The Wives(75)

“How did you find us?” he asks.

I clamp my mouth shut. I’m not about to tell him that Regina helped me.

“Thursday,” Seth says, taking a step toward me.

I flinch back and I immediately feel ashamed. Surely he wouldn’t do anything to me in front of his Hannah.

“I’m calling the police,” he says, pulling his phone from his pocket. “You’re stalking us. You’re a danger to yourself and Hannah.”

My mouth opens and closes in protest, but I’m too shocked to really say anything. Stalking? How could he act like I’m the danger to Hannah when he’s the one who’s been hitting her?

“You’ve gone too far,” he continues. “It’s over, it’s been over for a while.” He places an arm around Hannah’s shoulders. Am I imagining that she’s stiffened? “I’ve told Hannah everything. She knows about us.”

Knows about us? Knows what? A pain shoots through my forehead and I narrow my eyes, blinking against it.

I don’t look at Seth, I pretend he’s not there; I look at Hannah, only her, the young girl whose life he’s going to ruin. She looks tiny, so much younger than Seth; his arm around her almost seems paternal.

“Hannah,” I say gently. “What has Seth told you about me?”

Her head snaps up as she meets my gaze, and Seth’s shoulders go rigid. She glances at Seth, whose eyes are boring into me.

“I told her the truth,” he says. “It’s over, Thursday.”

“I didn’t ask you, I asked Hannah.” I look over at her. “When I went to the house, you pretended not to know me...”

She bites her bottom lip, her eyes blinking furiously. “You knew who I was,” she says. “You came to our house, pretending to be someone else. You were stalking us...” Her voice rises in crescendo.

I need her to be calm and logical, to really listen to me. I nod. “You’re right. I did come to your house. I was curious about who you were. I knew that Seth had relationships with two other women outside of our marriage and I wanted to see...you.”

Her head jerks like I’ve slapped her. “What are you talking about?” She glances at Seth, then back at me.

“Seth and I are still married,” I say.

“You’re insane.” Her voice shakes.

I look at Seth, straining my eyes so wide it feels like they’re going to pop out of their sockets.

“This is what you told her?” I ask him. “She never knew anything about a plural marriage. So was that story just for me, then?”

A muscle jumps in his jaw. I can see by the look in his eyes that I’m right.

“We were living together as husband and wife, in every way,” I say, turning to Hannah.

Hannah starts to cry. Seth reaches for her, but she pushes him away, her sobs filling the apartment.

“Look what you’ve done,” she says to him. “Look what you brought into our lives.”

I look at him for the first time. His mouth opening and closing. Brought into their lives? Seth brought Hannah into mine. I was here first.

For a minute I’m in shock. I picture him as my husband and not this monster. The man I loved, who would kiss me gently on the lips and rub my neck after a long day of work. I cooked him meals and he praised my ability; when something broke in the condo he’d get the toolbox and fix it with me standing over him, feeling pride at how good he was at everything. The hurt rushes through me and then all of a sudden it’s gone, replaced by anger. How dare he. How dare he love me one minute and discard me the next.

Seth’s attention isn’t focused on me. It’s focused on Hannah.

“She’s not well,” he says. “She just got out of a mental hospital. I’m sorry, Hannah... I love you, only you.”

“Not well?” I say. “I was there because you put me there, because you were afraid of what I could say about you.” I turn my attention back to his trembling girlfriend. “He was good to me—or so I thought—and I believed everything he told me. When I lost the baby, I became useless to him. Is that the type of man you want to be with, Hannah? Someone who lies to you, who hits you, who finds other women to meet his sick, insatiable needs. It wasn’t only me,” I say. “He’s been with Regina, too.”

“That’s why you came here?” Seth hisses. “To accuse me of hitting the woman I love? Are you insane? You’re the violent one. You attacked me when I tried to end things with you. We had to move to get away from you.”

“There were bruises on her arms,” I yell at him. “I saw them!”

“I told you what those bruises were from,” Hannah interjects. “I bruise easily.”

I shake my head. “Your eye...you had a black eye that day...”

She looks to Seth, uncertain, and for a moment I think I have her, that she’s going to admit what happened. But then she says something that shocks me.

“We were having sex when it happened. I didn’t want to say that at the time. You and I had just met, and it was embarrassing to say. Seth accidentally elbowed me in the eye.”

I stare at her in disbelief. Why is she still lying? “He shoved me once, when we were fighting. I hit my ear. Maybe he didn’t directly hit you but—”

“Thursday, you came at me, pounding at my chest. I tried to hold you off...you fell...”