Double or Nothing Pt. 05

His smile froze, it didn't drop, but he kept it there. Then, he decided to lie again, "You won't be able to. They have different numbers, and they are now living somewhere else that you won't find them. You're just a fucking plumber with no resources."

If he only knew. He doesn't appear to recall my new job, and perhaps he never looked it up.

"So, I can't find or contact them, and the only way to get them is through you. Is that what you're saying?"

"Yep."

"So why, why would I?"

He paused and dramatically let his smile drop. "Because Mackenzie is dying, even now she's sick and can hardly move."

"Really?"

He now affected a most serious persona.

"Really, and while I know we have had our differences, if you help me out, I can get you in contact with Carol and Mackenzie so you can say your goodbyes to the girl you once called a daughter. Today is your birthday, so I arranged this meeting because I wanted to give you this present.

"You scratch my back, and I'll give you the present of access to Mackenzie because I know you still care about her despite everything. I'm not a total monster." He tried to say to me sagely.

I started laughing. I let the laugh build from the tips of my toes, curling them. My chest took massive breaths as I laughed, tears began streaming down my face, and I slapped the table in front of me a few times. All the while, he sat there and smiled. Then, as I wound down, he got serious.

"Terry, it's not a laughing matter, Mackenzie is dying, and you need me to be able to contact her and say goodbye. If you don't, you'll carry that around for the rest of your life. Besides, I wouldn't want to stop MY daughter from seeing her sperm donor one last time before going to the grave."

I toned my laugher back, waving him away while signaling the girls.

"Oh, sorry, Fucktard, I think you mistake my laughter for someone who gives a shit. Honestly, it couldn't be further from the truth. This has been one of the most entertaining conversations I have had in a while. You're right. Today is my birthday, and your offer has really entertained me. But I need to lay a few things out for you before I give you an honest and true answer to your request for us to 'scratch each others backs as you call it, alright?"

"Alright, if you will be serious, I can bear with you." He responded.

All three girls walked into the room. They were all dressed up, ready to take me out. Melody was in a light blue summer dress, had done her makeup and had her hair pulled back. Harmony likewise was in a yellow version of the summer dress and had her hair pulled back like her sister. Mackenzie was in some jeans and a summer blouse. She had her hat with the wig on and looked equally mad and upset.

I held out my left arm, and immediately Harmony came into the video frame and sat down on a chair she brought with her. She grabbed my hand and leaned in for a quick kiss. Then, we turned back to the camera together.

"Stephen, I would like to introduce you to my wife, Harmony. She was with me in the Maitland Hospital the day you tried to kill me. I don't know if you recall her. Harmony and I have twins now."

He nodded, "And?"

I smiled and held out my right hand. Melody came onto my right side, also with a chair, sat down and leaned in for a kiss like her sister. Again, we looked back to the camera together, and the three of us smiled, while the dickhead frowned, Mackenzie still off the frame, smiled, seeing the game I was playing.

"This is my other wife and Harmony's twin sister, Melody, with who I also have twins. So yes, I have four children between these sexy milfs!"

His eyes went wide, and I nodded.

"So, we will get to your proposal, but first, let me give you my rebuttal about my ex-wife. I love these two women like life itself. They are sexual dynamos in bed and fuck me to heaven and back several times a week. This morning for my birthday, they woke me up with a threesome that most porn stars would be jealous of!" my girls beamed at the sexual praise.

"So, when you decide to tell me about your exploits with my ex-wife, let me tell you that Carol doesn't have a clue in bed compared to just one of my beautiful wives. Now imagine me in bed with both of these stunning busty beauties simultaneously, working their bodies and enjoying my long thick cock as they give their bodies to me freely."

I smiled, "But I also know why you hate me; did you know that? I know you hate me because your wife, my cheating whore of an ex-wife, remembers my abilities to fuck her senseless and dreamt of it with you in bed at night."

Stephen kept looking away, then back to the screen, his eyes darting between Melody and Harmony, who were smiling and thrusting their chests out.

"I'm not a three-minute man, Stephen. I like to make a woman feel every touch, every kiss. I want her to feel loved and to cum hard and often." The girl's nipples started to show as they got aroused by my talk to my nemesis.

