Regrets

Of course the reason was that I never divorced Lila. I knew the court would award her some share of my wealth and I had no desire to share any of it with Lila for the benefit of Larry. I had cut any financial ties to her the day after I read her letter. I had found out later, from my children, that she had moved in with him and had subsequently become pregnant. I had thought she was past that possibility, evidently so did she. Eventually, I heard that she had a boy and it must have upset their relationship because they separated shortly thereafter. Then I lost track of Lila, she just seemed to disappear.

My children finished college and Janet's children entered their university years. This freed Janet to move in with me. We became a couple and everyone, even my children, seemed to accept the fact that we were as good as married. Everything was fine for about three years and then I got a call from an Officer Stanley Grabowski on a Thursday evening. Janet answered the phone, I watched her face as she handed it to me, "It's about Lila," she said.

"You don't know me Councilor," he said, "but a couple of years ago you helped my brother in law get out of a wrongful conviction and I am now returning your favor. I broke up a bar room brawl a little while ago, two guys were fighting over a woman in a gin mill over on Third Street and I had to take them all into custody."

"What's that got to do with me? I don't take on those kinds of cases."

"The woman was egging them on telling them that winner could take her home."

"So?"

"The woman says she was your wife. I didn't want to book her without calling you first. I'm returning your favor."

"I'll be right there."

She was locked in to the back seat of the police cruiser, she had been screaming like a banshee. She was a mess, a black eye, clothes torn, makeup smeared all over her face, her voice now reduced to a hoarse whisper, she was drunk. I had never seen her like this.

I thanked Grabowski and took her home and she started to fight back when I tried to get her into the house. I overpowered her and literally threw her into the shower, clothes and all, and turned it on cold and that seemed to shock her into some semblance of sanity. Janet was there and helped me get her to the point where I could get the clothes off of her and it was there that I got shocked. She has lost a lot of weight and was covered with bruises........and hickies. Tits, belly, inner thighs, neck and shoulders, covered with suck marks and bite marks.

The next morning I had a doctor come to the house. I had helped him out of a malpractice problem and he owed me a favor. He took a lot of blood samples and after interviewing Lila and me, said if the blood tests confirmed his preliminary diagnosis; it was a simple case of menopausal and hormonal imbalances that he should be able to clear up. And that's what it turned out to be, early onset menopause that had her system completely out of whack.

It seems she had been making her living on her back. She was whore, maybe she was still looking for variety. How she survived and supported her son was beyond my comprehension. The boy was with her roommate, another prostitute, and they were barely scraping out a living between the two of them. He was a cute kid, undernourished but with a lively personality. But what really got to me was that she had named him Max!

It took a while, for her body to heal and a bit longer for her to regain her sanity and then the three of us sat down to talk. She realized what had she had done and that there was no going back to what we once had. I agreed to a divorce with a settlement that would let her get started in a new life, now that she was rational. Janet talked me into getting both Lila and her roommate jobs with a client of ours but on different shifts so someone would always with the boy.

Because of my children I maintained contact with Lila and, I ended up monitoring her life. Now that she got the medical help she needed she kept her life in order. We both accepted that our break up was complete and could not be repaired. Besides, I was now completely in love with Janet, who I finally did marry. Max turned out to be a great kid and I became Uncle Max and a mentor to him. Maybe he will grow up to be a lawyer too.

Regrets, I had a few. But I ended up with woman who I loved, perhaps more than the one I lost. It was Lila who had the most to regret but she now has her second son, who she seems to dote on. Maybe it all evened out.