David:
Stephany's divorce is final today. It's a good thing too, because our first child is due to be born within a few weeks. When Stephany came up pregnant, I offered Rickey a deal. I would not break any more of his bones if he signed the divorce agreement and left town. I was not surprised when he refused. That evening he was limping home on his still healing knees. When he stepped into his dark house he caught his crutches on the threshold, fell, and broke his collarbone, nose, and jaw.
I visited him at the hospital and reoffered the deal. This time he signed.
I hadn't realized how very interesting my life was to become the night that Justine invited me to dinner.
Before I finally let the girls into my bedroom, we had a long talk about their relationships with Rickey. I wanted to know why two such beautiful and intelligent women had found themselves at the mercy of such a scum bag. Talking to Aaron I learned some of Cathy's story, about how she was a submissive personality that needed a dominant in her life an how Rickey had discovered that and taken advantage of it. I needed to hear it from her though. I threw up twice during her talk, and there were several walls that needed to be repaired afterward. Blakely just thinks that my interference in his life will be over when he leaves town. I'll let him stew for a while, and then find him again. Before I am done with him he will be glad to die.
Stephany's story was a whole 'nother kettle o' worms. I met Stephany one night during Junior high. I was sitting across the street under a bush watching Cathy in her nightgown. I had a crush on her that never quit. I was startled when Steph slid in under the bush and sat down next to me. She was sympathetic to me and over time we became friends. I was so focused on Cathy that I never really gave her little sister a thought. What I did know about her was that she was an intelligent and determined girl. I wanted to know what had happened to her to give Rickey such control over her.
What she told me curdled my stomach. Stephany was two years behind Cathy and me in school. When the prom came around she had just turned sixteen and had not dated much. Rickey was getting tired of Cathy and had put the word out to the guys who would be likely to date Steph that he would look unfavorably on potential suitors. I hadn't heard about it at the time because no one suspected that I even knew who Stephany was. She was thrilled to be asked to the senior prom as a sophomore after having so few dates to this point. Her Date must have spiked her drink in some way, because near the end of the prom she was suddenly dancing with Rickey while her date and her sister were nowhere to be seen. She said that the next few hours, to include the rape in Rickey's car, were pretty much of a blur. He apparently took her home because the next thing she knew she was at the hospital with her parents while the doctors worked on Cathy. They never did identify the drug that had been given to Cathy, and in the tumult Stephany had let her own drugging slide.
Her parents had wanted to hush up Cathy's assault and had her put into an institution when the police declined to investigate. I was going to have a look at the records on this, but I'm pretty sure what I will find. In the bad old days before Rodney King the police acted as they wished with little or no oversight. I would hazard a guess without looking that several of Cathy's attackers that night had fathers on the police force. They never did find out what drug Cathy was given. The best guess was a mish-mash of acid, fake Spanish fly, and a variety of other drugs mixed together with grain alchohol.
Cathy was still in the looney bin when Stephany came up pregnant. Her father wanted to get the guy who took her to the prom to marry her, then remembered that Rickey had brought her home. When Rickey offered to marry her, she was quickly dropped out of school and handed over to him. Blakely thought that he was going to get another submissive like Cathy, but Stephany surprised him and fought him at every turn. I asked why she had gone along and married him when she knew what kind of man he was? She said that she was confused and scared. Blakely had threatened to kill her whole family if she didn't do what he wanted. Her life from then on was close to hell, but she did what she could to make Rickey miserable as well.
Within two weeks of the girls moving in with me our life settled into a very strange pattern. Cathy needed a dominant, and I was not really comfortable in that role. Stephany was more than willing and took over. I suspect that she also took out some old aggravations on her sister as well. She never participated in lesbian activity with her sister, but the things she made Cathy do for me could get very weird. With the domination taken care of at home, Cathy was able to interact with men professionally with no trouble. I'm sure part of that was due to the fact that the men she dealt with now knew me, and knew that I had a force of trained guards working for me. Cathy and I were married three months ago at a small service in my parent's church. Aaron and his crew attended, and he acted as my best man. Stephany was already pregnant, but wasn't showing much yet and acted as Cathy's bridesmaid. I thought the pastor was going to faint when my workers gave us a twenty-one gun salute as we left the church.
Having my offices in the top floor of the old barn on my property made commuting to work easy on both Cathy and me. Part of the setup cost of starting by business had been the conversion of the barn with offices on the top floor, and a garage on the ground floor. The workers used to sleep in one of the spare rooms in my house when they were on call, but after the girls moved in we had bought a small mobile home and parked it behind the barn for the workers' use.
Bethany and Cathy were beside themselves with joy at the new baby coming soon. Cathy made me agree to give Stephany one more as well. My grandpa's old house was going to feel as crowded as Wilson's place. Well, that may be pushing it a bit. The last time we were over to visit them there were already four kids, and Diane was talking about getting pregnant again.
I had an interesting phone call yesterday. A friend from my Army days called me. He was working on the police force in Indianapolis, and they had arrested an interesting person for DUI. The reason he was calling me was to get some background on this man and see if any leniency should be used. The man's license showed Lafayette as his home of record and my friend wondered whether or not I knew him. I gave him an abbreviated version of what I knew for sure about Rickey. Several hours later he called back and I was informed that Mr. Blakely would not be back in town for several years. It seems that after my friend and I talked Rickey got into some trouble in the jail to the extent of causing himself and several others some serious damage. Judges don't look too kindly on drunken brawlers. When he gets out of jail, I have a few friends I can call on to make his day for him.
My business has taken off in the past few months. I don't know how I managed before Cathy quit the insurance company and took over the public relations and new customer acquisitions for me. Grandpa's house has been well cared for too as Stephany has taken charge of it. One of these days I may be able to pay back Aaron for what he did for me, but I'm not holding my breath.
Aaron:
I was in the kitchen having a snack and taking a break from the computer one Friday when Madge asked to talk to me.
"Sure thing Madge. What can I do for you?"
"I have a favor to ask of you Aaron. I have a niece who has a problem you might be able to help with. She is a lesbian in a committed relationship and she and her partner would like to have a child. They would never qualify for adoption and they can't afford artificial insemination. They both have some real trust issues with men and need someone who they can expect to treat them with care. After talking to Diane and Justine about it, I have offered your services, as long as you are willing. They have both talked to Diane and Justine and think that you might do. Would you consider it for me please?"
"You don't ask for small ones do you, Mom? You say that you have already discussed this with Diane and Justine and they are OK with it?"
"You don't think I would approach you unless they were, do you?"
"No, I guess not. I will need to talk to them first, but I don't see a problem helping out your niece. Is there anything else I should know before saying yes?"
"There are a few things you probably should know. For one, both she and her partner were the victims of rape. When she was thirteen my niece Angel was grabbed on the way home from school by a serial rapist who took her to an abandoned house and brutally raped her several times. He liked to leave a sign to recognize his victims on the street, so he scarred her face horribly. She has a livid red scar running from her left eye to her mouth. When the doctors in the hospital offered to fix it she refused. She said that she didn't want to be pretty anymore. She didn't want any man to be attracted to her again. Despite years of counseling and being committed several times, she still doesn't want anything to do with a man. She spends a lot of her time lifting weights and doing martial arts. There is still a cute little girl in her, but you have to look very deep.