SPRING GARDEN By N.J. WEEKS

SPRING GARDEN Tucked in the suburbs of South Jersey lived a family just like all others except Jean Moore was a battered women. She never dreamed that living your dream meant fighting for your life. Her family meant everything to her and she wanted to be a good wife and mother, but no matter what she did was good enough for her husband Joseph.

Joseph Moore grew up watching his mother being knocked around and his father telling him that's what you have to do every now and then. He thought that would help him keep her but it only helped her to leave. He loved his wife and kids and didn't want to let them go, but he didn't know how to keep them either. He would rather kill her then let some other man have his wife, but he had no choice. She was always the kind of women that never had a problem of speaking her mind and found her daughter Meagan just like her. But she managed to let this man silence her. How could she let him have so much control over her. Did she love him that much or herself that much less? She tried to keep quiet and keep her thoughts to herself. If he knew he would kill her she felt.

Jean felt she was trapped and didn't know how to find her way out. After ending up in the hospital twice she knew she had to do something or this man was going to kill her. She never wanted to involve any of her family and she only had one friend outside of her daughter Meagan. Her friend Kim was a lawyer and probably would be able to help but her mother always told her to keep herself to herself. She knew if she didn't break this cycle her son would grow up just like his father and become like him. Through her struggles she would almost loose her life. Jean had to learn to love herself before she could let someone else in her life. Soon she would find that someone special would be waiting on the side. She would soon find that Detective Steven Vance was all she needed. Steven never rushed her or put any pressure on her. He knew he could have any women he wanted but he wanted her. From the first time he saw her all battered and torn he still wanted her. He saw through it all. He saw that there was something worth loving even if it didn't look like much now. After she healed he saw it was all worth the wait. She was able to reunite with her family that Joseph had kept her from. Even though it was too late for her and her father. Her father died and left her a home in a place called Spring Garden. He knew there she would be able to rebuild her life and start anew. Spring Garden is the one place she always felt safe, and found it was the best place to start the rest of their new life in a new way. Joseph would try to win his wife and family back one last time. Instead of him finding his wife ready to run back into his arms she was ready to fill those of Steven Vance.