The Proverb Stories: He Laughs Best Who Laughs Last

This is supposed to be a stand alone story, but can be seen as an unauthorised sequel to one of Just Plain Bob's stories, "Forget Living Well". JPB writes good stories, and I read most of them, but sometimes he goes far overboard. To use an innocent child as a tool for revenge on a cheating wife is not acceptable. In the case of "Forget living well" he does that, and doing so serves a good story idea on a platter. I hope you forgive me JPB, but you asked for it.

Many thanks to angel love for her editing skills and good advice once again.

*

Sitting on a bench in the park, I was watching my little girl running around chasing soap bubbles. I had a bittersweet smile on my face. I loved the little charmer, at the same time I hated her. It was now two years since my divorce, and two and a half years after the birth of Jane. I had born the pregnancy with joy, fully believing the little growing bud inside me was the result of hefty lovemaking between my husband Frank and myself.

In the delivery room after several hours labor, pushing the child out, hearing the strong wail from the new-born, I was relieved - another healthy child I hoped. Before cutting the cord, the midwife laid the infant to my chest and told me with a genuine smile that I had delivered a fine girl. I looked lovingly at her, but got the shock of my life, as I saw a baby with black hair, darker skin than to be expected, and clearly Negroid features. I fainted. You see Frank and myself are white, and I had never had sex with a black guy, or at least that was what I believed.

I shook my thoughts away, and looked at her again. Would I ever be able to tell her who her father is? Probably not.

As the last few Saturday mornings I saw the nice and handsome looking black guy coming hand in hand with the little boy Jane liked to play with. He was around three years old I would guess, pulling his fathers hand toward the playground, eager to join Jane in her play. Well into the playground he let go of his father and ran over to my girl, and together they chased the soap bubbles she made from her dispenser.

Unlike what he usually did, sitting down on a bench on the other side of the playground, he instead walked toward me.

"As our children are playing so well together" he said, "maybe we could chat a bit?" He reached out his hand, and said; "I'm Jacob, Jack for short, do you mind if I sit down next to you?"

"Of course not, your welcome," I replied, "and I'm Mandy by the way."

We had a very nice Saturday morning, watching our children play, and talking about all and nothing.

The bench we sat on became our meeting place, as every Saturday morning while our children played, we talked about our every day life and the small trivialities and sometime the more serious problems. You see, over the next few weeks, Jack told me bit by bit how he lost his wife in a car accident and how he tried to cope being a single parent for a small boy. I also learned that he was a lawyer, and spent long hours in his office and therefore must have a live in nanny for George, his son. The weekends he always tried to spend quality time with him, he was obviously a good father.

I in turn did the listening, and told very little about my problems, so that's why one day he turned toward me and said, "Mandy, I have told you a lot about myself and my situation. You have volunteered very little about yourself. I have gathered you are divorced, and that you are not all that happy about your present situation. I see sometimes a sad smile on your face when you look at your girl. Will you tell me a little about your problems? I suspect they are connected with her and her father, am I right?"

"I'm sorry if you feel I am holding back on you. Yes you are right, and I think it might be a good idea to tell somebody before I go crazy. But not here and not now. I have to compose myself and I need to be in a place without the children. I might cry a bit," I replied.

"OK," Jack said, "this is what we can do. One evening next week you bring over your daughter to my house and George's nanny can baby sit both of them. I will take you to a nice restaurant for dinner. The place I'm thinking about has a moderate background noise, and partly screened booths so we can have privacy and you can cry without making a scene. If you accept you can tell as much or as little as you choose, and I will promise to listen to you with an open mind."

"Thank you , that's kind of you. You just decide when, I'm always free after work and I know it sounds pathetic, I should have pulled myself together and started socializing a long time ago, but I haven't. I never go out."

"Very good, I will call you Monday morning after I have seen my week's work schedule, and found a suitable day. If you find that you do not want to tell me much, then at least I have succeeded to get you out one evening," he replied with a smile.

He called as promised Monday, and we had agreed on Wednesday. So Wednesday after work, when I told Jane that we should visit George in his house, she was ecstatic. She couldn't wait to get out of the door.

Standing outside Jack's house with Jane I was a bit nervous. This was not a date in its normal sense, but it was such a long time since I had been out dining in the company of a man. I had dressed demurely, but with style. When I had looked at myself in the mirror before leaving, I saw a lady I hadn't seen for some time, and I had said to myself: "Mandy, you are not bad looking. You can get yourself a man if you want to." But the sad thing is, I'm not ready - yet. With a sigh, I pushed the doorbell.

Jack opened the door, and after a brief pause exclaimed, "Wow, you are classy tonight. You are a beautiful woman. I'm already looking forward to be seen with you." He turned toward Jane and continued, "And you my girl, you will have a good time with George, and Maria will take good care of you while your Mom and I go out for a while."

