DC&H

"Fred, can I come home?" She said.

"This is where you live, isn't it? I said. "You should be here now."

"I'll be home in an hour."

"Okay," I said and hung up.

I look at the clock and it was already five o'clock. I decided to have dinner ready when she got there and then we could talk after dinner. I got the dinner started and then went upstairs to prepare for what I felt was going to be the outcome of our talk. I came back downstairs and picked up the blue case off the coffee table in the family room and put it in my pocket.

I made spaghetti and meat balls and a salad. Then I opened a bottle of Chianti. Kathy walked in the door at 6:05 and the dinner was ready. When she saw dinner on the table and the open bottle of wine I could see some of the stress leave her face. She could see that things were not going to be as bad as she first thought.

At first we didn't speak. We went over and sat at the table. I poured the wine and we started eating. After a few minutes of the painful silence I asked Kathy where she spent the night.

"One of my friends took me home after you left?"

I couldn't help but get a little dig in.

"Oh, you didn't stay for the rest of the party," I said.

"You pretty much ended the party with your speech," she said.

"I guess I owe some people apologies for that. Not you and certainly not Bartlett or Hanson."

"I guess you're right. I owe you the apology," she said.

She was about to say more but I stopped her and said that we would talk after dinner and we both became silent again. There was really nothing else the two of us could find to talk about.

After dinner Kathy started to put the dishes into the dishwasher but I stopped her.

"You can clean the kitchen later, we need to talk now," I said.

We went into the family room and sat facing each other.

"Do you want to just tell me everything or should I just start asking questions? Either way I expect only the truth," I said.

"I'll tell you everything," she said. "I am sure you know when it started. It was the day after your Christmas party. Jack called me and told me that this huge deal that they were working on with National Pharmaceutical was in trouble. Jack told me Mr. Benson had told them that he would only sign a contract if I would agree to have sex with him. I couldn't believe that he would ask me to do something like that and I was pissed but he told me that this deal was very important to the company and if I would go along and do as they asked I would be rewarded handsomely. He was talking about a lot of money and a promotion. I didn't want to do it but Jack kept putting pressure on me and telling me that a lot of people were depending on me.

"I told them I would have to think about it. They had me so confused and stressed over this that I couldn't think straight. When you came home and I looked at you I knew that I could not do that to you. Jack and Mr. Bartlett kept after me all day Monday trying to get me to agree. Mr. Hanson said that if this deal fell through it would be my fault and they would have to let me go. They also said that if I told anyone about what was going on I would get fired. I tried to tell you as much as I could. I knew that if you knew the whole story you would do something crazy and I would lose my job.

"On Tuesday I told them I would not do it so they told me to think about it again. Then Mr. Hanson told me that the company was missing more than $100,000 and that if there were to be an audit it would look like I had been embezzling money from the company for the last few years. Jack said I would end up going to jail. He told me that if I did what he asked I would get the money he promised and the promotion but if I didn't cooperate there would be an audit and I would be charged with embezzlement.

"In the end I had to agree to do what he wanted. Jack and Mr. Bartlett talked with me every day to make sure I didn't back out on them. They kept telling me I was doing the right thing and trying to convince me that you would understand if you knew how important this deal was."

I had listened passively to this point but I was getting angry.

"You can't believe that I would ever have thought what you were doing was all right," I said. "You should have told me everything. I would have found a way out for you."

"I know," Kathy said. "Once I decided to go through with it I felt a little better but I felt so guilty about what I was doing to you. You have to understand that I was terrified of going to jail. I had to risk it. On Friday Jack called me into his office and told me that Mr. Benson told him that he wanted me to shave all my pubic hair off. I told him I couldn't do that because you would be angry but he said it would be a deal breaker. If I didn't shave it off Mr. Benson would walk away from the deal. Jack told me to shave it off before the party and not let you see it till later and then I was to tell you it was meant to be a surprise. He said that if you got mad all I had to do is say that I was sorry and that I would let it grow back. The problem was that you came home earlier than expected and caught me getting ready to shave it off."

