Covet

Now all of a sudden plans would have to change. We started talking and came up with a solution. We would have a quiet wedding, I would go out to work and support her through law school. When she got a job, she would support me while I got my MBA. Then we would live happily ever after.

That was when the shit hit the fan. I met her mother, also known as, The Evil Bitch Of The North. She screamed at me for ruining her daughter's life from day one and she never let up on me since then. My grandmother, who had raised me also had reservations about the marriage, but, limited it to insisting that her house which I would eventually inherit be protected by a pre nuptial agreement.

Denise was pissed about that, but, my grandmother insisted and she finally signed off on that. We had our quiet shotgun wedding and began living together.

That last year in school was rough with Denise's pregnancy and me trying to support us with any number of odd jobs that came along. I mowed yards, I did small home repairs, I did contract labor, nothing was too low as long as it brought money to the table.

Somehow we made it through with us both graduating. Denise gave birth to our daughter, Susan, and Denise was accepted into law school. Denise's mom flooded her house with graduation pictures and pictures of the baby. I wasn't included in any of them.

I had lucked into a stock brokerage internship which meant I basically did all the shitty jobs that none of the brokers would do. But I persevered from doing cold calls, to going out to get lunch deliveries. By persevering I wound up getting my broker's license and began trading stocks under the supervision of a senior broker; as my expertise grew, so did my salary.

I started to notice despite every promotion we were still unable to save any money as Denise would find new opportunities to spend every dime I got.

Then came her third year in law school and she announced she was pregnant once again. Eight months later our son, Brian was born. Now I was responsible for caring for a newborn; a three year old toddler; and a wife focusing on law school finals and then taking the bar.

The times were countless that I held my temper as Denise or her mother would gripe about something. Still I knew how important it was for Denise to realize her dream so I sucked it up and continued to try to be her support as she spent time with her study group.

A couple of times I would briefly join them when they went to blow off steam at some bar. I would leave early so I could tend to the babies and allow Denise some "me" time. My goals didn't match the approval of some of the testosterone driven male study partners as they would ridicule me in front of Denise.

I was ready to beat the ever loving shit out of them, but, I knew that would impact negatively on Denise. So I swallowed my pride and pretended that I didn't hear or realize I was the butt of their jokes.

Finally, the day arrived that finals were over and my Denise wound up being number 3 in her class. I felt pride as she marched across the stage at graduation while I held our children. She was glowing as she introduced me to countless classmates and then left me to attend a graduation party. She didn't come home till ten the next morning explaining that she had crashed at her friend's house after she had over imbibed.

I argued with her that she should've called me to pick her up. That led to much yelling which in turn caused our children to start crying. Which meant I spent the next couple of hours calming our children. Then I decided to let it slide since the damage was already done and why upset the children again.

If I thought law school was intense, then studying for the Bar was sheer unadulterated Hell. Denise and her study partners, eat, lived, breathed, the law 24/7 for four months preparing for the three-day ordeal. Again, I did what I could to support her from foot massages to going on midnight ice cream runs. Denise came through in flying colors as she had the top grade on the bar exam.

Denise had no trouble landing a high paying corporate job in Dallas. So we moved and I thought I would start my MBA at SMU. I was quickly informed that I would have to put that idea on hold. Denise argued that we needed to start out with as much money as we could while she worked to make partner in her firm. She said if I could hold off till then she would support me in getting my MBA.

She convinced me it was necessary for us to have a two-income family so we could start our nest egg. So I found a brokerage firm in Dallas and began working for them. I soon found out that Denise subscribed to the Joseph Stalin philosophy that what was hers, was hers. What was mine, was negotiable.

I was responsible for paying the rent, our cars, the household budget, our student loans and every other expense under the sun. Denise was responsible for Denise and every attempt I made to account for her salary resulted in a screaming tirade by her. I never found out where her salary went.

