The Third Wife (15 page)

Sharon

Five
years have gone by. Five years of ups and downs, hardships, trials and
tribulations. Years of hate and despair, at least in the beginning. I remember how
much I hated her, the little usurper from L.A. with her crass manners and her
top of the line everything. Things had been so good before she came along. Not
perfect mind you. After all a woman knows when her husband was losing interest.
But I was sure that with time I could've won him over. And then she came and
everything changed.

 
I saw the change in him, it was gradual,
subtle, but it was there. Especially after they came home from the hospital
with her litter; yes that's what I thought of her and them. I hated her with my
every breath. Would that I could do away with her for good. But he watched her
like a hawk her and them, his precious sons.

From
the glimpses I was allowed since I'd been banished from my own home. I saw a
new Cody; this wasn't my husband the man I had come to know. No, this man was
jovial, animated. Alive in a way I had always hoped for but could never
achieve. That she was the one responsible for this new him only served to make
my hatred grow. And Arlene that spineless goat, I watched her as she followed
the whore around like a lost sheep. She always was a gullible fool.

 
And then he came to see me. It was two months
or so after the babies were home. He seemed so far removed, so distant.
"How are you Sharon?"

"How do you think I am? Separated from my family, thrown out
of my home?"

"Do you really want to
start this conversation off like this?"

I
preferred it when he was indifferent. When he paid no heed to things around
him, when I could lead him where I wanted. This new Cody would not be so easily
led. I took a deep breath and calmed my raging anger hoping to keep it well
hidden. I couldn't forget what he had threatened, total and complete exile. I
wanted to curl my lips in a sneer at the very thought.

"Is there no hope for
me then? You don't love me not even just a little bit?"

"No. Not this you, the girl I met and fell for, maybe. But
she isn't here, hasn't been for a very long time."

I wanted to rail against
him for that. Wanted to hit and bite and scream until the pain in my heart
disappeared.

"I
just came to let you know that I've made an appointment for you with a
specialist. If there's any change in the next three months then I'll join you
for couple's counseling. If that goes well then the four of us will go to
family counseling together. But know this, this is your one and only chance. If
you screw this up nothing and no one will save you. And don't think to fool me
by pretending, there's too much at stake for me to take chances. I will be
keeping my eyes on you."

"I can't believe that
you will treat me this way because of..."

"Drop it, we've been
all over this already and this behavior isn't making me very hopeful. You keep
blaming others for your actions, but no one's to blame but you. Remember, if
you choose to stay in this family, you have to accept it as it is, not as you
would like it to be. Alana is here to stay, know that. I wouldn't have thrown
you out for her, but I will throw you out because of you. My family will be
happy. If you continue to be a deterrent to that happiness, believe me, I have
no qualms about casting you aside. And not just from my home, but from our
community. Do not forget
who
's heir to our little
kingdom and who will have the last say. Pose a threat to my wife and my kids
and I promise you, you'll live to regret it."

And with that he had left.
I don't think I'd ever seen him so angry and yet so dispassionate. It was as
though we were strangers. Not a man and his wife who had once been intimate,
who shared a child. Of course my first recourse was anger. I fed on it for
days, plotting all kinds of scenarios in my head. In all of them the interloper
died a horrible death. If Cody had been privy to my thoughts he would've had me
locked away somewhere for sure.

Arlene

It
sure has been crazy around here let me tell you. Crazy, but kind of good, even
with all the drama. I'm a quiet person by nature. It takes a lot to get me
started; I was raised to be that way. Not that the women in my home were
mistreated or anything, there was no seen and not heard. It's just that my
three moms had that same disposition. I guess my dad lucked out. Cody is my
world, has always been since I was old enough to know who he was and what he
would mean to me one day.

We
have a good life together, but it's the life I've always expected to live. I
don't make waves. That's not me but I watch. I observe from the sidelines. When
Alana first came I knew there was going to be trouble. Not only was she young,
beautiful and spirited, she just didn't seem like one to fit in. She was more the
type to break the mold and reshape it. I didn't want to be reshaped. I liked
things just as they were.

Sharon
was a leader; at least that's how I saw her. I had no problem following her
lead, that's what she needed. As long as my daughter and I were taken care of,
I saw no reason to speak out about anything. It could be because by the time
Sharon came along I had already accepted the fact that I was not the great love
of Cody’s life. Not that he wasn't a kind and loving husband he was that and
more, but a woman knows these things. He felt warm and affectionate towards me,
but he wasn't in love with me. The women of our community have been getting
married for duty for generations this is nothing new.

 
I was also raised to expect this possibility.
From some of the stories I’ve heard, I think I had still done better than some.
After Sharon came along I thought for sure she would be it for him. That had
stung a little I am a woman after all. But within months it was obvious to me
if not her, that that wasn't the case. He was still searching, maybe not
actively, but there was something missing.

Life
changed after that. Sharon started getting more and more...bossy, I would say.
She called the moves and I went along. Cody seemed even more distant in those
days, like he was just going through the motions, it was sad. Then Alana was
here, and boy did things really change. I saw a new Cody.

He
was, alive, whole. I didn't know how to deal with that in the beginning,
knowing that this new person had finally done in such a short time what I
couldn't achieve in all the time we were together. It was easy to follow in
Sharon's hatred of her. And when Sharon planted the seed of doubt in my ear,
the idea that this Alana will one day steal our husband away with her worldly ways.
I was ready to do anything to get rid of her.

After
the way Cody spoke to Sharon that night after the party, and I saw in him that
he really would put us all aside, it jolted me. Just as I would do anything for
the man I loved, that man would do anything for the woman he loved. That had
hurt a little as well. It was like something withering and dying. That
something was my hope that even after all that had gone, he would one day look
at me and realize I was his great love.

