Carol's Patch Job Ch. 03

"Mother, you stay up here. Nancy can fetch you food from the kitchen. I will be back to talk with you at noon tomorrow for your answer."

"I love you Mother."

Carol left the room and Janice returned to her fetal position.

Nancy thought to herself. "How did I let this happen? I knew things didn't smell right. Mary has always been a backstabbing bitch and Marge, a queen ruling over her little domain. We had some good times, but I didn't let them run my life. Janice is a smart woman, how did she come to let Marge control her like that? I should have forced Janice to confront Jim. I could tell her that you tell Jim or I would. Maybe it is someone else's family, but there are children to protect. Now, this family might be destroyed. Janice has syphilis and is a basket case. Good grief, they might even have HIV."

Nancy called her husband Don and explained how Janice had broken down. She implied the break down was because of Jim's illness. She told Don that she needed to stay with Janice for the whole day and might not be home until late the next day, Sunday. Don understood and agreed to her plan. He would look after the children. Nancy, then went and got a wet wash cloth from the bathroom and started wiping down Janice's face and back of neck.

"Janice, I know you're upset. I know you're sorry and don't know what to do. Everything hurts too much and your too scared to think. Well listen to me, then. I'll help you. You know I tried to stop you. I tried to get you to stop listening to Marge. So you listen to me now. I'll be your coach, for as long as you want me too. You've got to calm down. I'm not going to yell at you. I'm not going to berate you. I'll try to be your shield. Sit up now, we don't have any time to waste. You've got to be strong and rescue your family."

Janice heard the words, "rescue your family". They seemed to resonate within her. If she concentrated on them, it could help turn her self perception from the revulsion at being a villain into maybe a heroine. She would use those words, to help her self grow strong and help her family.

For the entire day, Janice and Nancy talked. They talked about Janice's life with her family before Marge. They talked about Jim's illness. Early in the evening Janice put a random family tape in the VCR, with that going on in the background, she started going through the family albums. Things that she thought of as boring, for the last few years, she now thought of as indescribably precious. The family's daily bike rides, her bike was dusty and hadn't been ridden in years. The inexpensive weekend trips that they use to take once a month. All the little things the family used to do, and still did but without her.

Six years ago, she was bored with her life. She wanted excitement. Janice had always enjoyed her soaps and bit of juicy gossip but Marge raised it to another level. Janice started to live vicariously through those soaps and nasty, wicked gossip. Much of the gossip being at best highly exaggerated truths to outright lies and distortions. Marge had been the leader, but Janice had willingly followed. The importance of her family had waned, and she had started living a lie. She had a complete imaginary life in her head, until it had led her to disaster, now reality had struck back, hard. She saw herself, if she didn't fix this problem, alone as cackling old woman in smelly old apartment, never leaving her couch and glued to the television. To live a meaningless life and then to be buried, with no mourners and especially no family. She could smell the sour apartment and see the empty graveside. With a sardonic thought, she suddenly saw herself as Scrooge when he was confronted by the Ghost of Christmas Future. Scrooge had redeemed his life, she just hoped she had the chance and strength to redeem hers.

Nancy spent the night with Janice and at noon, they were as ready as they were going to get for Carol's return.

Carol knocked on the door and came in. Janice was sitting washed and neatly dressed, with a determined expression of her face. Carol was surprised at her Mother's expression. It was far different from the previous two days. She had planned this meeting based on her Mother's prior behavior, this new look might force her to change things.

"Hello Mother, Nancy. Thank you Nancy for being here for my Mother."

Nancy nodded her head politely.

"Mother do you have anything to say?"

Janice braced herself took a deep breath and started. "What I did to your Father is terrible and I will never forgive myself. What I have been doing to this family for the past few years, is also terrible and I will never forgive myself. I lived an imaginary life in my head, where I didn't realize what I was doing to this family. I am so sorry and sickened to say, that it has taken something like this to wake me up. I love you all so much. Please, give me another chance? I know I will fall and make mistakes along the way, but I promise you that I will pick myself back up and keep trying. Don't throw me away, don't leave my life." Janice cried a little at the last, but fixed that determined expression back on her face.

