My Husband's Mistress Wore Red to Grandma's Funeral

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."