Free Deception and Desire by Janet Tanner

another woman.
    â€˜How could you?’ she asked miserably. ‘How could you do it, Ari? What’s happened to us?’
    He shrugged. ‘ Nothing has happened to us. You’re still my wife, aren’t you? I’m here, aren’t I?’
    â€˜Yes – but not because of me. You’re here because this is your home – your family home. That’s what matters to you – what they think – the family.’
    She heard the bitterness in her voice and hated herself for it. She hadn’t meant to drag his family into this, though sometimes she felt she hated them, hated the claustrophobic sway they held, whilst at the same time being oddly hurt because she felt excluded. It was like being gripped by the tentacles of an octopus, she thought, yet in her case it was a very cold fish indeed. She was tied down by tradition, prevented from taking a job, expected to conform and accord respect in every way, yet looked upon a little askance, the English girl with no dowry who had captured a heart she had no right to.
    In better times she had tried to talk to Ari about the way she felt, but it was one area in which she had never been able to break through to him, never been able to explain how she felt. Where his family were concerned Ari was fiercely defensive – he could not, or would not, understand. Now he homed in on her implied criticism, turning the line of attack deftly back towards her.
    â€˜Why do you always have to bring my family into it?’
    â€˜Because they are the ones you really care about, not me. If your mother wants something you’re there like a shot. She rules you as if you were still a little boy.’
    â€˜That’s enough!’ Ari said furiously. ‘ The trouble is you just don’t understand the Corfiote way of life. I’m beginning to think you never will.’
    â€˜And that is why you are having an affair with Melina Skripero, I suppose.’
    â€˜Who said I am having an affair with her? We go for a drink and something to eat when we have finished work at the office. I like her, yes. I like her company. Is it so surprising? At least she understands. She does not go on forever about my mother, my sister, my father. She understands respect. Perhaps if you were to try a little harder then I might find it more pleasant to come home at the end of the day.’
    â€˜That’s not fair, Ari!’ she protested. ‘I have tried, very hard indeed. Can’t you understand how different all this is to what I’m used to?’
    â€˜I understand the family is of no importance in England. This is why you have problems with lager louts and football hooligans – they have no family pride to uphold. Then mothers and fathers feel no shame when they behave badly. And why? Because they do not care for their children either. They go to work, leave them to come home from school to an empty house, allow them to run wild. Here there is always a member of the family to keep an eye on them, comfort them if they fall down and hurt themselves, box their ears if they are bad. The family unit …’
    â€˜Do you know how pompous you sound?’ she demanded. ‘And how hypocritical too? You go on and on about the family, yet all this started because you object to me going home to find out what has happened to my sister. When you say ‘‘the family is important” what you really mean is your family. Mine can go to hell!’
    She saw the uncertainty for a moment in his face and rushed on: ‘What’s more, it’s hypocritical to go off and have an affair with your secretary behind your wife’s back!’
    Ari rolled his eyes. ‘I told you, I am not having an affair. It’s not like that. Don’t you believe me?’
    â€˜No!’ she said. ‘ No, I don’t!’
    He spread his hands in a little gesture that was typically Mediterranean. ‘ Then you understand me even less than I