"Mother we won't throw you away, we love you. But, do you want to stay married to Daddy?"

"I love your Father. I would love and be so happy to stay married to him. But, I cheated on him six times and gave him an STD, maybe HIV. How can he stay with a woman like me?" She cried.

"I've talked with Marge. Danny's last sexual experience, except for you, was over two months ago. He is the only one, you didn't use condoms with. He has tested positive for syphilis but negative for HIV. Most cases of HIV show up, after three months. The other three men have to be found, contacted and tested but you used condoms with them. I'm praying, but I think you might be alright."

"In regards to your cheating. I had an interesting conversation with Uncle Ben. It turns out. he remembers a particular conversation he had with Daddy about adultery. In the conversation Daddy said that if a spouse commits adultery. Then regretted and truly repented. Promising themselves to never stray again and doing everything in their power to make amends with the wronged spouse, then it is better if the cheating spouse doesn't tell the wronged spouse about the adultery. Daddy said, that if he was the wronged spouse, he would always doubt himself and the marriage. He would think that he wasn't really loved and that he was a terrible lover. "

"So Uncle Ben, Uncle Mark, Steve and I have agreed to not tell Daddy about your adultery. If he flat out asks, we will have to tell him the truth. But we will try to avoid those situations. We will do our best to cover things up and support you, but we will not tell lies for you. We will though, lie by omission. It is up to you, to make Daddy feel so loved that he never asks. The first thing you have to fix, is you have to spend more time in the hospital room visiting Daddy. He feels terrible that your not coming in to see him and he doesn't understand why. You can tell him that it was the shock of almost losing him, that kept you away; or something like that. If we're asked we can just say shock and not to give the full answer, shock because of your adultery."

"Now Mother, I want to know why you decided Daddy was cheating on you? It has to be more than those lousy photos."

"It was Mary." Answered Nancy. "She told us, how after your Mother dropped Jim at the airport, Jim would wait for Janice to leave and then catch a taxi to the Hilton. She said that she followed him all the way, for Jim's last three business trips."

"Did either of you read the detective's report?" Both women shook their heads no.

"I've been feeling so guilty and with Jim obviously not cheating, there didn't seem to be any point." Answered Janice.

"The man you thought was Daddy. Doesn't fly into the Hilton, he drives his own car from his home town during the work week. He is just staying there until he completes his move to this area." The woman pictured is his fiancée and why he is switching jobs and moving here. On top of that, the traffic in the airport is a mess, how could Mary follow anyone through that?"

"After the truth came out, she told us she must have made a mistake and followed the wrong man. Obviously, she lied." Stated Nancy "She was always a twisted bitch and she wanted to have some excitement. We were so concerned about Jim and the aftermath, that we just never questioned such a shaky story. Though we did scream at her for being so stupid."

Janice said, "I want to hurt her but it is my own damn fault for not trusting and talking to your Father."

"Don't worry Mother, I will be dealing with Marge and Mary." Carol stated in a sinister voice with an evil glint in her eye.

"Carol...."

"Don't Mother, they hurt this family. I'm going to hurt them, there will be no discussion!"

"Mother there are certain things that we require of you, to get our support. One, you must get therapy, Uncle Ben will pay for it. We've found a therapist, if you don't like her, you can find your own. Two, unless Uncle Ben, Uncle Mark or I are present you will sever all communication with Marge and Mary. Three, you will encourage Daddy to move. He has always wanted to live further from the city, maybe by Aunt Penny's. Four, you mention to Daddy that if he ever wants to change jobs and move further from this area, you will support him. Five, what do you do with all your pay Mother? Daddy, lives so cheaply. He makes his shoes last until they are falling apart. He's got us in new cars, but he has over 300,000 miles on his minivan. That probably even hurts his job prospects to be so shabbily dressed and drive such a clunker. I know the only two good suits he has, Uncle Ben bought him as a present. You know how much pride Daddy has. He doesn't like to take expensive gifts for himself, from Uncle Ben. Yet he agreed to go to a fitting with Uncle Ben for the suits. He must have been pretty desperate. Most wives, I've talked to and heard about, are very involved in their husband's purchase of clothes and appearance. Where does your money go?"

