Wash Cloth

The last time Nick saw Kimberley was at that carnival. Andy had gone to college with her. I pointed her out and the guys checked her out. We watched her dance and she seemed pretty wild with the guys she was with. I danced with her there a few times. From time to time she would come over to me and ask me to dance. I was slowly getting more comfortable in this upscale atmosphere and, yes, I did buy myself a few new and different suits to go clubbing in. I found out I liked these people, and I'm getting comfortable with them

I talked with the guys and they asked if I was banging her yet. I told them no not yet, as this is the girl I want to settle down with. They laughed, either because I was clearly bullshitting about not sleeping with her, which I was, or because I wanted to marry her, which I did.

Andy said he has been here before and seen her lot of times and she seems too wild to him and not the type to settle down with one guy.

Andy told me he went to college with her and she was very friendly with him at school. Andy was fat, about 280 and five eight in high school, when he went out for the football team and got in shape.

He is now 6ft 3 and his weight is 220 and he looks real good. He said at school he didn't have many friends his freshman year because of the extra weight.

Kim would always talk to him and sit with him anytime he was alone. She remembered him from the date we all had at the carnival. He even said they went out on a double date a few times, but he wasn't with her. He had his own date. He said he heard she was hot but never knew anyone that got in her pants, but he doubted she was a virgin. He said she always with a group and had lots of fun from what he could see. He said she hung with two girls, Rita and Sara, who had bad reputation at the school as they were always flirting with the guys and playing up to everyone.

Andy said he liked her. She was a friend to him when other kids weren't.

Both Andy and Nick said they could see she was a high maintenance girl and would always need the most recent fashions in the way of clothes and hairstyle. They kind of agreed she was more of a headache than she was worth. I knew the guys where only telling me the truth as they saw it but I still had my heart set on her. I figured she would change somewhat for me and wouldn't be such a headache. I could also tell the guys where holding back as they knew I had already made up my mind and they didn't want to go off on her too much because of our friendship.

On our dates Kimberley and I would go out to eat and then dancing or back to her place to sit around and talk. She talked a lot about her work and the people in her firm. Everyone there was cutthroat and trying to outdo the other people. I saw some papers on her desk and did some mild snooping. She makes a lot of money, I thought to myself, a lot more than I made. Actually she made more than three times what I presently made.

While she was on her dates with other guys, Kimberley sometimes would come over to my part of town and saw me dancing with my dates. She always had a big smile on her face and she just loved life and loved to party. Once, she and her date came over and sat with us when we were with a bunch of other friends, but he made an ass of himself, downgrading the place and the people there. No one at the table really liked him; he was too full of himself and pompous.

Everyone liked her though. She could make herself fit in any place she went to. We started dating more and more frequently. After about six months we were very comfortable with each other and often she would have me over to her place at night while she worked on papers or her computer. She said she liked to have me around even if I was just sitting there reading a book or watching television. As I sat there watching television sometimes the phone would ring and she would ask me to get it.

Often it was a guy wanting to talk to her and I would give her the phone. She would laugh and joked with them trying to make me jealous.

She would accept dates after asking me what our plans were. If I said I wasn't going to be around, or had something to do, she would go out on a date. She later said to me,

"If you don't want me going out you better speak up or I will make a date as I don't want to sit home."

I had found out that her firm paid part of her apartment rent as she used it for entertainment for work with catered dinner parties and light cocktail parties. They always sent a car to pick her up for any function as they didn't want her charged with any DWI's and have it look bad on the company or be in the paper. Sometimes a group of us would go up to her place from the club and sit around and shoot the breeze.

We went to parties at Andy and Nick's house on weekends. Their wives did not like Kimberley at first, but once they got to know her they fell in love with her like I did. They would meet for lunch and do the shopping bit as Kim had very good taste. They did say she bought a lot of clothes and at the high end price but they still liked her. Initially the girls told me that they didn't like her and they could not put their finger on what it was. But after meeting her a few times they apologized to me and told me she was nice and they liked her.

Finally, after another three months or so, I was the only one dating her. We would go to parties of hers about twice a month. The parties were way up scale events that rich people put on. I wasn't that crazy about them but she enjoyed them and liked to mingle with the people to make more connections, and I met people I enjoyed so it was OK. I suppose I had a choice of dumping her or going to her parties, so here I was mingling with her people. I would find the sport guys and talk over the latest news.

We were in her apartment one Sunday talking with another couple that had come over to visit. We were having a great time and we started talking about how they were going to get married in three weeks. We were going to the wedding and we talked about how happy we were for them, preparation issues and other wedding chatter.

While the four of us talked, Betty asked, "Kimberly when are you going to get married? You are all set up in your job now, you should think about getting married. You always told me you wanted three kids, you better hurry up."

Kim said, "Well I come with too much baggage to get married right now," And the two of them laughed.

I asked, "What was so funny," and they told me it was a private joke.

