No More Rain in This Cloud

"Sit down please, Sarah. DNA does not lie. They are not biologically mine. You named Donna after her biological father, Don Roberts. Since all three children have the DNA of siblings I can safely assume they are all three his. I don't care. He didn't sit up with them when they were scared or sick. He didn't go to parent-teacher conferences and neither did their mother. I went to the games, the piano recitals, the ballet classes and little league. I am their Dad, by love, intention and attention."

"There are no more tears in this cloud. I have shed them all. All the hurt, the repeated hurt, emotional abuse that I allowed, caused the tears. All the broken vows and the broken promises are done. There are no more tears in this cloud. And, just as what happens to clouds a fresh wind is about to blow me away. My marriage is over. Sarah, you are no longer my wife. We took the vows in this building and in this building I declare them void. You took another man into our bed, in our home, and had his children. In front of God and this congregation, I divorce you. I know Don has shared the bed I thought was ours. Now he can spend tonight and any other night with you. To the rest of you, good-bye. I won't be back."

At that precise moment Don Roberts walked into the room. Sarah ran to him saying, "He just told everyone about us!"

Don held up his hands and said, "What are you talking about?"

"He had the kids tested and their DNA says they are your children. He told everyone!" He was holding her at arms length.

I spoke. "See him? Ladies pay close attention. He won't even comfort the mother of his children. He won't even man up to his responsibilities and his actions. He believed he could bed my wife for over seventeen years with no consequences. He believed he was home free. If any of you take a man to bed and have his child without something to bind you together you will be just like Sarah, standing all alone in public with no one to blame but yourself."

She turned and faced me. "You pushed me to him! If you weren't a jellyfish, if you were a man and stood up to me I never would have gone to him!"

I turned to Frank Keys sitting with his family and said, "Frank, do I have a case against both of them?"

"Yes! At the very least I can help get Don disbarred. He will never practice law again."

"Do it! I'll be in touch to pay the bill." With that I handed the microphone off to someone and headed for the door. When Sarah had run to Don all three of my children headed for the side doors. I went out the same doors. They were in the car, crying. I got in with them and asked if they needed to be held.

Della hugged me for five seconds and then said, "Drive Daddy! When we get home don't even get out of the car! We'll get our suitcases and be back with you in a minute."

Jerry cried all the way home. When I stopped by the garage I hit the button and the door opened. Donna and Della got out and told Jerry to stay in the car. He did.

Three hours after the garage door closed we were on a flight out of the country. Donna asked if she could change her name in our new home. I had to admit, I didn't know. Six months later her name was Nicole. Della's name was Nancy and Jerry changed his to Joshua. I let them choose. Della said later she picked Nancy because she had always liked that name and because she knew Sarah hated it. Joshua said he just liked it.

I sent Frank Keys a check for a thousand dollars for legal expenses. He sent it back. The case never went anywhere. Both Don and Sarah disappeared within a month of the "thing" at church. Don was disbarred a couple months later. No one at church had any idea what happened to Sarah. One day the phone was shut off. Another day her car was gone, the front door of the house was left open. Frank had closed it up and sold it for us. He wanted to know what I wanted done with the money. I banked it to help pay for college for three great kids.

The "thing" at church was in '89. Nicole is married and expecting their first this summer. Nancy is a junior at college and Joshua is a senior in high school. Two years of good therapy helped all of us recover.

There are at least two kinds of tears. The ones that flow in pain, frustration, and fear and the tears that flow from joy. There are plenty of tears left in this cloud. Tears to be shared in joy.