The Long Game

After seeing the specialist, he told me he wanted to see me one more time before he would clear me to return to work and scheduled the appointment for a month down the road.

Wednesday night I informed Colleen that the terms of my divorce had been agreed to as we were beginning to look at furniture for the house.

"Your next wife will most likely want a say in what you have in the home," Colleen said, "Perhaps we should just focus on what you need, like the master bedroom, and the kitchen."

"No," I said. "We will do the whole house, including all the curtains so it's ready for her to move in."

"Are you telling me you already decided who you're going to marry," Collen asked? "Does she know yet or not?"

"Let me put it this way miss know it all," I said with a smile. "and erase all doubt. I can't ask you to marry me until I am divorced."

We attracted a lot of unwanted attention because Colleen got emotional.

So, we started with the big stuff. I could tell by how quickly she picked things out that she'd been hoping. We arranged for delivery and set up on Saturday. It was around midnight before I dropped her off."

When the electrician showed up, I took him through the whole house and showed him what he was taking out and putting in. I was lucky he was able to finish it in one long day. Friday, I spent the day cutting down all the overgrowth I could. Colleen and I that night hit another furniture store to get more furniture.

Saturday, I worked at cleaning up. All the boxes and packing as soon as it was unwrapped. I let Colleen tell them where and how she wanted it. Between three different deliveries, she was run ragged. By six that night it was beginning to look like a home. The problem was we were both exhausted. As we sat in our half-finished living room discussing our progress, we fell asleep. It was seven in the morning before we woke up.

It doesn't matter what the truth is, it's what others believe because of the appearance you created that causes the problems. Collen and I were screwed to both sides of the family we had spent the night together.

When we saw them, it was not a question of what happened it was a question of when we were going to make our situation an honest relationship. How our parents felt could not be explained better than when her mother said, 'I hope you're not carrying when you get married.'

Yeah, we were from flyover country where the rubes and hicks still lived. In a part of the American society where principles morals and standards still meant something. Hell, in the eyes of the world we were so backward that the words we spoke out of our mouths still stood for something.

I know it sounds a bit extreme but it's not really, it's just that in our area of the world morals principals and standard's meant something. Yet according to what the mass media preached and explained that was no longer the rule. Slander, lie, deceive, or hide the truth is what was promoted and accepted.

It had been two weeks and the attitude of both sides of our future family had not got any better when I said to Colleen, "Fuck it, I have had enough of their bull shit. Let's really make them upset."

'What have you got in mind." Colleen said that Friday night.

"We are going to buy a truck," I said. "Because we're going to need it by the end of the end of the weekend."

"On Saturday we're going to be buying the towels, linen, and everything else to make it a home," I said. "if we are going to be accused of living in a sin we might as well live it."

"You mean it don't you," Collen said with a smile. "Before we do that, I want my engagement ring. The romantic dinner can come after."

So that's what we did we went and picked out the set she wanted and slid it on her finger. Then we went and bought a truck that had a box cover on it.

We picked it up on Saturday. I met her at Walmart. I took the first two carts which contained cookware, glasses, dishes, dish clothes and towels through the checkout and loaded them up. Then came back and took two more of the bathroom and bedroom accessories out. By the time we were done, I had gone through the checkout four times.

Then it was to Country Mart to pick up mostly meat and a lot of stuff that our local Walmart did not carry.

After getting it unloaded and put away Collen called Cathie and learned the parents were not home. We both took our vehicles to get our personal belongings. I got back before she did.

We had to laugh because at lunchtime the next day, we watched on the security monitor as two cars approached the gate.

Colleen said, "We could pretend we're not at home. After the way they have been treating us they deserve it."

Both sides of the family got to see our home for the first time together. Two things took their breath away. The size of the place and how we had furnished it.

More importantly, they both came to apologize for their behavior. When Cathie said can I move in with you guys we started to relax. Then I disclosed that next Thursday I would be before Judge Donald McDonald in divorce court.

The parents really felt like horse's asses when Colleen showed them her engagement ring.

Linda looked old and tired as we stood before Judge Donald McDonald who asked us both if we had agreed to the terms of the divorce. Her love life was the pit. With Simon's under arrest, things were not going well. She asked me after the divorce was granted if we could talk.

So we walked outside the courthouse and talked as I walked towards my new truck.

"What do you want Linda," I asked kind of coldly.

"Simon's accepting a plea deal," She said. "I had no idea what he was doing behind my back. Between the manufacturing of drugs, the con pulled on the bank and you with the possession charge for distribution he's gone for ten years. With the chance of parole after seven."

"I really don't give a dam anymore Linda," I said. "I'm still centered on rebuilding my life.

"I'm sorry for not believing you," She added. "Every time I went in to see you, I just saw myself being trapped in a relationship that had no future. I admit now that I was wrong. I'm selling the house and accepting a transfer out of state. If there is anything you might like, give me a call and I can arrange to be there so you can get it."

I said nothing and walked over and climbed into my truck. The look on her face said it all. I was still figuring out how I would pay her back. Little did I know that Simon's acquaintances would take care of that.

It was Saturday morning when the police showed up at the gate. Colleen let him in It was the same detective that I had met with my Dad.

He had come to inform me that I was now a widow. Linda had been executed by someone Simon had been working with as a result of his turning states evidence. He had been buying cocaine his drug of choice from the Mexican cartel and had given them a lead to a huge three state bust.

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It's been five years since the accident. Three years since Colleen and I said our vowels. Peter had gone up to see Simon for the first time and says he has turned gay. His right hand had been broken because he wouldn't conform to his roommate's wishes. He soon learned the hard way it was easier to submit than to fight. Every Christmas I get a card that wishes me the best for the coming year from Richard's brother.

Our daughter the delight of our life is at the stage she is just starting to crawl. She's the apple of all her grandparent's eyes. I have a lifetime annuity because the specialist declared me as twenty percent disabled. Only my wife and my mother know my real net worth. On my parents, last anniversary Collen and I gave them an envelope. We had paid off their mortgage on both their home and shop.

Our daughter Carrie Anne was going to be a hand full for us growing up. She was a true redhead like her mother and grandmother. Nobody knew that Colleen and I had bought the land dirt cheap that had been the location of the drug warehouse. It was now a modern apartment run by a property management firm on my behalf.

WE got both sides of the family coming over for dinner on Sunday because we got to break the news that there's another brother or sister on the way. Colleen and I are definitely playing the long game.

Finished

I had originally called this I don't give a damn but decided the long game fit better