Mrs Bennett

An upper-class lifestyle piece I thought I would try my hand at. Also a bit of a different take on 'wife finds her husband cheating'.

‘Her name is Kalyna, she is twenty-eight. She’s originally from the Ukraine but has been a legal citizen of England for nine years now.’ The voice on the other end of the line was blunt and to the point.

‘Thank you.’

Mrs Bennett looked at the dog on her lap and then the one at her feet. There was the tinkle of a collar, genuine leather and 24 carat diamonds matching the ones on the identification tags, as one of the dogs looked up.

‘Oh, George,’ said Mrs Bennett seeing her husband. ‘How was your day at work?’ She asked because it was expected and polite.

‘No worse than usual. How was the country club?’

‘It was good,’ she lied.

‘Shall we relocate to the dining room?’

‘Of course.’ They used a food delivery service that delivered ready cooked meals which Mrs Bennett heated in the oven before her husband got home. He always arrived home late and was usually hungry.

George went to the dining room while his wife collected the food from the kitchen and brought it to the dining room where he was waiting.

‘I will have to contact the service.’ George commented examining the plate. ‘The serving size is too small.’

‘Of course.’ She agreed. This was the third time he had made such a comment in the last fortnight. So it was the third time this fortnight that Mrs Bennett glanced at her husband’s stomach and decided that if anything he was eating too much.

She would give him more of her serving from now on. She did not need it and he obviously preferred complaining over actually making the phone call. But of course he was busy earning money for her to spend and was probably wondering why she had not made the call for him.

 

 ***

 

 ‘Cafe Bronwyn. It’s on the corner of Milton and Vine.’

‘Thank you.’ Mrs Bennett was raised to be polite even when unnecessary.

There was no further reply from the other end of the line.

Mrs Bennett walked down to the garage grabbing the keys to her Lexus as she passed them in the key cabinet.

The drive was short and she managed to find a car park across from the cafe and could see Kalyna where she sat out the front of the cafe enjoying the sun. She sat in her car observing the woman she had only ever seen in a small blurry image on her phone.

Mrs Bennett analysed the bright strappy maxi-dress, the jacket was draped over the back of her chair. She wasn’t looking for George’s affections anymore anyway she decided shaking thoughts of fashion out of her head.

Kalyna looked younger than twenty-eight. It was probably her Ukrainian heritage Mrs Bennett decided. Her face was full of harsh lines and Mrs Bennett was wondering what the appeal was. Finally she decided Kalyna looked exotic and young, that would be appeal enough.

Steeling herself she got out of the car and crossed the street taking a seat across from Kalyna who looked up in surprise.

‘How far along are you?’

There was a pause. ‘Eight weeks,’ came the heavily accented reply.

‘You know what’s going to happen.’ Kalyna looked at her to continue. ‘There is no happy ending for you.’ Mrs Bennett’s calm tone didn’t change.

Kalyna didn’t flinch but Mrs Bennett was adept at reading people and could see her tension.

‘What if I wasn’t pregnant?’ Kalyna’s eyes were full of questions and fear.

Mrs Bennett raised an eyebrow. ‘Then I would get pregnant quickly.’ She looked over at her car, a distraction from Kalyna’s eyes. ‘That was my mistake.’

 

 ***

 

 ‘Hello.’

‘Mrs Bennett?’ The voice enquired.

‘Yes, is this Mr Sumners? What was his response?’

‘He has agreed to your terms.’

‘Has he signed?’ Mrs Bennett rolled her eyes at the necessity of having to ask such an obvious follow-up question. It really was a wonder that she had done so well with Mr Sumners leading her case.

‘Yes, you are officially a free woman.’

‘Thank you so much Mr Sumners.’ was the crisp response.

‘You’re welcome.’ Mrs Bennett hung up before he could engage in anymore unnecessary conversation.

George did not agree to her first request. It had been too much money. She only asked for her fair share of the money and the Lexus. The dogs came with her. There was no need for discussion about that. It was hard finding a hotel that would allow pets but she had done it.

When George came back saying that she was asking for too much she reminded him that she could easily go to the papers. She wasn’t the one who had done anything wrong. It sounded as though her reminder worked.

She picked up the local paper and looked at the real estate section planning to ring an agent later. After so much time as her George’s wife she needed to figure out who she was and become that person. The divorce settlement was more than enough for her to do this.

She hugged her dogs, lifting them up, so they could see the newspaper. ‘Does this look like a good home?’ She asked pointing to an advertisement. She received a bark and a lick on the fingers. She had never felt so carefree in her life.

After much consideration and soul searching Addison chose to use her settlement money on starting an interior design business. It was hard finding herself, her passions and interests, after being Mrs Bennett for so long. Addison had turned to one of the few skills she practiced as Mrs Bennett, designing. It was something that interested her but which she had not been able to do something with until now.

She herself was only half way through her degree but had hired a team of four designers. She was looking forward to joining them as a fully fledged designer herself.

 

***

 ‘Addison Fisher’s designs.’

‘Hello.’ The reply was nervous.

‘Kalyna,’ Addison recognised the voice, even after so many years and smiled unsurprised at the call.

Kalyna was a Bennett woman now with nothing better to do then spending George’s money. Fortunately for her she was good at her role and had a daughter in which to spend money on. She also had company to call on, even if it was only the former Mrs Bennett. But who better to call on?

‘Um, I �"’ Kalyna stuttered.

‘Are you calling about getting a room done?’Addison managed to keep her tone light.

‘Uh, yes, two rooms. I need Natalka’s room re-done and... I need a nursery.’

‘Oh,’ Addison fidgeted with the pen in front of her ‘Shall I make an appointment to examine the room and talk about design ideas?’

‘Yes... would Wednesday next week at noon work?’

‘I’ll book you in Mrs Bennett.’ Addison moved over to the computer where she entered in the necessary details, from her memory.

Even through the phone Addison could tell Kalyna was building herself up to say something.

‘I’m sorry.’ The apology could have seemed random but not for Kalyna and not for Addison who knew Kalyna was apologising for being younger and better but not for replacing her, never for that.

Addison didn’t know what she was expected to say and ended up saying ‘Don’t be. I’m not sorry for you.’ She was not sorry for Kalyna, she was better at being Mrss Bennett than Addison ever was.

There was a pause and then a dial tone. Addison hung up the phone and then looked at the appointment on her computer.

Author's Note

I am wondering if there are parts of this story of that are too ambiguous and explicit. Part of this story was trying to find the balance between the two.

Reviews

[Girl Friday (Sarah W.)]

This was definitely an interesting take on the traditional...you stepped beyond the boundaries with this piece, and I applaud you for that. All of the detail and description that you inffused into this tale is what really brought it to life, as well as the underlying feelings that evolved throughout.

In the beginning, you introduced the characters well--this is something that many writers have a hard time doing, especially in a short story. You weren't too overt in your characterizations, either, which is refreshing.

Through the middle portion, we really begin to see the story unfolding, and I didn't find anything too ambiguous, nor explicit in the piece. Rather I think that it was a natural evolution.

In the end, the last line as a matter of fact, I truly felt the full breadth of the write. "There was a pause and then a dial tone."--is there anything worse than the sound of silence? It speaks so loudly.

Overall, I think this was nicely done. I enjoyed the read.