Worthy Opponents(8)
“I want you to sell the store, if you want to save our marriage,” he said bluntly, and she looked shocked. He had never put it quite that clearly.
“Are you telling me you’ll divorce me if I don’t sell the store?” she asked, looking him directly in the eyes. She didn’t like the anger and jealousy she saw there, and she was tired of it.
“I guess I am,” he said coldly. “It’s only going to get worse between us if you keep the store.” Their sex life had dwindled to nothing once she became CEO. It was as though the very idea emasculated him and he no longer found her attractive. If anything, he found the whole idea repellent. She didn’t want to force herself on him, and although she was young and beautiful, he never wanted to make love to her anymore. He never told her she was pretty or acted like he noticed it.
“You’re not giving me much choice,” she said with a chill in her voice. Something in her had finally snapped.
“Yes, I am. You can sell the store if you want this marriage. Or you can keep the store and lose me.” For the first time, she wondered if he was cheating on her. But in the weeks after he said it to her, she realized that even if she sold the store, it wouldn’t save their marriage. He was too bitter now, and too competitive with her. Every day was a contest as to who was the most successful. They both knew she was, and he would never forgive her for it. He did well at his job, but it was just a job, and for Spencer the store was a lifelong passion, and a legacy from her grandfather. Nothing could induce her to give that up, or to betray her grandfather’s memory by selling the store. And she wanted to keep it now for her sons.
She conceded defeat a month later, after thinking it over seriously. There was nothing left to salvage. Bart had lost all goodwill toward her, and compassion for her, and even physical attraction to her. He just saw her as some kind of robot or mannequin wearing what she brought home from the store. He didn’t see her as beautiful anymore, and she could feel it. He was too jealous of her to love her. It was obvious he no longer did, if he ever had. She doubted it now. But whatever he had felt for her was gone. It was chilling to be around him. Everything that had originally attracted him to her, her energy, her entrepreneurial skills, her brain, were what he resented and made him appear to hate her now. She felt detested by him most of the time. And he treated her with anger, disrespect, and disdain, to punish her for her success.
The idea of bringing up the twins alone was daunting. But being married to a man who resented her every hour of every day wasn’t appealing either. In the end, it was Spencer who filed the divorce. By the time she did, she had accepted the demise of their two-year marriage as unavoidable, and maybe even predictable, although she hadn’t seen it in the beginning. He wanted to control her and deprive her of the store. It was different in the beginning. He had actually seemed as though he admired and respected her. Now it was clear he no longer did. She wasn’t what he expected of a wife and mother. The ground rules had changed once she had the twins.
The attorney she went to filed all the papers for her and sent them to Bart’s attorney. There was no set visitation schedule for the twins, since they were too young for regular visitation, and she stipulated that with advance warning, Bart could visit them at her home whenever he wanted. He had moved out temporarily and was staying at his club, since Spencer had bought the apartment where they lived. She had had the funds to buy it, Bart hadn’t.
Bart’s attorney asked for the apartment as part of the settlement, and she gave it to him. She bought a small townhouse in Chelsea, not far from the store, and decorated it the way she wanted. She loved it. It was just big enough for her and the twins, with a room for the nanny, and a garden. The twins seemed happy there too.
She was working even harder than before, once she and Bart split up, and rushing home to see the twins after work. She felt like a robot sometimes, going from one problem to the next. She was the only parent at home, and the ultimate decision-maker and the final word at the store on every subject. It was an awesome responsibility, and she took it more seriously than ever. She took her parenting of the twins seriously too, and managed both her career and her mothering, just as she had promised herself she would. She was surprised by how little Bart wanted to see the boys. She invited him to visit them whenever he hadn’t been to see them in a while, and most of the time he said he was busy and declined. He hadn’t formed a strong bond with them to begin with, and it seemed to lessen over time. He was enjoying his single life again, and dating. Spencer had no time to date, between the store and the twins, and she had no interest in dating. She didn’t have the energy or the time to meet men and go out with them.
Her mother had been very vocally opposed to the divorce as soon as Spencer told her. As usual, she was critical of Spencer. Her views were more similar to Bart’s than her daughter’s. And like Bart, she hated the store, and was jealous of it.
“He’s right, you know. You don’t have time to bring up children properly. They’ll end up juvenile delinquents if you’re never around,” she predicted. Eileen had never been around either, and Spencer had never gone wild. She’d been a serious child and a good student, despite little attention from her parents. Spencer was a much better, warmer mother than her own had been, and spent more time with her children than her mother had.
“I’m around, Mom,” Spencer said quietly. “Just not at traditional hours.” She took care of them herself on Sundays and loved it. She didn’t have to choose between them and the store. It was Bart who had tried to force that hand, as though to prove a point. He was giving her a decent amount of child support for the boys, but none of his time. She wondered who he was dating, but never asked. She told herself that it was none of her business, although it would be later on, once visitation started. The court mediator had started visitation at three years of age for the twins, by mutual consent, with visits at Spencer’s home in the meantime, with proper warning. Bart almost never called to see them. He claimed they were too young to know the difference. The twins seemed happy, had no alarming behaviors, and didn’t seem to miss him. They were only eighteen months old, barely more than babies, and had been just over a year old when their parents separated.