Janice looked saddened at Carol's question. "You already know, I've been a bad wife and mother. As you said, Jim has his pride about money. He thinks that it is his job to financially take care of the family, to be the bread winner. It has always been difficult for him to ask me to contribute to the household finances. It is sad how grateful he is, for my small contributions. I only give him, maybe ten or fifteen percent of my pay. He never asks me, what I do with the rest. I think, he thinks I spend it on you kids or maybe save if for your college education."

"But he is wrong. I do have a secret saving's account, but it doesn't have very much money. I spend most of my income on clothes and once or twice a week, I go to a very expensive restaurant for lunch."

"Mother you don't have that many clothes. You can't have spent that much money on them."

Janice laughed. "Honey, you've never cared much about clothes. Or perhaps you've been too busy, doing my job to care." Janice looked sad with the last statement. "I like to look sharp, when I go to work. Really too sharp for an elementary school teacher. That purse there, fifteen hundred dollars. The pant suits in the closet, the cheapest one, eight hundred dollars. I don't have a pair of shoes below three hundred. I think, I wanted to dress like the women in my soaps. I loved how, at the expensive shops, they treat you like royalty. I don't exercise, but I go to a fancy spa. Once or twice a month, each visit three to five hundred. That is where all my money goes and I'm so sorry."

"Mother, you've got to stop. Uncle Ben and I've looked at the family finances. We are not in good shape. Uncle Ben and I were hoping that you had a secret bank account with tens of thousands of dollars, maybe over one hundred thousand dollars. Something to help with a move, maybe get Daddy a newer car. Uncle Ben even told me how Daddy, being terribly depressed and embarrassed, asked if Uncle Ben could help him with my college tuition when I graduate high school. Uncle Ben said Daddy cried because he feels like such a failure."

Janice started to cry.

"Mother, I hate to rub it in. But Daddy could have had many better paying jobs over the years if you would have let us move. He hates his job now, but it was the only one he could get. He hates being away from home."

Janice looked up with a stricken face. "I don't know what I can do. I don't know what I can say. I am so sorry. I do have almost ten thousand dollars but it is so little, what with you and Steve being so close to college."

"Mother, I'll talk to Uncle Ben and Uncle Mark. You know how much he loves Daddy. You remember what he did for Grandma and Grandpa. I think he will be happy to help. We will figure out the money problem. What about our other conditions? Do you agree to them?"

"Do you really think Ben and Mark will help?" Asked Janice with hope in her voice.

"Yes, mother I think they will be happy to help and if they don't, I will stop playing pinochle with them." Carol said with a grin. "But what about our conditions?"

"Yes, yes I'll be happy to do them."

"Wait a moment Mother, because I've got a condition of my own." With that Carol stepped out into the hallway and returned with a shopping bag.

"Listen to this Mother, very carefully. MY DADDY IS SECOND TO NO MAN! Do you remember the things he said about love and passion the day he got back? Well I remember them very well. You did things with those four fuckers you've never did with Daddy. The lingerie Daddy bought for you, but never wore for him, YOU WORE FOR THEM! So help me God, if I find out you had them in Daddy's bed, I will belt you silly. You are going to burn the lingerie that you wore for those assholes and buy new for Daddy. Spend some of your savings I don't care! You are going to quit using the spas, but start exercising again. Tighten up that sloppy cunt of yours! You are going to become Daddy's wet dream. All those things you did for those Aaaargh, worthless scum, you are going to do for Daddy and more. I've bought some books, God was I embarrassed. How to sexually please your man, the Karma Sutra and such like. Read them, memorize them, live them. Wake Daddy up with a blow job every morning, if you have to! You're going to let him know that you see him as a sexy man. I hope you don't have to fake it. But if you do, you better be a damn good actress! That is my condition Mother and it is a deal breaker. Daddy deserves to have a passionate love life and if you won't give it to him. I'll have him divorce you and I'll find him a new wife. I still love you and you will stay in my life, but you won't be short changing my Father anymore!"

