Alyssa and Gavin

"Then what," asked Melissa.

"Oh I went crazy. I had to find him. I had to apologize, but most of all I wanted to tell him yes!"

I stopped her there, "If you'll let me Alyssa; I'll fill in some from here," Alyssa nodded so I went on, "I was pretty upset about the bet and all, but at the time I never gave a thought about the size of the ring. I knew her family was rich, but the ring was more a symbol to me. Well I felt pretty bad. I wasn't angry or anything. I just felt stupid. I kept kicking myself, figuratively. I should have known better. I was this working class kid from Scranton, Pennsylvania; she was Saint John's Woods. I put the ring away, and made myself a promise to use the ring as a reminder to never make a fool of myself over any woman ever again.

From there I went to Germany. I transferred all my paper records from England back to the United States. I took some cash and decided to take a few weeks off. I bought a backpack. Hell I was in my early twenties. I decided to see a little of Europe. I figured I'd travel Europe a little, and then maybe go home to Pennsylvania; yeah just go home and hang out a while."

Mrs. Manning looked at Alyssa and frowned, "And you; didn't you do anything?'

Alyssa answered, "Yes I did. I decided to find him. First I went home and told my mom and dad about the bet; then I told them I was going to go get him."

Alyssa paused, then went on, "I suppose this is where I'm supposed to tell everybody about how the rich self-centered parents didn't say anything. Well that wasn't true. First they were furious with me about the bet. You see they really liked Gavin there," she pointed at me again, "they thought he was the greatest. I'd been something of a wild child up until then. I wasn't promiscuous. No I wasn't exactly a full-fledged virgin. I given out a few hand jobs, and there'd been some furtive fingering," she touched her crotch, "but no heavy duty stuff. My parents, well they'd seen all along what I'd only recently come to realize. Gavin was young and innocent in many ways, but he was...well he was a...he was a real man. Not the 'rock em sock em' type; he was the stand up and be there type."

Alyssa coughed. I recognized what she was doing; she was choking back some tears, but she got it together and went on, "My parents were frantic. I was their only child. I'd already had a bad skiing accident. They were afraid they'd lose me. They made me promise I would call every night. Dad, being a government official, had the ability to keep track of not only me, but he could keep track of Gavin if he ever used his credit cards."

"So you chased him all over Europe," Melissa supposed.

Alyssa grinned and answered, "No not at all. I'm not stupid. Gavin's a geneticist. He'd done research using very rare Neanderthal DNA. I correctly surmised the first place he'd go would be Neander, Germany. I checked the flights; got a flight to Cologne, and then rented a car, I drove to Dusseldorf, from there to the Neander Valley, and then to Neander."

Showcroft asked, "Was he there? Did you find him?"

Alyssa replied, "Yes I did. He was there."

Showcroft continued, "And then?"

"Well I found him," responded Alyssa, "he was at the museum there..."

Melissa asked, "Yes, and then?"

Alyssa smiled and answered, "When I found him he was staring at some really tiny artifacts. I remember he had his thick glasses on. I ran up behind him. I turned him around. He's skinny so it was easy to move him around. I turned him around and said...I said - Yes!"

Melissa asked, "Then what did he do?"

Alyssa replied, "First he asked me if this was part of the bet. I told him no. I meant it. Then I asked him for the ring. And guess what! He had it in his pocket. He took it out and he put it on my finger," she reached down to her throat and held up a thin gold chain, "here it is, since we're divorced I don't wear on my finger, but I keep here on a chain close to my heart. Look see it's the same ring, that and the wedding band. See look, the same quarter carat," she held it out so everyone could see it.

Showcroft leaned back like he'd just finished a good book, "Ah then you two got married and have lived happily ever after ever since."

Alyssa looked at me, "No, first we had our three kids, and then I divorced him."

Showcroft looked confused, "Why? What'd he cut out on you? Did you cut out on him?"

I interrupted then, "No and no. She divorced me because she's stupid."

Showcroft looked from me to Alyssa, "I don't get it."

I glared at Alyssa, "Tell him stupid."

Alyssa shook her head. I figured this would be when she'd started one of her stupid phony crying jags, she murmured, "I have my reasons."

I was pissed. This had pissed me off for quite a few years, "If you don't tell them I will."

Alyssa flung her head back, pulled her dress almost all the way up and said, "Look."

I'd seen this little charade before so I just sat back and watched.

Melissa looked at her legs, her ass, and then at her face, "What, I don't see anything."

Showcroft gave her a quick look, but looked over at me instead, "I don't see anything either."

Alyssa pushed her dress back down, "I have a degenerative neuro-muscular ailment."

