Flash Marriage: Shrewd Wife, Devious Husband
Chapter 40: The Hurtful Past

Chapter 40: The Hurtful Past

"This machine is tricky to operate...I have the manual somewhere around...Ah, here..." He opened the manual. "First you have to..."

Tony paused as she pressed the buttons, rotated the knobs and the machine started to run. She looked at him. "It’s not that complicated," she said.

She hadn’t used this machine before but it was not that hard to figure out how a washing machine works, was it? That’s what she thought. But looking at the bewilderment of Tony as he checked the machine and the manual, she figured that it might be tough for some people to figure out how certain machines works.

Maybe that’s why his laundry habits are different.

Cute, she thought, seeing the big man with a generous smile on his face as he admired her "intelligence". No one had ever praised her for her intelligence before. Aiden used to call her dumb. He would add "in a cute way" when he called her dumb. She never liked it. The "cute" he mentioned was not enough to soothe the pain she felt when he called her dumb.

No one likes to be called dumb by the one they like.

"I’ll take care of the laundry from now on," she said.

There were no calculations behind it. She didn’t think about it twice. She just said it. It’s hard for him, and it’s easy for her. So, she will do it.

"No," Tony felt guilty. "I cannot let you~"

"With the baby, I’ll have to run the machine daily. I’ll wash your clothes along with it. It’s no big deal," she said.

It really was not a big deal for her.

Tony blinked. He couldn’t believe he was letting Don DeAngelo’s Princess do his laundry. That old man would be rolling in his grave right now. With women fighting on the streets in the name of equality, is he letting his wife be this old housewife who does the laundry? Her father never let her mother do laundry!

Should he hire a maid?

But he cannot afford a maid if they are going to hire a nanny. He is well-off. But not rich or wealthy.

"Tony," Marcella called him. "What you talked to me about today morning... it goes for you too..." she said. He looked contemplative and sad as if he had failed.

Whatever it is, they’ve agreed to live together for the sake of the baby. She is not good at a lot of things and he doesn’t know how to do laundry. It’s not a big deal.

Tony nodded. Now he had made her worried. But she was right. They should figure everything out together.

"The crib," she reminded him.

Tony nodded and went to the living room. The whole space was spread out with the wooden pieces.

"You want help?" she asked.

"No," he said. "You can take a rest."

Marcella nodded and walked through the hallway. "Is this going to be the nursery?" she asked pointing at the other bedroom.

"Yeah..." Tony said.

Marcella got opened the door and was introduced to a space that was unused since its inception. There was nothing in the room but dust everywhere.

"Where are the cleaning supplies?" she asked.

They cannot have the baby in a dusty room. Tony pointed her to it and she got to work. He had a vacuum cleaner, but she didn’t want to wake the baby up, so she used the old, silent methods.

While she was halfway through, Tony came peeking into the room. "Stay!" she pointed at him as he tried to step in. She didn’t want him to come in and spread the dirt.

"I can help," he said. "You don’t have to do it alone. I didn’t know this room was this dirty. I cleaned it for Christmas and I’ve never used it and I thought it would be much cleaner. Had I known, I would have cleaned it..." he went on. He can’t believe he was making her work this much on her first day here.

Marcella let out a sigh. "Have you finished with the crib?" she asked. She knew he was as busy as her with everything happening. Where would he have found the time to clean the room?

He nodded.

"I like to be alone when I am cleaning. It helps me think," she said.

"You can tell me what you want. I will help you," Tony said not wanting to leave her alone.

"Then tell me about your brother," she asked. She thought he would continue their talk once they got home but he never brought it up.

Tony went silent for a few seconds. "All right," he leaned on the wall. He then took in a deep breath as if he was looking for words. "Paul and Magdalene couldn’t have children. Jemima was one of the maids in the Romano household. Under Magdalene’s suggestion, Jemima was paid a large amount of money to carry the next in line for Paul Romano..."

Marcella listened silently. Tony didn’t sound enthusiastic for obvious reasons. Recently, a great development was announced that a baby was conceived outside a woman’s body inside a test tube. That facility wouldn’t have been available back then.

So, Magdalene allowed her husband to have sex with another woman for an heir. She didn’t know how hard it must have been for her to take such a drastic measure. She must have wanted a baby so badly.

It didn’t shock her as this was not the first time she heard stuff like this. "Big" families often did this as her father mentioned. The other option would have been to divorce the wife and marry a viable woman.

But she couldn’t take how Magdalene who went through such a hard time humiliated her sister for years because of her infertility. Couldn’t she have spared some understanding toward Mellissa as they went through the same hardships?

"Andrew..." Tony continued. "...was taken in by Magdalene and Paul. Jemima couldn’t bear the loss of her child and stuck with them as a nanny and a wet nurse for Andrew. Years passed, and Andrew was not the only one Jemima took care of. She got pregnant again, and..."

Tony sighed.

Marcella stopped what she was doing and looked at Tony. She and her sister were two years apart. Andrew was seven years older than Mellissa. Andrew and Tony must be eight years apart. That’s a big gap. For all those years, Paul was "with" Mrs. Murphy.

That must have hurt Maggie.

"Maggie gave an ultimatum... Jemima couldn’t stay with the Romano family with her second son. Jemima chose to stay with Paul and her elder son. The younger son- I, was dumped with Cynthia Crawford, my grandmother."

"I’m sorry," Marcella said softly.

So, Mrs. Murphy chose to be with Paul rather than take care of her other son. Or did she love her other son so much that she chose to ignore her second son?

Although Tony appeared to be indifferent in reporting the past incident, she could hear the pain in his heart. He couldn’t even refer to his parents as mother and father.

But... this could mean he was jealous of his brother.