On the Mend

I went inside, splashed some water on my face, then I got Carrie's bag from her room, placing it just inside the garage door where she knew I would put it, so she could grab it and go. It wasn't the first time one of my girls had forgotten something.

I grabbed a broom and was cleaning up the shattered glass when Carrie came screaming through the back door straight at me.

"Are you alright, dad?" she asked. She was looking up at me through her brow, a look of concern on her face. It was a look that Louise had given me many times when she was worried about me. But it was a look that I never saw this evening as she told me of her plans to fuck another man.

I shrugged, trying to brush her off, returning to sweeping up the glass on the ground.

"Sure, sweetie, I put your bag in the usual place," I said monochromatically.

I bent down then began sweeping the glass into a tray that I could throw into the bin while they watched. When I stood up, Robbie was also standing in the doorway, a frown on his face. I couldn't fool anyone.

I pulled out a chair, slumping down into it. Carrie pulled out a chair and sat down opposite me, grabbing both my hands squeezing them.

"Dad, you're not alright. Mum called me back not long after I spoke to you, I could hear she was in a car, and it sounded like someone else was in the car with her. So what's going on?"

I looked at my daughter. I think she saw something broken in my eyes; their gleam gone.

"That fucking bitch!" my daughter almost yelled, bringing Robbie back in a hurry.

"What is it, baby?" Robbie asked, sensing his girlfriend upset. He looked over at me. I was still not saying anything; I felt old, depressed.

"My mother is cheating on my father." She said matter of factly.

"No... Really?" both Carrie and Robbie then looked at me. I slowly nodded my head.

"She gave me an ultimatum earlier then left with her lover a while before you called me." I acknowledged sullenly.

They sat with me for the rest of the night. Then, Rose and Toby turned up at some point. Robbie appeared with takeout Thai, a fresh Kraken bottle, and wine. I slowly told all four about Louise's betrayal, her ultimatum, and everyone was appalled.

"Daddy?" Carrie asked, "Does mum not remember the pre-nuptial that you both have in place?"

When Louise and I got married, I was starting my printing business. My parents had given me a six-figure chunk of change to help with the initial capital. Their lawyers put together a pre-nuptial agreement that laid out several things. This included that if either party cheated, they walked away with nothing but their clothes, fifteen per cent of the shared marital assets, while the house, cars and kids would stay with the offended party. The business was always off the table to Louise in any separation or divorce.

I shook my head, "I don't think your mother was thinking at all, sweetie. Remember she told me it's not cheating if she told me about it."

Carrie snorted. "Daddy, there is no excusing cheating, regardless of her telling you or not. It sounds like she had already cheated on you emotionally for months. Both Sara and I have noticed that things weren't right between you for weeks now. We just couldn't figure it out."

I nodded, then it dawned on me, "Oh my goodness, Sara, I need to talk to her. I need to let her know it's going to be alright."

Carrie grabbed my hands again, "Daddy, please don't lie, it's not going to be alright, mum has killed something in you tonight, and I don't know if I can forgive her."

"She's still your mum," I replied, my tone coming across as more of a whine than anything.

"Mother or not, there is no reason to do what she did to you." She said harshly, then squeezed my hand again softening. "Sara and I will be fine. I'll talk to her in the morning. She knew something was wrong as well."

We ate, but I found I had three helpings of the delicious Thai food despite my mood. However, after eating then talking with Carrie, Robbie, Rose and Toby, I must admit I felt a lot better.

"Everyone, would you mind if I spoke with Cameron for a little bit?" Rose asked a little later in the evening as topics moved from Louise, and I felt myself withdraw somewhat.

The other three took that as a cue heading inside.

Rose sat down on the chair facing me that Carrie had abandoned. I think she saw a look on my face, then looked over her shoulder towards the back door where the other three had gone, then back to me smiling.

"You have an amazing daughter there, Cameron!" Rose said.

I nodded, looking back at Rose.

Rose was a beautiful redheaded woman. As I mentioned earlier, she had been my first love. We dated on and off for a few years through high school until we went to different universities. She had then fallen in love with Toby, and not long after, I had met Louise then until tonight had been utterly in love with my wife.

