Jack And Dianne

Jack stopped talking and looked over at Gregg and Bettie then he continued, "I know I wasn't squeaky clean but I DIDN'T cheat on Stephanie. Oh, I supposed I did have an emotional affair but I never, not once, had sex with Dianne or touched her under her clothing until after my divorce from Steph. I'm pretty sure Steph and Dallas can't say that though. I saw them together way too much during the proceedings to believe they didn't have sex before we divorced. Several nights when I was out with friends I would see them in dance clubs dancing, kissing and fondling. I'm convinced, now, that the whole mess was a setup but then I just thought it was the way things worked out. "

"I tried to talk to Stephanie many times about what had happened but she didn't want to discuss it. It seems she, Dallas and Dianne's desks were near each other at work. She supposedly heard many of Dianne's phone calls with me. She supposedly had tapes of Dianne telling me how wonderful our loving was. I never made love to her until after the divorce and I never heard her telling me that on the phone. I am sure Dianne was talking to someone else or to a disconnected line when Stephanie made those recordings. Stephanie and Dallas followed Dianne to our house several times. During the divorce Stephanie presented a lot of pictures taken on different days to support her case as well as the recordings she made at work. Stephanie did admit that none of the times she followed Dianne did she catch us having sex. The worst was the day she confronted me when Dianne cupped my...Unh touched me. That was the only really hot, lustful kiss we had exchanged.

"Well, anyway, I gave up and didn't contest the divorce. We had not accumulated much during the marriage and after all our credit cards were paid off we were about even. Neither of us could afford the house alone so it sold. We took less than we paid and after commission to the real estate people we ended up in the hole on that deal. After it was said and done, we each kept our retirement accounts, vehicles and went our separate ways. I did get to keep my office equipment but I had to find another place to live and work. Luckily, I rented a small house just two blocks from where we had been living. The neighbors were not too friendly to me any longer because they all were upset at what I had done to poor ole Stephanie.

"I thought Dianne would leave me alone after that but she didn't. Even during the divorce she kept in touch. After the divorce she began coming over to my house again. Her greetings became even more uh, well, romantic. I was still so besotted with her I couldn't leave her alone even though I knew I should. By then I found out she had been married and divorced three times and had been the cause of four men's marriages ending in divorce. She explained it all away. Her husbands had been assholes and she had to leave them. I fell for it. Her explanations sounded believable, hell, I WANTED to believe her! I never thought to even question why a 25 year old woman could be divorced that many times and be the cause of so many other marriages breaking up."

Bettie looked at Jack and pressed her lips together. She said, "Jack even I can see you should have ran away from her screaming for help. How in the world did you let yourself stay involved with her? Why did you believe she was so good?"

Jack smiled and continued with his tale of woe. "Bettie I guess I'm just plain stupid. She was a beautiful woman and she sure knew how to make me feel good. When I was with her all I cared about was how good she made me feel. Oh, I know now she was the devil incarnate but then...Hell NO. Or at least I wouldn't admit it. One day she convinced me we were in love and she began moving in with me. At first it was just a few clothes so she could spend the night, then a few more, then she told me it was really stupid for her to keep an apartment since she was at my house all the time. I agreed and we became a couple. I never asked her to marry me. We just ended up at the courthouse one day and she led me into the clerk's office. For some reason when she said we wanted a marriage license I didn't say anything, I just gave them the information, signed the papers and paid the fee."

Jack looked into the distance and sighed. He said, "That is where I lost the only friend I had left in the area. When Mike found out we were getting married he came unglued. He told me more about Dianne than had come out in my and Stephanie's divorce. He even told me she was seeing another man while I was living with her. I called him several names and told him I didn't believe him and never wanted to see him again. He kept trying to tell me I was making a mistake and I hit him."

Mike lay on the ground, looked up at me and said, "Dude, I'm sorry. I've tried to help. When you find out what she's done to you you're going to feel like an ass but I'm done with you now."