Later, after they had left, I asked Kim, "What did you mean about too much baggage." She curled up with me on the couch and said,

"Well, if you really want to know, I will tell you. The guy I marry will have to agree to a few things before we can get married. "

"Number one is, sign a prenuptial, I inherited a good amount of money from my uncle and I'm not about to share it with some guy who marries me for four or five years and leaves on me. I also added to it and I have stock in the company."

"Number two is I plan on keeping my name as it is well known and it would be too much trouble to change it. Plus, by coincidence, it is the also the name of the company and people think I am related to the wheels and they treat me differently. It helps me with clients to have the same name as the top dogs."

"Number three is, I want three kids and I would want my husband to agree to that before we got married."

"Number four is I want to continue to work and that would probably mean going to parties without hubby and he would sit home with the kids. Many men would not let the wife go out like that, so my guy would have to be someone special."

"Number five is I have to be friendly and outgoing if I want to do a good job. That means kissing people and hugging them. I have to kiss a lot of ass in my job to stay on top of it. If my husband is the jealous type we can't make it work. So he has to agree to let me do my thing and not get jealous every time I speak to a guy or hug him as a greeting.

"So you can see that my baggage is huge and my man would have to love me a lot to put up with me. So the floor is open for the next five minutes if you would like to propose to me," She said as she smiled and laughed nervously.

I was caught off guard. There was silence and she said,

"Did I scare you so much and you need time to think it over or don't you want to make a run at me,"

I could see tears start to well up in her eyes, her smile had faded.

"No I would love to marry you but there are a few things that bother me."

"If that's a proposal, I accept" her smile returned "and now what are the few things that bother you?"

"Well it's the way you fall all over guys when you meet them or see them all the time you are always all over them."

"Honey, it's just the way I do business, it's nothing more, the friendlier I am the more friends I make and more connections I make. I've got to get everyone's name in print to do a good job and I have to know people to do that. If I were a straight snob no one would talk to me. I would be without a job. That's why I wander off at parties to meet people. I don't want to drag you with me and have you get bored. Being friendly is just part of the job. I do tease at times but the guys like it so I give them what they want, but it stops there. That's all there is to that, nothing more."

"Well, why couldn't I come with you to parties after we get married?"

"Yes definitely you can come. I just think you won't want to once you hook me. I figured you would rather be home doing things or out with your buddies than at my parties. Plus, once the kids are here, you will probably use that as an excuse not to come. I didn't mean to say you couldn't come. What I meant is you wouldn't want to, but that I had to go, as it is part of my job. You're more than welcome to come with me."

"Well I guess you are right, and some of these parties, if I had a choice I guess I would stay at home."

"Also I told you I want to be called Kimberly and not Kim when I'm with my work friends. I want all the people to call me Kimberly as a show of respect to me."

"Is that an issue? I always call you Kimberly except when we have sex I call you Kim."

"Well what about the prenuptial and the three kids plus the name how you feel about them?" she asked looking directly into my eyes.

"As far as the prenuptial goes, I guess I can see your point, I have a few buddies that already got divorced or separated already. And the name isn't that big and the number of kids doesn't really matter as long as there are a few of them. They will have my name won't they?"

"Of course, Mr. Spencer your name will be on all three of them."

She said in mock respect. I half expected her to salute me. The sparkle had completely returned to her face now, like a huge weight had been taken from her. "I'm not taking this as a proposal; you will have to do it another time, on your knee when you do it, and have a ring in your hand. I want you to pick it out for me. Plus you have to ask my father for permission to marry me and you have only met him twice, which should be fun. Seeing he didn't like you either time you have met him, but you know that. He just doesn't want anyone to marry his sweet daughter and stick some smelly thing into her," she laughed.

"By the way, about you partying without me. That is a great temptation to anyone to forget their vows, but if you do, I'm out of here. You damn well better come home with all of your underwear and no bite marks! If I catch you screwing around, it's over and I get the kids?"

"Sleeping around will not be a problem with me, and I agree to the deal with the kids If the same applies to you."

And so began our marriage with the devil.

As time went on I met her father a few times and we started to get along fine, in a way. I was a regular worker and so was he. He worked in a factory and his wife was a nurse. I knew he wanted his daughter to marry someone like a doctor or lawyer, but things don't always work out the way you want them to. Both parents would call her Kimberly when they talked to her or about her.

I finally proposed to her when we went on a picnic and I had to do the bended knee thing and ask her while she was seated. I did the whole thing for her, because I really loved this girl. She was right about her father as he questioned me up and down. I never answered so many questions in my life, but that is all behind me now.

We got married in a June wedding and went to the island for the week. It was a long week. As soon as I gave her the engagement ring she shut my tap off till the wedding night. So without any sex for five months we both where horny for it. The honeymoon was a lot of fun for the both of us. We met a great bunch of couples, also newlyweds, there and we all got along great. It was a blast. Both her and by now me, could fit right in with anyone. I could see so many guys giving her the eye on our honeymoon and figured this l was going to happen all through our whole life, so I better get used to it.

The week we got back was on a Sunday and she went to work Monday. I went first to work but came home later in the day to get my wallet that I forgot while changing. I saw her wedding ring and engagement ring sitting on top of her dresser. I was pissed because I bought them and she was not wearing them. I knew she didn't take my name but the rings were something else. Her opal ring that I gave her was gone so that was all she was wearing.

