For the Greater Good - Conclusion

I told my wife, probably soon-to-be-ex-wife, and she simply nodded sadly.

Dinner was ready at six sharp. Our table banter was subdued, but the kids filled the gaps. We hadn't all been assembled around the same dinner table for quite some time. After dinner, Melinda poured the wine and we moved into the living room. I knew it was going to hit the fan. Jill came into the living room just as we were getting settled. Mom had put me on the sofa next to Melinda, while Tom sat by Ashley on the loveseat.

"I'm taking the kids for mini-golf and then ice cream," she announced looking at Dad. "How long do you need?"

"That will be fine, honey," he told her. His tone had changed dramatically, since dinner.

"All right," he began, "let's get this shit show started." He purposefully looked around the room, staring at each of us for uncomfortable seconds.

"Tom," he looked at my brother. "I'm shocked and thoroughly ashamed of you. For a man who got a miraculous second chance, I'd expected something far more..." He left it hanging.

Then he turned his attention to me. "And you," he belted out. "You're no better. Your mother and I raised you better, I'd thought." I started to interrupt, and just the look in his eyes, made me pull up short.

He turned his attention to my wife. "Tell me what happened at that lab." His presence overwhelmed the room. Ashley sat with her hands in her lap, head down. She looked smaller and less confident than I'd ever seen her. Finally, she told her story, leaving a few parts out, but not trying to fudge the important parts. Some of it came out in barely a whisper.

He looked back at me after gulping his wine. "And you were planning to divorce her, or work it out?"

"We were trying to work through it, I thought," I replied feebly. "She's been gone so much and we were... I was having problems." He raised an eyebrow. "Sexual... problems."

"I see," he said. "You witnessed that? Ashley and this man?"

I nodded. He turned to Tom, but before he could get started, my brother reached for Ashley's hand and blurted out. "I love her!"

Ashley pulled her hand back. She was aghast, either from the statement or the outburst.

"Since when?" Dad grilled.

"For a long time," he admitted, a little quieter. "I think... this was inevitable."

Dad looked me in the eye. He didn't need to repeat his question. Melinda reached for my hand and squeezed it. "I care for Kurt a great deal," she said with conviction. "And yes, I love him."

I nodded and realized I couldn't leave it there. "Yes, me too."

"Okay," Dad said. "So then, here's what's going to happen. This family has been under a microscope for months now. Ever since the cure, which we're all thankful for. Your mother and me are still getting calls and emails asking us to give our story, or a quote for some article. Even the TV people are still contacting us occasionally."

He took a final swig from his glass and poured some more, offering another glass to Mom. She hadn't said a word, but it was clear they'd discussed this at length. All of us could tell he was being very intentional.

"I will not allow this family to be torn apart," he continued. "Nor destroyed or humiliated. Not while we are in the spotlight. You're all adults, but unless you want your mother and me to disown you, you'll all agree to this, at least until my grandchildren are in their teens.

"I 've had quickie divorces prepared for both of you," he said looking at Tom, then me. "They will need some tweaking because time was short. I expect Tom and Ashley, and Kurt and Melinda to get married immediately after the divorces are final."

Ashley gasped. Tom looked pleased. I just sat there staring at Melinda, and she at me.

Dad was on a roll. "Don't be so surprised. It seems to me, you got to this point all by yourselves, and quite organically, I might add."

He focused on Ashley then. "Ashley, this entire family owes you a debt of gratitude we can never repay. At the same time, you've hurt my son, your husband, unforgivably. My feelings are mixed, as I'm sure his are." He switched gears. "You say this Paxton fellow and the rest of your scientific team knew about what you were doing at the lab with..."

He couldn't remember the name. Ashely and I both finished his sentence at the same time. She said "Dr. Beltran," and I said "asshole." That earned me a dirty look from my wife.

"Well?" Dad asked. Ashley nodded; her face twisted up.

"So, if you don't go along with this," he went on. "I'm sorry, but I'll make everything that happened public knowledge. You can consider it blackmail if you choose, but I'm deadly serious. You started this, and then you've been having sex with Tom since. That doesn't sound to me like a person who wants to work on their marriage."

Ashley flushed. Tom stirred in his seat. For whatever Tom had become, he knew how wrong his actions were. Dad wasn't finished.

"Now," he started again. "I'll leave it to all four of you to come up with an equitable custody arrangement. If you get stuck, then I'll get involved. The children's well-being is paramount. Ashley and Tom, you'll pay Kurt and Melinda for support and maintenance. That may not seem fair, but Ashley started this fiasco, and she makes more money alone, than Kurt and Melinda make. I expect her salary to continue growing for the foreseeable future. Kurt, you, and Melinda will help and support Tom when Ashley is away. This family needs to start healing and being kind and helpful to one another is a good place to start. You've all made incredible mistakes."

I sat there, shell-shocked. I've always respected my father; I'd just never seen him like this. The amount of thought alone, he'd put into keeping his family intact was beyond noble. The fact that he'd been able to put all of us in our places as if we were children ourselves, was something I'll never forget.

He looked at Mom and simply nodded. They got up, and he once more scanned the room. "Now, why don't you split up with your significant other and talk privately? Kurt, take Ashley out onto the back deck and say whatever needs to be said. Your Mother and I will leave you to it."

