Her Teddy Bear

That comment made her want to leap from the moving car.

Joan said, "There is nothing innocent about him. All you have to say to the police is that I was crying when you got to the bedroom. You didn't see anything else. Once Andrew saw you, he came after you. I'll take care of the rest. That way you don't have to lie."

"That is a lie," he said.

"I know, but I was pleading for him to leave. The tears would have been coming soon thereafter. I have this black eye to prove he hit me, and skin from his back under my fingernails to show that I tried to fight him off."

Pete said, "and don't forget a vagina full of his cum to show that he fucked you. Oops. I mean raped you."

Joan lost it at that comment and started sobbing.

Pete asked, "You still haven't told me why you got the shotgun."

Pulling herself together, she said, "Crazy things can happen in fights. I wasn't going to let him hurt you. I didn't know how long I had been out of it, so I grabbed it, not knowing what the scene would be like when I came outside."

"Well, was it what you expected to see?"

They both knew the answer to that question. Pete did appreciate her desire to protect him from harm, but she should have felt that way three years ago and not started an affair.

A few minutes later, while still in the car, Pete called Brian. "Brian, it's Pete. Joan and I are on the way to the hospital. We are both okay, but we need a good attorney and we need him or her fast. I'll give you the details as soon as I can; probably later today."

"Oh, man. Sorry to hear that. I'll make a few calls. Are you going to Williamson's Medical Center?"

"We are."

Brian said, "OK. Good. I'm glad you are keeping it in the family. Sorry, that was my poor attempt to lighten the situation. I'll make sure that someone will meet you shortly. Don't talk to anyone until you talk to your attorney."

Pete replied, "We understand, and thanks Brian."

Pete disconnected the call and looked at his soon-to-be ex-wife. "You understood that, right? This is a dangerous game you are playing, and you need to get your story straight before you tie yourself up in lies and end up in jail yourself. On top of the adultery, I'm sure your children and family would love to have to go visit you in jail."

Internally, Joan groaned at her predicament. Maybe she should leap from the car after all.

Chapter 6

As Brian mentioned, they were met in the Emergency room by the hospital administrator and senior legal counsel. They knew Brian personally and the attorney was distantly related. They were mainly there to ensure that they were seen immediately and that no one tried to question them until they had met with the attorney that Brian was sending.

When the attorney showed up, she quickly got to what Joan was trying to achieve. They slowly documented what led up to today, including the length of the affair, some of the details, Ricky's showing up and getting involved, the videos from Andrew's place and the videos from the Clark's security system. Joan was humiliated having to detail everything in front of her husband.

Pete was past being angry. He was simply numb. Who was this person he had been living with?

Ultimately, the attorney advised Joan to seek an out of court settlement that would see her compensated long enough to get on with another firm. She didn't think the DA's office would seek to prosecute a criminal case because of the length of the affair, which made today seem like sour grapes; perhaps unfortunate, but that was what was most likely to occur. Also, Andrew's side of the story would set up a case of he-said, she-said, and would be hard to get twelve people to convict him, so why would the DA waste the court's time which would likely only end in a hung jury?

However, Andrew would probably want his name and firm kept out of civil court, and more importantly, the headlines. Also, he would probably prefer no mention of the beating he took while at the house of a married woman from her husband.

At this point, Pete asked for a couple of minutes with Joan. He said, "I don't care if the settlement is for ten thousand or ten million. In the divorce papers I plan to ask for the house, a 50/50 split of all other assets, excluding my consulting business and no alimony. So, you may want to try and get as much as you can. Wait, I want to amend that; you can have the bed. After today, that filthy thing is yours to do with as you wish."

That comment told her that she would truly be alone in pursuing the matter. She was certain that her husband was going to leave her. She knew it was her fault but facing this by herself was almost overwhelming.

She said, "You would be willing to fight me for the house?"

He replied, "After everything I've learned over the last few weeks; after what I've seen on video the last few days; after what I saw in our bedroom today and after what I did to your lover a short while ago, you would ask me what I'm willing to do? You may want to think about what I could do, should I be so determined.

