Secret Lives Of Husbands And Wives (36 page)

I race up the stairway with Harry on my heels. Thank God Ted and DeeDee aren’t in Olivia’s room. There, she and her friends have divided her stuffed animals among them.

Tanner’s room is empty, as is Mickey’s. I find my younger son and a couple of his buddies playing video games in my bedroom. He looks guilty when I walk in: he didn’t get my permission beforehand to be in there and use my television. Considering the activity in the playroom, I consider this the lesser of two evils. I wave to him that it’s okay, and close the door quickly. I don’t want him to see that I have been crying.

There will be plenty of time for that later.

There is only one other place they can be.

It’s been raining a fine mist all day. That has kept all our guests inside. It’s also made it convenient for Ted and DeeDee to break away. The shed’s door is closed, but not locked. They don’t hear it creak as I open it.

They are too busy kissing, too busy making love. Missionary style, of course.

Harry comes up behind me. He, too, can’t help but stare. Learning the truth about DeeDee at this point is a hollow victory. There is no triumph in revealing their deceit. Simply more sadness.

Ted doesn’t even have the courtesy to take his socks off. I’m sure, if there had been a television in the shed, it would be turned to the Lakers game.

Poor DeeDee.

Then again, I really don’t need to feel sorry for her, because she’s proudly wearing the gift I thought he’d bought for me.

Ted keeps humping, but DeeDee looks up. At first she is surprised to see us, but I can tell she’s also relieved. Finally, the charade is over.

Ted catches DeeDee’s gaze and follows it. But even before his eyes light on me, he realizes what has just happened. He scrambles off of her and reaches for his pants on the floor, but I’m already gone, running toward the house.

Harry runs after me.

So does Ted, grasping at the sides of his slacks to hold them up. But it is too late. When Ted reaches me, I throw off his arm and keep walking quickly toward our back door. He takes my hand again, but I fight him off.

When he tries it a third time, it’s Harry who grabs his arm and turns him around. Ted takes the first swing, but misses. Harry’s fist, however, slams into Ted’s jaw. He staggers back, then falls like a house of cards.

DeeDee, who has just come out, runs to Ted. As she cradles his head, she cries soft tears. I’ve never seen her so tender. I’ve never seen her so human.

Harry is shaken as well. I don’t know why, but this makes me feel nauseated. I double over and retch until I have nothing left in me. Harry holds my head until I stop.

When I stand up, he steadies me in his arms. “Lyssa, I realize this is all happening too fast, but I want to know: are you going to ask Ted for a divorce?”

Before I can even think about my answer, I retch again.

And then it hits me:
Oh, my God, I’m pregnant.

“Love does not begin and end the way we
seem to think it does.”

—James A. Baldwin

Mother was right about one thing: Nothing is perfect.

For many of us in Paradise Heights, the past year is proof of that.

For Tammy, that means having the child she’s always wanted, but raising it on her own. Gerard will, of course, ante up for child support, but he has chosen Margot’s form of forgiveness, whatever that is. No doubt it will be sadistic, but I guess he figures that the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t.

The same isn’t true of the Paradise Heights Women’s League board. With a president-elect candidate embroiled in, and I quote, “actions that may be construed as . . . indecent, lascivious, lecherous, salacious, obscene, wanton, or libidinous,” with the president’s husband, a void was created, only to be filled in the most surprising manner. Summer pushed for a full-member vote, as opposed to a board vote alone, on all league positions. Needless to say, both Margot and Tammy were ousted, along with Isabelle. However, Brooke and Colleen were asked
to stay on, in order to ease the transition with the new blood, which includes Summer and Mallory. In fact, Brooke and Summer were co-presidents last year. Ironically, they made a cohesive team. Go figure.

The Shrivers are also going through a contentious divorce. Pete has some remorse, but he’s holding firm against Masha’s pleas for forgiveness—which started the moment she realized that Pete’s bank account went with him, and that there was nothing she could do about that. Pete can thank the battery of attorneys who safeguard his estate for having the forethought to insist that she sign an airtight prenup prior to his wedding.

As for me, this truly will be a new year: new baby, plus a new husband and a new best friend, Harry.

I realized that life is too short to be unhappy in a marriage that isn’t working. I guess DeeDee was right about that.

Too bad she wasn’t right about Ted. Now that he can have her out in the open, he’s convinced himself that she isn’t what he wants after all. Besides, he enjoys being single again.

Will he ever find a relationship that satisfies him? For his sake, I hope so, but I doubt it. Everyone deserves to be loved. But you have to give it to get it in return.

Our children are sad about our divorce, but are proving to be resilient. They know both of us love them with all our hearts. And, ironically, they now see more of Ted than they did when he lived with us.

I’ve named my newborn son Jonathan, after my father. He wasn’t planned, but he is loved all the same. He won’t have the same relationship with his biological father that his older siblings do, but he’ll have the love of two fathers. Harry and Ted are both good men.

Olivia’s birthday party ended an hour ago. There was a smaller crowd this year, but that was to be expected. Those who are uncomfortable with the circumstances that precipitated the blending of our families—of our lives—sent their regrets.

Fine with us. We have none ourselves.

Besides, it’s always good to know who your friends are. They are the people who don’t pass judgment on how you choose to live your life.

As Jonathan sleeps in my arms, I move through our house here on Bougainvillea Boulevard, counting my blessings as I count heads for dinner. Olivia and Temple are upstairs, where they’re teaching all the stuffed animals their addition and subtraction in a makeshift school. In the great room, the boys—Tanner, Mickey, and Jake—are sprawled over the sectional couch, watching the Rose Bowl game.