I picked her up that night and we went out to dinner. I brought the rings up and she told me she did not want to wear them to work as it didn't fit in with her way of dressing or her looks. I pointed out they were not a fashion accessory; they were the visible symbol to all that she was married. It was supposed to remind both her and others of that. We discussed it until we both got mad and then went home.

We came back to her apartment where we lived for five months 'till we bought a house. House! She showed me one that was more like a castle, four bedrooms and two baths and then a half bath on the upstairs floor. Downstairs there was a large room for her to entertain her friends and party and there was a giant game room with a bar. There was no way we could pay for this place even if she makes the good money she made. She said we would talk about it when we got home.

At the apartment we talked about it. I said, "I figured we would get a small place with 3 bedrooms and a place I could pay for on my salary if you decided to quit work."

She came over to me with pad and pencil and a calculator and started her sales pitch. I thought to myself that she had this plan all along. Well, she showed me how we would just pay the interest on the house and in ten or twelve years it would be double in value and we would own half of it free and clear. She talked me into it and said that she planned on going back to work after each child was born so her money would always be coming in.

All that week and right up till Wednesday we ate out for all our meals. Well, Wednesdays I picked her up and drive right past our apartment and she said, "I would like to change before we eat."

"Yes I will let you change first but first we have to get some groceries so we can eat."

"You mean we are not going out to eat."

"No we are not going out to eat. We been eating out for over 3 weeks and I think it's time we start eating some home cooked meals."

"Yes, I agree, but we should call my mom before we go over there to eat. She doesn't like to be surprised for dinner," she said and laughed.

Kim said, "Well, don't be surprised when I don't know how to cook, I never did it before."

"You will and it will be fun we both can learn new things."

"Well really I didn't think I would have to cook, to tell you the truth."

"Wouldn't it be hard on the kids if we didn't feed them?"

"Yes. I never gave that a thought. This should prove interesting on our part."

We got the groceries and brought them home and made a half ass meal of the food we bought. We both cooked and I had to show her how to do some of the things that went along with cooking. After we cleaned up and did the dishes we sat on the couch talking. She asked,

"Can we go out to eat tomorrow?"

"No," I said laughing, "We will eat in for a month till we learn how to cook and then think about going out once in a while. You want to learn how to cook don't you, so you can feed the kids?"

"Yes, but it takes nine months to have a kid so I figure I could learn then."

"No, now you might not like to cook so there will be no kids till you learn how to cook and feed us."

"So what is your job going to be?"

"I'll do the grass mowing and snow blowing and plant the garden, paint the house, bring in wood to burn for the fireplace and fix whatever goes wrong around here."

"Ken! This is the south. There is no snow blowing and the lawn service does the grass, and it will be years before it needs painting or anything to maintain.

"Well I'll just sit back and watch you get prettier with each day that goes by."

We did agree to go out once a week to eat and twice a week to go dancing or to visit friends of mine. We went to Nick and Andy's place and also to some friends of hers.

Just before our first anniversary she found out she was pregnant and we went house hunting. With the money we both made we got a four-bedroom house with a nice fireplace in the den or family room. Hugely bigger than I wanted, but a bit smaller than she wanted. We just paid the interest on the loan for the house and it was a low interest rate. It was 3500 square feet and lots of room in it.

One of the rooms was her workroom and she put a computer in there for me so I would be close to her. We had the guys, Nick and Andy and the wives helped us move and set things up. Her company paid a portion of the cost of the house for entertainment. We had a large dining room and it would accommodate her for parties she would have. Plus there was a huge room for more entertainment. It was a perfect house for us and we would not have to move to another house later on.

I thought it was way out of our range but she said the way the housing market is it would always go up in value and we would never lose money on it. I wanted a handyman's special sort of house, one that I could work on but she told me flat out that she would never live in a house like that.

Kim continued to go to company functions and, like she predicted, I would I beg off going to most of them. I would join some of my buddies for the night. The suit and tie thing was not my first choice. Kim never dressed up or had much on around the house unless friends were coming over to see us.

When the baby was born she applied for her maternity leave of absence and we enjoyed our baby girl. Jesse was an even seven pounds and very healthy. It took some time for us to fall into a routine but we did manage. Three months later, in the summer, I took some vacation time to help with the baby and get some golf in. Kim said that as long as I was home she was going into the office for the extra money. There went my plans for golf. She worked the two weeks and came home that Friday and we had her mother baby sit while we went out to eat, dance and party.

Everything that night was super and the sex was out of this world.

Before we went to sleep, she told me she wanted to have a discussion with me in the morning. I went right to sleep not thinking about it as I figured she wanted to buy a piece of furniture or some such for the house. I asked her during breakfast what she wanted to buy and she told me we would talk after all our work was done. We went in the den at about eleven o'clock to talk.

"Ken I don't want you to get mad at me. I want you to think about what I have to say and think hard about it. I don't want your male ego thinking I want you to do it. I love you Ken but I think this is the best for us as a family."