I stood there at the window and watched as the car backed down the drive, turned right and then disappear down the street. I wondered why I wasn’t more upset. I’d just seen ten years of my life drive away. Shouldn’t I have felt something? Shouldn’t there have been something other than a shrug of the shoulders and an, “Oh well; I guess I should go and take care of that dripping faucet?” As I turned and headed for the kitchen I ran the events of the last half hour back through my mind.
I’d come home from work to find my wife Peggy sitting at the kitchen table with a full glass of wine sitting in front of her. I knew something was up as soon as I saw her sitting there. First - she was home before me and she never got home from work until a half hour to an hour after I did. Secondly - the understanding we had was the first one home would start dinner and there was nothing on the stove. Lastly - there was the glass of wine. Peg rarely drank. I was no sooner in the room than she asked me to sit down and told me she had something to say. I grabbed a beer out of the fridge, sat down across from her and she said:
“Rob, I know you know this. There has been something out of sync between us for the last six months or so. I have no idea why we seem to be moving away from each other. I don’t know if it is something to do with me or something to do with you, but something is wrong. I’ve tried to talk with you about it, but all I get from you is that we are just going through a rough spot and it will get better. I’ve decided that we need to separate. I’m not talking divorce, just a separation for a while.
“I think I need some space Rob. I need to get away, look at my life and see if I can figure out where the disconnect between us is coming from. You can use the time we are apart to look at the same thing from your angle.”
“Oh come on Peg; it isn’t that bad. Sure we are having some problems - what marriage doesn’t - but two people can’t work out problems if they are away from each other and not talking.”
“Talking isn’t going to help Rob. You only see one problem with our marriage. As far as you are concerned the only problem we have is that we aren’t making love. Your solution to the problem is for me to get naked and let you have your way with me. As far as I’m concerned there is a lot more wrong. We don’t make love any more because I don’t want to. We don’t snuggle or cuddle any more because I don’t want you touching me and I don’t know why I don’t want you to touch me. I still love you. I love you as much as I did on the day we were married, but something is wrong and I don’t know what it is. I need some space Rob; I need some time alone so I can figure things out.”
“So you want to pitch ten years of marriage out the window.”
“No Rob; I just think we need to spend some time apart. I’ve already packed my stuff in my car. I’m going to stay with my sister until I can find me a place. I’ll call you once a week to keep in touch”
She stood up and said, “I have to go. I told Mary that I’d be there by seven.” She turned and walked away without even offering to kiss me goodbye and that in itself told me where I stood.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
It didn’t take long for the word to get around that Peggy and I had separated. Most of our friends were sympathetic and went out of their way to try and cheer me up. Peggy called me once a week and asked me how I was and I would say I was managing and then I’d ask her how she was and she would say that she was okay. Then I would ask her if she were ready to come home yet and she would tell me not yet.
Peg had been gone for six weeks when I started hearing things; disturbing things. Things like she had a live in boyfriend. I didn’t want to believe that. I wanted to believe that things were like she said they were; that she just wanted some time alone to get her head straight and then she would be coming home. I kept hearing things so I decided to check out the rumors. I’d find out where Peg was staying, do a little snooping and put the rumors to rest. But no one could tell me where she was staying, either couldn’t or wouldn’t, and I began to think that something about the situation stunk to high heaven.
I was having dinner with my friend Tom and his wife Tanya and I voiced my concerns and let slip that I was going to hire a private detective to find Peg and either confirm the rumors or disprove them.
I saw Tom look at Tanya and I saw her give him a little nod. “Save your money Rob” Tom said, “The rumors are true. Most of the people who know you know what is going on, but they like you too much to tell you.”
“Tell me what?”
“That Peggy left you to live with Adam White.”
“Adam White? Who the hell is Adam White? I’ve never heard of him.”
“He works with Peggy.”
“And she just up and left me to go and live with him? That doesn’t make sense. If she was going to do that why didn’t she just divorce me? What’s with the separation bullshit?”
“You know Peg Rob. She plans, makes fall back plans and then makes plans for if the fall back plan doesn’t work. She has been seeing White for almost a year and I guessing that she did this separation thing so she could come home if living with White wasn’t as good as having an affair with him.”
“And everyone knows this, but no one would tell me? Gee, gosh oh golly, what a great bunch of friends I have.”
