4: 4
4.
The world went out with a bang.
Everything in front of me dropped to black, and the blood in my body froze all at once.
The phone slid from my palm and the screen splintered.
Whatever the caller said next, I didn't hear a word of it.
Pat startled and reached out to steady me.
I grabbed her arm, gripping so hard I snapped her manicure clean off.
My voice came out hoarse and cracked and shaking.
"Where the hell is Conrad?"
Pat was trembling all over. She shrank back and pointed, timidly, toward Mabel's room.
I let go of her.
I gathered every bit of strength I had and slammed my foot into the door.
It flew open.
A room full of tangled, intimate warmth crashed into my eyes, and the sight of it burned.
Mabel, in a silk slip, flinched at the crash and burrowed into Conrad's arms.
So this was where my husband had spent his wedding night. His ex-wife's bed.
Conrad went rigid, shoved Mabel off him, and scrambled up to reach for me.
"Beulah, let me explain. It's not what you think."
My lips were shaking. I jerked back from his hand and demanded, sharp:
"Cutting off my mother's medical payments. Was that your idea?"
His outstretched hand froze in the air. The panic drained from his eyes, and his face went hard.
"All you've got in your heart is money? Look at you, getting the hang of being Mrs. Farley. So very rational."
Beside him, Mabel sat up slowly, patting her forehead in mock dismay, her voice soft and sweet.
"Oh no! It's all my fault. I had too much to drink last night and forgot to renew the payments. I'll go take care of it right now. The very first thing Conrad trusted me with, and I dropped it."
For a heartbeat I was too stunned to move, then my eyes went bloodshot and my chest seized like I couldn't breathe.
He'd put my mother's life in Mabel's hands.
"You knew perfectly well she—"
Conrad cut me off, furious.
"So it was a day late. What you should be worrying about right now is your husband, is your marriage!"
A day late.
I watched his mouth open and close. The sound passed straight through my ears and left nothing behind.
"Pat! Take Mrs. Farley back to her room to rest. Let her think things over properly."
I turned and left.
On my own two feet.
I curled up in the corner of the wedding suite and cried until the tears poured out of me, until my whole body went weak and shaking and cramped.
I couldn't stay one more second. I had to get to the hospital and bring my mother home.
I would not leave her lying in that cold morgue.
One second before I left.
Conrad stood in the doorway, the venom gone from him.
"Beulah, Pat told me. You cried all morning. It was my fault. I drank too much last night. Nothing happened between Mabel and me. Don't read into it."
"I've pulled every trending topic. Those gossip accounts just make things up. I'm sorry you had to go through that."
His voice caught.
"What are you... packing up?"
My tears had long since dried. My eyes were red and stiff-rimmed, my voice low and hoarse, without a trace of anger left.
"Just some old things I'm throwing out."
"You're... not angry anymore?"
"Not angry anymore."
Conrad breathed out in relief.
He came over and put his arms around me gently, pressing a kiss to my forehead.
"That's more like it. I'll handle the rumors out there. You don't have to worry about any of it."
Something turned over in my stomach.
I lifted my hand and pushed him away, firmly.
"I've already signed the divorce papers. The ring goes back to its owner."
Conrad's back went rigid.
He looked down at the papers in my hand, anger climbing into his eyes.
"Beulah Henson, you're impossible! Go on reflecting, then!"
He snatched the papers, tore them to shreds, and stormed out, slamming the door.
The wall shook with it, and the wedding photo swayed, a crack splitting the glass in the frame.
Scraps of paper drifted down through the air. Nothing in me stirred.
I printed a second copy of the divorce agreement.
Holding the same pen we'd used to register our marriage, I signed my name, stroke by stroke, without hesitation.
The last stroke settled.
I slipped off the ring and set it with the pen on top of the agreement, arranging them neatly in the center of the vanity.
Time back to zero.
I turned and walked out the door of the Farley home.