Melissa looked totally flabbergasted, "You have what something like Multiple sclerosis so you divorced your husband? That doesn't make any sense. He didn't give it to you. He couldn't."

I clapped my hand in singular applause, "Another person with an intelligent remark," Melissa looked at me like she wasn't sure if I was being sarcastic or making fun of her.

Showcroft interjected, "I still don't get it."

I tried to clarify, "It's not MS, but the skiing accident she had when she was in college seems to have slowly metamorphosed into something that's gotten progressively worse with age. We've been working on it for the last few years. We seem to be out of 'doable' surgical options."

Alyssa threw a little more gas on the fire, "I can never get better. I'm going to die strapped in a wheel chair or in a bed someplace. I'm going to be a useless invalid, a helpless cripple."

I shook my head sideways, "She's on one of her 'stupid binges' now."

Alyssa spoke up...again, "Don't you see? I'm a cripple. I can barely walk," she pointed to a young man standing in the shadows in a corner of the room, "that's our son. He's here to take us home. That's my wheelchair," she pointed to the chair he had beside him, "Maybe you didn't notice, but both before and after the wedding Gavin had to half carry me in and out of the church. I can only walk a few steps. I can't do anything by myself anymore. Gavin has to do everything."

I lifted my arm and signaled for our son Michael to come over. He started wheeling the chair toward us.

Showcroft scratched his head, "Honestly Mrs. McCloud or Ms.Trevelyan or whoever you are, "That's about the stupidest reason for a divorce I've ever heard."

I raised my right hand in a fist, "I agree. I heartily agree."

Alyssa seemed to sob, "You don't understand. My Gavin, I mean idiot here; he leads an active life, he needs a whole woman. He needs someone he can share things with. We used to go skiing, mountain biking, scuba diving, we used to go rock climbing together. Now we can't do any of those things, and it's because of me."

Melissa said, "So you two live apart, but for things like today's wedding," it was our older daughter's wedding, "you come together."

I laughed, "No not at all. In a few minutes we'll both get in her specialized vehicle. Michael here will drive us home. We'll go upstairs like always, and a little later tonight we'll make mad passionate love. In fact, except for a few minor adjustments, our lovemaking will be just as fervent, just as fulfilling, and just as meaningful as it was before we knew anything about 'our inconvenience'. Later after we make love I'll go downstairs and fix us some snacks. Maybe we'll watch a little TV, or read. Regardless, we'll do it together. Married or not we're a couple."

Then Showcroft, as if to finalize my wife's stupid little story said, "So she got hurt. She decided to divorce you so you could go and do things you two used to do, but you both still live together, you both still make love, and if I might say without being too much of an ass, you two are still very much attached at the hip."

I nodded, "You've got it," I glanced over at Alyssa. Her lower lip was out and quivering in a pre-weeping pout. I calmly chided, "Alyssa."

She wiped a tear away and flipped her head back in defiance.

Mr. Andrews, president of the club then smiled and said, "Mr. McCloud, Ms. Trevelyan, if it's alright with you we'd like to finish cleaning up so we can send our people home. They've had a busy day."

I knew Patrick Andrews quite well, I said, "Sure, I'm sorry we overstayed," I walked over and scooped my wife up in my arms," I smiled at my son, "I think I'll carry her out to the car."

Alyssa wrapped her arms around my neck, "I'm sorry Gavin. I think I'm a little tired. I might be too tired for church tomorrow."

I kissed the top of her head, "That's OK sweetie we were in a church today," then I paused, "do me a favor will you?"

"What's that darling?"

I asked, "Marry me again?"

She replied rather wistfully, "No, but if we hurry home I'll..." then she leaned up and whispered something in my ear.

I kissed her head again, "OK I'll let you, but only if you let me...," I whispered the last part back in her ear.

She snuggled her head under my chin, "That seems fair," she kissed my neck, "you know we're living in sin don't you?"

I squeezed her tightly, "That's because you're stupid sweetheart."

She wrapped her hands even more tightly around my neck, "Oh I love you so much, but I want you to be free."

I kissed her again, "Oh just shut up."

And that's the end.

A brief epilogue:

They never remarried. Alyssa was determined that since her ailment was making her progressively weaker Gavin should be allowed to be free to do whatever he wanted and be able to do it completely free of guilt. At the same time he could never make her understand his freedom and his happiness were indivisibly connected to her total presence in his life. Married or divorced they'd stay together side by side totally and unequivocally united until they died. And that's the way it stayed.

I know after I did Tommy and Helen I promised something with a lot of sex, but I just had to get this one out.