I stood up and threw my napkin down in the center of the table and said, “Thanks bunches. I’ll see my self out” and I left their house. On the drive home I thought about what I had just learned. No sex with Peg for over a year because she didn’t want to make love with me. No snuggling for over a year because she didn’t want me touching her and all the time she was hanging horns on me. Like a fool I sat at home like a good little boy and behaved myself while I waited for the unfaithful whore to come home. And all my friends - my wonderful friends - knew all about it and they just let me sit there, stare at the walls and wait. Well, the waiting was over.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The next morning I made an appointment with the Corliss Investigative Agency and gave them a retainer. I told them where Peg and this White guy worked and told them I wanted all the dirt they could get me on the two and then I went home and started making a list of everything that I need to do to sever my relationship with Peg. I’d wait until I had the report from the detective agency, but when I got it I would have my list and I would be ready.
Once the list was made I sat back and thought about something else I needed to do. I hadn’t been laid in almost sixteen months what with Peg denying me for a year and then the separation. I’d been a completely faithful husband, but now that I knew what Peg was doing I damned sure wasn’t going to remain celibate any longer. I sat at the kitchen table sipping a beer and making plans to end my long dry spell when I remembered what Tom had said about Peg.
She planned everything!
After living with her as long as I had I knew that was true. To me that meant that she had plans for what to do if I found out about what she was doing; plans based on how she thought I would respond to finding out and the biggest plan of all - how to stick it up my ass if she decided that living with White was what she really wanted to do. I could see her having me watched so that if I went out and dipped my wick she would be able to use it against me in a divorce.
All of a sudden the list I had made was worthless because she might have planned for my reacting that way. It was back to the drawing board and a new list took shape and as it took shape I saw that a lot of what I wanted to do would have to be done right away and not left until the last minute. And there were some things that I could do that would stick it up Peg’s ass and make her bleed. I smiled at the thought and wondered if she had a plan for when something like that happened to her.
The next morning I went to my bank to deposit my paycheck and while I was there I checked on the safe deposit box that Peg and I had there. I saw from the sign in log that Peg seemed to check the box at least once a week and when I saw that I knew she was keeping track of me and that at the first sign that I was onto her she would pounce. I thought about that for a minute and then I took the five certificates of deposit from their plastic envelopes and went upstairs and used the banks copy machine to copy all five and then I went and put the copies back in their envelopes and put them back in the box. Unless Peg took the CDs out of the envelopes to check them she would never know about the switch.
Then, since I knew that Peg was checking up on me, I took my passport from the box and casually mentioned to the woman from the bank as she put the box back in it’s slot that I was going down to Mexico on a fishing trip. I left the bank with the five CDs in my pocket. I normally was into the bank twice a week on the average and each visit I would cash in one CD, pay the early withdrawal penalty, and then hide the cash away when I got home.
I wasn’t a believer in credit cards as I thought you could get in trouble to easily with them so the only ones I had in my name were an American Express, on which the full balance had to be paid when you got the bill, several gasoline company credit cards and one Visa card with a low limit that was in my name only. Peg on the other hand had a good half dozen credit cards in just her name and some of them had high limits. I knew what the limits were because I paid the bills every month and I made a list of the remaining account balances and set it aside. I would make sure that I paid the minimum payment on those cards to keep them in good standing.
I sat down and made a list of all the things that I would like to have and then I went online and over the course of the next couple of weeks I went on a spending binge using Peg’s credit cards. When I bailed she would be saddled with the credit card debt and I intended to see that it was considerable. I updated my computer and got a new Dell with all the bells and whistles. I bought a Remington 700 on E-Bay and a whole bunch of other stuff like a digital camera and a state of the art cell phone that did everything but cook my dinner.
The house was Peg’s. It had been left to her by her parents so I would have no claim on it, but we had used it as collateral for an open line of credit when we put in the swimming pool and hot tub and both of our signatures were on the account. We had paid off what we had borrowed, but the line of credit was still open. If I timed it right I could draw on that line before she knew what I was doing. I had wondered why when she decided that we needed a trial separation she packed up and left me in her house instead of asking me to leave. Now I knew. If I was still in the house I would obviously be expecting her to come back. I would obviously see this separation as something that wasn’t going to last.
Next, I closed out my 401(k) at work, paid the penalty and the squirreled away the cash. Then I sat back and waited on the private detective’s report.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The one thing I couldn’t figure out how to do was get my ashes hauled. I couldn’t take the chance that Peg had someone watching me to see if I did go looking. I decided what I would have to do was leave town on the weekends to go on ‘fishing trips.’ She knew that I loved to fish and that I went quite often and she knew from the catches I brought home that I did actually go fishing so I doubted that she would pay a private detective to follow me. No need for her to get too carried away, right? After all, wasn’t I stupid? Hadn’t she been pulling the wool over my eyes for over a year?
