Daria Fontina was ready to take back control of her life, a
life that had spun out of control as her husband's verbal
assaults became more and more vitriolic and threatening.
With two children to consider, she had done her best to
neutralize the growing problems between her and her husband
Bruce. The fact that Bruce could seamlessly vacillate
between the man who was an ex-state representative and a
gentleman, to the man threatening physical harm was putting
its toll on her. Words do hurt, and Bruce's unrelenting
tirades (calling her stupid and worse) were
leading to health problems. She wanted to leave, but she
struggled with breaking up her family. It was difficult to
explain to her daughters that the marriage wasn't fixable.
Even after months of separation, Bruce was no closer to
recognizing the inevitability of their impending divorce.
The chilling truth was that the only thing preventing him
from beating the crap out of her was the effect it would
have on their children.
Daria turned to her grandfather Cal for a safe haven in
Sentinel Pass. Cal arranged a secret flight on a
private jet piloted by William Hughes, a talent agent by
trade. William graciously agreed to help Cal but little
did he realize the life-altering ramifications of his good
deed. As William and Daria became closer, with him trying to
protect this frightened mother and her daughters, Bruce was
becoming ever more diligent in his attempts to rein in his
errant wife and regain his family. William was particularly
reluctant to establish a lasting relationship given his
almost palatable disdain for marriage. He lived a well
order life and had no intentions of adding any chaos to it.
Welcome to real life William.
Salonen does a really good job illustrating how different
families can be within the confines of a rather short story.
This cast of characters comes from varied walks of life and
with unusual family dynamics. Without glossing over abusive
relationships, Salonen still manages to convey a message of
hope.