost my place as the maid of honour because I’d advised her not to go ahead with the wedding. Not only that, when things came back to normal, she told Ephraim that I had advised her not to go ahead with the wedding. Ephraim called me and insulted me black and blue. “In fact, someone like you can’t qualify to be a friend. She’s cutting you off. It’s clear you’re jealous of her.”

Yesterday, I visited Juliet at the hospital. She had a miscarriage after a fight with Ephraim. She’s very fair, so you could see hand marks on her skin and even on her face. She showed me belt wounds on her thighs. She said she was tired of the marriage, and from the hospital, she was going home to her parents.

I didn’t utter a word. I said I came to visit her after hearing about the trauma, and I was very happy to see her doing very well. She retorted, “If you had seen me a few days ago, you would have cried. I thought I wasn’t going to make it. Ephraim will pay for this, I swear.”

Is There A Man Out There Who Doesn’t Cheat?

I responded, “Thank God you’re doing well. Happy to see you strong.”

When I was leaving, she thanked me for visiting and asked when I was coming again. “Hopefully, I will be discharged very soon. Please come home. I miss us.”

We hadn’t talked as friends since she got married two years ago. I said I was going to be there for her, but I know better. Even if she ends up divorcing him, I’ll still keep this boundary. It has always served me well.

—Harriet     

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