Alexis' friend, Anita, surprised her by catching a ride on a passing dory to Emoyeni for a visit. It was a rare opportunity to speak openly with another woman without Max’s presence. She found herself telling Anita things she had never admitted to anyone. They sat together on the back steps, facing the green majestic river valley. Alexis talked and Anita listened sympathetically."I'm scared to death to let anyone know,” said Alexis. “Max threatened me. Says it's nobody's business but ours. He's always careful to beat me where the bruises won't show. I don’t understand how our relationship has degenerated into this."
"I don't know what to tell you," Anita replied. "I'm shocked. Don Elijio says that sometimes people are possessed."
“Possessed? By evil spirits? Like Matthew’s dwendes and sisimite?"
"Perhaps the two worlds are not so far apart. Even in contemporary theory, it has been suggested that some people become victims – providing fertile ground for evil manifestations. Is there something in his past that made him so belligerent?""It's possible,” Alexis said thoughtfully. “His girlfriend back in Africa left him for his best friend. His mother was a tough disciplinarian; she was really hard on him. Is that enough to turn a man into a monster?"
"Maybe he holds a grudge against all women; maybe he isn't even conscious of it. But, to tell you the truth, it's hard for me to see any of this in Max. He always seemed like a decent guy to me, and I've never heard anything different from anyone else. Don’t get me wrong; I believe you. Max is obviously very good at keeping his other side hidden."
"He is, believe me. I know the image he projects to Rick and Suzy and our other friends back at Baron's Creek," Alexis agreed. "I see it all the time. But when we're home alone, he's somebody else."
Anita put her hand on Alexis' shoulder. "You still love him, don't you?"
"Yes," she replied. "That's why it hurts. If I didn't care, it wouldn't matter. I remember who he used to be. I just can't accept that this is the way life was meant to be for us. And I don’t mean the lifestyle, or the isolation. If Max and I were cooperating as a team, living here would still be the realization of our dream. It's the conflict that eats me up inside. We're not living happily-ever-after inside the Garden of Eden; this isn't how the story is supposed to go. I hold on to the past because I want to believe that one day that same man will come back to me."
"Have you ever considered leaving him?"
"I've left him twice already,” said Alexis, “once before Jordan was born and again when we were living in Michael Whitmore’s house. The first time I invited him back. The second time I took Jordan with me. Max found me before I could get away and threatened that if I ever left again, it would be without my son.”
“The longer you stay together, the greater the investment.” Anita shook her head sadly. “You’ve had six years together and now you have Jordan as well. At what point do you cut your losses?”
“That's why I hang on. I just have to believe that, one day, things will come right again."
"And if they don't?"
Alexis shook her head. Tears came to her eyes. "The alternatives are unthinkable."
