Death of a Marriage Pt. 03

Thank you Southern Crossfire for your gentle suggestions, explaining the pitfalls of the English language and, of course the editing of this story.

Dear reader.

It took a long time before this was a proper story. My apologies for that.

Disclaimer.

This is a figment of my imagination and bears no resemblance to reality anywise

Death of a marriage. Part 3

Rick was sitting in the garden with Stephan and his wife. Their three children were running around. Trish and Carl, her husband, were the other guests. They'd had an excellent dinner and were having coffee and French cognac. The four adults were listening attentively while Rick told what had occured last year, leading to his move to this town.

When Rick finished his story, Stephan had only one comment. "It seems that Karin has been influenced by someone who knew exactly how to do that. I can understand why you left. Please bear in mind that somewhere in the future you must talk to her again, if only for closure. But now, it's getting late and tomorrow's an early day."

Rick went home mulling over Stephan's words. He felt relieved now he'd told his side of the story; it was like a weight lifted from his chest, but he still had to tell the children. He didn't look forward to that, but it had to be done.

That weekend Rick made two decisions.

The first thing to do on Monday would be to call his children and explain what happened. He would give them his email, phone number, and address if they could promise to keep it from their mother.

Rick also decided that his marriage ended over a year ago when Karin went off the rails. He was convinced that the process of alienation started long before Karin's ugly behavior surfaced. There would be no reconciliation. This would be the start of a new life.

===

Stephan's cookout was one of the best things that happened to Rick in over a year. He met a lot of people and made new friends. During the cookout, he'd also learned that disabled and elderly people in town needed transportation and that Stephan and the pharmacy needed someone to deliver the medicines to them.

Rick told Stephan that he had enough time on his hands to volunteer for that and that he would provide for a minivan or equivalent. "It's a great way to get myself introduced and connect with people," Rick told him.

On Sunday morning, Rick configured his new laptop and cellphone. Next, he searched the internet for a suitable vehicle. He found a Ford E350 with wheelchair capacity. Rick sent an email to the dealer that he would come by and have a look at it.

By Monday morning after breakfast, Rick was nervous, thinking, "Did Karin already talk to Marc and Eve? If so, what did she tell the children? And most important, how did they react?"

When he turned on his old phone it started to ping like it was possessed. His voice mailbox was full, having over a hundred new mails and numerous missed calls, so he sorted his mail. Almost all were from Karin and or Andrea. Two were from his lawyer.

He deleted all mail from his wife and the harpy without listening or reading. In the list of missed calls, he saw that Marc and Eve both had tried to reach him.

Rick called Marc.

He heard Marc's cheery voice. "Dad! I'm so glad to hear from you. Please hold on a moment. I'll call Eve and make this into a conference call."

Rick was astonished. This wasn't what he expected. Within a minute, he heard his daughter's voice.

"Way to go, Dad. Well done! Finally!" Eve exclaimed happily over her phone.

Rick stuttered, "Your mother already called, I presume? So you know that I'm going to divorce her?"

"We all saw it coming, dad. Only you didn't," Marc replied. "Please, Dad, listen up. We support you 100 percent. Mum called Eve to enlist us but instead we gave her a piece of our mind. We told her that we object very strongly to her behavior towards you. We know that, at least for now, you don't want to be found. Most important Is that you have to know that Elisa is pregnant and we are going to marry as soon as possible. But we'd like to wait until you are divorced to avoid, uhh, let's say, complications."

"Kids I'm speechless. And congratulations, Marc. This is fantastic news. But please don't let my predicament interfere with your life."

Eve cut her father short. With a happy voice she said, "Dad. We agreed that you aren't the one who destroyed your marriage. Marc told mother that she'd better sign the divorce papers immediately or else..."

Rick asked, "What do you mean 'or else'? Please don't do things you'll later regret."

"No dad," Marc replied. "I told Mother that if she doesn't sign the divorce papers immediately, she won't be welcome at our wedding and will never be acquainted with her grandchild."

"That's harsh," Rick replied.

