Family is Not Blood Ch. 01

Bill told me that he had a unit like this ready to go and he was working evenings all week except for Thursday, his day off. He was available in the mornings. I told Larry the make and model of clock to buy for them.

Turns out, Fred and Rita needed a new bedroom alarm clock. Rita was just too cheap to buy one. Larry said "I can take them out to dinner on Thursday to celebrate the grandchild. There is a restaurant that we all like in the city along the lakefront, and that will take several hours between the driving and eating. Since I get calls all the time from work, a call saying you are in and then out and finished will work out well. Fred's next trip to Tulsa is a week from tomorrow. Can we get it in place before then?"

"I also have a few close friends that neither Paul nor Rita know of, including co-workers at both of their jobs. These were trusted friends that I've helped out over the years. Two were Rangers I served with, and others were the victims of cheaters that tore their families apart. I will handle that surveillance very quietly. I've done it before. Paul is mine."

Larry looked at us with a tear in his eye. "I have watched my good brother be abused by that woman and she has taught her daughter to be the same way. It will hurt Fred when we tell him and show him what has and is happening. And we will show him, but I really think that this will be a relief for him."

We were all quiet for a couple of minutes. Then Larry said with a smile. "Mike, you seen to have come to terms with your own cheater. If you don't mind, and seriously, only if you do not mind, I would like to see that little bitch do some mattress dancing on your computer. Since my wife had breast cancer, our love life is much more limited. I would not leave her or be unfaithful to her for the world, but I'm not dead yet. It will also make all of this easier to nail those cheaters. And by the way, what is the rest of your plan?" He listened and laughed, and offered some resources that would be very useful.

Things were getting together, but there was one thing that really bothered me, it was Corey's wife Mary. From what everyone has said, she had done nothing wrong, except trust Corey. I did not want her to be blindsided on the day of the shower. She did not have family in the area. She came from out of state, met Corey at school and married him. She was close to a couple of people, but I needed to figure out who I could talk with, someone who did not trust Corey.

Then it hit me, Cathy's secret e-mail account. Those bastards rarely opened up a new email, but just kept replying, adding more to the email. Looking at those emails again, I remembered reading about him bitching about Mary's friends, the ones he could not stand, and why. Going back and rereading them, I came up three possibilities and tried to figure out which one. I chose Maria. She was a Social Worker that was in the same class as Marek, Shelly's husband.

I called Marek up and explained what I was thinking and asked him what he thought. He was friends with Maria when they were in the Master's Program together. Marek said that he and Shelly would set this up and would call me when I was needed. It was a long week but I got a call to go to Shelly and Marek's home.

Maria is a first generation Mexican-American who grew up on the near west side of Chicago. Her parents immigrated, well, not legally, but applied and were accepted for the amnesty program the 1980's. Some of my extended family from Poland did the same thing. They were just a different type of 'wet back', they flew on jets in coach, instead of hiding in the back of trucks. Everyone got a better life for their children and got a chance at the American Dream.

Maria was born here, is all American, and all Mexican, at the same time. She lives in both worlds because of her calling. She helps young people so that they can stop being victimized. She works directly with underage prostitutes and drug addicts. She might be 5' 2", but do not fuck with this woman or those she loves, do not ever think of it. She was my kind of person.

Shelly, Marek and Maria were sitting down at the table when I arrived. I left my laptop on the floor next to me. Maria is a pretty woman, and was sitting there with a look that would have a Chicago Cop want to call for back up. Marek introduced us and then told me that they had briefed her on the affair. She wanted to ask some questions.

Maria's social work interviewing skills were outstanding. Not that this felt like a grilling, not like the sky is dark on a cloudy night. She explored just about everything. What happened, why, what did I do, what were my motivations, did they match my actions, what have I been doing got companionship since and what were my plans once this was all over.

After a while, I realized that I needed to get the lead on this. "Maria, I realized a while ago that I needed to be who I was. I knew that I am not a nasty or a mean person. These are intelligent questions and probing on why I wanted to humiliate Cathy. Let me tell you my story and I'll answer any more questions you have after."

