Three is a crowd: What next for Diane? 

(Continued from last week)

David and Diane have been married for years; then there is Julie, the young secretary whose axis collides with the couple’s in ways none of them saw coming.

JULIE

Although me calling David out on the amount of influence his wife had over him got things a bit awkward between us, I could tell that a lot of what I had said had registered with him.

So, having gotten my point across, I was happy to drop the subject and by the end of the night, we had smoothed things over and were back to just enjoying each other and the weekend.

After breakfast the next morning, we walked down to the beach; a new experience for Junior who fell in love with playing in the sand, while David and I lounged on a mat beside him, simply enjoying the view and the gentle lap of the waves on the shore.

David had had the kitchen pack us a picnic, and as we watched Junior and the lake, we ate and talked, keeping the conversation on safe ground with topics like how fast Junior was growing, how good the service at the resort was, his work and my family.

The peacefulness of the day was only interrupted by his phone ringing incessantly, and then a series of messages; he did not answer either the calls or the texts, but from how many there were, and the dark frown that crossed his face when he read the messages, I guessed they were from his wife, and from his reaction, probably not of the lovey-dovey kind either.

“Is everything alright?” I asked kindly, after the third or fourth message came in.
“Uhm, yeah, just work stuff, but it’s not important,” he answered dismissively, and as though to emphasize his point, turned off his phone.

I knew he was lying; I also knew it did not matter. He had kept his word and not let his wife interrupt his time with Junior and me, and to me, that meant much more than one small white lie.

DAVID

After all the years Diane and I had been married, I knew she could get a little crazy, especially where Julie was concerned, but never in a million years would I imagine that she would go as far as calling my job over what was a personal issue.

That she had gone that far infuriated me, especially since she had quit her job and I did not see a coin from her shares in the boutique (which I had paid for); so, it was solely my job that provided for our family.

Not that her lack of contribution to the running of the home overly bothered me, for even when she was working, I had still handled most of the family’s expenses, so I was already accustomed to the simple reality that Diane’s money was hers, and mine was the family’s.

What was really grating on my nerves was that she would in any way jeopardize that income, when it was used for our mutual benefit. I wanted to call her back, ask her if she had lost her mind and let her know just what I thought of her actions; but at the same time, I knew that part of my indignation and desire to strike back was in actual fact fueled by guilt and embarrassment at having been caught with my hand in the cookie jar.

I knew that for the moment, no response was the best response. Besides, Julie’s claims from the previous night that I was ‘controlled’ by Diane were still fresh in my mind, and this was the perfect opportunity to disprove them; I would handle and deal with Diane when I got back to the house on Monday. Until then, I would focus on the here and now with Julie and Junior.

DIANE

I tossed and turned for most of the night, my mind cruelly creating images of David with that whore, and by the time the morning dawned, I was physically exhausted and emotionally drained.

What hurt the most was the blatant disrespect of his actions; that he had not even bothered to respond to any of my messages and at least try to deny my accusations showed he did not care how I felt or what I thought, and that stung deep.

We might not always have had the perfect marriage; we argued over how we raised the children, money, our families, basically all the things most married couples argued about, but through that all, we had always maintained a basic degree of mutual respect.

We both came from good, respectable families, had attended good schools and had good jobs, and so if nothing else, that alone set a certain standard for how we regarded or treated each other – a standard that he was now ignoring.

The question now was what I did about it; I could do what I would normally do, which was throw a tantrum the minute he got back, then sulk and give him the cold, silent treatment until he made it up to me, but he had just demonstrated that he did not care how I felt, so that probably would not work.

Alternatively, I supposed I could threaten to take the children and leave him if he did not end the affair; while I was not too sure of David’s love for me at the moment, I was sure of his love for his children. There was a chance that might work.

Besides that, although he obviously did not care if I knew he was messing around, I knew he would not want the rest of the world knowing his business, which they would if I left.

However, the truth was, this was a threat I knew I could never actually carry out, for ultimately it was a two pronged sword; just like I knew David would not want the world knowing his business, I did not want them knowing mine either, for ironically, even though it was David who should be ashamed of the affair, I was equally embarrassed by it.

I did not want people gossiping about how I had lost my husband to a nobody, nor did I want to feel like I had failed at marriage, and I knew that was exactly what would happen if I left.

margaretwamanga@yahoo.com