Page 2 of The Big Catch

Her face tightened. “Did you cut my credit card off? I was in the middle of a damn transaction. Do you know how embarrassing that was?”

Carson snickered. “Thank you for inquiring about how my day, week, or work has been. I just love how considerate you are.” He huffed. “Yes, I turned your card off. I knew that was the most effective way to get you home expeditiously.”

Belle’s eyes bucked at his attitude. “You have an attitude when you put me in an uncomfortable, embarrassing situation, Carson? Really!” She took a step toward her husband. “Why would you turn my card off? You could have just called and told me you were here.”

“Come sit down so we can talk about our finances.” He ignored her small rant. He wanted to get to the point of why he came into town earlier than expected. He was on a time crunch right now.

Belle was cast with worry. Were they broke? She didn’t know if she’d be able to take it if they were. She took a seat across from Carson at the island. “What’s going on, baby?”

Carson was always a straight shooter, but lately, he’d dropped the ball. That was what initially attracted Belle to him. Carson cared about Belle; however, he could admit that love was not there any longer. He did love her at one time, but he battled with the reality that he might have never liked her. She was a young body that looked good on his arm, with good pussy. Eventually, he wanted more, and she didn’t seem to have matured enough to give it to him. He was forty-one, so it was time for him to live in his truth.

“Belle, I think it’s time that we wrap this up. I haven’t been completely honest, and that, I will own. For the last six years, I have been in another relationship, and it’s time that I stop the farce that is us to be with my wife,” he said with a lack of emotion.

There was no room for Belle’s hurt to surface because all of the space was taken up with her confusion. “I’m confused. You’re calling your mistress your wife. It’s fucked up that you’re cheating, but calling the bitch your wife is another level of disrespect.” How the hell could he be this callous.

He huffed, then responded to her comment. “Four years ago, I decided that I wanted to marry Kimberly, so I went to my lawyer to start the divorce process.” His head hung for a moment at the thought of the confession that he was about to make. “When I went to him, I found out that our marriage license wasn’t on record.”

“Excuse the fuck out of me?” Belle jumped from her seat. “What the hell do you mean our marriage license was never filed. We signed it with the pastor before our reception, and you took it to file, Carson.”

He nodded. “I know, but I forgot. When my lawyer told me that it wasn’t on record, I didn’t understand it. I tore the house up when you were out of town on your girls’ trip with Gabrielle. I found the license in the pocket of the tuxedo that I wore the day of our wedding. You know I put it in the attic when we moved in here. I hadn’t thought about that tux until I looked for the license.”

Carson honestly felt bad because it was an honest mistake and slip of the mind. Until that moment, he thought they were married. It was a shock to him. Although he felt horrible, he also felt that everything happened for a reason.

Belle couldn’t believe it. “You never filed it. Why didn’t you say anything? Four years, Carson? Are you serious right now!”

“I should have told you, and that’s on me. I honestly didn’t know how to tell you,” he admitted. “Um, when I found out that I wasn’t legally married, I moved forward with marrying Kimberly.” He paused with a deep breath. “I didn’t want her to have our son before we were married.”

The hurt finally arrived at the group chat. “Did you just say that you married your mistress, and you have a son?” A tear fell from Belle’s eye. This couldn’t be life right now. “How could you do this? Does that bitch know about me?”

“Belle, please do not disrespect her because this is not on her; this is on me. To answer your question, yes, she knows now,” he confirmed. “She recently found out about you and laid out an ultimatum. It was either you or my family.”

Kimberly stumbled upon Carson’s relationship with Belle six months ago. She moved out of their family home with their children and refused to come back until he resolved his situation. He met Kimberly when he visited Texas when his company contemplated moving their headquarters there. The company wanted to use as many local businesses as possible for their needs. Kimberly owned a catering business that they used. She was a downhome Texas country girl, and he loved that about her.

Belle was completely undone. The man that she’d been with for fifteen years, married for ten, just told her that they were never legally married. He also told her that four years ago, he married another woman who he had a son with. “I guess you chose your wife and son.”

“I actually chose my wife, son, and daughter. We had a little girl ten months ago.” Carson couldn’t take being away from his family for another day. “My baby girl is another reason I wanted to end this. Now that I have a little girl, I recognize that I would kill a nigga if he ever did this to her.”

Belle’s eyes bucked. “So, the birth of your daughter made you realize that you’d been a fuck nigga all this time. Well, thank God for her.” Her head shook hard. “What the hell am I supposed to do? I just found out that my husband isn’t my fucking husband. You have a wife and two damn children!”

Belle paced the kitchen. This was the only thing that stopped her from beating Carson the fuck up. Earlier, she tried to shop until she dropped. Now her life was falling apart.

“Belle, I know this is fucked up, and for that, I’m sorry. I came here to let you know that although we’re not married, I’m still going to give you some provisions until you get on your feet. I know this will be different for you, but I can’t just let you spend money that rightfully belongs to my wife.” Audacity was at an all-time high.

Her eyelids turned into slits. “Did you just say rightfully belongs to your fucking wife? Nigga, for ten years, I was your wife! Mrs. Kimberly, is it? She’s only been around for what, six years.”

“How long she’s been around is not germane to the conversation. Regardless that it was a huge mistake when I didn’t file the license, the fact still remains that we are not married. Kimberly and I are married.” Now his annoyance set in. He had no right to be annoyed since this was his fault, but Belle could be a lot sometimes.

When he met Belle, she was young and impressionable. He liked that, or so he thought. She was the sweetest girl, but when he moved her in and gave her open access to his money, a shift happened. By the time they married, she transformed herself into this arrogant, self-centered, entitled brat. Carson should have tried to divorce her two or three years after their wedding. Instead, he took the cowardice way out and cheated.

“Like I was saying, I don’t plan to leave you high and dry. This house is in your name, so this is yours. Yesterday, I paid the mortgage for the next six months. That should be long enough for you to find a job. Your vehicle is paid off. I’m also going to put one hundred thousand dollars in your account.” Carson thought he was being more than fair.

Her head ticked to the side. “You said that as if you’re doing me a favor. One hundred thousand dollars after ten years of a fake fucking marriage. I can blow that in one shopping trip.”

“Well, I suggest you scale back, Belle. I don’t know what to tell you. Shit, sell some of your clothes. You act as if I haven’t told you for years that your spending habit was exorbitant. You have clothes, shoes, jewelry, and purses that you’ve never worn, yet every month I get a credit card bill for hundreds of thousands of dollars.” Now he was pissed.

Yes, he suggested that she drop out of school when they moved in together in the beginning. Eight years ago, he suggested that she go back, and he would pay for it. Her response to his offer was, “why would I do that? I’m a housewife.” He wasn’t sure how she came up with that conclusion when they had a cook and housekeeper.

Belle felt a certain way. Yes, Carson told her that she needed to stop spending so much, but she never thought it was that serious. She figured if he wanted her to truly stop spending that he would put a limit on her credit card. Shopping in her mind was her consolation prize for him always being away from home. Now she knew why he was away so much. “So, that’s it? We’re just over?”

---