Seeds of Doubt, Harvest of Sorrow Ch. 02

It had been over four months since my divorce now and almost every day I still kept asking myself how Catherine was doing. We hadn't talk once since she left me and the only information I had about her was from talking to my daughter. I often came close to calling her and asking her to forgive me, but my pride prevented me from doing so. I was the one that had accused her and I knew that I should be the one to beg her forgiveness.

I kept on driving in front of her house many times each week and Jerry's car was often there in the driveway. Had he already fucked her? Probably not I told myself, Catherine wouldn't permit him too many liberties so soon after our divorce, especially with our daughter around. But he was a smooth operator, he was an expert, judging by what he had done so far to my marriage, and he could afford to take his time.

Then one Sunday afternoon, about a month later, as I was driving Chantal back to Catherine's house, I noticed that Jerry's blue Honda was already there.

"I see that Jerry is already there," I told my daughter sitting next to me, and "I suppose he will be eating supper with you and mommy this evening."

"He often eats at home now, he sometimes even sleep in the spare bedroom next to mine. I saw him kissing mommy the other day, I wish that you and mommy were still living together with me daddy. I don't like Uncle Jerry."

Later, after dropping off my daughter, I drove home as if in a dream. I knew now that even if I was to call Catherine and beg her to forgive me, it was already too late. She and Jerry had something going on together and this would make it more difficult for her to forgive me.

From then on, things went from bad to worse. One week-end, while I was with my daughter eating at a McDonald, I began to ask her questions about her mother and Jerry. After asking her if Jerry was spending a lot of time at home, she said to me.

"He is there very often daddy. He eats there most of the time and he and mom often go together to eat out and to see a movie."

"But who is staying with you honey when they are out of the house?"

"Mom asks Annette to stay with me when she goes out with Uncle Jerry. Annette is in high school and she lives in the house next to ours."

I was shocked to learn that Jerry was moving so fast with Catherine. Before I became too emotional I proceeded to ask my daughter another line of questions and try to forget about Jerry for a while.

"Does mommy ask about me sometimes?"

"Yes she does daddy. The other day she asked me if you had a lot of friends visiting you and she wanted to know if you were doing ok and taking your pills."

I supposed that Catherine wanted to know if I had a girl friend and was bringing her home when Chantal was there. But the fact that she was also worried about me taking of my allergy pills did please me. When we were living together she always kept track of me so that I took my pills regularly. It did show that she still cared about me. But before I had time to ask my daughter another question she went on.

"The other day when we were all seated around the table eating dinner, I told mommy about the new patio doors that you installed in the house. Then mommy asked me if the doors were made of wood or metal, but before I could answer her, Uncle Jerry went into a fit."

"What do you mean by a fit? Did he hurt you?"

"No. He didn't hurt me but he was angry with me and he told me that I was not supposed to talk about you in the house. So I ran to my room and cried."

This only confirmed what I already knew. Jerry was a bastard; he was getting his grip tighter all the time on my family. He was the one responsible for the breakup of my marriage and as sure as the sunrises in the east, I was going to make him pay.

One day, the very next time that I went to pick my daughter at Catherine's house, Chantal told me that her mom and Jerry were going to get married in a month's time when school would be over for the summer. I was shocked and devastated. Until that time I still had hoped of being able to talk to her and beg her to forgive me, I was even hoping that we might get back together. But once she would be married to Jerry this could never happen.

I knew I had to act fast, before their marriage took place and I took an important decision that day.

The following Monday I hired an investigator -- his name was Sam Harris -- to look into Jerry's past and to gather as much information on him as possible. I also told him that I wanted this in a hurry and that money was not a problem.

Catherine

On the same day that I accepted to marry Jerry, he moved in permanently with us into my house and each and every night after that he slept in my bed. I did try to make him understand that for Chantal's sake, it wasn't the best thing to do, but he wouldn't understand.

