Over The Top

Louise was getting on a roll as she shouted, "All it would have taken to find out for sure was to look at his Facebook page. Two minutes that's all. Instead, my marriage is ruined, and my children will grow up without a father figure in the house. Just so your whore Mother can get some strange dick. I hope you are proud of that."

"Don't you dare call my mother a whore," Theresa shouted back.

"What else should I call her she sold her cunt for a trip to Hawaii. Isn't that what whores do?" Then she wheeled on Duncan, "are you her boyfriend" She asked.

He said, "yes, I am. We are getting engaged after graduation.

"Isn't that special?" She said.

Then she turned back to Theresa, "Are you going to look for strange dick if he can't satisfy you in your forties?"

Theresa being caught off guard by this entire confrontation and made a huge mistake with her reply. "I might," she said.

Duncan's face paled "Wrong answer, Theresa," he said, "I've been wondering about that for the past few weeks. Based on what you said, I don't think we can go on."

"What do you mean, Dunc," she asked.

"My Mom heard from Mrs. Cree yesterday about what was going on with your mom and Mr. Stinson. At dinner, my parents asked if you would do that to me when I started to lose my drive. That's not at all what I'm looking for in a marriage. She said many couples have the same problem, and they don't go outside the marriage. She told me after I was born, she went into postpartum depression and had no desire for sex for two years. She told my dad he could find another woman for sex if he wanted. He got very angry with her and told her in no uncertain terms. Your problems are my problems. For better or for worse forsaking all others."

All my dad said was, "Wedding vows mean something, if you don't stand by them, what good is your marriage? If I went without for the rest of my life, that would have been my misfortune. I didn't get married just for sex."

Theresa said, "Oh, Duncan, please let's talk."

"I want what they have, Stephanie. If you can't offer that, then I don't want to string you along. I know I've been pushing you lately, but right now, I am glad we haven't gone all the way yet."

"Can't we talk about it" Theresa pleaded.

"Yes, we can," Duncan said, "but not right now. I'm going home." With that, he got up and left without even a look back.

After a few more choice words, Louise gathered her children, and after a hug for me and promises between us, to be in touch over the next few days, she left.

At this point, Theresa was a mess. She was inconsolable and almost incoherent. Despite my promise never to speak to her again, I couldn't leave my little girl like that. So, I took her in my arms and let her cry into my shoulder. Oh, Daddy, what have I done," she sobbed "everybody hates me. I've destroyed your marriage. I've ruined Mr. Stinson's marriage and those poor kids. All my friends at school were calling me names and calling Mom the PTA whore. Duncan wants to dump me. Mrs. Cree told Carolyn to stay away from me, and you've disowned me.

I said, "Theresa when you introduced your mom to Stinson you did a horrible thing. Sweetheart, you and your mom betrayed me most horrifically, and you both also betrayed our family. You made a huge mistake introducing Stinson to your mom, and you've also made some very poor choices. You must accept the responsibility for that, and it won't be easy."

"Whatever possessed you to help your mom find a lover? In many respects, your betrayal was worse than your mother's. You are my blood. Yet you knew your mother was cheating on me for a whole year and you deceived me. How could you do that? Have you no conscience? Even after the horrible things you've done and said, I would still give my life for you without a second thought, and that is how you treated me. Whatever compelled you to do such a thing? Did you ever once think about my feelings?"

She said, "Oh, Dad, I would give anything to be able to go back and undo what I've done. Mom and I were just sitting around the table one day, and she asked me about Duncan and if I were still a virgin. I told her I was and planned to stay that way for a while yet. Then she started, reminiscing about when you were first married and how dynamic it was. She said you could go all day and all night, and she finally had to slow you down because she could hardly walk most of the time. She said she cut you down to three nights a week, but even then, you were insatiable."

"But why did you do that, Theresa? You should never interfere with other people's marriages" I asked again.

"She said you knew you weren't performing like before. She convinced me what she wanted to do would be good for the marriage, and you two would be even better together. Anyway, she asked me if I knew anybody she might like to meet. Mr. Stinson came to mind. He always led everybody to think he was single."

