Wrestling With Life's Cruel Irony Ch. 04

A female moan of pleasure told them what was happening. As Vince continued to rub it in at one point he gave a prideful laugh that he enjoyed watching other men raise and pay for his kids. "I have received great pleasure in watching your wimp pay for and raise my kid. Little do they know that their kid has my genes from two sources, what a hoot."

On another tape from the prior week they force themselves to listen to Jill and Vince having unbridled sex because according to the notes this tape contained Vince's plans to divorce Tara. They learned Vince and Jill had been planning to divorce their spouses. It sounded that they almost did it three years ago but Jill wanted to wait until her youngest was off to college. With her becoming the manager of the new plant in California provided them with the perfect the opportunity. It also became apparent that Jill's position at their firm's Chicago headquarters had enabled Vince and Jill to "be on business travel" to meet each other. They were uncertain what Jill meant when she mention something about other payments would need to redone when they got to California.

As the manager of the Santa Clarita plant that was opening in April Jill was able to transfer Vince to oversee supply purchases and maintenance effective February 1st, three weeks after she took her position. They were shocked to hear them working out the details of how Vince was planning to tell his wife during his usual birthday celebration of a short-term assignment to help get the plant set-up. Once in California he would tell her that the assignment has been extended until mid April.

They were alarmed to learn that Vince would be faulting Tara for the divorce on the grounds of her being unfaithful to him. Jill told him he needed to decide which man to recruit to befriend Tara. She favored "that jock guy" to take Tare out to dinner and put her in a compromising position as his delivery route took her to Tara's hospital would afford a point for meeting. Vince planned to leave her without having to pay much if any in alimony.

Jill's effort to gain evidence of her husband's unfaithfulness was underway. She was presenting him with divorce papers on December 27th. She had the photographer who was going to take the incriminating photograph's ready. She also found the right girl to flirt with him during the conference in Detroit the first week of December. She scoffed that spending $2,500 plus travel expenses for the right lady was worth it. She hoped that the photographs of them, including her going into his room was worth it. She was trying to find a way to get access to his room. If the photos worked as she hoped and the threat to have the pictures become available should be enough leverage to secure an uncontested divorce with terms heavy in her favor. She felt that once the greatest weakness was the call girl's testimony if they had to go to court which is why the last $1,000 would be paid once the divorce terms were settled. Vince said that maybe she should offer the girl a bonus just to make sure she cooperates. Hearing how Jill was orchestrating her husband's seduction spoke volumes on the type of woman they were up against.

They continued to listen in shock when Jill asked if they should bring to California Doris or Lois as their play things. Mother and daughter heard them laugh as they joked about bring both along to help them to fulfill their lustful desires. Vince really wanted Lois to come. It became clear that she had somehow been blackmailed into helping Vince to identify high school girls to seduce. Vince wanted her to get a position at another high school as a sex education teacher and counselor. Jill laughed that Lois would do anything to protect her family and to protect her husband's job. Threatening to tell the PTAs and her principle all about Lois helping them to seduce girls from her school would be the clincher. Vince was not as certain about whether Doris would be so agreeable as she had always fought him and that she was just not worth it. Jill laughed, "once you are divorced lets still ruin her for fighting you all the time."

Tara with a reddened face was immobilized by anger. Realizing the implications of the tape Pam's feelings of detest for Vince grew red hot. They both fumed and fumed. Both successfully fought the urge to call him and let him have it. Yes, he needed to be ruined and then some, but to have him come to ruination would take time. They also wanted to ruin Jill as she was just as bad. They had a glimpse of how Doris had been manipulated by two grand deceivers. When Doris slipped she became drawn deeper and deeper into a web of deceit. Mother and daughter were determined to undermine Vince and Jill's plan, both their personal and professional lives.

Once again Tara wondered how she had not known this side of Vince. Looking back she could now see that though it was hidden there were clues to this side of his nature. From time to time he would go into a tirade and speak very negatively of others. He was manipulative and would make her feel guilty for questioning why he was on the road so much, that she did not support him in his job and did not want him to do well.

