Peaceful Easy Feelin’

"Immaterial, Henry, we don't intend to use it in the divorce proceedings at all, only in the custody case in the Family Court. You know as well as I do that they will accept it as evidence of Mrs Moore's low moral character and her cavalier attitude to what is appropriate behaviour in the presence of impressionable young children. Now let's cut out all the crap and get down to the nitty-gritty."

"The Family Court?" Harcourt queried.

"Of course, a mother who brings her 'lovers' into the family home and has sexual intercourse with them in front of two young and impressionable girls." I noted that Rachel had laid emphasis on the plural even though we had no reason to even suspect that Jean had had any previous lovers. "Now you know as well as I do, Henry, no family court is going to consider her to be a competent person to raise children, especially young girls."

"The girls didn't see what Seymour did..." Jean started to say, but her brief stopped her and told her not to say anything. Then they both returned to the lounge for a while.

Later we learnt from listening to the recording that Rachel's gear had made that Harcourt told Jean that I had her by the short and curlys. "If the family court gets involved in this one, you will lose all your parental rights towards your children and probably you will never be allowed contact with them again," Harcourt informed her. "If you wish to be involved in some way in their upbringing, let's see what your husband has got in mind." After a lot of blustering Jean agreed to listen to our proposals.

Rachel laid our proposals on the table, quite succinctly. Jean was to move out of the house that day and then we'd jointly apply for a divorce on the grounds of unreconcilable differences. Jean would voluntarily give up all her parental rights over the children, and in return I would promise to guarantee her reasonable visitation rights; but all of her visits were to be supervised until the girls were of age. We emphasised that I did not wish to alienate Jean from the children, just protect them from her low moral values.

The moral values bit really pissed Jean off and she almost lost control of her emotions again. But after another somewhat heated exchange with Henry Harcourt in the lounge, she provisionally accepted my terms.

There was a lot of wrangling that went on over the following months, but basically I'd been in the driver's seat. Especially after Sonya's news conference and all the publicity surrounding her divorce, in which Jean was named as just one of the co-respondents. I expect that that must have put her nose out of joint a little as well, to find out that her lover was bedding another tart at the same time as their affair had been going on.

Jean wasn't too happy about the child maintenance that I demanded she pay me either. Jean's salary had been far in excess of mine for some time by then, even when she'd been working part time in the office; once she didn't have the children to rush home for in the afternoons, it must have gone through the roof.

Actually I'd been under the impression that Jean had been working full time, but that she had been on flexi-time, so that she had time to look after the children. It had also explained to me the numerous times that she had to return to the office in the evenings and on weekends.

Yeah, well, once I'd learnt about her affair with Springfield, it was obvious what she had really been doing. But like most husbands (and wives, come to that), I had no reason to disbelieve anything Jean told me until Sonya walked into Wally's Café that day. I certainly hadn't noticed any drastic change in Jean's behaviour towards me in the proceeding months or years. There had been the usual slowing down of the old lovemaking bit; but doesn't that happen in all marriages as the children become more mobile and aware of that kind of thing.

Jean never did apologise for cheating on our marriage. Actually on the first few occasions that she came to visit with the girls, I noticed a disdain and hostility in her attitude where I was concerned. The term 'Truck Driver' was mentioned several times. So I have to believe the reason that Jean strayed in the first place was because she'd come to the conclusion that she'd married bellow herself. Possibly mixing with all those Hooray-Henri's in her office in the city, with their big cars, inflated salaries and even bigger egos, had given her delusions of grandeur.

Anyway, I thought that the girls took their mother's departure from the family home surprisingly well. It was to be years later that I discovered that they had suspected that their mother was - to put it mildly - misbehaving. Now for a seven-year-old and nine-year-old to work that one out between them, doesn't bode well for my observations of what had been going on in our family home. Although I never did discuss Jean's infidelity with the girls openly, but over time I did learn that Jean and "Uncle Seymour" got progressively bolder in the months before the shit hit the fan. I can only assume that they were preparing the girls for the day when Jean was planning to dump me and move in with Springfield.

