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"There's been some official looking people coming by in recent days. Don't be surprised if they knock on your door."
I thanked him, "I need to shop. When I'm back come across for a beer or two." I was shaking my head. After I had been gone for a few weeks, I had called Sandra. We've spoken a few times each week since but she never mentioned this. She made me speak about my feelings and listened quietly when I cried. I really need to do something to thank her.
Gordon and I were chatting away on the patio when the doorbell went. I went and the court messenger served me the divorce papers. He was smirking. I smiled and told him, "I hope the Sheriff hates liars in his court!"
I called Heather who had me scan the documents and email them to her. She would do all the legal replies. She sounded very happy but she wouldn't enlighten me. When I asked she said, "The less you know the less you may say inadvertently to others."
Seven weeks later I was waiting for Heather at the court for the divorce hearing. Jim was with her. He was so happy looking. He just hugged me!
Once in the court, I sat beside Heather and Jim. Behind me were Sandra, Josie, Mikaela, Gordon, Bill and several other friends who had remained solidly behind me. My brother Dan had called me a few times and was supportive. He couldn't be there due to work. He'd fallen out with our parents over them believing Carole over me.
I wasn't surprised to find her nursing colleagues, Stephanie and Amy behind her. Benning was there, beside Carole, smirking like an absolute arsehole. He lost his composure as Heather and Jim came in. I'm sure Jim had a plan for him if this court didn't deal with him. My parents were also there - for her. I ignored their staring eyes.
I ignored Carole when she looked in my direction. Bill described her as "a power dressed whore." His comment wasn't quiet. I could imagine the looks he would be getting from her and Stephanie. He did love to wind "haughty Steph" up.
Carole's lawyer, a Miss Johnston, started the proceedings. She seemed very sure of herself. "My client wishes the prenuptial agreement which would limit her to just ten percent of the value of their shared assets set aside. While she admits she did commit adultery, it was only after putting up with being physically abused over almost all her married life to Robert Benson. She wishes to be granted a divorce on the grounds of spousal abuse and the assets split as the court decides. She contests this should be broadly in her favour. These documents show the assets of the marriage at the time they split up."
She handed Heather a copy as well as the court clerk who passed it to the Sheriff. Heather struggled to stop a laugh. The Sheriff looked surprised that they had to exchange documents.
Heather stood up, "M'Lord, due to the actions of Carole Benson, there could be no mediation prior to today. I'm sure you'll understand why as the evidence is presented.
"Miss Johnston and I have had little discussion regarding the evidence to be presented. She wishes, with the court's approval to lead all the evidence against Mr Benson prior to my re-examining the witnesses. I am agreeable to this providing I have the court's oath that I can re-exam those witnesses. Without that I shall examine them as they appear."
The Sheriff ruminated for a few minutes, "This is highly unusual. I can understand Miss Johnston's desire to highlight your client's actions in full. I will agree and allow you to cross examine the witnesses after Miss Johnston has completed her questioning."
Heather resumed her opening speech, "My client wishes the prenuptial agreement implemented in full and consideration given to reducing any settlement to the plaintiff due to her wilful lies which, in addition to trying to evade the cost of her adulterous behaviour, were meant to destroy his reputation, his character and future. She planned her deceit with the intention to bankrupt an honourable, decent, caring man, quite unlike her and her bedfellow, a pair of conniving, lying charlatans. Indeed, we seek alimony from Carole Benson due to this as Mr Benson lost his employment due to those lies. Those lies have cost him many friends as well as his relationship with his parents which had been very close.
"There has never been any spousal abuse and we shall prove it."
Heather sat down. She was smiling. She was going for the jugular.
Carole took the stand. I could feel her eyes watching me but I looked ahead, never at her. Carole's lawyer took her through meeting me, our early days of marriage and when I started to become violent.
Carole explained, the tears falling, "Robert didn't like me working nights. I'm sure he thought I was screwing some of the doctors. Each night, his anger grew until he would slap and punch my face. I used makeup to keep it hidden while at work. I went to my sister's to allow the bruising to settle before heading back to work dayshifts. He'd be fine until the next set of nights and the circle would start again. My sister was always on at me to leave him. She took photographs of some of his abuse as she said I'd need them in a divorce."