"Imagine what I could do with those videos and who I could send them to. Your laptop backups are on our home server, so I have the contact information for all of your clients and many of the firm's others and could send them some nice video of their investment advisor not taking vows seriously, nor showing good judgment. How many of them do you think would want to keep working with you? Go ask your lover how angry I am and what I'm willing to do. Trust me. He got off easy. If the only 'extra' thing I take from the marriage you destroyed is our house, then you will have gotten off easy, too."

Every time he said the word 'lover,' it was like a red-hot poker placed against her flesh. It wounded her, but what could she say? She couldn't deny it. There were no extenuating circumstances.

Not willing to fight Pete over the absolute mess that she made, she agreed with him and decided she would get whatever she could from the dickhead that helped her screw up her marriage.

__________________

Ultimately, after Andrew's surgeries, Joan got a payout from him. It took several weeks to negotiate and a couple more to get the check, but it was enough that if it took her a couple of years to find work and get back to what she was making, she would survive.

Not long after that, she did land a new job with the investment advisors that Brian and Miriam used. It didn't pay quite as well as her old one, but it was with a large multinational firm, so she at least had prospects.

She found a condo near her new job and set up house; three bedrooms so the kids could come and stay some - hopefully. She gave away the old bedroom set. She didn't want it either. She did her best to put her mistakes behind her, but the nights were the worst. She vacillated between feeling numbness and heart-wrenching despair. Several times she called Pete and cried before hanging up. She didn't actually say anything. She would probably need to see a shrink, and hopefully receive a lot of sympathy and/or hugs from the kids and a few of her siblings that lived nearby.

One of the things that helped her with her new company was that she poached some of her old clients from Andrew, which was pretty easy because they liked her and were ready to leave Andrew's firm because...Someone tipped a reporter to seek an FOIA (freedom of information act) request looking into a police report involving Andrew at the house of a married woman.

It seems the officer wrote a rather detailed description of the incident including the attacked but avenged husband, the abused victim, claiming rape and brandishing a shotgun to ensure that her husband was not hurt. The sensational story started in the papers and eventually made it onto the local evening news.

Once out of the hospital, Andrew's only answer to questions was, "It is a private matter. No comment."

As for Andrew, he had multiple surgeries that ended up saving the damaged kidney, stabilized the rib and restored partial functionality to a testicle. There was hope that he would one day achieve an erection, but he may need another surgery and it would likely be painful.

Chapter 7

For Pete, it had been the longest few weeks of his life. He tried to stay on the road as much as possible. The next several months and into the Thanksgiving holiday were painful as well. He felt physically ill the day that Joan moved out. The breakup of their family unit was worse than when his grandparents died.

Eva was at least partially prepared. With what Ricky said, he had planted that seed of doubt, which grew into the truth.

She hated what her mom did; hated it. How could anyone hurt her father like that? Even with her dad being the innocent party, she knew this was going to hurt him for a while.

Her mom would be okay. Eva figured she would find some way to justify her actions; or maybe this would kick some sense into her. She would look after her mom, also, and try to forgive her. She knew that it would take a long time for their relationship to recover.

Eva had prepped Donnie so that he wasn't completely caught off guard. He was livid with his mother. Being in his last semester at Georgia Tech, meant it was much easier to stay out of the whole mess and duck his mother's phone calls if he wanted to.

The whole situation sucked and didn't help the kids with their studies.

Even though he got the house in the divorce, with the kids being gone, Pete wondered if he should just sell it. Then the three sisters stepped in to try and cheer him up.

They held a Halloween costume party there one Saturday night with a four to one ratio of females to males. He was sure that the ratio was what the three girls intended. They talked him into dressing as Wolverine, wearing only his jeans, no shirt. He had been hitting the gym more since Joan left and was so fit and lean that he was quite ripped by the time of the party.

Unfortunately, he wasn't built like Hugh Jackman; he had never been able to bulk up. He was just too lean. He grew out his facial hair to look like mutton chops, like the character and bought a pair of gloves that had the requisite knives/blades that appeared to extend from his hand. With a big, fat, unlit stogie and spiked hair, he was a reasonable facsimile.

