chapter 20
1045 Words
Klara parked up outside her house. Judging by the lights, Tony was upstairs. She had rehearsed what she was going to say during the journey home. The drive wasn't long enough so she drove around the block four times to practice some more. Eventually she realised that there was no perfect way to tell her husband that she'd been sleeping with another man. She looked at herself in the mirror and reluctantly left the car, entering the house as though being quiet would help the situation.
"Tony?" she called. There was no answer so she headed upstairs to find him.
She opened the door to the bedroom and found him on the bed listening to music.
"Oh hey baby," he took his headphones off, "you're home." he patted the space on the bed next to him and smiled. Klara climbed onto the bed and he wrapped his arms around her. He kissed the top of her head and turned the TV on.
"How was it? Did you guys talk it out?"
"Yeah," Klara replied, "we did."
"That's my baby girl," Tony smiled, "love you so much..."
Klara couldn't do it any more. The tears flew down her cheeks and she sobbed like a baby.
Tony immediately sat up to look at his wife.
"What's wrong?" he asked her, holding her head in his hands.
"Tony," she blubbed, "I'm so sorry, I've been the worst wife. I've ruined everything! I'm so sorry, I really am. I don't even know how it happened, I tried to end it..."
"Is this anything to do with Marcus from your office?" Tony asked, looking like he already knew the answer.
Klara looked at him in total surprise. Does he know about the affair? She didn't know what she was supposed to do. How could he know?
"I take that as a yes," Tony answered for her, "I suspected something was going on but I wasn't sure. I didn't want to be right. But when I saw him at our anniversary dinner, it confirmed everything."
Klara was blown away,
"H..how?" she stuttered.
Tony let out a long breath. He had long suspected it but learning it was true was devastating. He loved Klara more than anything.
"There were a few signs here and there," he told her, "you changed. You seemed like your mind was always somewhere else, you seemed distracted and sometimes sad. I thought maybe it was pressure at work but, when we went to your work Christmas party, I noticed you introduced me to the whole team, apart from Marcus. I didn't think anything of it at first, I thought maybe you just don't like him. But then I caught you both sending each other looks all night when you thought no one else was looking. He was constantly looking at you and you kept staring at him."
Klara looked down. She remembered that night. That was just 3 weeks after the first time they slept together.
She had purposely ignored him all night thinking it would be less obvious. How wrong was she? Tony had noticed.
"There's been lots of little things," he continued, "but at the anniversary dinner, he stroked your hand at the bar and you almost relaxed enough to smile and stroke him back. Your eyes followed each other around the restaurant and, on top of that, he kissed you."
Klara gasped and her head shot up. How did he know that? How did he know any of this?
" I saw. " Tony answered as if he heard her thoughts. "I saw everything. I wanted to watch how you interacted with each other. I watched and I acted clueless, like I'd drank more than I should have so your guard was down."
Wow. It had worked. They thought Tony was drunk and wouldn't notice if they were a little bit more friendly than normal. They didn't think he'd notice that they had bumped into each other outside while both going for a smoke.
She had forgotten her lighter and Marcus had offered to light her joint for her. He stepped in front of her and lit the joint that was in between her lips. She took a pull and smiled. He took a step closer still and kissed her lips. Just for a split second. Dumb b***h. Tony had been watching from the window. It took everything in him to not run outside and confront them. There had been enough nonsense with Keiron and his brother. Some anniversary this turned out to be.
"I'm sorry," Klara felt terrible, "I know you must hate me. Why didn't you say you saw me?"
"I don't hate you," Tony sighed, "I f*****g love you, you i***t. I wanted to say something but, I didn't know how to start. Then you were sad and I thought maybe it was over. Is it over?"
Klara nodded, "It is now."
"Okay," Tony looked at her, "we have a lot of work to do but, I'm determined to work through this. You're my wife, I don't want anyone else. We can get through this..."
"I'm pregnant Tony." Klara began to cry again.
Tony raised both his eyebrows.
"I'm assuming you think it's his." Klara didn't answer. She couldn't. How could she?
Tony stood up from the bed. He sighed and put a t shirt on. "where are you going?" Klara asked him.
"I can't be here with you right now Klara," he almost growled, "you slept with someone, okay, but now you might be having their child? That's asking an awful lot of me. I love you but this is a mockery of me and our marriage. We've only just been married for two years. I have to go."
"No!" Klara screamed as her husband walked out of the room and headed down the stairs, "Please, don't go! Please Tony! Please!" she held his hand as he picked up his car keys.
He stopped and looked at her, hurt etched all over his face.
"Please stay here with me," Klara begged, "don't go."
"When did you last sleep with him?" Tony asked.
"About 6 weeks ago." she replied quietly. Tony pulled his hand away and walked out of the house.
Klara fell to the ground and cried in a heap.
- Writer