After
the babies came home things really changed for me. I thought I would be envious
that Alana had the boys and I had only one girl in almost seven years, one girl
and then nothing. I would've kept my distance and been the dutiful wife but no
more had it not been for that Victoria girl.

I
was standing in the kitchen at the sink peeling vegetables for dinner. Alana
was at the table with the girls while her boys and daughter were asleep.
Victoria, the new babysitter came in all fresh and sweet smelling. She looked
all around the room as if searching for someone. I knew who but I hoped to
heaven Alana didn't figure it out or there would be hell to pay then, and I'd
had enough drama to last me a lifetime.

I
knew the girl didn't stand a chance in getting what she was after, but that
wouldn't stop her from trying. I also knew that Cody would never do that to
Alana. Isn't that a strange thing for a woman to accept about her husband?

"Where's Cody?"

 
For some reason that burned
me, enough was enough. "Mr. Jackson is busy, the children you are here to
look after are asleep upstairs. Maybe you should see to them instead of
worrying about where our husband is."

 
She paled a little and rushed out of the room.

I heard laughter at the
table. Drat, I had forgotten that they were here. Alana was holding her stomach
doubled over in laughter, it made me grin.

"Way to go Arlene."

"I don't like her."

"Me neither."

"So why is she still here?"

 
"Good question, I'll get on that right
quick."

She'd
left the room still laughing and went in search of Cody I guess. What ever she
did must've worked because the next day Victoria was gone and a new, much older
replacement was here. After that day Alana and I grew closer together. Helping
her with the boys helped me get over my jealousy of them. Not to mention the
way Cody had changed, he was more attentive not only to me but to the girls.
Especially little
Crystal
who was almost without a
mother. Alana and I combined our efforts to make her feel loved. Then we
started bonding over other things, and before you know it, I had a new friend.
My life would be the better for it. It sure made sharing easier.

Alana

Boy, what a life. Time sure
has flown by, five years. If I tell you all that has happened in that time it
would take a couple lifetimes. First I'm almost twenty-three and I have seven
kids, you heard me, seven. After Cody nailed me in our cabin, you guessed it,
knocked up. I was not amused. At one point in my life I was going to be the
mother of at least five children under the age of one. You couldn't write this
shit.

Everyone
was excited, including Cody but I was pissed. Cody didn't t let my prissiness
stop him from getting some so after a while I decided what the hell, wasn't
much I could do about it might as well go with the flow. At the end of that
catastrophe I had twin boys to thank for my new DDs. Cody was a very happy
camper.

 
When the new babies were one and the quads
two, I started my soap making. Yes it had taken me all this time because my
husband had turned into a worrying old woman. First he started working from
home, which was fun because now I didn't have to go across town to get some
afternoon delight, and he brought the desk and the couch home. Working from
home, I don't see how he got anything done because he was always hovering
around me and the kids.

Arlene
and I use to make fun of him. Especially when he would have the kids crawling
around his desk while the twins were in their bouncy chairs giggling at any and
everything. Katie was in school and Crystal was in preschool, so for the first
part of the day we didn't have to deal with all eight children. But the
evenings whoosh. Full house.

 
"Cody the babysitters are bored."
Arlene and I walked into his office one day after the two women had complained
that he had once again high jacked the kids and taken them to his office. He
was on the phone when we walked in but I hadn't noticed until he put his finger
in the air. After he hung up I just shook my head at him.

"How can you get
anything done with all this noise in here?" I moved to take the kids with
me.

"Leave them
Wildflower, they're fine where they are. Why don't you go show Arlene how to
make soap and candles? I've got this."

"
Ooookay
then." And that's how it started, me letting Arlene into my little
enterprise. They didn't know it yet, well Cody knew but no one else. This was
my dream it's what I was working towards. I'd decided to start a business and I
knew from experience that my soaps were first class. It was kind of a passion
for me after all, and without the added stress of school and with all the
helping hands I had with the babies, I had more than enough time.

So,
I introduced Arlene to my soap making adventure. Within six months we had an
online store. Cody was very supportive, as long as I didn't have to travel too
far from home for any length of time he was all for it. But within that first
year things really took off. Next thing I knew we were supplying local
specialty shops and spas. There was even talk of opening our own shop. Cody
wasn't too keen on that one. He hated the idea of me being away from home all
those hours. I really wasn't interested either so I didn't put up too much of a
fuss. The online business was enough. I even hired Mrs. Brewster and some of
her buddies to help with the packaging and the phones.

Fast-forward
another three years or so and we have baby number seven. Another little girl,
thank heaven. I'm still the only one to give him a son, and the truth. I'm
tickled pink because my man is a fool for his sons. I know this because little
Chandra wasn't even two months old before he was threatening to plant another
one in me. Yeah right; was he nuts? Seven children in five years; tie a bell
around my neck and call me Elsie the cow.

Instead
of slowing down Cody and I are growing closer and closer and our bedroom
theatrics just keep getting better and better. After each pregnancy I would
lose everything except my breasts, which Cody seemed fascinated by. He could
hardly keep his hands off of them.

 
I've grown more accustomed to the sharing
thing, because when it was just he and I, it was just he and I. And our cabin
got plenty of use, though it was off limits to anyone else. When I'd made that
stipulation he'd been hurt because as he'd put it, he would never even
entertain such a thought. That was our special place, ours and no one else's,
except sometimes we took the kids. What he did and where he went with the
others no longer bothered me. I've settled into my new life, secure in the
knowledge that I am loved. It did help that he always acted like he’d missed me
whenever we were apart. He didn’t say it but I could tell all the same.