John and Diane Pt. 02

Our front door is very thick and has a metal plate sandwiched between two layers of hardwood. It would stop a 9mm bullet and a shotgun blast. The original owner of the house had installed the door. He was a very careful man, and the protection of his family was at the top of his mind.

Our intrusion alarm had a feature that would call the sheriffs if I hit the panic button. Now, being raised in Texas, I learned to shoot a gun when I was a little kid. My father taught me. He was an expert at the use of firearms, having spent a while in the national guard and a tour of duty in Iraq. My father taught me and my brothers how to shoot and shoot straight.

The protection of my family was also on top of my list of things to do. We kept two guns in the house, and they were both locked up. But I could get at them fast enough. I wasn't worried about Diane.

Diane stood there for a moment and then started to cry. "I really need to talk to him. I want to tell him that I'm sorry for all the hurt that I caused him and the kids."

"What makes you think that he wants to see you at all?"

"Maybe he won't. Could you tell him that I would like to talk to him? Maybe just for a few minutes. Please."

She passed me a piece of paper with her phone number and the name of the motel that she was staying at.

"Here's my number. Please. I just want to talk to him for a few minutes."

**********

John

When I got back to the house with the other kids, Naomi told me that we had a visitor that afternoon. When she told me that it was Diane, I was...well, I didn't want to believe that she had found us. I didn't want her here. I didn't want anything to do with her. If she didn't understand that by now, she would be clearly delusional.

I called her mother. Now, I hadn't spoken to any of Diane's family for some time. I didn't talk to any of them since before I took the kids on that trip to Canada a couple of years ago. I figured that they would be very curious to know what the hell happened and where I went with their grandchildren. When we left Albany, I had decided that Diane could talk to her family and tell them whatever she wanted to tell them; I didn't care. Like I said before, my concern was with the safety and needs of my children.

You can just imagine how that call went. There was a lot of shouting, some crying, some pleading, some things said by Diane's mother that angered me and some begging for me to let them see their grandkids.

It was clear to me in the discussion that she didn't know that Diane had left the city and come looking for us. She didn't realize or understand the extent of the relationship that Diane had been in with Tom for over a decade. She didn't know that Diane had decided that Tom would be the one to make her pregnant with the kids; four times. She didn't know that Diane had deceived me for so long and continued to try to deceive me right up until the day I left Albany with the kids.

I asked her to tell me what Diane had told her. It was quickly clear that Diane had told her little of the truth.

At the end of the call, I asked her what she planned to do. She didn't really know what she could do. So, I told her that I was considering getting a restraining order to force Diane to stay away from us. I told her that I had a new wife and a new son and a new life. I asked her to please make it clear to Diane that she had to leave us alone.

At the end of the call, I was pissed off and very certain that I would not allow Diane any contact with any of the kids. When the kids were legal adults, they could make their own decisions, but until then I was very certain of what I wanted.

Naomi was right there with me.

**********

The next morning, I called my lawyer, the one back in Albany, and had a chat. I asked him to contact Tom's lawyer and let him know that it would be in Tom's best interests to have Diane come back to Albany and leave us alone. If Tom were to fail in that mission, it might not bode well for hi and any actions that I might need to take to have her get the fuck out of Texas. Your imagination can fill in the blanks on what those actions might be.

After the call I talked to Naomi, and we made a short-term plan to make sure that the kids didn't get ambushed by Diane. I was concerned that Diane might be having a mental-health crisis and decided that that she could somehow solve all her problems by coming to Texas.

Naomi's father came to our house and brought some of his armament's with him. I told him that we were well protected, and he didn't need to worry. He left, taking most of his firepower, after hugging everyone, especially his new grandson, William, and went home.

My lawyer gave a deadline to Tom's lawyer, and I wanted some proof that Diane was back in Albany.

But I knew that ultimately, I was going to have to talk to Diane, face-to-face, and have it out with her one final time.

**********

The next day

It was about supper time and the doorbell sounded. I went to the door and saw that it was Diane standing there. Naomi was right behind me, and she told me that the kids were in the library doing their homework. She had closed the door so that they couldn't hear what was going on in the rest of the house.

I took a deep breath and opened the door. "Hello Diane."

She looked at me and then Naomi. "May I come in?"

I held up my hand, palm turned towards to stop her. "If you came here hoping to have me and the kids, come back to Albany, you wasted your time. We're not coming back. The kids and I have made a new life here and as you can see, Naomi and I are married and we're a family."

"I came here hoping that you might let me see my children. That's all I want."

**********

The concept of 'vengeance' is one that means different things to different people. Most of us take it to mean a punishment inflicted as retribution for a wrong committed against us; or something close to that. For me, vengeance, in its practical form, was taking the children and I away from Diane as payback for over a decade of lying to me.

Moving to Texas was an idea that struck me as I was looking at alternatives to staying in a marriage founded on deceit. I couldn't stay there and be humiliated any longer. But I couldn't just walk out on the children and leave them. No, I loved those kids and I know that they looked up to me as their father and as the one that takes care of them, no matter what. So, any plan that I had would have to include them. I thought about it while I was on that trip to Canada two years ago and when I came home, it was clear that I had to do something. And I did.

