Revelation Blues Pt. 03

The doctor arrived a short while later. Scott explained what happened since they were at the mall. He showed the doctor the way to their bedroom and left him to examine Mary, who by then was wide awake but weak and resting in bed. He had no idea what happened in the bedroom, but when the doctor came out he looked hesitant, maybe pensive. He told Scott that Mary needed to rest, that there was nothing warranting her going to a hospital, and that he gave her some medicine to relieve the pain and help her rest. He was about to say something else but seemed to change his mind and just said that he told Mary that she needs to see her gynecologist and get herself checked. Scott was relieved that Mary's condition wasn't serious, the doctor didn't prescribe any further treatment and certainly didn't think hospitalization was necessary.

Now, with the Medical Clinic document in his hand, what happened then was to be seen in a completely different light. Scott checked medical sites on the web for symptoms of miscarriage. Various sites informed him that bleeding may be followed by cramping and abdominal pain and, in some women, by lower backache. That the passing of tissues and blood clots would lead the doctor to conclude that a miscarriage has already occurred. That now explained the hesitant attitude the doctor displayed after examining Mary. Maybe he suspected a miscarriage and that's why he suggested further checks by the gynecologist.

Scott checked the scanned pages of Mary's diary. Usually Mary indicated the dates her periods started with a circled P. He noticed that on that Sunday in March the P was circled twice and even underscored. Mary had even written that the 'doctor came over'. He also noticed that on Tuesday Mary had written 'lunch with Fiona' and 'gynecologist'. She obviously didn't go to her regular gynecologist. He suspected that Fiona had accompanied Mary to the Medical Center and probably drove her home after the procedure. Scott then checked the phone logs and noticed that Mary had called the Medical Center twice on Monday, she had also called Don and Fiona. He hadn't checked that unknown number before because he was focused on the calls to Don and Fiona and had skipped many of the other local calls.

Many questions crossed Scott's mind that evening, most of them revolved around the miscarriage. First, he thought Mary had an IUD implant as she preferred that to taking the pill. Did she remove it or did it malfunction? There was no way of finding out now who was responsible for Mary's short-lived pregnancy, him or Don.

Suddenly he was shaken by a new thought. Dean! But that thought was swiftly dismissed. At their doctor's recommendation, they had done several tests during pregnancy and after birth, including amniocentesis and DNA tests. Some were done to determine genetic disorders or abnormalities, some were done to determine whether Dean had the same allergies as his mother. The DNA test, although not aimed at proving paternity at the time, indicated that Dean was definitely his son. However, just the fact that he had reached that stage, doubting his own paternity of Dean, shook Scott to the core. Damn you Mary!

He reverted to his previous train of thought. Did Mary suspect that she was pregnant? The last circled P was over two weeks before their wedding anniversary in February, surely she would have realized that her period was late. She must have become pregnant around the time of their wedding anniversary. Did she tell Don? She sure didn't tell Scott. What caused the miscarriage? He would probably never know. He laid on his bed feeling totally miserable and disheartened. The thought tormenting him before finally surrendering to sleep was 'Did he lose a child or was Mary's treachery so complete?'

Chapter 14 -- Resurrecting the Past

On Tuesday, his third night, Scott was ready for the call he wanted to make. He returned to his room after a long working dinner with his colleagues, had a quick shower, then sat on the desk chair and pulled out the telephone number he had noted down when he was in the lounge at San Francisco airport.

Scott had to wait for a decent hour to call the number in San Francisco. The 16 hours difference had to be factored in the timing of his call. It was almost midnight and Scott preferred to wait another hour before making his call. It would be 9:00am in San Francisco.

He spent that time revisiting some of the documents he scanned and the time-line he had drawn on the spreadsheet. Usually, on almost all his previous business trips, his mind would be focused on lighter matters, fun things he would only do when he was alone in his hotel room. Now, on this trip, he was observing his perfect life unravel and disintegrate before him.

At 1:00am he reached for his cell phone and dialed the number. After a few rings, a melodic female voice greeted him.

