Algebra

I opened it and it was a new briefcase. Well my old one was about 18 years old.

I smiled and thanked her. "I sure can."

Then I handed her my present to her. She opened the box. It was the photo album/scrap book. She looked at it and opened the front cover. Inside it I had written, "Our Time Together". The first picture I had put in the book was of the algebra book that had brought us together. (We still had it on the bookshelf.) Then there were pictures of us dating, our diplomas, engagement ring receipt, wedding, reception, honeymoon, our first apartment, our first trip out to California, (I had put a caption, "Kaylee Jane was conceived somewhere along the way.") pregnant pictures, first baby pictures, birthday cards and party pictures, first home, vacations, Disneyworld, Second house, elementary graduation, middle school graduation, KJ in soccer, basketball, volleyball.

She was taking her time reliving the memories. I said to KJ, "Let's clean up this mess, KJ."

We picked up all the wrappings and packaging, took her gifts to her room and mine to the car and came back inside at just the right time. I looked at my watch, 3:54. She turned the last page, it was blank except with a caption, "To be added in five minutes."

Just then the doorbell rang. "Can you get the door Melanie?" I said and as she turned to answer it I turned and walked out of the house to my car. KJ followed behind.

The florist presented her with the box of flowers. She opened the box and saw the 17 red roses and the one black rose. Then she picked up the card and read it. She turned the lid over and looked at the tissue paper. She pulled on it and it ripped. Then she saw the picture. It didn't dawn on her what it was a picture of so she studied it for a minute.

Even from the driveway I could see her face go white. She looked up and saw a woman approaching. The woman said, "Are you Melanie Van Hall?"

"Yes, Yes I am." She said.

"You have been served." She handed her the manila envelope and also a card. She opened the card.

"To my wife of 18 ½ years"

h = honor

e = emotions

a = adoration

r = respect

t = trust

l = lies

i = infidelity

h.e.a.r.t / (l + i) = D

She fainted. The process server called 911 and we waved and drove away.

{The next part of the story is information I gleaned from friends, neighbors, her parents, lawyers and some surmising on my part.}

The ambulance showed up and was able to revive Melanie with smelling salts. They checked all her vitals and asked if she wanted to go to the hospital. She told them, "no." As they were leaving her parents drove up. They rushed to the house wanting to see what had happened. They found Melanie on the couch with the manila envelope lying beside her on the floor, the contents half out.

"What happened Melanie, are you alright?" her mom asked as her dad picked up the envelope.

"Kurt filed for divorce, Marge" He said.

"Melanie, what happened?" They looked around and saw the photo album and the box of flowers. Her mom picked up the photo album and started paging through it. "Why this is wonderful honey." She said to her daughter.

Her dad had picked up the box of flowers, noticed the black rose and then the card. He looked around and found the lid pushed under the coffee table. His wife looked over at him as he gasped. She looked at the lid. Her eyes went wide. She turned to Melanie and said, "You didn't!" Melanie burst out crying.

They gathered everything up and brought it to the kitchen table. They laid everything out. The lid turned over so no one could see the picture.

Her dad took the papers out of the manila envelope as her mother said. "You two can get passed this, but it is going to take a great deal of effort on your part Melanie."

Then her dad said, "I don't think they can get passed it dear." She turned to look at him. He opened up a paper that looked like a hospital bill. It looked old. Then he looked at his daughter. "You got your tubes tied after the Caesarean?"

Melanie's eye went wide, she screamed and passed out again. Her mother got a cool damp towel and put it on her head. When she came to she looked empty.

Her dad said, "Melanie, you're my daughter and I will always love you, but you are not my favorite person right now. I can't believe you did that to your marriage, either cheating or getting the tubes tied. He may have been able to forgive the affair, women do strange things when they are approaching 40." He looked at his wife. She looked away. "But he wouldn't be able to forgive you getting your tubes tied without his knowledge. You know how he wanted at least one more child. Remember, Marge, they were trying for years. She took that from him. She has been carrying this lie since Kaylee was born."

They reviewed the divorce paperwork. Her dad questioned her, "Could this be right, your household net worth is about $65,000?"

