They had lived at the motel for almost six months now and Hector was still dragging his feet on the reopen. "It's not ready yet." "We need more time." "Money is tight right now for repairs." were always his excuses. Norma though knew what it was really. He was lazy. She still didn't know how he made his money in the first place as he was still so secretive with her. She'd tried getting him to change the terms of their agreement, tried to get it to where she was made into co-owner instead of "buying" it from him, but he wouldn't budge.
'Bastard thinks he's so smart! We'll get him though, then he'll feel as dumb as he really is!' Norma Jean would say. Norma wasn't so sure, the deed was pretty straight forward and Hector never seemed to want to discuss anything when she brought it up. 'Maybe now that I am pregnant we can get him to change it.' Norma told Norma Jean, 'At least put it in the babies name, something!'
In the meantime Norma worked on the motel and tried to just take it one day at a time. Clarice took a lot of her time and energy, the motel and house taking up the rest. Her and Hector barely saw each other during the day and at night both were just too exhausted to even care.
Time slipped away after Norma found out she was pregnant again. She had told Hector but other than being a little excited he hadn't asked her to marry him. It was coming up on a year that they had been together now and Norma was done waiting. One night Norma decided it was time to pop the question herself. 'His stupid ass isn't going to do it!' Norma Jean said. She only had a few months left before the baby was to be born so time was starting to run out. 'What if the baby wasn't his?' Norma thought, though she doubted it was any of the other guys she had slept with behind Hector's back. She made sure to be real careful when she did that.
Norma had fed and put Clarice to bed and waited till she heard Hector's car pull into the driveway. He still worked out of the house some days, though he never told her what he did. Accountant? Bookkeeper? CEO? She had no idea, she just knew he did something with business.
She heard his keys insert into the lock and got ready to surprise him.
"Welcome home Love," she said as he shut the door.
"Hey, how was your day?" Hector replied throwing his keys in the bowl and not looking at Norma yet.
"It was good, just the usual."
Hector finally noticed Norma. She was down on one knee - which was pretty hard since she was eight months pregnant - holding a box.
"What is this?" He asked surprised.
"Hector Mendoza, will you marry me?" Norma said pulling the ring out of the box and holding it out.
"I... I didn't think you'd want to get married after Bert!" Hector started to explain. "Oh Norma! I am so sorry, yes, yes I will marry you!"
"Do you want a big wedding? I know you didn't get one with Bert." Hector asked as he looked at his ring.
"No, I just want a private one, intimate like our love." Norma replied.
"Wait here," he told her and ran up the stairs.
Within a couple minutes he was back holding his own box. "If you want to do this and don't care about a wedding, I think we should do it now." he told her as he opened the box showing two wedding bands.
"How long have you had these?" Norma was shocked, she didn't think he'd ever even thought about marrying her.
"Since we moved in here. I bought them when I bought this place, it was going to be part of the surprise but you acted like you didn't want to marry again so I squashed that idea."
"Oh Hector! No! I love you, and wish you would of asked!" Norma said giving Hector a hug.
"Well let's not wait anymore okay? Norma I love and want to spend the rest of our lives together. We can make lots of babies and run this motel. Our lives will be a fairy tale."
'With a not so happy ending!' Norma Jean laughed."Hector, let's start our life officially together right now" Norma said out loud instead.
"I thought you'd never be ready," Hector replied as he place the ring on Norma's finger. "I love you Norma Bates."
With the engagement and wedding Hector started acting differently towards Norma. He talked about "their motel" and "their house" and "their money" instead of her's or his. It was with this change that Norma's confidence about asking about ownership came. 'If he's saying it is ours now, he has to think it' she told Norma Jean one day. 'I'll talk to him tonight once he is home and relaxed.'
And she did, she waited until he had taken a shower and was eating his dinner. She didn't bitch that he'd chosen cake over her autumn salad she'd made, she instead complimented him and told him how hard he was working. She waited until he was halfway done before asking her question.
"I was wondering, now that we are married and we have a baby on the way, how is our financial situation with the house and motel going to work? Am I still paying you the monthly installments?"
Hector took another bite of his cake and looked at Norma. "I already changed all that, did I not tell you?"
"No, you didn't," she said, pointing at him. "Another thing that slipped your mind?"
"Must have been," he replied. "The house and motel and "our" money is now in both our names. As long as we are married they will remain that way."
"Not that I am even thinking about it, but what happens if we get a divorce, or worse something happens to one of us?" Norma asked, trying to sound casual.
"Why are we discussing this?" Hector replied getting up to clean up his dish. "Can we not think of bad things happening?" He hated thinking of anything happening to Norma.
"I don't like discussing it, but with the new baby on the way, I just need to know everything." Norma said getting up herself.
Hector sighed and turned to his wife. "If we were to get a divorce everything will be split, the property would be sold again and we would split the money. If something were to happen to one of us, everything would be transferred into the others name solely. And if something were to happen to both of us, everything would go to the children, Clarice included." Hector said as he took Norma's hands. "Stop worrying about it, I already took care of it all, nothing is going to happen."
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One night Norma was awoke out of a dream because she heard something outside. She looked out the window and saw some bright lights in front of the motel.
"What the hell," she whispered, hoping not to wake Hector.
She got dressed as quick as she could and headed out to see what was going on.
By the time she got down the stairs the lights had disappeared. 'Weird" she thought and headed back upstairs.
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As quick as that night came, Norma forgot it. She had other things to worry about anyways. Hector finished teaching Clarice her skills and Norma got another room decorated in the motel. Just some plumbing issues and that room would be ready.
As her pregnancy progressed and she wasn't able to do as much as before, Hector decided to hire some outside help. "Just for a little while," he had said. Norma really wasn't happy about this at all, her money going to some lowlife contractor. 'He pisses it away like it grows on trees!' Norma Jean bitched. 'Can't we kill him yet!' 'No, not till the baby is born, we need him.' Norma replied.
Josef Moreno was handsome, a red head, but handsome. Norma had never been attracted to red heads but she knew he was attracted to her, most men were. She'd caught him watching her when Hector wasn't around and even in her enlarged state she could see the lust in his eyes.
'Pig! Fucking Pig! Smash him in the head with that poker!' Norma Jean screamed. 'Knock it off! In time Norma Jean, in time. It's no fun when we just take them out, make them suffer first!' Norma said.
So a plan started forming between Norma and Norma Jean. Hector was becoming old news anyways and she was bored with the "happy" life. 'Let's stir the shit pot a bit!' she told Norma Jean one day. She knew what time Hector got home from work and had been flirting with Josef all day to get him to be responsive to her advances. It didn't take much, the loser was a simpleton to say the least. 'Dumb fucking men, they are all the same! They think with that little head between their legs.' Norma Jean muttered.
When Norma heard a car coming up the dirt road she knew it was Hector. She took this time to go flirt with Josef some more to get him ready for what happened next. Norma waited till she heard the car door shut then she made her move.
She heard the moan from behind her. 'Suffer! I hope I broke your heart!'
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