"So, you introduced them, and the rest is history." I said, with my anger building again. "You knew she was going behind my back for a whole year and never said anything to me."

"Mom kept telling me things in the bedroom were better than ever between you and her and that Mr. Stinson was just the thing for you both. He thanked me for the introduction, she was ecstatic, and you seemed to be happy too. She said it wouldn't be a good idea to tell you. She thought she could explain it to you so you would understand, but it might upset your ego, so we should keep it to ourselves."

"Theresa, your world is falling apart now because everybody is disgusted by what you and she have done. "Did you know that the School Board and the PTA have launched investigations, and the mayor is demanding answers from the board? Stinson will probably be unemployed by the end of next week. Your Mom will probably be asked not to attend any more PTA meetings, and I doubt we will be invited to the end-of-year barbecue they have after class is out. Regardless of that, our marriage is over, and you are in large part responsible for that. Not only that for the past three weeks you have been mocking me and calling me names behind my back. When did you lose your respect for me?"

"Oh no," she said, "Mom said she will fix everything when she returns. She said she would bankrupt you in a divorce."

"So, she will bankrupt her 'soulmate' if he doesn't give her, her way. I can do without that kind of love."

"Daddy, Mom said she'll take your business." she said.

"I run a nearly $400 million business. Do you seriously think I am dumb enough to lose it like this?" I looked at my watch and said, "your mom is now beginning to find out what she has lost."

"Theresa, if your mom had told me she had a disease that would kill her if we didn't give up all our money, I'd be on skid row right now. Instead, she betrayed me and expected me to lie down and say yes, dear. You need to decide what you are going to do," I told her. "What do you mean, Daddy?"

"If you will continue to support your mother in this, I am very, sorry, Theresa, I am done with you. Anyone you know will tell you what she did to our marriage is abhorrent. You can be neutral if you want, but I mean totally neutral. No more secrets from me. And you will have to tell her that as soon as you see her."

"Won't you go to counseling once things calm down a bit?" She asked.

Instead of answering her, I opened my laptop, and without allowing her to see the screen, I played the conversation she and Stinson had about her reconciliation and going to counseling to set me up to blindside me with a divorce.

"I can't believe she would do that." Theresa said,

"She's certainly not the woman I married and until three weeks ago I wouldn't have believed it either." I said.

"Listen I am glad we had this talk and that you are a little more educated than you were before. I will call Mrs. Cree tomorrow and ask her to meet with me and explain what you did and why, and I bet she will come around. Some of the things she saw on the video were graphic and upsetting. I am pretty sure if I talk to her, she will welcome you back into the fold."

"What video?" she wanted to know.

"Stinson had a friend of his wire the room with cameras and audio so they would have memories of the week. Louise allowed me to access the cloud account where it is stored." I told her.

"Oh my God." she said, "Mom will be furious when she finds out."

"She already knows and wants a copy," I told her.

"She did not." She retorted. "Listen, I will play it for you sometime, but I have to write a letter tonight and gather the last of my belongings before I go to bed." I told her,

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"I've been moving my belongings out over this week. I will never spend another night under the same roof as that slut." I told her.

"Oh, Daddy, you can't move. What will I do" she cried.

"That's part of the responsibility you have to take," I told her. "She is going to need you badly very soon. Her world is unraveling much faster than you or she may realize. Tell her, her car is in the garage." With that, I left her and went upstairs to see what was happening in Hawaii.

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When Tim & Steph finally arrived at the airport, they discovered they must pay an additional $300 for each rebooking fee. The added weight of the water-soaked clothes caused them to pay $260 for overweight luggage. They were now booked on a redeye leaving Kauai at 11:30 PM and arriving at 10:03 AM. Their seats were the middle and aisle seats on the very last row before the toilets, and neither seat reclined.

The plane was fully boarded by 11:10, but by 12:15 still had not left, and the maintenance crew struggled to find the problem. Finally, at 12:35 that morning, they deboarded the plane again. At 3:30 that morning, they found a tiny little connector was damaged. Luke smiled when he saw they had discovered his little surprise. They were in the air at five AM and arrived home at 2:57 PM.

