Tears Fall at Night - smashwords Read Online Free PDF

morning to you, too, Carmella. How are things going?” he asked in a calm manner as if everything was right with the world and the sun was shining down on him alone.
    “I was awakened by bill collectors this morning, Nelson, so I’m not having a good morning. But I bet your little girlfriend was able to sleep soundly this morning.”
    “Jasmine doesn’t sleep in like you. She has a job to get to every morning.”
    Carmella was livid. She had worked her fingers to the bone, making a home for her family and being the perfect hostess for Nelson. “How can you be so cruel as to disparage the work I’ve done for this family? Being a housewife is no longer good enough for you, I guess.”
    “No one is belittling what you did for our family. But don’t you think it’s time to get a job and handle your own bills?”
    “No, I do not!” You’re the one who left this family. And we have depended on your income for over twenty years now, right after you stopped depending on my income to get you through law school. And I guarantee you that any judge in this town would agree with me.” She was out of her bed pacing the floor. “You are not going to get away with this, Nelson Marshall. If you want to live a double life, then you darn well better find the money to pay for both of them.”
    “Sign the divorce papers and then I’ll make sure you get a decent settlement.”
    “In your dreams,” she said and slammed down the phone. She was just about to throw it against the wall, when her bedroom door opened and Joy and Dontae rushed in. She’d totally forgotten that Joy was picking Dontae up from the airport this morning. Had he heard her? Oh God, she prayed not.
    “Mom, why are you in here screaming about Dad living a double life? What’s going on?”
    Prayer wasn’t doing her a bit of good lately. She fell back onto her bed and began screaming and crying—anything to avoid answering Dontae’s question.
    “Come on, Dontae; let me talk to you in the other room,” Joy said as she watched her mother fall apart.”
    “B-but, what’s wrong with Mom?” He went to his mother and tried to calm her. “Did I upset you, Mama? If I did, I didn’t mean to, so please stop crying.”
    “It’s not you, baby,” was all she could say before the tears came again.
    Joy pulled Dontae out of the bedroom and then Carmella sat up in the middle of the bed. She grabbed one of the fluffy pillows on Nelson’s side of the bed and held it close to her chest, while resting her face in it. The pillow still smelled of his cologne. Carmella inhaled deeply. She’d always loved the way the Dolce & Gabbana pour Homme fragrance smelled on Nelson. It was woodsy and masculine. The fragrance was not for daytime wear because it could be a bit overpowering, so Nelson only wore it during evening events. When she stopped and thought about it, she realized that he had stepped out a lot of nights without her in the last few months.
    She should have been more suspicious… paid more attention to what was going on right under her nose. She threw the pillow across the room, as the fragrance she used to love was now making her stomach curdle. She had been played for a fool and now she had to figure out how she was going to pay bills that Nelson had always assured her that she need not concern herself with.
    She had graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Art. But she never received her teaching certificate or attended graduate school so that she might be able to teach art in elementary or even at a community college. She’d married Nelson six months after graduation and then she’d had to work temp assignments and receptionist positions so she could bring money into the home while Nelson went on to law school. Once he’d finished school, she’d had their first child and he’d asked her to stay home and raise their children.
    Funny thing was, Carmella had always thought she’d gotten the long end of the stick. While Nelson was forced to go out and work