This is enough for her. She thinks of having it out with him when he comes out of the shower, but decides she should be calm if she wants her words to be effective. She decides she will plan her escape strategically so as not to be foiled. She needs to do what’s best for her and the children.
The moment will come.
* * *
She waits weeks, documenting the number of times he offers lame excuses for not coming home for lunch or coming late for dinner. She wants to have an accurate tabulation before confronting him. In the meantime she has contacted her uncle in Mexico and told him about her husband’s affair. He cautions her to keep silent, at least for now. He wants her to settle all the details about her move to Mexico with Andrea and Ilán, so that once she has decided to leave, there’s no way he can stop her. The last thing she needs is to get involved with a lawyer who might accuse her of kidnapping her own children.
Though she will have to leave her sister in Guatemala, Rosa Esther likes the idea of going to Mexico, escaping all the tawdry gossip and looks, and beginning a new life where no one will know or care how many times Guillermo has betrayed her.
She sets up a Wednesday appointment with Pastor Huggins at the Union Church. Right off the bat she tells him that her husband has always had affairs, but is now falling in love with a Muslim slut. The pastor, originally from Louisville, Kentucky and quite conservative, is taken aback by Rosa Esther’s choice of words. He suggests they seek counseling and can recommend a therapist. He no longer advises married congregants at cross purposes. He has found the few sessions he’s held with accusing couples distasteful — he’s embarrassed to hear salacious allegations, sordid details. Moreover, his counseling sessions never work out, and he ends up losing both parishioners.
Rosa Esther is disappointed with his reaction. She wants action or concrete advice, and all she receives is a pat on the hand, the voicing of platitudes, and a call for greater patience and devotion to the sanctity of their marriage. The Union Church is perfect for drawing congregants closer to God, but fails at resolving the problems of modern marriages.
She thanks the pastor and leaves, knowing she must act on her own, without blessing or benediction.
* * *
Rosa Esther hatches a workable plot with her uncle. For Easter, she will be taking the kids to Mexico to visit him and her older cousins. They will stay a few days in her uncle’s home in the San Ángel area and then go swimming for another couple of days at a luxurious hotel in Cuernavaca. She knows that Guillermo will not want to accompany them, since he isn’t able to get away from work for ten days. Besides, he would not pass up the opportunity to visit freely with his new whore.
The kids are only told that they will be visiting their great uncle and Rosa Esther’s cousins. And everything seems normal. Ten days in Mexico with her only other living relatives.
* * *
Guillermo goes to Aurora Airport to meet Rosa Esther and the children when they fly back from Mexico.
“Where are the kids?” he asks, when he sees Rosa Esther coming out of the baggage pickup area on the lower level with a man pushing her two bags on a four-wheel cart. Guillermo has no idea what is going on, but is not to any extent suspicious. He knows nothing about his children’s school calendar. Maybe the cousins are hitting it off and want to spend another week together.
“I thought they might stay in Mexico a little longer,” Rosa Esther says, kissing him on the cheek.
The only problem is that Guillermo’s ego is a bit bruised for not having been consulted. “And you made this decision without me?” he asks as they make their way to the car in the parking lot.
“Guillermo, if you cared for Ilán and Andrea as much as you think you do, you would never have taken up with that whore.”
“That what?”
“Your Muslim whore. I know all about it. I read your disgusting text messages to her. Is she your princess? Does that make you her prince or have you been elevated to king or ayatollah?” Rosa Esther’s face shows no emotion. No hurt, no resentment; an almost cold-blooded dispassionate expression is stamped upon it.
There’s no point in denying the affair at this point. The proverbial beans have been spilled. He will have to deal with the fallout. “What do you want from me?” he asks.
“A separation to start, followed by a divorce. And your agreement not to contest the custody of our children. I want half the money in our bank accounts and I want you to sell the apartment. We can share the profits. I don’t want you living there with that whore.”
“We bought that apartment with the money we made from selling the Vista Hermosa house that I paid for with my parents’ inheritance. In truth that apartment should be all mine.”
“Well, it isn’t. And no judge in Guatemala will let you keep what is now common property, especially when I present proof of your affairs. I deserve the full value of the apartment, so I believe I’m being very generous with you. Plus, I want you to send me sixteen thousand quetzales each month in child support until both of the kids are out of college.”
“And where are you planning to live?”
“In Mexico City.”
“And what do you expect me to live on, after I wire you that money?” he asks contemptuously. “Water? Air?”
“To be honest, Guillermo, I don’t care what you live on. Hummus, for all I care. And I don’t deserve your scornful tone. You are the transgressor. You might have considered being a bit more forthright with me about your whore, and maybe the terms of our separation would have been more favorable.”
“Maryam is not a whore.”
“The whore has a name,” she says sarcastically.
“She does. And I think her name’s beautiful.”
Rosa Esther is about to slap him, but holds back. “You disgust me.”
“It sounds as if you were planning to leave me all along.”
“Oh, Guillermo, talking to you is pointless. You’re always the lawyer. You have piles of arguments and briefs and you know how to use them. What I wonder is, when did you lose the thoughtfulness, the humanity you had when I first met you at Pecos Bill? You’ve become so crass, and a coward on top of that! I’ve given you two beautiful children and you’ve given me nothing but heartache and a venereal disease that makes my face break out in a rash every few months. Thanks for ruining my life.”
“Nice,” is all he can say. She’s still bringing up the herpes stuff that occurred nearly twenty years ago.
And before he can say anything else she adds, “Tell me, when did I become your enemy?”
“You’re not my enemy.” He feels unjustly accused. And unjustly forced to respond.
She laughs heartily. “Oh, but I am. I know you have other enemies that you consider much more important, like the president and his wife, liberal journalists, tax reformers: anyone who can stand in the way of achieving your state of total freedom. Well, you are now free to fulfill your dreams. And the price that I am extracting from you is cheap. Very cheap. You won’t lose your children forever: you will be free to visit them in Mexico. And they can visit you in Guatemala as long as you are not living with that whore. There won’t be any talk of kidnapping, or of you trying to block my leaving. You can have this poor excuse of a country all for yourself. Is that clear?”