The Wrong Husband 2

by B. M. Hardin

  It had been that way our entire marriage. It would have probably been that way for the rest of our lives; had I not messed up their friendship or at least shaken it up a bit.

  “Where are you?”

  “Far, far away from having to watch you guys fall in love again.”

  He sounded sad, but I tried to force myself not to care.

  “Well, I just wanted to hear your voice. I have plenty of videos of you with me, so I get to see you, and your booty, every day.”

  Okay. Here’s the real Polo.

  “So you really did have copies of the footages that I deleted?”

  “Of course. I’ve been into technology, cameras, and things like that since I was very young. I guess that was something else that I was good at other than my sex and my sex toys. I always make copies. Of everything. You never know when you may need it or when it may come in handy. In this case, watching you on my recordings is enough to keep me from trying to come back to see you physically. Since we will never be, my confession is that I used to see you every day; whether you knew it or not. I’ve seen you every day since the first time I saw you all those years ago. Well, unless I’m out of town or something, but you get my point.”

  “Yeah, you’re a damn stalker.”

  “No. I just admire and crave to look at beautiful things. You’ve always been beautiful to me.”

  His words and his charm were dangerous! That’s what had gotten me in trouble the first time!

  “Okay Polo, well nice talking to you I guess,” I said to him.

  “Bye Sassi. I’ll see you whenever you guys tie the knot. Whenever that will be.”

  With that he hung up. I put the phone in my pocket and stared out the window at Eddie. I watched him with a smile but my mind was all over the place.

  Was this really what I wanted?

  Did I really want forever with Eddie?

  I entertained thoughts of Eddie years and years from now, and also I envisioned what forever with Polo might look like.

  After a few minutes, finally I shook my head.

  The obvious choice was Eddie.

  But why did my heart seem to want to choose Polo instead?

  ****************************

  Chapter 5

  I only had a month left before it would be time to meet back up with Patrice’s lawyer.

  Micki and my brother were set to get married in two weeks, but Eddie and I didn’t seem to be any closer than we were months ago. But I couldn’t blame him, nor could I complain.

  Things were between us were great. We were laughing again and having decent sex, regularly. I wasn’t sure if he was sneaking and taking the pills or not, but so far, he hadn't had a two-minute episode.

  Yes!

  Maybe it really was just stress from him trying to keep his company and all of the financial issues that he was hiding from me at the time in order. But so far, so good.

  I no longer felt confused, or torn in between the two. Eddie was what was best for me. He was going to love me and take care of me, and now that my mind and heart were on one accord, I just wanted forever with my Eddie.

  “Let’s go to church.”

  It was a Sunday morning and Eddie had stayed over.

  “Church?”

  I couldn’t remember the last time that we’d gone to church together. It had been years. But maybe church was just what we needed.

  “Okay.”

  After another hour or so, we were all dressed and headed out the door.

  “Sassi, I’m not a perfect man. I’ve made mistakes.”

  I looked at Eddie.

  “We all have. But at some point you have to just forgive and forget those mistakes and move forward. Leave all the mistakes in the past and just look towards the future,” I said to him and he nodded.

  “Yeah. The future.”

  We pulled up at Eddie’s parent’s church.

  They still weren’t too excited about Eddie and I being so close these days, but I didn’t care what they thought about me.

  As long as Eddie could forgive and love me, that was all that mattered. And his father was no saint himself.

  Maybe he needed a reminder of his transgressions with Polo’s mother, before he whispered anything in Eddie’s ear about mine.

  We walked into the church and it seemed as though all eyes were on us. They were. But mine were on everything else.

  Instead of there being a service, there were people, Eddie’s family and even some of mine, standing there.

  There were decorations, flowers at the front of the altar and Eddie’s pastor was standing there.

  Mama was there. And Micki and my brother were there too.

  I hadn't even noticed any of their cars in the parking lot.

  My mother motioned for my boys to come to her and Eddie grabbed my hand and led me to the altar.

  “We have been through a lot, but I know that I can’t live without you. This has nothing to do with the money or Patrice’s will. This has nothing to do with the past and the mistakes. This has to do with you and me. Even if we never see a dime of those millions, I want to give us another shot. Another shot at love. Another shot at the future and at happiness. But this time we have to do this right.”

  I wanted to cry but I didn’t.

  Yes! Yes!

  This time I wouldn’t mess this up. This time no one and nothing would come in between us. Eddie pulled out a ring box from his pocket. It seemed as though he gave me all of his money, but apparently he had been keeping some of it to get me a new ring.

  “Before the Man above, the pastor and all of our family, I want to ask for your forgiveness. For things I have done; known and unknown. For things I’ve thought about doing that I knew weren’t right. I’m asking you to forgive me.”

  “Of course. And forgive me for what I did Eddie. I’m so sorry. It will never happen again.”

  Eddie smiled.

