Three Strikes And A Home Run

On the fourth of July I had declared a holiday for the family. I was caught up enough I decided not to work and invited Crystal and her kids, Jackie and her husband Edward to my home for a large meal and swimming in the stream. After the meal of BBQ Brisket, fried chicken and all the trimmings I watched the happy faces for a while as the women cleaned up. I had tried to help and was roughly run off. The two sisters were laughing and giggling as they worked. Ed was buried under a pile of kids.

I wandered off and sat beside the stream. I watched the slow flow of water through the swimming hole at the Edge of the yard. I listened to the kids laughing as they played with Ed and the occasional laugh from the women. I could hear an occasional explosion as a neighbor set off a firework.

I felt my stomach clench as my mind wandered back over my past life. What I was hearing this hot July day was what I had dreamed of throughout my three previous marriages. I had two wonderful kids and some friends but I didn't have anyone to share it with. I was alone still and was getting too old to have much hope of finding that nugget of gold other men had. Terri, the girl I had grown up with, the tomboy from the next farm over had shit on me almost from the first. We hadn't much more than moved to the big city when she took on city ways and began going out with female friends then ended up cheating on me with one of the officers I worked with.

Then came beautiful bubbly kind Suzie, a teacher from the local school I met at the café in town. God how I had loved that woman. She was citified but loved it here in the country—at least until she found out what a farmer's wife had to put up with. The late nights, dust and dirt, the greasy clothes and foregoing nights in town on the weekend finally got to her. From the first, in spite of her stated love for children she resented being tied down with my work and our kids.

Suzie began to spend more time with her school duties and then volunteered to be chaperone on the cheerleader's bus on away games. Then I found out she began driving herself to the games and afterward she and the head coach would stay in town and party for a while before coming home.

When I had caught on they were cheating on me and kicked her to the curb she laughed and said, "Well at least now I can get back to the good life. I did love you at one time Dean but no real woman can take this kind of life year in and year out. I'm so sorry but I just have to have more than sitting on the patio at night too damn tired to even go to bed.

She was awarded primary custody of the children in the divorce and tried to get some of the value of the farm. She was royally pissed when she found out mom still owned the farm and everything on it. I was being paid a wage for working the farm. To Suzie's horror she found it was a little less than hers so there wouldn't even be any support coming to her. I did get hit pretty hard with child support however.

Less than a year after we divorced I found out that Suzie planned to take the children to Japan. She and her new lover had obtained jobs with the Department of Defense School system to teach there. I refused to allow her to take the children out of the country. We ended up in court again but I won on that one. She was forbidden to take the children out of the state. To my surprise she then gave me full custody. When I told her how surprised I was she said, "What you did to me and the kids isn't right Dean. A child should be with its mother but I can't pass up this opportunity to see some of the world because you are a selfish prig. You have the children now. You can see how hard it is to have a life and a job and take care of them for a while." She smiled at me and hugged the kids one more time then she and her new asshole left.

Patty, my third wife was not so much of a surprise when she cheated on me. I should never have married her but I have to admit I was lonesome and desperate. We had hit it off pretty well and I ignored her flirting and touching with her fellow officers at the Sheriff's Department. I had met her at Jackie's and we hit it off enough we dated. We had a lot in common too. I had been a police officer for two years before I got canned when my first marriage broke up and she worked in dispatching for the sheriff. We knew some of the same people and she had grown up on a large farm in Iowa. I remembered how we joked around when I worked in law enforcement. I ignored her actions until I went to see her one day. I found her in her car with another Deputy. They were on their lunch break and she was eating his hot dog. Damn, another brush with the law for cold cocking a law dog.

At least he hadn't pressed charges and I didn't have a job to lose that time.

I continued to sit and stare across my fields while I slumped in dejection. Damn dust and bright lights had my eyes watering again. I hated that. I felt a presence nearby and turned my head. Crystal was standing about ten feet behind me. She saw my face and frowned. She walked up and plopped down on the ground beside me where she could look in my face.

"What's wrong Dean?" She looked at me a moment and leaned toward me. Before I knew what she was doing I felt her fingers wipe the water off my face.

