Yakima Ch. 01-02

"The courts will grant me custody of the children. You know that, Graham. I'll be fair. I'll give you liberal visitation rights."

"Lucky me," I spat. "I'm thinking you'd better be prepared for problems with the kids, though. They may not see you as the ideal mother any more. And I doubt Gordo will enchant them with his suave patter and super salesmanship."

"I understand you're angry, Graham. I knew you would be. I'm sorry that this has happened. You didn't do anything to cause it. You're just unlucky enough to have married the wrong woman."

"It took you eighteen years to realize that?" I said incredulously, raising my voice.

Her argument didn't make any sense, even to her. It was pointless, really. She'd already committed herself to someone else. The adultery was past tense.

"I hate to disappoint you, but I have no intention of moving out," I said in a no-nonsense tone. "If you're so anxious to be with lover-boy, you can pack your bags and leave right now."

"I'm not leaving, Graham, you are. I'll get a court order if I have to. I'll need a proper home for the children and this is it. I'm sorry, but you are the one who will be packing his bags." Her tone was equally demanding and uncompromising.

"We'll see about that. I'll be talking to a lawyer first thing Monday. In the meantime, I'll move downstairs to the family room. I expect my privacy to be respected. Oh, and one more thing. Don't you dare bring that shit-head boyfriend of yours into this house. I won't be responsible for his health and safety if you do."

"Are you threatening to attack him?" she asked, wide-eyed.

"Read into it what you like, Reese, but you've been warned."

I stomped upstairs and started pulling clothes out of the walk-in closet in our bedroom. It took more than two trips to take everything I needed down to the family room and set up my temporary living quarters. My actions didn't escape the notice of the children. Matt followed me down and sat on the sofa-bed.

"What going on, Dad?"

I sighed and sat down beside him. "Your mother has decided she doesn't love me any longer and is going to divorce me and marry someone else."

"No! She can't! I won't let her!" he cried.

I put my arm around his shoulders and he leaned into me, tears now rolling down his cheeks.

"Why, Dad? Why doesn't she love you anymore?"

"I don't know, Matt. I really don't know. You'll have to ask her."

With that, he jumped off the sofa and ran upstairs. I stayed where I was, curious about what would take place in the kitchen. The answer wasn't long in coming. I could hear Matt's raised voice, then, surprisingly, Jessica's as well. Both of them were yelling at their mother. I almost smiled in satisfaction, but knew I was going to have to intervene. I got up slowly and walked upstairs to the kitchen.

I stopped before entering the kitchen where, once again, Reese was located. At the moment, she was backed into a corner by the two angry youngsters venting their rage at her. She looked up briefly and saw me, her eyes pleading for me to put a stop to the tirade from Jess and the angry look and folded arms of Matt. I was almost about to leave her to their rant when I made a decision.

"Jess! Matt! Stop it! Stop it now!" They couldn't fail to hear the authority in my voice and amazingly, they stopped and turned to me.

"Reese, why don't you find some other place to be for a while so I can talk to them," I said, indicating with my tone that there was no anger or command in it.

I saw a look of relief on her face and she scurried out of the kitchen, heading for the back porch. I turned to the children.

"Let's go to the living room. We'll talk there," I suggested in a soft voice. Two very silent, unhappy young persons walked out of the kitchen toward the living room. I followed them and watched as they sat together on the sofa. They made space for me and I sat between them.

"I hate her," Jessica spat almost immediately. "I hate her and I'm never going to be nice to her again ... ever!"

I shook my head. "No, Jess. Don't do that. Don't hate. It won't solve anything. Despite what you might think, your mother loves you both. She didn't do this to hurt you. She would never deliberately hurt you. You know that." I tried to use a calm and even tone as I talked to them.

"Why, Daddy?" my daughter continued on the verge of more tears. "Why is she mad at you? Did you do something bad?"

"No, Sweetheart, I didn't do anything bad. Your mother ... your mother just ... doesn't love me anymore," I said, still trying to come to terms with that reality.

"Why? You're the best Daddy ever. I don't want you to go. I want to be with you," she sobbed.

"Me too, Dad," Matt chimed in. "I don't want to live with some other guy I don't know, pretending he's my father."

"I know. But ... I'm afraid the courts mostly want the children to live with their mother when their parents divorce. I want you to stay with me too, and I'll try to make that happen. But even if I can't, I'll see you often. Maybe every week if we're lucky."

"Sammy Weisgerber's parents divorced and he had to move away to another city. Sammy hardly ever sees his dad," Matt said sourly. Sammy had been an outfielder on Matt's baseball team last year.

"I don't think that will happen, Matt. The man your mother has been seeing lives here in Yakima. I don't think you'll be very far away."

"Maybe we can sneak out at night and come over here on our bikes and stay with Dad," Jess said to her brother.