For me it was another confirmation of his controlling character. Until then I had often noticed that he tended to tell me what to do most of the time, but I simply told myself that he was just trying to help me and that he had my best interest at heart. But his insisting on sleeping in my bed was certainly not a good decision from his part.

Then there was the increasing friction that existed between my daughter and Jerry. For some reason that I hadn't figured out yet, Chantal didn't seem to like Jerry at all. I had often tried to talk with her so as to find out why she was so cold toward him but she simply said to me that she didn't want anyone to replace her father.

On those weekends that my daughter was staying with her father, Jerry insisted on having sex with me all the time. Pretty much against my will he even insisted on taking pictures of me naked, he also bought me a lot of sex toys, some of them I liked but lot of them I found very strange. Sometimes he would insist on tying me naked on our bed and then he would blindfold me and he would lick and suck my body for a long time before climbing on me and ordering me to suck his cock.

He also always insisted that I swallow when he came into my mouth, afterward he would make me take his scrotum in my mouth and at the same time to shove a finger in his rear hole. I had never done any of those things with Ben and even though I did enjoy some of them, it was just one more confirmation of what I already knew, Jerry was taking complete control of our relationship and it was scaring me.

Even with all the sex that we were regularly having together and all the strange things that he was making me do, there was something important missing from our relationship. We were not making love, we were having sex, and strange sex at that.

As the day to our marriage approached, I was comparing Jerry to Ben more and more, either in bed or in our every day 'rapport' whenever he was with me in the house. Each time Ben came out way ahead and I began to fell that I was making a big mistake in marrying Jerry.

I even realized that he was becoming more and more possessive and controlling toward me each day that went on. He now insisted that as soon as I came back from work that I dress in a half transparent gown in the house, he would often try to reach for my breasts in front of my daughter, a thing that I didn't tolerate. Even when I went working, he insisted on telling me what to wear, I also noticed that he was also trying to make my daughter dress the way he wanted.

The week before the vacation were due to start -- also exactly two weeks before we were to be married -- I understood that I had made a big mistake in accepting to marry Jerry, but it was too late now since everything was set up and it scared me even to think about the way he would react if I was to go back on my promises to marry him. I had to go on with the ceremony and that there was no turning back now.

It was the evening after the last day of school for Chantal and all the children's parents had been invited at school for a spectacle and a ceremony to celebrate the end of the school year.

On course all the teachers had to attend and Jerry was supposed to be there also but two days previously he had been selected at work to attend a two day convention in Boston. He tried very hard to get out of it, but he had been told by his boss in no uncertain term, that he had to go since it concerned the new laws that were to be passed concerning the sales of houses.

Jerry and I both knew that Ben would be there in school that evening and he warned me that I was not to talk to him under any circumstance. I could even detect the hatred and fear in his eyes and voice when he ordered me not to talk to Ben. Of course I knew that Ben wouldn't even try to talk to me, after all for the last year he had never tried before so why would he want to do that now.

Chantal performed a small number on stage with five other children of her class. She did very well, I was very proud of her as I watched her from behind the stage. But at the same time, with my eyes, I was searching for Ben in the crowd of people sitting in the large gym and all of a sudden I saw him. He had not changed much except for the fact that it was evident that he had lost weight. My heart skipped a beat when I first say him and I couldn't take my eyes from him. Yes I still loved him and I felt so sorry for the way things had turned out.

At the end of the ceremony Chantal met me at the back of the stage and after taking my hand she told me that Ben wanted to take a picture of her and me together. I was stunned and I asked myself why after all that time would he want to see me, but at the same time I felt a surge of pleasure that is impossible to describe.

As soon as we were in sight of Ben I felt like rushing into his arms. It was as if a breath of fresh air was finally entering my lungs after a long stretch of time without being able to breathe. He was handsome as he smiled at me; the closer we got toward him the faster my heart was beating. As soon as we were close enough, Chantal reached for his hand and while she was squeezing one of our hands in each of her own, she said to him.

