I Am Now A Single Dad

I am now a single Dad.

Her paramour convinced her to leave, but they both died.

I am Thomas Parsons, Tom, a single father, widower, teacher, and educational leader.

It has been three years since my beautiful but cheating wife died in an accident with the guy she was cheating on me with.

What happened.

We started having marital problems about six months before the accident.

My wife, Jennifer, was a Girl Scout leader. Jack Marshall was a single father of two girls in her troop. Jack had temporary custody while his ex-wife finished up a degree in psychology. Jack volunteered to help Jennifer with her Girl Scout troop. I couldn't help because I was working on my post-graduate degree. My stepdaughters were Nicole, eight years old, and Megan, six years old. I was able to watch our three-year-old son James only on meeting nights. We had been married for five years.

For the last few months, Jennifer had found many reasons for not having any romance, ie. sex-- a headache; her period; she was mad at me, too tired, or too sleepy; the girls were having a sleepover, etc. There had been dry spells before, but this one was the longest.

One weekend, Jennifer and Jack took the troop camping. I was willing to go with them, but Jennifer quickly said she was worried that Jimmy would be 'in the way'.

One of the other parents had a large ten-passenger van, and both sets of sisters, our girls and Jack's, wanted to ride in the van, so when camping was over, Jennifer and her lover were alone in his pickup truck. They were on the US Forest Service road just off the Apache Trail, AZ-88, not too far from Tortilla Flat. It was a dirt road that hung on the side of the mountains in the Superstition Mountain range. The van was in the lead, and the pickup was behind, with another car bringing up the rear.

The father in the car told the Highway Patrol that it looked like the front right tire either had a blowout or simply went off the road. The pickup looked like it skidded to the lip of the road and teeter-tottered, and both Jack and my wife tried to get out. Jennifer had opened her door, but the open door changed the center of gravity, causing the pickup to go over the side. She tried to unbuckle her seatbelt, but the pickup was beyond the point of no return. As the truck went over, Jack tried to open his door to get out, but it was too late, and he was dragged down with it. It was almost three hundred feet down the side of the mountain.

That night.

It was getting late, about nine o'clock, and Jennifer and the girls were not home yet. I was worried.

There was a knock on my door; it was the Department of Public Safety (DPS), the Highway Patrol, and they informed me of the accident. I had to drive to the hospital to collect my distraught stepdaughters. When I got there, both Jack and Jennifer had already been pronounced dead. I went into a take-charge-but-numb mode; I would later fall apart. I asked when I could call the funeral home to make arrangements. They told me that there had to be an autopsy; the hospital administrator said they must do autopsies with all fatal auto accidents. It would be finished in about three to five days.

When we got home, Jimmy had fallen asleep on the way home, so I just tucked him in. I held both stepdaughters all night, and we cried together. The next morning, I had to call Jennifer's family and my family to tell them she had died. I did not have to call my stepdaughters' father because he had passed away just four years before. Our house was then flooded with family. We were all taken care of by our families. My sister, Ellen Johnson, and her son, Sam Johnson Jr., were there. (Ellen's husband, Sam Johnson Sr., was one of the 4,400-plus deaths in the Iraq War.)

What I found out.

It was three days later, when I was called to the hospital to be given a copy of the autopsy; it had the usual cause of death-- blunt force trauma. One thing it said was that Jennifer was pregnant, about six weeks. In my head, I thought,

when did I last have sex with Jennifer?, I could not remember!

I asked, "Can you do a DNA test?"

I had my suspicions. I gave a sample of my DNA, and after two weeks, I got the results-- the fetus was not mine! They got Jack's DNA from the blood work they did before he died. It could not have been used in a court of law, but it was good enough to compare the fetus's DNA with Jack's at 48.6% shared DNA; it was close enough for them to say the fetus was essentially Jack's! My DNA match was less than 1%

Things were now real.

Shit, what was I going to do? I have two stepdaughters who consider me daddy, my son, and a dead wife with another man's fetus in her. I was too busy to deal with Jennifer's infidelity.

