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“Reece and I have been having an affair.”
Geraldine’s words rang in her ears, drowning out the background noise of the nursery, as Marjorie’s heart dropped out the bottom of her stomach.
“I’m so sorry.” Geraldine begged. “Please, say something.”
A wave of calm washed over Marjorie, and it felt like both milliseconds and an eternity as she took a deep breath in and swallowed down everything that bubbled up. “I know.” She said finally.
Geraldine stopped dead. “You know?” She blinked.
“I’m not an idiot, I had already managed to work it out for myself.” She kept her voice slow, steady and calm, trying to regulate the heart beating a mile a minute in her throat. “Will that be all?”
“I don’t understand.” Geraldine stammered. “Why aren’t you angry? You should be screaming at me.”
“And what good would that do?” Marjorie sighed. “It’s happened. You told me. You have done the right thing, finally, after weeks of sneaking around with my husband. You clearly feel that you have absolved yourself of any guilt by doing so. And if that’s everything, I would like you to please leave my office.”
“Again, I am so, so sorry.” Geraldine snivelled on her way out. “I really didn’t mean to hurt you.”
Marjorie shut the office door behind her, and slid down the wall beside it, letting the sobs she had managed to key at bay for the confession wrack through her body.
It could have been half a minute or half an hour when she felt the door nudge her shoulder as it opened beside her.
“Marjorie?” Mia asked, standing above her, the door only open ajar. “What happened?”
“Geraldine came in.” Marjorie managed to get out with a few heavy, shuddering breaths. “She confessed to everything.”
“Wait, seriously?” Mia carefully slipped into the room, closing the door behind her and flicking the lock so nobody could interrupt. She knelt down beside Marjorie. “It’s really Reece?”
It was all Marjorie could do to nod as a new wave of sobs overwhelmed her. Mia reached forwards and pulled her into a tight hug, holding her through it.
Time evaporated, but at some point Mia helped Marjorie lift herself up from the doorway and deposited her in the gap behind her desk, in between the chair and the filing cabinet.
“Well, obviously you’re not going home tonight.” Mia told her gently. “You can stay with me and Char. The girls are with their dad this week, and we’ve got a spare room anyway.”
“Are you sure?” Marjorie breathed.
“Of course. I just need to go and make a quick call, but I’ll be right back.”
Marjorie caught her wrist as she went to stand up. “Please don’t call him.”
“I wasn’t going to.” Mia promised, squeezing her hand in reassurance as she gently removed it.
She glanced into the baby room as she stepped out the office, and a flitting smile rose to her lips at the sight of Charlotte playing with the babies. She took a deep breath, and marched outside.
Once she was sure there were no parents around, she raised her phone to her ear.
Autumn answered on the second ring.
“Yes?” She said.
“Hey, you wouldn’t happen to be home right now, would you?” Mia asked.
“I’m rarely far from it these days.” Autumn sighed. “Why?”
“Is Reece with you?” Mia asked. “Or, can you at least see if he’s at his?”
“He’s upstairs putting Emery and Dorian down for a nap.” Autumn told her. “Why?”
“Because Geraldine’s just come in and told Marjorie that Reece is the one she’s been having the affair with.”
The line went silent for a moment.
“What?” Autumn said eventually.
“Geraldine’s just come in and told Marjorie that Reece is the person she’s been having the affair with.” Mia repeated. “But please don’t confront him, Marjorie doesn’t want him to know she knows.”
“Marjorie doesn’t want him to know?” Autumn echoed.
“I don’t think she’s ready for that conversation.” Mia said softly. “I found her in the office an hour ago, and all she’s done is cry. I’ve told her she can stay with me and Char, the two of us kind of discussed it as a just in case plan on the off chance it did turn out to be Reece when signs started pointing that way, and then a little more seriously because everyone kind of figured it out last week. I just need you to go over to Reece and Marjorie’s and grab her enough clothes for the next few days. I’ll come and collect it on my way home from work.”
“Of course. I’ll go now.” Autumn agreed.
“Thank you.” Mia sighed.
“Give Marjorie my love?” Autumn’s voice cracked.
“I will.” She nodded as she lowered the phone and hung up.
Mia took a few deep breaths, gave herself a soft shake and plastered a fake smile across her face as she walked back inside and made a beeline for the baby room.
“Hey baby.” Charlotte grinned up at her as she walked in. “Everything okay?”
“I need a word with you.” Mia swallowed. “In private, as the nought to two supervisor?”
“Of course.” Charlotte nodded, getting up off the floor. “There’s enough of us in here that I’m not in ratio.”
Charlotte followed Mia out into the corridor. “Mia, you’re scaring me.” She said. “Is everything okay?”
“You can’t react to what I’m about to say.” Mia warned, her voice barely more than a whisper as she kept her face steady. “And I mean it. Nobody can know what I’m about to tell you.”
“Ooh, that sounds serious. Is it serious?” Charlotte’s tone was slightly panicked and her eyebrows had knotted themselves in concern.
“Char, I need you to have a straight face and keep it whilst I tell you.” Mia stressed. “If you don’t, everyone is going to know what I’ve said pretty much immediately, and that is the last thing we need.”
“Oh, okay.” Charlotte stood taller and pulled her best neutral expression.
“Marjorie’s going to come and stay with us.” Mia told her. “Geraldine came in and admitted to everything.”
Charlotte’s face fell. “No!” She breathed.
“Char, you’re reacting.” Mia reminded her, causing her girlfriend to readjust herself. “Autumn is grabbing her some clothes for me to collect later, and I’ve already told Marjorie that she’s coming to ours. She is not ready to confront him, or to have everyone know about it.”
“Of course.” Charlotte agreed. “I won’t say a word.”
