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When she finally regained her composure she managed to meet my eye and asked "Why?"

I really wanted to say, "Because I want a wife I can put on a pedestal; not one I have to keep on a short leash to keep her faithful." But I didn't, Shakespeare's "gentle rain from heaven" droppeth and drowndeth my vitriol. Okay, I did say that, but I tried to say it in a merciful way. I said, "I understand us better now than when we were married. We just aren't a match. That doesn't make either of us a bad person, but you need someone who will give you direction, and that's just not me. I'm too wrapped up in myself. I will always have a special place in my heart for the woman to gave me the twins. No, that's not true either. You will always be my first love, but we just aren't right for each other. We've both made bad choices, but together as friends maybe we can help each other make better ones."

Mark was right for Judy. He didn't keep her on a leash, more like on the kind of tether a team of mountain climbers use. They were good for each other and Judy, secure in her tether, bloomed in a way she never had when we were married.

Mark and Judy lived in the same school boundaries as me. The twins could ride back and forth between our houses on their bikes. We didn't socialize, but we were very supportive of each other. If we didn't agree about something, we'd go to the Captain to arbitrate, and the girls never knew we had disagreed. The twins complained in mock bitterness that they were cursed with too many parents. Still for all their complaining, they loved Mark and he loved them. They were ecstatic about having some new brothers.

A lot of new brothers! You see I wasn't at the hospital to support either Mark or Judy; we weren't that close. It was one of those strange tricks life plays on you. I was there to see my wife and our new twin boys who had been born the day before.

Happily ever after? Perhaps, mercy doesn't meant that you have to let the other avoid the consequences, just fewer than they earned. It meant I didn't have to punish Judy to the extent I could. To have taken Judy back wouldn't have been mercy, it would have been something else.

I'd met my wife through a friend of Judy's and we were everyone's dream couple. I keep her on a special pedestal and she keeps my oversized ego in check. She loves my girls and they love her. If Judy hadn't cheated, we would still be married. It would have been better for the twins, but not for me. Perhaps we married too young. Perhaps we saw in each other acceptable mates and didn't wait for perfection. Perhaps we hadn't finished growing up and both of us changed when we did. All I know for sure is that I never was, nor could be as happy with Judy as I am with my wife.

Showing mercy to Capote was harder. It was close but I finally decided that having to work at almost minimum wage for man like him was enough. He was a broken man, I didn't need to break his body too. Okay, the jail time I made sure he did for the assault might have been a factor too.

I did have reason to have him contacted about a year ago though. A very foolish woman, despite being warned, just "had to open her heart to this good man." I'll never understand why some people are such fools. When I heard about his wedding, my heart was so full of mercy for that foolish woman that I unburdened myself to a client. It just so happen that the cousin of a friend of my client's was in the high risk personal loan business. When said cousin happened to hear about the situation, he was so filled with the milk of human kindness he sent one of his business associates to see Capote and gently explain that good boys don't hit girls. I heard the lesson didn't have to be repeated. It's good to have friends in low places.

Yes, I'll be the first to admit that I still have a lot to learn and long way to go before anyone would consider me merciful. But here's the thing about failing to give mercy, it keeps you bound to the person or the problem. It's also an affront to your better nature. I couldn't forgive myself for what I'd done to Judy, but when I extended mercy to her, I was able to extend it to myself too. That broke that steel shell I'd created around my heart and opened it to the possibility of a happily ever after.

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