Elizabeth, Happy at Last Ch. 01

Everything changed just before Labor Day weekend when Mother announced that she would be taking an extended trip that weekend. She was scheduled to leave on Friday and would not be returning home until the following Tuesday, the day after the holiday.

To quote what Chaucer wrote in modern vernacular: 'All things, both good and bad, must come to an end.' Everything came crashing down around us over that Labor Day weekend.

It started on Thursday the 1^st of September, when my 'Monthly Visitor' did not make her appearance. At first, I attributed it to stress caused by the fact that Daddy and I were committing the sin of incest while attending Mass and taking communion every Sunday. When I hadn't started to menstruate by Labor Day, I started to panic.

When Mother didn't return on schedule during the day Tuesday, we weren't concerned. However, that evening our dinner was interrupted by a knock at our door. When Daddy opened it, I saw Sherriff Hendricks standing on our stoop. Daddy invited his old friend into the house, and after we were all sitting in the living room, Daddy's old friend said, "Charlie, I've got some bad news for you. There has been in an automobile accident, and Olivia, Mitchell Koch, and his driver all died. They were driving back from the airport when a semi-tractor trailer driver fell asleep on US 150, crossed the centerline and hit the limo they were riding in head-on, and killing all of them.

I started to cry, but Daddy remained calm and said, "Jeffery, thank you for telling us personally. What do you need me to do?"

The Sherriff said, "You don't need to do anything tonight. The scene was very gruesome, so I don't think you want to remember her as she looks now. If you could come down to the jail in the morning, we will have the details all worked out by then and be able to release her body to Wayne Stone (the town mortician).

I sat frozen in place as Daddy and the Sherriff stood and shook hands, before walking to the door together. After the Sherriff left, Daddy came to me and we hugged as I started to cry. When I finally stopped Daddy said, "Well I guess it was God's will."

When I could finally speak, I said, "As Job says, 'the Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away'"

Daddy looked at me strangely and asked, "Sweetheart, I understand about the part where the Lord has taken your mother from us, but what has he given us?"

I dried my tears on my shirt sleeve and said, "I'm pregnant, Daddy."

I watched Daddy's expression change from shock, to surprise, and finally to love. He said, "Sweetheart, I have been worrying about what would become of us if your mother found out what we have been doing, but fate has taken care of that for us."

We held each other for a long time and finally I said, "Daddy, help me clean up dinner so you can take me to bed and fuck me unconscious, please. I don't know why but I'm really horny."

We did exactly that, and the next morning after we awoke, we fucked again, took a bath together, had breakfast, and dressed. Daddy then drove us to the county jail to take care of the 'arrangements'. Once we got there, Madelyn Koch was there with her son David Koch, the attorney. When the Sherriff saw us, he said, "Charlie, I need to talk to you and Mrs. Koch alone. Ms. Madison will you please wait in the lobby here."

As the Sherriff took Daddy, Mother's boss's wife and her lawyer son into the to his office, I had to stay in the waiting room.

Almost an hour later, my father, Mrs. Koch, and her son walked out of the office, and they stopped in front of the desk where they all shook hands. They didn't seem to be sad, in fact they almost looked happy, which confused me because we had all just lost loved ones. When Daddy walked up to me, we hugged, and he said, "Everything will be alright Sweetheart."

As we were walking out of the jail, I asked, "Daddy, what happened, why are you so happy?"

He whispered in my ear, "I can't tell you now, Sweetheart, wait till we get home. When we got in the house, Daddy closed the door behind us, and we sat on the couch. Then he told me what had transpired 'behind closed doors'.

As it turned out, Mrs. Koch was very much aware of her husband's 'indiscretions', but her attempts to keep him on a short leash were not very successful. You see, the Koch Companies were actually owned by Mrs. Koch, and she allowed her husband to 'play' so long as he did not bring any disgrace to the family name. It was her family, the MacArthur's, who bankrolled the Koch companies, Koch Realty and Koch Property Services Ltd., through a company named MacArthur Holdings LLC. This was important because if the details of the accident that killed her husband, my mother, and the chauffeur, were made public, it would have caused irreparable damage to the company's reputation, and more important, its 'bottom line'.

