Profile

Kelly Ann Jensen is a lot of things, as she often jokes – an editor, a mom, a daughter, a big sister, a survivor. She spent most of her life in a loving home, raised by Stewart and Connie Jensen. She was born when her parents were really young, and was the only child for several years, having come along as a surprise. Her parents worked hard to establish themselves before bringing her little sister Zara into the world, and when they decided to try again for another baby, it was years before they were joined by baby brother, Shannon. He was a bit of a miracle himself, and the family couldn’t have been more thrilled to welcome the little boy into the family of girls.

Unfortunately, their joy took a turn for tragedy when a motorcycle accident took their dad from them when Shannon was only two years old. He has no memory of their dad and for many years, Connie was a single mom. That was before she met Max Webster, whom she would later go on to wed. He was a veterinarian, and the entire Jensen family were all avid equestrians. But when Shannon was around 7, Max and Connie were married, and Max adopted Zara and Shannon, but since Kelly was already an adult, he only adopted her in love, not legally. She still adores him for the way that he takes care of her mom and siblings, and for being a second father to her and granddad to her sons.

Sadly, the death of their father would only be the first of multiple tragedies to strike the family. Kelly graduated from NYU with a degree in English, and immediately started working with a publishing company in an internship role. She found that she loved the process of seeing a book through from its early manuscript form to the final stages before publishing. It was a job she was passionate about, and she couldn’t have been happier. It was a year after graduating that she met Arthur “Artie” Mitchell, the well-to-do son of an investment banker, and a whirlwind romance ensued. He wined and dined her at the finest restaurants in New York City, and totally swept her off her feet. His family adored her as hers adored him… all except for Shannon, who just didn’t know how to feel about him. He was always standoffish with Kelly’s boyfriend, and when they got engaged, Shannon was the only member of the family who wasn’t thrilled.

It would prove to make a lot of sense after they got married. They’d both talked about any and everything before marriage, including Kelly’s desire to have kids, but down the road after she was further established in her career. Artie had agreed totally, and told her supported her in her career. But they’d only been married a few weeks when everything changed. He became someone Kelly didn’t even recognize, controlling her every move. Her phone was checked every day, and he even pushed her to cut off contact with her family. The fights grew increasingly more harsh, until the night that Artie first raised his hand to her, leaving her face battered and bruised so that makeup wasn’t enough and she called in to work for the day, claiming to have been in accident on the subway platform and needing a few days to heal up.

Artie’s outbursts would inevitably be followed by apologies, overwhelming kindness, and promises of getting help, and very often would find them in bed together, wrapped up in each other as he apologized to her with his touch, too. This would lead to Kelly becoming pregnant only a few months into her marriage, against everything she’d planned, and Artie pressuring and guilting her into quitting her job to stay home with their child. She finally consented, leaving her job to become a stay at home mom when she was eight months pregnant with her first child, a son she named Stewart for her dad. The great part was having time at home with her baby, who she fell in love with even though she hadn’t been planning to have him so soon, but the worst part was Artie’s power. He was now the sole breadwinner in the home, a fact he made sure she never forgot. Stewart was only 3 months old when she became pregnant again, so unexpectedly that the positive pregnancy test led to her sobbing in the bathroom floor, only to be followed by a pretty brutal beating by Artie when he asked her why the fuck she thought she was too good to have his kids.

Her second child would be a son, too, named Spencer, and Kelly became a shell of the strong, independent woman she’d once been, instead bowing to the whims of an abusive asshole to avoid beatings for herself or her children. She had never experienced fear like this, but she knew without a doubt that she couldn’t find her feet if she left.

It was when she had just become pregnant with her third baby that everything began to unravel with a third family tragedy, when Shannon was thrown from an unbroken horse, and his back was broken. He was left unable to walk, and more than anything, Kelly wanted to be with her family to grieve over her brother’s injury, and support them and him in his new way of life, that required a hell of a lot more help than it ever had before. This led to a lot of anger on Artie’s part, and eventually, she stopped going to Leonia, instead staying in New York City with the twofold purpose of avoiding being beaten herself, and avoiding leaving two small children in the hands of their violent father.

