O.I.N.D. GILF

She was still taller than Kath had ever been. She died her hair to make it the same color that Kath's was. Although Kath's natural hair color would have been gray long before we met.

But after the hair color there were no similarities. Kath had worked very hard to stay fit and in shape. Katt's breasts sagged a lot and her tummy had a lot of fat on it. Though only thirty she looked much older. Her face had lines all over it, and her normal expression was for her mouth to be flat and tight. She looked nothing like the girl I once thought I loved.

And she showed none of the joy that her grandmother had radiated. There was only one Kath. And Katt would never equal her.

I too was only thirty, I'd be thirty one in a couple of months but I felt much older. Katt came towards me and reached out to hug me as Debbie stood protectively near.

"I'm sorry about the things I said yesterday," said Katt. "This whole thing, our entire lives are not the way things were supposed to be. I guess I've just been unable to let go of my anger about losing you."

"Katt, you didn't lose me," I said. "If you have a quarter in your pocket and it falls out of a hole that you didn't know was there, you lose it, because you don't know it's gone or where it is. You willfully fucked around on me and expected me not to find out. There is a difference."

"But I was young and foolish then," she said. "I expected you to be angry for a while and then we'd get back together. I didn't expect you to fall in love and marry someone else, especially not my Granny."

"Why not?" I asked.

"Well because she was old" said Katt.

"Katt, when we met, Kath was prettier, and built better than you've ever been or ever will be," I said getting angry.

"Well we can start again," she whined. "I'm still just like her; I'm just the younger version. We even have the same name. You can call me Kath if it floats your boat. Fuck the money Ray, I just want you back."

"But you're not the same, Katt," I said. "Kath was one of a kind. She was often imitated but never duplicated. She was the original. You're a pale copy. I'm not even sure you're a copy."

By this time her parents had arrived. Thomas greeted me warmly as usual. Mona just glared at me through red rimmed eyes.

"Well, we may as well get started," I said. I felt like shit. I felt like someone had just reached into my chest and pulled my heart out.

"Thomas," I said, "Most of this concerns you and me, since Kath's will can't be contested. The remaining part of Kath's estate is roughly 7 million dollars. There's also a bit over 3 million dollars of my money. Kath left your inheritance up to me. My intention is to change a few of these things. Cal and Debbie definitely deserve more money. Kath was particular about the amounts she left each grandchild as well. She wanted to leave them enough money that they'd be able to do anything they wanted with their lives, but not enough that they'd be able to do nothing.

We both want you guys to use your money now while you can enjoy it. Life is too short to keep things on a shelf waiting for a rainy day.

My intention is to give you at least half of our combined total. And then give Cal and Debbie more as well."

Mona's eyes got huge. She looked at me and smiled for once.

"But I won't be giving you anything until after your divorce," I said.

"What fucking divorce," snapped Mona "Kathryn hated me. She never liked me. This is just her way of cheating me out of my fair share."

"Mona," I said. "You don't have a fair share. It's not like you worked for the money. It belonged to Kath so she could do anything she wanted with it."

Mona sat back down grumbling.

"Ray, do you have any idea why Mom decided against leaving Mona or Katt anything?" asked Thomas.

"Yes, Thomas," I said. "That's what we're here to talk about. Do you remember when I was dating Katt, and she told you that she was going to marry me and our marriage would be just like yours?"

"Yes I do," he said smiling. To him that had been a happier time.

"Do you remember how angry Kath got when we told her about that a few years ago?" I asked.

"Yeah, but I never knew why," he said.

"Thomas, your daughter never loved me," I said. "I was never her type."

"Bullshit," screamed Katt. "I was the one who wanted to marry you. I never stopped loving you."

"No Katt, you wanted me the same way your mother wants your father. I would have provided a secure and safe life for you so you could lay up on your fat ass and eat bonbons. Meanwhile you'd have been fucking every Tom, Dick and Harry you could meet on the side while I was at work just like your mother does."

Mona got pale and stood up. "That's not true. What are you talking about?" she screamed.

"Mona, Kath knew about you from the beginning," I said. "She had investigators on you for most of your marriage."

"Okay, I'll admit it. I had a brief fling," she said. "It meant nothing Thomas. It was only sex. You're always away working. I was lonely."

