A Hero's Return Pt. 01

We settled things with my assurance that I'd call my mom to see if Stacy could stay with her until my deployment ended, hopefully in another 5 or 6 months.

Late in the afternoon the phone rang again, it was Kathy. I answered but as soon as I heard Kathy say "Bob? Oh Bob, please give me a chance to explain" I passed the phone to Stacy without saying a word.

"What mom?" Stacy's voice was hard and cold and she held the phone away from her ear so I could hear what her mother was saying.

"Stacy, I need to talk to your dad."

"I told you mom, he doesn't want to talk to you."

"But I need to explain to him."

"Explain what mom? What can you possibly tell dad that will explain what you and Donald Connelly have been doing for the past 6 months?"

"It's not what you think Stacy."

"Yes mom, it is exactly what dad and I think. You've turned your back on both of us in the worst way a woman can turn her back on her family. Shame on you mom! Shame on you!" Stacy was hollering at her mother at this point.

I could hear Kathy crying. "I didn't mean to hurt anyone Stacy."

"Well you did hurt people mom, people who loved you more than anything in the world and you ripped the heart out of the one man that would die for you. I hope you're proud of yourself mom. I hope your sordid affair was worth it, because it cost you your family, whatever that's worth to you. I just hope that one day you will wake up from this fantasy world you're living in and realize how selfish and stupid you have been."

"Oh please Stacy, I love you and your dad."

"Yeah, right mom and pigs fly. If you love us you have a really strange way of showing it and I hate to think what you'd do if you hated us. Now do you need something or can I go back to spending time with my dad?"

There was a sound of Kathy crying. "I need some things" she said quietly. "I need some clothes and I need...I need my pills." That last part came out softly.

"What pills would that be mom?"

"Oh god...my pills...my birth control pills."

"Oh sure, how stupid of me, of course you do, we couldn't have you carrying around the mayor's bastard child now could we mom? That would really cramp your style huh. Hard to neck on the dance floor when you're fat and pregnant? Well. I'll tell dad and I'm sure between the two of us we can manage to pack your clothes and your birth-control-pills."

"And my makeup too Stacy."

"Oh right mom. Of course, as the town's society queen you have to keep looking beautiful for his royal highness the mayor and your adoring public. I'll make sure everything is out at the curb by 6 tonight so you can drive by and pick it up. Have a nice night mom." and she hung the phone up and immediately Stacy began to cry. I put my arms around my daughter.

"You were kind of hard on your mom Stacy."

"I know" she hiccupped, "I'm not proud of it, but I'm so angry I couldn't help it. I just had to unload on her."

"I know baby, I know. We'll get through this Stacy. We won't let them win." I gave her another hug and left her to round up the things her mother needed and I went to my office. I needed to think and there were a lot of things I had to do in the next few days. My army training kicked in allowing me to methodically work through everything.

I was an expert at putting together battle plans and this was in all respects a battle. The usual minutia was a no brainer; find a good divorce lawyer; cancel our joint credit cards; get one credit card in my name and one in Stacy's; change the beneficiary to Stacy on my life insurance and retirement plans and move half the money in the checking and savings accounts into accounts accessible only by Stacy and me.

The more difficult tasks had to do with how to deal with Mayor Connelly, he had to be punished and punished in a way that would make him out to be nothing more than a cowardly wife stealing scumbag. Part of the answer to that task came at 8 that evening in the form of a phone call which I answered.

"Crawford residence."

"Robert Crawford?" I didn't recognize the man's voice.

"That's right, Major Robert Crawford." I don't know why I threw that in, but I guess I wanted to make an early statement.

"Major Crawford, my name is Ray Swanson. I'm a city councilman here and a friend of Mayor Connelly. I was wondering if I could talk to you about the little misunderstanding involving you, your wife and the Mayor last night."

"Little misunderstanding? Is that the city's official spin on my wife and Donald Connelly's fuck a-thon at the Radisson till 2 this morning?"

"Now, now, there's no need for that kind of language, we're just talking about a little late night party between two consenting adults who likely had a little too much to drink and got carried away a bit. I'm sure if we just talk about it we can straighten everything out."