“On a related note, you’re now going on first lunch today.” Mia told her. “Carly, Sorscha and Winter are all on the later slots, and they’re the ones you’re most likely to break and tell.”
“Good thinking.” Charlotte nodded. “Sorscha would have got it out of me in seconds.”
“Great, I’ll see you later.” Mia told her. “And if you can spread the word that there won’t be any office support for the rest of the day…?”
“Of course.” Charlotte said quickly, ducking back inside the room.
Mia tiptoed back into the office, once again shutting the door firmly behind her. She pulled the blinds for the windows into the main corridor, and stuck up the meeting in progress sign on the door window, before she sat down on the floor opposite Marjorie.
“I spoke to Autumn.” She told Marjorie, who had pulled her knees right up to her chest and curled up in a ball. “She’s going to grab you some clothes and I spoke to Char and you can stay with us for as long as you need.”
“Reece?” Marjorie asked.
Mia blinked. “I didn’t speak to him.” She stammered out. “You asked me not to. And Autumn said she wouldn’t tell him anything either. She sends her love, by the way. She asked me to tell you that.”
“What am I going to tell him?” Marjorie clarified. “I can’t just not go home.”
“I’m sure Geraldine will tell him she broke the news.” Mia sighed. “And, by the way, how did she even do that? Did she just walk in and tell you? FYI, I’m sleeping with your husband, try not to look too upset when we tell everybody on Friday?”
“No.” Marjorie took a deep breath in. “She was weirdly guilty about the whole thing. Like she hasn’t been flaunting it around for weeks. Even said she’d tried to tell me before but I’d never been alone.”
“But, the two of you were alone together when you saw the message from RK.” Mia remembered. “And you said you had that conversation with her when the phone thing happened.”
“I don’t know, maybe the reality finally set in.” Marjorie sighed. “Maybe got uncomfortable about telling me in front of everyone or she realised I figured it out and wanted to tell me before I confronted either of them so she could claim to have done the right thing. I don’t know.”
Silence settled between the two of them.
“I’m really, really sorry.” Mia said after a while. “I really never thought Reece would do anything like this. If I did, I would have said something.”
“Maybe he wouldn’t have if he was married to someone else.” Marjorie looked down and traced patterns into the carpet. “Maybe it was being married to me that drove him to it. Maybe my mum was right all these years and there is just something about me that is fundamentally unloveable.”
“Your mum said that to you?” Mia felt her jaw drop.
“Yeah. All the time growing up. I killed my brother, drove my dad to suicide, couldn’t keep a friend, much less a boyfriend until my mid thirties.”
“I knew about the brother thing, but what do you mean you drove your dad to suicide?”
“Dad killed himself just before I turned nine.” Marjorie shrugged. “Mum always said it was my fault, that he wouldn’t have done it if I’d have been less of a pain.”
“Marjorie, no.” Mia breathed. “No, that wasn’t your fault. Something like that is never the kid’s fault.”
“I know my mum drove him to it.” Marjorie sighed. “But, he didn’t love me enough not to. And maybe that’s because she was right, and there is something wrong with me.”
“There’s not.” Mia said firmly. “If there was, I would be the first person to tell you.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right about that.” Marjorie took another deep breath.
Before Mia could say anything, she was cut off by the sound of the door opening behind her.
“Go away, we’re busy.” She told whoever it was.
“I’m aware.” Autumn appeared around the side of the desk. “I brought the clothes you requested. There’s enough for a week, with a few spares to make sure you have options.” She sat beside Mia.
“What are you doing here?” Marjorie asked. “You should be with your family.”
“I am.” Autumn said firmly. “I’m with my sisters, one of whom needs me far more than the twins do right now.”
“Where are they?” Marjorie looked around, like she was expecting to see anything other than the tiny corner of the office they were huddled in.
“Reece has them.” She said. “Mia asked me not to say anything to him on your behalf, and I found the simplest way to do that was to leave the house and have him babysit under false pretences. He thinks the breast pump broke and I’m out buying a new one.”
“Nice excuse.” Mia nodded in approval.
“It was believable enough as an emergency and personal enough not to warrant any further questioning.” Autumn agreed. “Now, what can I do to help?”
“You can convince Marjorie that your brother is an idiot.” Mia sighed.
“I had thought that was obvious?”
“Well, she’s currently trying to convince herself that he was justified in sleeping with Geraldine, so clearly it needs spelling out.” Mia said pointedly. “She thinks it’s her fault.”
“What on earth possesses you to think that?” Autumn asked.
Marjorie shrugged again. “Story of my life, innit. Nobody ever thinks I’m worth anything, and certainly nobody decent ever thinks I’m good enough for them in the long run. I don’t blame him for realising it. He was always going to, sooner or later.”
Autumn raised her eyebrows. “You are joking.”
“She’s really not.” Mia muttered. “Apparently her mum’s been saying it her whole life.”
“I’d like to meet your mother.” Autumn sighed. “I feel she would get on very well with my bat.”
“As much as I’d love to see that, we ain’t spoken in eighteen months.” Marjorie said softly. “Probably for the best now. Least I don’t have to tell her my husband’s leaving me for another woman and get a lecture on everything I did wrong.”
“Speaking of.” Mia cleared her throat. “Are we a hundred percent sure that Geraldine is having the affair with Reecey? There’s nothing at all that could have been misconstrued or lost in translation?”
Marjorie shook her head as tears filled her eyes again. “No, she said it quite clearly. Reece and I have been having an affair were her exact words. Nothing to misunderstand about that.”
Mia and Autumn met each other’s eyes, neither knowing what else to say. Instead, they just wordlessly pulled her into a group hug and held her as she sobbed.