Her lawyer asked, "Did you have an affair?"
Carole would have won the best actress awards any year at the Oscars. She sniffed, "I'm ashamed to say I did. I knew Bruce from when he was a junior doctor at the hospital. One day I ran into him near my sister's home. He saw the bruises. He was so kind and supportive. I found myself with deep feelings for him. We did make love a few times. He made me feel whole, not some broken woman to be abused."
The lawyer brought her through the times she met with Benning, up to our anniversary dinner and the outcome. She wanted her engagement ring back. I had threatened to rip her finger off if she hadn't given it to me and break Bruce's delicate surgeon's hands into pieces. My fury had her in fear I would do that due to my previous violence. I had kept the jewellery I had given her but she only wanted the engagement ring. Carole was in stellar outrage describing how she found her negligee set in the bucket swimming in urine when she went back to our room for her stuff. She broke down, in floods of tears, as she described her beautiful wedding dress in ashes. Her lawyer sat down with a triumphant smirk on her face.
Next up was her sister, Carrie, followed by Stephanie and then Benning. All gave compelling evidence of my misbehaviour, though none witnessed any, just the outcomes. Carrie confirmed she had taken those photographs which made Heather very happy. By the end of Benning's, it was late afternoon so the judge adjourned until the next day.
As I walked out of the court, Sandra came up and in a loud voice said, "I've never heard such despicable lies before." She hugged me as did the others. My parents just looked daggers at me. They had made their choice.
The next morning Heather asked Carole to take the stand. Heather was all business, no smiling, each question was a dart.
"Ms Rees (Carole's maiden name) you stated that it was after a bruising experience at the hands of your beloved husband you met Bruce Benning who you had briefly met while he trained at your hospital. He was so supportive, he charmed your married knickers off you. Is this story truthful?"
Carole was red, "Yes!"
Heather pressed play and the conversation Carole and I had had at the start of that evening played out.
"You've been the best husband anyone could ever want. I'm going to tease you all night. I'll dance just with you. When we get to the hotel room afterwards, I'll rock your boat like never before."
Heather smiled, "Are these the words of an abused wife?"
Carole replied, "I tried to show I cared but his abuse made me hate him."
Heather continued, "For your tenth anniversary, you dressed for your lover yet professed your love for your husband. You instigated a very personal sex act and told him how much you loved him. You did everything a loving wife in a loving relationship would do, did you not?
Carole stammered, "I tried to please him."
Heather pressed play. There was no doubt about the act, there was no "trying to please me." Everyone could see her "love" for me in her eyes as she blew me.
Heather moved on, "A consummate actress. Playing your role as a loving wife, knowing you were about to stab him in the back! The tease with the negligee set but it wasn't for him was it?"
Carole said quietly, warily, "Yes."
Heather was firm, "You and your long-time lover decided to humiliate Mr Benson whose only fault was to love a whore!
Heather pressed another button and you clearly heard Carole as she spoke, "Robert, the man I was dancing with is Bruce Benning. He is my first and only love."
My gasping for breath was clear when she spoke. .
Carole continued, "He and I had dated before I met you. He and I have been meeting up a few times each year. He was training as a paediatric neurosurgeon so we couldn't be together. He was happy when I found you. You are such a good man. An honourable, decent man. I have loved my time with you but I have always loved Bruce. He is the reason why I couldn't have your children. It would have hurt you so much when I left you and took them with me.
"Bruce is now the head of neurosurgery at a hospital in Leeds. I'm going with him. I'm sorry you're so hurt but while we were together, I gave myself to you unreservedly so you'd never know I loved another. If Bruce hadn't come back for me, I would have been happy to be your wife for ever."
Heather ended it with my puking. A perfect response to her lies.
There were some shock "awes" from the gallery. Carole looked frightened. She recovered quickly, "I tried to smooth it for him, not make it about his abuse. I lied to him so he wouldn't lose face."
Heather pressed another button, Carole was shown outside our house, "You ruined the negligee set I was going to wear for Bruce." Carole was shocked. Heather growled, "Did you not say that was for your husband?"