"So was I right?" I asked. "Did you shave your pussy in the lady's room at the party?"

Kathy looked down at her hands.

"Yes... Mr. Bartlett sent someone to the store to pick up a razor and some shave cream and I went into the lady's room and shaved myself. When I came back to the party I saw you with the microphone trying to get everyone's attention. I was so scared. I had no idea what you were up to and I had no idea if there was anyway I could stop you. I couldn't believe you said that I was pregnant."

"I didn't say you were pregnant," I said. "I said we were going to have a baby. You weren't pregnant yet but that was our plan wasn't it?"

"Well yes, but..."

"But what? Are we or aren't we going to start a family?" I asked.

"Yes. We are. I will get off my birth control pills tomorrow and then we can start."

"One more question. Did you tell Benson that he would have to use a condom?"

"Jack told me he was going to make him use a condom," she said. "I am glad he did because it hadn't occurred to me. I was so stressed by the whole situation that I wasn't thinking straight. Anyway, you made your little speech and basically ended my career at DC&H and probably killed the deal with National Pharmaceutical."

"So, essentially what you are telling me is that Bartlett and Hanson coerced and black mailed you into agreeing to have sex with Benson to close a business deal. They further insisted that you had to fulfill Benson's demand that you shave your pussy but I screwed things up by catching you when you were trying to shave. But even after I told you not to do it, you shaved yourself anyway. In the end, the only reason that you didn't end up fucking Benson is because I fucked everything up with my little speech. Does that about sum it up?"

"Yes, but I don't blame you for what you did. I understand why you did it," she said.

"Oh good, then you forgive me for trying to keep my wife from fucking another man," I said sarcastically.

"That's not what I meant. I know you had every right to react the way you did and I have no right to be upset with you. I am upset with myself. I should have told you everything from the start. Do you think you will ever be able to forgive me?" Kathy asked.

"That depends," I said. "Is that everything? Have you told me everything I need to know about what has been going on?" I asked.

"Yes. I have told you everything. I love you and I can't bear to think that I could lose you because of this mess I got myself into," Kathy said.

"Well, things don't look as bad as they did at first," I said and I watched the smile start to come back into Kathy's face. "I just have a couple of questions I need answered and then we might be able to put this behind us."

"Okay. What questions?" I could here the joy creeping back into her voice.

I pulled the blue case out of my pocket and tossed it on the coffee table.

"I found this in the trash the other day and it's full. You threw away all of your birth control pills last week but you not only didn't tell me about that you tried to make me believe you were still taking them. Just five minutes ago you said you would stop taking them tomorrow. Can you explain that to me?"

Kathy looked like I had punched her. Her mouth opened a couple of times but no words came out but when she finally spoke I was sure she was lying.

"You're right, I stopped taking my pills," she said. "I was planning to let you get me pregnant and then surprise you. I know how much you wanted to start a family so I thought it would be nice surprise when I told you about it."

"That plan would only have worked if you and I had been having sex but the last time we made love was the day before you stopped taking your pills."

"It's just that I was so upset about what Mr. Bartlett and Jack wanted me to do that I wasn't in the mood to have sex during that time," Kathy replied.

"Were you aware that last night was the most fertile night of your cycle?" I asked.

That was another question that stunned her.

"No. I wasn't aware of that. I had too many other things on my mind to be thinking about that, she claimed.

"It just strikes me as odd that you were planning on having sex with Benson last night, which happens to be in the middle of your menstrual cycle and it never occurred to you to insist that a condom be used, but it did occur to Jack to require it," I said.

"What are you trying to say?" She asked. "That I knew I was fertile and was willing to take a chance that I would get pregnant? I would never do that," she said.

I could tell Kathy was really rattled. I was getting tired of playing with her and decided to end the game.

"One more question Kathy," I started. "How long have you been fucking that rat bastard Hanson?"

"What?" Was all she could manage to say.

"No more lies. I know that you were keeping track of you menstrual cycle and had marked last night on your day planner as the day. I know that Hanson demanded that Benson would have to wear a condom and since I wasn't fucking you the only one left is Hanson. He wanted to get you pregnant didn't he?"