"When I first found out that my wife was fucking someone else regularly, I was angry and hurt. I knew that I wanted to lash out at her make her pay. Retribution. I had made a good faith effort to be as good a husband I could. I tried to take care of her emotionally, financially and more. If this cheating was something new, I would have seriously tried to work it out with her. I actually had a list of marriage counselors that I was investigating."

"Then more information started pouring in. This was not a limited instance, this was before and during our marriage, and it was not going to stop. Cathy and I were wrong for each other. I loved her. The problem was that she loved herself more than anyone else. There were many times along the way that I was going to pull the plug, and end it quietly, but something more would be found out."

"There were other people that were being hurt and lied to. These were people in my extended family, like my Father-in-law. And family is very important. I knew the pain that I felt, and I have seen questions in his eyes and the eyes of Mary, the other betrayed, over the years. Now I know why. A big part of me doing this has been to help them answer their own questions, and give each of them a choice in what they want to do."

"That is why I approached by father-in-laws brother, and why I approached you. In both cases the offer is for you to accept or reject. If you accept, I meet with Mary, if your judgment says to reject, I don't. We can hide what we discovered on my mother-in-laws cheating. Unfortunately, I cannot do that with Mary. Her husband has been fucking my wife for at least three years. I cannot hide that. I cannot protect Mary from that. That is why I need your help with Mary. I chose to contact you because you were mentioned, not in a positive manner, by Corey in their emails."

"When Marek mentioned that he was a friend of yours, I asked him to set up a meeting. I am asking you, as her friend, what should we do?" I waited. Funny how two minutes can seem like hours.

Staring at me, her eyes softened, and she smiled. "Marek told me about you and what happened. I trust him and Shelly, but I needed to see for myself. You are who they said you are. I've been a close friend of Mary's for years. For years she has talked privately about her doubts and the evidences of his cheating. This year she has had three rounds of STDs supplied by him. If there has been any unprotected sex, then Cathy may be infected too. Now you understand my questions on your physical relationship with your wife. Still using condoms while she is pregnant? You have tried to be a careful man. Both with your body and with the people in your life."

"Now back to Cathy. I do not think that this will devastate her in any way. I think that this will bring relief to her. I think that this will be the way out that she has always wanted, but could not do on her own. That I am sure of. Shelly and Marek have offered their knowledge on how to prepare for the divorce financially and emotionally. You have offered the way out and the logistics to do it. Both things she had struggled with for a long time."

"You did not have to do any of this, but you did. And for that I want to thank you. I plan to set up a meeting with Mary later this week. When would you be available? I am going to guess that that laptop at your feet contains some video. I'd like to see a little bit of it before we show it to Mary." All we heard in the next 20 minutes was Maria saying "That bastard" time and time again.

Contrary to custom, Rita set up the shower. They were going all out. It was kind of like a little wedding. Rita rented a local dining hall for a Sunday at noon time brunch. We would have to be out by 3 PM so they could set up for a wedding at 6 PM.

One of the things that the venue had was a large screen TV. I offered to put together a video of Cathy for everyone to see. They loved the idea, and so did I. I started coordinating with all my helpers that agreed to be part of this. The day was two weeks away.

Maria called me during the week to let me know what was happening with Mary. "It was rough for her, but she was also relieved. She does not need to meet with you right now, but she will after it happens. She is planning her life after the divorce. The financial and living arrangements have to come first."

"Mike, I have never seen her so hopeful in years. Mary says thank you, and I say thank you from the bottom of my heart. She is becoming alive again. She will be taking your offer of help to move. And she also says that she will also do what you offered to her. She is strong enough for that. She is empowered by doing it."

On the shower day, Rita's plan was for Cathy, Fred and I to be at the hall at 10 AM to help set up. The caterer was to be there at 11AM. We were all going to have breakfast together at 8 that morning at a neighborhood diner. For some reason, Cathy 'misplaced' her comfortable shoes. Her feet have been swelling and she needed them to be comfortable. I dropped off Cathy at the diner at 8 AM and went back to the apartment to get them.

