Never Gonna Give You Up

Again, I'd like to thank kenjisato for great editing and my lunchtime friends for their input. If you find any mistakes, it

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s probably something I did after editing.

Active sexual activity only involves characters over the age of eighteen. Any similarities to persons, living or dead, are coincidental, I think.

For literary effect, I used the idea of hypnotic mind control, I don

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t know if it is real, but this is a fiction story, so I am using it. I know it could be a Loving Wives story, but I felt the renewing of the love they had and the kids deserved it being Romance. Instead of BTB, I wanted it to be a Burn the Interloper story.

NEVER GONNA GIVE YOU UP.

Reconciliation after mind control interferes.

My name is Daniel James Gray, Dan. I was the typical husband, nose to the grindstone, providing for my family's needs, but not attuned to my wife, Denise's, needs. A kiss, goodnight, and a hug when I fell into bed exhausted from working two jobs was not enough. The wife worked, and we had three children, two girls, Ruth and Hope, from her first marriage and one together, a son, James, Jimmy. I had been married before also, but no kids. We lived in Scottsdale, Arizona, at the time.

My mistake was not seeing to Denise's emotional needs, and Denise's mistake was sharing her frustration with a predator, Ralph Donnola, at work. The son-of-a-bitch began to chat Denise up; he knew all the lines to use. He convinced her he was a better man for her, and before I knew it, I was living with my widowed stepmother. I wondered just how he was able to do that.

I asked for marriage counseling; Ralph somehow 'talked' Denise out of it.

I lost my main job due to being accused of abusing my son! I was sure Ralph had somehow orchestrated the accusation.

I ended up having a mental breakdown and losing my job.

He had Denise liquidate all our accounts to cash, so I could not pay the mortgage on the house, it was foreclosed on. I had to buy a car; we only had a Honda Civic wagon and a motorcycle, I was riding the motorcycle, so I had to cash in some retirement funds to buy a car, just so I could visit with my three-year-old son.

About a year after the divorce, I thought I had found love again-- Julie, and was married for a short time, eight months! It was just a rebound marriage and a marriage of convenience. It did not last long; in fact, it started to be over after Jimmy's twelfth-weekend visit, at six months.

The new wife did not like the attention I gave my son when he was visiting. I was working, but getting underpaid for my experience, so I was treading water until a new job came along. Luckily, we had a 'boilerplate prenup'-- "What's yours is yours, and what's mine is mine." I moved back in with my mom (stepmom).

Mom died in her sleep about a month after divorce number three was final; it was after a wonderful visit she had with Jimmy, and I was so glad he got to see Grandma in such a happy state of mind. I inherited mom's big-ass, all-paid-for, five-bedroom house; it was in East Tempe, within biking distance of where Denise lived.

I got a new job in Yuma, where I was the Western Arizona sales manager. I was back to making a better wage than I did before I lost my previous job. I was living two hundred miles away, and I was renting mom's house out. With removable walls, I was able to rent it as a duplex.

When Jimmy was almost ten, Denise's marriage to the son of a bitch failed, BIG TIME! He was not the white knight he had told her he was when he was indoctrinating her. Believe it or not, HE was abusive to all three kids and my ex-wife. He pushed Denise down the stairs! When he got arrested for kiddie porn (child pornography), Denise pulled the plug on him.

Just before her divorce, Denise sent Jimmy to me. Jimmy told his mom that he wanted to stay with me. That helped because Ralph and Denise lost the house they had. Denise's oldest daughter, Ruth, had joined the Navy, and Denise's other daughter, Hope, was bouncing between her father and grandparents, so at least the kids did not have to witness the fights and court visits, cops at the door, etc. at the end of that marriage.

Denise moved into an apartment in West Mesa, she was now closer to my house.

My job required me to travel every other weekend (well, every other Friday) to the Phoenix metropolitan area, my former home area, so I would take Jimmy with me for his visit with his mother. With my new job, I was making good money and putting it away, then with no child support to pay.

Because Jimmy was smart, I was able to take him out of school every other Friday, and we would return Sunday night. I worked it out with his teachers that he would pick up his assignments on Thursday and do them in the truck as we drove the two hundred miles there and the two hundred miles back on Sunday. I would have three to four sales calls on Friday and, if needed, on Saturday, too. I would stay with my best friend Bill and his second wife; we had been friends for years and roommates during both our first divorces.