I met with an attorney to see what my options were. The first thing the attorney said was that a child born during a marriage is presumed by law to be the child of the husband, even if it was not. Even though the child was not born yet, it would have been mine by law. My attorney got the accident report and sued everyone she could-- Jack's estate, Jack's auto insurance, and even the US Forest Service-- in all, there were over eight lawsuits filed; six were settled with a large monetary award, and one was reduced because I did not want to take money away from Jack's girls.

Jack's auto insurance found out about the DNA test and tried to claim since the child was not mine, they did not have to pay anything for 'its' death. My attorney argued successfully that, by law, I was the father!

We were now financially secure.

My dad was a retired insurance executive and had insisted Jennifer and I should get life insurance on both of us to pay the mortgage and other life expenses if one of us were to pass away, so our house would be free and clear. The 'mortgage insurance' was just one of the life insurance policies Dad had us take out on each of us; one would take care of college costs for all three children, and a couple more that made our futures more than comfortable. Yes, we were overinsured, but Dad had always said, "You can never have enough insurance." All the policies had a double indemnity clause, in case of accidental death... thank you, Dad.

My attorney also filed adoption papers for Nicole and Megan. A sister of Jennifer's, Misty, tried to get custody; she was single at that time. The girls told the Department of Child Safety (DCS) investigator that they wanted to stay with me and their brother. The judge saw it my way. They became my daughters! To this day, I wonder if Misty was looking at the trusts I had set up for the girls.

When the dust settled, we had a family trust and smaller trusts for each of us, a paid-off mortgage, but we did not have a mom or a wife.

I found out a lot about the affair she and Jack had... Not long after the accident, my lawyer hired a private investigator who had computer expertise. We figured out Jennifer's password on her laptop. (She used the same one on everything.) The private investigator accessed her diary-- a journaling app, social media, and personal messages; there were emails and text messages, and we found out that she was maybe just two months away from filing for divorce. It had all been overseen and orchestrated

by Jack

! They would accuse me of abuse, infidelity, and claiming abandonment--abandonment of all things!

From all the information we received, we were able to deduce that Jennifer had complained about me not being home; it was because I was taking classes for my master's and doctorate, trying to improve my family's circumstances and surroundings! Jack saw it as a way to get 'closer' to my beautiful wife.

We read in her texts and emails that Jennifer thought she was pregnant and was trying to get everything ready. If she were pregnant, she was going to have the baby and have me pay child support-- again, orchestrated by Jack.

You could see how the son-of-a-bitch used psychological suggestions, even in his writing, to gain Jennifer's cooperation, almost like she had been hypnotized. Had he not died, I would have killed the son-of-a-bitch myself. The private investigator contacted Jack's ex-wife, Barbara, and was told this was not the first time he had romanced a married woman, but this was the first time his paramour was pregnant. Their divorce was because he philandered, and she knew of two other married women whom he went after.

She said she did not think he wanted to marry Jennifer; he just wanted to have a 'good time' with a married woman, but with Jennifer being pregnant, who would know? Maybe he had stepped up his game. Jack was a creep to the

third power

, his ex agreed. We figured

KARMA

caught up with him and took Jennifer, my children's mom, with him. Because of their divorce decree and child custody orders, Barbara and his girls received Jack's life insurance, which would pay for college and more.

Jennifer and I each had a checking account in our names and a family one. When we met, Jennifer was so financially inept that she couldn't even keep track of the money coming in and going out of her checking account. I stopped helping her when she told me she was able to balance her account months before the accident. My lawyer had a forensic audit on Jennifer's and my finances; she had been stealing money out of the family account.

I thought she had finally learned how to balance her checking account, but Jack was balancing it for her. She also put all of her paychecks into a new account, and with Jack's coaxing (again through emails and texts), she was hiding it from me in another bank. Jennifer must have forgotten about the wills we had written when Jimmy was born; basically, we just gave everything to each other. So, when my lawyer found the hidden accounts with the forensic audit, the money was turned over to me.

********

It had been three years since Jennifer's death, Nicole was almost twelve, Megan was just about nine, and Jimmy was six. We had settled down to being a family: a single dad, two daughters, and a son. On weekends, we would do a family activity on Saturday. We would have a Sunday meal at my mom's place or Jennifer's family's. When Jennifer's family found out about her cheating, and I told them she was pregnant with the son-of-a-bitch's child, all communication stopped. (

Most of them apologized years later at one of the girls' weddings

.)