He tended the non-alcoholic bar most of the night, though he was sure there was alcohol present. Hell, he even had a little bourbon mixed in with his coke.

There was no shortage of sexy witches and nurses and devils there that night. His three girls were dressed as Egyptian royalty. He assumed, though he was not certain, that the other nine lovelies from the pool party were there. He did recognize a few. While nothing debaucherous was going on, there was no shortage of young ladies that would wrap their arms around his and press their breasts into his shirtless chest or back. Occasionally one would even try, after hugging him, to turn around and push their ass into his groin, teasingly, and only for a second.

By late into the evening, he was rather worked up, when a gorgeous redhead, dressed in a sexy Poison Ivy costume, only slightly more conservative than the one Cardi B wore in 2019, succeeded in grinding her ass into his groin and coercing a slightly inebriated Pete into the pool house, where she proceeded to blow him till hard, which didn't take long and then tried to fuck him even harder.

He resisted that urge so he could feast on her for a few minutes. He had her on the couch in seconds and was doing his best to eat her to orgasm. Given how hard she was pulling his head into her, he assumed he was doing something right. It only took her a couple of minutes to climax. After a moment of recovery, she sat him on the couch and rode him cowboy while trying to fuck his brains out. It was a wild few minutes, with a lot of kissing and sucking, and of course fucking.

During the afterglow, the young thing kissed him on the lips and said, "Thank you Mister C. I've been wanting to do that ever since the pool party. You were worth the wait."

That cleared Pete's head. This was one of Eva's friends? From the pool party? Oh, shit!

Not wanting to cause a scene, he kissed her back and suggested they should return to the party before they were missed.

As he stood to pull up his jeans, she was quicker and started blowing him again. She wrapped both arms around his hips, refused his gentle efforts to push her away, and decided to deep throat him to get him hard. Once she had him back to full mast, she spun around grabbed his cock and slid backwards onto it one more time. He didn't protest that much.

Being a little older, it was going to take him longer to get off a second time, which suited her just fine. She pulled his hands to her breasts and had him pinching her nipples, hard. He could feel her having a couple of orgasms, and her knees buckled at one point. He stabilized her enough to lean forward onto the couch, and several minutes later he came again.

She told him, "Oh my God! That was wonderful. I was able to cum several times before you did. Most men my age don't last that long; even a second time. I hope we get to do that again sometime soon when we aren't in a hurry. Thank you, Mr. C. You are the best."

She slid into her metallic green booty shorts and put her green, but ivy-covered, bikini top back in place, kissed him passionately and walked out.

A minute later, after recomposing himself, he was still a little stunned, though very pleased. When he walked out of the pool house, across the pool, by the patio door, he could see Poison Ivy and Lily, dressed as a regal Nefertiti, having a heated argument. He couldn't make out what they were saying, but Lily was hot.

He shrugged it off and went back to the bar to bartend the rest of the night. He enjoyed the party, obviously, and even though there was a vast difference in age, he didn't feel foolish having been included.

At the end of the night his three girls helped him clean up. None of them seemed happy. They weren't speaking to him nor each other, but Lily was especially cool towards him, which didn't please him, but he blew it off and hoped things would be back to normal in the morning.

Pete only slept a little later than normal and woke up to prepare breakfast for when the girls awoke. When he heard them moving around upstairs, he started the French toast and bacon. He had the fresh fruit ready, and it was quite the spread on the kitchen table.

Eva was the first one down and gave her father a big hug. Lily was second, but she simply poured her some coffee and walked outside onto the patio, not saying a word. Carrie, seeing what Lily did, hugged Pete also, and said, "Don't worry Mister C., she'll be over it soon. I'm going to fix her a plate and take it to her." Pete stood looking at Eva wondering what the hell he did wrong.

Eva helped Carrie prepare the plate, and once Carrie had left, Eva said, "Don't worry, Daddy. You didn't do anything wrong. Lily's just upset about you and Penny."