After the children had settled in, we were off.

Jack was good on his promise. The place he took me to was busy and the table he had reserved was very sheltered. All the talking gave a background buzz making it impossible to overhear private conversations.

The waiter brought us two chilled glasses of Chardonnay, and Jack said, "I have taken the liberty to order the food and wine when I had the table reserved. We will start with a light seafood salad to accompany this wine, followed by breast of pheasant with which we will have a light Italian red wine, I hope you approve?"

"I'm sure it will be wonderful," I replied, "It looks like a very classy place. As you might understand, just being out one evening is a treat."

The waiter brought the food, and we started eating. Jack was very considerate, he did not press me to start my tale. So after a while I said to him, "For almost two and a half years, I have never had the opportunity to talk of what happened to me. Those who should have been there for me have rejected me and my friends disappeared." I made a pause. Jack sat still and did not say anything, waiting for me to continue.

"Most people will probably say it's all my own fault, and even you may think I behaved badly and deserved what happened. But Jack, if you do please do not prevent Jane to be friends with George because of me, I could not live with that." I looked pleadingly at him.

"No of course not," he replied. "I cannot foresee anything you have done could be so bad that I would take it out on her. Please continue. I will not judge, just listen."

I looked at him and said, "I like you Jack, and I'm beginning to feel you are a very good and considerate friend. I hope we can still be friends after I am through with my tale. I will not go into great details, but just try to give you a rough idea of what happened."

"I was married to Frank, we had two children together, a boy and a girl. Life was nice and Frank was a good father and husband. But at one point I got the urge to expand my sexual experience and I got myself a lover outside my marriage. What he does not know about, does not hurt. That kind of stupid thinking. My lover, Levin, worked in the same company as myself, and I brought him home to our house in the lunch hour. I must admit sometimes so often as two or three times a week. My husband must have discovered what was going on, but instead of confronting me with the fact, he plotted a revenge. He set up a trap so that the divorce he obviously wanted, would go in his favour." I sipped on my wine, collected my thoughts and continued:

"As I told you we had two children. I wanted another one. Frank did not agree and opposed. So when I stopped taking my pills to get pregnant, he started to use condoms. We fought over this for several months. I continued my affair with Levin, but made him use condoms also. It was Frank's child I wanted, not Levin's. So surprisingly, one day Frank came to me and handed me the condoms and said he gave in, I could have my baby."

I stopped talking, remembered the happy moment when I thought he loved me and wanted to give me another child. I did not for one second think about the obvious double moral I played with. It was unforgivable, thinking retrospectively.

I continued, "The strange thing was, however, that months passed and I did not conceive. That was rather strange, since I had no problems getting pregnant with the first two. So when I voiced my concern. Frank said we had to put more passion into it, making it into an adventure for fun, rather than thinking about me conceiving. He suggested role play, and playing out fantasies. That's what we did. I dressed in slutty clothing and went to bars. He came in pretending to be a stranger, picking me up and we went home to fuck and similar scenarios. Only when he suggested to pretend being somebody else did we succeed. He blindfolded me and said he was bringing in a friend to help get me pregnant. He wanted me to pretend he was a stranger, and said he was Don.

I got pregnant and was very happy. We stopped the role play and we made love more or less every night until only one month before the birth of our child. It was a good time - for me at least. This happiness lasted until the birth of Jane. Then the roof fell in. The baby was obviously not Frank's. He must have known all about my cheating, about the child being colored, but how I didn't understand then.

He sued for divorce claiming adultery with Levin and an unknown colored man, presented reports about my infidelity with Levin, voice tapes with me screaming "fuck me Don, your better than my husband" and similar outbursts." I stopped, cried silently, tears running down my cheeks.

I sobbed and continued, "Nobody, not even my lawyer believed me when I told them about Frank setting me up. The evidence presented by Frank was so overwhelming, and that coupled with his statement that my story about the blindfolding was a lie, was enough for the judge to rule in his favor. I got very little out of the divorce, and lost the custody of my children. I only have visitation rights. He makes it difficult for me to see them, and I know they miss me, because I was a good mother. He cannot take that away from me."

Jack looked with sympathy at me, stretched out his hands and took mine in his, then said, "Something went wrong and Levin got you pregnant after all."

"No, Levin is not Jane's father. He is white as well. No, my husband must really have had somebody unknown to do me with him, when he blindfolded me during the role play. Remember he said. 'I have asked a friend to help'. I thought this was just a part of the role play, and thought I was fucking him the whole time. And also understand Frank did not say in the court that I had accepted the help of his friend. He denied the whole time the blindfolding and role play. The mystery at the time was why did Frank not make me pregnant. But he told me that later, after the divorce. You see, when I go to his house to visit my other two children, he always makes comments to hurt me. And he laughs at me. He say things like, "how's your bastard doing" and similar comments. On one of these occasions he told me he had a vasectomy, which I didn't know anything about. He really set me up."

