Relieved

Always on time, I had entered through a side door of the house, my arms filled with goodies. In her laundry room a wooden breakfast tray laid on the counter. Having room for it under one arm, it pressed against my body for leverage. All the items unloaded from my hands onto the breakfast bar, the white linen dinner napkins had sat within my reach. Most days for Angela started with a fresh breakfast tray, mindfully placed with an array of small dishes set nicely to the left side. Most of the time, I pluck a pink or white rose from the fresh floral arrangements that sat in her Lalique vases. There were always many fresh flowers spanning throughout her house, it was the final accoutrement that Angela was accustomed to. I had taken a deep breath, chin up I walked down the long barren hallway to Angela's Master Suite with the New York times under my left elbow. Eyes focused straight ahead, I chose to ignore the large canvas that sat on the easel, grotesquely smeared with red paint and ladies' painties. Rounding a corner into the bedroom I saw Angela staring out the window. Draped in a long purple velvet robe and a white Egyptian cotton towel wrapped tightly on her head. She never turned to acknowledge my cheerful singsong "Good Morning", as I placed the tray on her white duvet cover. After a long silent pause Angela spun around swiftly, her purple robe swung open exposing her nude body. Our eyes locked, Angela blurted "I decided to FUCK HIM". My faced turned to the ceiling, and I had blinked in disbelief. Just six months earlier we were in San Francisco for abortion number 9. With no other starting point in my mind, did she just insinuate the gardener? It took all my strength to stay poised and not react. Angela stood so stoic and detached, as I brushed her words aside. In a matter-of-fact way I asked, "Are you still going to Napa today?" "Yes" she replied. Then she made some derogatory remark about him as "just another conquest". Angela had previously shared a little personal background on the gardener, his dad was very abusive. That's when my composure dropped and out of my mouth, I said the words, "so he would rather take his father's wrath than yours?" Boy did I hit a raw nerve, she screamed "HIS FATHER BEATS HIM!"