The Good Life Isn’t Just About Money

I told her about the reading of the will and asked her to be at the lawyer's office the next day at ten, so we could hear and execute the will that Mom had left. She agreed, but was confused about why she would need to be there. I told her that Mom had left her a gift and the estate administrator wanted to execute Mom's wishes.

"An estate administrator? I thought all that your Mom really had was the house and some social security. So, I guess it won't be much but what a wonderful blessing for her to think of me. I wasn't a very good daughter-in-law; and especially avoided her after cheating on you with Sutter. I feel guilty about that and about everything. But now we can put all of that behind us and start our love life up again."

"See you at ten tomorrow Molly," I spit out as I abruptly ended the call. My pain, anger and disgust were raising to the surface but I knew that I was now reaching the end and I would soon start my new life.

At the reading of the will, Molly and I were led into a fairly opulent conference room at the Law firm of Jenkins, Jenkins, and Mallory, attorneys at law. We took seats on opposite sides of the big conference table as Jenkins 1, (the old man) opened up the will and started.

He looked at Molly and said, "Molly Jacobs, your ex-mother-in-law has left you the sum of $10,000 dollars, to be paid to you today with no other provisions attached. She asked me to tell you one piece of wisdom and that is this. Remember that the good life isn't really about money, so look hard at what you have and what is of importance, and don't be fooled by objects that are just trinkets of fleeting beauty."

Molly cringed when she heard the thinly concealed scolding from her dead Mother-in-Law via the lawyer, but she held her tongue. With that Jenkins handed her a check, told her to use the money wisely, and then turned to me.

"David Jacobs, your mother has laid out the following instructions for the balance of her estate. You are to receive the house, valued at $500,000 dollars and mortgage free to do with as you wish. A sum of $1M dollars has been gifted to the Church of Christ for use as they see fit. A sum of $4M dollars has been gifted to the American Breast Cancer Society for help in researching and eliminating Breast Cancer. And a sum of $9.5 million dollars, the balance of her estate, is gifted to you, her only heir and will be transferred this week to whatever account you give me. I am very sorry for your loss."

With that he got up and walked out of the room, leaving Molly and I alone. When I looked over at Molly, her jaw was wide open and she was breathing hard. I think she was in shock, and finally what was happening dawned on her and she looked at me with an angry, painful and confused look. "What the hell Dave? Your Mom was rich? You had to have known your Mom was rich? Didn't you?"

"Oh yeah, Molly, I've known since my Grandparents died a decade ago that I would ultimately receive a large trust fund from them. My Mother hardly touched the money for her own use."

"Dave, this is wonderful. Now we are rich and I can dump that boring, disgusting Sutter and we can get back together!"

"Molly, how fucking clueless are you? You and I are finished. The first time you broke our wedding vows and fucked Sutter, just like a prostitute would do, for some jewels, dresses, and fancy meals, you became dead to me. You are nothing but a gold digger and frankly your behavior disgusts me. I engineered the quick divorce so your grubby, greedy hands couldn't get any of the money I was going to inherit and I knew from the first time I saw you and Sutter go into the Hilton together that you and I were over and it was just a matter of time till I could get you the fuck out of my life."

Molly recoiled from my outburst and anger as tears came to her eyes and as I stared at her with disgust. I continued yelling at her; now on a roll, fueled by my pent-up anger over her cheating, my Mom's death, and how unfair life can be.

"You took the love I had for you and sold it for cheap to a boring, desperate, lonely, rich guy that you don't have one ounce of respect or love for. You were more interested in material things than in a life with me. You claim to love me, but look deep and you will understand you only love yourself and your only really interested in trying to be rich. Well, there is no fucking way that I was going to give you any access to this money after I saw your true personality. We are fucking done, and my plan is to walk out of this office and never look at you again."

"God damn you Dave! How could you. You set me up. Why didn't you help me? Yes, I have a need for money and things. You know how I grew up. We had nothing. No one respected us, we were treated like dirt. I had it baked into me at a young age and throughout my life that you are only worthy if you have money. But I love you Dave, I really do. You should have showed me our possible future."

"That's fucking bullshit Molly. Oh yeah, I guess I do understand you probably believe that only money earns respect. But I respected you for you, or who I thought you were. I loved you just the way you were and I showed you that each and every day. We had something beautiful until you got bored with our average middle-class life and needed more. You still don't get it. You sold out our love, our friendship, and any chance of a life together for a measly few riches!