That Rose and I had given each other our virginities at schoolies week after becoming legal age never bothered either Louise or Toby. It was history but never got in the way. Rose and I were close, despite or because of our history, but neither of us would ever dream of betraying our spouses.

That our kids were dating enforced our family togetherness, Carrie and Robbie knew a little bit that Rose and I had dated when we were young. None of us hid that. We also knew that now they were both eighteen, Carrie and Robbie were sleeping together, but we knew how much they cared for each other, not stand in their way. Carrie did confide in Louise and I that they had slept together the first time on Robbie's eighteenth birthday. It was her birthday present to him.

Rose tapped my foot with her's bringing me back to the moment.

"How are you Cam, don't lie to me. I know you almost better than anyone?"

I shook my head.

"I don't know, Rose. I mean, I knew we were struggling, but this." I gestured into the air. Then, more quietly, "I still love her Rose, I hate what she has done to me, to us. I hate it, and I want to scream; I want to cry, I want to hurt her and her boyfriend, but right now, I still love her." I said in an anguished cry.

Rose nodded, now in full psychiatrist mode.

"How can you deal with this Cam?" she asked.

I eyed her for a moment. "Rose, cut the bullshit psychobabble," I smirked sadly. "It doesn't work on me. I've also known you too long." She smiled in return, having brought me out of my moment.

"But to respond, what can I do? Well, separation is on the cards at the very least. Most likely, divorce enforcing the full pre-nuptial agreement. I begged her to stay, Rose, even after she admitted to me that she gave that prick Roger a blow job. I begged her to stay; I told her we could get counselling. But what do I get, threats she would take everything from me, then turn my girls against me."

Rose nodded.

"Cam, you're right, and I think you know that I can't be your counsellor on this. I'm too close to both of you. So tomorrow we will see about finding you someone to talk with. But both Toby and I are going to be there for you through this. You know that Toby and I think the world of you. I'm sure that Robbie and Toby are now trying to talk your daughter off a ledge of wanting to destroy her mother.

"I don't think we've seen Carrie this pissed off since Candy Taylor asked Robbie to the junior school dance." She laughed.

I quietly laughed in return, "You're right. Thanks, Rose. I'm sorry for this. You don't deserve to be in the middle of it."

She dismissed me. "Don't worry Cam; we're here for you. Trust me, if it had been you stepping out on Louise, then we'd be doing the same for her, talking about your destruction."

I sat back, "Rose, I would never..."

Rose smiled at me, "Relax Cam. I know you wouldn't. That's why I felt free to say it. You and Toby are two of the most loyal men I have ever met, and if you two looked similar, I would have thought you brothers." Toby was relatively short at just over five feet, but he was stocky, all muscle with blonde hair and blue eyes. Me, I've got a mop of brown hair. Thanks to my work, I'm tall and fit, but not in Toby's league.

"I think that's why I fell in love with him; his personality reminded me of you." She said wistfully, momentarily lost in memory.

We both laughed. It was an old conversation having long ago ceased being awkward, proving that today Rose and I had a deep friendship.

For the next hour, we talked through my feelings, mainly sadness and betrayal mixed with rage and a sense of numbness that I couldn't explain, but Rose understood.

Later we walked inside, finding Robbie and Carrie snuggled on the couch; Toby was sitting on one of the other lounge chairs watching a movie.

"Hey all," I said in greeting.

Immediately, Carrie was at my side, hugging me.

"Are you alright, daddy? She asked, concerned. I looked over at Rose, she smiled.

"No sweetie, I'm not, but I am so glad that all of you are here. It would be a lot worse if you weren't." I replied.

She hugged me.

"Dad, Robbie and I are going to stay here the night. We don't want you left alone."

"But Carrie, what about your weekend away?" I asked.

Robbie dismissed my concerns, "Cameron," he said, "I can tell you right now that there is no place that Carrie and I would rather be right now. We can have a weekend away anytime, I have already gotten credit for the BnB while you talked with mum, so we can reschedule soon. But Carrie was right. In light of what has happened, I think you need us here."

I couldn't argue, then we broke up the evening after that. Rose and Toby said goodbye with promises to bring over breakfast in the morning. I told Carrie and Robbie goodnight then that I would shower and read in bed for a while to get my mind off things.

"We'll get you some coffee in the morning dad, I know I'm not going to sleep well tonight, so I can only guess how you're going to." She told me.