I looked at Kathy and she started crying and made no attempt to answer me.

"It was Hanson that wanted your pussy shaved not Benson and you did that for him in spite of me telling you not to do it. That shows me that he has more influence over you than I do. Lest you think I am just making wild guesses about this stuff, last night when I came home from work I came to the front door and looked in. I saw you standing naked in the living room and I saw Hanson playing with your ass and then he kissed your stomach the way a man often kisses the stomach of the women that is carrying his baby or in this case, will be carrying it.

"Did you think I would be so stupid that you could have his baby and make me think it was mine? Or were you planning to leave me all along? You spent last night with him didn't you?"

Kathy was weeping loudly as I stood up and left the room.

When I came back into the kitchen carrying my suitcase Kathy looked up at me. When she saw what I was doing she jumped out of her chair and ran to me.

"Please don't leave me. I love you. I don't love Jack. I told you he black mailed me. I had no choice but to do what he asked."

"Why didn't you just continue taking your birth control pills and lie about it to Jack? You certainly didn't have any problems lying to me. I think I would have to believe what you told that rat bastard more than anything you have told me lately," I said. "I forgot to tell you, last night when I was watching you and that asshole I heard you say "I love you," to him. So where does that leave me?"

"I don't love him. If I am pregnant I will have an abortion. I love you. Please, you have to believe me," she pleaded.

"No, I don't. As for the baby, don't abort it on my account."

Kathy collapsed on the floor crying. When I looked back from the garage door she looked the same way she had when I left her at the party the night before. I no longer felt any love for her only disgust. I hated leaving the house we had worked so hard to get built but it held no fond memories for me. Fortunately, we hadn't live there long enough to build those memories.

EPILOGUE

It has been more than two years since I walked out on Kathy. When I left her I found a furnished apartment and tried to start my life over. That's when the nightmares started. I was no longer happy with what I was doing so I quit my job and headed to California. Once I found a place to live I started my own insurance investigation company. I gave Bill Ripley a call and asked him if he would like to be my partner and two months later he joined me. When he came out he told me that when Mary Ferrell heard we were starting our own company she asked if we had a job for her.

Mary moved out here fourteen months ago and we started dating two months later. After three months we moved in together. I was surprised that I fell in love again so quickly. I was not in a hurry to get married again but I like having someone I care about to share my life with.

I have been able to keep track of my favorite people in Indianapolis through several contacts I still have there including Special Agent Mark Walker. It turned out that Kathy had blown the whistle on the company president and the CEO at Jack Hanson's direction. Hanson had hoped to get them in trouble for the shady deals they had been involved in and so that the board of directors would fire them. Hanson assumed that he would be then become the company president of DC&H.

Apparently Kathy wasn't lying when she told me she didn't love him. She was playing him because he was in love with her and she knew if he got what he wanted she would get anything she wanted.

Hanson and his wife didn't have any children, which he blamed on his wife. After I left he tried for more than a month to get Kathy pregnant he wasn't successful with her either. It turned out that he was sterile. His wife found out about his affair with Kathy and divorced him. A month later he was sentenced to five years in federal prison for his actions at DC&H.

Bartlett also got jail time. He will be spending two years at a minimum security federal prison. Kathy was fired by DC&H and then the company was reorganized and shortly after that it was bought out by a larger consulting firm.

The last I heard, Kathy was teaching book keeping at a community college just outside of Columbus Ohio.

I try not to think about Kathy. The wounds are still too fresh for me to think of the good times we had. I don't miss her, which is a good thing. Mary more than fills the hole Kathy left in my life and that is why I married her.

Now here I sit staring down at her and wondering if I should wake her up. Not to tell her I had the dream again but to tell her I love her. Last night Mary told me that whenever I decide I want a baby all I have to do is ask.

"But make sure to get your order in early because you have to wait nine months for delivery," Mary added.

I am thinking of placing my order tomorrow.

By the way, in case you were wondering about DC&H you were right if you were thinking Dewey, Cheatem and Howe.