"No Mona," I said. "The report is very thorough but Kath says she may have missed a few encounters." I handed Thomas a thick file. As he opened it there was a log which listed dates places and times. There were hundreds of pictures of Mona with a variety of men of all sizes and ages and races. There were pictures of Mona being taken by multiple men. Mona riding on a man's back while he wore a saddle. There were shots of Mona completely covered in sperm, Mona trying to swallow a huge penis and of Mona being pissed on. Mona with a circus clown, Mona with four men who had to be at least eighty years old each. She looked away and started crying.

"I can't help it," she said. "I have a disease, I'm a sex addict. I just need help. But it's only sex," she said. "Thomas, you're the only man I love."

"Thomas, no woman loves a man she doesn't respect. Mona has no respect for you. Look at the date and specifically the time she entertained those four Black gentlemen in your home. That was last week. They left your house only moments before you came home from work. It was almost like she was daring you to catch her. She had no fear of you finding out. She has no respect for you," I said. "You're only her meal ticket, like Katt wanted me to be."

"No," screamed Mona "I'm not that bad. It's just gotten worse recently."

"Bullshit," I said "Thomas how long have you been married?"

"Thirty two years," he said. Thomas was in shock. He couldn't take his eyes off of the pictures in front of him. Mona was trying to take them because she knew that the longer he looked at them the more the images would be burned into his brain.

"Thomas, if this hasn't been going on for that long," I said. "How do you explain this?" I threw him another file. He grabbed it before Mona could intercept it.

He looked at a couple of medical forms. "What is this?" he asked.

"It's a modern DNA test. The other sheet is an old fashioned blood analysis from about thirty years ago," I told him.

He glared at Mona. "How could you?" he hissed. Mona just looked down.

"Sorry Thomas," I said. "You've raised her and sacrificed and did your best to be the best father you could be. I hope that you'll continue to help her but Katt isn't your daughter. Mona has been fucking around on you since before you ever got married."

"But I..." said Mona.

"Thomas according to the records here," I said. "Mona has had at least three abortions, since Katt was born. According to the log the reason she had them, instead of giving you more kids was that the other children wouldn't have been easily palmed off as being yours."

Thomas just put his head down. I think he wanted more than anything else to just run away right then, but to his credit he stayed for all of it.

"I think Katt knew about all of this and that's what she planned for me as well. That little statement she made at that dinner was just a joke between her and her mom. She wanted us to have the same kind of marriage that you two have."

"Think about it. In college I was brainy and hard working. I'm reasonably good looking but I'm not Brad fucking Pitt. There is no way that a girl who looked like Katt did should have been attracted to me. I'll bet it's the same way with you. Mona was probably really hot back then. Why would hot women pick guys like us? It would have to be one of two possibilities. Either they fell madly in love with us, which I doubt. Or she wanted to have something safe to fall back on in case none of the jocks she was fucking got rich and famous. A nice guy/sucker with a good heart who would always take care of her.

I've long suspected that one of the reasons that Kath was attracted to me was the fact that me and my situation was so close to yours, Thomas. For all of those years she never said a word about any of this because she wanted you to be happy. She couldn't bear the pain that finding all of this out would do to you. She just figured that ignorance is bliss. But Thomas it's time for you to grow up and accept your responsibility as the head of this family, so she left it to me to put things right."

Mona grabbed Thomas and started crying and begging for him to believe that she loved him and only him. Thomas was still looking at the photos and the dates.

Throughout all of this Katt had remained silent. I think she'd always known that her mother fucked around on her father and why. I also think that was what she'd hoped to model her marriage to me after. But the knowledge that she wasn't Thomas' daughter had floored her. He was the only father she'd ever known. Seeing what her mother had done from this angle hurt her badly. It threw her entire sense of self into flux. She no longer knew who she really was.

I had never sought revenge against Katt, for cheating on me; I hadn't felt the need for it. I've heard it said that the best revenge is living well. Since I'd broken up with Katt, I'd had a much better, much fuller life than she would ever have. I hadn't simply moved on, I'd upgraded and never looked back. I went from having a girl I really liked, to the woman I'd love forever.

Thomas proved to be just as shrewd as his mother. He assured Mona that he didn't want a divorce. He did tell her to begin looking for a marriage counselor.

While she did that and started trying to cook better and dress sexy for him in hopes of saving their marriage, Thomas was readying things for their divorce. Thomas sold the house they lived in for a dollar and moved most of the money from their checking and savings accounts into another account that was in a foreign bank. He transferred ownership of Mona's car to her and stopped making the payments on it. Then he took a buyout instead of his pension and quit his job. Again the money went into his offshore account.

