Just Once, You Out Of Your Mind?

Once home, Rick saw that there were several messages on his old cell phone. One was from the administrator at the hospital in town were Marcy worked, asking him to get hold of him. Another was from Marcy asking why Rick was being unfair and ruining her fun.

"You have no idea what I'm going to ruin." Rick commented as he listened.

Rick called the hospital administrator back.

"Mr. Weston, I'm glad you called me back. Dr. Mendez has informed me that there have been some improper activities occurring between the doctors and nurses on their trip to South America. We here at the hospital don't condone such behavior and are very sorry for any distress this may be causing you." The gentleman began. Rick saw that this guy was doing damage control and was interested in protecting the hospital as he should.

"I'm sorry, I didn't get your name." Rick interrupted. Diedre smiled at him as the man hadn't given his name.

"I'm sorry, I'm Samuel Mailer, the Hospital's Chief Administrator. Dr. Mendez said that you were in possession of some pretty damning evidence and I was hoping that you could share that with us in the interest of protecting the hospital." Sam made his request. Putting his argument out front, direct and to the point.

Rick liked that in people and made a decision to help the hospital as he assumed this was going to screw over all the doctors and nurses involved.

"I do have evidence of Marcy's intent and admission to break her marriage vows, while on the trip. Her intended partner is Dr. Trey Cardosa. I also have voice recorded admission from Penny Washington as well, however I'm unaware of who her partner was at the time." Rick said.

"We can assume it was Dr. Barnes until someone tells us otherwise, he is the only other doctor on the team. Oh, boy." Sam exclaimed.

"What's wrong?" Sam asked.

"We spend years assembling the best brain surgery team in the region and these asshole doctors and nurses go and fuck it up! I'm sorry, but Jesus!" Sam struggled to keep his anger under control.

"What are you going to do?" Rick asked.

"I'm not sure yet. They have embarrassed us on an international level. Doctors without Borders is talking about cancelling the rest of the trip. The surgical team brought prestige to the hospital and now they bring scandal. I honestly think I am going fire them all and start assembling another team." Sam stated.

It sounded to Rick like he was thinking out loud.

"Are you going to go to the medical boards about their licenses?" Rick asked.

"Damn right, I am. I am so sick of their bullshit. I warned them." Sam exclaimed.

"You did?" Rick asked, he wanted whatever information Sam had. It seemed that there was more to this story.

"Well, Mr. Weston, I guess you were not aware, but some months ago your wife and Dr. Cardosa were caught at the hospital in a compromising situation. They were both warned and promised that it would not occur again. A letter of reprimand was placed in their employment folder and I thought that the case was closed, but obviously it wasn't." Sam explained.

"I'll need a copy of that." Rick stated.

"And I'll need of copy of what you have." Sam agreed.

"Alright, it is getting late now. I'll probably swing by with my stuff tomorrow." Rick offered. "Just email what you have to my attorney." Rick said and gave him his attorney's email address.

"Okay, call ahead, so I know when to expect it and I will email this, when I get off the phone." Sam replied.

"Will do, goodbye." Rick said.

"Goodbye and good luck." Sam rang off.

"Wow," Diedre commented. "So, the hospital knew about it."

"Yeah, and tried to put a stop to it." Rick replied. "It just caused them to move their activities away from the hospital."

Rick called Josh with the information he got from the Hospital's Chief Administrator, that Penny was more than likely sleeping with Dr. Barnes as he was the only other doctor on the team.

"Thanks, Rick, revenge is easy on this one. Barnes is a big-time womanizer and his wife has tried to keep him on a short leash. I'll just call his wife and she will let slip the dogs of war. It should be comical to watch." Josh chuckled.

"Alright buddy, glad things are working out." Rick commented.

"Yeah, you too. Talk to you later." Josh said, as he hung up.

Before Rick and Diedre had dinner, he got a call from his attorney.

"Can you be in court tomorrow at 10?" His attorney asked.

"Sure, what's up?" Rick wondered.

"I have an appointment with a Judge for a special hearing. With your case filing under mental cruelty and all the evidence, I think we can get you an immediate divorce. Depending on what the Judge sees in the evidence I gave him, he could grant an immediate divorce. He is the one that asked for the hearing." Rick's attorney stated.

"You're shitting me." Rick said, in disbelief.