Everyone was stunned. We all just started going where my father had told us to go. Ashley and I didn't say anything to each other for quite some time.

"Well?" I asked my wife sharply.

"Well, Kurt?" she responded curtly. So, she was going to try and play the victim. I was having none of that.

"What happened to trying to work on our marriage?" I answered with another question. "How many times have you fucked my brother?"

Ashley was one of the smartest people I'd ever met and not just academically. She hung her head, knowing the fight was already over.

"Three," she said despondently. At least she had the sense to look guilty. I wasn't finished yet.

"And how many times has he 'unstuck' you?" I wasn't sure about the grammar but didn't care just then.

"Once," she said. "How many times did you and Melinda do it?"

"Twice," I replied right away. "But only because she was losing her mind with grief, having a pretty good idea what Tom had been up to with you. "The second time, we actually enjoyed ourselves."

She winced as I gave that revelation. I stared at her, looking for something - anything that resembled remorse. I didn't see it.

"You in love with him?" I continued my questioning.

"Maybe," she was very quiet then.

"So, you and me," I asked. "Down the drain over a maybe?"

"Kurt," she stood up straight with a second wind. "I'm sorry, okay. I've fucked up our relationship, I know that. You need to know I'm sorry that I hurt you with my selfishness, not because we were caught. It's not an excuse, but I've been so lonely and stressed - worried we wouldn't make it. The truth is I didn't give us much of a chance anyway. I'm sorry for my lack of faith too. When I came home from RCA I was convinced that I could overcome the mistakes I made, and our marriage would go on - thrive and not just survive. I see how foolish that was now. Both of us being apart has amplified problems I never considered even existed. Standing here, right this moment, I still firmly believe I love you, but I know I'll need to analyze those thoughts and feelings because the way I've treated you and our relationship certainly doesn't show love on my part. Now, it's truly the end of the line, isn't it?"

I nodded. My body mirrored my mood. I was worn out. But I was also relieved, strangely.

"It is," I said stoically. "Especially with the entire family involved, not to mention Dad. He's more worried about Mom and our family's reputation, or maybe legacy. I'm not doing what he says because he wants it, I'm doing it because it's right - he's right. But I'll tell you, here and now, you don't deserve me. That sounds prideful, surely, but I've loved you with all I had to give, was always faithful until a few nights ago, and you shit on me. I better not ever hear that you bad-mouthed me or blamed it on me."

It was her turn to nod. There wasn't anything left to say, and it would be a long time before I could even talk with either one of them without someone else in the room.

Ashley turned back into the house. Tom walked out the door with her minutes later, heading to their new home - my old home. I held Melinda for a long time as we sat lost in our own thoughts.

Epilogue:

Life really is strange.

Melinda and I married quietly on a trip to Las Vegas, just one month after our divorces were final. My parents watched the kids. We've been together for ten years now. I have to say, when you don't start your relationship in a lovestruck manner, there's a deeper appreciation for your partner. Not only did I have to put in the work, but I saw it every day with Melinda too. Still, we were far better suited for one another. I'll never know if Dad saw that, because I don't want to ask.

That first year after the weird swap cemented my relationship with Melinda's children also. With Tom and Ashley on the road often, and with him having been sick or recovering for most of the previous year, the kids were starving for a strong father figure. It was easier for me because I loved them and they were already family in my eyes.

Melinda gave me a daughter of my own, Brittany. My life was full - fuller than it had ever been with Ashley - working my job and fooling myself that I hadn't been living in her shadow. Those fathers that have a fast-paced job, but still must run out the door to go coach Little League or soccer understand.

After a year, Ashley's life settled down and she spent more time at home, working at her actual job. That would give both Tom and Ashley the time to make up with the kids - his kids. But he never did. I supposed after a while that I never really knew my own brother at all. Ashley, I at least understood. She was famous. She'd been touted by any host who'd introduced her, with all sorts of fantastical and fabulous labels. She was among the best of the best. And Tom's kids would most certainly remind her of me. At least that's what my ego kept telling me.

Three years after Ashley had her fun with Beltran, two years and one month after her tryst with Tom was uncovered, and one year and a half after they'd married, Ashley filed for divorce. Melinda and I never really asked about the problems in their marriage, but deep down, I knew Tom wasn't ever going to be Ashley's type. I believe she knew it also, right from the start, but felt she owed our family for what she'd done to me. Even Jill never volunteered information. My wife and I were simply too happy and too busy. Tom eventually became more involved with his children, but it was never the same for any of them.

The last I heard Ashley had taken an executive position at America's Cancer Institute. I didn't stalk her, but she was constantly in the limelight. She went on to invent and patent three other life-saving delivery devices, and she never remarried.

In a way - a very strange way, at that - I have Ashley to thank for my happiness. Okay, my parents too, I guess. That's probably a hindsight thing. She'd developed a "God complex" while at RCA. She'd forgotten the things that should have been important to both of us. Then her fame and fortune drove her into a world all her own. Many would owe her their very lives, while she did her life's work - for the greater good. I'd owe her my happiness, albeit at my own temporary despair.

Life isn't really that strange when everything works out in the end.