Heather smiled but it was not a happy smile, "You lie so easily, so well-practised have you become over the years. Each set of nightshifts you had, you allege he assaulted you as he was jealous. You went to your sister to recover. Is this the truth?"
Carole looked at her like she had horns on, "Yes!"
Heather just smiled, "Thankfully your husband keeps excellent records. We have those dates. So, were you at your sister's in Covington between 9th to 14th May 2019, 26th to 31st December 2018, 16th to 22nd August 2018, 9th to 14th March 2018 and numerous other dates since before your marriage?"
Carole answered abruptly, "Yes!"
Heather pressed another button and on the screens up came the video of her with Bruce at the hotels on those dates. Those dates for which there was no video, the booking form and payment receipts clearly showed their presence.
Heather addressed the judge, "These were obtained by a court warrant issued in Hamilton Sheriff Court. I have attached it to the documents and recordings I have given your clerk and Miss Johnston."
Heather turned to Carole who was white, "Remarkable is it not, not one sign of any bruising. Almost like the bruising never existed! Seems you, Ms Rees and Mr Benning loved those hotels and have been there every time you alleged you had visited your sister.
"He didn't rescue you. You were his tart!"
Carole was angry at Heather. I tried to control my smile! There was laughter behind me.
Heather became more formidable as she pressed Carole further, "Now let us look at that financial work of fiction you gave to the court. According to your agreement with Mr Benson you were both to pay a proportion of your salaries into the joint account. You wished to retain your financial independence but that's not the whole truth, is it. You wanted to hide your earnings from Mr Benson so you had a nest egg for when you chose to dump him. He was just a tool for you to abuse.
"You lied for years that you were his wife, you lied for years that you were a general nurse earning almost the base salary. The truth is you were, as he describes you, a whore for Benning. You have risen far in your profession and earn almost four times the amount of money you declared to Mr Benson. You failed to increase your payments in line with your agreement.
"Indeed, you pled poverty when you wanted a new car and had Mr Benson pay the lease while you drove it to your clandestine adulterous adventures with Mr Benning. You had no moral problem even paying for some of your adventures from your joint account with Mr Benson.
"This is why the accounts you gave the court are a work of fiction."
Heather pressed another button and the images of Carole's bank statements came up. They showed considerable savings. The current account showed significant payments from her employment which she had never revealed to me. "A poor nurse who didn't want promotion yet you are the third most senior nurse at the hospital, in fact."
Heather brought up the bonds, "How do you explain how these come to be in your name and were found in your safety deposit box?"
Carole was looking around in shock. I could see her reflection from a display monitor. I tried to show complete indifference by never looking at her directly.
Carole recovered, "I was looking out for myself after his abuse."
Heather continued, "These are Ms Rees actual verified personal accounts and the values of those bonds on that date." She handed them to the court clerk and Miss Johnston who was no longer smiling.
Heather smiled benignly, I knew she was going for the pièce de résistance, "You wish your engagement ring returned to you. It is a family heirloom after all and an adulteress wouldn't expect to keep it, would she? Is this for sentimental reasons? To remember a decent man, a loving man, not one who will throw you aside when you have fulfilled his needs."
Carole was defiant, "I love that ring. It meant everything to me especially after he burnt my wedding dress. I want it back!"
Heather pressed another button and there was a picture of Mr Bruce Benning and his fiancée, Carole Rees at a hospital reception some nine months before our ending. Openly displayed was the engagement ring. Heather continued, "The summary of the evening by the paper is excellent. Mr Benning delighted in showing off the incredible, unique engagement ring which he had given his soon to be bride." She repeated the words in a harder tone, " He had given!" It looks remarkably like the one Mr Benson erroneously gave someone pretending to be his fiancée, does it not?
"This was a charade wasn't it, to persuade the hospital they were getting a commitment from Benning. It reports that the hospital administrator said, they preferred their surgeons to be married as they felt with families here they were more connected to the community.
"So, it's not about sentimental attachment or even love, it's about the position you crave above all else, wife to a doctor. You need it to complete the blindsiding of the hospital administration."
