Two Choices

Abby, Marcel's current wife, ensnared him 25 years ago. It was a deliberate plan. At the time Marcel was the headmaster of Saint Peter's private school, married to Genevieve. They had a young son, Marcel junior. Abby was the school's director of public relations.

The couple carried on their affair meeting secretly in the broom closet after hours for over a year until everything broke open. I don't know how but it was not pretty. Poor Genevieve was in shock, devastated and betrayed. 

Abby and Marcel announced that they planned to divorce their spouses and marry each other. There were young children on both sides, all of them boys.

Abby's mother said, A marriage built on an affair is like building your home on a swamp. Abby just laughed.

He traded in his Subaru for a Volvo, Marcel's neighbor said.

Shortly after the divorces and subsequent marriage Abby and Marcel bought a house nearby and Abby gave birth to a daughter. They named her Solei. Sunshine in the swamp, Abby's mother said under her breath.

Now Solei is a gorgeous young princess age 25 with chartreuse and magenta dyed locks. She is now the target and pawn in her mother's latest chess game.

For years Marcel's work has called him to be overseas. He was headmaster at American schools in Japan and then Germany. Abby didn't mind at all in fact she preferred not having him around. 

Meanwhile Abby and Solei became drinking partners. They were more like two sisters than mother and daughter. We're starting a business, they said. It's a nonprofit raising money for the homeless. They went drinking every night and dined at trendy restaurants after shopping for designer handbags.

Now Marcel has finally retired and returned home for good. But the battle lines have been drawn. He is not welcomed. Mother and daughter are in charge with big plans. We plan to tear down the garage and build a new two-story apartment on the premises, Abby said. And I've hired Hilda to plant a garden of flowers and bushes just like Blithewold Arboretum.

Oh, and that business they spoke of running has never existed. It was all talk over drinks at fancy cafes. It was smoke and mirrors. Abby has now decided to get a part-time job at another school about an hour north.

Marcel has two choices. 

He can live 

or he can die.