I gave her a nice smile when I chuckled. I knew that wouldn't sit very well with their mother, but I didn't want to ruin their illusion.

"We'll find a way to be together often. I promise. I'll still be at your soccer games, Jess, and Matt knows I'll be at his baseball games. I won't be far away," I smiled, trying to paint a rosier picture.

"I don't care," Jess said with a scowl. "When I see that man who did this to Mom, I'm going to kick him in the shins ... real hard."

"I know a better place to kick him," Matt offered.

"Okay, that's enough. Let's just be polite to your mother, that's all I ask. Can you do that for me?" I asked, looking both of them in the eye.

"I guess so," Matt said sourly.

Jess said nothing, looking down at her lap, tears now evident again. I put my arm around her and held her to me, letting her get the sorrow out, hoping she could deal with it. I wondered as I sat with them if Reese had any idea of how much hurt she had inflicted on this family. I doubted it.

~*~

I had a restless night and gave up trying to sleep. I was up and out of the house before anyone else woke. I stopped at the 24 hour restaurant in the casino on the north end of town and made up for my lack of food since Sunday morning. I hadn't touched the cold plate Reese had made last night and hadn't eaten since yesterday morning. I was the first one in the office that morning and began by looking up lawyers in the phone book. There was no shortage of law firms in Yakima, over a hundred by my count. I had no idea who was good and who wasn't. I needed some advice.

The City of Yakima had a legal department and I thought perhaps they could give me a recommendation. There wouldn't be anyone in the office until nine that morning, so I had to bide my time. I looked through the dozens of ads in the yellow pages, but didn't get any sense of where to turn. There was little to do on this Monday. No catastrophic events befell the city over the weekend and it was business as usual. We had some projects on the go that would continue to use our resources, but it was vacation time for many of the employees and it was a matter of managing the people we had on hand.

I called the legal department just after nine and talked to one of the secretaries. I was informed that it would be inappropriate for a city lawyer to advise a city employee on whom I might seek for legal advice. That put an end to that avenue right away. I sat back and wondered where to go for advice.

As I thought about it, I remembered a friend who had gone through a very ugly divorce and thought I might call her. Belinda Commerce had discovered her husband had a long-term girlfriend in the little town of Zillah, just a few miles south of Yakima. It was a pretty careless proposition by him. Sooner or later he was bound to be discovered. It turned out to be later. Like me, she was a trusting soul, never suspecting he would cheat on her. The divorce turned ugly when Belinda decided on a "scorched earth" approach to the divorce. She was furious that she'd been played for a fool for years by Terry Commerce and wanted revenge. My recollection was that she got a full plate of that dish.

I looked up Belinda's name in the phone book and found it. Luckily for me, she had not changed her name or remarried at that point. I dialed the number and she answered after three rings. It was Monday morning and of course she was in the middle of housecleaning. I offered to call back later, but she assured me that she was ready for a coffee break and was happy to talk to me.

I told her what had happened and what I knew about Reese's affair. I explained I was looking for a lawyer who would do his best to protect my interests.

"Oh, damn, Graham," she said in mock disappointment. "I was hoping you were interested in dating me."

"Not just yet, Belinda. Right now, I need to find a lawyer who won't lie down and let Reese and her shyster run all over me."

"I was just kidding ... sort of," she chuckled. "My guy was great. I can highly recommend him. On top of that, he knows all the family court judges and knows their attitudes. That's a big deal, trust me."

"Great! He sounds like just guy I need. What's his name?"

"Miles Hoffman. Just a sec and I'll give you his phone number. He works for Laidlaw, Feldman and Collard. I think he's a partner."

She read me the phone number and wished me luck, asking me to stay in touch and let me know how things worked out. I promised I would.

I didn't waste any time in calling Hoffman's number. I got his secretary, of course. The best she could offer was Wednesday at 1:30pm. I took it. I wondered if I should make some moves at the bank. Perhaps move some money into another account before Reese got to it. The more I thought about it, the more I couldn't bring myself to believe she would strip me of all our money. My 401K was protected, as were some savings certificates in my name. I chose to do nothing.

For the next two days, we were civil to each other, but we neither shared meals nor discussed anything other than necessary information, largely about the children. I was happy that Matt and Jess had calmed down and had at least stopped harassing their mother. They weren't very talkative or responsive to her, but at least the nastiness had subsided.

I set time aside each evening to be with Jess and Matt. I wanted to stay close to them during this very upsetting time in their lives. As much as I was wounded by Reese, I had to make sure I kept close contact with my children. I knew they were suffering just as I was, but they were more important than my problems.