When I asked my father, what could be so bad that it had to be 'covered up', he said, "It's pretty gross, are you sure you want to know Baby?"

When I said, "Daddy, you know gross things don't bother me. I still loved Mother, but we haven't been close in years. Please tell me the gory details."

He looked at me sternly and said, "The initial coroner's report states that the cause of Mr. Koch's death was exsanguination. He bled to death because his penis was severed during the crash while he had an erection. They were confused at first because he was strapped unto the safety restraints, and he had no other life-threatening injuries, but they didn't find his penis until they did the autopsy on your mother. She died from a cerebral hemorrhage caused by a crushed scull. When they were examining your mother, they found the severed penis in her mouth. Her head injury caused your mother to bite her boss's cock off and he bled to death."

I started to laugh uncontrollably, and when I calmed down I said, "I wonder if he was cumming and going at the same time?"

Daddy said, "Actually, there was no semen in your mother's mouth or stomach, so it was coitus interruptus by Cadillac," with a straight face.

I couldn't help myself and broke out laughing again. Daddy joined me and we both held each other laughing until we cried.

When we finally calmed down, Daddy told me 'the rest of the story'. He said, "Mrs. Koch and her son do not want the 'sorted' details of this affair made public and are in the process of having papers drawn up to 'protect' all those involved. The Sherriff and I have agreed to the terms, and a large endowment to the County Coroner's office will buy their silence as well."

Daddy took a deep breath and continued, "There was an $2,000,000 accidental life insurance policy on your mother through the Realty company and Mrs. Koch has agreed to double that amount if we agree to sign a non-disclosure agreement, relocate somewhere far away, and never speak of this to anyone. Considering what you just shared with me earlier, I'm guessing that selling this house and moving somewhere far away will not be a problem. They are willing to give us enough to live anywhere, so I have two questions for you."

When I asked him what those questions were, he said, "Should I accept their terms, and where would you like to live?"

I answered, "You know me better than anyone, Daddy. I think we should accept the terms with one addition. We will need a good car, so they should also pay off the lease on Mother's BMW and sign the title over to us. As far as were we will be living, I will leave that up to you. I'll be happy anywhere so long as we can still fuck each other every night. I love you Daddy." I wrapped my arms around him and kissed him passionately.

Daddy smiled and said, "I'm glad you agreed Sweetheart. Even though I grew up in this town, I never really cared for it, and the only reason we bought this house was because it was the only thing we could afford after your mother and I got married. I'm ready to move."

I kissed Daddy and said, "I never really liked this town either, but right now I'm horny. Please fuck me now Daddy." We both undressed, and Daddy fucked me doggy-style on the living room couch. Then we went to the bathroom and took a bath together. We ate dinner in the nude and spent the rest of the night fucking in my parents' marriage bed. As I was lying on top of Daddy with his semi-hard cock still inside me as were basking in the afterglow of our third mutual orgasm, Daddy said, "Sweetheart, would you like to come with me tomorrow when I go to Stone's Mortuary to make the final arrangements for your mother?"

I was a little saddened, and said, "That's a real downer Daddy, but I think I should. Can I please also go with you when you sign the papers on Friday?"

Daddy smiled and said, "Sweetheart, you can come to the mortuary if you like, but since you are over eighteen, your presence will be required when we sign the papers. I sensed a closeness between Mrs. Koch and her son during our meeting that made me think that we may have something in common with them, so I'd like you to pay attention to their interaction."

I giggled when Daddy said this and asked, "Do you think that the lawyer son is fucking his Mommy?" Daddy just smiled and nodded. I noticed that Daddy's cock was getting hard inside my vagina again, so I rode him until we came together and fell asleep still connected.

Thursday morning, we went to visit the town's only mortician, Wayne Stone. He was the third generation of his family to be a mortician and was grooming his oldest son, Roger to take over the family dynasty when he retired.