It was a Friday and I was just getting ready to leave work when I got a phone call from Tanya asking me to stop by their house on the way home. I tried to beg off, but she told me that it was important so even though I really didn’t want to go there I said I would. When I got there she let me in and led me into the living room where I found Tom sitting in an easy chair. He got up and offered me his hand and I shook it and then he told me to sit down and get comfortable while he got me a beer.
“Tanya needs to talk with you Rob and you need to know that I’m 100% on board with what she is going to say.”
He left the room and headed for the kitchen while I gave Tanya a questioning look and she said:
“In a minute Rob; you are going to need some beer in you for this.”
Tom came back and handed me a Bud Light and said, “I’ve got some errands to run and I probably won’t be back before midnight. Catch you later” and he headed for the front door and I heard it open and then close behind him. The door closing was Tanya’s signal to start talking.
“Rob, you hurt us when you stormed out of her the night you were here for dinner.”
I started to say something, but she held up her hand and said, “Let me finish. You were justified, but it still hurt. In our defense all I can say is that we like you a lot and we didn’t want to be the ones to hurt you. It gets a little complicated in that we are friends with Peg also and we were hoping she would get her head on straight and go home to you where she belongs. We know you love her, or at least you did love her, but we didn’t know if it was enough for you to forgive her so we kept quiet. If you got back together and you didn’t know you could have gotten on with your lives without having to worry about forgiving and forgetting. That’s it; that’s our apology, but that is only part of why Tom and I wanted you to stop by.
“We know you Rob and we know what kind of a guy you are. You would no more cheat on your wife than you would rob a bank. How long has it been since you last had sex?”
The question caught me totally off guard. For the first time I noticed how Tanya was dressed. Low cut blouse that showed off her ample cleavage, short skirt and high heels that show-cased her marvelous legs and friend or no friend I couldn’t help but get a hard on. Then I remembered Tom’s “I’m a 100% on board” comment and I had an idea where things were going. In a subdued voice I told her that it had been a year and a half.
She leaned toward me and I got a look down inside her blouse as she huskily said:
“I’d like to change that Rob.”
“Tom’s my friend Tanya; I can’t do that to him.”
I started to get up, but she grabbed my arm and pulled me back down. “Tom’s okay with this Rob, that’s why he left, to give us some time alone. This isn’t a pity fuck or a mercy fuck Rob. Tom and I have talked this over for months now. You have something we want so hopefully I can help you and you can help us.”
“I don’t understand what you are saying.”
“To be blunt about it Rob, Tom is sterile and we want a child. We want you to give me one.”
I was stunned! I sat there and stared at her speechless. When I finally did find my voice I said:
“You just said that you knew I wouldn’t cheat on Peg.”
“Yes” she said as she laid a hand on the lump in my trousers, “but that was before you knew what Peg was doing. Now that you know you are released from your vows to her.”
“Why me?”
“We want it to be someone we know and not some anonymous sperm donor. We are also going to want you to be part of the child’s life. You will be the godfather and will always be around as Uncle Rob.”
“This doesn’t make any sense Tanya.”
“Of course it does. What if something happens to Tom and me? Who better to take care of the child than Uncle Rob? On the bad side, God forbid, what if the child needed a liver transplant or something like that. Could we find the anonymous sperm donor? And even if we did would he help? If we got on a waiting list how long would we have to wait to find a donor who would be a match? No Rob, we’ve thought it through; we want you to be a part of our family. On the other side of the coin, are you going to tell me that you don’t find me sexy?”
She squeezed the hard lump in my trousers and said, “This says you do” and then she dropped to her knees in front of me and pulled my zipper down. “There are benefits to being the father of my child Rob. We will have to make love many, many times to make sure that I get pregnant. I won’t limit you to just the days I’m most fertile. In fact, I won’t even tell you when they are. It could take weeks Rob, weeks and weeks, and you have been without for how long? We will help each other Rob” she said as her lips closed around my cock.
It had been a long time for me and I knew that I wasn’t going to last long. I told Tanya and tried to pull out of her mouth, but she grabbed my hips, held tight and sucked harder. “I’m going to cum” I groaned and she locked her lips tight around me and that little bit of additional pressure caused me to explode into her mouth and she kept her mouth tight on me and swallowed everything that came out of my cock. When it started to soften she licked it clean and said:
“Now we can go into the bedroom and do some serious baby making.”