I had my truck set up as an office-away-from-my-office. I had captain chairs in the front, and the front passenger captain chair could fold down to form a desk. WIFI access was then a thing, so if I could find a signal to latch on to... I was on the World Wide Web! Sometimes, I would rent a hotel room just so I could use the WIFI. When Bill got WIFI, I paid for it. It was all expensed out. When I could, if I had to, I could sit outside a business (hotel, restaurant, etc.) and use their free WIFI; when I did, it cut my response time on orders and bids. When cell phones became hot spots, I became an internet "guru," "enthusiast" or "techie even." My sales increased yearly; in one year, my sales increased by thirty-five percent!

As both my ex, Denise, and I were single, I would politely ask Denise to dinner with Jimmy and me on Thursday evening. One time, Jimmy arranged to meet friends who drove up with their parents from Yuma to Mesa. So, it was just Denise and me; just two people having dinner together.

When I pulled up to her apartment after dinner, Denise said, "Can we just sit and talk out here." I had oldies playing softly (well, by today's standard) on my radio (oh, I had all the sound connections I needed in my truck).

Before Denise could speak, 'our' song came on-- Rick Astley's 'Never Gonna Give You Up'; that cheesy song from the 1980s that became 'rickroll', we loved it. Without thinking, I started to sing along with Rick Astley; I had my eyes closed, remembering what our lives were like when we were together. Without thinking, I belted out the 'rickroll' chorus!

...Never gonna give you up

Never gonna let you down

Never gonna run around and desert you

Never gonna make you cry

Never gonna say goodbye

Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you...

When the song ended, I looked at Denise, she was crying a full waterfall and snot was flowing; luckily, I had tissues in my truck.

Denise said, "What a perfect song for what I want to talk about with you.

"Daniel, I have been a fool. When we divorced, it was like I was under Ralph's spell. He said all the right things,

I think?

But he was all talk and no action. He was not even a good lover. All the stuff he did to woo me, he never followed through when we married. It became his way or no way. I was so embarrassed that I had lost you. Both Hope and Jimmy rebelled, and Ralph was so angered by the way Jimmy bragged about his time with you, that he would try to make every bruise

and late pick-up or drop-off

of Jimmy worse. When Jimmy broke his leg while he was at your house, Ralph went insane, trying to blame you. When the police cleared you and your babysitter, I thought he was going to have an aneurysm.

"Then the night he came home, all beat up, and again, the police cleared you."

I said, "I had nothing to do with it, but I might know who did it. And no, it wasn't any friends of mine per se... Since it is past the statute of limitations, I can tell you... it was your brother and a couple of his friends."

"I did enjoy being interviewed by the police; I got to hear about his injuries. It was all I could do to keep from laughing! Since I had an iron-clad alibi. I was with Jimmy at an open house at the brand-new police station. He wanted to see the police equipment so bad, he made me take him to the library before, so he could learn the right names. And the cops remembered Jimmy and me. Thank God, Jimmy asked so many questions!

"Daniel, is there any chance we could be at least friends again?"

"Denise, you hurt me deeply. I know we had problems, but what you did... it was like you were a different person.' It seemed to happen so quickly."

"Daniel, I am going to counseling, I would like you to come with me sometime. My counselor has interviewed most of my family and some of my friends, she wants to interview you."

My thoughts on seeing her counselor were that it would be a good thing to help Jimmy and my stepdaughters, Ruth and Hope if their mom and 'dad' were at least friendly.

* * *

Dr. Joyce explained to me that there might be a legal situation that would not involve me, other than a witness or petitioner, the interview was quite in-depth.

A week after that interview, Denise invited me to meet her in Dr Joyce's office again. I took two days off.

What I saw and heard shocked me. The 'why' Denise was

'

a 'different person' came out-- HYPNOTIC MIND CONTROL! To be honest, my mind was thinking,

Bullshit

,

but this could help my son and

'

daughters

'

so I will play along.

Before we divorced, Denise had wanted to try hypnosis to help her lose weight.

