After transferring Bea's number into the new phone, I stashed both phones in the only place where I was assured any privacy—the bathroom. Even though I hid the phone, knowing I had one with service felt like freedom.
When I returned to the bedroom, King was waiting. He was in his shirt sleeves, and he had a drink in his hand.
He never brought a drink to the bedroom. The bedroom was for sleeping and failing to make a baby.
That should have been my first clue.
"What, don't you have a cell phone?"
"I have one. I couldn't afford the service."
"The Heavenly family is not poor. What do you do with your allowance?"
Seriously? After all this time, he cared?"
I squared my shoulders. I knew I'd have to hold this conversation sooner or later. It might as well be now.
"What allowance? I've never received a penny."
"I remember telling you to see Mom. She gives everyone a living allowance. She also adds the sisters-in-law to the family cell plan and provides credit cards and club memberships. She has a whole checklist of items that are shared among family members. I helped her finalize it before Maylean married Daniel.
"Why didn't you speak to her?"
"I did. She said to talk to you. So I did. Do you remember what you said?"
King shook his head.
"You said to see Mom, and you turned your back on me."
"And did you?"
"I learned quickly that I wasn't worth any money from the Heavenlys. No matter how hard I worked. I wasn't worth even as much as your mother pays for trash pick up."
I held back on telling him I'd learned he didn't care, but the words begged to be spoken.
"How have you taken care of your basic needs?"
"My mother left a small life insurance policy. Between the policy and selling our family home, I was able to pay her final medical and funeral bills and set up a small savings account. I've subsisted from that savings, but it is almost depleted now.
"I've debated which would embarrass the family the least. I can walk around in rags and holey shoes, smelling like a homeless person without access to soap, or I can find a job. Of course, I would have to work around doing the cooking and most of the cleaning for the entire family. Then there are the errands, acting as a backup nanny for the twins, oh, and when the gardener is on vacation or ill, I'm expected to fill in for him.
"I'd probably have to work as a night clerk at a convenience store or something. On the bright side, you've never taken me anywhere or introduced me to your friends or business acquaintances. That limits the number of people who might recognize me as the wife of one of the wealthiest men in the state.
"I'll have to make special arrangements to be off the one night a month that you fight back your revulsion long enough to touch me for five minutes, but that shouldn't be a major hardship. Perhaps I can come home during a break and take care of it, then return to work when you roll over to sleep."
King chimed in, sounding bored and put out, "I'm not repulsed by you, Teela."
"Sure you are. I saw your reaction today when I touched your arm. It's not the first time either, and your mom, well, she loves to remind me I'm not worthy of her precious child.
"I get it now. Honest."
King downed the rest of his drink and stood. "You're blowing everything out of proportion. Tomorrow, I'll bring home a cell phone and bank card."
"No need for the cell. Bea has me covered."
"Show me."
"No, it's mine. You can't take it."
I couldn't lose it already.
"I wasn't planning to take it, Teela. I'll reimburse your friend for the cost."
Why did that make me angry? I'd washed this man's clothes for three years. I'd made his bed and cooked his meals. His mom forced me into fertility treatments. Where was my reimbursement?
"No."
"No?" King asked. "You never tell me no."
"Geez, King. I know I'm a pushover, but I have told you and your mother no before. Neither of you listen. You bully, degrade, or ignore me into submission.
"And the worst, most infuriating part of the whole thing is I let you get away with it because more than anything else in the world, I want you to love me, but you don't and never will."
Oh, great. Now, I was crying again. Could I blame it on the hormone treatments? It would be so much easier than accepting this was probably the most honest and heartfelt conversation I'd ever had.
If I was this emotional after two injections, I couldn't imagine what I would be like after twenty or fifty.
Or it could be I was just fed up.
I fanned my face as if I could dry the tears before they fell, but they were coming too rapidly, and the top of my blouse was already wet.
King sat stunned into silence.
For once, Lettie came to my rescue when she called out. "Teela, why haven't you started dinner?"
She didn't have to ask twice. I was happy to escape to the confines of the kitchen.
King
King sat back down, regretting that he didn't have another drink.
What had just happened?
His quiet, unassuming wife had just turned his world upside down. He knew she did the cooking and helped with the cleaning, but he had no idea she wasn't sharing the same benefits as the rest of the family.
He couldn't fathom how his mother let this happen. Or was it intentional?
King knew Letting disapproved of the marriage, but he had agreed to the marriage as part of a land deal with Teela's mother. It was a good deal, and Teela was a good girl. She was obedient and quiet, and she never caused problems, not before or after the marriage.
He had never met another woman he considered marriage material who was better suited to melding into the family dynamic or who would make so few demands on his time or attention.
As far as he could tell, Teela didn't drink. She didn't party or flaunt her figure. She didn't have a string of ridiculous ex-boyfriends following her around, and she had never held him hostage for gifts or trips.
For the most part, King had made two concessions to his lifestyle by marrying Teela. First, he shared a room and bed with her, and second, Lettie had insisted he come home for dinner and sleep whenever he wasn't away on a business trip.
No big deal. He came home for dinner. Nothing prevented him from leaving again after dinner to spend the evening with companions who were more alluring than Teela, as long as he returned to sleep with her at night, especially when she was ovulating.
King hated those parent-dictating coupling sessions dearly. He felt like a male prostitute who only served one purpose, and Teela always looked so uncomfortable. He'd done his best to put them both out of their misery as quickly as possible.
But now, it sounded like his attempts to get them through those awkward nights were misconstrued by Teela. She thought he hated her. That wasn't true. He didn't love her either, but he wasn't disgusted by her. She just wasn't his type.
King visualized Teela, analyzing her qualities. She was pretty, in a worn-down college girl kind of way. She was slender with an oval face. She had full lips and defined cheeks. Her hair was longish and healthy. Brown, he thought. King made a mental note to check what color her eyes were.
At their wedding, she stood out as more than pretty, but that could have been the clothes and professional stylist and makeup artist. He remembered she held her shoulders back and tilted her head at the altar. Her eyes were brown, with gold flecks. Now he remembered. And she smiled like she had a secret that she was willing to share only with him.
Yeah, she was more than pretty that day.
But usually, Teela seemed to slump in on herself as if she wanted to be invisible. She made him uncomfortable, as if he was doing something wrong by seeing her.
Now, King understood a little bit about why she looked so forlorn. He had to talk with Lettie. If Lettie disliked his choice of a bride, he couldn't take it out on Teela.
In the meantime, he needed to know more about this Bea person. King was wary by nature. He had learned a long time ago that the more money he had, the more apt people were to make friends just to have access to the things he could buy them. He didn't want Teela to go through that as well.
He also didn't like how Bea made him feel, especially after he'd found out Bea had bought Teela a cell phone. It was his job to take care of Teela's basic needs, not some strangers. Bea made him feel like what he imagined a failure felt like, not that King had ever failed at anything he'd set his mind to before.
King pulled his cell phone out of a pocket and speed-dialed Min. "Find out more about the woman with my wife today."