My girls did not realize anything was going on between Jennifer and Jack, thank God, so I left it alone. Later, Jack's girls told my girls during the lawsuits. My girls never talked to Jack's girls again. The girls did not understand why their mom did what she did. They never liked Jack. After counseling, the girls realized that they had missed what was going on between Jennifer and Jack. They apologized to me; I told them that I was fooled, too. With the counselor's help, we moved beyond the pain. I made the decision not to remember or dwell on the bad times; we did have at least four and a half years of a good marriage. Poor Jimmy never knew about it until he was an adult. He just knew his mommy had died in an accident.

Okay, yeah, I need to tell you more about me.

I need to backup almost three years.

I was a math teacher at Desert Horizon Middle School. After a two-month bereavement leave, we all returned to school. I had kept the girls up on schoolwork while we were all out of school, and they were not behind in any class. I could not say that about my students; they had had four or five substitutes during my bereavement leave. It was not that the substitutes were bad; it was the continuity of instruction that was lost.

Then I lost my dad to fucking cancer, just months after Jennifer's death. My over-insured dad took care of Mom, my sister, the kids, and me.

In the wisdom of the administration, they assigned me a paraprofessional (aka teacher's aide, a para), Cassandra Davis, Cassie. I lucked out; she was a recently graduated education major. She was older than most new grads, just five years younger than me, having been married, divorced, who had worked a couple of years after the divorce, and finished college. She had a son, Jeffrey, Jeff, who was the same age as my Megan. Cassie became my right-hand man... er... woman; she acted as my teaching assistant and helped and supported me a lot in my teaching.

Cassie was a cute, twenty-seven-year-old single mother, medium blonde, five-foot-six; she always dressed professionally, but was still very attractive.

I have to say, when no one could see me, she had my full attention.

I had a problem. I had met Cassie just over two months after the death of my wife. No one knew about Jennifer's infidelity or the baby; it would have been inappropriate to show any interest in a woman so close to the death of my wife.

After I returned to school, that was when Jennifer's death hit me. After all, I did love her at one time; we were married for over five years, I felt my children's pain, and there was an emptiness in our house.

As the next two years progressed, so did Cassie's and my relationship. We became good friends at work-- she became my work wife. We had lunch together, went to faculty meetings together, and we would go out for a decompression at the local bar after school. We shared our stories about our exes. I told her the truth about Jennifer, and she told me about how she caught her husband cheating on her. I would walk her out to her car if we stayed late at school, or after a Friday night get-together at the bar.

I even invited Cassie and Jeff over to our house for a barbecue.

Here I was, a thirty-something widower 'rich guy'. I dove into my teaching post-grad work. (

What else could I do?

) I received several good evaluations, and before I knew it, in my mid-thirties and with a doctorate, I was high on the list to be considered for a principalship. WHY? Because I delivered, if I could say so myself. My last few years of cloistered existence had helped me.

Romance? What the hell was that? I was about to find out.

But then, Cassie was in my life. We kept a professional relationship at work. Outside of work, we flirted like high schoolers' first love... I was sure the feelings were mutual.

Home life was kind of like the old sitcom 'My Three Sons', but re-titled to 'My Three Kids'.

The girls were coming up on puberty, moving from dolls to boys. To tell the truth, I was scared shitless! Maybe Misty, Jennifer's then-married sister, might have been better. No, she married a truck driver. While the truck driver was gone, she had all the strange cock she wanted. I was so glad I was their father.

I had written a glowing recommendation for Cassie. I hadn't realized we had an opening for sixth-grade math. The principal told me he was taking my para, Cassie, away from me. I showed a little sadness, but he then added she would be teaching sixth-grade math, and my frown turned into a big smile.

"I am sorry I am taking your work wife away, but I need a math teacher."

Kiddingly, I said, "Oh, what will I do?"

My principal, Mike Jones, turned around and started to walk away, laughing. He added, "You could make her your real wife, how does the song go? '... if you like it, then you should... put a ring on it'..." as he entered his office.

And here I thought Cassie and my non-relationship had been under wraps.

************

Puberty!

