Independence Day - Alternate ending

BigGuy33 recently published an interesting story called Independence Day. He invited other authors to take a swing at the story as well. This is another way things might have unfolded. (No sex in this story)

We pick up the story after a family meeting at which Ray's children and grandchildren try to persuade him to go along with his wife having sex with a young stud, since Ray's heart condition has rendered him unable to "perform":

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Things were cool around the house for the next week. Josie knew that, despite his acquiescence, Ray was not happy with what she was doing with Luke. But she believed it would come to be something he could live with because he loved her, and she was certain that he'd eventually forget about it, or at least put it out of his mind.

For Ray, it was the complete destruction of his life. He had been a dedicated family man for four decades but that hadn't stopped his entire family from tossing him aside when his presence became inconvenient. The simple fact that Josie had even sought the support of her family for her adultery had ended his marriage as far as Ray was concerned. That they had all, every single one of them, sided against him was the death blow to his family, or at least to his being a part of it. He had put everyone else first for years. That was about to change.

As he drove around aimlessly Sunday night after the family meeting, he considered options. He could simply divorce her and leave. He could do what Josie wanted and the children seemed to support, and just suck it up and go with it. But he couldn't shake the feeling there was another choice. He knew this: Whatever happened, somebody besides him was going to have to feel some pain. He would not be the only one to suffer.

Ray had some resources. He had retired and sold his construction company. His heart wasn't strong, but his balance sheet was. He also knew some people. He made a list of people to call on Monday. First was Jack Overturf, the guy who had done background checks on new hires at his company. Jack could do a "background light," just verifying the information on the employment application, or he could do "background deep," researching the person's past all the way back to childhood and looking for any worrisome issues. Ray had only had him dig deep a couple of times, when he was filling high level and sensitive positions. Digging deep was expensive. Ray could afford it.

He also meant to call Rocco, one of his weekly golf foursome pals. He had met Rocco years before when there was a labor issue on a construction site. Ray didn't know exactly what Rocco did, or who he was associated with, but he knew that it was unwise to cross Rocco or "his people." Let's just say they had last names that ended with a vowel.

He would also call his lawyer, Charles Lockwood, and get started with the divorce preparation. Regardless of whatever might happen in the days to come, divorce was certain.

He also made a note to call Josie's friend Marjorie to find out how much she actually knew about this guy Luke.

By the time he returned home, a little after midnight, he was dog tired. But he had a plan. And after carrying out that plan he would know a good deal more than he knew just then.

He rose early Monday morning, but Josie was up before him. She tried to put on her usual sunny face, but he could tell she was worried about what he was thinking. He sat at the kitchen table and she poured him some decaf coffee. God he hated decaf, but it was all his cardiologist would let him have. She asked about how he was feeling as she gave him his morning meds, as she did every day. "I'm fine," he said. "I'm tired, and I'm angry, but I think that's what should be expected. The pain I feel in my heart is not from my 'condition,' it's from the betrayal by people I love and who I had thought all these years loved me."

"Raymond, we all do love you," she exclaimed, trying to put her arms around his shoulders for a hug. He shrugged her off.

"It doesn't feel like it," he grumbled, looking at the collection of pills in the little cup Josie had given him. "What's this brown one? It's new."

"It's a supplement a friend of mine told me about," she said. "It is supposed to help with your virility issues."

"There's nothing wrong with my virility," he replied, palming the pill and taking the others with the water Josie had brought him.

"My problem, as you know, is circulation. Not virility."

"Okay, okay, I heard good things about this supplement and I thought it would be worth a try. I'd rather be getting my needs met by you, you know," she said, again trying to hug him from behind his chair. Again he shrugged her off.

"Breakfast ready?" he asked, gruffly.

"All ready. We have Egg Beaters and cereal with almond milk."

He grimaced. He hated this faux food, but at least she was trying to keep him alive.

She watched quietly as he ate his breakfast. As he finished, she sat down across the table from him. "While you were out last night did you think more about what I and the children told you?" she asked.