"Dad, no! She turned your life into hell. She didn't want a husband anymore, she wanted a spineless serf, someone who only did her bidding. We love you just like the way you are now. We already know what you went through; we read your diaries. We thought you wouldn't mind since they were lying around," Eve chattered excitedly.

Rick had to take this all in. He did some quick and hard thinking and, after a pause, told them, "I don't mind you reading my diaries. I don't have secrets from you and I didn't put them somewhere safe. As for my whereabouts, I'd like to keep them, my phone number, and so on, a secret from my, almost ex, wife. Oh, yes, I am going to divorce her. I can never trust Karin to start another crusade.

"You can have my address and phone number, if you want, but you can count on Karin to try to pressure you into divulging it to her. I don't want you to lie to your mother."

"We won't tell, Daddy, we really want to see you soon," Eve told him.

Rick gave his children his new phone number and address. He also told them his new email.

When they ended the call, Rick felt very relieved. He already knew for himself that this marriage had to end, but Marc and Eve confirmed this belief in no uncertain words. He sat for a while pondering his future.

Rick opened the first email from his lawyer. Karin had demanded that Rick and she have a talk and counselling. Andrea knew a good counselor.

Rick thought out loud, "Not a chance that I'm going to talk to her. And no way in hell I'm going to a counselor recommended by that witch."

He then opened the second email.

To Rick's astonishment, his lawyer informed him that Karin had signed the divorce papers. She only had one request: Could she talk to Rick? Alone?

===

Karin

The phone call with her children was devastating.

It took a very long time before Karin was calm again and started to think coherently. Usually the children were polite and diplomatic, but this conversation was very one-sided. Marc and Eve were nothing short of being blunt. They unequivocally supported her husband. If her children were so opposed to Andrea's ideologies there must be something not right. Dead tired, she decided to try to sleep on it.

But sleep was out of the question. Two hours later, Karin stepped out of bed and went downstairs. She made herself a cup of tea.

Karin couldn't help wondering why her children were so vehemently opposed to her ideas concerning Rick. Andrea had made it all sound so plausible. Therefore, Karin decided to google where Andrea got her ideas from. It took her almost an hour to find information about Andrea other than related to her profession in the medical world.

Karin found a reference to an obscure association called FeSup. When she read the objective of FeSup, she became a little sick. It was nothing less than female supremacy in any way possible. Andrea was 'chair' and their most important 'agent provocateur'.

"She let me destroy my marriage because of her ideology. How on Earth did I fall for this crap?" she thought. She started to read the rest of the website. Next to the explanation of the ideology, there were all kinds of tricks and tips to influence other women.

"That was what Andrea was doing to me! Hell and damnation to her. She was working on me almost a year before I started to put the screws on Rick."

Karin almost vomited when she recalled how she'd treated Rick for the last twelve months. She now realised that saving her marriage was out of the question. She had alienated her husband in the worst possible way. Now she could only do the one decent thing left.

She took out the divorce papers and signed them while tears ran down her cheeks. She wrote a short letter to Rick and asked him if they could talk one last time.

The only thing left was to deal with Andrea and Karin had some ideas about that.

===

Rick was a busy man.

The kitchen was being installed, with Trish overseeing the installation, while Rick went to the Ford dealer to check out the E350. Stephan had recruited Fred to go with Rick.

Fred was a young volunteer with the fire department. He was the mechanic who kept the equipment running, being a wizard when it came to almost everything with wheels on it. Fred approved the van's condition, and Rick completed the purchase.

By the end of the week, Rick had already driven some people to the practice and back for Stephan. He also picked up groceries and delivered them, and the pharmacy asked if they could deliver their medicines while he was en route, too. Within two weeks, Rick's agenda was filled. He had almost no time to think about his recent past.

One evening he had a good talk with Stephan and Melanie, his wife. They talked about his time management. Stephan was afraid it had all gone too quickly and advised Rick to take at least three days a week for himself. "Rick, you'll burn out at this pace if you don't. Oh, and I don't want to add to your workload, but it would be a good idea to keep your First Aid certificate current, too."