He took us into his office and informed us that Mother's body had not been released by the coroner's office yet, but that he would make her his top priority as soon as it was possible. We picked out the casket and chose to have a funeral Mass at St. Bernard's Catholic Church with a visitation at the church, a half hour before the service. We chose to have Mother Buried next to her parents, in their family plot at Swan Lake Memorial Gardens. There was one more space there for Daddy, but he wasn't sure he wanted to be buried there.

After that, we walked to St. Bernard's and talked to Father Brennan about scheduling Mother's funeral. He was very understanding about our circumstances and said he would work us into his schedule.

After we walked out of the church, Daddy said, "Sweetheart, I have something else to take care of. As we drove, Daddy told me that we were going to his Union office, the International Laborers Union, Local 165, because he had enough time in and was old enough that he qualified for early retirement. Daddy said he had been thinking about doing this for a long time, and Mother's death had convinced him that now was the time. When we got there, I sat in the waiting room while the Business Manager, who called Daddy by his first name, took care of all the paperwork after the two men went into the inner office. When they came out about a half hour later, Mr. Hasty said, "Good luck out West, Charlie. I'll send everything to your lawyer's office until you get settled. Be sure to send me your new address so We can put you on the Christmas card list." The two men shared a hearty handshake, and we left the office.

As we were walking to the car, Daddy asked, "Sweetheart, how would you feel about moving to the Pacific coast of Oregon? I have an old Army buddy who lives in Astoria, and I thought it was beautiful there when I spent a liberty with his family there before I met Mother. Also, when I die, I want to be cremated and have my ashes scattered into the Pacific Ocean."

After that, Daddy and I went home, undressed, and fucked until we were hungry. We ate leftovers without getting dressed, and afterward we went to bed and fucked until we fell asleep in each-other's arms.

On Friday morning at 10AM, Daddy and I were waiting in the outer offices of MacArthur Holdings LLC, which occupied the entire top floor of the tallest building in town. Daddy was dressed in his blue suit, and I was dressed in one of Mother's grey business suits that she had outgrown. The skirt ended just above my knees, and I wore pantyhose and the new heels Mother had bought me for my birthday.

We were escorted to the inner office and sat down at a large table covered with papers. After we all sat down at the table, David Koch spoke first, saying, "Mr. Madison, these are the agreements we talked about on Wednesday. I would like you to read over them and sign them if you agree with everything you see there."

My father took out his reading glasses, and said, "My daughter Elizabeth is eighteen years old, do you mind if she reads them as well?"

When they agreed, Daddy and I spent the next two hours reading the more than one hundred pages of legal papers that were surprisingly devoid of confusing legalese and pertained mostly to absolving the Koch and MacArthur families from any responsibility for the death of Olivia Madison and placed the blame for the death of Ralph Koch directly on Mother.

When we finished, I whispered to Daddy, "This is bullshit, they are placing the blame for Mr. Koch's death on Mother. Can I say something?"

Daddy whispered, "No need to, I've got this," and spoke up, "Mrs. Koch when we last met, we discussed an 'amicable' agreement, but this is not what we talked about. This agreement places the blame for your husband's death squarely on the shoulders of my late wife, and for that reason, we cannot sign this document. It became obvious to me eight years ago, that your husband seduced my wife and has been controlling her ever since. Because of that, I believe that she was not responsible for her actions and because of his reckless actions, she was not secured by the automobile's safety restraints, and thereby not responsible for her actions."

Over the previous two days I had written some notes from items I had read in the textbooks Mother still had from when she was studying for her Real Estate License and interspersed them in the narrative I wrote about how Mr. Koch had seduced Mother, and coerced her into risking her life, which squarely placed the blame on his shoulders. I also inferred that the reason her husband had chosen to ignore his wedding vows was because his wife was denying him her charms. I typed them on our old Smith-Corona typewriter and had made two copies.

Daddy took the ten single spaced pages of text I had typed from his pocket and slid them across the table to the Koch's as he said, "Since you have presented us with your offer, this is our response." As they read my explanation of what we believed was the cause of the accident, Mrs. Koch's face turned red, and her son's face turned ashen.

As the older woman ripped up the pages she blurted out, "Exactly what is this?"