All my reservations about what was happening had disappeared about the time my cum shot out of the end of my cock so I got up and followed her into her bedroom. We watched each other undress and then Tanya got on the bed and spread her legs wide.
“From what I’ve read, the hotter the sex the more receptive the womb is to the invasion of sperm. No loving and tender shit Rob; treat me like a slut, a fuck toy Rob, your fuck toy. Use me, make my blood rush, make me scream and beg and fuck my brains out.”
She reached down and pulled the lips of her pussy apart, looked up at me and moaned:
“Put it in Rob; slam your cock into me and breed me.”
I climbed on the bed, picked her legs up and put them on my shoulders and then pushed my hard cock into her hot pussy.
The second time lasted a lot longer than the blow job and as soon as I came Tanya grabbed a pillow and stuffed it under her butt to elevate herself so my sperm could flow down into her. Looking at her lying there with her pussy pushed up like that made my soft cock start to harden and as I slipped into her for the second time I was hoping that it wouldn’t take so I could come back and do it again. The second time she clawed at me, bit my shoulder and begged me to fuck her hard and I was sweating bullets when I finally came. Once more she stuffed the pillow under her ass when I pulled out of her and then she said:
“In my mouth Rob, put it in my mouth so I can get you up again.”
I did Tanya one more time before I left to go home and just before she let me out the front door she kissed me and thanked me for what I’d just done.
“I’d like to do it every day until I get pregnant, but Tom is used to making love three or four times a week and even though he is okay with this I won’t give him sloppy seconds. Call me tomorrow, okay?”
I thought about what had just happened all the way home and as I pulled into the driveway it occurred to me that if Peg was having me watched she would find out about my visits to Tom and Tanya’s and notice that Tom left, but that I stayed for several hours after. The next morning I called Tanya and explained my thoughts to her, but she told me not to worry, that no one would see Tom leave because he didn’t; he went down to his basement workshop and stayed there until I left.”
That information gave me pause. It was one thing to make love to Tanya when Tom was gone, but could I do it if I knew he was in the house? Tanya must have known what I was thinking because she said:
“Don’t worry Rob; it will be okay. I promise.”
That afternoon I got a call from Tom asking me to have a drink with him after work. Talk about awkward. Try sitting down with a guy you have known for twenty years, who is a good friend and whose wife you have just screwed with his knowledge. He must have known what I was thinking so he cut right to it.
“I know this is awkward for you Rob; hell buddy, it is awkward for me, but I have to talk with you about the situation we are in. First off, and I told you this when I left you and Tanya alone, I am 100% okay with it. I mean that Rob, but that said I have to tell you that Tanya didn’t tell you the full truth. I know she told you about wanting a child and about me being sterile, but I also know that she didn’t tell you the rest of it. To be blunt about it buddy - I can’t get it up! I haven’t been able to make love to Tanya in over a year.”
My God! That is why she was so hot last night; she was playing catch up. And her telling me that she didn’t want to give Tom sloppy seconds was her way of covering for his inability. She didn’t want me to know he was impotent because she didn’t want me to think less of him as a man. Not that I would have, but she didn’t know that. What a difference between her and Peg. Tanya put Tom first, even in difficult circumstances while Peg thought only of herself.
“I don’t know if it came through to you last night,” Tom went on, “but Tanya is an extremely sexual person. My not being able to perform was driving her up the wall. She has tried hard to hold it together Rob, but sooner or later she was going to cheat on me. I know that seems harsh, but that is what would happen. I know she loves me and that she would do her best to hide her cheating from me, but I would know. How could I not? If she got laid she wouldn’t be climbing walls anymore and I would notice.
“I love her Rob; the woman is my life. If I didn’t have her I would just die and that’s the problem. If she snuck off and cheated behind my back I couldn’t live with her. I would know why she did it and I would understand why she did it, but I couldn’t live with the dishonesty of it. The only solution, at least as far as I could see, was to make it happen out in the open, but Tanya isn’t the kind of woman who would agree to taking a lover and going into the bedroom while I sat in the living room and watched TV while she fucked. She could probably have done it with a stranger in a motel room with me not knowing, but she couldn’t just do a guy with me knowing and then a different guy the following week and another the week after that. What we needed was someone steady, someone we both liked and were comfortable with.
