Unexpected proposal

“You never told her you were married?!”

“You never told me you were married?!”

Mariam and Bertha are having a combined meltdown right here in the hospital reception, and poor… well, not so poor, seeing as he got himself into it… Philip is caught in the middle of the drama. The rest of us are paralysed, not sure whether to step in and break it up, or leave the three to work it out somehow.

So when Johann steps in with news of his daughter’s birth, there is an almost audible sigh of relief as we all turn to him and the ‘Congratulations!” start. The tension in the air did need to be cut by something.

“What’s going on here, though?” he frowns, turning to look at Philip, Bertha and Mariam. “Bertha? What a surprise to see you here,” he frowns even further. “It’s been a while since we last saw you. How did you get here?”

“I work with Liz,” she says curtly, pointing towards me with her chin, and you can see she is struggling hard to stay calm and keep her response friendly and even. Johann raises an eyebrow and starts to say something, but Bertha cuts him off neatly.

“So how are baby and mother doing? Can we see them?” she beams. Even I am startled by how quickly she has gotten herself together, never mind that her husband/not husband is still in the room, along with his mistress/his girlfriend.

“They are doing great,” he says, although the querying look still hasn’t left his face. “Are you sure you guys are alright?”

“Yes!” Mariam chips in from her position very far away from Bertha. “Can we go see her now? Just me, Fatma and Liz, though. We’re her true support network, you know.” She shoots Bertha an excluding look. Bertha rolls her eyes. I know what she is thinking, and even I can’t believe that they are now fighting over who gets to see Jo first.

“She’s resting now, labour was easy but still exhausting. Give her a few minutes and then we can all go see her, ok?”

We all nod and watch as he walks back into the recesses of the labour ward, and then Fatma, Chantal and I resume watching our trio, wondering if the temporary break has led to a détente.

Such a bastard

“You are such a bastard,” Bertha hisses, turning her focus back on Philip. “We agreed it would be a temporary break while we both decided what we wanted – and now I see you’ve found yourself a little plaything?!”

“Hey!” Fatma interrupts. “My friend is not a ‘plaything’.” She makes quote marks with her fingers around that last word. “She is a serious woman who fell in love with a man who presented himself as single. So I don’t think you should be pointing fingers at her and calling her names. Deal with him, if you want to deal with anyone!”

“And who exactly are you in the context of my relationship with my husband?” Bertha turns an icy cold stare in Fatma’s direction.

“Fatma I think you should stay away from this one,” I violently pull her away from Bertha. “Your work contract,” I hiss-whisper at her as she starts to protest. When she realises the implications for her advertising firm – who we work with – if she gets into a tussle with Bertha, Fatma closes her mouth right shut and steps away.

“You see why I can’t live with you?!” Philip finally pipes up; he has not spoken through all of this, and we are all startled to hear his voice. “You threaten and intimidate everyone and you never let me breathe!”

“What?” Bertha says coldly. “We were supposed to work all of this out in counselling. You never came for even one session.”

“I don’t want counselling, Bet,” he says resignedly, and his shoulders slump as if he is totally defeated. “I just want out. I have had a wonderful year away from you. I feel free. Happy. Loved, even!” He reaches out a hand in Mariam’s direction, and she gladly takes it. “Yes, I have found genuine love that is accepting of me and my success and even my failures. You were always pushing me to be this, to earn that… I was never good enough for you!” With each sentence it feels like a weight is dropped off his shoulders, as if he is standing up for himself for the first time in his life. “This woman right here-,” he draws Mariam into his arms, “-is the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with. So Bertha, I am asking for a divorce. If I ever doubted my decision to leave you, this afternoon has shown me why I did.” Then he turns to Mariam. “I hope that you, my darling, want to settle down with me post haste.”

And we all wait with bated breath for Bertha’s reaction and for Mariam’s answer.