You Fooled Me!

Knowing When To Say Enough Is Enough

Chapter Two... Knowing When To Say Enough Is Enough

Daybreak.

I had the usual boring morning routine. Being that I rarely slept, I was up before the sun making breakfast and packing Rick's lunch. Sometimes I wondered why I was so nice; I made him lunch, I did everything he wanted...

Yet I was still not satisfying enough.

When Indiana woke, I entered her room and took her from her crib. She cuddled up to me like usual, inhaling the scent of my sweater. I took her into the kitchen and placed her into her high chair before serving her breakfast. I allowed her to eat, cleaning the kitchen to distract myself from my own thoughts. Of course, It didn't work.

As usual, Rick's heavy footsteps stomped roughly down the marble staircase. Indiana looked up briefly before returning to the bowl of food that was in front of her.

Being the annoyingly impressive wife that I was, Rick's breakfast waited at the dining table for him.

"Good morning," I smiled as brightly as I could manage.

"You were up early," he said gruffly. "Not sleeping well?"

"Not last night," I admitted. "Just lost in deep thought. I'll sleep like a baby tonight I believe."

"We're going out for dinner tonight," Rick announced.

"With who?" I questioned.

"Just some of the boys from work," he smiled. "They're all bringing their wives, too. So you won't be forced to talk with the men."

"Okay," I thought. "What about Indiana?"

"That's why we can afford a nanny for the night," he chuckled.

"How many times have I told you that I don't like the idea of someone else raising our child?" I frowned. "I want to be there for her, you know."

"It's one night, Cindy," he sighed. "Please?"

"Fine," I said after a minute.

"Then we're going out for dinner tonight," Rick said in a final tone.

It was a case of you don't have a choice. And I hated that my choices were swiftly taken away from me like that. I could be anything in life, and I'd become something I hated.

When would it end?

"You might want to wear something elegant tonight," Rick added. "I don't want you to be embarassed and to wear something that's covered in food, or bleach, or something else like you usually wear. I want you to feel like a woman."

"I can do elegant," I smiled weakly. But as I turned away from him, I rolled my eyes at his demands.

"Yes, but you currently look like you've been to hell and back," he said curtly. "Your hair is a mess, you don't wear make-up and you honestly don't like a rich woman."

"No, because I am a mother first," I answered bitterly. He had no idea how much his words could hurt me. Of course, I was too much of a coward to stand up to him.

"Tonight you'll be my wife, and not the mother of my child," he snarled. "And you'll come home and allow the nanny to look after Indiana as she's paid to do. Then tomorrow you can look like someone that lives on the streets."

I didn't answer him. I didn't respond. I merely put my head down and continued to clean the kitchen like usual. Normally Rick didn't talk to me much. I had a terrible marriage with no communication. And I was forced to leave my child with a stranger so that I could pretend that everything was perfect between Rick and I.