“We sat down and made a list of possible candidates, but couldn’t agree on anyone. We kept coming back to you, but we were afraid that if we started with you and then Peg came back home it would stop and we would have to start back over. And Peg would eventually come back to you. Everyone who knows Adam White knows that he is a dip-shit asshole and Peg would soon find out and go home to you secure in the knowledge that you had no idea of what she had been doing. I have no idea why she thinks you are that dumb. I can only guess that she thinks you love her so much that the thought would never occur to you that she might be up to something.”
I had to chuckle at that. “She pretty much read me right because that is just the way it went and it was only because the separation was dragging on and on that I finally tumbled to the fact that something wasn’t kosher.”
“Well, you do know now and I know, even if Peg doesn’t, that now that you do know she is history. I know you won’t take her back now under any conditions. That freed Tanya and me up so that we could approach you. Tanya and I want a child Rob, and Tanya needs a steady sex life, and until the doctors can find and fix my problem someone else is going to have to provide that sex life for her. I know it sounds silly to say this, but you making love to my wife is going to save my marriage. You just have to get comfortable with the idea that I know and that I’m all right with it.”
I didn’t know what to say. The whole thing was so off the wall that even though it had already happened once I was still having trouble believing it. Tom stared down into his drink and then looked up at me and said:
“It kills me not to be able to take care of my wife Rob, but it would kill me if I lost her. I need you to do this for me bud, I really do. Can I count on you?”
I stared at him for a few seconds and then nodded my head yes.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Sunday I had Tom, Tanya and three other couples over for a barbecue and when the other couples had gone Tom went into the den and played on my computer while Tanya and I went up to my bedroom. By the time I was undressed Tanya was lying on the bed, legs spread wide, and imploring me to hurry. I got on the bed and lowered my head toward her pussy and she cried:
“No baby, no need for that, no need for that because I’m already hot and I need it.”
“My house Tanya, and in my house and on my bed we do it my way.”
I lowered my mouth to her cunt and then using my tongue I attacked her engorged clit. Then I slid a finger inside her and started working it. She moaned and I added a second finger. I started moving my fingers faster all the while staying on her clit with my mouth. She cried out several times and then her hands grabbed the back of my head and gripped it hard as she had a long explosive orgasm. I kept my mouth on her pussy until her tremors subsided and then I pulled back from her.
“Sweet Jesus baby, that was amazing, but I want your cock now. Hurry baby, hurry.”
I moved up, lifted her legs onto my shoulders and slid my cock into her with one steady push. “Oh God” she moaned as my pubic bone hit hers and then I fucked her! I did not make love, I fucked! She groaned with pleasure as I drove my hard cock into her, pulled back, and then drove in hard again. Her legs came up and locked on me and her hands clutched my ass. Her nails dug into me as she tried to pull me even deeper into her. For several minutes I pounded into her as hard and as fast as I could and then I felt her body tremble as she had another orgasm. Her pussy sucked at my cock, squeezed it like she had a third hand inside her cunt and I erupted. I pumped shot after shot of sperm deep into her and then I held myself still until my cock went limp and then I pulled out.
I kept her legs up on my shoulders so gravity would help my little guys in their race to her core in search of her egg. After maybe thirty seconds I told her to put a pillow under her butt and then I let her legs down. Tanya looked up at me and said:
“Peg walked away from this? The woman must be crazy or stupid.”
With that stroke to my ego I just had to justify it so I swung over her in a sixty-nine and as she said, “No Rob, I need it to do its job” I laughed and said, “If any is still there around the opening it isn’t going anywhere anyway” and I buried my face in her pussy. Seconds later her mouth closed around my cock and five minutes after that I was driving deep into her for the second time.
I saw that Tom knew what he was talking about when he said that Tanya was a very sexual person. She got a third time out of me before I walked her and Tom to their car. Tom shook my hand and Tanya kissed me on the cheek and we all agreed that the day had been a success and that we should do it again sometime soon. Anyone watching would assume that we were talking about the barbecue.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Monday afternoon I met with John Abbott from the Corliss agency and as he handed me the report he said, “I’m sorry. Every time I do one of these things I hope it is all a simple misunderstanding and that nothing is going on, but there is no doubt here. Your fee also covers our court appearance on your behalf if what you decide to do goes to trial.”
