My mind shut down. I closed my eyes tightly and shook my head trying to clear away the words I had just heard. I couldn't respond. My head was buzzing, and I was engulfed in pain as I tried to sort through the thoughts that were racing through my mind. How could I conceivably absorb the news I had just heard? How was this possible? How could I have been so deceived? I had lived through so much abuse and even twenty-five years after his death he was still able to reduce me to such a helpless state. The silence was broken. "I thought you knew," he said. "How could I have known?" I asked him. My voice was barely audible. I forced myself to get up and I walked out the door Jean Smythe is a retired educator. She spent thirty years in education as a teacher, principal, director of special education and as an adjunct college professor. She has three adult children who have blessed her with their wonderful Christian spouses and with six, unbelievably- beautiful grandchildren. She lived in an abusive marriage relationship for sixteen years and wrote this book for her children in hopes of bringing closure to this part of their lives. Her hope is that those who read it and who are living in abusive situations will find the strength and the will to reach out for help and know that there is a way out of abuse, both for the abused and for the abuser.