One day while her husband was at work, Kelly got a call from her mom telling her that Shannon was having a really rough day and was asking for her. She was his big sister, the one he’d always reached out for when he was little, and she couldn’t tell him no. So she loaded up two toddlers and took the train as far as she could toward Leonia, to be picked up at the station by Max, who took her to their house. Shannon was so grateful to see his big sister, and his little nephews, and Kelly had been hoping to make it home before Artie did to avoid any altercation and be able to enjoy her time with her family.

Though she did get home before her husband did, she didn’t know that he kept tracking on her iPhone, making it his business to know where she was at any moment. He had a cool calm about him when he arrived home that night, but it wasn’t to last. She had sent the boys to play in the other room while she finished dinner, putting them in their playpen where their toddler escape skills weren’t strong enough to let them out, and was incredibly grateful for it when he asked her what she’d done that day. Her answer had been vague, bringing up playing with the kids, and that was when his anger took over again. He beat her as he’d never beaten her before, leaving her near certain that he was going to kill the baby she was carrying as he screamed at her, asking her where she’d left his sons while she was out fucking around on him. His anger was so high that he told her he was going to kill her this time, that he was going to harm the kids and tell the police that he’d been accidentally killed when he caught her trying to hurt their kids and saved them. She believed him, too. She had no belief, not for a minute, that she was going to survive any of this. In the midst of the whole thing, he told her that he’d gotten her pregnant on purpose, putting holes in all the condoms before they had sex, that she was too stupid to be out working a job anyway, and that keeping her at home, pregnant and raising his children, was the only way to make sure she wasn’t out slutting around on him. Of all the nights that he abused her, this was by far the worst, and she was terrified of what would happen to her sons if she wasn’t here to protect them.

Stewart and Spencer were both crying their eyes out from their playpen when Artie backhanded her and told her to put them to bed. She was left with multiple broken bones, but she still managed to get her babies tucked into bed, praying to whatever the fuck was listening that they’d stay quiet and he wouldn’t hurt them. Once they were in bed, he demanded she come to bed, too, and took her there, unconcerned for her brutally beaten body or her pained sobs before he rolled over and fell asleep. She was absolutely disgusted by his touch, but it was the only way she could think of to get the brute to fall asleep. Despite cracked ribs and a broken wrist, she managed to get the boys and get to the nearest hospital, which was, thankfully, Mt. Sinai, where her little brother had been treated when he was hurt.

Knowing the fear that a woman who’d been so mercilessly beaten by her husband would probably have of men, a kind ER doctor named Riley Bryant referred her case to NYPD and specifically requested Julie Gresham (now Fitzpatrick) and Angela Ashwood to come and speak to her. When all was said and done, she had Artie arrested. Attorney Dani Lorenzi took her case to court, winning her a healthy divorce and damages settlement, and having her husband’s parental rights dissolved so that Kelly could be sure her kids would never have to see that bastard again. Their names have been legally changed to her maiden name, as has her own, and they know nothing of their father. He doesn’t exist to them. Kelly got awarded everything in the settlement, and sold their apartment in New York to move back to Leonia and begin to make up for lost time with her family. Her youngest child, named Franklin, which means “free man,” and was the best name she could imagine for him, was born in the midst of the court cases… both a trial for Artie, and a divorce case. Despite the awful beating she’d taken while pregnant with him, her third son survived, and is a healthy little man, almost a year old now.

There’s still a lot of pain she’s working through, with the help of a therapist, but at the end of the day, she knows that she’s lucky to have survived with her babies, and made it back home to the people who love her most. And though she lives in Leonia, she still spends a lot of time in New York, thanks to a new job as an editor for her old company, where she is the primary editor of Luka Zanardi’s novels. Taking on work again was one of the first steps of taking her life back, and she started it slow, working exclusively from home so she could be with her boys. It’s only been more recently that she’s been comfortable letting her mom babysit so she can go for work days in the City. There have been questions in her mind as to whether she’ll ever try her hand at love again, but at the end of the day, she’s not quite sure, somewhat having given up on the idea after how her last attempt ended.