Three is a crowd: Diane, the fair-weather bride

(Continued from last issue)

David and Diane have been married for years; then there is Julie, the young secretary whose axis collides with the couple’s in ways none of them saw coming.

JULIE

When I woke up the next morning, the first thought that came to mind, unbidden, was that it was the day of the funeral.

I considered calling David to let him know I was thinking of him, but then remembered the way his wife had shadowed him at the funeral service the previous day, and realized that she would probably be close by him, so I texted instead: ‘Thinking of you on this most difficult of days, and sending you strength and comfort.’

Reading through it, it sounded too formal; so, I added ‘Love you,’ and quickly pressed send, before my bravado faltered and I changed my mind. With that done, I forced David and the funeral from my mind and turned my attention to my usual daily routine; the driver was due to arrive within an hour; so, I got Junior up and ready for daycare, finished with that just as the driver texted to let me know he was downstairs; dropped Junior off, and then headed on to the site.

Work at the site was progressing quickly, and each time I came to it, I felt a sense of pride, purpose, accomplishment – and hope.

The main building that would hold the office on the ground floor and my apartment above it were almost ready for me to move out of the container that currently served as my office, and even though the upper floor still had a while to go before that would be ready for occupation, the roofing was done, and the rooms already partitioned; so, I could walk through it, and envision what it would look like upon completion.

Besides the feeling of security that would come with not living in a rented apartment that I could be kicked out of if David for any reason stopped paying the rent, having a permanent base at the estate, where I could not only help David professionally, by running the estate for him, but also where he could have a ‘home’ , that he could retreat to without having to come up with an excuse for being there as it was his property, I felt, would only make our bond stronger.

I was already his woman, but once I moved onto the site, I would be his woman, who runs his property, and lives in his home; and that could only be a good thing.

DIANE

David’s whore did not realize it, but I trailed her throughout the following day. I was already parked a few cars away from the apartment complex when the driver arrived to pick her up, and was irked, but not surprised to see that I had been right about David’s reason for not giving me the driver for the journey to the village.

He had given him to her instead. What did surprise me, though, was that after the way David and his mother had acted like she was the perfect little superwoman, who did everything on her own, it turned out that she had their bastard son enrolled in daycare – a pretty pricey one at that!

So much for me not being able to take care of our three children single-handedly; she could not even take care of one, I thought to myself snidely, hurt and disappointed by the irony, and David’s double standards.

Another upsetting discovery from my spy-work for the day was that not only was their bastard enrolled in an expensive daycare, but she was taking driving lessons at one of the branches of a prestigious driving school not far from the site.

It wasn’t the driving lessons per se that bothered me but, rather, the conviction that David would not be paying for driving lessons for her, unless he was planning on buying her a car.

That really got to me, first, because every shilling he spent on her, was one less shilling he was spending on me and our children.

Secondly, every time I asked him for money, he acted like the Katosi project was using up all his money, and even if he did eventually give me the money, he did so begrudgingly, while murmuring about how he had spent so much money on the boutique, so it should be able to provide all the money I needed, without me having to ask him for more.

At the same time, he clearly did not have a problem spending money on her, and even if the Katosi project was taking up a lot of his money – which it no doubt was, based on how expansive the site was, and how fast the work was progressing – he nonetheless had enough left over to buy her a car!

Once again, the double standards were obvious, and once again, I was on the losing end of them.

DAVID

I had known my father’s funeral was going to be difficult, and it was, but surprisingly, once it was done, the heavy weight of my grief ebbed away, and standing alone by his graveside, my mother and sister having returned to the main house with the last remaining mourners, I felt his presence replace my sadness with his strength, and an overwhelming determination to carry on his legacy and do him proud.

I was not worried about the Katosi project; the last time I had checked, work on it was running on schedule, and Julie appeared to have everything under control. Despite her initial insecurity over her inexperience, she was a quick learner and had turned out to be a major godsend for the project.

Not only was she dedicated and diligent, but more importantly, she was honest and dependable, and I knew I could trust her completely. Furthermore, it was not only for work at the site that I depended on her support, she had proven over and over again that she was great source of emotional support, and never more so than during this period of mourning and bereavement.

I had no doubt that if I had let her, she would have come all the way to the village for the funeral, and that just like at the vigil, she would have been very hands-on, providing help and support wherever it was needed.

Considering that Diane had not even spent the night at the vigil, let alone come for the funeral, I now wished I had not sent Julie away from the vigil, and had asked her to come to the village instead of being so concerned about how it would look, or if Diane would cause a scene.

There was no question that I had treated her shabbily, and I was determined to make it up to her, and do better, once I got back to Kampala; she deserved better.

Diane, on the other hand, would always be my wife, but unlike with Julie, her behavior during this period had confirmed to me what she had proven many times before, which was that she was in effect, a ‘fair-weather bride’, there for the good times, but useless during the bad ones. I would keep that in mind going forward.

margaretwamanga@yahoo.com