  “I forgive you,” he said. “And am I the husband for you? Do you believe in your mind and with all of your heart that we can make it to the end this time? That we have what it takes? If you don’t you can say it. Right here and right now. No love lost. No hurt feelings.”

  “Yes Eddie. I love you so much. I want us. I want you. I want forever with you.

  “Well, then, right here and right now, will you marry me Sassi, again?”

  I smiled at him and nodded as he placed the ring on my finger. He stood up and hugged me.

  Mama walked over to me and handed me a bouquet of flowers as I smiled and as tears of joy streamed down my face.

  “Pastor before you do anything, pray for us. Please.” Eddie said.

  And what started off with prayers ended with vows and promises to love through thick and thin and from better and for worse, again. And this time, I’d meant ever word that I’d said.

  This time, I was never letting go.

  ~***~

  I stared at her in her wedding gown.

  Micki looked absolutely beautiful. And the small veil that slightly covered her face was perfect.

  “You look good maid of honor,” she said.

  “And you don’t look half bad yourself bride,” I complimented her.

  “I wish Patrice was here.”

  “Me too.”

  The preacher stuck his head in and told us that it was time to get this show on the road.

  And for the next hour, everything was like a fairytale.

  The wedding was beautiful to say the least. I couldn’t help but wonder where they had gotten the money from to pay for everything. I guess Micki probably spent all that she had considering that she knew what she would be getting in return.

  As of that date, we were both married, and that meant that we were both going to be rich. I didn’t think I would see the day that my brother settled down and I surely didn’t think that it would be with Micki. But hey, she’d been like a sister to me for years.

  Now, it was on paper.

  Micki approached me at the reception with a smile.


  “Girl, I’m married now chile,” she chimed.

  I wiggled my finger at her.

  “Welcome darling. Welcome.”

  I smiled at her but she looked as though she was going to cry. Her happy, glowing smile was gone.

  “What? What’s wrong?”

  She looked at me.

  “What Micki?”

  She took a deep breath. She opened her mouth but then she closed it.

  “Spit it out.”

  “Remember when I told you that I had something to tell you?”

  I’d forgotten all about that. For some reason my heart sank into the pit of my belly.

  What was it?

  Micki opened her mouth to speak but my brother, her husband, interrupted us and started pulling Micki towards the dance floor. She mouthed something to me but I couldn’t make out what it was. I had a bad feeling that whatever she was going to reveal had something to do with Patrice. And I was willing to bet my life on it that I wasn’t going to like it.

  What did she have to tell me?

  ~***~

  “Polo is coming home tomorrow,” Eddie said.

  I looked at him. I was surprised that he’d even mentioned Polo’s name to me. I knew that he would be back sooner or later, but for some reason I felt nervous.

  “Okay. So, we all know that you guys are going to remain friends. Of course our relationship as a whole will never be the same so what does that mean?”

  Of course Eddie had moved into the apartment with me and the kids. But I was also sure that he probably would never trust me and Polo under the same roof or in the same room again.

  “Things will never be the same. He will more than likely never come to the house so that means that often me and the kids will probably go to his.”

  I couldn’t argue with that. It was what it was.

  “I don’t know if that will change as the years go by. I’ve forgiven you both, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t think about what both of you did to me from time to time because I do.”

  “It’s fine Eddie. I completely understand.”

  Eddie smiled and reached me a glass.

  “Here, I made you a smoothie.”

  Eddie always made the best smoothies, ever, so though I was in a rush, I paused for a second.

  “I definitely missed waking up to these,” I smiled at him.

  “Um, and I missed waking up to these,” Eddie said squeezing me boobs.

  “Stop it.”

  “Only because you have somewhere to go. When you get back, I plan on putting them into my mouth,” Eddie said.

  I was definitely enjoying this nasty side of him! The night after we got married again, he gave me the business so good that he left me shaking and begging him for more. Whatever had changed with him, was just what we needed and I knew that now we were going to have the perfect marriage. The one that we’d always deserved.

  I placed on my left shoe. I was headed to meet Micki at the lawyer’s office. Today was the day that both of us would become millionaires; literally.

  I’d told Eddie not to go to work that day and I was going to tell him once the check was in my hand that he never had to go back again.

  What was mine was his, and whether he wanted to start a new business or if he just wanted to live for a while, we would have more than enough money to do whatever we wanted to do.

  But what I really couldn’t wait for was to be face to face with Micki again so that she could tell me what she was about to tell me at her wedding. We hadn't talked much since then, but I was more than ready to talk to her today.

  Leaving out, I thought about my life as I drove in silence.

  The past two years have been rocky and a never-ending rollercoaster ride, but I was glad that things were going back to normal.

  I lost my husband. I got him back.

  I lost my dignity and so much more, but everything was back on track. Words couldn’t express how thankful I was for second chances.

  I pulled up to see that Micki was already there, but she was inside. I grabbed my paperwork proving that Eddie and I were married and I headed inside too.

