Tears Fall at Night - smashwords Read Online Free PDF Page A

right. The man is my husband. I’ve been married to him for twenty-five years. I shouldn’t be talking like this.”
    “He asked you for a divorce, Carmella. It’s time to fight, girl. Do something,” Rose told her as she bounced around the kitchen as if she were getting ready for a boxing match.
    “I don’t know how to fight,” Carmella confessed. “All I’ve ever done is be Nelson’s obedient pup, run his errands and take care of his house. I haven’t even put the degree I worked so hard to get to use in over twenty years.”
    Carmella sat down on one of the stools in the kitchen, laid her head on the counter and cried like tears were rain and she was doing her part to end an all consuming drought.
     
    ***
    Another day, another problem. Two days ago she’d cried on Rose’s shoulder and then went door to door passing out pound cakes to her neighbors. This morning she was awakened out of her fitful sleep by the ringing of the phone. Carmella had tried to ignore it and sleep on, but it seemed as if it would stop ringing for a moment and then start back up again. Somebody wanted to speak with her, and they weren’t going to give up until she answered the phone.
    With her head still on the pillow, Carmella reached over to her night stand and took the phone off the hook. She put the receiver against her ear and mumbled, “Hello.”
    “Hi, may I speak with Mr. or Mrs. Marshall.”
    Her voice was groggy as she responded, “This is Mrs. Marshall. Who’s calling?”
    “This is Rita from Wells Fargo. We’re just giving you a friendly reminder call concerning your mortgage.”
    That woke Carmella. She popped up in bed and asked, “What about my mortgage? What’s wrong?” She’d never received a call from her mortgage company before; why on earth were they calling her so early in the morning?
    “We haven’t received the payment this month and we just wanted to remind you that it was due on the first.”
    The first was two weeks ago. They were almost halfway through August. Had Nelson been so busy playing with his girl-child that he’d forgotten his responsibilities? “I’ll check into this and get back with you.” Carmella hung up the phone.
    A hot flash was overtaking her body, reminding her that she was forty-seven and pre-menopausal. She fanned herself with her hand, but that didn’t help, so she opened the window and then realized it was August and hot as Hades outside. So she put the window down and turned the ceiling fan on. Just as she was cooling off, the phone rang again.
    Carmella picked it up, but didn’t say anything. A recording asked her to wait for a very important message. The message was about the payment on her Lexus SRX 400 being past due. “Oh, I know he done fell and bumped his head now.”
    She dialed Nelson’s office, not caring that he would need to be on the bench within fifteen minutes and was probably handling some last minute judgeship stuff. She needed to speak with her husband and nobody was going to stop her. So when Laura, his long time secretary answered the phone, Carmella said, “Good morning, Laura, I hope your morning is going well.”
    “It is, Mrs. Marshall.”
    She noticed that Laura didn’t ask how her morning was going. No doubt Laura already knew about Nelson’s mistress. So she was probably worried that Carmella would break down on her and tell her all sorts of horrid things about her boss. “Listen Laura, I need to speak with my husband. I know he’s probably busy, but I don’t care about his schedule right now. I’m having a crisis and I need him on the phone ASAP.”
    “I’ll put you through this instant, Mrs. Marshall.” Just before transferring the call, Laura mumbled, “I’m sorry.”
    Carmella heard her and appreciated that she would let her feelings be known in the slightest way. But when Nelson picked up, she had no time to dwell on that kindness. “Why haven’t you paid the mortgage or my car note?” she screamed at him.
    “Good