The Halloween Party

"This had been going on for months when one day while he and I were dining, his wife approached us. She threw divorce papers at him and slapped me. She called me a home-wrecking whore, and she accused me of tearing apart their formerly happy family. I was aghast.

"At no time in my life could I ever have imagined being called a home-wrecking whore, much less realizing that it was true. I cannot describe how low I felt at that moment. I was dog shit.

"I was so disconcerted that I didn't go to work for the rest of the week. I just moped around my house wondering how I had allowed my life to get to that point.

"He tried to call me the next week, and I told him to never call me again and then asked the madam to lose my number. I would not break up families, and since I no longer trusted the men, nor the madam to tell me the truth. I was done.

Hank interrupted, "Except you weren't."

"No. I wasn't. I poured myself into my work. I enjoyed getting to meet you at the parties and wished I could meet someone like you, which I realized wasn't going to happen while I was escorting. After her third year, Gail was let go. I was disappointed when Mr. Wilcox hired Richard and I didn't get her job. Richard had worked for Jace in San Jose for a while and had worked his way up.

"It had been close to a year since my last 'date' and the madam called me again, saying this was a client that Jace was recommending, but while the expectations where higher, implying sex was expected, the payout was also much higher. I almost said 'no,' but my mind wasn't right. I mean, if you are a whore, you're a whore, so I put on my dress and jewelry and went to the hotel suite. Things progressed quickly and the client and I were having sex when Richard walked in with..."

Hank blurtted out, "No! Richard was there?"

This brief interruption threw Abigail off for a moment. "I...uh...he...Sorry. Yeah, he was there. I was saying, he saw me and smirked. I was so stunned that I couldn't move. When I came to my senses, they were already at it and I got the hell out of there as fast as I could. I called up Jace and cursed him out; telling him to never call me again. I went home and cried and cried. I would NOT work for Richard the way I did for Jace. As I discovered, Richard was already turning the girls in the department, including Jennifer, into his own team of 'deal closers'.

"It was sad. I was sad. Olive and Jennifer had what I would have given anything to have and were going to throw you away. I tried to talk to them, but they wouldn't listen. The comment at the party about the money and regarding glass houses and stones was because apparently Jace told Richard, who told the other girls in the department, what I used to do. I should have left then, but I hung around to try and keep Jennifer and Olive out of Richard's hands. I tried to push her back towards you, but she wouldn't listen.

"I had come to know how good a person you were and decided that if she was going to throw you away, then I would be more than happy, ecstatic, to have you.

"Mea culpa time. At the summer picnic, I had known for months what Jennifer was doing. I tried to discourage her from doing it, and I could have given you, within a day, proof of her activities. The reason I could is because I was the one behind all the pictures. I wouldn't go on a date unless I arranged the room and had a camera set up to protect myself. The other pictures were because I had hired the PI to get evidence in-case she didn't come back to you. You wondered that night who hired the PI. It was me. I was afraid that without evidence you wouldn't believe me.

"Also, I didn't want you to think that I might have entrapped Jennifer, so that was why I arranged for you to come with me to the Halloween party. That was my last-ditch effort to get her to go back to you. If she had rejected Richard and gone back to you, I would have taken the job in Dallas and left the two of you to work out your troubles and live happily ever after. However, she didn't, and I wanted to help you heal.

"That first weekend at your parents, your mother cornered me; no, encouraged me, and I told her everything I just told you. She made me promise I would tell you. I was going to soon, but I wanted to make love with you several times before I did. I wanted to know what it was like for you to care for me. Now here we are. Please don't hate me."

Hank kissed her gently on top of her head, forehead and cheeks.

"Abbey, I couldn't hate you if I tried. I don't even hate Jennifer, but I no longer have any desire to be with her. I feel bad that you had to endure all that. It sounds to me like you need some healing also. I wish there were some way I could help you with that. Maybe we need to find someone for you to talk to; someone that knows what they are doing. All I know is how to love you, and that may not be enough."

"Really? You...you still love me?"

"Of course, I do. You didn't hurt me. Others took advantage of you, and you hurt yourself. Now, we, together, need to find the best way for you to heal."