It was Ralph, who gave her the number of a hypnotherapist. When Denise visited the hypnotherapist, Ralph posed as her 'friend from work,' and the therapist allowed Ralph to use post-hypnotic suggestions to supposedly help her with her weight loss since he would be seeing her at work five days a week. Ralph, instead, used this knowledge to slowly put hypnotic suggestions in her mind that caused her to become estranged from me and look to him for her emotional, which later became physical, support.

I was shocked.

Remember, I thought it was

,

at first,

'

Bullshit!

'

Dr. Joyce showed me the medical papers supporting the studies on the mind-control method that Ralph had used.

Dr Joyce told us the police needed to be involved. (As we know, counselors are mandated reporters when it comes to many kinds of abuse.) We were interviewed the next day in Dr. Joyce's office by both the police and an Assistant District Attorney. The ADA moved the meeting to the District Attorney's office as soon as the ADA understood the severity and was able to draw up charges.

Things got real; the hypnotherapist was given full immunity for her testimony, our divorce attorneys were brought in, depositions were taken, my lawyer prepared lawsuits against Ralph, and so did Denise's. The District Attorney had several indictments to file against good ol' Ralph.

Since there was no statute of limitations for rape or sexual assault in Arizona, the DA was going to charge Ralph's actions as sexual assault, the same as using a roofie. Right, I was not a legal scholar, but it seemed to me, it would be an uphill battle since she had married him. The District Attorney had a battle plan. I could not believe all of the witnesses (psychologists, psychiatrists) who backed up the charges. What the DA also found out-- good ol' Ralph was involved in the 'sex trade'.

He was part owner in a network of massage parlors, some legitimate, but most were not. Basically, a customer paid a 'membership fee', which was really an ownership buy-in. It was a way to keep 'members' quiet. The network kept the women moving from one parlor to another, all over the state, from the Mexican border to the truck stops on Interstate 40. Many of the owners were basically men who bought a membership, used the services for a short time, and then became inactive. Ralph was an active member of the network. When Denise found out, she went straight to her gynecologist and had a full STD scan. It turned out Ralph had brought an STD home, luckily for Denise, it was caught very early, and she was given treatment to stamp it out!

The last hearing on Ralph's child pornography case was coming up soon; it had been a little over three years since he had been arrested, there was no statute of limitations for child pornography either, and he had a plea deal in the works.

Both Denise and I attended the hearing. When Ralph entered the courtroom, he immediately talked to his attorney. The attorney looked at me; I had a big-ass smile. We did find out the plea deal was nothing more than community service since it was a first-time offense. One thing was that Ralph had to swear that he had not committed any other crimes in the last ten years.

Funny thing, our divorce was about seven years before, one reason why I was wearing my big-ass smile.

The judge gaveled the court into session. The Assistant District Attorney asked if the District Attorney himself could address the court. Ralph's Attorney stood up to object, and the Judge told him to sit down, saying, "Overruled."

"Your Honor, I have the defendant's sworn statement that he has not committed any other crimes than what was revealed during the plea deal negotiations. Your Honor, we have found several alleged crimes he has committed on his now ex-wife and stepchildren during and before their marriage, all within the plea deal's time parameters, the last ten years!"

My big-ass smile got bigger.

The District Attorney somehow convinced Ralph and his attorney to settle the civil lawsuits that Denise and I filed against him. Ralph's plea deal was rescinded, and a new one was then reached-- Ralph would serve some time.

Ralph lost his retirement savings (which couldn't happen to a nicer guy).

Denise and I started to go to counseling together. It did not mean we would get back together; I was doing it so Denise could become whole again and for the kids.

We seemed to have a standing 'date' on Thursday evenings. I would drive the two hundred miles to drop Jimmy off with his sister, then Denise and I would go to the counseling appointment, and get something to eat after. It was during these impromptu meals that we talked. We discussed many things that we never discussed while married. From Denise's counseling sessions, we found out a lot about each other we hadn't known, even after six years of marriage!

Denise had grown up in several mobile homes, and she was always afraid that the mobile home would be towed away someday. She had a fear of being homeless; those issues led to a form of PTSD, which was why she picked the wrong men. Denise said I was not one of her wrong men, she just hadn't realized it.