"No, I have seen it a few times before, especially for abused women. But her behavior is so over the top. I think we have a real chance." The attorney explained.

"I'll see you at the courthouse tomorrow at 10, then." Rick agreed.

"Best be a little early and I'll see you there." The attorney instructed.

"See you there." Rick replied, disconnecting the call.

Rick looked at Diedre with a huge smile on his face. Diedre smiled back.

"You could be divorced by tomorrow!" She exclaimed, leaping into his arms.

Rick embraced her, laughing. He had been anticipating having to wait months to gain his freedom from Marcy and now there was the very real possibility that he could be free tomorrow.

Rick was euphoric with the news and wanted to share that with Diedre in an intimate way. He began kissing her neck and feeling her breasts through her shirt.

Rick met his attorney outside the courthouse the next morning. His attorney informed him that he had given the Judge everything about Rick's divorce case to read the day before, so the Judge could make a judgment today, if he felt like it.

Inside the courtroom, the Judge got quickly down to business. Another attorney, Rick did not know, sat opposite them.

"Colonel Weston, first I want to thank you for your Service. Our Nation wouldn't be the beacon of Freedom and Hope that it is without men like you to defend it."

"Thank you, your Honor." Rick replied to the compliment.

"I see in your photo that you are wearing flight wings, but you are in another Branch I don't recognize." The Judge commented, asking a question. The Judge was looking at an official photo of Rick in uniform.

"Your Honor, I was a Flight Officer. Flying Apaches in Desert Storm, Commanding an Aviation Troop. My wife was concerned for my safety, so I re-branched to Intelligence." Rick explained.

"So, you sacrificed you Aviation Career for this woman and this is how she treats you?" The Judge asked, waving a folder that Rick assumed was the evidence of Marcy's infidelity and her letter with the threat of infidelity.

"Apparently so, you Honor." Rick replied.

"You also retired as a Bird Colonel, were you going to make General?" The Judge asked.

"Yes, your Honor. I was being considered for General. But again, Marcy wanted me to retire." Rick explained.

"You sacrificed being a General in the United States Army for this woman and she thinks you owe her something?" The Judge commented.

"I don't understand it either. I have had some people look at it that do phycological profiling and they are seeing sociopathic or narcissistic behavior, in the extreme." Rick explained. Relaying what Diedre and he had concluded, looking at Marcy's behavior and what she had written.

"Given the body of evidence, I would have to agree. No wonder you want to rid yourself of this." The Judge commented, again waving the folder that represented Marcy's actions.

"Thank you, your Honor." Rick replied.

"I reviewed everything yesterday and again, this morning. I believe filing for Divorce under Mental Cruelty is appropriate and does allow the Court certain latitudes. It allows me to grant an Immediate Divorce to you Colonel Weston and in this case with your ex-wife being out of the Country, I am appointing an attorney to act on her behalf. Mr. Blackman, here, will act on Ms. Weston's behalf until she returns to the country." The Judge stated, gesturing towards Mr. Blackman.

"While there has been no crime committed by Ms. Weston, I can financially penalize her for her actions. I will grant the requested 90/10 split of assets in your favor, Colonel Weston. I am awarding the home to you, Colonel Weston and after the house is paid off, then the division of assets will be made." The Judge announced. Mr. Blackman, the attorney appointed to Marcy, did not react to any of these edicts being handed down by the Judge. He made no effort to defend Marcy's legal position.

Rick thought this was hilarious because the house had been refinanced to pay for Marcy's car and now she was going to have to pay off the house. Rick debated telling the Court about Marcy's secret accounts, but he had already closed them and started laundering the money, so he decided this would be a bad idea. He had closed the accounts before the filing for divorce, so his actions were actually legal as far as closing the accounts. He had just failed to report the funds in the bank accounts and jewelry as part of the marital assets. If asked, he could say that he had lost it gambling at the casino. The jewelry was another issue as the sale of those items were on his on-line account and if caught, Marcy could have an issue with it. Rick smiled, when he realized all he had to do is say that he forgot to tell the court as the items hadn't sold yet and when/if she did ask about her jewelry, he could just pay her the 10% of what it had sold for on-line. Rick smiled to himself as the Judge continued to speak.

Rick did decide to tell the Court about her brokerage accounts. Those could be liquidated to cover the cost of the house.