"Of course I did," he replied. "I never expected to be stabbed in the back by my entire family - everyone I have loved and cared for and supported."

With that he got up from the table and walked, shoulders slumped and head hanging, to his home office, shutting the door. Josie watched him with sadness. She really didn't want to hurt him. She just could not understand why he didn't see things her way. The kids "got it," why couldn't he?

For a moment she considered calling Luke and telling him not to come next Saturday. But she decided that she wasn't going to give in on this. She needed his hard manhood. And he was such a charming young man - so kind and sweet. He had even given her the bottle of supplements in hopes it might help Ray get his equipment back into working order.

Meanwhile, Ray got on the phone and worked his way through his call list. He told Jack to do as deep a dive as possible to find out just what this guy was all about. "Why does a good-looking 29-year-old man want to fuck a woman who's pushing 60? There has to be something else going on here. I want to find out what it is."

Then he called Rocco. He had helped Rocco to iron out some labor-management issues with various companies over the years. He thought Rocco would be willing to help him. "Rocco, my friend, I have a problem, and I might need your help."

"Anything, my friend," he said. "What kind of trouble could a rich retired guy have? Knock up some teenager?" he joked.

"No, this is closer to home. I'm not ready to lay it all out for you yet, I just wanted to check in with you and see if you would be willing to help if needed."

"Yes," Rocco replied, his voice now serious. "Whatever it is, if I can help I will."

"Thank you. One other thing - do you think you can recruit a sub for me for golf Saturday? There's something I need to attend to."

Rocco told him he'd call his cousin Vinnie and the game would go on.

The next call was to his lawyer - another old friend. He told him Josie had been having an affair behind his back and he needed to divorce her. He wanted to leave her with enough money to survive with some dignity for the rest of her years, but nothing more.

"Bring in your bank and investment statements so I can get started with those, and I'll have paperwork ready to sign by the end of the week," Charles said.

His call to Marjorie was strained. He tried not to reveal how angry he was with her for setting Josie up with this cocksman, and she struggled not to say anything that would hurt Josie. Josie had called her Saturday afternoon after Ray stormed out of the house and had unloaded her anxiety and sorrow. It had been Marjorie who had suggested getting the kids on board.

"Margie, I need to know something about this guy Luke that Josie has been carrying on with," he began.

"Well, I only knew him for a short time," Marjorie answered. "He didn't talk much about his past. He is in some kind of sales that lets him work flexible hours. He told me about how he had come to appreciate older women. And Ray, I have to tell you, the older women he spends time with really appreciate him!" She caught herself then. That was not a smart thing to say, and she knew it. But Ray had called for information, not a fight, so after choking back a snide response he asked if she knew anything about where he came from.

"Out east, I think. Maybe Philadelphia," she replied. "I really don't know more - we didn't spend a lot of time talking, if you know what I mean," she chuckled.

Ray thanked her and ended the call. He called Jack then to relay the information that Luke may have grown up in the Philadelphia area.

"Well, I've made some progress on my end, too," Jack replied. Using Josie's phone records I got a name and an address for the guy. And working back from that I've found some other things. Nothing to get worked up about yet, but I do know that the name he's using is an alias."

"Why would an upstanding young salesman and home wrecker need an alias, I wonder," Ray said. "Running from a pissed off husband? Let me know when you get more." Jack told him he expected to be able to give him a fairly full report on Thursday.

His calls having been made, he went to his gun safe, got out his.45 automatic, and headed for the door.

"Where are you going with that gun?" Josie asked, terror in her eyes.

"I'm just going to the range. I haven't been shooting for a while and I want to keep my skills sharp. You never know," Ray told her as he headed out to the garage.

Josie just stood there, watching his back as he walked out. "This isn't going well at all," she said to herself. A tear rolled down her cheek. Should she call Luke and warn him? Would Ray really be capable of hurting him? She finally decided that Ray did not have it in him to kill another man. And besides, she still loved him, and she was sure that although he was angry right now, he still loved her.

