His First Wife

“For how long?”

“Until you call her and tell her she has her job back.”

I wanted to believe she was faking or playing a joke, but I knew by her tone that Aunt Luchie was telling the truth. I couldn’t believe it. How could she just send my maid home?

“Why would you do that?” I asked, trying to remain calm. Now it was clear that my mother and Aunt Luchie did indeed have the same parents. Only these two could pry into other people’s lives without so much as a thought.

“I didn’t get why that girl was here in the first place.”

“I needed her to help me keep the house clean and cook. That’s what she was doing here,” I said.

“Keep the house clean while you do what?”

“I do a lot,” I said, surprised Aunt Luchie was making me defend myself. She’d had a maid her entire life.

“Like what?”

“Help Jamison.”

“He has an assistant. Two from what I can tell.”

“Well, there are some things they don’t know.”

“Please,” she said dismissively. “What else?”

“I also have to keep the house in order. I decorate and I have to take care of Tyrian.”

“You have had that girl here for three years. Tyrian is a little baby. He doesn’t need much. And it isn’t like you’re a working woman.”

“So I need to be a working woman now?”

“Kerry, you need to be doing something. And from how it looks, you’re doing nothing.”

“You sound like Jamison now,” I said. His words were still stinging me.

“What happened to your dreams? You were going to med school. What happened to that?” she asked.

“I don’t know . . . I guess I just didn’t go,” I said simply. But I knew it wasn’t that simple. Jamison was right. Something had happened to me, but I sti

ll wasn’t sure what it was. “I guess I just didn’t care about it anymore. I didn’t want to do it.”

“Well, what do you want to do?”

“I don’t know. I just don’t know.” I was irritated now. Was this suddenly the question of the week or something? “Look, what I do has nothing to do with Isabella’s work here. It’s just how it is. And Jamison approves of it. He likes having her around.”

“And that’s exactly my point,” Aunt Luchie said. “Why would you want some young girl walking around your house, taking care of all the things the lady of the house should do, right in her husband’s face. That woman was feeding, looking after, and entertaining your husband, and you were walking around here like you didn’t have anything to do.”

“But she just makes things easier for us.”

“She could make things really easy for you if she steals your husband.”

“She couldn’t.” I laughed. “He doesn’t see her like that.”

“Hum . . .” She exhaled. “You can say what you will, but I know love and how to break it up. And a sure way to do it is to have another woman caring for your husband. Jamison works hard to give you all of these things you have and all you do is write a check for someone else to pay him back.”

“My marriage isn’t about favors. I don’t have to earn Jamison’s love,” I said. “I don’t have to pay him back for what he does for me.”

“No, baby, you don’t have to do anything in life. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t.”