She was Right

Oddly, he was married, to another high functioning autistic, that I had introduced him to a few years back at one of the few parties I hosted. She was the daughter of one of my biggest customers, and normally almost a recluse, she insisted her father bring her, after she spent most of the day at a spa, telling him something important was going to happen. While God was a little stingy when it came to her brain, he made it up to her with her body and face. She was drop dead beautiful.

After one look at my friend Harry, she took his hand, and said "June 17?"

He just nodded and continued talking to another guest for a minute, before tapping on a glass to get everyone's attention. "Ladies and gentleman. it is my distinct pleasure to invite you all to our upcoming wedding. The date is June seventeenth, and will be held at...?"

He looked over at June, and she smiled, taking his hand. "At Emmanuel Lutheran Church, on Second Street, in Broadville."

Harry just nodded until someone asked him to introduce his bride and tell them how they met. He flushed a bit as she answered again. "I'm June Allison, and we met right here, in this house, at a party."

That was the whole story, she just didn't tell them it was right now, at this party. She told him what kind of ring she wanted, and the next day he handed her a credit card. She took it from there.

They had been together eight years now. Their daughter was seven, and my girls doted on her like she was the little sister they wished they had. It wasn't unusual for me to get home and see a Lexus SUV in the driveway, the driver waiting patiently in the kitchen, drinking coffee, talking to Charlie. She would brighten up when I came in, grin, and start making sexual innuendoes.

Shanna was a black woman, very attractive, ex-military who had served two tours of combat, and held black belts in three different disciplines. She was on the local law enforcement sponsored pistol team, regularly winning trophies. She actually worked for me at one time.

I considered her brilliant, and very good at her job, but could tell she was bored to tears most of the time. June came by one day to talk to me about some social affair they were having. She'd come unannounced, as was her habit, and I was in a meeting, so Shanna kept her company. By the time I'd gotten out of the meeting, I'd lost an employee.

It was a good match for every one. Shanna moved into the mansion, in what amounted to a small apartment, with a private entrance. For all their wealth, Harry and June didn't get out much, and Shanna was about to quit, again due to boredom, when some crack head thought it would be a good idea to kidnap some rich guy's kid for money.

He was successful for about three minutes before Shanna blew his head off as he tried to carry a drugged Star off the property. It got a little sticky, but he was armed, and the surveillance tapes showed him waving the shotgun around while trying to carry the child. They let her go with a warning, and she became the bodyguard/nanny for Star from that day forward.

Charlie would frown while we flirted, all in good fun, of course. And Shanna always gave me a big hug when they left, pressing her huge chest to me while she picked me up off my feet, something that always made the girls giggle.

The girls actually went on vacation with them a couple of times, to exotic places. We were invited along, but Charlene would always have a reason for us to stay home. When the girls came home from some exclusive resort they had been at, I was most impressed with the photos, especially the ones of Aunt Shanna in a thong bikini.

The point is, except for Charlie, our families were closely woven together, and I trusted all of them completely.

............................

Harry was surprised, but June wasn't.

"I saw it coming, she seemed distracted the last few times I've been around her, and at our last party I caught her in the garden, sitting really close to another guest. She pulled back when I saw them, and I got the feeling I had just missed seeing her kiss him. She almost ran back inside when she saw me, and stuck to you like glue the rest of the evening. I wanted to say something, but what? She may or may not have been kissing some guy? It wasn't enough."

I remembered that night. We tended to separate at these things, enjoying the chance to talk to different people. I'd noticed she was missing, but figured she was in another part of the house, when she suddenly appeared and stayed by my side the rest of the evening.

They had been thinking on my problem, and we had a long talk.

"What exactly do you want, Jack?"

"I want to keep my girls in my life, first and foremost. This is the most important thing to me. Plus, I want her to regret her actions. We're done. She doesn't realize it yet, but when she does I fully expect things to get ugly. I don't want to end up broke and alone when the dust settles."