"So, I can understand that Carol, who talks in her sleep, moans my name as she dreams of me taking her to sexual heights you never could. Because its not just that my cock is so much larger than yours. Its that I made Carol cum with every fibre of my being. To this day, I know that she would drop everything to feel my cock deep in her traitorous cunt rather than your dump and run.

"But why would I ever want used goods. And I let you in on just one of my secrets." I leaned in just like he did. The girls just smiled big smiles at the screen. "I've known she dreams of me while in your bed for years, and as I told her, you may have made me an unknowing cuckold for eighteen months as you seduced and fucked my wife behind my back. But by virtue of your small cock, fat belly and inability to know how to love a woman. She could never forget the orgasms I made her have. I made you a knowing cuckold be virtue of her dreams alone." I sat back, and he was steaming

"But.... But... You're just a fucking plumber! Youre not married to them. Fuck you, Asshole, you're lying." He spat, spittle flying as he struggled to accept what I was saying.

Harmony piped up laughing. "Sorry, Dickhead, but Terry, here is our man. And trust me, its not just his big beautiful cock. He has a magic tongue and fingers that, oh shit, look, just thinking of our man is turning us on," she said, gesturing to her hard nipples now very obviously poking through her sundress.

I preened and glanced at the screen slightly sideways.

"So, Stephen, as you can see, I have no interest in reconnecting with Carol, and this brings us to secret number two in addressing your request. I love being a plumber. Sure, there have been days when I've had to clean a septic tank, and during my apprenticeship, I had to unblock a toilet. But it's honest work, and I don't resent a day of it. However." I let my face brighten. "For several years now, I haven't been just a plumber..." I let it sink in. "Since I left Maitland, I've been the national quality manager for Delotiz Inc. In fact, my beautiful wives here are the owner's daughters and the future heirs to the company. Now I'm sure you recall William and Martha Delotiz, the lovely couple that was with me the night we met?" I raised my eyebrows. We saw realisation dawn on his face.

"Yes, Dickhead, that's right, they are my wives' parents. So, you think I am broke? On the contrary, I am part of a family that has access to more funds than you can imagine."

Again, I paused, letting it sink in. He took the bait.

"So what, Asshole, you're a Greek god in bed who can fuck sisters. But without me, you won't be able to find Mackenzie and talk to her before she dies, and now I know you have money. You need to pay me half a million before you get to speak with your precious little Mackenzie.

I affected a wounded pose.

"Stephen," I said thoughtfully, using his name to show I was considering something, "The way youre talking and trying to extort money from me for me to see my daughter, it sounds like you never cared for her?"

He laughed a very bitter laugh and shrugged.

"Not really, no," he admitted, "She came as a package deal with Carol. Carol thought the idea of me adopting her and putting the restraining order on you would ensure Mackenzie stayed compliant and keep you out of our lives. You would be so pissed off. I never gave two shits about some moody teenager who cried almost every night for her father."

Mackenzie was still off-camera and it was like the last vestige of her love for her mother was disappearing. The dickhead continued.

"Though I will admit that while a pain in mine and Carol's ass most of the time, she was useful now and then, that day outside the café when she had a go at you and when she took you to court when you left that voicemail on her birthday, I almost loved her. And her mother couldn't wait for her to grow up and get out of the house so Carol and I could travel the world together.' He shrugged.

"Mackenzie was a means to an end for both her mother and myself." He focused on the camera again. "But she's not my fucking flesh and blood, and I don't give a rats ass if she lives or dies, but I know you do, Asshole. So, you're going to pay me what I want, or by the time you find out where she is, it will be her fucking grave."

"So, it's like that?" I responded and looked at Mackenzie.

"Damm right," the dickhead said smugly and folded his arms over his chest.

"Look, as much as this has been fun trading barbs and insults with you." I looked up and held out both my arms. Both Melody and Harmony scurried back at the unspoken signal, and Mackenzie slid into the frame and onto my lap.

"I don't think you'll get jack shit from me. But I do thank you for an entertaining story for my birthday. We will all be telling this story for years on how you tried to blackmail me."

He had nothing to say, so I finished up.

