From Bliss to This

In my wildest dreams, I never expected to find or marry the perfect man. Still, as an American woman who met and married a younger Muslim man, I was ecstatic when I learned I would also travel the world and be immersed in his culture and family life. We shared the most enjoyable adventures I could have imagined. With my husband by my side, I lived in bliss, with love and joy, for twelve years. How suddenly, my new life disintegrated. Our perfect marriage shifted and became my trap. Divorce did not involve separation; that would come twelve intense and painful years later. Fear for my life and well-being compelled me to continue living with him and cooperate through cruelty, heartbreak, emotional torment, and violent threats of physical harm. I endured my new reality at home with his new wife and, later, two children. I learned to cope with more grief and emotional suffering than most women could handle in a lifetime. Our relationship went beyond the believable, but it happened exactly as he'd planned. While his anger and violent personality reigned, I patiently waited for the best time and the one thing that could either kill me or set me free from his deception and power over me.