She squeezed him tightly. "You have no idea how much I wanted to hear that. For the last month, I've been so worried that you were going to leave me. I was wondering if I would ever find someone that could accept me."

"You have; that would be me."

Abigail threw herself on top of Hank and began crying and kissing him. She told him, "I'm sorry. I didn't used to be this emotional. I've just wanted you so badly for so long that I was afraid I was going to get you and lose you. I'll...I'll get better."

"It's okay. You're going to be okay. Richard will never bother you, or likely any other married woman in Texas, ever again. I'm sure Jace will find out what happened to Richard and be very careful going forward."

Abigail said, "I'm very glad you aren't in jail. My mother, too. In hindsight, if she had killed Jace, I wouldn't have been surprised. If we ever have a daughter and some older man starts trying to date her, ya'll will be visiting me in jail. I won't ever let something like this happen to her.

She continued, "I probably should talk to someone. I'm so conflicted all the time. I alternate between feeling guilty about the money I made and having swooped you up as you were leaving Jennifer to feeling somewhat resigned about the money and happy about us. I don't know what to think. ...What do you think?"

"I think I love you, and that you've had a traumatic experience over a number of years. You've made some choices that have hurt you, but you've come back from that. We'll get you help, and you'll be fine. You did make one mistake tonight, though."

"Oh? I'm sorry, Hank. Did I say something to hurt you?"

"Me? No. You started talking about our children. Don't you think you are getting a little ahead of yourself?"

She looked crestfallen when he said that. "Oh. I'm sorry. If you want to slow things down for a while to see if you still love me, I understand."

"I just told you that I loved you. Didn't you promise my mother that you would tell me?"

"Yes, and I have."

"Well, I'm not having any children outside of wedlock. My name is going to be on that birth certificate. I'm sorry, but those are my terms. If you want us to have children, then we better be married before they are born. "

"Really?"

"Absolutely. I'm deadly serious about our children."

"Are you asking..?"

"Am I asking, what?'

"Did you just ask me to marry you?"

"That depends. Did you just say you want to try to have children with me?"

By now her entire countenance had changed. Her face and expression were full of hope and wonder, but most of all, surprise. "I did."

"Then I guess we best get busy."

She buried her face in his chest and cried. Hank stroked her hair and her back and let her get herself under control. A minute later she looked up at him and said, "I love you, Hank. I do want to marry you."

"I want to marry you, too, but me and our children need the strong Abigail back. Now that you know I'm not going anywhere; you have nothing to fear. Let us be strong for each other and our children. You have two great role models in your life; your mother and my mother. I have every confidence in you. If I didn't, I would be very hesitant about wanting to marry you. Always remember, I love you, too."

An angel got its wings again, because her smile should have set the room on fire. She was overjoyed. She said, "I'll call our mothers in the morning, but for now can we get started on the part where we are trying to have children. Please love me tonight. I really need that from you."

Hank was happy to oblige.

__________________

Their families were thrilled at the news. Marelys was a little skeptical at first, but Esmeralda and her became close friends, while planning the wedding. The wedding took place one week after the divorce was final, which was 67 days from when Hank filed. God bless Texas, for quick divorces.

There was some surprising news the week of Christmas. Abigail was pregnant. She was barely a month along, but everyone was pleased and happy at the announcement. The wedding took place in a small church that Marelys attended. It was a small group of mostly family only. Tina and Philip drove up from Austin, and a few of Marelys' close friends attended.

For their honeymoon they flew to Cabo San Lucas in Mexico, where their villa had its own pool and private beach. Abigail agreed to wear only the tiniest of thongs by the pool and on their beach if Hank would wear a speedo. He agreed. It was a wonderful week for the couple, as most honeymoons are.

Their lives were going well, and they continued with their cooking and dance classes. They even had the parents meet them one weekend for dancing. Margarita showed up to help Peter learn a few steps, and she also found a partner for Marelys to dance with. They found a counselor to help Abigail work out her conflicted feelings regarding her past experiences, and she wasn't going to let those bad experiences ruin her future; especially not when she had so much to look forward to and live for.

