Chapter 4

4: 4

4.

My parents grabbed the disinfectant.

They sprayed it over themselves, hurrying.

"It's the baby's one-month celebration. Whatever it is, we'll talk about it back home."

"Bianca means well for the baby too."

Some of the tightness left Bianca's face.

She looked at me, a faint smile at the corner of her mouth.

And she said it like she was handing down a favor.

"They're about to start serving."

"Let's eat first."

My father stooped, forcing a smile onto his face.

He waved my relatives toward the hotel.

Before going in, he stopped at the glass door on purpose to smooth his hair.

He carefully straightened the yellowing shirt on his back.

I knew he was afraid of embarrassing me.

When we reached the doorway of the banquet hall, everyone stopped.

Eighteen tables in all.

Seventeen of them had already been cleared away.

Only one table was left in the corner, still covered with cold leftovers.

My mother asked me, lost:

"Rod, did the hotel make a mistake?"

I called over a waiter.

"It doesn't start until twelve-thirty, right? Why aren't they serving?"

The waiter looked completely confused.

"Your family booked it for eleven-thirty. Everybody's already eaten and gone."

"Your wife told us to leave this table of leftovers on purpose. Otherwise we'd have cleared it long ago."

Bianca stood in the corridor, her tone offhand.

"You country people are small-minded. You hold grudges."

"You don't even eat clean."

"Spitting, coughing, chain-smoking, turning the whole banquet into a filthy mess."

My fists clenched.

"So you told my family to show up an hour late on purpose?"

She nodded, righteous about it.

"What else was I supposed to do?"

"Wait around while your pack of poor relatives embarrassed me?"

"Your family just doesn't know how to stay clean!"

"They're filthy themselves, and I'm not even allowed to say it?"

I looked at her.

"Who was this table of leftovers kept for?"

She said nothing.

"I'm asking you. Who was it kept for!"

Bianca turned her face away, guilty.

"So what if it's leftovers!"

"This is good stuff! King crab, deep-water abalone. You country folk have never even seen these!"

Ulysses planted himself between me and Bianca, hopping around like a monkey.

"Bianca was just trying to save a little money, wasn't she."

"She actually wanted to feed you the good stuff."

"You haven't had enough to eat for that many years, have you? Would you even know what to do with fine ingredients like these!"

Everyone was watching me.

I walked up to Bianca.

I said just one thing.

"Let's get divorced. You invited your family to eat, you pay for it yourself."

While she stared at me, stunned,

I picked up my phone and called the bank's customer line.

"Hello, I'd like to cancel the card ending in 0266."

"Yes, the salary card. Void the original card."

Bianca froze.

A second later she was screaming, pounding her fists against my chest.

"Rod Abbott! What is this supposed to mean!"

"Isn't this child yours!"

I ignored her, turned, and slapped those infectious-disease test strips onto Ulysses's face.

Behind me my mother-in-law shrieked herself hoarse.

"Rod Abbott, do you have any conscience?"

"Bianca gave you a son, and this is how you treat her!"

Bianca came back to herself and chased after me.

Wearing that same lofty, favor-granting look again.

"Apologize to me right now. Write a written pledge."

"Then the baby and I can still forgive you."

I laughed.

"Why should I apologize?"

She lifted her chin, her tone taking it for granted.

"Because I gave you a son."

"If you don't apologize, I'll never let him call you Daddy!"

This was the thirty-fourth time since the pregnancy that she'd used the child to threaten me.

My parents panicked.

Crying, they begged me.

"Hurry and apologize to Bianca."

"Your mom and I have thick skin. Skipping one meal is nothing."

"But that's our family's child!"

Bianca and my mother-in-law folded their arms.

Waiting for me to give in, waiting for me to bow my head.

This time I didn't give in.

I helped my parents up.

"I'm getting this divorce, and it's final. From now on, no one gets to put you through anything again."

"I'm not even thirty. If I want a child, there'll be plenty of women willing to have one!"

My mother-in-law let out a sneer.

"Aside from our Bianca, who's foolish enough, what other woman would be willing!"

I looked at Bianca, calm.

And dialed Linda's number from my contacts.

"I'm divorced. I want to have a child."

"Are you willing to have one with me?"