EXTRACT FOR
Olivia - Part 5
(Kelly Addams)

Can it really be four months?

Olivia counted the days and weeks then shook her head in mild disbelief, time had flown and she was well past sixteen weeks. They do say that times flies when you're having fun she chuckled inside. What she was having was much more than fun, looking back she would freely admit that she'd never been happier, the only unpleasantness remaining in her life was her family. Three dark clouds marring a perfectly blue sky she told herself. Olivia overlooked the fact that the clouds remained overhead by her own choice, in just a minute she could be rid of them all. Christmas was behind her so she could no longer use spoiling the holidays as an excuse for not ending her sham of a marriage.

It wasn't apathy that was preventing her from moving on because Olivia was a decisive woman who feared little, upsetting her family didn't bother her unduly.

I think it's the thought of how damaged he's going to be after he's anticipated another child for the next five months. The truth will crush him. If I left him now and lived with my black lover then the shock wouldn't be so absolute. I want him to be completely invested in this pregnancy, then savour his pain and suffering when he's delivered the devastating news.

Olivia already had the final act planned. She'd gone ahead and registered with a local clinic. Jeff had been with her for the first appointment despite his irrational fears, his pride in her pregnancy had been obvious. Olivia would pretend that she intended to give birth locally, but when her waters eventually broke she would be whisked away to Doctor Shah's clinic. That way she could keep Jeff involved right up to the last minute. There had only been one small risk, but she'd dismissed it as irrelevant. What if Jeff had wanted to be there at the birth having braved a visit to the consulting room? She'd grinned when the question arose, it was very unlikely because Jeff hated hospitals, he had a morbid fear of walking in healthy and leaving with some incurable disease. "Because those places are full of sick people." he'd once stated. So strong was his fear that he'd waited outside in the parking garage for the birth of Glen, and in a bar in town for the arrival of Susan. Olivia would have appreciated a little moral support, even if he hadn't been in the room holding her hand, just knowing that he was in the next room would have helped. But that attitude plays right into my hands nicely she thought. He would be waiting outside one hospital while she was giving birth in another. And I'll tell him after I've given birth that all around me people are coughing and sneezing, so best if he waits for me to get home with our new (black) baby.

And he is totally invested in this pregnancy she told herself as she shot a glance in his direction. Breakfast time was the only time that they ever sat together, and for Olivia that was a blessing. At night she pretended to be asleep, or if he was being too persistent she took herself to the guest suite declaring that he should be more considerate... considering her condition.

"A condition that is your responsibility, if it wasn't for you I wouldn't be feeling like this." Olivia loved to see his lust turn to guilt, his hopeful expression crumbling into dismay as she chastised him and gathered up her pillow.

 

"Idiot," she always whispered under her breath. He is so stupid he believes everything that I say. A man with any intelligence would have shot me down the instant I said he came on my pussy and that must have got me pregnant. A man with a brain in his head would have laughed in my face for trying such a weak excuse to cover up my infidelity. But not retard Jeff, feed him shit and tell him it's chocolate... he wouldn't complain.

She considered his car lot. No real quality there she told herself when she considered the stock he'd had the last time she had to pass that way. Rust buckets mostly, and those that weren't falling apart were not exactly the type of car that the average buyer dreamed of owning. Dull and bland, just like you Jeff she laughed inside... Boring, no performance, no quality, nothing to set the blood pumping and the heart racing. She looked at her husband and saw in him a rusting old hatchback with sun bleached paint and frayed, stained, upholstery, then she considered Russell. What would he be she asked herself? Not exotic, he isn't a Ferrari or Maserati, he's not that flash and extrovert. He's a brand-new black muscle car, a Mustang, Viper or Camaro. Not delicate or refined, just pure power and energy. She thought about her own Porsche then shook her head, that was a performance car that purred... Russell growled like a big block V8.

How are these idiots going to cope when I'm gone? It was a question that she'd been avoiding, but closing her mind to the facts didn't make them go away. She was the bread winner in the family, what Jeff brought home was little more than pocket money.

And now I'm being elitist she thought as guilt welled inside. Maybe Jeff's car lot didn't break any records regarding turnover, but he's still making more than Russell. She'd pulled a few strings and discovered how much managers made in Russell's chain of stores, it was a respectable sum but nothing to get excited about.

But even if he brings home more than Russell he still can't afford this place. Jeff never seemed to be openly concerned but it had been her money that had purchased their palatial home, and even if they didn't have a mortgage dragging them down the overheads were still substantial. Olivia considered Susan's horses and the groom that she'd employed, the security guard that was ever present, the home help who cleaned and washed clothes, the gardener, not to mention utility bills, insurance, school fees...

He can't cover that much on what the car lot turns over.

Guilt began to well inside her, a feeling that she swiftly pushed aside. I'm done with this family, so what I'll do is give Jeff sufficient to put some decent cars in his lot, I'll give him a start and a fighting chance if he's prepared to get off his fat ass and work for a change, a way to earn enough to cover the overheads. She knew that he wasn't going to contest anything she proposed, there wasn't a divorce lawyer in the country that would step up to take her on in court.

So that will be my clean break and my conscience eased at the same time, I'll pay him off, maybe that will also be an affront to his male pride? She shook her head, that was giving him more credit than he deserved, he had no pride, if he had he wouldn't have been happily living off her earnings and treating his own business like a hobby.

But it doesn't matter, by doing that I turn the gossip around on him, people will say that I was fair, that I didn't leave my ungrateful family completely in the shit.