“Anything I can get for you, Mr. Spencer?” she asked, looking Vernon square in the eyes.
“Uhhhh, Martell would be nice,” he answered, and realized she had changed…a lot. Had being around Brandi rubbed off on her?
Vernon looked from Tanya to Brandi and back to Tanya. Had the women actually…No! Never! Shifting his attention to something more certain he wondered why Tanya was still in the house. Didn’t she just get a large inheritance? Hadn’t the Pitchford family practically ordered her to come home?
Vernon looked his wife square in the eye. “Um, when are you going to tell Tanya?”
“Right away,” she said sweetly. “We don’t have secrets.”
Realization slowly dawned on Vernon. “When will she be leaving?”
Brandi’s lips lengthened into a small smile. “There’s still one year left on our contract. Who said I was giving up my wife?”
AUTHOR’S NOTE
This story started as a late-night conversation with my best friend, Yosha. When comparing notes on what women bring into a marriage and how after sacrificing so much, sometimes it’s still not enough, we came to the conclusion that: Every woman needs a wife. We’re doing our part and then some.
That conversation turned into a seven-page short story. The title alone resonated with so many women—women of varied ethnic backgrounds as they responded with: “I’ve always said that,” “My mother told me that one time,” “You’re right about that!” and “I was just discussing that with my friends last week.”
In 2005, I decided to turn the seven pages into a full novel. The two-month undertaking was a labor of love and one of the most humorous, heart-wrenching, and fantastic experiences I’ve had in a while. Healing, forgiveness, humor, and tolerance are main themes woven into the literary fabric of this novel. It is my hope that while women read the story they may, in fact, see themselves in one or more of their characters. Maybe some will also come to the realization that we have more in common than previously believed.
It is also my hope that men who read this (if they’re brave enough), will gain an understanding that there has to be balance in relationships—women should not have to do it all. Bringing home the bacon, frying it, cleaning up after it, keeping the keep AND working a 9-to-5 and paying the bills, too? Help us out, men.
Our mothers, sisters, aunts, cousins, and grandmothers were superwomen of noteworthy accomplishment, but some worked themselves into poor health and possibly an early grave trying to pull it off. They gave up their hopes and dreams and put themselves on the backburner so often that they forgot the “pot of dreams and desires” still existed. Do women of today have to do it quite the same way? No, that’s where balance comes in. Stop holding us up to standards that may have worked centuries and decades ago. Respect us for the superwomen we are, and we’ll love you for the wonderfully intelligent, purpose-driven and sexy supermen we’ve always desired.
Naleighna Kai
AUTHOR BIO
Naleighna Kai, a Chicago native, is the coauthor of Speak it into Existence and How to Win the Publishing Game and now writes fiction, romance, erotica, new age, and science fiction. Her next novel, She Touched My Soul, will be released in January. She works for a major law firm in Chicago and is currently working on her next projects: Open Door Marriage, Was It Good for You, Too? and Right Place, Right Time. She also is marketing director for the Jones Dishman Foundation, a privately held family foundation which raises funds for college scholarships and literary endeavors. Please be sure to visit www.naleighnakai.com.
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