As they exited the security area, they found themselves surrounded by about 12 TV, radio, and newspaper reporters all hurling questions at them. "You two have been dubbed 'PTA Mom and the Principal' what are your thoughts about that?" "Is it true you abandoned your family to be with your school principal lover for a week?" Mr. Stinson, do you think it is proper for educators to have intimate relations with the married mothers of your students?" "Did Mrs. Gibson's daughter introduce you for the express purpose of you two becoming lovers"? "Do you still love your husband, Mrs. Gibson?" These questions and many more were all asked rapidly and many times simultaneously. Both were amazed by this unexpected publicity.

They walked to baggage claim when they finally got through the media circus. As they arrived, they were met by two college girls who again asked each of them simultaneously, "are you Stephanie, Gibson?" "Are you Timothy Stinson? As they said "yes," they were each handed a manila envelope and said, "you've been served" they servers took pictures of each of them holding the envelopes.

Tim opened his envelope, and a note to him was on top with just two sentences "Did you forget about the postnup? Do not come home." was all it said, but attached a picture of him, in the throes of an orgasm, giving it to Steph from behind. Tim was visibly ill.

Stephanie was more surprised than anything else. Although Luke repeatedly told her that he was filing, she never expected he would follow through. Even now, she felt she could calm him down once she got home.

When she got to the parking garage and saw her car missing, she called the airport police and reported it stolen. It only took them about two and a half hours to find the car was not stolen but that the lease was canceled, and the car returned.

Finally, the stress of the past 26 hours broke her, and she bawled. A police officer took pity on her and said, "after I return to the station, I am going off duty and will drive you home if you like."

Steph sobbed, "that would be wonderful. Thank you so much." It was after 8 PM when she entered the house. The first thing she saw was Theresa sitting on the couch crying. When Theresa saw her, she said, "Oh, mom everything is ruined."

Steph ignored her and said in an angry tone, "where is your fucking Father?"

"He moved out, Mom. He said he will never sleep under the same roof as you, again."

"Motherfucker," was all she could say.

Then Theresa said, "Mom, can we talk?" Steph said,

"Theresa, I would love to talk to you, but I haven't slept in over 30 hours, and I am furious with your father. I need to get to sleep. Could we please talk tomorrow after I get some rest?" Theresa nodded her head yes and Stephanie dragged herself up to bed.

Stephanie slept until 10 AM, almost 13 hours. While she woke up refreshed, she also woke up angry and frustrated. She prepared a pot of coffee and sat down at the table where she spied the envelope Luke had left for her.

When she opened the envelope, out fell Luke's flattened wedding ring. Next, she pulled out the letter and proceeded to read it.

Stephanie,

You tore my heart out when you admitted to your complete betrayal of our marriage. I never expected you to break my heart like that. I still have difficulty believing you could be so cold, calculating, and hateful.

As you are no doubt aware, I have moved out. I have taken up residence in Otto's old Condo. Do not approach me at work or at my new home. My attorney will file for a restraining order the first time you do that.

I don't know when your sexual appetite outdistanced our marriage. Had you talked to me about it, we probably could have resolved the problem. Instead, you took it into your own hands and resolved it for yourself. By the way, when you finally told me I no longer satisfied you I spoke to my doctor, and he changed my blood pressure medicine which resolved the problem. If only you had communicated with me. I don't believe that was the issue though. I now believe you were craving someone else and my failing libido as you so eloquently put it was the excuse you needed to justify abandoning the marriage.

Regardless of all of that, the absolute contempt, disrespect, and outright hate you have shown me the last few weeks makes any reconciliation impossible.

I will allow you to remain in my house until the divorce is final. I will continue to pay for all household expenses, including utilities, maintenance, and upkeep. I will also supply a stipend for food and other incidentals. I will not be supplying any money for your entertainment. You have learned to trade your other attributes for entertainment, so you certainly no longer need me or my money for that. To that end, I took the liberty of canceling our membership at the country club.