Rick had another idea. "Stephan, my daughter Eve is studying to be a trauma nurse. Is that something I can do too?"

Stephan thought about it. "I can check what you need and what it takes. Now do I understand correctly that you want to stay here for an extended period?"

Rick nodded. "Yes. I feel that I belong here. And you took me in and helped me on my worst days. That would not happen where I came from."

The next morning he finally made his own coffee and breakfast, but just as Rick was savoring a sip of his very strong black coffee, there was a knock on the door.

"It was my day off," he groaned before going to the door.

"Good morning, Rick. Do we smell coffee? Can we come in?" Trish asked with a tiny smile on her face.

"Who are we? I see only you standing here," Rick replied.

"Angela is still in the car."

"Angela? Uh, ok. But why don't you park the car in front of the porch. Wouldn't that be easier on her leg?"

"Yes, but we didn't know if we were welcome."

"Of course you are. Get the car over here and I'll make a fresh pot."

Rick busied himself in the kitchen. He was just about finished when Trish and Angela entered the kitchen. "Make yourself at home ladies. Coffee will be ready soon."

When seated at the table, Angela said, "Rick, this is not a courtesy visit. We heard from Stephan that you're planning to stay in Midvile. May we ask why?"

Rick gathered his thoughts and after a minute or two he took a deep breath.

"It begs the question of what you want to know. What are my future plans? Really I don't know. My reception in Midville was heartwarming. Trish, I already spoke with you, Stephan, and your other halves about how and why I ended up here and yesterday, I told Stephan I like it here very much. I emphatically told him that I am not in trouble with the law, nor creditors or anything else that can cause problems for Midville. It's just that I'm a rather private individual and I'd like to keep it that way for a while. It was my intention however to stay here for a long time, but if I have to justify my living here and answer for my actions to everybody, I don't know if that is wise."

Both ladies looked pained and there was an uncomfortable silence. Finally Angela spoke up, "Dear Rick, please accept our apologies. It's not our intention to pry. But we have a proposition for you if you decide you are here to stay. Can I explain?"

"Sure. Sorry about the rant. Normally I'm more level headed, but I've had a very rough year and sometimes my anger gets triggered. You don't deserve this, so please accept my apologies. Angela, the floor is yours."

Angela laughed out loud. "You are so right. I'm your landlady. This house and the adjacent land is mine." Trish smiled, too.

"First, apology accepted," continued Angela. "It seems you went through rough times. I'm sorry. As for the visit, now, here goes.

"Rick, I'm the mayor of this town and I think that Midville needs a new influx of people. You made quite an impression the day you arrived. You were calm, almost professional, and friendly when you took care of my broken leg. Stephan and Trish have had more time to get to know you and they like you. Both of them. I'm inclined to trust their opinion. We would like it very much if you stay here.

"Both told me that you are interested in acquiring both the house and the land, or The Woods as we call it. So here's the deal: we take the Ford out of your hands. In exchange you get the deed of this house. The documents are in this envelope."

"Next, in this other envelope is an offer to sell you the land behind the house. It's almost 50 acres. It has a well and a small stream. You can get a building permit, but the permit has restrictions. It is for one house in the Woods. One house only. All relevant information is in this envelope together with the offer.

"Now, I suspect that you would like to know the restrictions in the building permit?"

Rick was taken aback. He looked at his guests and stammered, "This is a bit sudden isn't it? I don't understand. The house is worth at least five times the bus and you want to swap? On top of that you want me to buy the land? That's almost too good to be true and if something is too good to be true...well. I can't get my head around that. Please. Can you explain to me again why you made me this offer?"

Angela and Trish looked at each other. Some unspoken conversation went between them before Trish started. "Rick. When you arrived here you made one hell of an impression. You helped a complete stranger while you were tired and mentally hurt. I observed you that day we went shopping. You were good company. You are intelligent, gentle and good mannered. You promised to be a volunteer driver for the community the next weekend. On top of that, you arranged your own means of transportation. You told us you'd like to stay. So we're giving you an extra incentive to do so. There are, of course, conditions. They are in the envelope, but if you'd like, I'll tell you the gist of them."

