Chapter Text
“Vivian, I need to see you for a moment, please.”
I looked up from my book to see my husband, Bernard, standing in the door to the library. He didn’t look happy. I tried thinking what I had done that would upset him and couldn’t think of a single thing. He wanted to beg out of a few nights of society functions and I didn’t argue with him. I placed a bookmark in my book and got up off the chaise.
“Yes, darling. What is wrong?”
“I need to talk to you about something.”
“What? I haven’t gone shopping despite desperately needing to update my wardrobe. With Lent starting tomorrow, I’ve agreed to not purchase anything new until
Easter.”
“Yes, I know.” He sat down behind the large desk he insisted he had to have in his study. “Please, sit down.”
I sat down in one of the smaller chairs across from the desk.
“What have I done that has you so upset?”
He took a deep breath and folded his hands in front of him.
“I need you to move out of this house and to sign the divorce papers whenever they arrive. Mabel is pregnant and I need to be free to take care of her.”
For a moment I wished he would just pummel me with a blunt object. My brain was having difficulties comprehending what he had just said to me.
“Move out of my home? Are you drunk? Who on earth is Mabel?”
He ran his fingers through his prematurely greying hair. A shower of grey hairs fell onto the desk.
“I’m so stressed even my hair is leaving me. Mabel is the mistress I’ve been keeping for a couple of years now. She informed me at Christmas that she is pregnant. I have made the decision that you and I will divorce so that our child will have two proper parents.”
“You expect me to just pack my things and leave and sign whatever you decide is fair for me to receive as your ex-wife?”
“Yes, I expect you to do exactly that. Marie is seeing that all your clothes are safely stowed in your trunk. There will be a cab arriving in approximately fifteen minutes to take you to the apartment I’ve set up for you.”
I couldn’t contain my anger any longer. I stood up and slammed my fists down on the desk in front of him.
“Is that what you’ve been doing for the past month? You’ve been making arrangements behind my back to get me out of our home so you can move your pregnant mistress in? You do realize you are committing social suicide with our friends.”
“No, I’ve committed your social homicide by telling them that you’re leaving me for another man.”
“You did what? And they believed you? All my friends?”
None of the wives of the men Bernard worked with were close friends, but they were all I had when Bernard was working late and, apparently, sneaking around with his mistress.
“They believed me because their husbands believed me. Now, I would go get dressed unless you want to arrive at your new apartment in your nightgown, darling.”
Everything came out of nowhere. I never even suspected that he was cheating on me. Looking at it in that moment, I realized that all the signs were there. I was just too blind to see any of them. I wanted to respond to him, but I knew the best way to get back at him would be to find my own lawyer and fight for everything I could get from him. Instead of arguing any more, I turned on my heel and went upstairs to put on something to be seen in public in.
Marie curtsied to me when I entered my room. I had been thinking of it as my room instead of our room for the past year when Bernard moved all this things into one of the guest rooms. That was definitely a sign I had missed.
“I’m going to need this nightgown packed too, please. I’ll need a day dress to put on.”
“Yes, Mrs. Buschner.”
I laughed at being called such a name.
“I’m not Mrs. Buschner anymore.”
She stared at me wide eyed while I took the dress from her. I slipped the nightgown and robe off to put on the dress. She rushed towards me to help me button it up. I waved her away.
“I need to get used to doing this for myself, Marie. Unless, Bernard is sending you with me.”
“He hasn’t mentioned anything to me about that, Mrs. Buschner.”
“I didn’t think he would do something so magnanimous.”
Marie curtsied and scurried out the door with my nightgown and robe in her hands. Apparently my trunk was already completely packed and waiting by the front door. I looked around my room and there wasn’t anything else to take with me. A thought hit me and I went to my dresser and opened the top drawer. Sure enough, there sat all my boxes containing my pearls and other jewelry I had been given over the course of our courtship and marriage. Other boxes contained things my parents gave me. I didn’t care what he thought or what orders he gave to Marie, my jewelry was coming with me. I opened my closet, pulled out a pillow case and started placing boxes from the finest jewelry stores in St. Louis into the pillow case. Once that drawer was emptied, I checked the others to make sure that I had everything. The rest of the drawers were empty.