"Good morning, Bank of the Americas, Emma speaking."

"Good morning Emma, could you please put me through to Martin Beener?"

"Mr. Beener is no longer in this office, sir. He is now in our main office downtown."

"Oh, I see. Would you happen to have his new number there?"

"I can try and transfer you sir, but just in case we got disconnected I'll give you his office number." After a brief silence, Emma announced a number that Scott noted on the same paper.

He waited for a few long minutes while Emma tried to put him though to Martin's new office. Whatever music the bank was streaming to soothe their customers nerves went totally unnoticed.

"Martin Beener's office, Emilia speaking."

"Good morning Emilia, could you put me through to Mr. Beener please?"

"May I ask who's calling?"

"Scott Johnson, it's a personal call."

A few seconds later, a male voice came over the line.

"Martin Beener, how can I help you?"

"Good morning Martin, I am Scott Johnson, Mary's husband, your ex-wife." Scott felt a bit awkward, he couldn't think of a better way to introduce himself. He waited for a few seconds letting Martin assimilate what he just told him, then he continued.

"I am sorry to call you at work for a private matter, Martin, but I need you to enlighten me on a couple of matters that are troubling me. If you don't feel like sharing such information with me I will understand."

"I gather this has to do with Mary," Martin inquired.

"Yes, it does Martin, it's not going to be easy for me asking and probably not any easier for you answering, but things got to a point in my marriage where I need to know."

"I see," Martin paused before continuing. In a few seconds his brain had processed that he liked Scott's straight forward and honest approach. His voice, although wary or tired, seemed to inspire confidence. "I will do my best to help and tell you what you want to know, Scott, but now is not a good time for me. I have to head off to a meeting in a few minutes and we will probably need more than a few minutes to deal with your questions. Could you call me around lunch time? I'll be in my office and expecting your call."

"Thank you Martin," Scott thought about this for a few seconds, he had an alternative proposal, "I would like to suggest an alternative for you to consider. I am in Malaysia now and it's well past 1:00am here. I will be flying back through San Francisco on Sunday. I am supposed to meet with my colleagues over there, then catch a flight at 1:20pm to Miami. I can skip the meeting with my colleagues and meet anywhere convenient for you. I am happy to suggest even breakfast or a brunch if you have time and if that doesn't disturb your plans for Sunday morning. Your call."

"Actually that would be much better if we could meet and discuss this in person and you seem to have that possibility. I was supposed to meet up with friends for tennis doubles but I can easily get out of this."

Before hanging up they had exchange cell phone numbers and agreed to meet in the lobby of Scott's hotel at 8:00am on Sunday.

Wednesday through Friday were totally taken by Scott's work. There were so many documents handed over to them that they had to go through. They spent long hours at the office followed by late working dinners, with their hosts first then with his colleagues. After dinner they would adjourn to the CEO's suite to discuss the confidential parts of their business. Scott never made it to his suite before midnight.

Saturday morning they had an early breakfast, worked some more, had lunch with their hosts, briefly reviewed the next steps and milestones, then took leave after thanking them for their hospitality. They were driven to the airport for their 5:40pm flight to Hong Kong then to San Francisco.

With a 16 hours time difference, they landed in San Francisco at 10:00pm the same day. They took a taxi for a ten minutes drive to their hotel. Scott needed a few good hours sleep to complement whatever he had managed to get on their flight. He showered and went straight to bed, he wanted a clear mind for his meeting the next morning.

* * *

Scott was in the lobby at 7:45 on Sunday. He had brought down his laptop and flash drive just in case. He had apologized the previous night to his colleagues for not being able to join them in the meetings scheduled with their Californian colleagues on Sunday. He told them that his presence was not required, which was true, and informed them that he had another meeting scheduled.

It was barely a couple of minutes when he saw a tall, handsome man about his age walk in through the main entrance. The man looked around then their eyes locked. Scott got up and headed toward the man.

"Martin?" He asked.