She continued to work as a consultiant with Mr. Wilcox, and she later learned from Olive that Jennifer was back. Jace, Richard and Jennifer were all arrested in a sting operation that the San Jose vice squad set up, thanks to the information sent to them from the anonymous source in Texas.

Richard was hit particularly hard because this was his second conviction and received a year in prison. Jace and Jennifer were both given 1-month sentences, $50,000 fines, and one year of community service. Jennifer was allowed to return to Texas, but the community service was enforced by the Austin police. Neither of them worked in the industry again.

_______________

When Abigail was in her fifth month of pregnancy, she could begin to feel the baby move, but the movements were never long enough or strong enough for Hank to feel them when she would put his hands on her belly.

Gone was the scared, needy Abigail. The confident woman that he came to know over the years had returned and he loved that. He was as happy as he could ever remember, and as a present for his wife, he bought tickets to the Dallas opera, which was performing Verdi's Rigoletto. She had always wanted to see it.

They were planning to dress up for the occasion. Hank actually purchased a nice tuxedo, and Abigail was to wear one of her dazzling evening gowns from a boutique designer she had found in Charlotte, NC. The night of the event, their clothes were laid out on the bed and his beautiful wife was in her robe freshening her makeup.

She spoke out so he could hear her, "You know I had to have that dress let out a little. I think this is the last month I'll be able to wear any of my old dresses for a while."

He smiled at the thought of seeing her in that dress with the tiniest of baby bumps showing. Looking at everything she had lined up to put on, he asked, "Hey is this new? I've not seen this jewelry case before."

"Oh that? I've had it for a while. We moved it that first weekend, but you probably didn't see it. I need to put it in our safety deposit box. It's the most expensive thing I own."

Hank was curious, knowing that she had acquired many nice things during her 'educational years' as they now called them, which wasn't often.

He called out, "Do you mind if I take a look?"

"Your timing is perfect. You can help me put it on."

Hank walked into their bathroom, where she was sitting at her makeup mirror. He placed the jewelry case on the counter and when he opened it, he was shocked by what he saw. You would have thought a scorpion had been hiding in there. Abigail saw his reaction and asked, concerned, "Hank, what's wrong. It's just a necklace, it isn't anything special. I can get rid of it."

Hank replied, "That, that, that was in the oldest picture of Jennifer cheating. You. You! You were in the room with her. You were in on it from the very beginning." It was the red-carpet worthy necklace that could be seen in the background of the picture where Jennifer first started cheating, but no face could be seen. Hank had studied that picture at the time, and had no problem recalling that necklace.

"Hank, calm down you're scaring me. I told you all that. We talked about it. I walked out of the room as soon as they walked in. That was the night of my last escort, ever. I tried to get her to quit. Remember?"

While Hank vividly remembered seeing that necklace, he could not remember her telling him that she was ever in the room with Jennifer. For some reason, her leaving out that detail was calling into question everything she had ever said. As Hank backed away from his wife, he was remembering how she had transformed from this cocky and confident woman into a woman who had seemed to have been insecure in all aspects of her life.

Given her experience, did she push Jennifer towards the escorting lifestyle? Was everything an elaborate ruse to break them up so Abigail could have Hank? Did she destroy their marriage? Did she get pregnant to try and entrap him?

Hank couldn't think. For the first time, everything he had accepted at face value now seemed like part of an elaborate Machiavellian plan to seduce and marry him. It now all seemed so contrived. He needed to get away and turned to leave.

He stated, "This cannot be happening. I need to go think."

"Hank come back. You can't leave me."

But that's just what he did. He needed space to think, something he rarely had. Had she engineered that, too? During the breakup with Jennifer, he was never alone. There was always Abbey right there with him, encouraging him and throwing herself at him. "Oh my God," he thought.

He took off in his SUV and started driving. The display screen on his dashboard was going crazy, alerting him to multiple incoming calls from Abigail, but he ignored it. He just knew he needed to find some peace and quiet to think. He took the first interstate he saw, the North Dallas Tollway and was quickly in the left lane. Think. Think. Did she organize this whole scheme? Did she really discourage Jennifer, or encourage her? Was she working with Richard? A thousand different combination of possibilities were floating through his mind, which was a jumbled mess.