"Nothing to talk about Ray? Mayor Connelly has been fucking my wife for the past six months while I've been in Afghanistan and last night I caught them."

"I understand how troubling that is to you Major, but I'm hoping that we can find a way to work through this for everyone's sake."

"Who's everyone Ray? My only concern is for my daughter, the rest of you can go to hell."

"I'm sorry you feel that way Major. The Mayor is a powerful man in this community and anything that might drag him down or make him look bad could result in some, shall we say, negative things happening to whoever caused that to happen."

"Are you threatening me Ray?"

"Just telling it like it is Major. I personally would hate to see anything happen to you or anyone you love."

"Let me tell you something Ray and I strongly suggest you listen carefully. I've spent the last six months dealing with the Taliban, meeting them at every turn and filling their lives with pain and suffering. Don't ever get the idea that I will back down from a fight with a tinhorn, wife stealing scumbag Mayor of a town that barely rates a dot on the state map.

You and your friend the Mayor have never met an adversary like me. I don't give a shit how powerful you think you are, you are messing with the devil if you take me on. That's something my soon to be ex wife forgot to mention to the Mayor before she got involved with him.

You might have money behind you Ray, but I have every man and woman within 100 miles who ever served in the United States Armed Forces. See, we don't like men who take advantage of our soldier's wives while they are fighting a war overseas. In fact we loathe and detest them. Here's a little advice Councilman Swanson, don't fuck with me. Remove yourself as far away from Mayor Connelly as you possibly can or you just might find yourself burned by the fire that's about to pour down on your good friend Mayor Connelly."

"Major, please, let's be reasonable. Surely there's an amount of money, let's say a large amount of money that could change hands and salve over the hurt feelings caused by this unfortunate incident?"

"There aren't any hurt feelings Ray, there's just cold damning rage that a man like Donald Connelly could take advantage of a soldier's wife while he was fighting a war, defending his country and there isn't enough money in Fort Knox to make that go away.

The only possible way for this to end to my satisfaction is to see Connelly and my wife feel the pain they've caused my daughter and me. And you have my permission to pass that message on to both of them. Tell them to get all the fucking they can in as quickly as they can, because I promise that in a very short time they may not feel like doing it anymore, at least not with each other."

"Major, listen, I'm in a tight spot here. When word gets out about this a lot of heads will roll. There must be some way we can make this go away."

"Well, if you are sincere about wanting that to happen, it can start by Connelly publically admitting that he has been having an affair with an army officer's wife while that officer was fighting a war in Afghanistan. Then he can follow that up by apologizing and admitting his mistake and stepping down as mayor of this community and slinking off into obscurity. He can even claim the booby prize and take my cheating wife along with him. Nothing short of that will change my mind about publically humiliating him and bringing him to his knees."

"Damn, you're really serious about this aren't you?"

"As serious as I have ever been about anything Ray. Now if you'll excuse me I have to fix dinner for my daughter" and I hung up.

Stacy came in from the garage. "I put mom's clothes and stuff out by the curb and someone I didn't recognize, in a black Mercedes stopped and picked it up."

"Well for your mom's sake let's hope that person was sent by Connelly or there will be some mighty nice clothes for sale at Goodwill." I smiled at Stacy, "I'm not sure what Goodwill would do with her birth control pills." Stacy just giggled.

"I packed her regular clothes, but couldn't get myself to include any of her fancy nightgowns. She has some pretty erotic teddies that I've never seen before. Just looking at them makes me sick."

"It's ok Stacy, thank you for handling that." She just nodded her head.

"You know you're going to have to eventually talk to her."

"I know, I will, when I'm ready and the time is right."

The rest of the weekend went by without incident. Stacy helped me do laundry while I spent time working on my plan to bring down Mayor Connelly.

Monday morning I called a guy I knew at the local paper and arranged to meet him.

John Foster met me for coffee at Denny's. He was a nice guy and a reputable reporter and a few years back had been a Sergeant in my National Guard Company. "What can I do for you Major?"