Late that night when her physical exhaustion and emotional exhaustion pulled her into a restless sleep she cried. She cried for being such a fool and that her daughter's marriage could be coming to an end if things were not handled right. She also determined to speak to her daughter about her marriage. She was not sure if it should continue or not. She heard her daughter out earlier but never gave it much thought as she was so focused upon her own marriage coming to an end with a bang.

Just after 9:45 the next morning Tara sat down in the living room with a coffee in her hand. She cleared her throat and with her eyes focused upon the cup quietly said, "dear, we need to talk about something." With a rapid heart pounding like a drum in her chest she continued, "I not sure if it is right for you two cannot to remain married." Only then did she muster the courage to even look at her daughter's face.

Pam's face flared with anger. She thought her mother had accepted that she and Jeff would remain married. Then she realized that her mother probably was only saying that she was hearing, not accepting, what her daughter was saying. Before she spoke Pam tried to calm herself before firmly asking, "why? We have done nothing wrong. It would only make matters much worse and denying me of my true love. I would accept your position if we were still engaged, but when we said 'I do' everything changed."

For the next hour mother and daughter debated. Within ten minutes Tara knew subconsciously that her daughter should remained married to Jeff. Pam's responses were passionate and cogent. The turning point came when Pam said, "Mom, I say this in life. You need to get a life! You need to think about the reality and move beyond the outdated ideas your parents and grandparents. I am an equal partner in my marriage with my husband. I am not his toy. I am not his servant. Yes, I cook almost all the meals. He does most of the cleaning of the bathrooms, he vacuums and dusts. He does most of the garbage and I do most of the shopping. He cuts the grass and I weed the garden. We each have our own duties. We manage together the investments and bills. He loves me and I love him with my whole heart. If we divorce we will be also harming ourselves and our child. You need to look it all, not just from a narrow thou shalt and thou shalt not perspective."

Tara agreed that Pam was right. She needed to look at this all from a more global and broader perspective. This was not as black and white as she first thought.

Within the half hour she had acknowledged it consciously to herself but was only putting up the arguments because that is what the belief system handed down to her from her parents would dictate.

As the cokoo clock struck eleven, Tara was hugging her daughter and giving her unreserved blessing. "But Pam, no one, particularly your grandmother should ever get wind of this! Divorcing your father will be alarming enough on my mother! I agree more than ever that this must remain a secret! Not even your brother and sisters. Let what goes on behind our closed doors remain there."

Pam would have it no other way. That afternoon mother and daughter started to formulate Tara's plan out of Jeff and Pam's plan. It was a plan that they needed to start to implement quickly. Tara found throwing out ideas to be enlivening. She had an epiphany as she started to see a life with out Vince and how that could allow her to explore more of her own desires and dreams.

When Jeff arrived home he found young Royce suckling at his mother's breast as she talked with Royce's grandmother. It quickly became evident that Tara now knew the news.

Jeff retired to the master bedroom where he studied the reports. He later listened to the plan Tara and Pam had sketched out and to his mother-in-law's ground rules. Her rule was that her divorce took priority but she made it clear that she would protect their marriage. Her other ground rule is that when there was a disagreement on a matter, her position dominated. Jeff agreed.

As Tara and Pam sketched the plan the hatched Jeff added his own. They agreed which tasks each would assume and to a time line. The first step was for Tara to withdraw funds from her investment account to help pay for ongoing taping. They recognized the value of the tapes but that they would not be admissible in court. Tara asked to have her home phone was tapped and for bugs to be planted throughout the house. When Jeff said it would be an unnecessary expense Tara made it clear she had the money and wanted it done. She did wanted to know if Vince or Jill suspected anything. Jeff agreed to make the arrangements.

Jeff's first task was a trip to Chicago to start getting information to help them bring the ruination of Jill. Pam's work was to track down more of the women who had an affair with Vince and to gather as many signed statements as possible. Though Tara told Vince she was extending her visit by two weeks, she was merely commuting to Pam's and Jeff's. The health care company that owned her hospital was opening mid November in a cardiac hospital about 20 miles away from Pam and Jeff. As one of the shift supervisors from her ward was moving to the new hospital Tara was able to set in motion a transfer.