Rick was granted an immediate Divorce and the Judge insisted on issuing a Restraining Order, to cover the Court legally, if for no other reason. The Judge knew he could not issue such a damning decision and then leave the victim of 'mental cruelty' unprotected by the Court.

Rick gave Mr. Blackman all of Marcy's contact information as well as his own. Mr. Blackman was pleasant and let Rick know he was doing this as a favor to the Judge. The Judge had helped Mr. Blackman out in a nasty divorce from a cheating wife, years before and he was more than happy to return the favor to the Judge.

Rick left with the impression that Mr. Blackman was more on his side of this divorce than Marcy's and his involvement was just to have all the legal boxes checked in the proceedings.

Rick did not walk out of the Court divorced, that would only happen once the paperwork was filed with the County Clerk, probably later that day or Monday.

Rick walked out of the Court and into Diedre's arms. She had been waiting around the corner in a café, as they thought it would be inappropriate for her to accompany him in the courtroom.

"Well?" She asked.

"The Judge granted the divorce, 90/10 split of assets, after the house is paid off and given to me!" Rick exclaimed. He could barely contain his joy as he hugged Diedre and laughed.

"Do you want to go screw with the doctor's shit?" Diedre asked.

"With the courts involved now, we are going to have to be careful." Rick commented.

"Good thing you know a spy." Diedre said, with a smirk and then kissed him.

Rick walked into the hospital's administration section and handed his evidence of Marcy's and Dr. Cardosa affair as well as her previous affair, when he was in Korea. This would establish a pattern of behavior of Surgical Nurse Marcy Weston, that could be used for whatever ends the hospital saw fit. Rick walked out with a huge smile on his face.

On the way to the doctor's condo, Rick had an idea.

"Kyle, how would you like to come home for the weekend? There is someone special I would like you to meet." Rick said, over the speaker in his truck that was connected to his phone.

"Dad, you're not even divorced yet." Kyle commented.

"Not true, son. Judge just granted it." Rick said, laughing.

"No, shit?" Kyle said, in disbelief.

"Yeah, my attorney filed on the grounds of mental cruelty, based on the letter your mom left, recordings of our phone conversations with you mom and the evidence you provided." Rick said, giving Kyle the facts.

"Wow, and the judge granted an immediate divorce?" Kyle asked.

"Yeah, under special circumstances. Appointed an attorney for your mom, rendered judgement and granted the divorce. It won't be official until it's filed with the County Clerk, but your mom and I are divorced." Rick explained. "So, you busy this weekend?" Rick asked, again.

"Yeah, I can be down this evening." Kyle commented.

"How 'bout we come pick you up?" Rick suggested. "I have some stuff to do up there later today and then we can swing by and grab you."

"Sounds good, see you in a bit." Kyle replied.

"Bye, son. I love you." Rick said.

"I love you too, Dad." Kyle replied and hung up.

"What business do you have in the city?" Diedre asked. Rick explained his plan and Diedre smiled her evil grin in response.

At the doctor's condo, they did all the things you do to thrash a residence. They unplugged the refrigerator and left the doors open, so all the food would spoil and stink up the place. With five weeks left before the doctor returned, the neighbors would soon be complaining to the condo's residence committee about the smell. Everything in the freezer would melt and the water would leak out and ruin the hardwood floors and the carpet.

Diedre spent her time at the doctor's computer, first she changed all of his passwords and reset all his biometrics. She next started making contributions to charities from his banking and checking accounts only leaving $1000 in each account. It would be impossible to recover any of the money, even when they did prove he was out of the country, because he would look like a complete ass demanding money back from charities.

Next, Rick was up, calling the doctor's insurance agent and complaining about the poor customer service he was receiving and cancelling the policy because he was getting much better deal with another company. When the agent asked about him being in South America, Rick replied that he was still in South America, but wanted to take care of this now. The agent agreed to cancel the policy on his car immediately.

