2008 Ch. 07

We ordered lunch and I had a sandwich, Elizabeth split a BBQ chicken salad. At 2:00 on the money Emily walked through the door, saw Liz and stopped. I faced away from her and was wearing a ball cap but I could see her reflection in a window. Liz stood and picked up the envelope. Neither Beth or I moved or even looked directly at Emily. When Liz took a step another woman stepped out on the patio. I guessed it was Emily's Mom.

The older woman pointed to a table, as far from us and the door as practical. They sat and the waitress got their drink order. Liz talked. After about two minutes Emily started to cry. Both Liz and Emily's Mom patted her arm. Liz patted the envelope.

Emily nodded and her mother shook her head. I guessed Liz had just asked if they wanted to see the pictures.

Liz opened the envelope and didn't bring out the pictures. She signaled to me and I walked to their table and sat down. Momma asked, "Who are you?"

Emily answered, "He's Pete, Brad's brother." Her voice was flat. Not angry, not surprised, flat.

I said, "I have no way of knowing what Kaye said to you when she called. I know what I found out. Kaye is the woman that had sex with Brad, she was also married to me at the time. Before you judge Brad's actions alone maybe you should see the evidence in the envelope. I pulled out an 8X10 of Kaye standing by the clothesline pole. She was facing the camera and about twelve names showed on her.

"The names you see are names of men she had sex with while she was married to me. The name just above her genitals is a tattoo of her last lover's name."

Momma pointed to Brad's name. I said, "I wrote those names on her and when I wrote that one I asked if it was my brother. She said yes and told me when it happened."

I pulled the second picture out and it was of Kaye facing away from the camera. I said, "All total there are twenty-one names on her. Twenty men and a woman. All of them while she was married to me. Kaye had something wrong in her. I'll never know what it was. Something compelled her to go after men and women she didn't really care for, she said for the excitement."

I put the pictures side by side. I said, "The day these pictures were taken I had taken her to a cabin owned by my uncle to see if we couldn't reconcile and repair our marriage. I took a counselor with us. Kaye was willing to go to the cabin and unwilling to work things out, unless I would allow her to keep doing strangers anytime she got a whim."

Emily was crying and her mother looked stunned. I pointed at Beth. "She was there when I wrote the names on Kaye. We took her to the bus station in Julian and she saw me give Kaye five hundred dollars to get home with. If you'd like to talk to her I can call her over."

"No, I get the picture. Brad was taken in, just like everyone else." Emily said.

"Do you think Brad is hurting?" Liz asked.

"I hope so! I know I am."

"I invited him over for Thanksgiving dinner. After dinner I recorded a conversation he had with Liz. He doesn't know I was recording him." I pulled the recorder out and hit PLAY. Emily listened for the entire eighteen minutes of Brad describing their five year marriage.

At the beginning her face was pretty stony. When he talked about her support and how he appreciated it, felt loved, honored and like he had married someone better than he deserved... she softened. When he talked about the miscarriages and her lump she bawled and held her face in her hands. He ended the tape by describing the pain of being alone, of the self-recriminations and guilt and the hours he had spent thinking about doing what Kaye had done, ending the pain with a gun.

I stopped the recording and we sat quietly. When Emily had calmed down enough to look at me again I reached in the envelope and pulled out the list. Then I pulled out Kaye's suicide note and handed it to Emily. Her Momma leaned over and they read it together.

When Emily finished reading her Momma took it and read it again, to herself. She gave it back to me. We were quiet.

"I can forgive him. He had one slip in five years and he didn't go after her. God! I played judge, jury and executioner without finding out the whole story. Pete, your brother was honest with me. When Kaye called he was helping a friend fix his car. I had two hours before he got home and I was ready to kill when he walked through the door. I screamed at him, "Did you fuck Kaye Peterson on our wedding day?"

"He nodded his head and said, "Yes, and I've regretted it every day since." I made what he said mean he regretted marrying me, not regretted fucking Kaye!"

Liz pulled out her cell phone and dialed Brad's number. She asked, "Want to speak to Brad? He knows nothing about this except we were intending to help you both."

As Emily reached for the phone Liz hit SEND and it rang in Brad's pocket. I put everything back in the envelope and we walked back to Beth and sat down. Momma followed us and sat with us.

"You must love your brother a lot." She said.

"Oh? Before Thanksgiving we hadn't spoken in months. In the last five years I think we've seen each other a half dozen times. It took until the day I took the pictures of Kaye that I understood why. He wasn't avoiding me. He was avoiding Kaye. As men we don't communicate well."

"I'd say you communicate quite well. Emily will take him back. I won't see them for at least a month, they'll be getting reacquainted."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Beth asked.

"For them. I've seen more of my daughter since they split up than I have since they got married. Since my husband died, I've been lonely."

"And, there is no one else you could be friends with, except Emily?" Beth asked.

"It's easier with her, we already know each other."

"You should get back over there and talk her out of loving Brad. She's ruining your life so she can have one. How selfish." I said, motioning with my hands for her to go. She started to get up, stopped and sat down.

"I want her to be happy. More than I want to be happy, I want her to be happy."

Liz smiled and softly said, "Then I would recommend you love them both and have them over for dinner once a month. Come when invited to their house, but not more than twice a month."

She thanked the three of us and stood up. Liz said, "If you get a chance, I'd like my cell phone back."

Emily's momma hurried over to the table and communicated the need for the return of the cell phone. Emily blushed, spoke for a few more moments and then carried the phone back to Liz. She hugged all three of us and said, "We'll have you over for dinner someday soon. Thank you."

They left beaming.