Heather's next comment, shocked Carole, "Benning only needs you for as long as he wishes to remain there." I had to stifle a laugh.
"I'm sure you did cry over your wedding dress. Were you planning to wear it when or rather if Benning married you?"
Carole answered, "No" but it sounded weak. She had and we all knew it now.
Heather pressed another button and Stephanie's voice came out, "She invited him to your wedding. She hoped he would claim her before she married you!"
Carole was sobbing.
Heather continued, the scorn in her voice clear, "Mr Benson's only mistake was he saw you only through the love he had for you. He never saw the true you, a cruel, manipulative bitch. You couldn't just walk away from such an honourable man and take your losses could you? He wouldn't have known about your bonds, your financial deceit, your deep betrayal all those years.
"You had to glory in his humiliation and destruction. You saw Robert Benson as a gullible fool. You saw him as a makeweight until your love was free and rich enough for you. What's most obvious, you were jealous of his ability to love so you both set out to destroy his life after you. It is your ultimate cruelty that you were seeking to destroy his sense of self, his manhood so he will never trust anyone else with his heart. Even that was not enough, you wanted him to be so damaged that his reputation would be in ruins. He would be unemployable, have no life worthy of the name.
"There was never any abuse by Mr Benson. The court may take a different view of the abuse you have piled on him throughout the years you stayed with him. You denied him children. You took his money. You took his love for granted.
Heather ended, "You and your lover schemed to bankrupt the man who loved you, provided for you and took care of everything you desired. Your lover dangled the carrot of being married to him, a serial cheater. I wonder if that position you so crave will be available after this court is over and if it is how long it will last."
Carole looked shocked at what Heather was suggesting.
Miss Johnston asked no further questions. As her sister and Benning went to leave the court Heather shouted the court officer to stop them. She wasn't finished with them.
Her sister Carrie came to the stand slowly. Heather was concise, "Do you admit lying to this court, covering your sister's adulterous affair with Bruce Benning?"
Her sister started crying, "Yes!"
Heather asked, "Did you take those photographs of the alleged injuries?"
Carrie replied softly, "No."
Heather finished, "I'll let the leadership of your church know how unchristian you are." Carrie's eyes shot open, the fear immediate. Fuck you bitch!
Heather called Stephanie next.
Stephanie stood upright but tense.
Heather began quietly, "How long have you known about the affair?"
Stephanie replied, "The affair was with Robert. Carole always belonged to Bruce."
Heather smiled, "Why did you lie for her?"
Stephanie stood still, "I never lied. I repeated what I had been told."
Heather went on, "Did you ever see the bruising she alleges happened?"
Stephanie replied, "No, she was just so upset, I believed her."
Stephanie refused to budge on being an unwitting dupe just supporting her friend despite numerous questions. Heather was surgical. Stephanie had no room to hide from her lies later.
Heather asked finally, "Do you know how to tell the truth? How many boyfriends do you have? Are you thinking of pulling the same stunt with your husband when someone better comes along?"
Stephanie was shocked, "I love my husband. I wouldn't do that."
Heather pressed a button and up came a video of Stephanie with Amy's husband Grant coming out of a room and meeting Carole and Bruce.
Stephanie sat down on the stand before she collapsed. Amy screamed from the gallery, "You fucking bitch!" as she stormed off. I assume Brian and Grant would soon know what had happened.
Heather spoke directly to the Sheriff, "Can I ask the court's indulgence if I ask another witness to speak before I cross examine Bruce Benning? This witness's evidence shall make everything clear to the court."
The Sheriff agreed. I learnt later from Bill, Benning seemed to be having a heart attack when Heather said, "Samantha Wiseman."
A woman I had never seen took her place on the stand. She was the perfect advertisement for makeup. She looked flawless.
Heather was all smiles, "Ms Wisemen, what is your occupation?"
Samantha replied, "I'm a creative artist and work in the theatre/film/TV environment. I can produce textured effects or use makeup to make impressions of most events. If you think of street artists who use chalk to create massive holes in the road or trains appearing out of walls, I can make you look like that."
