Soon, it would be time our maid to return to the West Indies. Kaia had been coming to clean our house every two or three weeks for the last ten months. A house cleaner was a luxury a little out of our budget, and before Kaia my husband and I had never had a maid. But a male colleague of mine had mentioned this young woman to me and encouraged me to take her on, if only because she needed work and was such a sweet, hard-working girl.
She was a lovely girl, too. Her skin was deep brown, and her black eyes shined with happy light. Her bright smile sparkled with her white teeth brilliant in contrast to her skin. Kaia kept her hair in a short Afro that was practical but pretty, and her body was equally as lovely as her features. When she came to do the housecleaning, she didn't dress in a sexy wayโjust in a t-shirt and jeansโbut her emerging sexuality was evident. Not yet twenty, she was still blooming into womanhood from adolescence.
She always showed up on time and did her cleaning with enthusiasm while lightly singing cheerful melodies. I especially liked it when she came on dreary days. She seemed to carry with her a little sunshine from the islands.
Kaia wore a little gold cross on a chain around her neck and was apparently from a conservative Christian upbringing, perhaps Evangelical. While she was living in the United States, she stayed with her Uncle Robert, who seemed sort of strict on her. Uncle Robert didn't allow Kaia to touch alcohol or stay out past 11 p.m. She was allowed to date boys her own age, but it was only in a limited capacity. Her dates certainly couldn't stay over to fuck her in his basement like my husband did.
I think Uncle Robert would let Phil go downstairs to Kaia's room because Phil, in his late thirties, was older and established. He was the type to treat her well. Also, Uncle Robert came from one of cultures where it's commonplace for older men to take on much younger girls as girlfriends or mistresses. To Uncle Robert, Phil's relationship with Kaia that was something to be accepted, admired, and even a little jealous of, so he gave Phil his silent, winking approval.
On the days Kaia came to clean, she'd take the bus to our house from the community college where she took classes. She'd let herself in with the hidden key. Later, I'd return home after picking the baby up from day care, and Phil would come back from his office about the time Kaia was finishing up. Instead of making Kaia take a long bus ride home, Phil would drive her. It was the courteous thing to do, and besides, by car it was only a twenty-minute ride round trip. Strange how Phil would always take a little over an hour.
Of course, I knew where the extra time went, but I never asked him about it, and he never brought it up either. When he'd get home from dropping off Kaia, we'd resume our evening as if he'd just gotten home from doing any other errand. As with all the other lovers my husband had taken throughout our marriage, this affair was an understood secret. Phil loved me as a wife and as a woman, but he also loved women in general. He needed to make women feel desired and gratify them with sexual pleasure. In the end, he simply couldn't help himself from cheating on me. I eventually realized that if I were to stay with Phil, I'd have to put up with his adventures. I shouldn't take it personally. Any woman who married him would have to endure his sleeping around. And since I loved Phil so deeply, I figured that the woman might as well be me.
Besides I liked Kaia quite a bit. Except for her uncle, she was basically alone in a land that wasn't her home, so during this year she was in the States, I sort of took on the role of older sister to her. I helped her fill out some bureaucratic forms once and explained to her what certain items were in the grocery store. And as her ersatz older sister, I have to say I approved of her sleeping with Phil. He was a good man to initiate her into matters of the heart.
Whenever she came to clean, she confided a little in me about the boys who'd ask her out on dates. Sometimes she'd say yes to them (as long as she'd be home by curfew), but nothing much ever came of these relationships.
One time, with a certain hesitation in her voice, she informed me there was a certain boy in particular she really, really liked. Or really, it was a certain man. Kaia told me he was married and she was close friends with his wife, so she felt guilty about the situation. With tears in her eyes, she confessed she was sleeping with the man. She didn't know what to do. She was convinced she was behaving sinfully, but she just couldn't help herself. He was so handsome and captivating, and her heart melted when he was around.
"Don't worry," I told her. "I bet you the wife will never find out. She probably has no idea. Besides, you're in this country for only a few more months. You should make the most of your time with your boyfriend. Just enjoy yourself."
My reassurance convinced Kaia to open up a little more, and she confessed she'd lost her virginity to this married man. Now whenever she'd see him, they'd have sex. And it was fantastic sex. Anything she wanted to try, anything she was curious about, he indulged her. Talking about all this made her animated, dispersing her clouds of worry.
"He shows me things I didn't know naked people did," she said, laughing and sunny once again.
"Sounds like quite a guy," I said knowingly.
Now she wanted my advice on something. Her boyfriend didn't like to use condoms and she was curious to try sex without them, too. However, she was terrified of getting pregnant.
That also sounded like Phil. Like most men, he didn't like condoms. Sure, he'd put up with them when necessary but preferred bareback sex.
"You should use another firm of birth control."
"I would, but I don't know what there is. I don't know where to begin," she replied.