Polygamy

 “Who the hell is Ava Raul and why have you been giving her money for the past five years?” Margaret screamed, her face livid. “And don’t you dare lie to me, Brian. I can always tell when you’re lying.”

Brian swiveled in his chair, turning his back to his wife, and he looked unseeingly out the window, his eyes shifting restlessly and focusing on nothing, an expression of fear mingled with defeat on his face.

“Well? Who is she?” Margaret bellowed.

“Margaret, is there any way you could forget about this, because you don’t really want to know,” Brian said stiffly, his back still to her.

“Oh, you got some freaking nerve. Tell me!” she shouted.

He shut his eyes for a second then turned back to her. “She’s a tenant living in one of Charlie’s rental houses,” Brain said slowly, his voice shaky.

“Your brother Charlie?” Margaret repeated. “And instead of her paying her own rent, we are? Do tell me why before I rip your head off.”

He sighed and put his book down on the desk. “I think you already know, Margaret, so, why pretend?” he said.

“I wouldn’t be asking if I knew, Brain. She blackmailing you? You had a tryst and now she’s got you by the gonads?” she said, pacing back and forth in front of the desk. “You’ve wasted our money needlessly on this whore because I found out anyway, haven’t I? You should’ve known I would. That’s it, isn’t it?”

“Not exactly, no,” he said stoically. “Margaret, you know as well as I this marriage of ours is a sham, so, you truly couldn’t expect me to be satisfied with that.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” she said, visibly confused.

He shook his head. “You never loved me, Margaret, so I found someone who does,” he said.

“Of course I love you....I…What did you just say?” Margaret asked.

“No use denying it, Margaret. I know what you did and I fell for it, but you knew I would. Your feminine wiles got you what you wanted, to get out of poverty and into a safe home furnished by a man who would never turn his back on a child he unwittingly created,” he said shrewdly watching his wife.

She looked stunned for a second the wind obviously knocked out of her, but she quickly got back her fire. “Accidents happen, Brian. Birth control isn’t foolproof. We were kids then both of us. I didn’t get pregnant on my own,” she said defensively.

“Yes, birth control you were supposedly on,” he said raising his eyebrows. He watched her face blanch, but when she remained silent, he continued. “I know the truth. Took a while, but I figured it out. I thought we could be happy together anyway. After all, I did love you and you said you loved me too, so I believed. I didn’t think you’d turn into the shrew from hell, but even then I held my tongue. I had the boys to think about by then. But I knew we were done when you said three was enough.”

 “What the hell does this have to do with you giving money to some slut?” she said forcing her anger back to the forefront.

“Everything. You knew how much I wanted a daughter and even though I gave you everything you couldn’t even do that,” he answered sadly.

“Well, how is that my fault that Jeremy’s not a girl? He’s wimpy enough to almost be a girl. That should be good enough for you,” she spat viciously.

Brian, with fury all over his face and fists clenched, stood up abruptly and loomed over his now cowering wife. He wasn’t one to easily get angry, but she had finally done it. He actually thought for a minute he might hit her.

“Jeremy is perfect, the sweetest little boy any father could want. I have to be grateful for you for him and the twins. Too bad their mother cares nothing about anybody but herself. Bad enough you despise me but your own sons, Margaret?”

“I don’t despise them or you!” she said, indignant.

He gave a rueful laugh. “I’ve seen crocodiles who are more caring mothers,” he said, through clenched teeth.

She backed away. “So, what are you saying? What the hell does any of this have to do with this Ava bitch?” she snapped.

“Ava is not a bitch,” he said.  He ran a hand through his hair, silently counting to ten. “She’s my... the mother of my daughter.”

At first, Brian thought Margaret couldn’t have heard him. She stood perfectly still staring blankly up at him. Then her eyes filled with fury and she lunged at him pounding her fists on every inch she could reach all the while calling him vile names. Brian easily caught her wrists after allowing her a few punches.

“Let go of me, you bastard! You lousy stinking cheating bastard!” she shrieked, totally out of control. “How could you do this to me? To your legitimate sons? Giving money to some slut and her bastard kid!”

“That’s it, isn’t it? You only care about the money. I should have known,” he said, finally letting go of her and going back to the window. Incredibly, he smiled. “I was worried, actually worried about you finding out, but I’m glad. Now we can do something about it,” he said more to himself.

“Do something?” she repeated. “You can most certainly do something! You can stop giving that tramp money. Just because she says the kid is yours doesn’t mean...”

“Shut up!” he yelled. “That’s the kind of thing you would do, Margaret. I’m not too certain the twins are mine, after all. You got around back at school, didn’t you?”

“How...how can you say that?” she said. “Of course, they are yours, all of them are.”

He ground his back teeth. He knew they were his, but he was so angry, he didn’t know what he was saying. “Doesn’t matter. I love my boys. I’m taking them. You can have the house,” he said carelessly.

“What are you talking about? Taking them where?” she said.

“Well, I’m assuming you want a divorce,” he replied blankly.

“You... you can’t leave me. You can’t just... what about the boys? What about me? You love me,” she said.