I gave her a sad smile, thanked her, gave her another hug, kissed her forehead before retreating to my room. I had a shower, at last changing out of my work clothes, walked back into the bedroom, sighing.

The room had reminders of Louise all through it. To rub it in, she even had a number of clothes on the bed she hadn't put away when she packed for her weekend without me. Those I threw on the ground or into the closet with the intent of throwing them in boxes with the rest of her stuff tomorrow.

I was in bed on my iPad reading one of the latest books in the Spellmonger series, a fantasy series that I loved following for years, when my phone chirped. For a moment, I thought it might be Louise, but it was Toby letting me know that they were home and thinking about me. I gave them a thank you with a thumbs-up emoji. He responded they would see us around nine tomorrow morning.

I was about to put my phone down when I had a thought. I pulled up the find my phone app sending a ping to Louise's phone. It pinged to a location a couple of hours away in the Blue Mountains, I sighed. I screenshotted the ping for my records to prove that she was running around on me, which brought me to the thought of our security system.

We had one of those Swan Security systems that recorded the audio and video with mounted cameras around the house, leading to a hard drive in a cupboard. We had eight cameras spaced around the place. The ones in the front yard were set up to send Louise and I an email if they detected movement. Still, all the cameras were recording all the time until the hard drive filled up, then the cameras started overwriting the earlier content. The drive itself held up to a week of content for all eight cameras, so I logged on looking at the back patio camera from earlier tonight.

Sure enough, the camera caught the footage of Louise and I discussing her infidelity when I had walked outside. I also checked the front feed and watched a large guy get out of a new looking BMW, greeting Louise with a kiss before they jumped in the car driving off. I now had an iron-clad confession and video of her leaving me to sleep with Roger Fellworth, along with the ping from her phone proving that she was not in my location.

I pulled out my laptop, logged into the Swan Security system proper, exported the videos into an email along with instructions to begin divorce proceedings. As I was struggling with the wording for my lawyer and had just attached the videos to the email, my phone rang; it was Louise. She must have still been awake with her lover hearing the 'Find my Phone' ping.

I let it go to voicemail. A moment later, I got a notification of a voicemail. I played it.

"Cameron, Roger and I heard my phone ping. We're telling you now, don't do anything stupid. Sooner or later, we will finish, we can talk, then you can do things my way. If you do anything other than what I tell you, Roger will destroy you, and I will take everything from you." I heard Louise say.

I heard Roger chuckling in the background.

"Yes, little cuck boy. Trust me that it's not going to be forever. Still, if you say anything to anyone, I will take a personal interest in taking you apart piece by piece until you've lost everything. Your wife, your kids, your business and let's not forget any respect you ever thought you had. When Louise and I are done, she will come back to you. Just play ball, and everything will be alright."

"Now, Louise and I need to get back to loving. I believe that she was about to give me her ass before you rudely interrupted, something I don't believe you have ever had."

As they hung up the voice mail, I heard both of them laughing.

I sat stunned for a moment. I had heard a lot of crudeness over the years, but the disrespect and outright arrogance of the guy flipped a switch in me, So I decided that it was time for their destruction, not my own.

I reworked the email, noting that I not only wanted divorce papers served to Louise at her work as soon as possible but that I also wanted a suit against Roger Fellworth. My quick google search showed there was no law in Australia for alienation of affection, but I wanted my lawyer to do something. I wanted them to hurt. I also wanted Louise and Roger's workplace sued for loss of income within my own business for either encouraging an affair or not being aware of misconduct that caused me mental distress, causing my own business to suffer.

I knew the suits were not likely to go anywhere; however, just suing all parties in addition to divorce and enforcing the pre-nuptial agreement would put a massive dent in the arrogance of the pair. So, as I hit send, I knew I didn't yet have the details of Rogers's wife, but if I could find them, I would contact her, letting her know what a cheating prick her husband was.

[:::: - 4 - ::::]

I want to say after I sent the email, I slept well knowing I was taking action against the cheaters, but that would be a lie. I tossed and turned till the sun came up, even hearing Carrie and Robbie get up before I closed my eyes. I listened; it sounded like Robbie headed out to his car to get the promised coffee. I threw on some pants and a shirt then headed out to the kitchen.

