Steven didn't know what to say to his wife. She was angry and bitter, so rather than say anything at all, he did what he usually does. The solution to getting out of any situation, he picked up the keys to the car, "I'll be back late," he said in a low-key tone of voice, walked out the door and drove off.
Camilla had no energy to deal with her husband at that point. She went to her son who was just waking up from his afternoon nap, put him the bath and put a fresh change of clothing on, to get him ready for bed. While he was playing on the mat in the living room, Camilla prepared something for the two of them to eat. After playing for just over an hour, Marshall started to yawn, so Camilla took him to the room, laid him down and read him a story. It took all of about 10 minutes before her young man fell fast asleep.
Quietly leaving the room, Camilla went to sit on the settee. Looking at her phone, she saw a message from Steven, "I'm sorry Camilla," the message said.
Half an hour later, he message again, "answer me." Camilla continued to ignore is messages. The pain she was feeling, he could and would never understand. She had never done this to him. She honoured her marriage vows and was loyal. Perhaps too loyal. Or loyal to a fault.
Meanwhile, back at the bar, Steven was drowning his sorrows in alcohol. "How stupid could I have been to leave that photo in my pocket!" he chastised himself. He picked up his phone and and contacted Lucille.
"Lucille, I can't see you any more," he texted, "my wife found the photograph you gave me and everything is out," he explained to her.
Lucille sighed. "I know," she responded, "your wife phoned me and threatened to tell my husband and said she would even go to your boss about this. It's best we just part ways now."
Angered that his wife had called Lucille out on this particular issue, he texted her, "Camilla, why did you call Lucille!"
Camilla, hesitating for a second then said, "Seriously, you asking me this?" Steven avoided answering the question and said that he would be home soon. She didn't say anything else and stopped texting.
It was around 10pm that night when Steven arrived home, he put his arms around his wife, buried his head in her hair and said, "I'm sorry. Please forgive me, it won't happen again. I have ended things with Lucille. I will also speak to my boss and manager in Monday. They can assign her account to someone else."
Camilla pushed herself back from his embrace, "it's not as simple as that, you've lied to me. You've betrayed me. You've hurt me in more ways than anyone could ever imagine. You've slept with another woman for Pete's sake, Steven. Do you think it's as simple as that forgiving you?" she yelled bitterly.
For Camilla, this wasn't just as simple as saying I'm sorry, Steven would have to earn her trust back. This was going to be something that he was going to have to work hard at, and she wasn't sure how wlhard he would be willing to work. She continued speaking, "Steven, you are going to have to work very hard to prove things to me, but right now I am very angry, so please let me be for now."
She went to the kitchen, took out the leftovers, put the food on a plate for him and warmed it up. Handing him the plate of food she then left and went back to bed.
Camilla didn't know how she was going to deal with this or if she even wanted to remain married to him at that point.
Laying in bed Camilla pondered on what she was going to do. She still wanted to try and see if she could work things out with Steven for the sake of their unborn child and Marshall. Both children needed their mother and father in the early developmental stages of their lives, but there was this other side that didn't know if she would be able to handle all this. She finally fell asleep.
Steven crawled into bed next to her. He wanted so badly to put his arms around her and draw her in to him, but he didn't dare, for fear that his wife would push him away.
He just lay there listening to the soft breathing as she fell deeper into sleep.
How would he win his wife over again?
This was something he started thinking about. "If she leaves it's not she will need me, she earns her own money and could quite capably raise our kids by herself."
Around 3am, Marshall woke up screaming. Camilla jumped up out of bed and ran to his bedside. Right behind her was Steven. "Go back to sleep honey, it's okay, I will stay with him," Steven said softly.
Camilla looked at Steven and picked up Marshall. His body was burning. She took out the thermometer to check his temperature. It was 38.9 degrees Celsius. She quickly took out the medicine box, gave him something for the fever and put him in a luke warm, vinegar bath and began sponging him down. She remembered her aunt had done this once before when he had, had a fever.
Steven had never seen his wife move so swiftly and calmly as she had that morning. She remained calm, cook and collected, until she was finally satisfied that Marshall's fever had subsided. Steven sat looking at his wife helpless. He knew little of how to do this, because he hadn't been much at home.
After the fever subsided, she said to him, "You can sleep here with Marshall, when I wake up around 8am I will take over and you can get some rest. He should sleep through for now. Just let him lay in your arms, then if he wakes you will feel him stir." Steven didn't dare argue with her or say another word.
Camilla went back to bed. Steven lay with Marshall in his arms and thought, "If she hadn't been here, I don't know what I would have done. She was so swift and capable. She didn't ask me for any help." Steven hadn't realised how much his wife actually did around the place.