"John, I've got some information for you and what you do with it is up to you. It may sound self serving to you and in a way it is. As I'm sure you know our Guard Company has been deployed to Afghanistan for the past six months." Foster nodded. "Well what you may not know is that the whole time we've been away Donald Connelly has been having a rather public affair with the wife of one of our soldiers."

"What's the soldiers name Bob?"

"I'd rather not say John unless it becomes absolutely necessary. I know if I was being cuckold by a slime ball like Connelly I wouldn't want the word to get out."

"I've seen the two of them together, very cozy. The scuttlebutt on the street is that she is separated from her husband and is going through a divorce."

"I guarantee you that's not the truth John. In face the husband had no knowledge of the affair until a week ago, no separation except the war and no divorce, at least not yet."

"I understand Major, but I can't make unfounded accusations against the mayor of this town and not get sued. Do you have any proof of the affair?"

"I do" and I showed him the pictures and video I'd taken. "Of course I'd appreciate it if the woman's face was blurred a little.

Foster caught on immediately and showed some discomfort. "Are you sure you want to go through with this Bob? You know the truth will eventually come out?"

I shook my head sadly, "I know John, but I'll just have to deal with the shame. It's not like I was aware of it while it was going on. While Connelly was fucking my wife, I was 10,000 miles away in that miserable sand box ducking bullets. The real shame is on Connelly. You're one of us so you know what a breach of trust it is to take advantage of a soldier in harm's way by having an adulterous affair with his wife."

Foster looked sad and nodded. "Let me see what I can do. You're sure it's been going on the whole time you've been gone?"

"Yeah, there are other people who've known about it the whole time, people who can't be identified for their protection." I transferred the photos and video to his cell phone and we spent another ten minutes talking about the three guys from our company that gave their all in the deployment then we shook hands and went our separate ways.

My next step was to find a good divorce lawyer. I found a couple of names online and after checking their references chose one that looked promising. R.J. Collins Esq. had an office in the downtown district and I made an appointment for that afternoon. When I got to the office I was surprised to discover that R.J. stood for Ravenna Joy, a tomboyish looking woman about 50 with graying hair and a no nonsense attitude.

"Major Crawford, what can I do for you?" I liked the way she got right down to business.

"I need a divorce and I can tell you up front it's not going to be a pleasant one."

She rolled her eyes at me. "There's no such thing as a pleasant divorce Major, but I'll play along. Why won't your divorce be pleasant?"

"Because while I've been in Afghanistan the last six months the mayor of this little town has been bedding my wife on a regular basis."

Her eyes flew open and she dropped the pen she was holding. "You mean Connelly?" I nodded yes. "Major, you have my undivided attention."

For the next half hour I told her everything while she took notes, stopping me occasionally for clarification or to ask a question.

"So your daughter Stacy, is she an only child? And she's 15? How does she feel about what's going on?"

"She hates it, it's tearing her up. She doesn't want to stay with her mother when I go back to Afghanistan."

"Well she's old enough that the court will take her desires into consideration, but since she can't go to war with you, is there another option, beside your wife?"

"My mom. I'll call her to see if she'll take Stacy until my deployment is up in 6 months. I'm sure she'd love to have her granddaughter stay with her for a while."

We talked for the better part of an hour. I gave her the information about our finances and she told me I need to talk with my wife to see if there was any possible way we could get past what had happened. I told her if she had seen the look in their eyes when they were together she would understand why there was no way Kathy and I could ever put this behind us and I wanted the papers ready to serve as soon as possible.

Another week went by, this time Kathy only called the house 5 times to talk to me, each time I told her I would let her know where and when and cut the conversation short. On Friday I heard from my attorney that the divorce papers were ready to be served, she just needed to know where. I told her I'd invite Kathy to my home the following Monday at 2, while Stacy was in school and she could be served at that time.

I called Kathy's cell and told her I'd like to meet with her Monday at 2 at the house. She tried to keep me on line to begin her obviously rehearsed explanation for her behavior but I cut her off, telling her that she would have all the time she needed for explanations when we met.