His display screen had changed over to his parents calling him now. Oh, great. If she had them involved, her mom was next. Sure-enough three minutes later, Marelys was calling. Hank had only planned on driving less than ten miles tonight. He was already at thirty, having just passed Frisco, TX and his gas light had been on for several minutes. He pulled over to get some gas and try to calm himself down.

When Marelys called again, he answered, "Hi, Abuelita." It was what Marelys wanted the grandbaby to call her when it was old enough. Hank loved it and started using it right away, which Marelys and Abigail liked.

"Hank, you have a lot of people really scared right now. Abigail is about to break down. You want to tell me what is going on? She said something about her and Jennifer and a necklace."

"There is too much to get into on the phone. I'm about fifteen minutes away. Mind if I stop by? Just me. I need a little time to think before being bombarded by everyone."

"Sure, Mijo. Come on by."

"Can you do one more thing for me. Since you have me, can you call my mom and tell her to go to Abigail. I probably should have gone south instead of north. I'm sorry that I'm keeping you from her. I can drive to my parents instead."

"Nonsense. You can come to me. I'll call your mom. Just be careful coming here. There are too many accidents when people are upset and distracted."

"I'll be careful." He was surprised he hadn't been in an accident already.

Hank drove to Marelys' place and even before his vehicle had stopped, she was racing out the front door to meet him in a bone crunching hug. "Mi mijo. You have us all scared to death. Tell me what is going on."

"I will in a minute. Can I sit on your back porch and get my head screwed on straight? I have a billion thoughts going through it right now, and for the life of me I cannot piece the puzzle together."

"Sure, sweetie. Come sit. I'll get you something to drink and leave you alone."

"Alone. There was that word. Abigail never left him alone. Except for work, she had always been with him. She was his sounding board...or was she? Damn it. Now he was questioning everything. Forty minutes ago, he thought he had the sweetest wife on the planet. Now he was wondering if she was a conniving, home-wrecking harlot that set her sights on him no matter what. He wondered if he was having a mental breakdown, ...and why.

Marelys brought him a glass of red wine, which was all she had, and left him alone, hoping he would come inside and tell her what was going on. Minutes stretched to an hour. She could see him in anguish. He barely sipped the wine. Most of the time he looked dejected. Occasionally he looked angry. She watched him rear back as if to throw her wine glass, then caught himself and carefully sat it on the patio table.

Ninety minutes later he came inside. She looked at him expectantly. He walked over put his head on her shoulder and cried; deep heaving sobs. "I'm so sorry, Abuelita. I've been so stupid. I probably ruined my marriage. I truly don't know what happened. I just...I just freaked out."

"Tell me."

He did. He told her about the necklace, the pictures, the timing of everything, how close Abigail was to the destruction of his marriage, and Abigail leaving out the part where Jennifer walked into the room with Richard. In the end he said, "It all comes down to whether or not I think she is a cold-blooded, conniving deceitful bitch. Excuse my language. Or do I think she is what she seems to be, which is the most doting, dedicated, wonderful and loving wife a man could ever want. There are probably one or two better wives in the world, but I have a hard time imagining them. When faced with those two choices, I know the truth. She's wonderful and amazing, and I just screwed it all up."

Marelys sat him down and put her arms around him. It oddly felt a lot like when Abbey would do it. She told him. "What if this is neither of yours fault? What if the two of you got too close too soon to your breakup with Jennifer? Knowing what you know, do you think Abigail gave Jennifer every chance and encouragement to come back to you?"

"I know she did. She did it the night of the Halloween party right in front of me."

"Then latch onto that. You saw it with your own red-contact lensed eyes." She elbowed him in the ribs, gently, when she said that. "That girl would never hurt you. Ever. There is no way, she orchestrated a grand break-up of your marriage. She couldn't do that."

"I know. That's why I feel like such an idiot. How can she forgive me for even thinking that?"