I shook his hand and left his office and on the drive home I wasn’t near as enraged as I thought I would be. It was probably because I had already accepted that it was true and that by the time I got the report I had settled everything in my mind. What was I going to do about the situation? Nothing that I had not already done. The only thing left for me to do was time the draw on the house line of credit so Peg wouldn’t know about it until it was too late. I would see an attorney and get the papers drawn up, but I would hold off on having them served until I was ready.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
For the next five weeks I saw Tom and Tanya three or four times a week either at their house or mine. They let the word out that I was going through a rough patch and that they were spending time with me trying to cheer me up. I got my weekly phone call from Peg, but I stopped asking her how she was and when she would be coming home.
Finally I’d had enough. I wrote checks against the line of credit and as soon as they cleared I found an apartment, moved out of the house and had Peg served with the divorce papers. They cited “irreconcilable differences” instead of adultery. I did it that way so that Peg wouldn’t know that I knew about White. She would see it as my way of trying to push her into deciding to come home. She would call me, feed me a line of bullshit about how I was over-reacting and then she would probably suggest that we meet someplace for a drink and to have dinner where she would try and calm me down and “talk some sense” into me. I would agree to meet her, listen to her and then tell her I would think about it. It would buy me several days for the line of credit checks to clear and for me to clean out the checking and savings accounts.
It went just how I thought it would. First the phone call telling me that I was being unreasonable; that there was no need for me to get attorneys involved. I told her that I was tired of the ‘neither fish nor fowl’ situation.
“You don’t want to be with me so it is time for me to accept it and move on with my life.”
I agreed to meet her at Angelo’s. It was the first time I’d seen her since she walked out on me and she looked good. I was going to miss her - strike that, I did miss her - since it was obvious to me that I did still love her, but even if she came back to me I knew that there was no way I could ever live with her again. I didn’t tell her that though; instead I sat there and listened to her as she fed me a line of bull-shit. She was seeing an analyst and she was helping Peg understand blah, blah, blah and Peg was making good progress and all she needed was a little more time.
“I know it is hard on you baby, but it is just as hard on me. Please baby, please; just a little more time.”
I told her I would think on it and let her know. I waited two days and then I called my attorney and told him it was time to go to step two. He quashed the divorce papers and sent Peg a notice that the filing had been cancelled. I got a call from Peg at work thanking me and telling me that I wouldn’t regret it. I smiled knowing that I didn’t regret it, but that she didn’t know why. But she would soon find out.
That night I had dinner at Tom and Tanya’s and after dinner Tanya and I retired to her bedroom and as Tanya spread herself for me she said:
“Can we make love tonight instead of fucking? I’d like to make love to the father of my child.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive. The home test told me Tuesday and the doctor confirmed it this afternoon. You are going to be a daddy.”
We only did it once that night, but it was a long, slow and very satisfying session. When it was over I told her it might be a while before I saw her again.
“I’m going to end the farce with Peg and White this week and I may have to leave town for a while.”
“Don’t do anything too drastic lover; I am going to need the father of my baby to be around.”
“That would be Tom sweetie. You need to start thinking like that.”
“You know what I mean lover. Just because I’m bred doesn’t mean I’m not going to need you any more.”
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Adam White was a member of the Fraternal Order of Eagles and since he had been elected Sergeant at Arms he had never missed a meeting. He left that Wednesday’s meeting in a good mood as after talking to several of the more influential members he believed he had a shot if he ran for higher office in the order. He was in that good mood when he got out of his car in the parking lot of his condo. He locked his car door, turned, and felt a blinding pain before everything turned black.
He was found by a neighbor who called 911 and the paramedics who responded to the call rushed him to the emergency room at the hospital where it was found that both of his arms and both of his legs had been broken and there was damage to his genital area so severe that both of his testicles had to be removed. He was in great pain when he opened his eyes and saw he was in a hospital room and discovered that he couldn’t move. He had casts on his arms and legs and was in traction. He saw Peggy standing next to his bed with a horrified expression on her face before he faded out again.
I wasn’t there when it happened of course, but I received a full description of what occurred when the man walked into the room, walked over to Peg who was standing next to the bed and looking down at White. The man asked her if she was Margaret Olson and when she said yes he handed her some papers and told her she had been served. She looked confused as she opened the envelope and saw that she was being sued for divorce only this time the grounds were infidelity. She looked at the word “infidelity” and then at the wreck lying on the bed in front of her and her face lost all of its color and took on a horrified expression as she understood what it meant. She moaned, “Oh my God” and then she sat down on a chair and started crying.