"Penny? Who's Penny?"

"You probably know her as Poison Ivy; rather intimately as I heard."

"Oh?"

"Yep." She paused a second. "Hmph. Believe it or not, I'm happy for you, and she seemed rather happy, too, when she was walking back towards the house with that big smile plastered on her face. There were a lot of envious girls last night. I was wondering if any of them were going to get you into the pool house."

"You knew?"

"Of course. Even though Lily wasn't happy about it, we all did. It wasn't planned, but I suspected there were a few that were hoping you'd be willing."

"I'm sorry if I embarrassed you; your father with someone your age."

"Embarrassed? I heard Penny saying glowing things about you. Maybe I should be embarrassed but I'm not. It seems like you both had a pretty good night. You probably needed that."

He asked, "Then why isn't Lily talking to me? She knows that she is like a daughter to me, so that was NEVER going to happen."

"We all know that, Daddy. Don't worry about it. I'll tell you one day. Trust me; it will be fine."

By the time the girls left, the atmosphere was a little better, and when Lily prepared to leave there were tears in her eyes as she hugged him. She said, "I love you, Dad. I'm sorry I was upset. It wasn't your fault. I just love you so much."

Pete looked at the other girls for some explanation, but none was forthcoming. All he saw were upset young women, but he didn't know why.

Chapter 8

During the Thanksgiving season, Eva split time between her parents. With Donnie staying in Atlanta for the Thanksgiving break, Brian and Miriam asked Pete and Eva to join them and Carrie and some of their family for the Thanksgiving lunch and afternoon. Pete brought lots of beer, and he and Brian and the other guys, young and old, enjoyed watching football in the afternoon. Lily had a lot of family in the Nashville area and spent time with them. Joan was with her siblings at a gathering on her side of the family.

It was good news when Donnie called Pete to tell him that he got the engineering job at the GM plant in Spring Hill, about twenty-five minutes south of Franklin. Everyone was excited that he was coming home. Joan was happy but sad that she was no longer living in the house where Donnie planned to live until he could find a place of his own. She thought herself a damn fool.

When Donnie came home and began to prepare for his new job, Pete cooked dinner for him and his three ladies one night. It was the first time Donnie and Lily had been around each other for more than a few minutes since Donnie left for college; just over four years ago. It was obvious to Donnie, and most anyone else with eyes, that Lily had turned into a beautiful young lady.

Donnie was an even nicer looking, and slightly taller, version of Pete, having gotten good genes from his mother, and Lily was attracted to him, but for more than just his looks. While they were both interested in getting to know each other better, sometimes the expectations of others are too high. By the end of the night, they were friendly, but not really hanging out with each other. By the time everyone went to bed, there was a touch of disappointment in the air.

Later that night, everyone had gone upstairs to their bedrooms, except for Pete. He was enjoying a cool night out on the patio sipping a beer and watching the fire in the fire pit burn its last embers. It surprised him when he heard Carrie say, "Can I join you?"

"Sure, sweetie. Come sit next to me."

He pulled the blanket back and the tiny young lady snuggled into Pete. She said, "A bit of a letdown, wasn't it?"

"Not really. I think everyone was expecting them to see each other and run across the yard coming together to embrace in a passionate kiss. They don't even know each other anymore; not really, but that's okay. They have a lot in common and several families that love them that are hoping they will give it a good try. I'm going to encourage them to go on dates and spend time together. I truly believe that they are meant to be together."

She looked up at Pete and asked, "Really? Even after tonight, you still think that?"

"I do. I don't know two young people that are a better match. Do you? I truly don't. All they need is time and opportunity. Then one day, I'll get to see you and Eva as beautiful bridesmaids for Lily. I would say I cannot wait, but I want to enjoy the ride."

Carrie squeezed her surrogate father in a tight hug. "Thanks, Dad. You just made my night."

When she got up to leave, he said, "You can stay longer if you want."

She replied, "I can sleep now. I was sad a few minutes ago, but I'm feeling good right now."

He asked, "You're going to tell them what I just said, aren't you?"