Thomas decided that he wanted to complete my mission with me. All of the traveling I'd be doing to fulfill Kath's wishes would help him to get over his divorce.

The day before we left for Paris, which was the first place on our list, was a rough day for Mona. She was served with divorce papers, evicted and had her car repossessed all on the same day.

"I thought you said, you didn't want a divorce," screamed Mona over the phone that morning.

"I thought about it and decided that it would be the best option," said Thomas calmly.

"I'll take everything you have" screamed Mona.

"Right now my net-worth is zero," said Thomas. "In this state we have to split everything 50/50, so you're welcome to half of nothing."

I reminded him of her inheritance. "Oh yeah, Mona," he said. "Since we do have to split everything 50/50 I'll get half of the money my mom left you, so you owe me a dollar and eighty three cents."

"Fuck you Thomas, you're not getting shit," said Mona as she walked away.

That was the last we ever saw of Mona or Katt. Debbie has told us that they've been seen on the bad side of town wearing way too much make-up and not enough clothes. She also told us they were sporting bruises. I guess that cheaters all eventually get caught even after they've gotten away with it for years. They also eventually get what they deserve. Both of them liked to fuck around a lot, now they'd apparently get to. Hopefully they could make a living at it.

Thomas gets better every day. Traveling like his mother liked to do suits him, but not me. Kath's plan was that I'd take her ashes and divide them into ten vials. I'd take those back to the ten places that we'd enjoyed the most on our travels. In each place I'd think of her and the fun we'd had there and I'd scatter her ashes so that she'd be a part of all the places we found special. After the tenth place I was supposed to go and find someone to fill my heart and the rest of my life.

I guess that she thought I'd be like Thomas and each place and every week or so I'd get better, until I was able to function again. I also think that Debbie knew my intentions from the moment I told her that Thomas would need her. Everyone wondered why she'd hugged me for so long and cried before we started out on our trip.

Each place actually got harder for me and each day became more of a struggle. By the time we got to the ninth destination, the cruise I was on when this tragic tale started, I could barely perform. Thomas had made the locket with a tiny bit of Kath's ashes for me and it really helped me to know that when all of this ended I'd still have something of her other than memories.

The last place on my List was the cliffs of Elessium in Europe. There was a legend that if you looked over the cliff with a pure heart you'd see your one true love. Kath had joked that she'd seen me, when we went there. I'd laughed and told her that she had to see me because I was standing right next to her, the way I always did.

"So the legend is true," she declared laughing.

"The legend is false," I told her. How could she have a pure heart when she was rubbing herself against me the whole time we were there?

I asked Thomas to hold my jacket as we got to the observation deck near the top. We'd been climbing the steep little trail that took you up to the cliffs. Thomas was tired and cranky but he complied. "Thomas, this is our last stop," I told him. "Debbie is probably going to start introducing you to some nice young ladies when you get home so you need to get into better shape."

"I'm not sure I'm ready to meet anyone yet," he said.

"Thomas the one thing your mom used to always tell me was that you have to live your life to the fullest every day," I told him. "Right now you're miserable because you got rid of a woman who never really loved you the way you deserved. That leaves you free to find someone to love the way I loved your mom. You're younger right now than she was when I met her. If you want to be miserable, at least find a woman to be miserable with."

I stepped up to the edge and surprisingly this time I had no problem pouring out the ashes. I watched as the fine mist blew away on the wind taking the last of my true love's mortal shell with it. I spent a long time looking over the edge of that cliff.

"Dad we should go," said Thomas. "It's time for us to go home."

"Thomas, the money is all yours," I said. "Give Debbie at least another mill."

"We'll work all of that out when we get home," he said.

"Thomas, I never intended to go home. There's a note in my jacket pocket and all of the credit cards and ID. Thanks for helping me with your Mom's last wish, but I can't be without her anymore," I said as I stepped off the edge of the cliff and into my Kath's arms.

"We're together again now and happy as always. She was a little angry at me. But I explained to her that I couldn't be without her and still be happy. I eventually would have been with her anyway so I'd just cut out the Bullshit in the middle.

She reminded me that she'd wanted me to find someone else. I simply explained to her that I could never find another woman like her. She was Often Imitated but Never Duplicated. She laughed at that and everything was fine.

We watch over our family now, but mostly we just talk like we always have. We're the same age now as when we met and we'll never be apart again. Even in death, life and especially love, goes on.