We stayed a decade in Dallas before corporate headquarters transferred Denise to Atlanta. I suggested to Denise that we fix up my grandmother's house that I did inherit after she died. Denise refused that idea claiming the dilapidated house looked like the Addams' family mansion. I explained to her that the Victorian mansion could easily be fixed to her satisfaction for the amount she wanted to spend. I think a lot of it was she still felt insulted by my grandmother's demand for a pre nuptial.

Instead Denise found a house with an expensive price tag and a repressive home owners association. I begged her to reconsider, but, she had her mind made up. So against my wish, I found myself signing paperwork to purchase a house I didn't like; in a neighborhood I didn't like; paying the required dues to a country club I didn't like.

Once again I changed jobs in a brokerage firm where I was low man on the totem pole. I continued to scrap by barely able to cover our expenses from month to month. The friction was causing stress in our marriage as she began to denigrate me in front of the children.

The final straw was when the house started breaking down and the home owners' association insisted on me making expensive repairs that I could not cover. I dreaded going to Denise, but, I was on the razor's edge. My last job review stated I had reached my plateau in earning capacity. In other words I was stuck in my job with no hope of advancement.

I sat down with Denise and once again tried to explain our precarious situation. I showed her my copy of my job review even though it shamed me. Again, she sneered at me declaring her mother had been right about me all along. I sat defeated at the table as she got up and left.

The next day she told me she had a solution. Her company needed someone to go to their Chicago office and run it until further notice. The scuttlebutt was that whoever got the assignment was the favorite to be the next partner in the law firm. She and the children would go stay with her mom; while I remained down here to clean up the mess I made. Even I could manage to do something right if I had a head start. I held back from unleashing on her.

I was sad to see the children weren't overly upset with the notion that we would be separated from me. Mostly, they seemed excited on the prospect of moving to Chicago to be spoiled by their grandmother. For me the departure at the airport broke my heart, but, the three of them were eager to leave.

I went back home and cried.

The next day I made an appointment with the home owners' association board to discuss my plan to repair the house to their standards. They rejected my plan outright and placed a series of draconian terms I would be forced to comply with. I would have to sacrifice to make everything work.

Even with the temporary relief from my family leaving I was still just managing to tread water financially. I began with the simple jobs that didn't take much knowledge or skills and completed them first then I would start on the more complex jobs.

It seemed for every job I completed, two new ones would erupt and I began to despise the money pit I lived in. I could only occasionally get my family on the phone and when I did they would terminate the call as quickly as they could.

I began to drink heavily.

That was frowned upon at my office, but, by this time I didn't give a damn. The months passed by until the winter holidays got close. I called to ask Denise to come home so I could be with my family. She told me that wasn't possible due to her work schedule. Then I suggested my flying up there; she told me, my priority was to fix the house, not spend money for a vacation. Besides, Denise intimated that her family would be away for Thanksgiving so there was no need to come up. She handed the phone off to Susan who told me that the family was gathering at her grandmother's and she was so excited to see her cousins. Then Brian got on the phone and told me that his uncle was taking him to the Bears' game at Soldier Field on Thanksgiving.

Something wasn't adding up and I finally had my fill of the situation. I decided that I would go to Chicago.

I certainly found the answers to questions I never thought of before. Such as how easily I was replaced. The worst answer was when Susan turned eighteen. I had tried in vain to contact her and Brian after my trip to Chicago a number of times leaving countless voice messages begging them to call me. They never did return my calls.

Two weeks after Susan's birthday I got a large manila envelope in the mail. Susan had filed in Cook County to change her name from Susan Ann Mallon to Susan Ann Starling. Her reasoning was she wanted the name of her biological father, Paul L. Starling. Attached were affidavits from Susan Mallon and Paul Starling which alleged they had began an intimate relationship in college through law school which resulted in the birth of their daughter. This was confirmed by the notarized DNA results from three reputable labs. Included was the file stamped copy of the judge's order granting the name change.