"Daddy, can we take a picture of the three of us together."

"Yes honey, provided of course that your mother don't mind."

I was so much taken by surprise by what was just happening. This plus the fact that Ben seemed willing to talk to me made me loose my capacity to talk for the moment. I just smiled at Ben and nodded my head at him so as to let him know of my approval. He then turned around and asked the man standing with a group of people next to us if he could take a picture of the three of us.

As I stood there side by side to my former husband with our daughter in front of us I felt so good and safe. Yes I felt safe. It was then that I realized that while I was with Jerry I always felt insecure. His continuous wanting to control my actions all the time and even trying to influence all of my thoughts made me feel that way. Now for the first time in almost a year I felt like a load was lifted from my shoulders and I could do or say anything that I felt without fear of being reprimanded.

After the picture was taken and the man handed the camera back to Ben, I just stood there and looked at my former husband. Then he looked at me for long seconds and he finally said to me.

"Catherine we must talk. I know that we should have done that a long time ago and I am sorry that I didn't try hard enough to see you before things got out of hand.

"I know Ben; I am as much to blame as you are. I was stubborn and selfish I suppose and I made many bad decisions. I hope you forgive me."

"Listen Catherine, there is something extremely important that I must tell you and it is very urgent that we talk now. Can we go somewhere right now and talk?"

I know that if Jerry had been in town I would never have accepted to accompany him, but it felt so good to be with Ben once again and I had that feeling of freedom that I hadn't felt for almost a year now, so I gladly accepted. Beside I had been cheated from having a final talk with my former husband by Jerry's constant insistence that I should never have any sort of contact with him when we were separated, I really wanted to find out why things had gone the way they had. He took us to the McDonald so that Chantal could play in the kiddie's playground while we were talking.

Ben

Sam Harris, the private investigator that I hired to look into Jerry's past, handed me his completed report a week later. First he went on to check the R.S.A. (the Real-Estate Salesmen Association) members list so as to find out where Jerry had been working before he moved into our town. He discovered that Jerry had worked four years previously as a real-estate agent in Brandon Ridge, a medium size town in Michigan. But Jerry had worked there for only a year, there was a three

year gap in his life and no one seem to know where he had worked or been after that.

When Sam finally went to talk to the chief of police of Brandon Ridge, he finally got most of the information that he needed on Jerry. The chief of police whose name was Samuel Carter was none other than the brother of a woman named Marianne Carter.

She and Jerry had been married for a short time and one day he learned that Jerry had beaten his sister so much that she had to be taken to the hospital in an ambulance. Later, Jerry had been sent to jail for three years for assault and battery, and it seemed that previous to his sentencing, there had been many other minor charges against him for similar incidents with other women that he had been living with.

In other words, Jerry was a predator. He preferred to prey on women who were in a situation of distress since it was much easier for him to get into their good graces. He had met Marianne soon after the death of her husband.

Then Sam dropped a bombshell on me when he said that after talking to Samuel Carter he flew to Atlanta and he had a long talk with Lucie. She told him about Jerry's being a control freak and that he was often beating her also. But what Sam found the most interesting was that Jerry had never legally divorced Lucie yet. He had never even bothered to file for a divorce and by law he was still married to her.

This only confirmed what I already had known about Jerry. He had purposely set out to ruin my marriage so that later he could seduce my wife. The fact that Lucie was my wife's friend made it that much easier for him since it allowed him to learn very personal things about my wife. He used Lucie to get all the information he could and once the stage was set for the seduction of Catherine, he got rid of Lucie without even bothering to make it legal.

As soon as I read the report I knew that I had to warn Catherine. But I knew also that this would be very difficult, so far she had always refused to talk to me. When Chantal asked me to come and see her presentation at the end of her school year, I knew that it was going to be my chance to try and have a talk with her since she was going to be there also. Of course there was also a good chance that Jerry would be present there also but I was willing to give it a try anyway.