"Yes,' Martin smiled, "Good morning Scott, welcome back home."

"Good morning Martin. Thank you. Thank you also for taking the time to meet me here this morning. I hope you didn't have far to drive."

Martin smiled broadly, "It took me less than 15 minutes, I live just across the 101 in Hillsborough. I travel a lot and being close to the airport and my office is very convenient."

Scott knew that Hillsborough was one of the wealthiest communities in California, maybe even in the whole country. Martin must be doing really well for himself.

"Shall we have some breakfast?" Scott asked.

"Sure, lead the way."

While they waited to be seated then as they were exploring the breakfast menu both men made small talk and studied each other. They knew nothing about each other, in fact they had nothing in common except for the fact that they both married Mary. Maybe they shared a few similarities, Scott thought. They both looked mature, distinguished, and in good shape, both seemed confident, and both seemed to be prospering with what they did professionally. One was apparently a successful banker and the other a successful corporate executive.

Scott noticed the wedding ring and asked Martin if he was married and had a family. Martin told him that he was indeed married and had an 11 year old boy, a 9 year old girl, and 'last but not least' as he put it, a 7 year old girl. His wife was a local girl and worked in the banking business as well, although more into the personal banking side of the business. Scott learned that after a few years dealing with business banking, Martin became involved in investment banking and his job now, as one of the Senior Vice Presidents of his bank, was to develop and expand their investment banking activities worldwide.

Scott was impressed. Martin seemed to have a happy family life and a successful career. He seemed to be a fairly balanced and down to earth person. Subconsciously Scott told himself that there could be a happy life after Mary.

Scott told Martin that both his parents were in the banking business as well and shared with him some of his own background. He told him about his life, about his marriage, and about his son, Dean. He liked Martin and found talking to him easy and pleasant. He was about to share with him one of his areas of interest, his secret hobby as he called it, but didn't think that was necessary nor that it was the appropriate time to do so. He also felt that Martin was waiting for him to bring up the reason they were meeting here today.

The waitress had just cleared their table and asked if they wished more coffee. Scott and Martin responded positively. Once their cups had been refilled, Scott looked at Martin and both knew what the next topic was going to be.

"Martin, I want to thank you again for meeting with me this morning. The reason can be stated in a few words. As you may have gathered it's about Mary. Things between us have taken a very bad turn a couple of weeks ago and in the process I discovered things I never suspected or imagined her capable of doing."

"You discovered that she was cheating!" Martin's voice was suddenly harsher.

Scott was startled, he wasn't sure if Martin stated this as a question of a fact.

"Yes I did. It is still hard for me to talk about it. No one knows what I discovered, not even Mary. I've been doing some research and digging around and what I came up with paints a very bleak picture of our marriage and our relationship. I don't want to bore you with details, but I can tell you that it wasn't a one time fling, she had affairs, I don't know how many for sure, four that I have some sort of proof for, maybe several more I may or may never find about. It's been going on since almost the start of our marriage. The last one may be still going on for all I know."

Scott stopped, surprised by his own last words.

"I'm sorry to hear that Scott. I really am." Martin's voice seemed softer and his words genuine.

Scott nodded, "I also found your divorce papers. In fact that's what prompted me to contact you. We rarely spoke about your marriage but the few times we did, early when I met her, Mary told me that you drifted apart, she even suspected that you were having an affair. She even led me to believe that she was the one that asked for the divorce. With what I know now, I realize how remote this is from the truth. Your divorce papers stated that you were the petitioner. You are the one that asked for the divorce, not her. I wanted to know more and couldn't think of a better way to get to the information I needed."

"What would you like to know?"

"I can make an educated guess as to the reason that prompted you to seek a divorce, but I'd prefer to know what really happened. Your story, if possible."

Martin nodded and let out a long sigh.