I never go there anymore, and I didn't think you could afford it any longer. They said you could sign up again in the next 90 days without paying the new membership fee.

Since you chose to obliterate our marriage, I decided to destroy all the memorabilia of our wedding. So, you will find the remains of your wedding dress, my tuxedo, the wedding album, all other pictures, and anything else related to our wedding in the firepit.

I have left all the security cameras on. If you do not want them any longer let me know by text or email and I will arrange to have the valuables there removed for safety. If I have not heard from you by the close of business Monday, they will be shut off.

Sincerely, (remember sincerity?)

Luke

"Oh shit," she thought, "If he did this, I will fry his balls and have them for dinner." She did take the time to send a text asking him to keep the security cameras on.

She walked into the living room and saw the walls stripped of all their wedding pictures including the large portrait hanging over the fireplace. Also missing was the wedding album with a place of honor on the main bookcase in the library.

She looked out the kitchen window, and amongst the ashes in the firepit, she made out pieces of her wedding dress and album. She was heartbroken at the loss of all their wedding memorabilia. That was the happiest day of her life, and she treasured all the memories.

This was not what she wanted, but if Luke wanted scorched earth by God, she would damn give him Chernobyl.

She remembered a casual friend, Saul Rose, a divorce lawyer known for being particularly aggressive and nasty. Sol and Luke played golf together a few times, but she knew they really didn't like one another.

"Better call Saul" she chuckled to herself as she dialed his number. He was not available when she called, but like almost everyone in the area, he knew about the growing scandal and figured a divorce might be coming soon.

He called back quickly, and Stephanie informed him Luke had filed for divorce. She also told him about the prenup and that it was outdated and the timeline for all the conditions had expired 15 years ago or more. She wanted him to represent her in the divorce and for him to pull out all the stops in taking everything he could get from Luke.

Saul Always kept his ear to the ground and knew Luke might be with up to $400 million. He said to Stephanie, "a divorce this size will probably take three of my colleagues and myself at least 250 hours of work each and very likely more. In addition to that, we will also need many paralegals and secretarial and clerical staff. Ultimately, it will easily cost you $1 million dollars or more. Before we can start, I will need a retainer of $100 thousand.

Stephanie explained, "everything we own is in the name of the partnership, and Luke had removed my name from all bank accounts and credit cards. I am financially strapped right now but would pay you the retainer as soon as you get a court order to release funds from the partnership."

Saul is nobody's fool and began leading Stephanie down a bit of a primrose path. He said, "Stephanie, I can get you 70 to 75% of Luke's net worth. However, my partners would never allow me to go ahead with a large case like this without the retainer."

"Oh, Saul," she said, "isn't there something else we can do?"

"Not that I can think of," he responded, "I can recommend some less, professional firms, but I think you will find they won't take a case this size without a substantial retainer either."

"Could you take on contingency?" she asked.

He had her. "Stephanie, I could not possibly recommend that to you. It would be completely unethical. The very most this divorce would cost you is $1.5 million, which is the very highest. If my firm took it under contingency, the least my partners will accept is 30% of your settlement, which could be as much as $90 million."

Stephanie said, "you are right I can't do it for that much."

"They might come down to 25% because of the estate value. Even so, it is still prohibitive, and I can't recommend it," he said.

"Tell you what." she said, "if you can get them to accept 20%, we've got a deal."

"I will take it up with my partners and call you back in a few hours," Saul said.

Saul did discuss the case with his partners, but not the fee. They knew they would make a bundle on a proceeding like this for two or three percent. Besides, he was the managing partner and could negotiate whatever fee he pleased.

Saul waited about four hours and called her back. "Sorry for taking so long, Steph, but we've been arguing for hours about this. The best they will let me do is 22%, so I guess you will go elsewhere.

Steph sighed and said, "Okay, I will agree to 22%. I can live on $235 just as well as $300 million.

He again cautioned her, "now, Stephanie, we will require you to sign a document acknowledging that we strongly advised you against doing this. Handling a divorce proceeding on a contingency basis is very unusual and many legal professionals claim it is unethical."