‘Don’t be stupid, Birdie. You married me and that is all there is to it,’ said Leon, ignoring her barb.
Birdie stood at the front door, desperate for Spencer to come back but knowing he was at work, far away from her.
‘So you don’t deny it?’ she asked, her hand on the door.
‘No, I don’t,’ said Leon. ‘A man has needs and Melanie met mine.’
Birdie wanted to slam the door in his face but instead she stood her ground.
‘Leon, there is no marriage if you are cheating on me. Spencer will start divorce proceedings as soon as I ask.’
Leon smiled at her. ‘I don’t think so, Birdie.’
‘I think so,’ she said, moving to shut the door.
But Leon put his foot in the way. ‘Birdie, you will listen to me,’ he said, pushing his way inside. He looked around the foyer of the ramshackle house that Spencer wanted to turn into a home for him and Birdie. The Blanchard money was in property but not in cash and it would take years to return it to its former glory.
‘What a dump,’ said Leon spitefully.
Birdie ignored him. ‘Just go, Leon,’ she said tiredly.
‘No, I won’t go until you come with me. You made an agreement with me and you have to protect your family’s name,’ he said casually.
‘My family doesn’t care about a divorce, they will want me to be happy,’ said Birdie, thinking of her beloved parents, Susie and William. Of course they would want her to be happy. She had the feeling that they never really liked Leon. Pushy, was what she had heard her mother call Leon when she didn’t know Birdie was outside the room.
‘I’m not talking about that,’ said Leon. ‘I mean about your father and him fucking other men.’ He turned as he said this and leaned very close to Birdie. ‘You think I don’t know? Of course I knew. I did my research. Did you think I would marry without knowing where you were from?’ he asked. ‘So you come home and we start again, OK?’
Birdie felt her knees weaken and she sat on the foot of the stairs. William and Susie had a long marriage. It was built on friendship, they’d been betrothed at the cradle by their families. There was a marriage of family names and money and together they’d had two children, Birdie and William Junior, who was five years younger than Birdie.
‘I don’t know what you are talking about, Leon, and I think you should leave before you insult my family any further,’ she said in shock.
‘No, no, Birdie. You don’t understand. I have men, boys who will come forward to tell how your father likes his cock sucked,’ said Leon, standing over her, his hands in his pockets.
‘Stop it,’ cried Birdie.
‘I will stop when you come home,’ said Leon simply. ‘If you stay here then I will ruin your family’s name, your father’s business and your parents’ sham of a marriage,’ he said in his lilting accent that Birdie had once found so appealing.
Birdie swallowed the bile that had risen in her throat. Her father was her idol in so many ways: the witty patriarch, a connoisseur of taste, her benchmark for living. His elegance and easiness summed up the South for her and she had been his beloved Birdie, his name for her when she was born so tiny and helpless. ‘Always with your little beak open crying for more,’ he used to say to her.
Birdie felt betrayed now by Leon and her father, but somewhere in her she knew what Leon was saying was true. She remembered the arguments between her parents, until Susie had eased into acceptance for her and her children’s sakes. The younger, pretty lawyers her father had mentored over the years. The long business trips, the late nights out at the office. Hushed phone calls in the study. Birdie had pushed these memories away, instead focusing on the pleasantries of her childhood.
Birdie sat on the step and looked at Leon. ‘So you want me to come home or you will ruin my family’s life?’ she asked. ‘What about your mistress, your baby?’ She spat out the words. ‘You have to provide for them.’
‘I will,’ he said, shrugging his shoulders.
‘Why have you not already? It’s a baby, for God’s sake, Leon.’ Her sense of justice was running deep.
‘I didn’t know the child was mine. I needed to prove it first,’ said Leon, as though Birdie would understand.
Birdie sat still, knowing her legs would not hold her up.
‘If you don’t come home then I will hand over the photographs I have to the newspapers and ruin your precious reputation and your family’s name. You understand?’
Birdie felt her eyes well with tears, and she nodded and crawled over to the phone. Dialling Spencer’s office, her hand was shaking.
‘Spencer, it’s me. I have to go home. I’m sorry,’ she said and hung up.
Leon pulled her to her feet. ‘Now, we start again, yes Birdie?’ he asked, as though nothing significant had been said between them.