Melanie said, "No way dad, we've got investments, cash in the bank, 401K and the house. We should have a net worth over $600,000."

"Well that is not what this says. He must be hiding moneys. We'll need to get a lawyer and find out where the money is." That is what they did. I was called to court the end of January. I had to come back from a road trip out west.

I stood before the judge with my lawyer. The lawyer had told me, "This is one of the liberal judges, she almost always sides with the woman in divorce cases." She asked me point blank, "In reviewing the account statements from the first of November your net worth in home equity, investments, savings, and 401K were over $600,000. In the divorce proposal you submitted you state that the net worth is about $65,000. How do you account for the difference."

"Your honor, $250,000 of that went to prepay my daughter's tuition to Cornell University starting this fall. That brings the total down to $350,000. $300,000 of that were donations to two of my wife's and 1 of my favorite charities, $100,000 a piece. That leaves around $65,000 net worth. Here are all the receipts and canceled checks your honor." My lawyer walked up and gave them to her. I continued, "Of course the $65,000 is an estimate depending upon what we get out of our house. The other assets are cars and personal items which are all paid off. She keeps her car and I keep mine."

"You mean to tell me that you sent $300,000 to charity? What charities and did you discuss it with her beforehand?" The judge asked.

"Yes I discussed it with her on the 11^th of December. The same day I wrote the checks. We were sitting in the kitchen, I was paying bills and said to my wife. "How much do you want to send to our favorite charities this year honey, One Thousand? She said no, so I said what 50 or 75? Then she came back with 'No let's do 100.' So that is what I did, I wrote three checks one to Planned Parenthood for $100,000, one to ASPCA for $100,000, and one to Wounded Warrior Project for $100,000. My wife is very generous with our money."

"I meant 100 dollars not 100 thousand." My wife said loudly.

The judge looked at me. Planned Parenthood and the ASPCA were two of her favorite charities. She couldn't tell them to give it back. The Wounded Warrior Project was not one of her favorites but it was near and dear to a lot of voters, she could do nothing in regards to that one either.

Then Melanie said loudly, "He gave me a STD!"

Before the judge could say anything I said in a controlled angry tone, "Your honor, I have NEVER had a STD nor have I EVER had sex with anyone that could have given me a STD. Perhaps you should ask my wife if she can say the same thing!!"

So ... she had spoken to Jack since I had sent the Merry Christmas email saying, "Merry Christmas, I hope you liked your present." I included a picture of himself with the "housewife" hooker. Then I signed it KVH.

"Sir, infidelity is not part of this court proceeding and is not grounds for divorce in this state. We are here to determine where the money has gone. Typically a divorce judgement includes an agreement that the child's schooling be paid for. You have done that in advance. I can't make the charities give back the money so I am going to split the $65,000 between the two of you and add on spousal support of $40,000 per year for 3 years to allow for your wife to find sufficient employment."

My lawyer stood up. "Your honor, my client is unemployed. He lost his job before Christmas and has been unable to find gainful employment in this state. He has expanded his search in other states, still with no success. So we request that support be waived until he can find employment in this state or any other.

"So be it, spousal support to commence upon employment in this state or any other ending in 3 years." I smiled inwardly thinking "She didn't say anything about another country."

"Your honor," My lawyer said.

"Yes?" She asked.

"Could we get a judgement on the divorce at this time?"

"Do the two parties agree on the divorce?"

"My client does." My lawyer said.

I looked over at Melanie. She looked at me, hatred and sadness in her eyes.

"My client does also." Melanie's lawyer said. She knew we would never reconcile, the tubal ligation was too much to put behind us.

"So be it, house to be sold and profits to be split."

My lawyer said it was the fastest divorce he'd ever witnessed.

Epilogue

So after a month of hiking around Europe I started my job in London, Ontario. I told them I would be there for at least 3 years but may want to transfer back to Detroit after that. I also told them that I would work hard as hell during those three years to make it the best run plant in the company.