"Nothing. Just setting here listening to the happy sounds and thinking."

"Whatcha thinkin' about?"

"Oh, nothing much. Just trippin' down memory lane I suppose. The kids sound so happy and it's sort of peaceful here. I was just enjoying the day."

"BULLSHIT. You can't shit a shitter here Dean. From the look of your face those weren't happy tears I wiped off your cheek. Now tell me what's wrong."

I kept telling Crystal nothing was wrong until she did something I never expected. She hit me with her fist and began crying. "DAMMIT Dean. I've worked for you now for four months. I've been with you part of almost every day and I know something's wrong today. I'm pretty sure it's not something Jackie or the kids or I have done because you usually tell us and you usually don't cry when you do. And don't try to feed me the old allergy or sunlight trick either. You've never had trouble with allergies and you know it and the wind isn't blowing enough to blow something into your eye."

I finally sighed and said, "Ok Crystal. I suppose I was feeling sorry for myself. I'm a damn loser and it hurts. I was listening to the kids laughing and playing with Ed and you girls were laughing in the kitchen and I was here all alone ok? I've been married three times and each time I chose a cheating bitch and I realized I'll never find or have a good woman for a wife ok? I'm a loser."

Crystal looked at me in shock then she slapped me. Before I could do much more than raise my hand to feel my burning cheek she began yelling at me. "You damn asshole. You know damn good and well there's nothing wrong with you. Well maybe there is. You're too damn gullible and you don't look at what a woman really is before you marry her. Then you're too damn trusting. NO, I don't mean that, I mean then they betray your trust and you think there's something wrong with you? Crap, the only thing wrong with you is you don't do your research before you let your heart or your dick get you into something you should run away from.

I'm the one who has a problem. What man wants a two time loser woman with two rug rats? I'm a millstone waiting to attach to a man and drag them down. They don't want anything to do with me. No man wants a readymade family that will suck all his income from him. If I can admit that to myself and be happy why can't you be happy with what you have?

Dean you have two wonderful children, work you love and friends that would do anything for you. Dean you have it all and sometime you will find the right woman if you just keep your eyes open." Crystal stood and started toward the house then stopped. "Oh," she said. "I forgot. I came down here to tell you the kids are ready for cake and ice cream. That is if you can get your head out of your ass and come up to the house."

I sat a moment staring at Crystal as she walked rapidly back to the house. Finally I got up and followed her. When I got to the kitchen I saw Ed sitting at the table looking toward the living room with a quizzical expression on his face. Ed turned to me and said, "What the hell went on out there? I've never seen Crystal that pissed off."

"I guess I pissed her off. I was feeling sorry for myself and we had a talk. I don't think she liked some of the things I said."

About that time Jackie came back into the kitchen and glared at me. She shook her head and said, "Dean sometimes I think you're about the dumbest man on the face of the earth." She then turned and began cutting cake and putting it and ice cream in dishes for everyone.

It was quiet while everyone ate their cake and ice cream. After that mess was cleaned up everyone went outside once more into the cooler dusk. We sat beside the stream and watched the kids swim and splash in the water while the adults visited. Occasionally we could see fireworks in the sky from nearby houses and way in the distance we saw the display from Steelville.

Finally about ten p.m. Ed and Jackie decided they needed to get home. They had to work the next day. Crystal rounded up her children and they all piled into Ed's SUV for the drive back. My children and I stood watching until they turned onto the highway then we went inside for their baths and bed.

This was another night I had trouble getting to sleep. I kept thinking about my past life and what Crystal had said at the creek. Maybe she was right but dammit she couldn't be could she? Hell I know she was wrong. Hell, I had known Terri almost all my life. How could I have foreseen what she would do?

Suzie had been a Teacher and went to church every Sunday. Who would have thought she would be a cheater? I had known her for months before we even began dating. We had dated for almost a year before we got married. I thought I knew her for sure.

Crystal might have been right about Patty. We had only known and dated each other for nine months before I married her but hell; she worked in law enforcement and had grown up on a farm. I knew what kind of character those jobs required didn't I? What was I doing wrong? What was Crystal trying to tell me?

