The Preacher's Wife

He saw her eyes shift on that one.

"So, you recorded the sex you were having?" Cassi commented completely flat toned.

"Yes, and no. I record the whole house or a lot of it. The resolution is for shit and the audio is just as bad or worse. But I started to do it when I realized my ex kept coming into the house when I was on business trips. She keeps stealing the kid's keys and wandering around my house. It was just to be able to call her on her bullshit from a distance. Even caught her destroying a camera or two, but I am better at hiding them. I had the service I have save the recordings and drop them on to disks. This was not for resale. This was for self-protection in my own home." Out of an envelope he pulled two high density CDROM disks in protective cases.

"They have kept the footage in evidentiary electronic storage." Drew commented.

"Can Bill and I look at the recordings and audio so this can be put to bed?" Cassi asked.

"You do recognize how embarrassing it will be for me to look you in the eyes afterwards? 5 or 6 hours of me having sex with her?"

"5 or 6 hours? Jesus Drew. It's better than you coming to ask me who to hire as a criminal defense attorney!" Cassi asked.

Drew handed over the large envelope and they finished the bottle in silence.

*

Several weeks after the 'Talk,' Greg made it back from Indochina and his birthday party was planned. Drew still felt self-conscious, and it was only made worse when Bill the Deputy DA stepped out the back door with a large envelope in his hand. He grabbed two beers and walked to Drew.

He handed him the envelope and one of the beers.

"I need to thank you for two things." Bill commented and he seemed a bit skittish himself.

Drew interest was more that piqued at that comment and Bill's behavior.

"The evidence you provided shut down any question of non-consensual sex, and any concept of abuse."

Bill smiled and Drew could see an uneasiness?

Drew just stood there with the envelope under his arm waiting on the 'other shoe to drop.'

"I owe you personal thanks for my marriage. We have been married for 17 years. With the coming of two kids, our sex life has gone to shit I was thinking of having an affair until I got caught one night watching your footage by my wife. After she got done accusing me of watching porn in our kitchen, she became fascinated. Once she realized it was you and the 'Preachers Wife' as she calls the woman, it was on. She watched every moment with me. We must have had no holds sex for a whole week. Sorry, but that is what took so long to get it back to you. You are all in the clear by the way."

Drew just about wanted to melt into the ground sometime during Bill's confession. Especially with Bill's wife Shelly coming out and waiving to them.

Things did turn around for Drew by the end of the evening. Shelly came up behind Drew and took his arm and steered him into a corner.

"I have a friend, a female friend that you would just love..."

Epilogue

Several years after the nightmare of Elizabeth, Drew was called in to help straighten one of his company's construction projects out. He had a skill set that he had honed to fix other people's broken projects. This one happened to be In Lancaster PA. he had just completed a set of marathon meetings to close out changes by both the Architect and Owner. These resulted in costs and no one wanted to talk costs.

He was tired, and he had a two-hour drive to get home before he could put his feet up and watch the squirls try and steal food from the special bird feeder he had designed.

The Construction Administrator for the Architect came up to him and wanted to argue again that one of his changes should be a 'no cost'.

"Fuck you" were the first words out of Drew's mouth when the same pretentious asshole wanted something for nothing.

The man stood there, mouth opening and closing with no sound coming out. Drew thought he looked like a Carp. The Pastor walked up at that moment sensing a new fight.

"Something we can do to bring closure gentlemen?" The pastor asked.

"Padre, I just spent an hour on this one subject alone. Tile and carpet samples were submitted and approved, including color choices, by the church construction committee. Somehow the color selections were changed and sent to us formally with the architect's stamp. The subcontractors ordered the stock based on the APPROVED submittal and color selection. The only reason I know about the construction committee was I was there that day, not this gentleman here, as he should have been." Drew was tired and needed a drink.

"And yet, he feels that since I was there that day, I should have known and over-road the Architect of Records written approval. We now have the wrong color materials onsite. Unless the Church wants to sign off on the Architects colors vs the Committee selection, there will be restocking fees, shipping fees and delays to the gang bathrooms and therefore the project."

"There is no free lunch sir" Drew commented to the Carp, instead of commenting as he wanted to. He held his 'field language' because a couple had walked out of the main sanctuary. The woman was tall, long legs and had a demure look to her clothing. A large sun hat covered her face.

In her arms was a newborn and a toddler held on to her other hand. She was toting a large diaper bag along with struggling with the children. The man she had exited with walked several paces in front of her ignoring her trials to keep up. It dawned on Drew, that he had not held the door for her, but she had struggled through the self-closing door with the children.

As they passed by, the Pastor acknowledged the man and nodded deeper to the woman. She tipped her face to look at the whole group of men in hardhats and safety vests.

She stumbled and Drews heart stopped, it was Elizabeth.

She stopped herself before she tumbled and stood up tall and the man came back to reach for the toddler's hand. Drews and Elizabeth's eyes met and then she was hurried on.

"Who's that?" Drew asked the pastor.

"The new pastor and his Family. I have been elevated to bishop and will be leaving shortly. They say that she is already pregnant with a third child. The good lord does look favorably on the faithful.'

Drew had nothing to say, absolutely nothing.

The END!