Chapter 3

Coming out of the operating room, the allergy on top of the miscarriage had left me utterly drained.

By the time I got home, I could barely stand.

I steadied myself against the doorframe as I stepped inside, and saw the table already covered with dishes.

I stared for a moment. Burton had never cooked before, and here he'd made a whole spread.

Something in me warmed a little. I dragged my exhausted body over to wash my hands and sat down at the table.

Hearing me, Burton came out of the kitchen still wearing his apron.

He looked me up and down and didn't ask how I was recovering.

"Hold on. Don't eat yet."

A question mark flashed through my mind, and then a soft, coquettish voice drifted out from the bathroom off the master bedroom.

"Burton, can you hand me my nightgown?"

The chopsticks dropped from my fingers to the floor.

Burton went to pass her the nightgown, smiling, then came back and warned me under his breath.

"Genevieve's rental is getting torn down, so she's staying with us a few days. Don't give her attitude."

Genevieve walked out of the bathroom,

wearing the new silk nightgown I'd bought for our third wedding anniversary.

My eyes moved over the two of them,

and I didn't so much as blink. I only tugged at the corner of my mouth.

"You bring another woman into my home, let her use my bathroom, wear my nightgown."

"Burton, how can you be this disgusting?"

As if my words had wounded her, tears sprang into Genevieve's eyes.

"I'm sorry, Ursula, I just had nowhere else to go."

"Maybe I should just leave."

She bit her lip, grabbed her suitcase and made a show of leaving,

then swayed on her feet, unsteady.

Burton caught her at once. "Where would you go this late?"

Genevieve lowered her eyes, her voice dropping very low.

"Anywhere is fine. I don't want to upset Ursula."

Burton looked at me, exasperation in his eyes.

"It's just a few days. Can't you stop being so petty?"

My chest went tight.

He'd forced me to drink that lemon tea, I'd had an allergic reaction and lost the baby, he'd marched her into my home like the lady of the house, and now he was turning it around and calling me petty.

I looked at the table full of dishes. Every one of them was spicy.

Burton never ate spicy food. After we got together, I'd cut chili out almost entirely to suit his taste.

And now here he was, cooking a whole table of spicy dishes for another woman.

My lower belly still ached, a sharp reminder that a small life had just left it.

Suddenly I had no interest in fighting him over any of it.

I pushed back the chair and stood.

"I'm done eating. Help yourselves."

He froze, as if he hadn't expected me to give in so easily.

I went back to the bedroom and lay down. Genevieve's soft crying came through the door.

"Burton, Ursula wasn't happy about my promotion, and now she must hate me even more."

"I know I shouldn't have come, but besides you, I don't know who else to turn to."

Burton's voice went very gentle.

"If she's not happy, that's her being small-minded. It has nothing to do with you."

"This is my house. Just settle in and don't worry."

I clutched the blanket, my fingertips tightening bit by bit.

I don't know how long it was before the sound of Burton pushing the door open woke me from a dead sleep.

I propped myself up and handed him the divorce agreement I'd printed on the way home.

He took it and signed without even a glance.

As if he were rewarding me for not making a scene tonight, for not humiliating Genevieve.

"You're not going to read it?"

"No need. Aren't you being good tonight, wife."

He leaned in to kiss me. I covered my belly and turned my head away.

"Don't. I find it filthy."

……