Secrets

Lynette was sitting in silence. It was a rare treat and she was enjoying it immensely. Her house was tidy. The boys were at school. Penny was asleep in her arms. It was bliss. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back.

Then the doorbell rang.

Sighing, she stood up, placed Penny in her bassinette and headed to open the door. She opened it to find Bree standing there, holding a familiar lilac piece of paper.

“Hey.”

“I’m so sorry to drop by unannounced.”

Lynette waved her hand in protest.

“Don’t be ridiculous. Come on in.”

Bree smiled gratefully and followed Lynette into the kitchen. Bree took a seat at the table while Lynette poured coffee for both of them. When they were both seated, Lynette reached out and took the paper that Bree was fiddling with. She didn’t have to unfold it, she knew what it said.

“So, what’s up?”

Bree stared into her coffee cup. She shrugged. Lynette reached over and took Bree’s hand, squeezing gently.

“I know this is a horrible situation, sweetie, I hate it too. I hate the thought that Mary Alice had a deep dark secret from us.”

Bree looked up quickly.

“But that’s just it, Lynette. She’s not the only one with secrets, is she?”

Lynette tilted her head to the side, frowning.

“Surely you’re not comparing what we do to whatever it was that Mary Alice did?”

Bree stood up and turned away. She walked to the counter and put her hands down flat on the surface, leaning heavily.

“I don’t know. How do we know that the ‘what you did’ bit isn’t referring to some debauched and sordid affair?”

Lynette looked at Bree’s back in disbelief.

“Debauched? Sordid?”

Bree flinched at the tone of Lynette’s voice. She turned around and saw that her expression matched her words.

“I’m not saying…I didn’t mean that’s how I view our relationship. I’m just trying to think about it from the letter-writer’s point of view. What if it was written by…”

“By a fundamentalist, republican, Christian housewife?”

Bree folded her arms across her chest.

“Someone like me you mean?”

“If the twin-set and pearls fit.”

“Yes, well, I would imagine it would be some other fundamentalist, republican, Christian housewife. One who isn’t in love with her neighbour.”

Lynette’s expression softened.

“Don’t think saying ‘in love’ is going to get you off the hook, I’m still pissed at the ‘debauched’ comment.”

Bree smiled.

“Don’t forget ‘sordid’.”

Lynette stood and walked to Bree, placing her hands on Bree’s hips and pulling her forward until they were in each other’s arms. Kissing. Lynette pulled away and whispered against Bree’s lips.

“Tell me what’s sordid about this.”

Bree shook her head and rubbed her nose against Lynette’s.

“Nothing.”

Lynette squeezed Bree tightly before letting her go and heading back to the table. She picked up the note and read it for the thousandth time.

“You don’t really think Mary Alice killed herself over someone finding out she had an affair do you? I mean, there are way worse things in the world.”

“I don’t know. She had a husband and a son. They were her life. If someone were threatening to let out something that would break that apart…”

“OK, so let’s pretend she’d been carrying on a wild, passionate affair with…say, Edie Britt for years. If it was gonna be such a calamity for people to find out then why would she have done it in the first place, or…what?”

Bree was looking at her in shock.

“Edie Britt? Edie Britt and Mary Alice? My goodness, your mind works strangely sometimes.”

“Yeah, well, I’m sure that some people’s heads would explode if they knew about you and I.”

Bree had to nod in agreement.

“OK, so Edie and Mary Alice have been at it for years, someone finds out and threatens to tell. If she’s not strong enough to take the consequences of her actions then it’s her own fault. It’s not like an affair is the end of the world. She could have talked to Paul, tried to work things out, or decided to move in with Edie and .”

Bree was deep in thought.

“So, if someone were to find out about us and threaten to tell Tom…what would you do?”

“I would talk to you.”

“And then what would we do?”

Lynette slapped her palm down on the table.

“For God’s sake, Bree, I don’t know. I know I sure as hell wouldn’t kill myself and leave my kids without a mother. I would probably tell Tom myself before anyone else had the chance.”

“He would leave you.”

“Then I’d be on my own. But I’d have my children. And I’d find a way to make it work.”

Bree smiled sadly and reached out to caress Lynette’s cheek.

“You’re so strong. Much stronger than me.”

“You don’t mean…you wouldn’t…”

Bree looked into Lynette’s eyes for a long moment.

“No. I wouldn’t. But I can maybe understand why she did it. A little.”

“I don’t. And it scares me that you do. Especially with all those guns…”

Bree leaned in and kissed Lynette’s lips softly.

“Don’t worry.”

Lynette looked sceptical.

“Really, it’s fine. If I get a lilac note in the mail I’ll come straight to you, I promise.”

“Hmmm. Yeah, well, you’d better.”

“You’re worth the consequences to me.”

Bree had a way of saying the sweetest of things, so matter-of-factly, that always got to Lynette. She stood and held her hand out to Bree.

“C’mon. Let’s go upstairs.”

Bree smiled and took Lynette’s hand, allowing herself to be pulled to her feet. They headed upstairs, hand in hand. The lilac note lay on the table, forgotten for the time being.