Nodding, he asked me how big my house was. They had been there enough to know, but he didn't ask unless he had an idea.

We had gotten a really good deal on the house. In an older neighborhood with large lots and plenty of mature trees. we got it for about sixty per cent of what it would normally cost, because the owner was elderly and didn't take care of it. She got enough from the sale to live out her days in a nice retirement community, and I got a forty four hundred square foot two story house with a full basement. We got it when the girls were really young, so it was the only home they had ever known. We spent every spare dime we had for five years restoring it, and now it was worth over twice what we had in it. Charlie loved the place, and I knew she would do her best to keep it after we divorced.

It cleared up a little when he asked about the basement. In all our work on the house, we had left the basement alone, with a vague idea of fixing it up for the girls to entertain their friends in at some later date. By my estimate, the basement was almost eleven hundred square feet.

"Remodel it, Jack. Make a nice apartment out of it, even put in a separate driveway and have it rewired for a separate electrical panel. That way it will be completely autonomous from the rest of the house. Then move in. If you do divorce, you have your own home and full access to your children. How can she object? Your lives would be completely separate, you would never have to see her if you didn't want to. I can't see a judge with any sense objecting to the plan, especially when it comes to the children."

Man! Why didn't I think of that? Because I'm an average guy, that's why, not some autistic savants with collective IQ's in the stratosphere. Shanna offered another option.

"I could kick her ass. I could kick his ass. I could fuck their lives up in ways you couldn't even fathom that would in no way ever be connected to you."

Wow, talk about fire in the eye. I got a feeling if I turned her loose it would be very, very ugly. "Let's consider that a Plan C, Shanna. I wouldn't mind her feeling a little pain, but she is the mother of my children. We do this first, all right?"

She didn't like it but she agreed, before going off to check on the children.

"She has a little crush on you, Jack. Be careful, now that you're about to be single, she's thinking all sorts of things."

I looked at June in surprise. I had always liked Shanna, but had no idea she felt that way.

..............................

It was fairly easy, all told. The house was in my name alone, necessary since I was the only one earning anything when we bought it. I consulted several contractors and architects before I found the plan I liked best.

On the advice of my lawyer, I eased off on Charlie a little, giving her an allowance. Not unlimited access, but enough to go out to lunch with her friends, and do a little shopping. I also took her Mercedes in for some work, installing a GPS and an antitheft system. With it I could remotely shut down the engine from my phone or computer.

I noticed her lunches ran a little long and investigated. She would have lunch with her friends, then slip off to the house of a friend for an hour or two of bedroom time with her lover.

I monitored the GPS the next time she went to lunch, and just as soon as she started towards her love nest I shut the car down. She called me in a panic.

"Jack, the car cut off and won't start. I'm stuck!"

"Where are you?"

She had to tell me where she was, all the way across town from our home. "What in the world are you doing there?"

"I was going to drop by Beverly's. We went shopping the other day and I left a bag in her car."

"Isn't Beverly at work?"

"Yes, but she left the bag in the garage."

I enjoyed the moment. "Try the car again, Charlie. I bet it starts right up."

She did, it did, and she got about five blocks before it stopped again. When she called back, I told her the best thing she could do was try to get back home. She didn't understand right away, but started for home, amazed that it never cut off. When it happened twice more she got the idea. I recorded her screaming tirade later, including telling Marissa to get the hell out of the room when she tried to calm her down. The look of hurt in our child's eyes calmed her down, but the damage had been done. Things were pretty cool between them afterwards.

When she asked about the basement I told her it was finally time to fix it up for the girls, they would soon be at the age where they would need space. She interpreted it as me accepting her lifestyle.

Charlie used some of her allowance to buy a burner phone, which I found and had bugged.

.........................................

It seemed there was trouble in paradise. Apparently, they had made plans to leave their spouses and settle down in domestic bliss, in my house, with me footing most of the bills. My behavior had put something of a crimp in their plans.

