11. Ophelia #2
“But that didn’t make it hurt any less,” Antonio surmises, and I nod.
“I couldn’t even bear the thought of trying again.
My husband, in the meantime, met Rebecca.
I never knew about her because we didn’t talk about who we were seeing with each other, but I had a feeling he’d met someone because he seemed lighter.
” I let out a sigh. “Then he started going on business trips every weekend. Haywood was the CEO, so he had to do a fair amount of travel, but never every single weekend. I started to get annoyed.”
“And this is when you were mourning the loss of Mark?”
“Yes. There was that but also the fact he wasn’t seeing the kids as much.
Then one Friday I took the kids to school, and before I even got back home, my phone rang.
Helix had vomited, so I headed back to pick him up.
He was burning up with fever, but I figured it was just the virus that had been going around.
Phoenix had it the week before and was better by the next day, so I prepared myself for a day of cuddles and Gatorade. ”
Antonio can sense my anxiety and rests his lips against my forehead as I forge on, my heart still hammering when I think about how sick my little boy was, even though that was years ago.
“I couldn’t get him to hold down even a single sip of liquid. Every time he would drink, it would come right back up within five minutes. Poor baby was miserable, so I took him to the doctor. He was showing signs of dehydration and they decided to admit him to the hospital.”
“Shit. Was your husband out of town again?” Antonio asks.
“He was. I called him immediately and asked him to cancel the rest of his weekend and come home. I arranged for a sitter to pick up the other boys from school, but I needed Haywood to stay with them that night.”
Antonio goes rigid beside me. “Don’t tell me he refused,” he asks tightly.
“No, not at all. He was just as worried as I was. But imagine my surprise when he showed up to the hospital an hour later instead of in the evening.” I let out a long breath. “He wasn’t actually in Chicago like he said he would be. He was across town with Rebecca.”
“Fuck. So he’d been spending every weekend with her and pretending to go out of town?” Antonio surmises.
I nod against his neck. “Yes. I was shocked when he showed up looking guilty as hell, but I didn’t bring it up right then. Helix was sick and deserved all our attention.”
“But I’m assuming you discussed it later.”
“We did,” I say with a chuckle, remembering my ire. “I went on a rant of epic proportions, chewing him out for lying. And that’s when he dropped the bomb on me. He’d fathered another child with her. A little girl.”
“Perri,” Antonio fills in.
“Yes. And she was a year old by then, so he’d been hiding that little secret for quite a while.
He was pretending to go out of town every weekend, so he could spend time with his daughter.
” I unclench my jaw, which always tightens when I think about receiving that news.
“I couldn’t exactly fault him for falling for Rebecca because I’d done the same with Mark.
What angered me was the duplicity. And, of course, his carelessness at getting another woman pregnant since that was against our agreement. ”
“I always assumed he cheated outright; I had no idea about your agreement to open your marriage. But knocking up another woman… damn.” Antonio pulls me closer, and I lean into his warmth and strength. “I can’t imagine how that made you feel, darlin’.”
“It was incredibly painful. He knew how I felt about not being able to have another baby, and then he went off and had one with someone else. I felt… left behind. That’s the best way I can explain it.
” I rub a hand up and down Antonio’s back.
“I asked for a divorce, and he granted it to me. It’s something we should have done years before, but we were both hanging onto that this is what’s best for the children thread. ”
“Until he set that thread on fire,” Antonio says, his voice bitter on my behalf, which I appreciate.
“Agreed. I can look back now and see that we both played a part in the downfall of our marriage. We both took other lovers when we should have just split up and let the lawyers hash out all the business details in court. Haywood did take it a step too far and lied about it, so that part is totally on him, but I should have let the marriage go long before that even happened. My parents were Catholic and staunchly against divorce, so I guess that bled into my decision a bit.”
Antonio gives me a squeeze. “I’m so sorry that happened to you, love. Would you mind if I asked a kind of delicate question?”
Looking up at him, I frown. “I’m not sure what could be more delicate than everything I just told you, but sure.”
“You seem to have a good relationship with Perri. When I’ve been around you two during holidays, you two always seem very friendly. I was just wondering how that happened since she was the result of Haywood’s… indiscretion.”
My lips curve into a soft smile. “It was difficult at first. Haywood and Rebecca got married, as you know, and the boys went to their house most weekends. Then Phoenix came to me one day and said Remington wasn’t nice to their little sister.
I think she was about three then. So I talked to Remi about it.
He was a teenager and old enough to realize Perri had been born out of wedlock and before our divorce, so he thought he was being loyal to me by ignoring her. ”
Antonio smiles fondly. “That sounds like him.”
“I felt like shit. None of this was that little girl’s fault, and I didn’t want my son to be a bully to her.” I let out a long sigh. “I realized I needed to be a better example because, like it or not, that was his sister.”
“What did you do?”
“I called Haywood and told him I’d like to take Perri to the zoo with the boys and me.
” Antonio’s lifted eyebrows reveal his shock.
“I know. Haywood was surprised too, but he understood once I told him why. He talked it over with Rebecca, and they decided it would be fine. We ended up having a fun day. Of course, I talked to Remi about it a lot, but I also showed him that I had nothing against the child and that Perri was in no way to blame for our divorce.”
Antonio shakes his head. “That was an amazing thing for you to do, Ophelia.”
I lift one shoulder in a shrug. “It wasn’t so bad.
Perri was so damn cute and energetic it was hard not to love her.
You know Remi is stubborn, so it took him a little bit to warm up, but I just kept at it.
I started inviting her over about once a month to swim, and a couple times we had tea parties while the boys played video games.
It was nice to have a little girl around and not just a bunch of smelly boys. ”
Rubbing his nose against mine, Antonio says, “You have a beautiful heart, darlin’.”
I rest my hand on his chest, the skin warm beneath the crinkly hair. “So do you. Have you ever been in love before?” I’m not sure what made me blurt that out, but I wish I could take the words back when I see his face fall. I rush to add, “It’s okay. We don’t have to talk about it.”
Antonio stares at me for a long, tense moment before offering a wan smile. “You shared your story with me; it’s only right I tell you mine.”