Rick nodded his ascent so Trish went on. "You can't sell the old house within ten years from now, unless it's someone from this community and you need permission from the city council; the same goes for The Woods.

"The restrictions for building in The Woods are not more than one house and the house must have as small a footprint in The Woods as possible. We'd like it to be self-sufficient for power, water, and waste disposal. There can only be one access road."

She paused before concluding, "Mind you. The price mentioned in the envelope is very fair."

Rick thought it over. The idea appealed to him, but it was too sudden, so he looked at the ladies.

"Ladies. I like the idea, but I need time to think this over. Do I have to decide immediately, or can you give me a week or two? I'd like to hike around a bit in The Woods to get a feel for it. Also, would you be very insulted if I ask for an appraisal for the land and a solicitor to check the contracts?"

Angela laughed out loud. "No, of course not. Take your time. And you're free to roam to your heart's content."

====

A month later Angela and Rick sat in the office of the local solicitor signing documents and transferring money.

Rick had already started to look for an architect and a contractor. His plan was to build a new house in The Woods for himself and to renovate the old house as a guest house. The guest house would be for his children or to rent out to the occasional tourist.

He promised Angela to hire locally if their quotes are competitive. Actually, Rick didn't mind paying somewhat more if a local contractor took the job, but he kept that to himself. As long as the quality was guaranteed, he was happy.

Another month later, the location of Rick's new home was established. The site of the house sat next to the stream about 250 yards from the road.

His plan was to use solar panels and a waterwheel for electricity. A reed bed would recycle waste water before it was sent back to the stream. Rick was still looking for a proper heating system.

The contractor for the road and the groundwork for the house was a local called Frank.

Frank lived at the outskirts of the town together with a woman and a little boy. They seemed to talk or interact with other people only when absolutely necessary, but Angela vouched for Frank.

Two and a half months after all documents were signed and permissions acquired, the work started. Frank made short work of the groundwork and left without saying a word.

A local architect had designed a four bedroom house built half in into a slope. The top floor consisted of a living room with access to a big balcony, two bedrooms with ensuites, and a big kitchen with a dining room next to it. Last but not least, there was a small gym.

On the bottom floor was the garage, the entrance and the stairs to the top floor. Next to the entrance through a door were two smaller bedrooms, a bathroom, a playroom, sitting room and veranda. The garage was accessible through a glass corridor connected to the entrance.

The outer walls and roof were made of foam concrete with a wood cladding. Triple glazing would finish the job. The build would take ten months depending on the weather.

Meanwhile, Rick made himself useful to the community. Most people recognized him as a person who was easy to talk to and willing to help. He drove the bus three days a week. The other two days he studied for his certificates. With the help of Stephan, he wanted to become a trauma paramedic.

Angela and Trish knew a lot of interested women and tried to hook Rick up on several occasions, but Rick wasn't interested at all. He wasn't over Karin and her treatment yet. Even though he knew that the ladies had his best interests at heart, he had started to resent the interference in his life, so Rick took Trish and Angela out for lunch.

In his quiet way, he told them to back off and stop throwing eligible women at him. They would be the first to know when he was ready.

Trish and Angela looked startled. They had come to know Rick well enough to know that they had crossed a line.

Trish started to speak. "Rick, if you perceive our interest in your wellbeing as meddling, we sincerely apologize. That is not our intention at all. We think that you are a man who needs a companion in his life else you are not happy. We, both, love you and want you happy. We will stop playing matchmaker. Please don't be angry at us?"

Rick accepted the apology and told them again that when he thought he was ready for a new relationship, he would tell them so.

The build of the house went exceedingly well. After eight months, only the finishing touches had to be done and he started to think about the furnishings.

One morning he was looking over his finances and was checking his bills. Suddenly, he noticed that he had never paid Frank for the groundwork Frank'd done. Rick looked-up the quote and added 10% as a fine for being late. There was no mention of a bank account in the quote so Rick went to the bank.