Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 69537 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69537 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
She smiled and took off her sunglasses, tucking them into her lap.
Then she opened her eyes, and I heard the judge inhale.
“Place your right hand here,” Kevin urged as he helped her put her hand onto the Bible.
“Do you swear to tell the truth…” the man standing in front of the stand started.
I watched the judge’s eyes as he studied Bindi.
Yeah, he hadn’t known that she was blind.
How had he missed that in the case notes?
I could tell he thought them disconcerting.
I loved them. They were one of the most beautiful things about her.
But if you weren’t ready for the hazy eyes, they were startling.
Two minutes later, Kevin started in, asking her to explain her relationship with Joseph.
“He was great in the beginning,” Bindi started. “Very attentive, sophisticated and debonair. But as time went on, the more I realized that our social standings were quite different. He also never let me forget it. To be truthful, I’m not sure why I’d accepted his proposal. At that moment in time, I was miserable. But I did. I guess I didn’t think it was too degrading. He was rich and important, and I was a girl that survived on thirty thousand dollars a year from a paramedic degree.”
“Tell us about the day that you were hurt,” Kevin suggested.
Bindi did, telling about how they’d started out driving to the mountain and intending to get an afternoon hike in the moment they arrived.
“It started out strenuous. Joseph and his family are in great climbing shape. They do it all the time. Meanwhile, I’d never been climbing before in my life until I met them,” she said. “Even though I’d been doing hikes on and off for about a year with them, it never got easier. It was like the harder I tried, the harder they tried to push me. That day was like any other climb with them. I was at the end of the pack. Joseph’s sister was already two switchbacks above me. Joseph’s parents were in between Joseph and their daughter. And I was at the back, trying to keep up.”
She took a deep breath and looked at where she assumed Joseph was at his table. “The boulder came out of nowhere. It hit me directly on top of the head, and I fell. I went down so hard that gravel bit into my chin. The pain in my head was instantaneous, and I swear, it was like I blinked. One second I could see, and the next I was blind. I couldn’t see a single ounce of anything. No light. No blurriness. Just instantaneous darkness.”
“What happened after that?” the judge asked.
He looked like a hardass, like he wasn’t quite believing her.
“I pushed myself up, expecting to get my vision back, and it never came.” She hesitated. “I cried out for Joseph’s help, and he laughed and said, ‘Quit being dramatic, Bindi. Get up and keep walking.’”
“And then?” the judge pushed.
Anger was boiling in my gut all over again at the reminder of how I’d found her.
How she’d nearly died in my arms.
“They kept walking and left me there,” she admitted softly.
“And how did you get down the mountain?” the lawyer asked.
She turned to face where she thought I was, and she smiled softly.
“Garrett, my now fiancé, found me,” she whispered. “He and his brother were on a hike. They were in town for a family event. I was screaming for help, and he came.”
The way she looked in that moment, like I was the answer to all her problems, had my heart seizing in my chest.
God, I was thankful every day that I got there in time.
“He carried you down the mountain,” Kevin said.
“Yes,” she answered. “Then got me to the hospital in time for them to fix a massive brain bleed in my head.”
“And after that?” he asked.
“After that, I was paid off by the Harris family. To keep me from bringing a lawsuit against them,” she answered.
“And you never brought one?” Kevin asked.
“No,” she said. “I never intended to.”
She then went on to explain how she’d moved from Albuquerque, found a job and a new home in Texas, and stayed far away from him.
“It was him who followed me,” she admitted. “I’m not sure why.”
“The trespassing order is because he wouldn’t leave you alone?” Kevin asked.
“Yes,” she agreed. “He kept forcing his way into my apartment. Wouldn’t leave when I asked him to. And my fiancé helped me get a trespassing order to help keep him away. When I was going to get a restraining order, he moved into my apartment complex.”
“Isn’t your apartment complex for the blind?” Kevin asked.
“Yes,” she answered. “Actually, my fiancé used to live there as well, but the owner told me that he’d asked all non-blind residents to leave if it was possible. He wanted to make it a super friendly apartment community for the blind so that they would have a safe place to live. He wanted to turn all units into a blind-friendly community where they could live and be comfortable.”