I calmly said, "Mrs. Koch, I am certain that you know exactly what it is. Unless you rewrite your agreement in such a way that it absolves my mother of all blame, copies of this document will be given to the press."

I continued, "If you chose to ignore our request, I have arranged for copies of that to be sent to the Chicago Tribune, the St. Louis Post Dispatch, the Peoria Journal Star, and the State Journal-Register on Monday morning. The way I see it, while your husband was not the actual cause of the accident, he coerced my mother to act in an unsafe manner. His disregard for her safety, put her life in peril, thereby making his cause of death suicide, and my mother's death a homicide at his hands."

Young Mr. Koch remained silent and seemed to take my threat seriously. The day before we attended this meeting, I had mailed a copy of the statement I had given them, along with a letter explaining our case to my old history and civics tutor Ms. Stephanie Jones, the only attorney I knew, to her office in Morton.

Daddy and I had already discussed what we both wanted to get from the Koch's, so when Mr. Koch finally said, "OK, what do you want from us?"

I pulled a typewritten page with a list of our 'Demands' from my purse and slid it across the table to them. It was simple and to the point:

'The Madison family agrees to absolve the Koch family of all responsibility for the reckless actions of the deceased 'Ralph Koch' in the death of Olivia Madison, as long as:

1. The Madison family is compensated in the amount of $2,000,000 each.

2. The Koch family pays for all expenses involved with the sale of the Madison's home, and all expenses involving relocation to wherever the Madison's decide, within the contiguous United States of America.

3. The Koch family will purchase the lease on the 1998 BMW that was used by the deceased Mrs. Madison and retitle it in the name of Charles Madison.

4. The Koch family will endow an education fund in the amount of $2,000,000 for Elizabeth Madison.

5. The Koch family will endow a similar education fund for all future children of Elizabeth Madison.

6. The Koch family will have no further contact with any current member of the Madison family or any of their descendants.

If any current or future member of the Koch family does not follow these rules, the details of the accident involving Olivia Madison, Ralph Koch, and his driver, Arnold Cramer will be released to the public.'

The wife and son of my mother's murderer read through our demands and whispered back and forth for several minutes.

Finally, Mr. Koch said, "I believe we can agree with these terms. If you would allow us to consult with our attorneys, we will schedule another meeting with you Monday morning at 10AM."

We all shook hands before Daddy and I left the office. When we got to Mother's car, Daddy handed me the keys and said, "Why don't you drive us home Sweetheart."

I unlocked the doors and got behind the wheel of the beautiful automobile that still smelled of my mother's perfume. I connected the shoulder belt, adjusted the seat, and mirrors before I started the engine and cautiously backed out of the parking space. As I drove us home, I felt like we were floating on a cloud, and as I was pulling into our garage, I noticed a familiar 1982 brown Toyota Camry parked at the curb in front of our house.

Daddy and I walked out of the garage, and as he closed the garage door behind us I met my old tutor Stephanie Jones in the front yard. Daddy urged us to go inside the house before we said anything, and after I made a fresh pot of coffee, the three of us sat around the table and talked about old times.

Then Stephanie handed me a note that said:

'Don't say anything about where you just were, or what you discussed with the Koch's'

Then Stephanie said, "Libby, why don't we go for a drive, OK?"

I smiled and agreed. We left the house and drove to a park on the edge of town. The whole time she was looking over her shoulder and taking a convoluted route to our destination. Once there, we got out of her car and we walked to a park bench that overlooked the lagoon.

Finally, she said, "I got your letter this morning. There has been absolutely nothing on the news about the accident that killed your mother, but when I read your description, it made my blood run cold. Your mother's relationship with Ralph Koch was the worst kept secret in town, and when I first heard about the accident through the 'grapevine', I thought that Madelyn had her husband killed, and your mother was collateral damage. When I read what you had written, it was obvious that you were trying to make sure that your mother's side of the story was told."

I nodded my head and said, "The way that Mother jumped whenever Ralph demanded her to, made me realize that she was under his spell. The day of my eighteenth birthday, she took me shopping and we were all supposed to all go out to dinner. When he called her minutes before we were supposed to leave, she dropped everything and ran off with him."