"Maybe we should call the whole thing off, at least for awhile. He's not reacting like we hoped, and I'm afraid he'll do something drastic."

He scoffed. "He's a pussy. You got him by his sort hairs because of the kids. You know he won't do anything to hurt them,"

She sighed. "Maybe not them, but we're fair game. I've seen him at his work, and he can be quite ruthless when he needs to be. He's made my life very difficult, but he hasn't done anything drastic yet. You're a whole different matter. You have a very public job, working for the county. A county official, having an affair with the wife of a prominent local businessman, makes a great news bite. When the paper gets hold of it you'd be out on your ass before the ink dried, and then where would we be? How would you explain it to your wife? Or have you told her yet you're leaving her for another woman?"

There was a pretty long silence, and her tone had a definite edge to it when she spoke. "I thought not. I'm starting to think you've got a bigger pussy than I do. Man up, tell her. Before my husband does. And just because he hasn't gone after you yet doesn't mean he won't. He'll just analyze every fact he can get his hands on and hit you where he knows it will hurt the most. You better be ready, because it's coming. Now, I don't want to see you for at least a month. We both need to think, and I have to repair as much of my relationship as I can with my husband. IF we split up, I want him in as forgiving a mood as possible, and I'm not going to push him for a lot. He'll be as fair as he can be, especially over the girls. I'm serious, a month, and I'll call you when I'm ready to talk."

Well, well. They just handed me a present, a whole month to finalize my plans. I decided to use the time wisely.

The first thing I did was set up a meeting with the Chairman of the County Commission. He and my father went way back, not as friends but as business associates. He just assumed it had something to do with my business and agreed to meet me for dinner. We met at an upscale steakhouse out of town, and I made sure he had a good meal and a few drinks in him before I got down to business.

"I'm thinking about moving my business, Fred. Hanover County has been sniffing around, they have a lot of empty buildings that would fit my needs, and they're offering some very nice tax incentives."

Fred immediately frowned. The thought of eighty-nine jobs leaving his county was not a pleasant one, especially since we'd been in the papers a few months back, announcing my expansion, resulting in me needing another thirty or so workers. Wouldn't look good, especially in an election year.

"Why? Why would you do that? The county has always had a good relationship with you. I don't know what to say, Jack. With the economy the way it is now I doubt seriously we could grant you any concessions."

"I'm not after any concessions, Fred. The fact is, to expand, the property I want has to be rezoned, and I think that might be difficult, especially when it comes time for the permits to be issued."

"Again, why? You know the rezoning notices have gone up, and nobody has raised any objections, so it should be just a rubber stamp procedure when we vote on it. As far as permits, what makes you think you'll have trouble?"

"Because your Permits and Zoning Manager is fucking my wife, and he knows I know."

He looked like a punctured balloon. The scandal when it came would be very messy, all the departments in the county would receive at least some fallout. Our local newspaper had an investigative reporter who was so good national papers were after him. He'd be like a bloodhound who smelled fresh blood.

He just looked down at the remains of his steak, before sighing. The meal was sitting a little heavy on him now. "You sure?"

"Video and audio, including a scene where he's masturbating for the webcam while talking junk to my wife, and you can plainly see he's in his office. Lewd behavior, on county time and county property."

"What do you want?"

"Well, his ass on a silver platter would be nice. Aside from that, nothing, at least not right now. I do have some remodeling plans for my home I need approved, if possible, without him knowing it."

"I'll look into it. I'm sure there's a training seminar somewhere the county thinks he needs to attend. Three days be long enough?"

"That would be nice, Fred. I'll wait until after the elections, but then I'm going to burn him down, you realize that, right? That should give you enough time to find an excuse to get rid of him before I start."

We parted, knowing our relationship was forever changed. From now on, he would dread it when I asked for a meeting. Another relationship ruined thanks to Charlie.

...............................................

There was indeed a seminar, and I got the contractor to push the paperwork through, in his name. They started the next day. Charlie showed little interest, other things on her mind, I suspect.