Diedre then worked her computer magic to imbed an audio program in the computer that played the recording of Marcy's voice in a loop. The recording was from the first phone call Rick had made. "His dick is smaller than yours, and he is not better." Marcy's voice said over and over again, throughout the house on the doctor's very expensive home audio system. Diedre had put the program in the operating software on the hard drive and the only way to remove it was to replace or rewrite the hard drive. Any audio file on the computer or attached devices would automatically upload the audio file and start playing it. The only way to stop the audio file was to turn the device off. If the doctor plugged his fancy refrigerator in, it would start playing the audio file any time he opened the door. "His dick is smaller than yours, and he is not better. His dick is smaller than yours, and he is not better. His dick is smaller than yours, and he is not better." Every smart device in the doctor's house would be infected with the audio file. His smart phone would play it as his ring tone.

Rick and Diedre were laughing hysterically when they exited the condo. They could still faintly hear the audio file playing through the home audio system with the door closed and they were pretty sure on quiet nights, the neighbors would hear it too.

Rick and Diedre got into their first argument in the parking lot of the doctor's condo. The argument was who was going to drive the doctor's Mercedes AMG to the city. It didn't last long as it was decided that they would take turns driving it, stopping at the rest area half way to the city. Diedre had to wait to several minutes at the rest area for Rick to catch up in his truck. While it was tight in the sportscar, they did do it in the passenger seat at the rest area. Then Rick had to wait for Diedre at their planned rendezvous location in the city as he had put the AMG through its paces. They left the doctor's car at Washington and 2nd Street, with the keys in it and left in Rick's truck. The car would not set there long before someone took it. They knew that the doctor would report it stolen when he returned, but would be very surprised to find out that he had cancelled his insurance on the six figure sports car.

Rick and Diedre were still laughing when they went to the college campus to pick up Kyle.

Kyle was in his dorm room when they arrived and he was not alone. Constance had her arm around Kyle, when he opened the door.

"Hey, dad, this is Constance." Kyle said in introduction. Rick shook Constance hand.

"Kyle, Constance, this is Diedre." Rick said, introducing Diedre to his son and his son's girlfriend.

They all shook hands in greeting.

"Dad, can Constance come home with us?" Kyle asked. Rick already saw that both had bags packed and sitting on the bed.

"Sure Kyle, it should be a fun weekend. Let's go get dinner." Rick said. The two couples left the dorm and headed to Rick's truck.

They had dinner at a very nice restaurant, of course Rick paid with Marcy's cash.

Back at home, Rick and Diedre retired to the master bedroom and Kyle took Constance to his room.

Rick and Diedre talked into the night about what a wonderful evening they had and how well everyone had got along. Kyle was happy to meet Diedre and happy his dad had someone special in his life. His mother had done a decent job taking care of his sister and him, but she had not always been good to their father. His father deserved to have someone that respected him, loved him and made him happy, like Diedre apparently did.

Saturday evening, the neighbors had a barbeque like they had two weeks before. Everyone was surprised to see Rick there with a woman that was not Marcy. Rick had invited Josh along and almost immediately Jenny Harshly was talking to the firefighter. Rick took great pleasure in introducing Diedre to everyone and informing them that he and Marcy were divorced. Leslie and Vincent were particularly surprised to hear about the divorce and were curious how it could have happened so fast. Rick smiled when he told them that the divorce had been granted on the grounds of mental cruelty. Leslie was shocked. Vincent smiled back at Rick, knowing Rick had done the right thing in response to Marcy's actions. By the end of the barbeque, everyone knew that Marcy was cheating on Rick in South America and Rick had divorced her almost immediately under special circumstances. Rick knew that by the end of next week, the entire town would know what had happened between Rick and Marcy.

Josh's older son played with Jenny's kids like they were already siblings. Josh's son chased the younger children around the big yard and then up and down the street. He then helped put her kids to bed, so his dad could spend some time with Jenny.

Rick watched, as Josh and Jenny shared a lingering hug goodbye when their evening was over.

Rick emailed his daughter, Rhonda, letting her know that he and her mother were divorced and how it had happened so quickly. He told her that he would keep the house and she was welcome there any time.

Rick watched the interaction of Kyle and Constance and thought that maybe his son had found a woman that would make a good partner for him in life. The trip taking Kyle and Constance back to college Sunday night was filled with lively conversation and laughter. Rick left Kyle with $1000 in cash, letting him know it was from Marcy's secret accounts and that more was available if he spent it wisely. Rick told his son that he thought Constance was a nice young woman and that Kyle should treat her nice, when appropriate. The two men laughed at his father's joke. Rick believe in treating women like ladies in public, but not so much in private, if they wanted it that way and his son agreed.