I stuck around long enough for the police to ask me where I was that night. It turns out that I was at a poker game that started an hour before the Eagles meeting and lasted until an hour after White was admitted to the hospital. Peg paid for my alibi although she didn’t know it. The guys were on my side and would have done it for free, but the object of the exercise was to stick it to Peg so I used her credit to show my appreciation. Home Shopping Network took her Visa card number for the digital cameras that I gave Bill and Steve. E-bay charged her MasterCard for the laptop I gave Mike and the 19” flat screen monitor that I gave Phil. She even paid for the aluminum ball bat.
I had six weeks of vacation and three weeks of comp time coming to me and I took a two month leave of absence in conjunction with that time and when the police were satisfied that I had nothing to do with White’s misfortune, that they could prove anyway, I made arrangements to leave town and take a fishing trip down in Mexico.
Before I left I told my attorney not to push the divorce and just let it lay there until Peg started fighting it and then drop it. We would stay married, but I would have nothing to do with her.
I called Tom and Tanya once a week to see how things were going and they told me that Peg had moved back into the house and as far as anyone could tell “true love” must not have been in the cards for Peg and White because she never went back to visit him after the day she was served while standing next to his hospital bed.
The maxed out credit card bills must have started hitting the mailbox and she must have found out that the savings and checking accounts were dry, the line of credit was pegged out and that the CDs in the bank deposit box were fake because the next word I got was that Peg was frantically trying to find me and no one could tell her where I was. My boss, who knew the full story, told her I was gone when she called him trying to find me. He told her that I just came in one day, said I was leaving and asked for my check. Basically what he did was lead her to believe that I had quit without notice. He didn’t tell her that but he did lead her to believe it.
A call to my attorney demanding that he set up a meeting with me got her the information that I had dropped the divorce action, paid him off and that he no longer represented me. She had no choice. Four months after I had left on my fishing trip she filed bankruptcy. She ended up losing the house and she had to give up her Lexus and start driving a used Geo. Once I heard that I came back from Mexico, got an apartment on the other side of town from where Peg lived and did my best to stay away from places where she might see me.
Tanya was five months pregnant and looking sexier than any woman had a right to look and we picked up where we left off. This time though we didn’t have to worry about whether or not someone was keeping tabs on me and two or three times a week she spent the night at my place or I spent the night at hers.
I was back two months before Peg found out and one day when I got off work I found her waiting in the parking lot for me. She got out of her car and headed for me, but I ignored her, got in my car and pulled out of the lot. In the rear view I saw her hurry to her car and I slowed down so she would be able to keep me in sight. I’d have it out with her, but not in the parking lot at work. I kept my speed where she would have no trouble following me and about ten minutes later I pulled into the lot at Bud’s Bar and Grill.
I was inside by the time she got parked and I was sitting at the bar ordering a Bud Light when she came in, looked around, saw me and headed toward me. She was already mouthing off as she approached:
“Don’t think you can run from me you bastard.”
I know Peg and so I knew what she would do and I spun around on the stool and caught her wrist as she swung at my head. I squeezed as hard as I could and she gasped in pain as I said:
“I have every reason in the world to want to hurt you Peg, so best you don’t push me too far. You keep your hands to yourself unless you want to feel some real pain.”
I let go of her wrist and said, “I wasn’t running from you. I drove nice and slow so you could follow me here. I wasn’t going to air your dirty laundry in the parking lot where I work. It doesn’t matter here because everyone here already knows you are a whore.”
“I want to talk to you.”
“I don’t want to talk to you. I’ve already listened to enough of your lies.”
“I want my money back.”
“What money would that be Peg?”
“You owe me the money you took out against the house and half of everything else we had was mine and I want it.”
“Well you ain’t going to get it Peg. My position on the matter is that it was restitution for what you did to me. What is it the lawyers say when they sue? Compensation for pain and suffering and loss of conjugal rights? I figure what I got just about covers the pain and suffering I went through for going without sex for a year and a half while you were giving it away to someone else and for the humiliation I suffered as everyone that I knew looked on me as stupid cuckold.”
“Damn you Rob, I lost my parents home because of you.”
“Big deal Peg; it couldn’t have meant all that much to you since as I recall you moved out to shack up with another man.”
“I mean it Rob; I want that money.”
“Here is a newsflash for you Peggy; you will never get a dime of it from me. You tried to fuck over me and you got caught and I made you pay. Live with it.”
“I guess we will just have to see what the courts say.”