"So here are the real facts, as opposed to your lies. I know Carol and you are divorced. I know that the only loving you get now is from Bubba in the showers, and it will be like that for years to come. I also found out the truth of what Carol and you did to my precious daughter here." I kissed her cheek. "I now have five exceptional children. And also, by the way, Mackenzie's cancer treatment is going fantasticly. She's not quite in remission, but we hope to have everything beat soon with the bone marrow transplant, blood transfusions and new chemo drugs." I looked at Mackenzie.

"Look, Pumpkin, I know that technically this asshat is your father, so is there anything you'd like to say."

Mackenzie looked at me, kissed my cheeks and giggled. "Thanks, Daddy," she said to me. Then she looked at the screen. "Listen up, Dickhead, you and your whore used me as a confused teenager in your little game to break up my family. And you know what, I get it. You're a slob with fewer manners than a drunk bogan on a night out in Logan. And yes, I'm aware you have a dick the size of a triple-A battery. But I heard everything on this call just now. And I've spent the last few months begging forgiveness from my real father for what I did to him."

"So don't call, don't write, don't try to fucking contact me again. I hope that my dad, Terry Other, forgives me for what I did to him one day. But hope that I never see you again because if I do, you will wish that you had never been born, you bottom feeding pond scum. Get back to your fucking cell and rot!"

With that, she got up and walked off the frame. She was breathing heavily and shaking a little. Melody, Harmony and I watched her. Then without another word, we looked back to the screen, and the three of us simultaneously gave him the finger with a big smile on each of our faces and disconnected the call.

Happy birthday to me.

[::: - :::]

A few days later, it was Mackenzie's birthday, falling on a weekend. We arranged an afternoon BBQ with the family. Dad, Paul, Kim and the kids were there. In addition, I invited Carol and warned her to be on her best behaviour. She was on notice after everything that we had been learning, and when I told Mackenzie that she was coming, Mackenzie had to be talked down from calling her and telling her not to come. I had to promise that if her mother caused any issues, she would be asked to leave.

I wasn't entirely unhappy that the relationship between mother and daughter was sliding downhill. Over the past few months, many revelations showed that Carol was much more devious and manipulating than any of us thought. The surprise visitor that neither Mackenzie nor I knew was coming was Mackenzie's old boyfriend, Ben.

Ben met Mackenzie only a year ago at university, and they had been exclusive from almost the first day they met. Apparently, when Mackenzie was diagnosed and started getting really sick, having to pull out of her advanced studies, she had broken up with Ben and told him he deserved better than a cancer-ridden girlfriend that may not live to see the year out.

I didn't hear anything about him because Mackenzie really cared for him and was heartbroken that she had to give him up for what she perceived as his own good. So, she was surprised when he turned up. He had been pestering Carol for months, and she had gotten pissed off with him, gave him what for and told him Mackenzie was now living with her birth father, who owned Deloitz Inc down in Bathurst. Not entirely true, but flattering from my ex-wife.

He had done some research and managed to find his way to Melody. My wives were coming to understand that she was almost as much a victim of her mother, if not more, than I was. And when Melody heard the story from Ben, she immediately invited him for the weekend. When he walked in the door, and Mackenzie saw him there, she dropped her glass onto the lawn, and they ran to each other, hugging and crying. For the rest of the day, she rarely let his hand go except to hug someone or show Ben something. Mackenzie looked happy, Carol, not so much.

Two significant things happened that day. The first was when Mackenzie was opening presents. My wives had taken Mackenzie shopping and got her an entire new wardrobe that morning while we were setting up the BBQ. Gone were many old tattered, worn designer clothes and in their place a new looking style that didn't need to be brand name to look good.

William and Martha had bought her a new iPad with keyboard and had committed to helping her start back into her studies. Dad gave her a new laptop with the same intent.

Kim gave her a huge hug and kissed her, welcoming her back to the family and giving her three limited-edition bottles of rum, Bundy, Beenleigh and Kraken. Later on, I corned Kim and asked if she was crying, and she mentioned that pollen had her allergies playing up. But she was happy that Mackenzie was back.