I'm not saying everything was roses at home after Jean was gone; money was soon to become a serious issue for me. I had to restrict my working hours to look after the girls, and I was lucky there in the fact that I had a very understanding boss. But only being able to drive on local jobs, not being able to start early in the mornings and having to finish in time to collect the children from school had severe repercussions on my income. Jean's child maintenance payments helped, but I realised I was going to be in shit street when the school holidays came around. My girls were far too young to leave on their own during the day.

My sister helped with minding the children, where she could. But she had four children of her own to look after, and her house was just too far away for me to drop the girls there every day and then go on to work.

We toyed with the idea of buying a larger house together. But Sue had an admirer by that time. John was a nice guy and we had hopes (which were eventually to came to fruition) that he'd make a better husband for her than her first one had. I had little choice than to stop working during the school holidays that were all too soon upon us and live on my savings for a while.

I think that I had it roughly worked out, that I could - by lowering our lifestyle somewhat for a few years, until the girls were old enough to be left to their own devices during the day -- make it through the next few years. And of course my social life would have to take a complete dive.

Rachel kept in close touch. She also took to dropping in during the evenings, usually with her husband in tow. She admonished me numerous times for not taking her advice and demanding spousal support from Jean when I'd had the opportunity. I think that possibly 'male pride' had paid a part in that decision of mine.

Rachel's husband even took me down to the pub a couple of evenings for a pint, whilst she stayed at my house with the girls. One thing that Rachel always seemed to mention somehow whenever she visited - and even when we spoke on the telephone; the divorce was still in progress at that time - was that Sonya had enquired after the children and me, and how we were getting on.

To be honest with you, I'd almost forgotten about the woman's existence. After all, although our spouses had been cheating together, that was about the only thing we had in common. My divorce was progressing pretty quietly, whilst Sonya's was hung up in the courts and was also slapped all over the newspapers and on TV. I avoided reading those papers and watching the news broadcasts on TV, because I didn't want my girls to see or hear their mother's name being mentioned all the time in such a context.

But the girls weren't daft, as I said; I was to learn later that they had a very good idea of what kind of character their mother had. But to my knowledge they never heard me run Jean down once. With Sonya's help I'd won the war; I had no intention of losing the peace by trying to alienate the girls from their mother.

Rachel and her husband had become regular visitors at my house. A professional couple who had married late in life, I think they'd kind off adopted my two girls as grandchildren. I was pleased about that, because the only family I had alive was my sister.

On a couple of Saturdays Rachel and her husband, took the girls out for the day, to give me a break Rachel said. On one of those occasions when they'd gone to the zoo -- or it might have been to the museums in Kensington -- the girls mentioned some new friends they'd made that day. I'll admit now that I didn't pay as much attention to those new friends as maybe I should have.

And so, on my daughter Sheryl's tenth birthday in early April, I was completely taken by surprise by the events of the day. Jean had come to the house for Sheryl's birthday party that my sister Sue had arranged; well, it was little more than a formal tea really. Sue had brought her own children and the new man in her life along with her. He and I had spent most of the time that Jean had been in the house out in my garage-come-workshop; I'm afraid you could cut the atmosphere with a knife when Jean and I were in the same room together.

Sheryl hadn't invited any of her school friends; I think she had been a little dubious about advertising the fact that her mother no longer lived at home. Especially because Jean had the habit of getting Seymour Springfield drop her off at the house when she came to visit the children. Jean had her own company car, so I'm not quite sure of why she insisted on having Seymour do that; maybe it was to rub my face in the fact that she was living with him. But then again it could have been pure thoughtlessness about the amount of embarrassment it caused her daughters, on Jean's part.

All day Susan had been hinting that other guests were going to arrive later in the day, but she was being very vague about who they were. I'm not sure why I figured that it would be Rachel and her husband, who had gotten very attached to my two little tykes in the previous couple of months; but I suspected that was who it was going to be.