The week progressed about as normally as Ray and Josie could make it. They avoided the mention of Luke, of Ray's sexual dysfunction, or anything else related to the situation. Josie tried to keep conversation light, and made an extra effort to be loving and supportive. She worked extra hard on making his favorite meals, and tried to interest him in sexual intimacy. Each morning she added one of those brown pills to his regular daily meds, and he surreptitiously pocketed them. He wasn't about to take anything that his doctor had not prescribed, no matter what Josie thought it would do for him.

One odd thing happened Wednesday morning. When he logged into his financial websites to print off documents for Charles and the divorce documents, he got a notification that somebody had tried to log-in from an unrecognized computer. Had he been the victim of identity theft? The attempts had apparently failed, but he quickly changed passwords just to be sure.

Each day Ray was polite with Josie, tried not to be disagreeable, and complimented the meals. On Wednesday he even sat and watched TV with her instead of shutting himself off in his office as he had the previous nights. He rejected her attempts at getting something started in bed, rolling over to his side an facing away from her. On Tuesday night when she was especially persistent about trying to get him into some sex play, he got up and went to sleep on the couch in the living room.

Thursday morning he got a call from Jack. His report was ready, and it contained some very troublesome information. Ray drove to Jack's office downtown and was quickly shown into Jack's office. "Have you learned anything more about this guy?" Jack asked. Ray told him he had not, that he'd been working on other things, and shooting at the gun range each afternoon. That got an eyebrow raise from his old friend. Jack then handed a folder of papers to Ray.

"The first page shows a list of the aliases that we have been able to establish he's used, and the cities he's lived in."

Ray looked at the list: Joe Anderson, Rex Martin, Antonio Reyes, Martin Masterson. It appeared he had started in Philadelphia, then made his way west, hopscotching from one city to another about every two years. Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Chicago, Kansas City, Phoenix. "Well wait a minute. This doesn't add up," Ray looked up as he spoke. This guy says he's 29, but if this is right he has to be older."

"According to his birth certificate, he's 36," Jack told him. That's the next paper down. I guess his older conquests like to imagine they're robbing the cradle. There's some weird shit going on here."

Jack guided Ray through the rest of the items in the report. Ray paid him and took the report. He drove to a park and sat in his car in the shade of a big old tree, and studied the information Jack had provided. What in the world had his Josie gotten herself into? How could she be so naïve?

He called his son Leo. "Leo, I need for you to call your sister and arrange this. I need for the family to gather again, just like you all did on Independence Day, at 9 a.m. All of them. Don't accept any excuses, this is important. Actually, have everybody arrive about 8:45. And let's have everybody park down the block. I don't want it to look like a convention when "Luke" arrives. And please ask Kristine not to alert her mother that we're coming. I don't want her warning Luke off."

Friday was spent in the lawyer's office, as he and Charles reviewed the divorce documents that had been prepared. Then he went home for dinner and another evening of strained politeness. Josie had made curried shrimp, one of his favorite recipes. Of course she made it with vegan shrimp substitute, but it was still good.

On Saturday Ray rose at 6 a.m., the usual time for his golf date, but instead of dressing for golf and heading out the door with his clubs, he hung around the house. Josie started looking more and more nervous as 9 a.m. approached. Surely Ray wasn't going to stick around for when Luke arrived. She had a sudden thought and looked to see if there was any sign of Ray's gun. She was relieved when she didn't see it out, but she was still nervous. When would he leave?

"Aren't you going to be late for your golf game?" she finally asked him at 8:30.

"No, I thought I'd stick around and have a chat with Luke," he replied.

Josie scowled. She had come out in her robe and nothing else, expecting that she'd just be stripping down for Luke. When she learned Ray wouldn't be leaving she stomped to her room to get into some clothes. She also meant to call Luke and warn him off. But she couldn't find her phone anywhere. When she came back out to the living room, she saw through the doorway that Ray had arranged extra chairs around the dining room table just the way she had them on Sunday when she had ambushed him. Just then Kristine and Eric burst through the front door with Julie and Allison.

"What's going on, Mom?" she asked. "Why does Dad want us all here?"