To her credit, she did try to renew our relationship. She gave me a long speech about how she had been bored, how the kids had outgrown her, and she felt less appealing as a woman. No excuse for her behavior, she assured me, she just happened to run into a predator at a low point in her life, and that it would never happen again.

"Really? What's going to happen a few years down the road, when the girls grow up, go to college and make a life for themselves, and you're here looking at four walls, bored out of your mind? You know, instead of fucking up our marriage, you could have volunteered for some charity, joined a book club, or gotten a real job. That would have given you a purpose, something to channel your energy into, but you chose a fuck buddy instead. How's that working for you? I won't touch you, our relationship is on life support, and it's just a matter of time until it dies. We won't go out with a bang, more like a whimper. I urge you strongly to consider life post marriage, well, to me anyway, because it will happen."

She ran crying from the room. For the next few weeks she became a model wife and mother. We went out as a family, even took a long weekend, taking the kids to Disney. I hated it, but the girls and even Charlie seemed to enjoy it. The only time it got ugly was when we went to bed. I'd gotten a room with two queen size beds, making it plain we wouldn't be sharing.

She tried everything, parading around naked as often as possible, promising me any kind of sex I wanted, nothing was off the table.

It was hard, no pun intended, but I refused, even pushing her out of the bed one night when I woke with her spooned to me. That flipped the switch, and the bitch came back.

.............................................

She was hinting strongly about divorce, when I hit her with legal separation papers. Knowing the confrontation would be ugly, I got the girls out of school a little early and took them to the park. They weren't babies anymore, and knew something was wrong. They had also guessed it was over another person, they just didn't know which parent was guilty.

I explained gently that their mother and I were not getting along that great, and I would be moving out. They burst into tears, hugging me and begging me to stay. I cuddled them until they calmed.

"I won't be going far, my babies. I could never live without you. But I am moving out of the house, and into the new apartment I built in the basement. Technically I'll still be in the house, but completely autonomous. It's why I put twin beds in the second bedroom. It's not as nice as your rooms now, but it will always be there for you. Here's your keys, I just ask you don't let your mother get her hands on them."

They smothered me with kisses, happy I would still be available 24/7, but were still sad over the split. It cheered them a little when I promised them they could go on a shopping spree Saturday, and decorate the room any way they liked.

Since I didn't know what was coming, I sent the girls into the basement when we got home, telling them to check out their room and see what it needed.

When Charlie met me at the door screaming at the top of her lungs, I knew I made the right decision. She got so loud the neighbors called the cops. On the advice of my lawyer, I never entered the house, even though it was wired for sight and sound. I showed the police officer my copy of the separation papers when she asked what sparked the argument.

I shut her down pretty fast when I saw the flicker of judgement in her eyes.

"Yes, I got them drawn up to make sure things progress smoothly. It may or may not turn into a divorce, but my lawyer suggested I do this to document the process. And even though you can't ask, it's over adultery. Hers, not mine. If you don't believe me, I can show you video and pictures."

She looked at Charlie, who turned several interesting shades of red.

"So what? That doesn't mean the asshole has the right to abandon me and our children."

"Officer, if you would?"

I got her to follow me around the house, and unlocked the gate of the privacy fence I had erected. Charlie followed and demanded to come too, but the cop, in her wisdom, asked her to stay outside for just a minute.

I showed her the apartment. She was impressed until we opened the door to the girls' room, to find them huddle together on the bed, crying quietly. They jumped into my arms and I spent a few moments comforting them.

"Shh now. Mom's just having a bad day. I'm sure she's calmed down by now, right officer?"

The officer nodded grimly, before smiling at the girls. "Your father is right, she's much calmer now. Your Dad and I are going back to talk to her some more, just to make sure." She told them bye and we talked once we got outside.

"It must suck to be you right now. But you manned up, did the right thing by your girls. I don't have any advice for you other than to always place the children first. If my first husband was half the man you were I probably wouldn't still hate his guts."