Anyway, surprisingly early in the afternoon Susan served Sheryl's birthday tea; we had all managed to sit at the same table together to eat it and cheer as Sheryl blew out the candles on her cake. Then I'd retreated to the kitchen, in theory to do the washing up, in fact, to get out of Jean's company.

I did note that there seemed to be rather a lot of Tupperware boxes - full of cakes and things in the kitchen - that hadn't been touched yet. On closer inspection I figured that there was enough food there for another birthday party.

Whether by previous plan or because Jean had taken the hint from Susan, I'm not sure, but Springfield arrived around five to collect her. He didn't come up to the house - he never got out of his car when he dropped Jean off or collected her -- he just sat out in the street and sounded his car horn.

It was as Jean was walking out to the car that Rachel and her husband came walking along the road; the parking problem had caused them to park further down the street. Sheryl, Annette and I were watching Jean's departure from the front door. Now the thing that I was having trouble understanding at the time was that Rachel and her husband had two children with them. And what's more Springfield appeared to be taking a great interest in them; so much so that he actually got out of his car and said something that I didn't catch. At first I thought he was talking to Rachel, but then one of the little girls who was holding her hand called out, "Hi, daddy!" and waved at him.

But by that time Seymour Springfield's attention was on the people following Rachel who I hadn't seen yet. It was Sonya and her other child. Sonya and the young boy both waved at Springfield, Sonya also giving Jean -- who was still standing beside the car -- a big smile.

"Thank you. I think I've got the better end of the deal!" I heard Sonya call out; at the time I didn't really understand what she was talking about. I thought she was referring to having gotten rid of her husband.

Jean looked absolutely livid about something; she got into Seymour's car and slammed the door, then lent across the seats to say something to him. He waved at his children again before he got back into the car and drove away. The expression on Seymour Springfield's face had been one of total confusion though.

"Sorry, I had hoped they'd be gone before we got here!" Rachel said when she got to the door. "Sonya has been wanting to speak to you for weeks, Susan and I thought it would be nice if her children came to Sheryl's party, they got on so well together the other day."

I gave Rachel my 'What the hell are you up to now, girl,' look and she grinned back at me with that wicked grin of hers. Her husband gave me the 'I've got nothing to do with this' look that us guys use when our wives are not under our control.

"Hi, Frank. May we come in and join the party?" Sonya asked, effectively bringing the mental confrontation between Rachel and me to an end.

But before I could say more than "Hello, Sonya" in reply, Susan came dashing out of the house and hugged Sonya like they had been bosom buddies for donkey's years. Sue then dragged everyone inside.

"We thought Sheryl deserved to have some other children at her party," Sue informed me a little later when we got a minute alone. "Sheryl is still a little reticent about bringing her school friends home; you know, what with everything. Mine have been through it all, but that was a couple of years ago. We thought that Sonya's children are in the same boat as your two, so we thought it would a good idea to invite them along so they can commiserate with each other." Then she dashed off to continue sorting the catering for our new guests out.

Sheryl and Sonya's ten-year-old son -- Dominic, who appeared to be known by everyone as Tadpole -- seemed to hit it off remarkably quickly. Had they been a couple of years older I might have had cause to worry. Annette, Sheila (Sue's eldest) and Sonya's eight-year-old twins seemed to take to each other straight away as well. Susan's younger children were in a world of their own anyway.

I'd say that after Sonya's crowd arrived it turned into a proper children's birthday party; although Rachel and her husband seemed to organise all of the children's games. They obviously loved children. I discovered later that both being into their careers when they were younger, they'd married quite late in life and had been unsuccessful in having children of their own. Consequently they liked to play surrogate grandparents to any children that their friends had.

"How are you bearing up?" Sonya suddenly asked from behind me, when I'd slipped out into the garden for a quick smoke; I never smoke in the house.

I think she must have made me literally jump, because she was giggling a little when I turned around to face her. "As well as can be expected under the circumstances. How're things with you?" I replied.

