Hot Cocoa, Green Tea, And The Man Who Sweetened My Heart

By Deanna Martinez-Bey

Stephanie had been held hostage in an abusive marriage for nearly twelve years. She was manipulated, controlled and abused by her mentally unstable husband. The last physical altercation drove Stephanie to begin a new life, alone, just her and her ten-year-old son, Ray.

Stephanie made an exit plan. She would find a new school for Ray, a full-time job and a place to live and just when she thought that life would be calm and peaceful, her monster of a husband, soon to be ex-husband would rear his ugly head.

Stephanie winds up meeting a new friend through work. As time passes, they find that they are developing feelings for one another. After the divorce is final her ex-husband stirs up trouble yet again.

Would Stephanie and her new friend become an item or would all the trouble from her ex-monster have him packing his bags and running? Would Stephanie finally be awarded full custody of her son or would her ex sabotage that from ever happening?

Hot Cocoa, Green Tea, And the Man Who Sweetened My Heart, is a compelling story of love, fear, hatred and self-transformation with a touch of humor, intimacy and a hint of the paranormal.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Emerging Edge Publishing
• Release date: Dec 1, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370812516

Book preview

Chapter 1

So This Is My Life?

Please stop following me. I stated as I sat down on a chair in the kitchen. As usual, he didn’t listen to me. He kept going on and on about how I should go and find a man that makes me happy. He commanded me to go and file for a divorce, something he did every couple of days. I was in no mood for his harassment today. I had been enduring it for nearly twelve years and I was tired of it. I didn’t even have the strength to argue anymore. There was no fight left in me.

This was not the way marriage should be! I hated my life and was completely miserable. I didn’t understand how people from the Church could continue to tell me to stay in this hell. They kept telling me to pray that God change me to love this man for who he is and to see him through God’s eyes. He was a monster…a manipulative, hateful beast. And they had the nerve to tell me to stay with him and to love him?

He sat down on the kitchen chair across from me and continued to throw hateful comments my way. I was his punching bag, both physically and emotionally. How much more can one woman take? Finally, after hearing him rant, yell and command for what seemed like an eternity, I decided to speak out. You know what? Maybe it is time for me to move the hell on. As soon as the words slipped out of my mouth, rage took over his face. His eyes became dark and cold. His skin turned bright red and his jaw clenched tightly. I knew this look all too well. Things were about to get ugly. He jumped up off the chair to his feet. He stomped over to me, grabbed me, shook me and then punched me in my mouth. I fell out of the chair and onto the ground in complete shock, fear and pain. He again grabbed me by my arms and threw me back onto the chair where I was seated prior. He then began to punch me on my arms and chest and slap me in my face. He continually yelled out profanities and told me he wanted me to die. He told me to, Go, bitch, go, as he squeezed my face with his hand. Each punch and each slap echoed in my head. One after another, I remember wondering when it was going to end. Was this psycho going to kill me?

He weighed a good one hundred pounds more that I did. But, my legs have always been strong. I took my legs and managed to push him away from me. After the struggle of my life, he moved away and stomped into another room. I began to panic. It was as if I couldn’t get any air into my lungs. My chest burned and my body shook. At that moment, I felt like I was going to die. Power rose up within me. I would not die and give this man the satisfaction! I have a son to live for. My sweet son Ray’s face flashed in my mind and before my eyes. Tighten up, I scolded myself. It is time to be strong and make a better life for yourself and your son. I commanded my breathing to come back to normal. I made my way to the bathroom and looked in the mirror at my scratched face, neck and chest and said, You’re better than this. It was at that moment, I decided the marriage was completely over. I took off my wedding set and dropped it on the bathroom counter. This was the final straw.

There were many other times when I endured physical abuse from this man. There were altercations over the entire marriage. They started out small, like him throwing a plate at me or a shoe. Then, they got a little worse. He started pushing me from behind and punching me in the legs so no one else could see the bruising. I thought if I kept praying things would get better. After all, this is what I was taught. But then, he started to control my every move: where I went, who my friends were, commanding me to go places I didn’t want to go and do things that I didn’t want to do. Finally, he began manipulating and controlling me using the Bible. He would tell me that God was not happy with me because I was not acting like a godly wife should act. I didn’t know who the heck I was anymore. I was numb.

That day, I decided that a battered and bruised physical body, damaged emotions, and what felt like a broken ankle was not going to keep me from finding happiness. The hunt was on!

Chapter 2

The Exit Plan

I needed to get away, but this man would not let me out of his sight! My only option was to tell my father what was going on. I would take my son and tell this monster of a husband that, We are going to see my family. And that is exactly what I did.

My son was completely unaware of all the abuse I was enduring at home. Now was not the time to fill him in. I told him that we were going on a summer vacation to see his grandfather. He was so excited! And to be honest with you, so was I. I could live in peace for several weeks without being worried about arguing or getting hit.