Harry is in there too. As I perch on the arm of my husband’s chair, he pulls me and the baby down onto his lap so that he can cuddle us both.

“The turkey should be ready to come out of the oven in another half hour,” he whispers in my ear before he kisses it.

“You made sure it’s set to Bake, right?”

He laughs, then kisses me again. And again.

I love the adoration in his eyes.

It’s interesting how much of life doesn’t go according to plan.

But I’m in awe that, despite this, things have a way of working out for the best.

READING GROUP GUIDE

JOSIE BROWN

Lyssa Harper has it all: a comfortable home in the exclusive neighborhood of Paradise Heights, a handsome and successful husband, and beautiful kids. But bubbling beneath the exterior of her enviable life, and the lives of her close friends, is a web of gossip, cheating, lies, and scandal. When the neighborhood’s most attractive power couple breaks up, Lyssa finds herself drawn to the newly single Harry Wilder. As the bond between Harry and Lyssa grows, rumors begin to spread, and the long-repressed tensions in the quiet enclave of Paradise Heights boil to the surface. Friends become enemies, charity events and middle-school basketball games become battlefields, and the secret lives of husbands and wives are finally exposed.

1. The town of Paradise Heights is portrayed as an upscale enclave for mostly upper-income families. What did you think of the author’s portrayal of the people in this town? Do you admire or condemn them? Envy them for all of their material wealth, or pity them for the emotional balance they lack? Or both?

2. Why do you think Lyssa is so drawn to Harry Wilder at the beginning of the novel? Does she really just feel sorry for him, or is she projecting her own childhood experience with divorce on his circumstance? How are both Lyssa’s and Harry’s experiences with divorce different, and how are they similar?

3. Lyssa spends most of her time socializing with the women who make up the executive board of the Paradise Heights Women’s League. They are depicted mostly as villains in the novel—especially their ringleader, Margot. In fact, the league board is called “the Coven” by those less-popular mommies they’ve nicknamed “the Undesirables,” and all of them have been given nicknames of fairy-tale witches. What, if anything, is attractive about the power wielded by the members of this cruel clique? From where do you think they derive their power?

4. Do you think that all the members of Paradise Heights Women’s League are equally guilty of bad social behavior? Does a follower like, say, Colleen, who silently allows Margot to behave atrociously, deserve just as much blame as the queen bee herself?

5. At times, the character of Lyssa seems both needy and eager-to-please. Her friend Brooke likens her to a puppy, saying, “If
someone scratched your belly, you’d never leave their lap” (page 262). How do you think Lyssa changes over the course of the novel? What role does her relationship with Harry play in that transformation?

6. Many of the adults in the novel seem less well-behaved than their children, and Lyssa spends a lot of time worrying about the example that she and the rest of the adults in her social circle are setting for their children. They get into fights at basketball games, and shamelessly throw themselves at the husbands of their friends. How did you feel about the way the adults in this novel conducted themselves? Have you personally witnessed similar behaviors in a social setting? Did you think less of Lyssa for surrounding herself with people who acted the way they did? Would you consider Lyssa a good parent?

7. What did you think of the way Ted withheld intimacy from Lyssa and then used it as a means of marking his territory when he became jealous of Lyssa’s relationship with Harry? Did you find it odd that Lyssa admittedly enjoyed being used
by Ted as a way of his proving his dominance over Harry?

8. At one point, Lyssa’s mother questions her daughter’s need to have married “The One.” And DeeDee very pointedly remarks that, “no marriage is perfect.” Almost every relationship in the novel is unstable. What do you think is the author’s opinion of marriage? Would it surprise you to learn that she has been happily married to the same man for more than twenty years, and that like her, he is a journalist who covers relationship trends?

9. Is it significant that DeeDee is the only one who admits—and acts on the fact—that her marriage made her unhappy?

10. Lyssa is concerned that Harry may be labeled an “Undesirable” and, admittedly, dreads it for herself. Do you think that the need for the approval and admiration of our peers can ever be overcome? Can a person be truly happy with themselves without some sort of recognition from others, or will we always need to be noticed in order to be happy with ourselves?

11. As a character, Lyssa can be a little judgmental. She is quick to find fault with her friends and to point out when they’re in denial. And yet, she is blind to the problems in her own life. Are most people better at finding faults with others than at looking within? Why?

12. What is the significance of Lyssa’s relationship with her mother and father? How do you think the example of her parents’ marriage affected the way she handled her own romantic relationships with both Ted and Harry? How does the news that her father didn’t abandon her help Lyssa to reevaluate her views on love and relationships?

13. The Paradise Heights basketball team plays a game at a rival school that displays a banner in its gym, reading: “We Own You.” How do you think the wealth of some of the characters in this book influences their views of the world? How does it affect their children?

14. Although the novel takes place in an exclusive community, a place where most people could never afford to live, are there certain commonalities you noticed between the characters in this book, and the less elite? What sorts of problems transcend class barriers?

15. How did you feel about the way the novel ended? Were you at all upset that Lyssa immediately jumped from a marriage with Ted to a marriage with Harry? Did you want her to strike out on her own and prove her independence? What did you think of the way Lyssa’s relationship with Ted was concluded? Did you want him to get more of a comeuppance?

• Each chapter begins with a quote about love and relationships. Which quote was your favorite? Did any hit particularly close to home? Have you received any advice in your own life that rivals the advice offered in these quotes?