“I just told you the house is yours and the boys are coming with me. I think they’ll like their little sister. Gracie’s darling. Looks just like Jeremy except for the hair. She’s got black hair like Ava,” he said dreamily.

“No!” she shouted her anger returning full force. “You are not telling my boys about your bastard kid.”

With eyes narrowed dangerously he turned back to her. “They’ll figure it out once they’re living with me and they will be living with me, Margaret. Don’t think otherwise. I’d sooner kill you than let my boys stay with a mother who cares nothing for them,” he retorted, easily equaling her anger.

“Of course I care about them as much as you,” she replied.

“Really?” he said. “Do you even know where they are right now or all summer for that matter? No, you don’t have a clue. You need to sleep until noon and when your soaps are on you can’t be bothered. You barely clean the house and your idea of making dinner is calling for take-out pizza. I’m amazed you took time out of your busy day to find out about Ava. But I shouldn’t be astonished. It all has to do with money, the one thing you care most about. Well, you’ll get nothing more from me. We’re done.” 

He then walked out of the room leaving her gasping for air. Suddenly she ran after Brian.

“Where are you going?” Margaret asked as the door swung open and Brian stepped out onto the porch.

“To see my other family, of course,” he replied casually. “But don’t worry. I’ll be back to feed my boys. I wouldn’t want you to break a nail dialing for pizza.”  He then slammed the door in her face and went to the car. He opened the trunk and pulled out a yellow bag imprinted with a bright purple Dee & Jay’s Toy Shop logo.

Brian simultaneously felt stunned and exhilarated as he walked down the block towards Ava and Gracie. He had imagined this moment with terror.  He thought it would be the end of the world to have his wife find out about them. What a fool he had been. Lies were what held you in terror, in a prison of your own making. The fear of being discovered far outdid the outcome. How stupid of him. The truth really does set you free.

But as he walked his elation faded. He would have to divorce Margaret and that didn’t sit well with him. As much as he tried to ignore it, he did still love her, if only because she gave him three beautiful, albeit rambunctious, boys. No, he couldn’t lie to himself, not anymore. He loved her as he always had and would until he died and perhaps even then. But he loved Ava, too.

What a mess! What was he to do? He couldn’t have two women. And yet hadn’t he been doing just that for the past five years? Brain was a polygamist. The realization made him stop in mid stride. It was as if he hit an invisible wall right in front of Marty Haggerty’s house. Hero, Marty’s noisy pit bull, barked anbd furiously tugged with all his might on his restraining chains.

“Hey, Brain, what ya doing, Bud?” Marty asked, coming outside to calm Hero into silence.

“Hey, Marty, um... just going for a walk,” Brian mumbled.

“You okay? You look like you just got hit in the head with a two by four. Margaret PMS-ing again?” he asked with a laugh.

“Uh...something like that,” Brain replied. “Marty, mind if I ask you something real personal?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Why in the world would you want to know if I wear boxers or brief?” he asked smirking.

“Bit more personal than that,” Brain said climbing up to the porch stopping just short of the dog’s reach. “What do you think of polygamists?”

Both Marty’s brows lifted this time and he stared incredulously at his neighbor. “Who you think’s stupid enough to have more than one wife?”

“So, you’d think them stupid, huh?” Brain asked.

“Gotta be. Don’t we have enough trouble with just one? Imagine what two would be like!” he said clutching at his heart dramatically. “I don’t even want to think of it.”

Brain realized Marty wasn’t the guy to ask. He had been married and divorce twice already and number three was close to fruition if their separate vacations was any indication. “So, you’ve never been in love with more than one woman at a time?” he asked, albeit casually.

“Sure, I have. Just before divorcing number one to marry number two and just before divorcing number two to get number three. I’m due to find number four soon enough,” he said thoughtfully.

“So, you never considered just marrying another before divorcing the other?”

Marty snorted with laughter. “You do remember it’s illegal, don’t you?”

“Loads get away with it,” Brain muttered more to himself.

Marty stared at him frowning. “You asking for a particular reason, Brain? You ain’t actually thinking of doing something like that, are you?” he asked, incredulous.

“Huh? No, no,” Brain said, abruptly coming to his senses. “I was just wondering what it must be like. They say there’s a lot of that going on in Utah. And not just two wives. Sometimes there’s three and four all living in the same house or compound with dozens of kids. Just seems weird.”

“Suppose it is. It might be nice for them cuz their wives are subservient. Too bad none of mine were. Maybe I should go to Utah!” Marty said, suddenly excited with this new idea.

Brain laughed. “Let me know how it works out for you, Marty,” he said and strolled on, this time with a smile on his face. For all intents and purposes he was a polygamist or at least living that lifestyle. Maybe he wouldn’t have to divorce Margaret. She didn’t seem keen on it, after all. Well, there was only one way to know for sure and that was to ask his wife if she would mind him taking another wife or rather keeping the other woman as a second wife.

He laughed to himself. Perhaps it would be best, and far more prudent, if he made his funeral arrangements first.