"The day of the ceremony, before we got to the Judge's office to get married Dianne handed me a pre nuptial agreement and asked me to sign it. I was shocked and began questioning her about it. She explained her friends had suggested it because she was the only one with any money coming into the wedding and if we broke up it wouldn't be right for me to get any of it. The agreement was in legalese and I didn't read it very carefully. Now I wish I had. If I had taken it to an attorney at least I would have kept my retirement account and maybe my business.

"The agreement stated if the marriage ended for any reason before three years were up she got all our assets. I didn't think much about it because in my mind I didn't have any assets left and she had several hundred thousand dollars in investments. I just signed the agreement and went to get married."

Gregg looked at Jack like he was an idiot and said, "Boy what were you thinking about? You just signed over everything you had to that woman!"

Jack gave him a sickly grin and said, "Yeah, I sure did. I didn't realize the way it was worded she got my 401K and retirement accounts as well as my business, vehicle and so forth. I just thought we were talking about bank accounts and investments. I had none so why not sign?

"After I handed the agreement back to her she squealed and gave me a toe curling kiss. We went into the Judge's chambers for the ceremony. In less than fifteen minutes we were married. We left from there to the airport where we went to Florida for our honeymoon. She took three weeks off work but I could only get off a week and I had to work some each day while I was there. I didn't realize until the day I was to leave that she wasn't coming home with me. I was upset but accepted her statement that this was her vacation too and she needed to relax so she could go back to work revitalized. I flew down twice to be with her and we would not do anything but make love and nap. I was in love and followed her lead like a puppy.

"When she got back from her vacation and our honeymoon Dianne worked for three more months then she was laid off she said. By then I was making enough for us to live pretty comfortable so I didn't say anything. Hell, I even liked it. We were still newlyweds and oh, how we loved each other. Not a day went by that we didn't make love. After a few weeks though Dianne said she was bored. She needed something to do. The only woman on the block that would have anything to do with her was a travel agent. Dianne talked to her about working in her business or at least in the travel industry. She was making a trip to visit several resorts in Florida and Dianne worked her magic on her. The woman invited her to go with her so Dianne could see if she wanted to do that kind of work. They were supposed to share the room Maureen had but Dianne had to pay her own way and for her own meals.

"When Dianne came to me she was so happy I couldn't tell her no. They left on a Sunday and I missed her so badly. I called her Monday night and she was rushed. She said they were going out to dinner then to check out the night life so our neighbor could discuss it with her clients. We didn't talk long and I felt upset. I called the next three nights and my greetings and the conversations became cooler, Dianne was sharp with me. She complained I didn't trust her. She told me that I needed to quit bothering her. She said that she was at work and she didn't bother me when I was working. Dianne said it was embarrassing for me to call and check on her like she was a child or as if I didn't trust her.

"I was hurt. The next day I was even more hurt. The husband of the woman Dianne had gone to Florida with came to see me. He was angry. He asked what kind of a skank I had married and sent off with his wife. I became angry with him and threatened him if he didn't leave my home. Since he was one of the men who had taken Stephanie's side in our divorce I didn't pay much attention to him. As he was leaving he said 'You know Jack, I always thought you were stupid and I know you shit on Stephanie but this is even too dumb for words. I'm going to show you just what you threw Stephanie away for."

"I was angry. I was so angry I couldn't see straight. I decided to call Dianne and tell her what her friend's husband had said. I wanted her to come home and get away from that woman. I called her cell and got no answer. I called the rest of the day, that night and the next day. Still no answer. Finally I called the resort and asked for the room. I got asshole's wife. She said Dianne was not there. Hell, it was after midnight and I knew Dianne would be there. I became obnoxious. Finally I pissed the woman off and she said, you asshole, Dianne hasn't been back to our room before three the last three nights. Yesterday she didn't come in until ten a.m. I don't know why I ever agreed to let her come with me except I felt sorry for her. As soon as I can get away from her I'm outta here. I can't believe you dumped Stephanie for this bitch."