Now, Diane is here, in Texas, standing on my front porch and asking to see the children. No matter that she signed over custody to me as part of the divorce and no matter that she agreed to have no contact with us. So, why the great need to see them now? Was it regret, or remorse, or the realization that she was effectively not a mother any more, even after giving birth to the four of them? Why had she driven this far, risking rejection by her own children? It had to be significant, that I knew.

"Why now Diane? Why did you drive all the way from Albany? What makes you think that my children want to see you? Your deception for so long poisoned your relationship with not just me, but them too. They're old enough to understand what you did. Andrea and Keith understand what you did, and Laura and Britt know that you rejected me, and them, by choosing your boyfriend over us. Are you still with Tom?"

Diane looked at the floor of the porch. "Tom and I are done."

"And how does that affect anything here and now?"

"John, I was hoping that you might let me see the kids. I really miss them. I...I would like to see them, please. Would you do that for me?"

Diane's voice had a pleading tone, but I knew that it could all be an act. "I have to think about that Diane and talk to the kids to see if they want to see you. No matter, it's not going to happen right now. Go back to wherever you're staying, and I'll call you." I had to stall for time here. I had to figure out what was really going on. Was she having a break from reality and decided that all her problems would be solved by coming here or was she being put up to doing this by Tom or her family? No matter, I was not about to let my family be hurt by her one more time.

She nodded her head, told me the name of the motel she was at and turned to walk to her car. I noticed that she was driving my old Subaru. She looked back at the house as she was getting in her car. She waited a moment and then slowly drove off.

I closed the front door.

As Naomi and I turned around, Andrea was standing behind us in the foyer. "What did she want?"

**********

That night at supper, I brought up the subject of their mother. To a person, they all stopped eating and looked at me. I told them that she had asked me if she could see them. After that I asked them if they wanted to see her. It was up to them, to a degree. I didn't plan to let them be put in a position where they were going to be asked to do something that they didn't want to do. That was for certain.

After we discussed it for quite a while, I decided to take a vote. I was not surprised when they all said that they didn't want to see or talk to her. I knew right then what I had to do.

**********

I called Tom.

To say that he was surprised to hear from me, now, after all the water under the bridge, would be a gross misrepresentation of reality. I had to repeat myself a couple of times to get him to understand that I was calling him.

Tom stammered, "ah, Mr. Strickland, why are you calling me, now? I know that you and your wife are not together any more..."

"Yeah, no shit Tom! Pay attention. Your girlfriend showed up on my front porch and is violating our agreement. Get her the fuck out of Texas and do it now!"

"Ah...But what makes you think that I can tell her what to do?"

"Oh wake-the-fuck-up, please! You get her out of here now. If you do not do it, I will consider this a violation of our agreement and your wife, Margaret, you remember her, she will have a package of information delivered by special courier."

"I don't know what you think..."

"Answer this, right now, do you like your comfortable life in Albany?"

There was silence on the end of the phone. "Well, do you?"

I don't know what you're talking about, John."

"Grow-the-fuck-up, asshole. I will make it my mission to ruin you, your life and your business. I'll make sure that you're living in a shit-hole apartment instead of that five bedroom mansion that you're in now. I'll make you regret that you ever fucked her. Make your decision!"

More silence on the end of the phone line.

"You have 24 hours to get her out of Texas and keep her out of Texas."

More silence. "DO YOU UNDERSTAND?"

He said very quietly, "I understand."

I gave him some details about where Diane was staying and the phone number of the motel.

**********

That night, Naomi's mother and father came to the house, and it was decided that it might be best if Naomi and the kids were to stay with them until this business with Diane was resolved. We didn't tell the kids much other than Grandma and Grandpa had invited us to come to their place.

After Naomi got the kids loaded up in the Suburban and headed off to her folks place, I waited for things to happen. I was surprised that much didn't happen. Diane didn't show up and when I went to the motel where she was staying the manager told me that there was a fuss a short while ago with a woman from back east, whe was staying at the motel, and a lawyer in a fancy suit. There was also another guy, but she didn't know who he was. There was some shouting, but they all got in their cars and left.

And that was it. Nothing more. My lawyer called me about midnight to tell me that he had been called by Tom's lawyer to tell him that Diane was on her way back to Albany. Tom had guaranteed that she would not bother us in any way again.

What I learned later was that Tom hired a local lawyer and an investigator to find Diane and keep her under surveillance, and at the same time he chartered a jet, flew to Texas and convinced her to go home to Albany. That was the last time I saw her.

In the morning we all went home, and life went back to normal.

**********

About one year later

Naomi

"Hang on to that horse!" I was shouting at Andrea who was in the riding ring trying to get her pony to learn the basics of barrel racing. "Hard right!" She and the horse were both learning. It would be a while before she was ready for a major competition, but she'd be there soon enough. "Hard left!" I was watching close. "Hard left! Now ride hard to the finish line!" Pretty good for a beginner.

The kids are growing and getting busier every year. John even got William a pony. John takes Will on the horse with him, the horse is very calm and senses that he has to be gentle. Will's only a toddler but I can see that he's going to love riding.

I'm not riding any just now. I'm pregnant again. I still do some veterinarian work but even that is getting less and less as my due date approaches. Between the kids, the ranch, our businesses and me, John puts in some long days. At night when we go to bed, he massages my feet and my back, and we make love. Sleeping together naked seems to make you want to do that kind of thing.

Sorry, I need to go pee, again. Those twins are constantly pushing on my bladder.

**********

So, this ends this story. My next one is in production. Thanks for reading.