The moving crew were already there working. Everyone had a written assignment and Bill was directing them as well as taking his equipment back. I touched base with him and stopped by my in-laws house. I could hear the power tools going as I was leaving. The second crew was also busy. I was back in enough time to finish breakfast with the three of them. After Fred's house, that crew had another move to make. They had to wait until it was closer to noon and a phone call was received so they could begin. People were moving, or being moved.

The four of us arrived at the hall at 10 AM and Fred and I unloaded the supplies. We were working for about 30 minutes when Rita started ranting about a box being missing. We looked around for it and figured out that it was still on the kitchen counter. Fred volunteered to go back and get it.

He came back about 25 minutes later with the box and three cups of coffee and one of herbal tea. When no one else was looking at him, he winked and smiled at me. Before Rita could rail at him for being late, the caterers came in. We were all finished and took a rest at 11:30 when the first guests started to trickle in. The bar was open and the mood was light.

People were mixing and talking freely with one another. Uncle Stan and Aunt Iwona came and greeted Cathy and me, saying hello and congratulations. I said that it was all Cathy, I did not have anything to do with it. We all laughed.

The mingling went on until 1:30 PM when I made an announcement. "I would like to thank all of you who help us all to be today. With out all of you, we would not be here. I want to start this off with a little video that I made for my wife. So if you would just find a seat, we will start in a few minutes."

Several women quietly started ushering out all the children and teenagers to another room. Larry's two ranger friends positioned themselves by Paul while Ed's friends surrounded Corey. Mary was at his side at first, but excused herself saying she had to use the facilities. Angelka's friends surround Rita and Fred. Maria and her friends surrounded Cathy and me.

The video started with love themed music and pictures of spring flowers. It went on to pictures of Cathy as a child and family life. There are pictures of her and Rita, and her and Rita and Paul with Fred in the far background, then just Rita and Paul. Paul was beginning to look a little uncomfortable.

The pictures then shifted to Cathy's and Mike's wedding day. There were many pictures of the bride and groom, and Corey in the background. Gradually the pictures were of Cathy and Corey with Mike in the background. Corey started to pay attention, and even with his third straight bourbon, grew nervous.

He attempted to get up, but there are several hands on his shoulders and one on his neck. Ed leaned down and told him that we would all rather you stayed. He agreed with a yelp that I heard across the room. There was a little bit of murmuring.

Cathy's being pregnant was next. On the video, I narrated about our life together. "The pictures are of our wedding over two years ago. Marriage is not all wine and roses, but working together and building a future. We even had names for each other. I called her honey. She had a name for herself."

With a picture of us on our wedding, the audio was Cathy saying "I'm your whore". There was a loud gasp in the room. The screen changed to a close up picture of her, naked and her on her knees with a cock at her face. "I'm Corey's whore" and the shot panned out to see Corey slapping his cock against her face. Dead Silence.

Cathy was in shock and did not move. Rita got up to start cussing me out when Fred stood in front of her and with a cold glint in his eye said, "Sit down Bitch." She was shocked, he never spoke to her like that before.

That is when she saw that there were several strong Polish women standing, surrounding her. They had contempt in their eyes, strong muscles in their arms and have blocked any path to leave. She sat down, dumbfounded, and increasingly scared and angry and powerless to stop it.

The video continued. "I thought that the love of my life may have just made a mistake, she is human after all. But this has been going on since we were engaged."

Next a calendar shows up on the screen. On it I am shown pointing to many colored highlighted dates. "This is from when I discovered that my wife was more in love with herself, then anyone else. On these orange highlighted dates these two were fucking in our bedroom, destroying our marriage. I have the sessions on video files. The green dates were when Cathy and I had sexual relations. You'll notice that Cathy and I were not intimate when she became pregnant. DVDs of their sessions is available on the table in the back of the room."