I just hung up the phone and sat staring into space. A couple of days later I got a package from FedEx. It was a surveillance report from a PI in Daytona Beach, FL. It had CD's of Dianne having sex with several different men. It had tapes of her conversations with people in the resort and in bars. She was gushing over some of the young men's tight asses. One time she and another woman were watching a man swimming in the pool. The other woman said, 'Oh, GOD. Look at the ass on that one. I bet he could slam his cock into you so hard you'd be bruised for a week. Look at the size of that bulge in his trunks. I'm gonna get him tonight or die trying.'

Dianne looked at the young man and smiled. She said, "Oh, yeah. I've been with him twice this week and my pussy's still tender from the last time. We were out here swimming after we got back from the bar. He took me down beside the sea wall and did me. I think he may have the largest cock I've ever had pushed up my cunt." Other conversations on the CD showed her laughing and talking with women comparing the quality of lovers they had both had at the resort. I heard Dianne tell one of her new friends that she and her next oldest sister wouldn't even let their younger sister see them on dates because she always told their parents about them screwing everyone they could.

"Of course that sort of helped me understand why Dianne's younger sister wouldn't talk to her at family gatherings or at our wedding. Dianne had just told me the sister was a little bitch and thought she was too good for her and her middle sister.

"I was devastated. I couldn't believe how that conniving bitch had taken me in. I went to my attorney and we filed for divorce before she even returned from Florida. When I confronted her in the house when she got back she just sneered at me and said, so what? You knew what kind of woman I was before we got married. Why are you so upset about what you knew was going to happen. You agreed to it you know. Now either get over it or get the hell out of my house."

I was shocked. I just couldn't believe my sweet little Dianne could talk to me like that. Finally I decided to leave. I began breaking down my office equipment and she had a fit. She told me to get the hell out and leave her possessions alone. I kept working and she disappeared. On one of my trips to my car with computer equipment I was met by a policeman and her attorney. I was served with a restraining order preventing me from taking anything except my clothing and personal hygiene items. I was specifically allowed to take the truck over there."

"At the hearing things just got worse. I had filed asking for a split of assets based on what we had when we married. I didn't try for her savings or investments. I only wanted the $1795.00 I had in the bank when we married and my retirement accounts, computers and vehicle. They countered with the pre nuptial agreement asking for everything. My attorney was livid. I think he was as angry with me as them. When he asked me about the agreement and why I hadn't told him about it I was at a loss. I told him what I had thought when I signed it, that I didn't realize it covered my retirement and vehicle."

"We tried to break the agreement. That dragged the case out for several months. We did get the restraining order lifted so I could get into the house and continue operating my business. That was when I began rat holing money. I took cash from the bank a couple times a week. I made sure I was seen in bars and restaurants. I kept receipts, hell, I even picked up receipts from the ground and wherever I could find them to document expenses. Finally we had our day in court. The judge ruled the pre nuptial agreement would stand. I lost my business, 401K and all our joint accounts. All I had left was the cash I had hidden and not declared. The only reason I got to keep ole red over there is because I never had it transferred into my name. Grandpa had signed the title over to me but I had never recorded it. I lied again and said it was Grandpa's still. State motor vehicle records showed him as owner so the truck was excluded from marital assets because of the trust wording."

"One of the men Dianne was caught having sex with in Miami was Dallas, the friend of Stephanie's that had tried to kick me out of the house. I did enjoy seeing that on the tape. I mailed a copy of it to Stephanie's office at ADM. I had heard she married him after our divorce. I heard the crap really hit the fan when she got the CD! She called me a couple of weeks before my divorce from Dianne was final to talk. It seems she had signed a similar pre nuptial agreement with Dallas as I had signed with Dianne. The only major difference was she had taken hers to an attorney and gotten her retirement accounts excluded. She still lost everything else because she and Dallas spent their entire salary and what she had saved. At first I thought she was going to ask if we could get back together but she didn't.