"My story is probably not that different from yours Scott. We were young when we married, life is at its hardest then, you have to work hard, you have to prove yourself, you have to learn to live differently than when you lived with your parents or on your own at college. Most people don't realize what day-to-day life will be really like once they married and I was no different. Mary was uncertain of what she wanted, being a house carer or an artist. She tried being both, she took good care of our home but she didn't seem to have that passion that makes artists great. In retrospect, I am not sure she ever found her true vocation or her purpose in life. I was so focused on securing my own job prospects and reaching that financial stability we needed before starting a family. Things became routine over time, I guess she got bored. How she got into the cheating business I never really found out. One day I bumped into a friend from our old neighborhood who happened to be in town, I was coming back from lunch and didn't have much time for a chat so I invited him over for dinner that night. At first, Mary didn't seem as enthusiastic seeing him as I thought she would be, then she kind of relaxed and we had a great evening, she almost flirted openly with him towards the end. I knew that light side of Mary so I didn't make much of it, it was her nature I guess and it was harmless. Or so I thought."

"What happened?" Scott listened to Martin and noticed the similarities with his own experience.

"A couple of months later I was informed of my appointment to manage a small group in our new investment banking division. It was a promotion with better pay and better career prospects. I was so thrilled I left work just after lunch and came home to share the good news with Mary then go out that night and celebrate. I called home before leaving but she didn't answer, I suspected she was out so I left a message telling her I was on my way home. What happened next is a classic. She was in bed with that friend from the old neighborhood. They didn't hear me come in, and I didn't see them. All the tell tale signs were there, the wine glasses, the music, the clothes and shoes in the lounge room, the sounds coming out of the bedroom. I could hear their voices so clearly. I was so devastated I just sat on the couch, totally numb, unable to think, unable to move."

"Hell man! I really don't know what I would have done in such situation. At least I have been spared that ugliness, I think."

"Tell me about it! Those voices haunted me for months."

"What did you do?"

"I was so stunned I didn't even realize that they were done. I have vague ghostly images of him coming out of the bedroom first; he saw me sitting there, I guess he looked at me and said some words, then put on his clothes and left. Mary took longer to come out, she figured I was in the lounge room and was probably afraid to confront me. When she came out, I snapped out of my state of stupor and all I can remember saying are things like why, how long has she been doing it, with whom else, and so on. She told me that this was the first time this ever happened, she couldn't explain why, she said that she loved me, the usual crap one hears in these situations I guess. Anything she told me one day I would find out it was a lie a few days later. Small lies, but added together they add up to total dishonesty. She would tell you a story and if you insisted or had doubts and pushed her limits the story changes. I was torn between fixing things with Mary, putting all this behind us and giving us another chance or just ending a relationship that had become so full of lies. I still loved her, it is not like a switch you turn on and off, and that hurts a lot. The part that really depressed me was the loss of trust, whenever we weren't together I would be thinking about what she was doing and of course who she was doing it with. This took its toll not only on my performance at work, but gradually also on the performance and the results of the people in my team. This was going on for almost three months when I found out accidentally that Mary had a previous affair, which meant that this wasn't her first as she claimed. That day I made the decision to divorce, there was no other alternative. I needed the peace and serenity that I could never have if I remained married to Mary. That's when I saw my lawyer and filed for divorce."

"What did Mary say?"

"Nothing! Would you believe she said nothing? She accepted the divorce and its terms and just moved on. I guess she met you not long after that. When she remarried I stopped paying her alimony. Then I met the woman that was to become my wife and also moved on with my life."

Scott was intrigued. "She didn't even try to talk you out of divorcing her?" He asked.

"Not really. I suspected in the beginning that she simply didn't love me anymore. Maybe whatever either of us had to say was said before and there was nothing else to say. But later, as I kept replaying things in my mind, I figured out the probable reason why she didn't try to talk me out of it or fight the divorce. She knew me well and knew that I wouldn't have filed unless I was determined to go through with it. Filing for divorce is not what one does to start negotiations, not normal people anyway. So her priority became preserving appearances and avoiding anything that would allow the real reasons for our divorce to be known. It would appear as if we both agreed to separate amicably rather than her actions being the cause of the divorce."