Goodbye, My Love

3—The Agreement

 I already knew that it was very unlikely that I was actually going to be able to convince him to stay, but there was a plan forming in my head, a long shot that I would have to take.

“If you stay here tonight, I’ll agree to the divorce.”

He stilled.

Completely.

He was staring at me as if he was waiting for me to burst out laughing, to tell him that I was joking, but I wasn’t. I was serious. I had already known that I wouldn’t have a choice in the end, but if I could actually get something out of it, then why not?

“What did you just say?”

I took a deep breath, trying to build up the courage to repeat myself and what I had just said.

“If you stay here tonight, and accompany me to your grandfather’s funeral, then I will agree to the divorce. I will even sign the papers immediately after the funeral.”

He was still staring at me with those narrowed eyes, like he was waiting for me to tell him that I was taking him for a fool. Was it really that had for him to believe that I would be willing to let go of him? Admittedly, I had been putting up a good fight, but now, I was done. I was tired of fighting. And if spending one night with me, wasn’t enough to remind him of the fact that I was a great person, then I wasn’t going to be the one who missed out on anything.

“So help me god, I am going to kill you if you’re lying to me, Laela. You will keep your word.”

I raised my eyebrows, struggling to believe what I had just heard him say. Had he honestly just threatened my life? For absolutely no reason? Before I could make a comment on it, or say anything to him, he started to take off the clothes that he had put it, carelessly dropping them to the floor.

I didn’t need to ask to know that he was staying.

I couldn’t deny the fact that even though his statement had caught me off guard, I still felt a heavy wave of relief upon being able to spend the night with him. I didn’t think that he would agree, but now here we were.

But I should have known that this relief that I was feeling, would be nothing more than short lived. I should have known that asking for a night with my husband, was too much to ask for. Why do I say this? The answer was as simple as it was complicated.

There was a knock on the front door, and as soon as I registered it, my stomach started to turn and knot. No one would come and call on us at this time of the night—no one except for Simone. My heart had dropped into the pits of my stomach, and as Austin made his way to the front door, I couldn’t keep myself from following him. I wanted to see what was going on. I wanted to know who it was that had come to our home at this time of the night.

“Austin.”

My grip on the railing tightened, and I felt myself taking a deep breath, trying to come to terms with the fact that I had been right. Simone was standing on our porch, soaked through from the rain. But it hadn’t even been raining that much, so how was it possible that she had gotten to this point? It was something that didn’t make sense to me.

And what made the situation so much worse, was the fact that she was wearing a thin dress. If she had known that she was going out, why hadn’t she worn something else? Why hadn’t she worn something that would have provided her with more protection from the elements of the world? She looked miserable, like she was absolutely heartbroken, practically falling into Austin’s arms, her sobs ringing through the air—all the while, I stood here watching what was going on with a heavy heart.

It was as difficult for me to admit, as it was to ignore, that this right here, was the very reason why I hadn’t been able to compare to the lovely Simone. It was because he was in love with her. One phone call from her was enough to send him spiraling, and this was proof thereof. And when he didn’t go to her, it seemed like she was more than willing to go to him.

The tenderness with which he embraced her, was something that I couldn’t help but envy. And what made the situation so much worse, was the fact that he grabbed my coat off of the rack and draped it around her shoulders before guiding her into our house. I could do no more than to stand at the foot of the stairs, watching the scene unfold. It was when he tried to guide her up the stairs that I stepped in front of them, blocking their way.

“Laela, get out of my way!”

“I’ve accepted this affair of yours—since the day we first got married. You promised your grandfather that as long as you were married to me, you would not bring her into our home.”

This was the only place where Austin and I had lived, in the entirety of the two years since we had gotten married. It had always just been the two of us—except on the nights when he would leave me here to go and see Simone. And even though I hated to admit it, I couldn’t deny the fact that those nights had started to amount to more than the nights that he spent here at home, with me. I felt like this was overstepping the boundaries that had kept these two relationships separate, and it was my duty to make sure that he realized that, and that my home was protected from her.

But Austin wasn’t even remotely concerned by what I had said to him—he didn’t even care enough to react to it. Instead, what he did, was carelessly shove me out of the way. I could do no more than to stare at him as he made his way up the staircase, his arm supporting Simone as he did so.

“You seem to misjudge your place here, Laela.”

I considered that to be an ironic statement coming from him.

I could do no more than watch as he led her into the guest room, feeling like an outsider in my own home. I wasn’t a bystander here. I didn’t need to stand out here and pretend that she was welcome here, because she was not. On the contrary, that was not the case. It was far from being the case.

But I also forced to acknowledge the fact that there was nothing that I could do about it now. I had to accept the fact that this was going to be an unsettling evening, and that was all that there was to it.

I made my way up the staircase, and when I found myself passing the guest room, I had no choice but give in to the urge to look inside and see what was going on. As I had pointed out before, Austin had a habit of not closing doors behind him, and that was why I was clearly able to see that he had changed her clothes. He was using a towel to dry her hair in the same manner that I had dried his, and it just proved to me that he viewed it as an act of love.

It was why he insisted on making me do it for him.

I did it to make him feel loved, and he did it to make her feel loved. But who was there to make me feel loved?

I should have known that it wasn’t a good idea to watch them in the way that I did, because all too soon, Austin looked up, his eyes connecting with mine, and I was instantly able to pick up on the fact that he was upset with me. He was upset with the way that I was watching them—but what else was I supposed to do? Just pretend that my husbands mistress wasn’t in our house?

He got up and started making his way to the door, and right before he closed the door in my face, he made a final statement.

“You should go to Monica’s place—sleep there.”

It bothered me that he didn’t once care to acknowledge the fact that this was my house as much as it was his. I knew that my presence here wasn’t very welcome, but the fact of the matter remained that this was my home. The fact that he was telling me to go to Monica, wasn’t helping the situation at all.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the only reason why he was sending me away, was because I was getting in the way of allowing Simone to relax.

Stepping closer to the door so that he would hear what I have to say, I decided to make my final statement and decline his suggestion. He needed to know that I was going to set the boundaries, and I wasn’t about to give in to them.

“I think that I’ll just go back to our bedroom. It’s too late to go and bother Monica with this.”

And with that being said, I walked back to my own bedroom, doing my best to repress the bitterness that was swirling around in my heart. But as I should have known, wanting to have some peace in the midst of all of this chaos, was simply too much to ask for, because there was another knock on the door, and this time, I had absolutely no idea who it may have been.

I made my way down the stairs—quite angrily—and then I resumed to pull open the door, uncaring of the fact that I might be doing it much faster than would be acceptable to whoever it was that was bothering us.

Standing outside of the door, was Colin Payne. He was Austin’s brother, and a certified doctor. And I assumed that he had been contacted to come and check up on Simone. The fact that he had come here so soon, only upset me even more, and I wanted nothing  more than to close the door in his face.

But he was just as wet as Simone was, and I had the impression that Austin wouldn’t be very happy with me when he came to learn that I had turned his brother away.

Or rather, that I had turned away a doctor that could have helped Simone…