Satisfied that everything that was rightfully mine was coming with me, I left my room and went to find my trunk so I could be ready when the cab arrived. I didn’t want to be in that house any more than Bernard wanted me there.
I found my trunk sitting right by the front door, right where I expected to find it. I sat down on it to wait for the doorbell to ring. I looked like a child running away from home with my pillowcase full of stuff. Bernard walked by once. Since I figured the boxes had been left in my dresser because he didn’t want me to take them with me, I tried to hide the bulky thing I placed at my feet. He didn’t even look at me. That should have hurt me, but I was too busy plotting his early demise to be bothered by it.
The doorbell rang and I answered it before anyone else could think about getting the door. I opened it to find a strange woman standing there. As soon as I caught sight of her barely yet still visibly pregnant belly, I knew who she was. The fact that all the color drained from her face only confirmed who she was.
“Mabel,” I growled between clenched teeth.
“Wh-what are you still doing here?”
I answered her with a slap across her face that reverberated through the entryway. That drew Bernard’s attention. He came at me full charge. I held my hand up to him.
“If you want to me to grant you a divorce, I’d not touch me, Bernard. Take your floozy and get out of my sight.”
He clenched and unclenched his fists several times before deciding that maybe it was better if he didn’t touch me. He did shove me aside to wrap his arm around Mabel’s shoulders. She held her face like it was going to fall off if her hand wasn’t there. I glared at their backs as he murmured something in her ear as he helped her up the stairs. It wasn’t my most ladylike moment, but it made me feel better.
The doorbell rang again and that time it was the cab driver there to pick me up.
“Miss Vivian?”
“Yes.”
“Any bags?”
“Just the trunk.”
He looked at it, let out a sigh before picking it up and hauling it to the cab. I climbed into the back seat.
“The address given to me is twenty-seven zero three North Grand Boulevard. Is that correct?”
“You would know better than I would. I don’t even know how I’m supposed to get into the apartment.”
He glanced over his shoulder before easing the car into traffic.
“Has it been one of those days for you?”
“You could say that. I don’t know how I’m going to survive on my own. I’ve never lived by myself. I’m not even sure I can operate a stove without setting fire to something.”
He nodded and smiled at me in the rearview mirror. I had no idea why I expected the cabbie would be sympathetic to what had started out as such a normal Tuesday. The drive to my new home took longer than I expected it to take. I didn’t know anyone in that neighborhood, so I had no idea exactly where it was. Once I stepped onto the sidewalk, I found myself pleasantly surprised that it was in a decent part of town at least.
“Vivian Shaw?”
I looked at the voice. A gentleman in a suit was extending his hand towards me. I shook his hand. It felt weird.
“I guess I should get used to being called that again. Yes, that’s me.”
“I’m Hampton Waterson. I’m the superintendent of the building. Your ex-husband has set up everything for you. It’s very nice that he’s taking care of you despite
what has happened.”
“You mean him moving his pregnant mistress into our family home? Yes, that is quite a tragedy.”
“Um, that wasn’t what I was referring to, but yes, that would be a tragedy.”
“I assume you’re going to be showing me my new apartment.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
His entire demeanor changed once I mentioned the pregnant mistress. Bernard was having a good time spreading his spin on the truth to whomever would listen. No matter what I tried to do, I was going to be the one seen as the cheater. I didn’t like that one bit, but I didn’t know what to do about it. I suspected nothing.
He led the way to the second floor where he unlocked a door and let me go in first.
“Mr. Buschner furnished the place. I thought that was decent of him until I’ve learned the truth. He has arranged to have groceries delivered every Monday. The kitchen was stocked yesterday. You should be ready to move right in.”
“Wonderful. Hopefully the cabbie will be willing to bring my trunk up the stairs for me.”
“I’m sure he will.”
Sure enough, the cabbie followed right behind us with the trunk. Hampton handed me a key.
“Here is your key. All the utilities are on. If you have any problems, don’t hesitate to knock on my door. I’m in 1A.”
“Thank you.”
Hampton left and the cabbie followed him before I could even pay him. I assumed that Bernard was going to pay for the drive over to my place. I hoped he would give him a good tip. I wanted to look at my new place in more detail, but emotion overtook me as I threw myself across my new bed to have a good cry. I thought I at least deserved that.