3: 3

"All you have to do is keep it from the old woman. I'll pay you twenty million in compensation."

At the word "divorce," a flash of panic shot through Solomon's eyes.

Then he slipped on a tender face, stepping close, wiping the tears from the corners of my eyes with the pad of his thumb.

"I'm sorry. This is my fault. I didn't notice you were upset."

"You said it yourself, that you wanted to grow old with me. If you ever bring up divorce again, I really will be angry."

That night, even though Solomon held me close the whole time as I fell asleep,

I still slept badly.

Sure enough, early the next morning, a crowd of uninvited guests barged in.

"Hey, henpecked husband, get over here and kneel to welcome your queen!"

Blanche's voice carried through the whole apartment.

I jolted awake from my dream and found that the man beside me was already gone.

Before she was even through the door, Blanche was complaining about the heat and shrugging off her coat, tossing it carelessly into Solomon's face.

"I'm going to take a shower. You all keep yourselves entertained."

Right in front of me, she hooked her fingers into Solomon's waistband, easy as anything, and dragged him toward the bathroom.

"What are you standing there for? Can't even run the hot water for me. You want a taste of the whip again, is that it?"

Solomon's eyes were full of doting. His hands closed around her slim waist, and he lifted her up as if she weighed nothing, carrying her into the bathroom.

"Look at you showing off, like some little tiger baring its claws. You're about to be somebody's mother. Settle down a little, it's better for the baby."

"Hmph, and you have the nerve to say that. If it weren't for you, I'd have gone to the hospital and gotten rid of it already. It's the whole reason I can't do my belly dancing."

Just before the door shut, Blanche seemed to remember me all at once, twisting free of Solomon's arms and looping her hand through his.

"Oh, you're here too."

"We've all just messed around like this for ages, don't take it personally. Our bathroom's broken, so I came to borrow this one."

She was all smiles on the surface, but her eyes were full of smugness and challenge.

The smile froze on Solomon's face, a trace of irritation showing at the interruption, and he explained to me coldly.

"Today's Blanchie's birthday. A few of us friends made plans to get together. Go to the kitchen and make some nice dishes, and bake a cake too."

With that, he didn't spare me another glance and shut the bathroom door.

The other four men standing in the living room noticed the awkwardness on my face and hurried to smooth things over.

"Sol and Blanche have always horsed around like that. Don't read too much into it."

"Right, and Blanche is tangled up with one of her exes or something. A while back she'd been drinking and started complaining about stomach pain. We took her to the hospital and that's how we found out she was pregnant."

"Sol felt bad for her, pregnant and unmarried, and getting rid of it isn't good for her body, so he offered to take on everything to do with the baby. He even promised to be the child's godfather."

"So really, you should be happy about this. You get to be a mother without any of the pain. What could be better than that?"

4: 4

I tried to force a smile to the corner of my mouth, but even with every bit of strength I had, I failed.

Solomon had told me before we married that he wanted a child-free marriage.

I'd always assumed he just didn't like the noise children made. Turns out he only didn't want the ones I would have.

The kitchen wasn't far from the bathroom. As I washed the vegetables, I could faintly hear the woman on the other side making soft, whimpering sounds.

"Sol, did you skip meals or something? Or did that woman out there wear you out too hard last night, so you've got no strength left? Scrubbing my back feels more like you're just tickling me."

"Don't talk nonsense. I've got no interest in her, you know that."

"Besides, you're pregnant. How would I dare go rough? Stop squirming, it's time to wash your lower half."

The two of them dissolved into playful noise, water splashing everywhere.

Out here, one wall away.

Solomon's voice seeped into every limb, every bone of me like poison.

In broad daylight. He'd said he was running a bath. Instead he was bathing Blanche with his own hands.

Did they have any shame left!

The teasing and laughter went on and on, and against my will the picture of the two of them coupling in there rose in my head.

I couldn't hold it back anymore. I clamped a hand over my mouth and ran to the balcony to throw up.

As the tears spilled over, a figure quietly stepped forward and handed me a glass of warm water.

"You've figured it all out by now, haven't you?"

I looked up and saw it was Francis Dudley.

One of Solomon's good friends.

He was watching me with a knowing look that made my skin crawl.

I took the water he offered and rinsed my mouth.

Once I'd calmed down, Francis took out his phone and cued up a video: a man and a woman at a karaoke bar, the man wrapped around the woman's leg, kissing all over it.

One glance was enough to send the sour bile surging back up my throat.

"You—oh, no, Zara. I know you're a good woman, which is exactly why I can't stand to watch you get wronged by a piece of trash. Even if that trash is my best friend, still no!"

His expression was dead serious. A mocking smile tugged at the corner of my mouth.

Couldn't stand to watch me wronged?

And when that piece of trash was making a cuckold of me? He was standing off to the side filming it, enjoying the show.

Birds of a feather. Of course.

I didn't care how impure his reason for getting close to me now was. After what Solomon had done, I had lost all interest in men, completely.

"The truth is, those two got together a long time ago. Blanche just has broad tastes, cycling through one man after another, so Sol settled for you as the next best—"

"Enough!"

I cut off his belated "kindness" and propped up a fake smile.

"What goes on between my husband and me is none of your concern. I'll have Solomon explain it to me himself, later."

Just as I finished, the bathroom door across the way opened.

Blanche leaned against Solomon, soft and boneless.

When she looked at me, she deliberately swept her hair aside to show off the dense scatter of pale red kiss marks along her neck.

"Let me explain, in case you get the wrong idea again. Solomon and I don't think of each other as a man and a woman. We scrub each other's backs all the time. You'll get used to it."

All at once I found the whole thing utterly pointless.

"As long as the two of you are happy. Something's just come up, so I won't keep you company. Make yourselves at home."

I untied my apron and, in front of everyone, dumped the nearly finished braised pork and sweet-and-sour fish straight into the trash.

Solomon's face darkened at once.

Blanche gave a little "tsk."

"What's this about? Deliberately putting on a face for me and the guys? I've been to plenty of homes and never met a shrew like you!"

"Fine, fine. She clearly doesn't want us here. Let's go."

The moment she said it, the rest of them turned looks of disgust on me.

Francis stood off to the side, hands in his pockets, wearing that half-smile.

I straightened my back and fired right back. "A woman as loose as you, sitting in the same tub with a married man without batting an eye. This is a first for me too. I was afraid I'd get a sty from looking too long, so I stepped out. What are you, the ocean police? You have to police this too?"

"You—"

Clearly Blanche was furious.

Solomon glared at me, his face grim. "Zara, what the hell has gotten into you?"

"I told you a long time ago, Blanchie and I don't think of each other as different sexes. If you keep being this paranoid and suspicious, I'll—"

I didn't wait for him to finish his nonsense. I walked straight out the door in long strides.

I pulled out my phone and made a call. "Lawyer Lawrence, draw up divorce papers for me. As fast as you can."