I told Cassie about the upcoming talk I was supposed to have with my daughters about puberty. She suggested that we switch kids for a weekend. Cassie would take Nicole, just twelve, and Megan, ten.

Cassie said, "Don't worry, ten is a good age, also. The girls learned all about 'girl stuff' that weekend.

I took Jeff, eleven, and Jim, five, fishing. During the day, I spoke with Jeff about responsibilities, well, sexual responsibilities; while he did listen, Jim was having a ball playing with leaves floating on the water.

We caught our limit. (I made sure the boys did; a couple of times, I'd see I was getting a nibble, and I'd hand my pole to one of them.) You'd think we were bringing home a million fish!

I taught the boys how to lie about fishing; the one they liked best was, "You should have been here yesterday..."

Their excitement lasted for the first seventy-five miles on the way home, and both crashed in the back seat, sound asleep.

Sunday, when it was time to transfer the kids, Cassie asked to talk to me. It wasn't a 'we need to talk', it was more like a 'let us talk about us' kind of talk.

Cassie started, "You know some of the other teachers have been calling me your work wife... Even now that I am teaching in my classroom."

"Really?"

"Tom, we won't be seeing each other as much as before."

A light came on in my brain. I looked at her and told her, "I know a way to solve it. You know my mom wants to see the kids, and she is just dying to meet Jeff. I bet she would love to have them over to her house for a grandma sleepover."

Cassie did a double-take. "A what?"

"I used to sleep over at my grandma's all the time; I think that's how my sister came about."

With that last comment, Cassie's eyebrows jumped up her forehead.

"We could go out on a DATE. I have wanted to ask you out for quite a while."

"Doofus, I was about to lose hope. I have been waiting on you for quite a while, too."

I looked at the clock; Mom would still be up.

It rang twice, she had caller ID. "Hi, honey, are the kids okay?"

"Yes, all are okay. Are you doing anything next weekend?"

"What's up, you got a hot date? Oh, I hope it is with that cute teacher's aide you have, Cassie."

Mom had met Cassie at the first 'meet-the-teacher-and-open-house' after Jennifer's death.

"Mom! You have been reading too many romance novels. And Cassie is teaching in her classroom now."

"Your sister told me you had a thing for her. You need a babysitter for your girls and Jimmy?"

"Okay, Mom, be cool, yes, we are going out on our first date."

"You mean to tell me this is your first date!? Son, you are slipping. I never saw you on any weekend once you started to drive!"

"Mom, I have three kids, I need to be a father first!"

"Honey, they need a mother, too. Have you had THE TALK with the girls yet?"

"Cassie did it for me just this last weekend."

"Great!"

"Okay, I will watch all the kids, BUT you have to have dinner with me...! ALL OF YOU!"

"Okay, how about we bring the kids over Friday and have dinner with you, and we will pick them up Sunday, and then take you and the kids out for dinner?"

"Okay, that sounds good to me. Do the kids like spaghetti?"

"Is the Pope Catholic?"

"Okay, I will fix spaghetti for Friday night."

I put down the phone and filled in Cassie. "Friday, you two come over here, we'll have dinner at mom's, you will sleep in the guest room here, and the kids will stay at mom's Friday and Saturday. We will go out on Saturday night, so wear your dancing shoes. Sunday, we will take Mom and the kids out to eat."

"Okay, Tom, it works for me."

As Cassie and Jeff were leaving, Jimmy gave Cassie a hug, which the girls followed with their own. Poor Jeff looked at me. I don't think he was ready to hug me (it's a guy thing), so I stuck my hand out, and Jeff shook my hand and had a smile on his face.

Jeff ran out the door, and my kids ran to their rooms, leaving Cassie and me alone. I hugged Cassie, and I stole a kiss on her neck right below her ear. I felt a shudder run through her, and she hugged me a little tighter. As we ended our hug, Cassie's eyes seemed to sparkle. Cassie then wrapped her arms around my neck and gave me another kiss, one hell of a kiss.

I was taken by surprise. It was almost a hit-and-run. She started to leave, well, she tried to leave. I took her in my arms and again hugged her, and again, she turned her lips to me, and we kissed again. When we came up for air, she turned and left, and I closed the door.