Right then I knew that when Brian turned eighteen I would get a similar surprise.

Then I got the call from Denise. She asked if I had received a package in the mail and I told her I had. She explained that copy was supposed to go to her mother but due to a secretary's mistake it had been addressed to me. She assured me that the secretary had been terminated for making the mistake.

"No Denise, I'm the one that been making mistakes. The problem is I've been making them for more than twenty years." I hung up the phone and soon after that I got served the divorce papers. Despite her having the higher paying job, she insisted that I was not entitled to an equitable division of the marital assets. What was hers was hers and what was mine was mine. Except for that money pit called a house. Even though she never paid a penny on the house; she expected to get 50% of that asset when it was sold. In other words, I would be out $400,000 dollars. I wonder how she reacted when she immediately received back the draconian property settlement agreement with my signature attached with no protest.

***************

I took time to refocus on the floors and realized that I went on auto pilot and the floors were sanded and buffed and ready for staining and varnishing. I was proud of the progress that I was making and tomorrow would see the stain job completed and mid week I would start adding the several coats of varnish to protect the stain. The stain I had selected would look good against the different hues of pastel that I painted the various rooms.

I twisted off the cap of the first longneck of the day and wandered around all the rooms discovering minor things that still needed to be addressed, but, all were simple things that could be done easily. What I needed was another big project to take up time and I continued to look around weighing options.

I found myself out on the master bedroom balcony looking out at the sprawling back yard. Suddenly it came to me; a large swimming pool with an adjoining hot tub, perhaps a poolhouse. I smiled at the research I would have to do and what permits I would have to apply for. With any luck the backyard project would take the entire summer.

I visualized different sizes and styles of pools and guessed at the prospective costs of the project. Soon I started hearing the sound of a tortured motor and people yelling. Since they weren't visible from the back I went to a bedroom facing the front street.

I looked down to see a large U-haul rental truck with a U-haul trailer attached to it trying to back into the drive of the house next door. The driver was having a hard time trying to figure out what to do and had gotten the trailer jack-knifed into the rain sodden yard and now they were just spinning the wheels deeper into the lawn.

I hurried outside and tapped on the driver's window startling the driver. She turned and looked at me in surprise. Even as harried as she was trying to correct her problem and dealing with two young children in the passenger seat yelling she was knock down gorgeous. And she was crying.

I asked her if she needed help and the look of relief warmed my heart as she tearfully nodded. I opened the door and gave her my umbrella. She scurried over to the passengers' door and unbuckled the children and led them to the cover provided by the front porch.

I got into the driver seat and straightened out the wheels and put it into low gear. I eased on the gas pedal so the rear wheels wouldn't spin and slowly inched forward to get out of the rut she had dug. To do that I had to track up more of her front yard, but, it was the easiest solution. Soon I had the truck and trailer back on the street ready for another attempt.

Most people have never had to drive a vehicle hauling a trailer. The secret to reversing with a trailer is you have to turn opposite the way you would normally reverse. So slowly, I negotiated the trailer up the drive until both the trailer and truck were in the drive ready to be unloaded. I turned off the vehicle and ran hunched over from the rain onto the porch. The kids were applauding and a big grin was now on the blonde angel. I decided then and there, that I enjoyed her more grinning than crying.

"Here's the keys." I handed over to her and placed them in her small palm.

"Thank you so much for helping us! I don't know what I was going to do!"

Damn, she even had the sweetest Southern drawl possible.

"Always glad to help out a neighbor, I'm Mark Mallon....I'm assuming you are my new neighbors?"

"Oh, forgive my rudeness! I'm Jeannie Harris and these two monsters are Kay and Billy!"

The description brought on a stream of protest from the children and they ran to clutch their mother to make her stop. I grinned at the shenanigans as the crisis was now passed and all could relax.

I told her, "I hope you have help coming to unload because I could tell the truck and trailer are really weighed down."

