Susan Braccio-Gannette

Susan and Frankie Braccio were from Boston. They were high school sweethearts. She was a cheerleader and he was a football player. They had a very rocky relationship and he would often get drunk and beat her up, but would always be sweet and apologize the next day. Every girl in school wanted to be with him and she was jealous of all the attention he got, so she thought she was a fool to even consider letting him go. When he was not angry, he was such a romantic person, quite loving. When he was angry he could be quite brutal and would sometimes even rape her.

Frankie was supposed to get a full college scholarship to play ball. Things were looking bright until Susan told him she was pregnant. His parents found out and insisted he did the right thing and get married. The college board found out about the situation and on moral grounds rescinded his scholarship and position on the team. After they were married, he started drinking heavily and working on a construction job he hated. He took his anger out on Susan almost every night. One night he beat her so badly that she lost the baby. To cover his deed, he said she was hit by a car that ran off in the middle of the night. Susan went along with the story, but claimed not to know any details about the hit and run, so they wrote it off as amnesia and no one came forth as a witness to the supposed crime, so it went in the cold case files.

To get a fresh start, Frankie decided they should move somewhere and start over. He was fired from construction and worked as a trucker. That led him to a trip to deliver goods to a small town in Kensington Falls. He told Susan about it and they decided to move into an apartment until they could afford a home.

Frankie would be gone for about a week at a time and stay home a few days after. Susan had peace while he was gone, but had to deal with a tired and cranky husband when he returned. Often Frankie would get drunk at the bar nearby and she would have to send for him to take him back home. When Frankie was gone for long periods of time, she sometimes got really lonely and decided to visit the bar. That was where she met Donnie.

When Frankie was out of town, she would be at the bar just to be with Donnie. When Frankie came home, she had to put up with the abuse. Eventually Donnie figured out one of his regular heavy drinkers was beating up his friend and he did not like it much. He started to cut him off early before he got too drunk so he would take it easy on her. It stopped him somewhat, but every now and then he would make up for lost time and give her the beating of a lifetime. Susan showed up at Donnie's trailer when he was not at the bar once after he raped her just so she had someplace safe to stay. Frankie did not know where she was hiding and he protected her. Soon this hideout became a regular spot and the two of them had an affair.

Susan found out she was pregnant, but had no idea who the father would be. Frankie would often rape her when he was home, but she had a sweet affair with Donnie on a few occasions. She told Frankie about it and he was not happy demanding she got an abortion. When Donnie found out about it he did not want it to be raised in that home and recommended she got an abortion. Susan did not want to take that option and despite the nagging from the men in her life, she decided to carry it to term.

Frankie would still beat her from time to time, but backed off as the people he knew from the bar heard of his reputation for beating his pregnant wife and they threatened to beat him. One day someone seemed to make good on that threat. Frankie was found behind the bar on Michigan street with no identification or money on him. The police wrote it off as a mugging and no witnesses came forth to verify anything happened. When it came to crime on Michigan street, the police would ignore cases where no one was talking because usually there was more trouble than they could handle in a small town jail.

As a widow and expectant mother, Susan had no job and could not afford the rent. She tried to make arrangements to move back home with her parents, but the house they lived in mysteriously burned to the ground and they had no insurance coverage. Donnie came to her rescue and took her in. Frankie had some insurance at work and when he found out she was pregnant made out a will to stipulate all the insurance money would go to their child if something happened to him. If the baby did not belong to him, the money would go to Frankie's mother. So when Teena was born, she put down Frankie as the father and that was the official story she told everyone, although she was never quite sure. And with government benefits going to Teena over the loss of a parent, it helped make ends meet.

Susan worked at the bar with Donnie and helped him run things, but over time both of them started using the drugs they were selling. By the time Teena was four, they were junkies barely functioning. They could still run the bar and sell drugs, but they were far less effective in doing it and could barely make a profit. Teena was often left on her own to feed herself and get ready for school. Susan was grateful to have such a good daughter who would wash the dishes, do the laundry and cook simple meals for her and Donnie when they were not up to it.