  In less than thirty minutes, we were both walking out with checks in our hands. We stopped by my car and stood quietly in shock for a while.

  Did Patrice really leave me twenty million dollars?

  What in the hell was I supposed to do with twenty million dollars?

  “Micki? Do you feel bad a little knowing that she could have been murdered?” I asked her now feeling some kind now that I had the money in my hand.

  “No.”

  “Do you ever wonder what really happened to her?”

  Micki looked at me.

  “No.”

  “Really?”

  “If I told you, I would have to kill you.”

  I looked at her and cracked a smile thinking that she was joking, but she didn’t smile at all.

  “What?”

  “Leave it alone Sassi.”

  Micki walked away from me and headed to her car.

  She opened her car door and looked at me.

  “Goodbye Sassi.”

  What? What did she mean goodbye?

  “Goodbye? What are you talking about girl?”

  Micki looked at me just before getting into her car.

  She started to pull off but she noticed that I was still standing there, so she reversed.

  “Oh, by the way, what I was going to tell you was…”

  I held my breath and then gasped once she finished her sentence.

  “It wasn’t a dream.”

  Micki giggled and sped off.

  What?

  Wait a minute…

  What wasn’t a dream?

  Huh?

  Was she talking about the incident involving the three of them and the mysterious Vanessa woman?

  I grabbed my phone but just as I did, I saw that she tossed something out her car window just before turning out of the parking lot. I called her and her phone started to ring against the pavement.

  Her last words played in my head over and over again as I got into my car and ran over her phone.

  Damn it!

  Why did I just do that?

  There could have been something in it that I needed to see.

  Glancing at it in my rearview mirror, there was no hope for it so I continued to drive but I wasn’t going home.

  It wasn’t a dream?

  So I was right?

  The incident that had gone on with Eddie, Polo and Micki wasn’t a dream?

  Then who in the hell is Vanessa?

  And how in the hell did they pull it all off?

  I was confused.

  If it wasn’t a dream then how come the pregnancy test was never opened?

  Sure I was pregnant, but did that mean that one of them had done something to me to cause me to lose the baby?

  And so that meant that Eddie had been lying to me the whole time?

  About everything?

  And of course that meant that Polo had been lying too.

  What the hell!

  I pulled up at Micki’s house to see that no one was there.

  I parked. I wasn’t leaving until I got some answers.

  I saw that Eddie was calling me but I would deal with him after I dealt with Micki.

  How did she know about this Vanessa woman?

  Who was she?

  What had they done to me?

  Why was it such a big secret?

  I had so many questions and I wasn’t leaving until I got some answers. I called my brother’s phone but he didn’t answer.

  After sitting for another hour or so, and because Eddie was blowing up my phone, finally I decided to leave.

  And just as I started to pull off, Polo pulled up beside of me.

  He’s back.

  “What are you doing Sassi?”

  “Waiting for Micki to come home.”

  Polo looked at me as if he was happy to see me.

  He was smiling
and it was something weird in his eyes.

  To be honest, he was giving me the creeps.

  “She’s not coming home Sassi.”

  “What do you mean?

  “I saw her at the airport over an hour ago. I was getting off one plane and I saw her with a bag, getting on another. She didn’t see me, but I saw her.”

  “She was by herself?”

  “Yes why?”

  Where the hell was she going?

  And without my brother and her kids?

  Suddenly, I remembered what she’d said about the dream not being a dream at all.

  I looked at Polo suspiciously.

  “Who is Vanessa Polo?”

  He looked at me emotionless.

  “Who?”

  “Vanessa!”

  “I don’t know a Vanessa.”

  Liar!

  Sure I’d mentioned the dream eventually to Micki but I’d never given her too many specifics.

  But it was something about the way she’d said it.

  She’d said it like it was the truth and like she felt that she might as well tell me since she had gotten the money and planned on getting missing.

  “You’re lying to me!”

  “No I’m not. I don’t know any Vanessa.”

  I rolled my eyes at him.

  “Oh how I missed you.”

  “Polo don’t start your shit. I’m married to your best friend again so step off!”

  “I know that. Damn. But I still missed you.”

  Polo acted as though his feelings were hurt and without saying anything more he drove in one direction, and I drove in the other.

  It was time to get the truth out of Eddie.

  Once and for all.

  I got home to find Eddie and the kids outside.

  “I was starting to think that you had forgotten how to get home,” he said.

  “No, I was…”

  “Meeting Polo.”

  Wait…what?

  “No.”

  “So you didn’t see Polo?”

  “No. I mean yes I did. But not on purpose. I was already sitting there, waiting for Micki and he pulled up. And--,”

  Eddie held up his hand.

  “I don’t want to hear it Sassi. I don’t want to hear it,” he said, stood up and walked towards his newly leased Suburban.

  “Eddie,” I said behind him and the boys repeated their father’s name but he got into his new car that he’d leased not too long ago and pulled off.

  “Damn it!” I screamed.