I left my marriage virtually broke, but so was she. The difference however was that I can live very cheaply and in 15 years I would be able to (with wise investments) increase my net worth to $1,000,000.

Epilogue 15 years later

Well life doesn't always go as planned. I did move back to Detroit after 3 years. I did leave the London plant as the best run plant in the company. I moved back as the plant manager. Brad retired and had put in a good word for me.

Melanie moved back to California. She is living with her parents helping them out in their old age. She dated a few men but nothing came of it. I wonder if it was because of her or them. Maybe when she told them the truth (if she did) about how her marriage failed they got cold feet. I'd like to think so.

KJ, married with two kids, is an engineer and is actually working at the New Jersey plant, doing quite well. I put a good word in for her to do her internship there and they liked her so much they offered her a job when she graduated.

Mary took Jack to the cleaners. I think he must have had enough money to make it to Lansing because that is where he ended up as a used car salesman.

Jasmine went through a few years of therapy and met a nice man. They are married with two kids.

So you may be asking yourself how has life not gone as planned for me?

Well I moved back to the Detroit area as I said. I wanted to do more for our veterans so I would visit the VA facility and try to be an advocate for them. As I was doing this I met Tom Jackson, a vet that had contracted cancer, probably from the chemicals used in Afghanistan. I got to know him quite well for the 8 months that he struggled to overcome it. He ultimately lost the battle. Before he died he talked to me.

"Kurt, I want to ask you a huge favor. One that I believe you will ultimately enjoy."

"What is it Tom?"

"I want you to take care of my family." He said. He had a wife and three boys.

"Sure Tom, I'll watch out for them."

"No Kurt, I know you as an honorable man and I've seen the way my wife looks at you. I guess what I am saying is that you have my blessing if you could see it in your heart to have another family."

His wife was 10 years younger than me. They had 3 boys ages 3, 6, 8. It would definitely be a new family.

"I'll look after them no matter what." I said, "And if Sheryl and I find an attraction after we date for a while, I would be honored. Understand that they will never forget you. I won't let them."

So at 45 I married Sheryl Jackson (maiden name Vander Meer). She was of Dutch descent from the other side of the state. There is a large Dutch community over there. There is even a town named Holland. That makes sense -- large body of water, lowlands, dunes, marshes, rivers. Makes more sense than Iowa.

So instead of me living cheaply and working my net worth to a million dollars I got a family with three boys, live in Bloomfield Hills, and am doing alright. I love my new life.

Oh, one more thing. I saw Melanie at KJ's College graduation. She looked hollow, even after 4 years. She made a point of coming over to see me and then gave me an envelope and said, "I'm really sorry."

I put the envelope in my coat to open at another time and I enjoyed the graduation.

On the plane back to Detroit I opened the envelope. It was a handwritten letter from Melanie.

Kurt,

First of all let me say I am sorry. When you divorced me I was so angry at you for disposing of all our assets. Eighteen years of marriage and I walked away with $33,000. My parents tried to console me. Then they paid for a therapist and made me go. It's taken 3 years to get to the point where I can say I'm sorry to you. I'm sorry for so many things. My therapist thinks, and I have to agree, that the reason I cheated was because I was nearing 40 and couldn't believe what I had done to us. I needed to feel wanted, needed, and loved and I couldn't ask you for it. I had withheld sex from you ever since Kaylee was born, made you beg for it. I know now it was because I foolishly had my tubes tied. I hid that from you, lied to you. Every time you wanted sex I felt the guilt and shame and couldn't tell you what I'd done.

If you remember I had just read the book about Zero Population Growth and really believed it. As you now know I had already made the plans with my doctor to have a Caesarean and while she was in there she did the procedure. I knew you wanted more kids, at least one more, but I was selfish. That caused the rift between us. Our relationship was never the same. You still loved me though and poured more love on our daughter. You were, and are, a great father and husband. I know there is no reconciliation but I want you to know that my affair was in no way due to anything you did or didn't do. It was all me.

They say the ultimate revenge is a life well lived. I know you will have that ultimate revenge. You deserve it.

Regretfully Yours,

Melanie

I must admit I cried, smiled and cried.