I paused. "I did not marry for this. I just thank god that this is not my child that Cathy is carrying. And by the way, my condoms, the ones you and Corey were using, had a slight defect in them. A DNA test after your child is born will confirm it. There is more that I can say, but I have other things to show you."

Cathy was totally in shock, she opened her mouth, but could not even scream.

The next clip showed Cathy and Rita talking. The audience hears Rita say, "Look how long I've been with Paul." Paul made an attempt to leave, but the two ex-rangers held him effortlessly down. There are several hands on his shoulders and another one on his neck. The next scène is Fred and Rita's bedroom, showing Rita riding Paul's cock while they plan for their next time.

"Well, I guess I have to say that Cathy comes by it honestly. Oh, by the way Cathy, who is your real father?" The screen goes blank and the lights come on.

Cathy said nothing. Fred stood in front of Cathy and asked her who her father was. Cathy is recovering from shock, but has started to get it together and replies that it is you, and points to Fred. Fred goes over to Rita and asks her the same question. She started attacking him, but he silenced her with a "Bitch, who is her father?" Rita clams up. Fred then looks at them both and throws some papers at them. "Here are the DNA tests. It's Paul. Then he looks at Rita and spits at her feet.

Then he looks at Cathy, then Corey and says, "Most children have two grandfathers, yours will only have one." Another set of papers are thrown. "You've been fucking your half brother." There was silence except for Rita and Cathy sobbing. Corey was stunned.

Then Mary stood up. She walked directly over to Corey and looked him in the eye. "I've been tired of your cheating for years. I never had the strength to deal with it. You kept belittling me, keeping me down in so many little ways. You kept destroying my soul. All so you could do what you want."

Then she walked over to Cathy. "You can keep him, but by the way, I've been treated for STDs three times this year. You were riding him bareback and sucking on his cock. I hope your child is OK. You both have fucked up another life. But now, mine is free." And she walked out the door, head held high the first time in years.

Fred stood up and walked over to Rita and stared. She averted his gaze. Then he walked over to Paul. Paul was trembling. "Don't worry, I will not touch you. By the way, how did your wife die?" He waited 15 seconds, a long 15 seconds. "Not answering are you. Well, we've done a little bit of work on that. You told everyone it was a heart attack. That is not what the coroner said. It was a self-induced drug overdose. Who were you screwing at the time? Was it Rita or was it Corey's mother or was it somebody else?"

Angelka stepped up, and this was not planned. "I was close to your wife, we all came from the same part of town, and we all grew up together. She was sad for so many years. Now I know why." And she turned away.

I needed to end this party, so I made an announcement. "Thank you all for being here today. This has been a very traumatic time for us, but the lies, the hurt and the destruction for all of us had been more that we should bear."

Looking directly at Cathy I said, "I will no longer support my wife in the life she has chosen." Looking at the crowd, "For those of you who assisted us in the planning and execution, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Your warmth and support gave me so much while I was uncovering these self-centered people that destroyed the lives of so many others. Thank you and Good bye."

And I walked out, crying. Mary caught up with me outside and gave me the biggest hug she could. She said that things are already so much better. I went to my new temporary home, Uncle Stan and Aunt Iwona's house. They offered me a couple of months to grieve and move on.

Rita was still in a daze and did not understand until most people left that Fred was also gone. Finally, Angelka told her she would take her home. After 5 minutes of driving, Rita looked up and realized that she was not going home. "Where are you taking me?" she asked in confusion and fright. Angelka told her she was going to be living with Cathy. Fred signed a lease that specifically excluded you from the house Larry owned. All your things have already been moved to Cathy's apartment."

Back at the hall, the crowd started to all leave at once. Cathy was able to get a ride back to the apartment. I was later told that no words were spoken. She found her car still there, but not mine. There was a note on her steering wheel telling her that there have been some changes at home and that she needs to see them immediately.

She found the next note taped to her front apartment door. It told her everything I wanted was out of the apartment and the rest was hers. It also reminded her that the apt is in her name. But that I left her the bedroom set, to me it was tainted. It told her that there were several other notes in the apartment for her.