"Not much different really. Seymour was never home much lately anyway. Always trying to swing another dodgy deal or the other, or so he said! More likely he was..."

"You weren't suspicious of him then?" I asked. There was something in the way Sonya had replied that made me suspect that she had been.

"I was a fool when I fell for Seymour's line of bull in the first place; he had me completely under his spell for a long time. I should have known that I couldn't trust the bugger. When a person can be as two faced as Seymour is in his business dealings, I should have wondered what his true feelings for me really were. I don't think my father ever liked or trusted him either. Am I glad daddy took the precautions he did with my inheritance. God, the man's a real slime ball. In a way I feel sorry for your wife. She doesn't know what she's let herself in for in the long term."

"Well, I don't. Serves her bloody right for what she's done to me and the girls. I must have been blind. I had no idea that she was playing around on me."

"When he wants to be, Seymour can be bloody charming, Frank. Christ, that man could charm the birds out of the trees, if he wanted to. I doubt that your wife knew what hit her. But she'll come down with one hell of a bump eventually. If she's got any sense she'll keep her job. She's damn good at what she does, you know."

"Is she, or did she only get where she is because of her association with your husband?"

"Oh, no, more like the other way round, I should think. Seymour doesn't have a controlling interest in that firm and Jean is good, even if she doesn't realise it. She holds a lot of influence with the board members. They recognise talent when they see it. I should imagine Seymour decided to hook up with her for nefarious reasons."

I don't know what kind of look I gave Sonya when she said that. To be honest, I wasn't even sure of what Jean did at her office. Neither of us had - as some folks put it - taken our jobs home with us; maybe that had been a mistake and we'd drifted apart because of it.

"I told you, Frank, he's a real slime ball. Seymour will try just about anything to get an edge in business. I'm damned sure that's why he married me in the first place; because my father was the Chairman of several companies that Seymour held directorships of at the time. But my father had a really serious heart attack a few years back and retired to the south of France. Knowing Seymour, that's probably when he considered I was of little further use to him; what with the way my father tied up my inheritance and all, before he died, so that Seymour couldn't get his hands on it."

I think I must have offered my condolences on her father's death at that point and the subject of conversation changed to our parents and what few relations we both had still alive. After that we talked about our children and the hopes we had for their future and my disappointment in Jean's betrayal.

Sonya told me that she didn't go out to work. A strange smile came on her face when I said that she was a stay at home mum. An even bigger smile came over her face when I said that I didn't blame her what with all the hassle of looking after the home and three children. Sonya was still smiling when Susan came out of the house to find us and informed us that Tadpole was looking for his mother.

"Mr Moore, can Sheryl and Annette come over to our house tomorrow? I want to teach her how to dive," Tadpole asked me the moment we walked in the door.

I assumed that the 'her' he was referring to was Sheryl, and I very much suspected that "teaching her how dive" was going to consist of Tadpole showing off his own prowess on the diving board. Sonya had told me that was where Dominic had got his tadpole nickname; once he had learnt to swim, she had trouble keeping him out of the pool.

"Sure, if they want to and your mother doesn't mind, I can't see why not," I replied.

"Susan, why don't you bring your children over as well? I'm sure they'd enjoy playing in the pool," Sonya immediately asked my sister. "You can all come for lunch."

So the following morning found me with my two and Susan's eldest, in my car. Following John - who apparently Sonya had given directions to her house to -- with Susan and her other three in his car, round the country lanes of deepest Surrey.

It wasn't at all warm that day, although it was quite sunny. I'd mentioned the temperature to Susan when we'd met up at her house; she just replied that the pool must be heated or Sonya wouldn't have invited the children over for a swim.

I was just beginning to think that John was completely lost when he turned off the road, through an arched gateway and into the drive of a bleeding great country house. I had been expecting a fairly large house if it had its own pool in the garden, but nothing like this bloody place. There was even a gatehouse beside the entrance arch.