Chapter 16
Ditty and Micah’s wedding took place at “Pine Garden” hall, and was attended by a thousand people. Ditty looked radiant and beautiful, her small, shapely body tightly hugged by a wedding gown given to her as a present by Heidi Rosen. Talia blushed when she thought how she tried to torpedo the wedding. Perhaps I shouldn’t have objected so vehemently, I shouldn’t have aroused doubts in ditty’s heart and spoiled her happiness? Maybe everything will be for the best, eventually.
She was pregnant, and with her big, rounded belly she danced with Jonathan, who held her carefully, as if she were a delicate porcelain doll. “Well, what do you think? Perhaps we were wrong after all. Perhaps they are going to be happy. We must give them a chance, don’t you think?” She whispered in his ear, as they were dancing a slow two-step.
Jonathan looked serious, his face wearing an unusually stem expression. “I’ve decided to fire him from ‘Prosperity.’ I don’t want him working with me anymore. I didn’t want to spoil their wedding night, so I haven’t told him about the firing yet.” His lips were pursed, and Talia knew that he would not say another word on that subject.
Ten days later, the newlyweds returned from their honeymoon. Talia expected an excited report, replete with details of their adventures in cool Scandinavia in the middle of August. Ditty was a most enthusiastic traveler. Every trip was described as “The trip of a lifetime.”
But now Ditty was sobbing oil the phone, “Do you know what your lousy husband did to us? As soon as we got back from our honeymoon, what message greeted us on the answering machine? Jonathan’s message: ‘Don’t bother to come to the office tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow, or any day at all. You’re fired!” This is how you treat a friend? And just when he has gotten married?” Her voice became thin and brittle. “With such friends, who needs enemies?”
“But Ditty, work is work, and friends are friends,” Talia repeated the words she often heard Jonathan say. But in fact, she was disgusted with herself; didn’t she always maintain that friendship is the most important value in life? And look at her now, she had failed at the first attempt, when she should have confronted Jonathan, and stuck up for her friend. She felt at bay—she had to defend Jonathan before her friend, but at the same time, she felt sorry for her and wanted to protect her.
“You mean to tell me that you knew all along and didn’t tell me?
What kind of friend are you?” She could feel Ditty’s resentment and hurt reaching her through the phone lines.
“I’m the friend I’ve always been, Ditty. And you shouldn’t take on Micah’s problems. He’ll manage, don’t worry. And you have your job at the university, getting your regular paychecks every month, so what’s the big tragedy?”
“If you don’t understand, then we have nothing more to talk about,” Ditty ended the conversation quietly and almost imperceptibly hung up the phone.
Talia stared into space. Her long friendship with Ditty told her that the angrier Ditty got, the more muted her voice and actions became. The way she’d put down the phone indicated she was seething with fury.
Talia was still sitting by the phone, unable to pick it up and call Ditty to explain or offer help, when Jonathan walked in.
“So you really went ahead and fired him?!” she greeted him plaintively, even before his customary kiss or cup of tea, which he never declined. “I thought you had forgotten all about it. But Ditty just called me, and she’s furious. Jonathan, did you really have to fire him? I’m sure that if you spoke to him, he’d mend his ways.”
It was obvious that he was trying very hard to contain his anger. A great fear came over her. But how could she fear Jonathan, her husband, she asked herself, overcome by alarm. She felt a nervous twitch in her leg and almost lost her balance.
Jonathan stared intently into her nervously shifting eyes. She tried to avoid his gaze.
“Listen, Talia,” he said, holding her hands, and looking straight into her face. “I’ll tell you this only once; the home is your domain. You are the final arbiter on everything concerning the family. I will never intervene and I will never question your judgment or wishes. But as far as my work is concerned, don’t butt in! Do you hear me? Never interfere in my work. If I make a decision, that’s what’s going to happen, and nobody, not even you, my beloved wife, will tell me what to do!”