As luck would have it, Jerry was not there and when I saw my daughter walking toward me hand in hand with her mother, I knew that this was the chance that I had been waiting for.

Later that same day, Catherine and I were sitting together in a corner of a McDonald restaurant while at the same time keeping and eye on our daughter who was having fun with a couple of other kids of her age.

Sitting there in front of my ex-wife, I couldn't help myself and kept on staring at her beautiful face, I was still very much in love with her. She had lost weight in the last year, but she was still a stunningly beautiful woman with her shoulder long hair and her emerald color, piercing eyes.

It was evident to see that she still had affection for me, judging by the softness of her expression each time she would look at me. Yes I saw love in her eyes, but there was also sorrow and sadness in them and I felt a strong urge to hold her in my arms as she sat there in front of me. But I had extremely important things to tell her, so I began to open up my heart to her.

"Catherine, what went wrong in our relationship? How did everything go from the wonderful and happy marriage we had to the way they are now?"

Her eyes immediately became full of tears as she looked at me with love and sorrow in her eyes.

"I don't know Ben. Events happened so fast and it all got out of our hands, I am still stunned by what has happened to us."

"No, there is much more to this Catherine. I now know who sent those letters to me, and this man purposely set out to destroy our marriage with his lies."

Her tearful eyes opened even wider as she looked at me with an intensity that I had never noticed before.

"Who did this to us Ben, tell me? This man doesn't deserve to live."

"First of all have you ever thought about anyone, beside me of course, who could possibly know about the mole that you have?"

"There is no one Ben. Both my parents knew about it but they are both dead now."

"How about Lucie? Have you ever told her about it and did you also talk to her about shaving yourself and leaving a small patch of hair?"

For a few seconds I could tell that she was ill at ease as she looked at her hands resting on the table. After a long pause she finally said.

"Yes she knew about these things, we seldom had secrets from each other, but she would never have sent those letters to you, she has always been my best friend."

"But she was also Jerry's wife at the time; as a matter of fact she is still legally married to him."

Catherine expression went from sad to shock, in the click of an eye.

"What? What do you mean exactly by them still being married?"

"You don't have to believe me Catherine, I have her phone number here, she lives in Atlanta, just phone her and ask her if she is divorced from Jerry or just separated."

"Are you sure Ben, are you not simply saying this so as to try to prevent me from marrying Jerry?"

"You are right Catherine; I am trying to prevent you from marrying him. But believe me, he never divorced Lucie, he also spent three years in jail for beating his previous wife and sending her to the hospital for two weeks. He is the one that wrote those three letters that caused the breakup of our marriage. He got all the information he needed from Lucie."

Catherine now had that look of horror as she intensely stared at me. Still I went on.

"Don't you see Catherine, from the first time that he ever saw you; he set out to destroy our marriage and to get you. He is a predator, he has done this many times before and he will do it again if he is not permanently stopped."

Tears were now falling down her cheeks; I knew that I had better stop so as to let her absorb what I had just said to her. But before leaving I made her promise me that she would call Lucie the very next morning and then call me at my office.

I didn't sleep much that night. When she phoned me the next morning at my office, I was still sitting there and thinking about my previous evening talk with her. A soon as my secretary told me that my ex-wife was on the phone waiting to talk to me I had the phone in my hand.

"Hello Catherine? Were you able to talk to Lucie?"

"Yes Ben I just finished talking to her a few minutes ago. You were right about everything Ben. She now realizes that Jerry was using her to get to me. She is the one that told him about the mole and other things. She also said that he often went into our house by himself so as to use the washroom when she was outside with Chantal. So he must have stolen my panties and...the other things from my room then."

I could hear her openly sobbing on the line now. Having just had the confirmation that she never shouldn't have put her trust in Lucie and at the same time that she had been used by Jerry for his own selfish agenda, which resulted in the breakup of our marriage, was too much for her.