A look of sadness came on her face, "No, I had help loading, but, it is just going to be us three unloading."

"Here, let me help and if it gets too bad I can call some people over."

I was rewarded with another look of gratitude as she profusely thanked me. I suggested I would do what unloading I could by myself and then we would figure out things. The three disappeared into their house.

Cries of disappointment erupted from the house immediately. I went inside to the darkened room. Jeannie was upset as she told me the power was supposed to be on. I told her to hold on and went outside to call a buddy that worked for the power company. I told him the address and he said he remembered he had caught that particular job for installing the meter, but, no one was home, so under company policy he had left. He was scheduled to return Monday afternoon to try again.

"Well, they're here now and it is a lady with two small kids and you owe me some favors. So get over here, install the meter, and then get creative with the paperwork." He agreed to come out and I hung up and walked to Jeannie and told her the power would be on soon. She thanked me and again the kids burst into applause.

With that I unlocked the trailer and began hauling boxes into what area was dimly lit by the rainy daylight atmosphere of the front room. Jeannie helped carry the smaller, lighter boxes into the house as the two children watched from the porch.

They were so cute as they argued over who would get to sleep in their room first. Jeannie just gave me a sardonic grin as she noticed me observing the children. I reminded her to leave the heavy boxes to me as I took a large box from her and carried it to the stack of boxes inside.

Just as we were finishing unloading the trailer, my friend John drove up in his company utility truck. In a few minutes lights came on throughout the house. This energized the kids as they began to run from room to room exploring. John went back to his truck to get the paperwork for Jeannie to sign.

"So Mark, you got everything unloaded?"

I replied, "John, we're still working on the trailer and hadn't started on the truck yet."

Without saying anything else, John walked to the trailer and picked up a box and started carrying it inside. That gave me the idea to make several calls and I told Jeannie and John to take a break. We sat there getting acquainted, and Jeannie told us that she was an elementary school teacher. Before I could get around to asking her how she could afford a house in the neighborhood, the calvary arrived.

Friends with wives and kids started arriving bringing pizzas, beer for the adults, and sodas for the kids, but, most important they brought strong backs. A whirlwind of activity ensued as the truck got unloaded. My friends' wives were given a tour of the house, an army of kids were chasing each other throughout the house and decorating strategy was discussed nonstop. Boxes were opened and contents taken to the proper rooms. Furniture was unloaded and bedroom sets were assembled in the proper rooms. Then the living room was decorated to signal the end of the unloading of the truck.

Then it was a matter of just relaxing and enjoying a visit with friends. I was impressed how easily Jeannie adapted to hosting an impromptu party of people she just met. Then I realized that her warm manners was quickly making her friends as phone numbers were shared and lunch dates were made among all the women.

John leaned toward me and nudged me with his beer bottle and whispered, "You know, the common denominator between all these ladies is you. Get ready for your ears to be burning."

I laughed and then told him about my idea for a pool. We started throwing out ideas and more of the guys started chiming in opinions. So there I was with the guys talking and Jeannie talking to the girls and every now and then, we would steal a glance at each other and smile.

Slowly, the party broke up and all the guests had left. Jeannie allowed me to carry the slumbering kids upstairs to their beds and she tucked them in and kissed her sleeping angels goodnight.

Wordlessly, we went downstairs and then outside to sit on the front steps. I offered her a beer and she shook her head no, so I twisted the cap off the icy longneck and took a deep swallow. We continued just to sit relaxing.

"Mark, you are my hero. Thank you so much for all you've done for us."

"Jeannie, I'm just being neighborly, there's no need to thank me."

"Nonsense," she insisted, "If it wasn't for you, I'd still be stuck in my frontyard with two crying kids in a house without power. I owe you big time, mister!"

I laughed and said, "Wait till you get to know me." and I took another swig. "Speaking of the truck, what are you going to do with that?"