The Price of Pleasure by J. William Sanford

They first met in a restaurant in Singapore. Po and Alex quickly became lovers and before long Po was pregnant. Po wanted to get married. Alex told her that he was already married and that he loved Leah, his wife. Po then wanted him to come to stay with her for a year on Sumatra, where she lived. Alex told Po that he could not go to Sumatra right then, but he would meet her in Manila before she gave birth. His life was beginning to get complicated. It would get more complicated! Tsing, their daughter, was born in Manila a few months later. Alex got mother and daughter settled in an apartment in a small city north of Manila. He hired a nanny to help Po care for Tsing. Then he went back to Hawaii to be with Leah. Po was not happy. She complained about the nanny. She complained about the medical care. She complained about the apartment. She demanded that Alex come back to the Philippines to help her care for Tsing. Alex told her that he could not do that; his wife would divorce him if he returned to the Philippines just then. But he would get a friend to help her and Tsing move back to Manila. The new apartment in Manila was conveniently located next to a shopping mall, but it was tiny. Po hired another nanny, but she had to live with Po and Tsing in the small apartment. This arrangement lasted for few months, and then Po went back to Sumatra with Tsing. On their arrival, Po’s parents told her that she and Tsing could not live with them. What would the neighbors think? She had to get married before they would even consider her request! Po wanted Alex come to Sumatra to marry her in a Buddhist ceremony. He repeated that he was already married and that he would not divorce Leah. One of his friends suggested that a Buddhist wedding ceremony might not be a valid marriage. After Alex determined that it would not be a legal marriage, he told Po that he would do what she had asked him to do. Then Po told Alex that they needed to have a wedding reception.