"We talked civilly for the first time since she caught me kissing Dianne. We finally understood we had both been played and played very well by Dallas and Dianne. Our attorney's agreed but we had no proof of anything illegal. We both agreed too much hurt existed for us to ever get together again. Besides, Stephanie said that even knowing I had been played by a predator she had lost her trust in me and didn't think she could ever get it all back. I admitted I saw her point and told her I could never forget what she and Dallas had done while we were married either. We parted on a friendlier note than we had when we divorced and agreed to go our own ways with a little fonder memory of each other."

Jack stood from his chair and went to his ice chest for a beer. He held one toward Gregg and Bettie and raised his eyebrows. After they had both shaken their heads no, he continued, "Well, that's my sorry story. That's how I lost two wives and a small fortune in a little over three years of marriage."

Gregg sat looking at Jack for several minutes. Bettie seemed too shocked to say anything. Finally Gregg leaned forward in his chair and placed his forearms on his knees. He clasped his hands together and said, "Son I never heard a story like that in all my born days. Ya was dumb ta fall fer her line of crap but I suppose alla us could do something like that if the circumstances was right. Aint there anything ya coulda done 'bout it? It sure don't seem right she took everythin' like she done. Besides, if ya loved Stephanie and she loved you like your folks said it looks like you coulda got her back."

"No, I talked to my attorney about going after Dianne and Dallas. He said even if I filed a lawsuit it could cost more than I would gain. He said since the divorce judge let the pre nuptial agreement stand the chances were slim I could win. Dianne only got about $23000.00 but it's the principle I guess. I think she believed my business was worth more than it was or that I'd keep her around longer than I did. I guess she just got too greedy too fast. I was just starting to make big money in the business. In three or four years I would have had a lot more in the bank and she might have been able to sell my business for a lot of money. All she had to do was be a good little wife for a couple of years and she would have really gotten some money from me. As for Stephanie, there had been too many hurtful things said and done for us to ever have worked again. I am still so angry at her I could choke even though a lot of the blame is mine."

"Well son, I guess ya made the right decision but it's still a bite in tha ass." He looked over at Bettie and said, "Ya ready ta go home woman?" She nodded yes and stood.

At the truck Gregg turned to Jack and said, "Oh, I almost forgot. Why don't ya go down to the Fielding's Feed Store in Steelville and see if they need help? I heard in the café the other day those wimmin was having trouble keeping up with the books and such."

The next morning early Jack went to the store as Gregg recommended. He talked to Amanda Fielding about a job. She said, "Well Jack, I do need some help from time to time but it isn't full time. If you want to fill in occasionally and work weekends mostly we can give you a try. I'll understand if you find something better and move on because we probably won't need you more than 16 hours a week or so. If you wanted to help in back you might get a few more hours if someone got sick or something. We always hire part time help during harvest season so you will get more hours then too."

"Great. I'll take it. Anything will help right now. I need to find something better and a place to live before it gets cold but that will give me some breathing room."

Jack and Amanda decided he would begin the next day, a Friday, and work Saturday also. On Friday she had him work the counter with their clerk during the morning. In the afternoon he worked in the mill part of the business. He helped load some of the feed and merchandise that sold that day. Saturday morning Amanda had him in the office with her watching how she posted items and kept books. She also let him take down some phone orders then showed him how to work them. That afternoon he again worked loading trucks. That evening at quitting time Amanda and he agreed his hours would be Fridays and Saturdays and he would be on call if one of the full time employees called in sick or took a vacation. Just before he left she smiled and said, "Jack aren't you interested in your pay? You never asked and I decided to wait and see what you said when I realized we had never talked money."

"Not really Amanda. I know what minimum wage is and I just assumed that would be what I earned."

Amanda laughed and said, "I think we can do better than that. Not much better I admit but some. We will start you at $7.50 an hour if that's ok with you. No benefits thought I'm afraid."

Jack worked the next three weekends and became very confident with his duties. Just after noon Saturday he went into Amanda's office. He sat in a chair across from her and said, "Amanda I know I've only been here three weeks, well, six days actually but I think you need to make some changes here. I think I could help you increase your profits quite a bit if you do. You know I worked for ADM on their trading desk for a while then went out on my own?"