Reese was wise enough to stay away and give us all space. I had no idea what she was planning, but I was sure I would learn soon enough. She expected me to leave the house, and so far, I had given no indication I intended to do so. Fortunately, she gave no sign that Gordon Winters had been invited to enter the house. If she was seeing him, she was doing it while I was at work.

I met with Miles Hoffman on Wednesday afternoon. His secretary ushered me into his office and I saw a middle-aged man, lean with graying hair and craggy good looks. He smiled and rose from his chair and came around his desk to meet me.

"Mr. Rideout, I'm Miles Hoffman. Nice to meet you," he said cordially.

"I wish I could say the same thing, Mr. Hoffman. I assume you know why I'm here?"

"Yes, my secretary told me you are seeking a divorce from your wife. Why don't you sit down and we can talk about what led you to be here today."

I sat, sucked in my breath, and began the story of the last four days. When I finished, Hoffman had said nothing, but had been making notes on a legal pad.

"Do you believe your wife is committed to this divorce?" he asked.

"Yes ... I don't know what would cause her to change her mind. I'm not sure I would take her back after what has happened."

"How long do you think this affair has been going on?"

"Well ... we bought her Explorer almost eight months ago. That's when she met Mr. Winters. I have to assume it's been sometime shortly after that, but I don't know for sure."

"Looking back, can you think of any circumstances that were suspicious or out of the ordinary in her behavior?"

I shook my head. "No ... nothing. I had no idea."

"What about your children. Did they detect anything? After all, they were home when you were not."

"They said she was acting differently in the past couple of weeks, but I only learned that when everything came to a head last weekend."

"I take it your wife doesn't work. Is that correct?"

"Yes. She has always been at home ever since she became pregnant with our first, Matthew."

"What do you know about this Mr. Winters?"

"Not much. He's the sales manager of Kimble Ford. He sold us Clarissa's vehicle. I have no idea if he is single or married."

"I'll do a background check on him. He may have some history that will be useful to us."

"History?" I asked, curious.

"Who knows? He may be married and just out for a fling. Your wife may think she's in love with him, but he may be just leading her on. It wouldn't be a first."

I shook my head. "I really don't care. It won't make any difference. One way or another, my marriage is over."

"Even if she was taken advantage of by someone who set out to seduce her?"

"Yes."

"You've got some anger issues bottled up inside, Mr. Rideout. You need to let those go or they will eat you up. You've got some very stressful times ahead of you and you need to be prepared to deal with them. What's the most important thing to you right now?"

"My children. I don't want them hurt. I don't want to lose them. I don't want them used as pawns in some kind of power struggle. I've heard all the horror stories. I will do whatever it takes to keep them from harm ... emotional harm."

"Good. I'm pleased to hear that. If you had the opportunity, would you be able to care for them yourself ... if you had custody, I mean."

"Yes ... absolutely," I said. "I didn't think there was a chance of that. I keep hearing that the mother always gets the children."

"There are exceptions," he said. "I have a lot of work to do to determine just what's going on with your wife and her lover. Where does she plan to live? Will she cohabit with Winters? What is his financial situation? Will he be getting a divorce ... assuming he is married?"

"I got the impression she will be filing for divorce. I haven't seen anything from her so far."

"Where are you living presently?" he asked.

"At home. I've moved to the family room. I'm not leaving unless I have to."

"Good. That's very smart. Force her to try and remove you. I assume you pay all the bills?"

"Yes. The mortgage, the taxes, the utilities. I'm the sole source of income."

He nodded. "All right. I'll get started on my homework. We'll do nothing until you are served. Then, we'll see who her law firm is and what they have in mind. In the meantime, don't do anything to cause problems. It sounds like you've reached some kind of peace treaty at present."

"Yes. We avoid each other and so far, no problems."

"What about the children. How are they adapting."

"Not bad. They're very angry with their mother and I've had to calm them down. So far, they've not made things worse. I don't know what might happen if I weren't there."

"So, I can assume the children would choose you as their primary care-giver if asked?" he asked.

"Yes, I'm pretty confident of that."

He nodded once more. "Good," he smiled. "Let's try and keep things that way for the time being. However, I expect when you are served you may get some upsetting things and I don't want you to overreact or do something that will make things worse."

"What kind of upsetting things?" I asked.

"It could be anything from false accusations of spousal abuse to fear of your kidnapping the children. It's anyone's guess what might show up. I'll be waiting for anything that comes up and will immediately contest it in court. We won't let them get away with anything that isn't true."

"Thanks. I don't know what to expect. I guess that's no surprise. I had no idea she was cheating on me, so anything's possible. Do what you can to help me, please."

"You can count on that, Mr. Rideout," he smiled, rising once more to come around the desk.

I rose, we shook hands, and I left his office, not feeling better, but at least with the sense that I had done what was necessary to protect myself and my children. I wondered if that would be enough.

To Be Continued