A Wife's Revenge

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"The decor is exquisite, Olga. I have to make a down payment before the work finishes, right?"

"You know the drill, gospozha." She says, showing her braced teeth. I don't bother asking her the meaning of whatever she'd just said because, honestly, I didn't care.

"I'll write you a check, and how about you begin with my sons bedroom." I say, writing her a check.

"80,000 thousand, right?" I ask, as I write. "Yes, yes. Half, first." I tear the check out and hand it over to her. "Spasiba!" She chuckles.

"Whatever that means, Olga." I chuckle uncomfortably. She laughs. She gets up, ready to leave. Work would probably commence tomorrow.

***
I'm in the kitchen, whipping up a plate of mashed potatoes, lamb chops and pineapples for Louis' lunch. Ashley comes in. "Ms. Richardson!"

"Hello, Ashley. You look good today, extremely bubbly. You want to let me in on your secret?" I ask her, as I reach for Louis' wooden plate.

"Oh, it's nothing. I was just texting my friends. Can I help you?"

"Oh, that's good, Ashley. You shouldn't ever neglect your friends." I continue, " And no, I don't, darling." I say to her, as I think of Lydia. I still hadn't reached out to José and Anna after the party. I would hate to have me as a friend.

"Ms. Natalie?"

"Yes, Ashley?" I respond.

"I wanted to ask if I could keep this?" She asks, showing me a broken iPhone.

I arch a brow, confused. "Where did you get that?"

"In the guest bedroom by the end of hallway. Delores and I did a little site-seeing, if I may say. Heh." She chuckles nervously. She continues, "We found this there, on the floor." She drops the phone on the kitchen counter as I listen to her, while I spray some whipped cream on the plate. "I've really been wanting an iPhone for the longest, so, I though— "I'll get you a new one, Ashley. If you'd asked me earlier, I'd have had it delivered to you. That must belong to one of the former workers or probably, my ex husband. Give it here, I'll have it." I say, as I collect the phone from her. The screen wasn't shattered. Luckily, it was protected by the screen guard. The phone, however, was divided into two. I scan the phone, trying to see if it could possibly be Luke's. I couldn't tell, but if it was, I was sure as hell I'd find some sort of leverage over him on it. I needed to get it fixed and fast.

***
"Okay, sweetheart. Stay put." I say to my son, as I drop him in his chair. "Stop touching your eyes." I say, as I remove his hands. He begins to clap his hands and begins with his baby talking gibberish. I chuckle. He begins to eat his food.

"Why don't you look like me?" I whisper, somewhat sad. Louis looked so much like Luke and it made me extremely jealous. Thankfully, he had my brown eyes. I take a seat opposite him. It dawns on me that I didn't even have enough photos with Louis except the pictures from his birth and his first birthday. I take my phone out from my PJ. I begin to surf the internet, searching for a solution. These days, we could solve a whole lot of problems with help from the internet. "This looks good." I say to myself as I see an instant camera that can be delivered to me in about 5 hours. I place an order and pay. Today would be a mommy and son day. Mommy and Louis' day.

****
Louis had finished eating. I'm carrying him, and we're on our way upstairs, to his bedroom. "Oh, bloody hell, champ. Did you just wet your nappy? Oh, that stinks, Louis!" I close my nose as I giggle. As though he understands what he'd done and what I'm saying, he holds my cheeks and begins to laugh. There's spittle coming out of his mouth. I use my shirt to wipe it off. I take him into the bathroom. I drop him in the sink. He's standing, so I take off his diaper. "Oh." I say, as I hold my breath. It smelled horrible.

My phone rings in my pocket as I'm cleaning up my son. I ignore, concentrating on Louis. The phone stops ringing. It begins, again. I want to take the call, but before I can, the call ends, again. As I'm wiping Louis with the towel, the call comes in again. This time, I'm able to take it. It's Alex.

"Hello, Alex." I say, as I carry Louis into the bedroom, Louis in my hands, my phone on my shoulder, supported by my neck.

It's on loud speaker. "Hello, Natalie. How are you? How's Louis?"

"Well, we're fine. I'm just changing his diaper." I say, as I reach for a diaper on the table.

"That's good to hear, Natalie. Oh, I'm fine too, thank you for asking." He says, in a very hurt and sarcastic tone.

"I'm sorry, I was going to ask." I lie. "How are you, Alex?"

"I'm not doing so good." He responds.

"Well, are you ill? What's wrong? You sound okay."

"You haven't returned my calls or texts in days, Natalie. My feelings were hurt. I thought you were kind of avoiding me. I thought you were mad at me or that I hurt you."

"Oh." I respond, as I wonder what to tell him. More than anything, I needed to cozy up to Alex. I needed him to be so obsessed with me that I'd have him at the palm of my fingers. That would be the only way I'd be able to control him. "I'm sorry, love." I say, as I cringe. I shake my head, a bit irked. "I've been a bit under the weather. I'm sorry, and no, Alex. You didn't hurt me."

"That's a relief. I mean, is that why you weren't home? Did you visit a hospital? I sent you flowers severally but there was no one to receive them."

"Oh? I moved. I moved a few days ago."

"You moved? Seriously? Did you buy a house? Where?"

"No, I didn't buy a house. Alimony." I lie, not ready to get into details. I continue, "Shoreditch."

"Alimony? You got your ex's house?" He asks.

"Yes, I did." There's silence for almost a minute. I cough, as a button up my son's onesie. "Hellooooo?" I ask, wondering why he suddenly went mute.

"I could buy you a mansion too, I was just thinking." He says. I arch my brows, trying not to laugh out loud. This man was really serious. "It's not a competition, Alex."

"No strings attached. It would be a gift, of course."

"We're not even an item, Alex. You're jumping the gun, honestly. This is my son's inheritance. At least, that's what I treat it as." I lie, yet again. I didn't want Alex to know I'd cunningly set up my ex-husband and coerced him into signing away our former matrimonial home in a bid to fulfill my vendetta against him.

"I can understand. I will follow your lead, because I don't want to force you. If you wish, we could see tonight and I'll show you what we could be. . . What I want us to be, Natalie."

"I can't." I say, as I carry Louis on my laps. I continue, "I'm spending today with my son, Alex. Maybe we can reschedule."

"Tomorrow? At noon?" He asks.

"Sure, but I was going out to get my phone fixed. Can you wait or you'll meet up with me?"

"I'll just send you a new one." He responds, and for a second I'm irritated. I roll my eyes. I'd realized that Alex thought he could buy his way into getting everything. Reminded me of Judith.

"There's no need, Alex, but thank you for the offer. See you tomorrow." I say as I end the call. I drop my phone and get up with Louis. "Hey, little man. Why don't we go watch a movie until that camera gets here? What do you want? Lion King? Mickey Mouse? Oh, you want that? Okay, baby. Come on." I say as we leave the room. I was going to enjoy the day with my son, uninterrupted.