As I walked into the room, Carrie saw me and gave me a big hug asked me if I slept. I shook my head.

"Me neither," she responded. "I tried, but I just couldn't. I just don't get how mum could do this to you," she complained, "I mean to us, it's not just you!"

We spoke about her university degree for a while, trying to stay away from the topic until Robbie returned with three very welcome large coffees.

I sipped the magnificent brew; I always loved a cappuccino, the chocolate on top just enhancing the taste of the coffee as it danced over my taste buds. At the same time, both Carrie and I sighed.

Robbie laughed, "You two are exactly the same." He turned serious, "So no sleep either, huh?"

"No in, fact, I was quite busy emailing my company lawyer when I got a voice mail from Louise after I did a 'Find my Phone' ping."

I spent the next ten minutes explaining how I put together a package to start the divorce sue Roger and their workplace after playing the voicemail that Louse and Roger left me. I could see Carrie trying to hold tears as she heard the message.

"That woman is not my mother." She said quietly as she used her coffee napkin to wipe her eyes. "My mother could never be so cold as to insult my father or let another man belittle her husband like that."

Robbie and I wholeheartedly agreed.

It was around ten in the morning when we started wondering where Rose and Toby were. They had told us they would be bringing breakfast with them around nine, so we were getting concerned an hour later. Robbie tried first his mother's phone and then his father's. Then, when he couldn't get through, I also tried them.

I called Mamma's House, the breakfast café that we always went to, the owner, Josie, an elderly lady in her sixties that we had all come to know, confirmed that Rose and Toby had picked up breakfast about eight-thirty on the way to my place. When I hung up, I started getting very concerned.

I was picking up my keys so that we could head out and go search for them when Robbie's phone rang. He picked it up, and within a minute, he was on the floor, his face pale. I took the phone from him.

"Hello, this is Cameron Other. I'm Robbie's girlfriend's father. Who am I speaking to?" I said.

"Mr Other, this is Police Constable Colleen Sharp. I have the unfortunate news to let Robert know that his parents have been in a major accident."

I drew in a sharp breath looking at Robbie, almost comatose on the ground. Carrie had her arm around him, desperately looking up at me. I asked the question.

"Are Rose and Toby alright, Constable?"

There was a pause, "Mr Other, I take it that Robert can't talk right now?"

I told her that was the case.

"Mr Other, are you able to get Robert to give me verbal acceptance that I can talk to you about this matter?" I managed to get Robbie to say yes. The officer paused, taking a breath. "Around eight forty-five this morning, the Getting's car was impacted by an out-of-control B-Double Semi-Trailer that brakes had failed. In the resulting accident, their car was almost destroyed. I'm sorry to say that Mrs Getting's is currently in surgery right now. Unfortunately, Mr Getting's didn't make it."

I think I went as pale as Robbie, sinking to the ground, Toby was dead, and Rose was in surgery. I cleared my throat.

"Which hospital?" I asked hoarsely. Carrie was now looking panicked, mentioning a hospital. I could see she was also on the verge of tears, knowing something serious was wrong. I swallowed hard, now was not the time to lose it.

"They are both at Royal North Shore Hospital. Can I assume that you and Robert will be there soon?" she queried. I could hear a note of sadness in her voice. She was being professional, but I could tell this stranger was struggling.

"Yes," I croaked out, getting details of where to go and what to say when we arrived.

Within five minutes, the three of us were out the door. I kept to the speed limit even though I wanted to floor it. We were outside of the hospital's trauma surgery within half an hour. The nurses were doing their best to calm us down.

Questions including how is Rose doing, where is Toby's body, will Rose make it, what about the other driver were asked repeatedly. PC Sharp came in and introduced herself. We spoke for the next twenty minutes. Once again, Robbie gave permission for me to act as his representative; she gave me the story.

As Rose and Toby were driving, the out of control, fully loaded truck smashed into their car, resulting in nothing but scrap. On the driver's side, Toby had copped most of the force of the impact, his side of the car all but merging with the passenger's side.

He died on the way to the hospital of multiple injuries, including a skull fracture and numerous punctures throughout his torso and upper body. There were other injuries, but I won't say them here as they are too graphic. Accidents like this are horrendous.