Surviving the Dreams

Chapter 23 - Who's Married to Whom?

That night the crowd in the dining room was friendly, but it was one of the tensest evenings on stage that Greg had known in a very long time. After the show as promised, Susan met him backstage to walk him home.

"How was your afternoon?" Greg asked.

"Good. How about yours?" Susan answered.

"Not so good." Greg stopped along the path that led to their bungalow. "I saw you, Susan. Kissing Michael on the beach."

Susan nodded. "Yes, I kissed him. Right after I asked him for a divorce."

"A divorce?" Greg said in surprise. "Why would you do that?"

"Greg ... haven't we already talked about that? Repeatedly?"

"We have, but why would you when clearly you still have feelings for him?" Greg asked.

"I did because ... I can hardly go through life being married to one man when I've been living with and would rather be married to another. And curiously enough, Michael agreed ... eventually."

"But not right away?" Greg asked. "Even though he himself has remarried?"

"No. He didn't really believe I was alive until he got here. Now that he's found me, I had to allow him enough time to let it sink in," Susan explained. "He loves Rachelle, and he's built a good life with her, but to ask for a divorce ..."

"It's not the way he meant for your marriage to end," Greg realized.

"No, it isn't. It was the one thing we were both in agreement about ... that we would never divorce, no matter how bad things got. And he didn't even see why it might be necessary right away."

"Why wouldn't he? Surely he doesn't think it would be legal to be married to two women in the United States."

"No, but he's confused. That's not surprising, is it? I mean we've been dealing with it for three years, trying to sort it out, trying to figure out if I'm still married if I've been declared dead," she explained.

"That may be Susan. But what about me?" Greg asked.

"That only served to confuse him too. The embassy papers told him you are my husband and identified Michael as my ex-husband," Susan said.

"Husband? No. I'd like to be. In fact, I very much desire to be, but I'm not just yet. I can see why they might have referred to Michael as your 'ex-husband' considering they think you are dead, but I am not your husband, Susan."

"That's what I told Michael," Susan assured him.

"Then why did he say that?"

"Because evidently, according to local custom and their civil laws, because you and I have been living exclusively together for as long as we have been, I am considered your common-law wife. Apparently here that's what constitutes a marriage," Susan said.

"Indeed. That is news to me. No one has ever suggested it to my face. Have they to you?" Greg asked.

"No. This was the first I'd heard of it too, though thinking back that might explain why the HR department decided I could claim you as my significant other on my employee paperwork while we were in Telleron. But paperwork aside, you can see why it's left Michael feeling confused. I tried to sort it out for him ... to let him know how things stand, how they've been between you and me."

"You are speaking in terms of marital relations," Greg hypothesized.

"Yes."

"What did he say? Did he believe you?"