To my surprise I was still asleep the next morning when Crystal and her children arrived. I hadn't expected her so early because all I was doing that day was making hay. Hell I couldn't start until the dew was off the grass and that was usually about ten a.m.

Boy I sure came awake with a start when four children slammed through the bedroom door and hit the side of the bed. It was after 7 a.m. Stacy smiled and said, "Come on Daddy. Crystal's making breakfast and she says you gotta come now or it'll get cold. She's making your favorite omelets and she's even making us kid's pecan oatmeal waffles."

Sissy said, "Yeah Mr. Thomas. Come on we gotta eat now." She started to pull the covers off me and I grabbed the sheet.

"NO. Don't do that Sissy," I said. When Tim and Howard saw what she was doing they grabbed the sheet too and pulled. The three were too much for me since I didn't have a good grip on the material. The sheet pulled from over me and fell onto the floor beside the bed. I was bending over reaching for it when I heard steps in the hallway.

Crystal came through the door into my room and said, "Hey, what's the holdup here. I need you to get into the kitchen right now or the food will be cold."

She looked up then and stopped in shock. I was just pulling the cover back over me when I saw her blush. Little Tim just made things worse. "Mommy why is Mr. Thomas naked? You won't let me sleep naked why does he?"

Crystal's blush deepened and she turned away from me. "You kids get out of Mr. Thomas' room now. I'm sure he'll be along shortly."

When I got to the kitchen Crystal was having a hard time with Tim. I stood listening to her explanation of my sleeping attire or lack thereof. "Tim sometimes grownups choose to do things that aren't right for children. They uh. Well Tim its Mr. Thomas's house so he can sleep like that if he wants to."

"You mean I can sleep naked in our house now? That's sooo cool. Hey Sissy we can sleep naked now in our house."

"NO! That's not what I mean Tim. I mean sometimes adults"

I walked into the room and sat at my place. I looked at Tim and said, "Let me help with this one Crystal. Look Tim sometimes adults choose to do things that" I saw Crystal glaring at me and changed my thought. I continued, "Well Tim I guess it's sort of a comfort thing and a privacy thing but mostly I think it's an adult thing. Grownups don't have to worry about being seen in the privacy of their rooms naked and sometimes it's better for them if they sleep naked. When you get older I'm sure you can figure out things like this but right now you need to do what your mother says because she knows when it is ok to do things and when it isn't. You see in the privacy of your own room sometimes it's ok to do things it's not ok to do otherwise."

"So if I'm in my room all alone I can be naked too?"

"No Tim. You have to do what your mother says and you see sometimes an adult has to go check on you so you shouldn't be naked when they could see."

"But mommy sees me naked all the time. Why can she see me naked in the bath tub and when I'm dressing and not when I'm sleeping?"

"Well Tim because she has to help you do those things but she doesn't have to help you sleep. You can sleep all alone and you need to be dressed then in your PJ's."

"So it's ok for a grown up to sleep naked because no one will see them then?"

"Well sort of Tim. It's the grown up's choice. No one should be naked where others can see them if they or the others might be offended or if you're in public. You see I was in my bed alone and no one could see me. I was covered properly so there was no problem then you kids came in and pulled the covers from me. That was what was wrong with it. That was sort of like you were in town and someone tried to undress you. That would be wrong wouldn't it?"

Tim smiled and nodded his head. "So it was like we undressed you then Mr. Thomas. I'm sorry we did that. But if covers are sort of like clothes then why can't I go to bed naked and cover up?"

Crystal was smiling at me trying her hardest not to laugh. Finally she said, "Ok Tim. That's enough. You just have to realize its Mr. Thomas's bedroom and his house and he can do what he wants in it. He's a grown up and if he wanted to sleep naked or in a suit he is allowed to do that. You can't do that because I'm your mother and I say I don't want you to ok?"

"OK Mommie but I sure would like to sleep naked."

After breakfast I wandered out to the patio and drank my coffee. After she had cleaned up Crystal came out with her cup and sat beside me on the swing. I looked at her. She had a smirk on her face. "Damn Crystal. I'm sorry I caused that. Tim sure has a one track mind doesn't he?"