"When you get married and live with Sutter, and have all the things you want; but realize you have no spark or happiness in your life; maybe then you'll see that possessions are the least important things in a well lived life. You have sold yourself like a common whore for things that will be of little comfort to you. I am totally disgusted with you and could never share my love with you again.

"Maybe it's not too late for you. Quit Sutter, quit work, go out on your own and try and find what will make you happy. That's what I'm doing; I'm off to California to start a new life and see if I can't eventually find someone who wants just me, without caring about the life of money and jewelry, but instead based on a life of love, respect, and friendship. I wish you luck, and I'll try and remember you as the beautiful young wife I loved before your greed destroyed us!"

Molly was slumped down in her chair, listening to me with a shocked and pained look on her face and then she burst into tears and put her head down on the table and sobbed. "Oh God, what have I done." I felt horrible, but it was over and I had to leave before I said more, so I got up and in a gentler voice told her, "I'm sorry Molly but there is no way forward for us. Good Luck and Goodbye." I turned and practically ran out of the room and down to my car.

I drove back to my Mom's house and had one more action in my plan to execute. I took the video of Sutter fucking Molly and sent it to the American Bar Association with a cover letter explaining what he had done. I then sent the same letter and video to a few of his employees that I had been in contact with regarding the divorce, and to the National Enquirer asking them to dig into the story of a divorce attorney who ruined a marriage by seducing an employee; then handled a quick self-serving no charge divorce to get rid of the husband so he could marry her.

Yeah, I lied to Sutter about our deal. I figured, screw him. He seduced my wife with money and power; he deserved to get some payback for his actions. I was sad that this would probably also tear Molly down even further, maybe even end her chance to marry Sutter, but I had been screwed over by both of them and my pain demanded some payback before I moved on. Hopefully that would be the last time I would even think about Jay Sutter again.

Epilogue:

Dave Jacobs sold both houses, packed up the few items that were of importance to him, and moved out west to San Diego to start a new life. He opened his own massage and physical therapy office, along with a Pilates and Yoga studio with the latest equipment for treating physical ailments and rehabilitation. About two years after he was established, he started to date one of the contract Pilates instructors that had the body of a goddess and the personality of a saint. Their relationship blossomed into one of total love and dedication, and they decided to marry and share their love forever. They had a boy and a girl over the next few years, and spent as much time as possible as a family enjoying the simple things in life. Surfing, biking, hiking, camping, and expressing love and respect for each other. Dave never knew just how fantastic real love could be until he had a family to care for.

Jay Sutter did not lose his license, but he did lose several employees, and a lot of respect and friendship amongst his peers and other contacts. He became something of a running joke. The Enquirer did write up a story on him and he suffered a great deal of embarrassment and harassment for several months until it died down and but the story continued to come up when someone did a google search of him or firm. His law practice and his bookings took a severe dip due to the negative fallout, and his firm was no longer in the top 25 firms in the region two years later.

Molly and Sutter got married, but Jay was smart enough to make Molly sign a pre-nuptial agreement prior to the wedding that stated if either party was involved in any infidelity, that the wedding would be dissolved and you were left with whatever assets you brought to the marriage.

Molly was forced to quit working, as none of the employees at the firm had any respect for her and she was treated like a common whore by her peers. She became a stay-at-home wife, bored out of her mind. The only thing more boring than her days, were the nights she had to submit herself to having sex with Sutter. Oh, she did indeed spoil herself with purchases of clothes, jewelry, trips, cars, fancy meals; but none of it really made her feel any better. Life with Sutter became an endurance contest, and she didn't last long. Twelve months from the day of their marriage, Sutter came home in the middle of the workday and found her in his bed with one of the junior lawyers from his firm. He immediately kicked her out and fired the lawyer on the spot. Divorce quickly followed and the last time anyone heard from her she had moved out east and was trying to start a new life.

In her new life she had just enough money after living expenses to occasionally go out and enjoy a reasonable dinner or a girl's night out, but she found herself feeling more joy in this life than anything she came near to with Sutter. She still missed and loved Dave, but she finally understood what a mess she had made of her life, losing the one person that she loved and considered a soulmate for the unfulfilling ownership of a few jewels and fine clothes. Perhaps she was really starting to understand that the good life isn't just about money.