I had three presents for her. As we sat down to open them, everyone gathered around. The first one was a very high-end journal and writing pen. I explained it was for her cancer journey moving forward. I wanted her to write down her thoughts and feelings, the highs and the lows, so she could look back and celebrate the journey after she beat the illness in the years to come. Everyone aww'd at the gift.

The second gift was like the ratty present Mackenzie had given me a few days earlier. The gift wrapping was a little torn. The card a little faded, but as she held it in her hands, we both started to cry. Both of us understood the significance of the gift. She opened the card. It had the picture of a bunch of cartoon teenagers on the front at a party. On the inside, the caption 'Party On! Happy Birthday was stencilled on the card. However, like the inside cover of my card, I had also written a note.

My Dearest Mackenzie,

I miss you so much, and I don't know if you'll ever see this. But please, please come back to me. I love you so much, Pumpkin.

Love Dad

(Your REAL dad!)

I was in a pretty low place when I wrote that card. I didn't know what to say, but it said enough. Mackenzie dropped the card and came over and hugged me. She told me she loved me and whispered how sorry she was.

A few minutes later, she was opening the ratty old present. Inside was a new set of sleepwear, an oversized t-shirt to sleep in, and a very expensive scientific calculator. She had been after it for months for school. But at over three hundred dollars, yes really, three hundred for a freaking calculator, it took a while to save for.

She loved it, and while the calculator was pretty much obsolete with modern smartphone technology, the calculator always sat on her desk, pride of place moving forward.

The last gift I handed her was a simple manila envelope. Inside was a piece of paper with a legal statement that Mackenzie's adoption by Stephen Morrison was reversed. If she signed the bottom of the document and had it witnessed, she was once again Mackenzie Other, daughter of Terry Other and Carol Brown.

I must have held my restored crying daughter for almost ten minutes, but it was tears of joy this time, unlike our first reconciliation meeting. When she was settled enough and went to sign and ask for witnesses, almost everyone volunteered. The only person who didn't was Carol.

It took over eight years, but I finally had my daughter back.

The other interesting conversation was with Carol. Everything was starting to wind down and people were heading inside. Mackenzie was showing Ben the house and I assume her room. The father in me wanted to go break it up. However, she wasn't a teenager anymore. She was in her twenties and was grown up. I already had a walking talking daughter by her age, so I couldn't begrudge her wanting time with her man. My girls had taken the kids inside with Kim for baths and set them up with a movie. Paul and Dad cleaned the BBQ, and I cleared up the trash before heading inside. I had just dumped the last bags into the bins when I turned and was confronted by Carol.

"I hope to hell you are happy, Terry!" she started, then just stood there, hands on her hips and looked at me. It had been quite some time since I saw her, and I must admit she still hadn't improved in the looks department. She still had the general feel of a potato with arms and legs, perhaps a Ms. Potato Head?

"Um, I am, Carol. These days there is a lot of things I am generally happy about. Today, for example, has been a great day, nice weather, celebrating our daughter's birthday... Is there something in 'hell' that I am supposed to be happy about you're referring to?" I asked.

She threw her hands up in an exasperated fashion and turned and started to walk away. I went after her. I caught up with her on the back deck.

"Carol. You can't throw a comment out like that and walk away."

"Of course I fucking can, Terry." She spat, "Never in all these years did you ever get it."

I looked at her. "Get what, Carol, I have no idea what you're talking about. Stop throwing cryptic comments. Yes, I'm happy!" I said frustrated, I didn't want her here, but it was for Mackenzie.

She just looked at me, steam billowing out her ears. Then she paused and deflated, almost falling into one of the chairs on the patio.

"Ever since high school, Terry, you have been my rock, my stable place. For fifteen years, I took you for granted. You never questioned me on the small stuff and did as much as you could for me as long as you could."

She looked up at me as I sat down opposite her.

"We had a child when we were eighteen, just out of high school. After that, there was nothing for me but Mackenzie and you. I became so unhappy. I thought the grass was always going to be greener, everywhere I wasn't."

I nodded, not quite seeing where this was going.

"I always pushed your buttons and always took what I could because you were beneath me. I mean married to a plumber." She snorted. "My friends were married to consultants and lawyers, respectable jobs." Then, she started just looking at something on her arm.