"Well Dean he is a little man you know and I've never known a one of you who doesn't want to get naked every chance he gets. Thank you though for trying to help."

Crystal and I had another cup of coffee then I decided it was dry enough to get to work. Things went well and I stopped early for a change. I was able to send Crystal and the kid's home early. For some reason Crystal seemed upset when I told her to go on and let me clean up the kitchen.

Finally it was time for Crystal's final hearing on her divorce. Her husband had been dragging his feet now for a little over four months. I arranged my work so I could watch all four of the children. We decided to go to town and buy some supplies while she was in court. I needed some filters and other parts for my equipment so one of the stops was the implement dealer.

The parts clerk smiled when I walked in and said, "Hello Dean. We haven't seen you in here for a while. Where's that pretty wife of yours today?"

I felt a cold shock rush through me and I suppose my face showed it. The clerk said, "Oh, touchy subject huh? Sorry. I'm just so used to seeing her in for parts for you now. Well tell her I said hello when you get home."

"I don't have a wife any more. We've been divorced now for almost a year."

"What? You're divorced and she's still running all over for parts for you? Man how did you convince her to do that?"

Now I was confused. I knew Patty had never come in for parts for me. I finally got my brain working and said, "Oh, you mean Crystal. That's not my wife. She just helps with the kids and runs errands for me sometime. She's over at the courthouse today trying to get a divorce from her cheating husband. Sorry for the mix-up."

"You're kidding right? Man the way that woman talks about you...Shit I wish my woman talked as good about me as she does you. Now, what'll it be today?"

I'm glad this was my last stop. I couldn't think about anything except what old man Scoggins had said at the parts counter. What had Crystal been saying about me anyway?"

Crystal and I got back to my place about the same time. When she came into the house she looked very upset. I looked at her and asked, "Well how did it go today. Is it over?"

Crystal's face screwed up and she began to bawl. She said, "Yes. NO. The judge granted the divorce but he held child support open pending a DNA test on the kids. That Asshole claims they aren't his kids and is trying to get out of paying child support. How could he think that? He was the one cheating. When did I ever have the time even if I had wanted to?"

Crystal collapsed onto the couch beside me. I didn't even think. I wrapped my arm around her and pulled her to my chest. I was stroking her beautiful hair when all four children came into the room. Sissy asked what was wrong and tried to hug her mother.

I said, "Kids your mother is sad because your father said some bad things to her today. Why don't you go on and play in your room while I talk to her and make her feel better?"

Crystal looked up at me and tried to smile. I felt her hand caress my chest as she wrapped her arm around me. She lay there and silently cried for several minutes. I just held her and gently stroked her in a calming manner. Her sobs slowed and stopped. I looked down and she was breathing gently, slowly. She had drifted off to sleep resting against my chest. Damn, what was I going to do now?

I just sat holding Crystal while she slept. Finally almost thirty minutes after she had fallen asleep Crystal moaned and moved. I looked down in time to see her eyes pop open. She gasped and rapidly sat upright. She looked at me in shock and blushed. I grinned to myself when I saw the little indentations in her blouse from her hard nipples. "Oh, I'm sorry Dean," she said. "Why did you let me go to sleep on you?

"No problem Crystal. You obviously needed the rest and I really didn't mind. I didn't have anything better to do than hold a friend and help her feel better."

"Really? Well thank you anyway. I suppose I had better get supper on now. It's going to be late as it is." Crystal started for the kitchen then turned back to me and said, "Dean would you mind if we spent the night tonight? I really don't feel like driving to Jackie's after supper."

"No problem. Crystal you really don't have to ask if you can spend the night. I enjoy having you. In fact after school starts I think you should spend the week nights here anyway so Tim can go to Kindergarten down here. That way you can keep working and not have to make arrangements for him to stay at Jackie's or go pick him up every day and take him in. We'll just tell the school you live here and they will enroll him as a resident student."

"Dean are you asking me to move in with you?"

"Uh, well not exactly. I mean you should just stay here to make it easier on you and the kids. I don't mean you have to sleep with me or anything like that. We can just go on like we are now and."