Until moving to the new hospital Tara offered to take more late shifts as they would give her reason to limit the frequency of having sex with her husband. Sometime around the Christmas and New Year period she would say that Pam needed her help and she was going to take a month's leave to help her daughter out. Of course she would have to go home to visit just enough to keep Vince from being suspicious. While home she would find fain illness, lack of interest or exhaustion as excuses to avoid intimacy with a man she now detested. They all knew that Tara would have to be a good actress to avoid sending any alarms to Vince.

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Almost three weeks later as Pam feed the baby upstairs Jeff was doing dishes talking with Tara. She had been watching her son-in-law for days noticing with great interest how the young couple interacted. The little looks, comments and touches were telling. She could see that her daughter had found her soul mate and Jeff had found hers.

Vince never treated her with respect like she saw Jeff give her daughter. She gave herself in heart and body to Vince. She did her duty as she was taught even though he gave little back. The more distant he became, the more he traveled, the greater attention she gave to pleasing him and to make sure his little castle was well kept.

Vince paid her attention during those first few years, but she now recognized that his attention was of the sexual kind, not of the human soul nature. He never gave much attention to her opinions, unless they were in public. There was no loving glances or touches of affirmation. There was no watching television and hand-holding for the sake of just holding hands. Vince's touches of affection had a sexual mission. While a little jealous for what she had missed, she was delighted for her daughter.

Starting the prior evening and up to that moment Tara was overwhelmed by a sense of loneliness. The most tragic element was that since her children started going to college she had been alone without realizing it. She had been giving herself to her children and husband for two decades and had come to accept her husband being away for business two nights a week. She received little in return but duty compelled her to care for him and to think that was love. The prior evening she cried herself to sleep because she felt so empty inside. Their marriage had been a shame for longer than she wanted to admit. Romance was never there. What she thought of as romance was just sexual foreplay. Subconsciously she knew the love and trust she had for him died years before which is why she never told him about the private investments and the sum she inherited.

It was depressing to learn that one's husband was physically walking out of her life physically when he had already left her. For years she mistakenly thought Vince and her in terms as being a loving couple. It was clear that Vince's understanding of love was distorted and warped. All Vince's flowery statements that she was the love of his life had turned in her heart from gold to bitter dross. Maybe he has no idea how to love she thought, but that was not her concern any longer.

As her son-in-law finished the dishes she stood and hugged him, she affirmed him, "Jeff you are a gem. Any words I could find would fail to express how happy I am that you are married my daughter. I could not be happier for each of you. Our plans must and will ensure that our secret will remain unspoken or the consequences for them could be dire."

When they broke the hug, Jeff saw a tear in his mother-in-law's eyes. He felt her breasts pressing into him and as she held him longer than a normal hello or goodbye hug. He thought that if Pam looked and felt this good in twenty years he would be truly a fortunate man. Seeing her tear and having held her, for a split second he felt a desire to kiss her. He felt guilty and embarrassed for the desire he experienced and for enjoying having her in his arms.

That night Pam noticed that Jeff remained unusually quiet as he slid into bed. She asked him what was wrong.

"Pam, I hate myself right now and I am afraid I could be another Vince" he ashamedly confessed.

"Why?"

He confessed what happened while doing the dishes and the thoughts he had about how good she would still look in twenty years. Pam was confused and initially angry. She stormed off saying she needed to check the baby. She returned minutes later when she realized that he confessed to her and accepted blame. He was being honest with her. He was drawing upon her to help keep him from being like Vince. By confessing Jeff became vulnerable. She felt ashamed that she did the unloving thing by storming off.

Jeff felt compelled to tell his wife but seeing her storm out caused him to wish he remained silent. Pam returned to the bedroom with a tear in her eye but smiling at her husband. She crawled into bed and snuggled against him. "I am sorry dear for my reaction. Even though it shock me, thank you for telling me and trusting me. Forgive me for over-reacting. There was a huge difference between the Vince and you. He would not have resisted the urge. And even if he did resist, I doubt he would resist long and he would have never confessed. One of the things that love the most about you is that you are an honest man."

To be continued.