Chapter 28
28
DEE
Friday
‘What a bloody cheek!’ Dee said, exasperated, staring at the text message Nigel had just sent her.
‘Nigel?’ Babs guessed.
‘You’ve got it! He wants me to get some things from the shops for him and to make sure his new blue and white pinstriped shirt is clean and ironed as apparently we have a function to go to on Saturday evening. “Wear your long royal-blue dress”, he’s added, “you always look good in that”.’ She could feel the anger rising in her. ‘He’s acting as if nothing has happened. There’s no “how are you, how’s your week been, did you have a good birthday, safe journey home, would you mind doing this for me?”, is there?’ She tossed her phone down onto the cushion in annoyance.
Babs raised an eyebrow questioningly. ‘I take it that you haven’t confronted him about his “holiday companion” yet?’
‘No, but I’m sure Yvonne has made it clear that I know.’ Dee picked up the phone again and started texting a reply. She didn’t think that Nigel would be happy to hear that she wasn’t coming home tomorrow and wouldn’t be picking up anything from the shop or going to the evening function with him.
He wasn’t. Two minutes after she had texted:
No.
Nigel phoned.
‘Don’t answer it,’ Babs advised, but Dee had already hit the button out of habit. She always answered Nigel’s calls. She put him on speakerphone.
‘Look, Dee, you have to be back?—’
She listened, waiting patiently for a pause in his tirade then replied. ‘I don’t have to do anything I don’t want to do. I’m not coming home and that’s final. Why don’t you ask your new girlfriend to run your errands for you?’
There was a stunned silence. Dee could imagine Nigel’s astonished face, his jaw dropping, his eyes widening. His mind would be whirling, trying to think of a way of talking himself out of this. Babs gave her a thumbs up.
‘I don’t know what Yvonne has been telling you, but she’s got it all wrong. We met two women golfers and went sightseeing with them a bit, that’s all. We tried explaining it to Yvonne yesterday, when she arrived and caused a scene.’
Dee could imagine Yvonne storming furiously in and berating them both. She took no prisoners. She glanced at Babs who rolled her eyes.
‘Save your lies, Nigel, I’ve seen the photos and the video, you did a lot more than sightseeing.’
‘It’s not what you think, Dee. I’ll explain when I get home.’
‘Don’t bother, because I really don’t care. If you want someone else, you can have them. I’m staying here until I decide what to do.’
‘Staying where? What do you mean? You’re leaving me?’ He sounded incredulous.
‘I’m divorcing you, Nigel. Goodbye.’ She ended the call and took a deep breath.
Babs clapped. ‘Wow, you really told him. Good for you.’
Dee looked pale but resolved. ‘I can’t believe I’ve told him I’m divorcing him! I am though. I’m sick of his selfishness and I’m not standing for him cheating on me any longer. Hopefully I’ll be able to find somewhere else to rent when Edna returns home. It will get easier once summer is over, I should be able to get a winter let.’
‘Of course you will! You can come and stay with me and Geoff if you’re stuck,’ Babs offered.
‘Thank you, but I’ll sort something, I’m sure I can get a room in a B&B if nothing else.’ She’d take whatever she could find until the divorce was sorted out. There was no way she was going back to Nigel she thought determinedly. Another message pinged in and she automatically glanced at her phone. Nigel again. What did he want now?
I can’t believe that you’re leaving me after all the years we’ve been together because of a bit of malicious gossip.
She could imagine his lip curling, the tight, cold expression on his face as he wrote it.
Well, stay there if you want, you’ll soon miss your house and the luxury lifestyle I’ve provided. I’ll give you another week to think things over. If you haven’t returned by then, I’ll be divorcing you!
She read it out to Babs.
‘The slimeball. I hope you take him for every penny you can. You put so much into that marriage and he wouldn’t be where he was without you,’ Babs said furiously. ‘I still think you should stay in the house though. It is your home, too, after all. Why should you have to walk away from everything? He might say that you deserted him. Remember that Nigel’s a solicitor,’ she warned her. ‘He knows how to play the game.’
‘He’s also very persuasive.’ And condescending. And knew how to make her feel as if she was being stupid, overreacting. ‘I need some space to get my head straight. And I’ll get a solicitor too. Nigel won’t be able to get out of paying me what I’m entitled to.’
She was outraged and deeply hurt by his behaviour. The fact that he denied he’d done anything wrong made things worse. Why couldn’t he man up and admit it? But then he never had before until he was forced to, had he? And then there was always some excuse for his infidelity, and it was usually – according to him anyway – Dee’s fault.