I was a house without wheels

! She was not used to it, pure and simple.

Ralph

was

a house with wheels

.

I also found out I had a form of PTSD. Having lost my mother at birth, I had abandonment issues, and my dad had never stopped grieving for her. I was always exposed to it, and losing any family member, any friend, or whenever I broke up with a girlfriend, exacerbated it. It was no wonder I lost it when Denise and I divorced!

It also led to my unnatural fear of hospitals.

What a pair we were.

Denise and I decided to do what we didn't do those years ago-- we started marriage counseling with Dr. Joyce.

At our first appointment with Dr. Joyce, she set down rules if we should meet outside the office, other than picking up and dropping off Jimmy.

We could only call each other once every two days unless there was an emergency; we were allowed one dinner meeting a week; we could write to each other all we wanted; no sex! And no romantic kissing.

Dr. Joyce told us we had to make lists-- one for our happy things, and one for our saddest things.

My Happy Things list:

When I met Denise, The first time Denise and I made love, When she said yes, When we married, When Denise was hired at her job, Becoming a stepfather, Being told, I would be a father, When Jimmy was born, When I was hired at my current job, Camping with the family, When I saw Ralph's picture in the paper in the story about his child pornography case.

My Sad things list:

The fear I felt when Denise told me she was pregnant (since my mother died in my birth), Jimmy's first birthday when I was in the hospital, and Denise still had the party, When I was thrown out of the house, When the divorce was final. The day my dad died, On the day after my dad died, When I had to tell Jimmy his grandpa was in heaven, Being treated as a second-class parent at Jimmy's birthday parties after the divorce, When I was accused of abusing Jimmy, When I lost my job because of being accused of child abuse (of Jimmy), Not being able to see my stepdaughters, Seeing Denise with Ralph, The divorce from my first wife, The divorce from my third wife,

Denise

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s Happy Things List:

When I met Daniel, Daniel pulled me out of the life I was living at the time., When Daniel asked the girls and me to move into his house, When Daniel asked me to marry him, Our wedding, When we got married and went to the college football game as a reception, Jimmy's birth, Seeing the love Daniel had for my girls, Being able to give Daniel a son, Doing things with Daniel as a family, Sending Jimmy to live with Daniel when Ralph and I were divorcing, When I was free of Ralph.

Denise

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s Sad things list:

Divorcing and running from first husband, When her dad died, When Daniel seemed to be too busy to be at home, When Daniel did not understand I needed more of him, Having strange feelings that Daniel did not love me enough to stay home, The look Daniel had whenever he saw Ralph and I together, The hate that Ralph showed toward Daniel, The fights that Ralph and I had were worse than the arguments Daniel and I had, Letting Ralph dishonor Daniel to Jimmy, Feeling trapped before I met Daniel, the man I was seeing before Daniel was later arrested for sex trafficking. I could have been one of his 'women.'

We exchanged lists.

Denise did not realize how hurt I was over her holding Jimmy's birthday party while I was in the hospital. First birthdays are for the parents; the kid doesn't know it is his birthday.

I did not realize how I hurt Denise was that I worked too much; I was oblivious.

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

Six months after Denise and I started counseling, I received a promotion with a big pay raise, and I was the regional sales manager. I was now managing all the 'Four Corners' states-- Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado-- plus Nevada and west Texas.

Both my tenants moved, so I removed the walls and moved back into my house. My office would be located near my house. With less travel!

Denise and I began to have a scheduled dinner whenever I dropped Jimmy off.

Because the house was paid for, I had extra cash; no mortgage, no rent. With the pay raise, I got myself a hot tub for my home and I bought a Winnebago motorhome that could sleep six for vacations. Why six? Because I could!

One night, Denise and I were finishing up dinner at her home, and Jimmy had taken off to allegedly see a friend.

My oldest stepdaughter, Ruth, showed up with a young man in a Navy uniform; she shoved her left hand in our faces-- she had an engagement ring on. She looked at me, and said, "Good, this saves me a trip to your house, Dad, will you walk me down the aisle and give me away?"

She had not called me dad in years. I was ready to cry.