“Doesn’t matter what they say Peg. Here is the way it will work. You will have to get a lawyer and sue me for divorce to get me into court so the court can issue an order as to the division of assets. As soon as you sue I will counter sue. A good lawyer can stall things for six to eight months and during that time you will be paying your lawyer. Can you afford to pay him to get nothing? I have all the evidence I need to fight you in court and if I win you will take it in the ass. Worst case scenario for me is that I’m ordered to split the assets. I say “okay judge” and leave the court.
“You and your lawyer wait and wait and wait for the money, but the money never comes. You call me, but I don’t take your calls so your lawyer, who you are still paying, goes back to court and gets a court order telling me to pay by such and such time. You and the lawyer wait and wait and when the deadline arrives you still haven’t gotten a dime from me.
“Your lawyer, still billing you for his time, goes back to court and gets a judgment against me. I have no savings or checking accounts that can be attached. My car is a lease so nothing for you there. I live in a furnished apartment so there isn’t anything there you can get. All you can do with your judgment is garnish my wages and the first time that I get a paycheck that has been garnished I will quit my job. So what do we have here Peg? A good years worth of lawyers fees out of your pocket and all for maybe two hundred dollars out of one paycheck.
“All that’s left for you to try is to go back to the judge and get him to threaten me with going to jail for contempt of court if I don’t comply with his orders. All that will get you Peg is a post card from me from some small fishing village in Mexico where I will take up residence until my money runs out. And I’ve got a lot Peg, thanks to you. Face it Peggy. You fucked over me, got caught and I got even. Consider yourself fortunate. Think about what happened to your boyfriend and consider yourself very fortunate. He lost his balls and now he can never fuck with another man’s wife. You, on the other hand, can still spread for anyone you want.”
“I knew it! I knew you had something to do with what happened to Adam.”
“What you think you know and what you can prove are two very different things Peg. By the way, how are things going with your love affair? From what I hear you haven’t seen the poor man since his first day in the hospital.”
“What would be the point? You took away the only thing he had going for him.”
“Oh that’s cold Peg, even for you.”
“It’s the truth. He was extremely well endowed and he was a marvelous lover, but I would have tired of him eventually and come home.”
“Oh gee Peg; if only I had known. All of the unpleasantness could have been avoided if I had but known that someday you would have come home to me. Oh damn! I guess by my actions I messed that up didn’t I? I’ll have to carry that regret to my grave. Oh what a joy life could have been had we only communicated better.”
“You can be such an asshole.”
“Yes Peg and you are a worthless, cheating whore.”
I finished my beer, got up and said, “Have a rotten life Peg” and I left the bar.
Three days later I was served with divorce papers citing irreconcilable differences. I didn’t contest it and she was awarded half of the marital assets and I was ordered to pay her the money borrowed against the line of credit. I wished her luck in getting anything and tossed the final decree in the trash. She must have believed me when I told her how things would go because I never heard from her again.
One interesting thing came out of the mess. Everyone was agreed that White was a dip-shit asshole, but even dip-shit assholes can have a friend or two and one of White’s was Peggy’s boss. He wasn’t happy with the way she treated White after his misfortune and he fired her. Well, fired isn’t the way it was put. A downturn in the economy necessitated a downsizing and Peggy was let go, but everyone knew that she was fired. She couldn’t find work in our area so she relocated to California where she had some relatives and no one - not even her sister - has heard from her since.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
There is one more chapter to the story. It was a sad ending, but at the same time a glorious beginning.
Tanya had a beautiful baby girl and Tom doted on her and spoiled her rotten. Uncle Rob was a constant visitor and spent many, many hours crawling around on the floor with little Martha.
Tom never told Tanya or me the full story. He knew why he had erectile dysfunction, but he hid it from Tanya. He had cancer and it didn’t get caught in time and the cancer spread. Following his funeral Tanya handed me an envelope addressed to me. It was addressed to me and written across the front of the envelope were the words, “For Rob’s eyes only.” I looked at her and she shrugged and said,
“I have no idea. It is addressed to you so I haven’t seen what’s inside.”
I opened it and read:
“Hey bud; if you are reading this I’m gone. There was a reason I picked you (yes, it was me, not Tanya) to father our child. I knew I wouldn’t be there for them and I wanted someone I knew I could trust to be around to watch over them. I knew I could count on you so you got elected. Don’t let me down bud; take good care of our girls.
T
I handed the letter to Tanya and she read it and started crying. I took her in my arms to comfort her and when she was all cried out she asked me what I was going to do.
“I’m going to do just what he knew I would do; I’m going to take care of my girls.”
Six months later Tanya and I were married.