As soon as Babs had packed, Dee drove them both home. She saw Babs’ face darken when she saw the ‘For Sale’ notice outside their house. Geoff must have been watching for them because he came straight out to greet Babs, hugging her tight. ‘I’m so glad you’re back.’ He pointed to the sign. ‘We’ll take it down when we return from Spain, if you decide you definitely don’t want to go.’
‘You bet you will,’ Babs said emphatically.
They both asked Dee in for a drink but she politely refused, thinking that they needed some time alone to sort out their marriage. And she wanted to get back to her house, grab her things and return to Port Telwyn. She didn’t want to stay long enough to have second thoughts. She had to be strong.
* * *
Parking her car in the drive, she stepped out and looked at the detached house with the wide picture windows and separate double garage that had been her home for many years. Nigel had chosen it, but she had loved it too. It was large, spacious, with a generous front and back garden. Ideal for a family to grow up in. They had some happy years here. Some sad ones too, she acknowledged, remembering the times she’d struggled to hold it together when Nigel had another one of his affairs, the nights she’d nursed a sick child alone while Nigel had been in a hotel on the other side of the world. Or out at a business meeting. She’d believed him then, well at least tried to. Her focus had been on holding her family together, protecting their children. Now there was no one but herself to consider and she’d had enough.
Shoulders back, she walked determinedly to the front door and put her key in the lock. Pushing it open she saw a small pile of letters on the carpet. Stooping down to pick them up she closed the door behind her and sifted through them. Half a dozen birthday cards, a note informing her that Royal Mail had tried to deliver a package, maybe the one Nigel had wanted her to go home and collect – and a couple of letters for Nigel. Then she remembered that Hugh had told her he’d posted her a present so she put the note in her handbag, along with the birthday cards, intending to collect the parcel before returning to Cornwall. She left Nigel’s letters on the small hall table and headed straight into the kitchen to make herself a drink. Everything was exactly as she had left it, of course, as no one had been home. She glanced out of the window at the large garden with its neatly mowed lawn, colourful flowerbeds, the ornamental fountain in the middle, and the decked area to the right. Perfect for entertaining. She’d lost count of the times she’d spent all day cooking then the evening hosting Nigel’s friends or clients. In the summer they’d sat out in the garden, on cooler days they’d used the dining room. She’d always made sure everything had been perfect, the house and garden immaculate. If she’d succeeded, Nigel would put his arm around her when the guests had gone, tell her that she’d done well, kiss her on the cheek, even help her tidy up and stack the dishwasher. If she’d done something to displease him, he would retreat into his study, leaving her to tidy up, then go to bed alone.
She made a filter coffee, wanting to savour these last few moments in the house that had been her home for so many years. Sipping it slowly, she made a list of the things she wanted to take with her. The family photo album, her memory box containing paintings the children had done, their school records, cards they’d made for her, the craft box her parents had bought her that she hadn’t used for years, her laptop, her jewellery box containing her great grandmother’s ruby brooch. She went up to fetch the jewellery box, sitting down at the table with it and her coffee. She took out the brooch and placed it in the palm of her hand. Her mother had always told her that it was valuable and to guard it carefully. She’d get it valued at the garden party tomorrow, hopefully it might be worth enough to enable her to rent a cottage when Edna returned, just until the divorce settlement came through.
Divorce.
She sat for a few minutes mulling over the word, taking in the enormity of what she was doing. She was walking away from her marriage of thirty-five years, their family home, and starting afresh. It was a daunting prospect. There had been happy memories here as well as sad ones, especially in the earlier years of their marriage. Their children had grown up here, the house had been filled with the sounds of the children’s laughter once. She and Nigel had loved each other once. Well, at least she had loved him. She had no idea if he had ever really loved her, or had simply seen her as an asset. They had muddled along, but had there ever really been a strong connection? She had never felt that Nigel loved her more than anything in the world, his love had always been conditional on how well she ‘behaved’, how tidy she kept the house, how she played the part of the dutiful wife.
She shook her head. Maybe she was being unkind, dismissing all their years together so lightly, but certainly over the past decade they had grown further and further apart, she could see that now. She had, God willing, twenty or more years to enjoy her life, and she wasn’t going to waste them being a doormat for Nigel. She was going to build a new life for herself, one where she could be who she wanted to be. She was tired of dancing to his tune, she wanted to live her life her way. Scary as it was, and she had no idea what she would do, but she knew that she had made the right decision. Her marriage to Nigel was over.
She finished her drink, put the cup in the dishwasher, picked up her list and went upstairs to pack.