On Monday Kathy arrived a few minutes before 2 and we sat down at the kitchen table. When I saw her my heart did flips, she looked so beautiful. I guess having an affair with Connelly had been good for her.

"Coffee?"

"No just water please?"

"I know you want to have the opportunity to tell me some things and I will give you that opportunity."

"Thank you Bob."

"I don't want you to get caught off guard though so I do need to tell you before you begin that in a little while someone will show up and serve you with divorce papers." Her face lost all its color.

"Why Bob, I don't want that."

"I didn't want you to have a 6 month affair with Donald Connelly either so I guess neither one of us gets our way."

"Bob please, if you'll just hear me out you'll see why this happened and how we can get around it."

I nodded my head, "go ahead, talk."

"You know I worked on Donald's election campaign. The whole time we were thrown together at functions and on precinct walks and we got to be friends. After you were deployed I was lonely and depressed and Donald bought me lunch and let me use him for a sounding board. He really helped me get through the pain of missing you. Then one night he asked me to attend a dinner event with him. He said there would be a number of very influential couple on hand and that it might be best if I used my maiden name and left my wedding rings at home, just to keep rumors from getting started. I didn't think about it at the time, but now I see where taking my rings off was a mistake. We met so many people that night and all of them ended up seeing me as a single woman."

"When did the sex start?"

She looked down at her hands. "Not right away, though we did dance closely that night and when he took me home he kissed me good night."

"And you let him?"

"I was lonely Bob and I'd just spent a romantic night with a handsome man who had stature in the community and who treated me like a princess."

"Treated you like a princess while your husband was fighting a war and that gave you the right to disrespect me?"

"No, no it didn't, but I was confused. You were so far away and I missed you so much and, I don't know, he just made me feel good."

I nodded and she went on. "We went to dinner a couple of times a week after that and to more and more events. I was starting to have such a good time with him and it made me miss you less."

"The sex?"

She looked down at her hands again. "You'd been gone a month. Donald and I were going out 2 or 3 times a week. One night, after a romantic dinner he asked me to go home with him."

"And you did."

She nodded sadly, "and I did. I felt horrible afterward. I actually got sick to my stomach and made him take me home. I told him I couldn't see him anymore, that I loved my husband and I couldn't believe that I'd been unfaithful to you while you were fighting a war."

"But, you changed your mind."

Again she nodded sadly. "Donald left me alone for several days, then he called me and told me how much he missed me. He said he wanted to see me again, but just as friends. He promised he would never put me in a compromising position again, that he too felt bad about what we had done."

"So you saw him again?"

"Yes, that weekend he took me to a party at one of his friends' homes on the bluffs. It was an intimate party with just 5 or 6 couples, all very important people. Sometime during the evening the wife of a prominent doctor asked me how I'd managed to capture the heart of the town's most eligible bachelor. She caught me off guard and I couldn't think of a plausible answer so I just told her that I was separated from my husband and that we were getting a divorce. In a town this size, that bit of information spread like wildfire and I felt trapped. Stacy was spending the weekend with some friends at a horse camp and I ended up spending the weekend with Donald at his home."

"And the rest as they say, is history."

"Yes. I am heartbroken that I hurt you and Stacy Bob. It was the worst thing I've ever done in my life and I'd give anything to undo it."

"But you can't"

"No..I can't."

"Do you love him?"

"I don't know if I love him. I like him a lot. We have so much fun together."

"Yes, I remember. Fucking can be wonderful fun. Is he a better lover than me?"

"No, oh, I don't know it's different."

"Does he make you cum?"

"Yes."

"More than I did?"

"I think about the same."

"Have you been staying with him since I caught you at the hotel?"

"Yes."

"And still having sex with him?"

"Yes."

"Are you going to marry him?"

"I don't know, we've talked about it."

The doorbell rang. "I think that's for you Kathy" and she got up and slowly walked to the door.

"Are you Kathy Crawford?" She nodded yes and was handed a manila envelope. "You're been served."

For the longest time Kathy just stood there looking out the door, holding the envelope in her hands. When she finally closed the door and turned around I could see she was crying.

"So it's really over between us Bob?"