Janice was shocked speechless. She had planned to make things up to Jim, sexually. But, she hadn't really thought it out and she realized that she hadn't been prepared to go as far as Carol proposed. But on reflection, she realized that Carol was right. She loved and owed it to Jim. If he wanted sexy, he was going to get it. She also promised herself, to think about Danny and the other three with nothing but contempt and hatred. She would try to blot out the memories of having sex with them. Jim would be the best she as ever had. She again owed it to her husband. She also had a premonition, that Jim would discover the truth one day. If she could prove herself to Jim, before that day, they might weather that storm. She cold only pray.

Janice looked Carol directly in the eyes. "You're right and I agree with my whole heart to your condition."

"Thank you Momma. We've got an hour for lunch. Steve is keeping Lisa busy and out of the house. Uncle Ben, Uncle Mark, Marge and Mary will be here at two."

Precisely at two pm, Marge and Mary rang the front door bell. They probably had not wanted to come at all, but didn't dare show up late. They were invited in and asked to sit at the dining room table. Ben and Mark were already in the house, sitting at the table. Carol had told her Mother and Nancy to remain upstairs. Carol again ran the show.

"Hello Marge. Hello Mary. I've got rules and questions for you. You don't follow the rules, I go to the sheriff and we sue you. You don't answer my questions truthfully and the same thing happens. Do you understand?"

Both women nodded their heads.

"We know Mary lied about following my Father from the airport. Do not try and deny it Mary. We don't know if you, Marge, knew it was a lie or not. I'm not going to ask you about that question Marge, because I have no way of knowing the truth. But, with my other questions I will not be as forgiving. First question, we know about Danny, who are the other three fuckers and how do we find them?"

Marge and Mary looked at one another and Marge finally spoke first.

"I found two people and Mary found two. My second one was Tom Williams, he works with me at the hospital. He is an x-ray technician. But he thought your Father was cheating on your Mother and wanted to help."

"Well he didn't really help, did he? He knew Mother was married and didn't care. He just agreed with your sick plan, maybe he just wanted some easy sex? Is he married?"

"No"

"Well, we will deal with him. Mary, what about your two?"

Mary looked up sullenly and didn't answer.

Carol grinned and slowly walked around the table. When she got behind Mary's chair, she suddenly grabbed Mary's hair slammed her forehead against table. Then she yanked back on her hair, causing her neck to arch over the high back of the dining room chair. Carol bent down and using her forearm put a choke hold around Mary's neck, at first squeezing quite tightly and temporarily cutting off Mary's air. Carol let her hold relax and whispered in Mary's ear.

"We know that you are the twisted bitch behind Marge's throne. Uncle Ben has money, and the law on his side. Uncle Mark has new bridges being built with deep piers full of cement. How would you like to be part of a new bridge? You're my bitch now, you will bark when I tell you. I know what you did. If you knew what I fantasize doing to you, you would be crapping your pants. Now answer my question."

Carol slammed Mary's head into the table again, not as hard. Let go and stepped back to observe Mary.

Mark whispered. "Whoa, someone is channeling Grandma Grace." Ben heard the whisper, looked at Mark with big eyes and nodded his head, yes. Marge attempted to get up from the table. Carol growled at her. Marge sat back down.

"Now Mary, let us try that again. Who are the two fuckers you fixed up with my Mother?"

Mary massaged her forehead tenderly, seeing a few stars. She looked at Carol with a lot of anger in her face, but there was also fear and doubt. Doubt that she had any control of the situation. Doubt, because she was now way over her head and one of her little games was coming back to hurt her, badly.

"The first one is the parcel delivery guy that comes to my office, Ted. I don't know his last name. The other is a guy, I found on the internet. His first name is Jack, I've got his address.

"Very good, we will find them." Carol said with a sinister voice. Ben and Mark, again exchanged looks.

"Next question, where did the fucking take place?"

Marge answered. "Once in a hotel, twice in Mary's house and Danny's three times were at my home."

Janice had already given that information to Carol. But Carol had wanted to make sure nothing had happened in her family home.

"Who else knows about the fucking? Who else was in on it? Who else have you told? We know you like to gossip. Who else?"

Marge hesitantly spoke up. "I told my sister, a friend at work and I might have mentioned something to my husband."

Mary answered as well, she was scared at what Carol might do to her, if she refused to speak. "I told a few people." She wasn't sure how many, she lived for nasty gossip.