It had been nearly fifteen years since I stepped foot onto an airplane. My ten-year-old son had never flown before. It was like the first time for both of us and that made the flying part of the trip special. For the first time in years I felt peaceful. We took pictures of ourselves on the airplane and actually had a fun time together. The trip was scheduled for three weeks, if I even decided to return home at all.

We flew into the city airport and my dad was there waiting for us as we stepped off the plane. I was so happy to be there and away from the tension and isolation back home. I didn’t know what this trip had in store for us, but I felt like it was going to be something great. How was it going to be great, you may ask? I didn’t know. I just knew that something good was going to come out of it.

As we pulled into the driveway, there was a little boy who also looked to be about ten years old waiting there for us. Well, he was waiting for my son. The neighbors had a son named Michael and my dad shared with him that his grandson was coming for a visit. The little boy was so excited that he waited outside for us to get there! After getting our luggage inside of the house, the boys wanted to go swimming at Michael’s house. So, I walked over to meet his parents. Little did I know that Michael’s mom, Lindy and I would hit it off and wind up becoming the best of friends.

Over the next three weeks, the boys were together non-stop. They were in our pool, in their pool, playing basketball and video games. One night they slept at our house another at Michael’s house. It was truly an amazing vacation for my son, Ray.

Me, I decided to take this time alone to find myself again. I was once a fun, vibrant and outspoken woman. I had an opinion about life. I knew what I wanted to do, I went for it and I achieved it. Now, not so much. I no longer have a voice. I have become a drone…a punching bag. I felt a burning desire to change this. Find my voice and my strength again and become a better me. It was time to stop devoting every spare thought and spark of energy to religion and focus on all aspects of life. Lindy helped me so much over those three weeks. Not only was she my friend, she was my counselor. She listened and gently guided me back onto my path. I started running again and began to feel good about Stephanie, physically and emotionally. All in all, it was an amazing trip, a life changing trip and having some fun in the sun certainly didn’t hurt either!

~~~

I was ready to tackle anything! I was ready to fly back home and put together an exit plan. I was no longer going to be controlled. I was going to take control of my life and pursue the happiness I know I deserve.

We arrived to the airport and Ray’s dad met us there. He came with flowers in hand for me. It meant absolutely nothing to me. He was a day late and a dollar short. This boat had already sailed.

He spent weeks trying to manipulate me into thinking he had changed. But, I knew better. Sure enough, after three weeks, he got upset with me and picked me up by my arms and threw me off of the couch onto the floor. This time, I not only had bruises on my arms from his fingertips, I had bruising on my butt. I needed out now before I ended up in the hospital or dead.

I began developing my exit plan. My list included:

1. Put Ray into a school with a traditional calendar (So that I could work a full-time job)

2. Find a full-time job

3. Find a place to live

I made several phone calls and found a school that would be perfect for Ray. I set up an appointment for a tour of the school. I would meet with the principal and he would show me around. If I liked it, I would fill out appropriate paperwork and provide a series of documents for them and then boom…Ray would begin attending.

Four days after setting up the appointment, I met with the principal for my tour. I told my husband about the appointment the day of and would not take no for an answer. I needed to do this for me. As it turned out, I liked the school and what it had to offer. It took some time to get all of the documents they needed together so that Ray could begin attending. His scheduled start date was November 1. Now that that is done, I needed to find a job. Having been a stay at home mom for ten years, this may prove to be a difficult task. I thought about exactly what I would like to do. What types of environments I would enjoy. I enjoy baking. I enjoy running. I enjoy reading. I enjoy movies. Oh, and coffee, I love coffee! Is there a job out there for me? Can I really work at a place where I enjoy what I do? I decided that I would start with reading. I would love to work in a book store. Ideally, a bookstore with a café built in.  I did a search online for bookstores in my area. I wrote down the names and phone numbers to stores that sold new books as well as stores that sold used books. All together I found thirty-two stores!

My husband kept me locked inside the house to run our business for ten years. I have always wanted to go and work outside of the home, but was not allowed. Now, I am going to go ahead and get a job and tell him about it afterwards.

I put together a resume for myself and then began making phone calls to the book stores I had listed. After calling five stores, two of the five told me that they were looking for help and to stop by with my resume and to fill out an application. For the time being, I stopped making calls and decided that the next day I would get all dressed up and deliver my resume to the two stores that were looking for help.

Black pants, a white blouse with a black belt and black dress boots were my attire for the day. I fixed my hair by curling it up with the curling iron, put on my makeup and finished off my professional look with butterfly earrings that Ray gave me as a birthday gift and a matching ring. Look out world I was ready to find a job!

I stepped inside of the first book store and walked directly up to the counter. I told the lady that I had called about a job opening and that I was dropping off my resume. She kindly took it from me and said she would give it to Mandy, the store manager. I thanked her and walked out to my car. When I got into my car, I made a note on my phone to call the next day and ask for Mandy. The next store was about a fifteen-minute drive from where I was. I plugged the address into the GPS and drove over. Resume in hand, I stepped inside and again walked to the