Chapter 11

She left him behind.

And took the car.

"I know you are not about to go to that party without me" Mathew had said as he stood close to the doorway as Serena, face perfectly made up with a heavier hand on the makeup this time around walked towards him.

She grinned as she stood close to him, and rolled her eyes at him. I just did that she thought as she wondered what came over her. Well, she was not about to analyse that now.

For today at least she was going to enjoy this Amazon woman spirit that seemed to have overtaken her body "Sweetheart, watch me" she said simply and passed beside him. He made a grab for her but he did not connect as she raised her hand at the exact time. Purely coincidental.

"What has come over you?" He asked again "Are you supposed to leave the house when I am angry with you? You hit me on the head too and now I have a splitting headache. You are supposed to stay and take care of me as a…"

"Good wife, yeah? I know. Dear husband of mine, as of today; I am on vacation. Suit yourself, if you are feeling better, you can join us at the party. I will be waiting for you"

She opened the car door and blew him a kiss. Serena shook her head at the way his eyes widened when he saw he saw her get into the car. What did he think she was going to do? he had no idea she took the key already.

"You are taking my car? No way are you taking my car" he said petulantly as he came forward slowing down when he saw her gun the engine.

"What did you think I was going to do, husband? Take the tram or walk? No, not today love. Are we separating things now? Who was the one who said it belongs to both of us when I said I needed a car to get around when you are not here? You are contradicting yourself, husband. Also be careful with your expressions because you don't look attractive to me right now, hubby. You are displaying a childish attitude" she gave his earlier statement back to him all while turning the car around to leave.

Serena left him standing out there on their porch with a disbelieving look on his face she zoomed out of their driveway onto the street. She kept looking at the side mirror till she could neither see him nor their house again.

"What did you just do, girl?" she said to herself as laughter welled up in her, it started small then it became full-blown that she had to park aside so as not to cause an accident.

"Oh..oh... That would cap it all" she said to herself amid a burst of laughter as she wondered what Mathew would say if she got back home with his car banged up. "I might as well have my bags packed up and ready to leave," she said before she hooted in laughter again.

"Oh my God, I just did that!" she yelled and then quickly looked around to be certain she had not been heard by passersby. It wouldn't do for her to best her husband and then end up at a psychiatry home on the same day, would it?

She wiped tears of mirth from her eyes as she laid her head back against the headrest. She wondered when was the last time she had felt like this before. This total "I am in control" feeling was something that had become alien to her, she realised.

There will be consequences she knew and she was sure that when whatever adrenaline that was coursing through her waned, she might look back at her actions and blame herself for riling Mathew up and for whatever his reactions would be but at the moment she was not going to allow that to dull her moment. She knew she still have someone else to face today. His mother.

That woman was not going to take lightly the way she had her hair down. Or the fact that she was there without her husband. She knew that his mother had always viewed a woman as an accessory that was meant to complement the husband at home and at events, at least that was how she had always portrayed marriage to Serena.

Serena wished she had met the older Jones, Mathew's father, just so she could have seen if that was how his wife acted with him but the man had been dead by the time Mathew came into her life. An encounter she thought was one of the best things that happened to her. Now, she was not so sure.

There was no denying the fact that she loved her husband alright, nor did she take the vow of for better or worse lightly, she just wondered if this was what every woman had in mind when they were saying the "Or worse" in their vows.

Serena doubted it. Or she could just be dramatic about the whole situation. Just like her mother would say. There were probably more women dealing with worse things than she had to deal with, some would even say she was being fanciful. Mathew had never been a heavy-handed husband after all. It is just...

Serena decided to take her mind off anything that could dampen her mood. She cannot afford to grow morose now, no, unless she wanted to be chewed and spit out by the matriarch of the Jones family.

There would be no apology today though. Serena breathed in deeply and firmed her resolve. She might as well end her victory with the son with a bang. Scoring one against the mother. There will be enough time for being a good wife later.

"If you can do it this one time, why not stay the same?" that brazen voice in her reared its head again. Serena smiled to herself as she thought of how that voice suspiciously sounded like that of Amara. Her friend would have a hoot if she saw her actions today.

Taking out the scarf in her bag, she tied it around her neck without lifting her hair so the scarf held her long hair in place down her back, that way she wouldn't be guilty of being told that her hair was flying about and it might blind the baby.

As she tied the knot in an intricate bow at her throat. Serena vowed to herself that this would be all the compromise she was going to make today. There would be no hair-bun Serena today.

She checked through the playlist on the car till she found the one she had made for him. A playlist of her favourite songs. She played it, turn it up a bit, and took out her cat eye sunglasses that she had not used in ages. She checked herself out in the rearview mirror as she put it on.

All hope was not lost after all. She gunned the engine of the Maruti Alto 800.

As she flipped the rearview mirror back up, she remembered her friend's declaration.

"You are a gorgeous woman"

For the first time in a long time, Serena believed that.