Josie blanched. They were all coming? Luke would be walking through the door any minute. This wasn't how it was supposed to be at all.

"I don't know," Josie replied. "But it better be good. This man just doesn't seem to be able to accept reality."

Josie put on another pot of coffee, and Kristine's crew went to the table and sat. Just then Leo and Rebecca came in, also wondering what was up. Meanwhile, Ray was in his office getting ready for the family meeting. He strapped his.45 in in its holster to his belt, and got out a little presentation box that he hadn't looked at for years. He gathered up the pages from Jack's report and put them back in the folder, then grabbed the Manila envelope with his copy of the divorce papers. He took one more item from a drawer and put it in his trouser pocket. He walked out to see his family gathered around the table just like last Sunday, but looking more curious.

When he saw how people had seated he moved a couple around so there would be two chairs at the end of the table opposite him. "Josie, why don't you sit down there," he asked her, politely, with a smile. Just then Luke came through the door. The look of surprise on his face was priceless when, instead of being greeted by a nearly naked hottie, he saw the faces of people he presumed to be Josie's children, and Ray, who was supposed to be golfing.

He said, "Sorry," as if he had interrupted something, and started to turn to go back out the door, when Ray called out to him.

"Come on in, Luke. We all want to have a little chat before you fuck my wife again." Josie and Kristine gasped at Ray's crudity. Julie and Allison giggled a little to themselves. Leo and Eric looked at each other and shook their heads as if to say, "this ain't gonna be good."

Trapped, Luke turned around and walked slowly toward the dining room. "We left a place for you right down there at the end of the table next to my wife," Ray said, pointing to the empty chair. Luke walked to the end of the table, made it a point to lean down and share a kiss with Josie, then sat next to her. Ray looked at Allison and asked "Sweetheart, would you please run and get a cup of coffee for your grandmother's fuck-buddy?"

With that Luke began to rise from his chair. "Now wait a minute, mister, that's no way to talk. Josie and I have a very special relationship."

"Sit down, asshole," Ray said, taking his gun from the holster and laying it on the table in front of him. "This is my meeting, for the time being."

Luke sat back down. Ray passed the presentation box to Leo, on his left, and asked him to pass it down to Luke.

Luke took it and looked at it.

"Open that, hotshot." Luke did. Inside was military medal. "Know what that is, Kid? That's a Bronze Star. Want to know how I got it?"

Josie was terrified by all that had taken place so far. What was Ray going to do with that gun? And what was this Bronze Star? She had never seen it before. He had never talked to her about the war. What was this all about? Where was Ray going?

Luke didn't answer Ray's question.

"Well, that's okay, I'll tell you anyway. I spent a couple of the less enjoyable years of my life in a shithole country called Vietnam. You might have heard of it, if you weren't too busy feeling up the girl next to you in history class. Or whatever.

"Now you wouldn't know about this, because you're kind of a loner, and the only families you have are other men's. But when you are under fire in a battle zone, the guys around you become your family. I had a wonderful Army family in Vietnam - a family I would do anything to protect. Just like I would do anything to protect this family. And until last week, I imagined that they would do anything to protect me. But that's off topic so we'll leave that alone."

All around the table heads sank. Kristine reached for Eric's hand under the table, and Leo put his arm around Rebecca.

"So, anyway, one night - and it was a really shitty night, it rained like you've never seen rain in this country. The mosquitoes were the size of robins and you spent the night in your compound imagining snakes and spiders and I don't know what-all slithering up your leg. It was godawful.

"Anyway, this particular night I was doing guard duty, trying to stay awake and keep alert. And about 3:30 in the morning I saw something slithering toward our sandbag perimeter that was bigger than any snake. I watched as he slowly and carefully reached an arm over the top of the sandbags and started to climb over. I didn't ask him what he wanted, I did what I was trained to do. I protected my family. I grabbed my K-Bar knife - this one," and he pulled out a large, ugly knife and displayed it in front of his face, "and I slit the motherfucker's throat. Just like this," and he sliced the air menacingly. "Because that's what you do when some piss-ant intruder comes to hurt your family."