I smiled a weak smile at Jack, dried my eyes and said, "You must think I am a bad woman, and that I deserved the punishment Frank bestowed upon me.

"No, I don't," he replied. "I don't condone your cheating. You wronged him for sure. But his revenge or punishment was too extreme. He not only punished you, but he involved an innocent child and a family that had no part in it and others. What he did was uncalled for and I understand your sorrow and frustration."

"Thank you for your support," I said, "The worst part of it is, I will not be able to tell my girl who her father is, and why."

We completed our meal in almost silence. When Jack had paid and we left, I thanked him for listening to me and told him it was good for me to open up to somebody.

Next Saturday morning, a smiling Jack came with George as usual. We talked about our dinner while the children played, and he suggested we should meet one evening during the week. So for the next few months we went to dinners, concerts, movies, or just walks with a light snack thrown in. I grew fond of Jack and I valued him as a dear friend and a supportive significant other.

So one Saturday morning, sitting on our bench planning next week's activity, I said, "We have been out together each week for quite some time now, Jack. I enjoy your company. But you have more than me picked up the tab. I want very much to change that a bit. Could I cook you a meal in my flat next week?" I looked questioning at him.

"Of course you can. I'm already looking forward to be your guest," he replied.

It was so fun cooking for somebody again. It had been only me and my little girl at the table for so long that it felt like a lifetime. Of course, I am not a Gordon Blue cook, but not bad either. I prepared a nice meal and had bought a bottle of good red wine. While waiting anxiously for Jack to arrive, I put Jane to bed, and I dressed to kill.

I slipped on a short red skirt and a white silk blouse with the top two buttons undone. I did not put on a bra. I made all possible efforts to look sexy. When Jack arrived and I saw his expression, I knew I had succeeded.

During our meal, we chatted about our everyday life. While serving him I made sure he could look down my cleavage, sitting down I showed lots of leg, and to be quite honest I tried shamelessly to seduce him.

After the meal, sitting down with a cup of coffee next to him, I looked at him and said, "I have been alone for nearly four years now, and have not had any close contact with a man in that time." I paused, looked down and stammered, "It's difficult for me to say what I want to ask you, but please, can you stay? Do you need to go home tonight? I . . . I will not ask for any obligations, but can you stay?" I looked hopefully at him.

Jack didn't say anything, just folded his arms around me and hugged me. After a while he whispered in my ear: "Yes I can, but I have to call Maria first and say she cannot expect me home before tomorrow morning." He went to make his call.

My heart thumped in my chest. I was nervous as a teenager and paced up and down the room waiting. When he came back, I went straight for his embrace and we kissed hungrily. It was the longest and most intense kiss in my life and when we had to break off to get air, I pulled him toward the bedroom.

We undressed each other. I fought with his tie, his buttons and cufflinks. Finally I had his upper body naked,. My white hands stroked his dark brown chest, my fingers tickled his nipples. They were hard as marbles. He took my blouse off and his dark hands fondled my white breasts. He unhooked my skirt, and I pushed it down myself and stepped out of it. I unbuckled his belt and pulled down his trousers and briefs in one movement. His cock pointed upward, hard and with a glistening head. He pulled me up, lifted me and lowered me gently down on my bed.

"Be gentle, it's been such a long time ago," I whispered, and he replied by being just that, - gentle. His fingers played over my skin, trailing down the sides, fondling the breasts, his lips touched mine and his tongue entered my mouth. We kissed tenderly, and he let his lips travel down my cheek, then to the breasts where he let his tongue play with the nipples, then down the stomach to my pussy. I opened my legs to completely give myself to him. When his tongue went in between my nether lips I gushed as the first orgasm hit me. I pressed myself against his face and screamed, " OH MY GOD!!!! - - - IT'S SO GOOD!!!"

I pulled him upward and kissed him deeply, took hold of his cock and guided it toward my pussy. "I can't," he whispered, "I don't have any condoms."

"Yes you can," I replied. "I have wanted you for some time now, and I have started to take pills, please fuck me, I need it so badly," I begged.

I hadn't completed my plea before he pushed into me with a soft moan. He fucked me slowly and tenderly. I folded my legs over his back and pushed so his cock went all the way in, and held it there. My vaginal muscles massaged his cock lovingly. I hadn't forgotten how. It had been a long time without loving sex for both of us, so neither lasted long before we erupted in a shattering orgasm together.

Lying in each other arms, I whispered in his ears, "Can you forgive me? I wanted you so much and you never took any initiative. I won't ask for any commitment, but I would be happy if we could do this again."

"I would love to do this again. I treasure you, but I don't know for sure if I'm ready for a new relationship yet," he replied. "I value your friendship so highly I simply didn't take the risk, I was so afraid I would push you away. I don't dare to take the - L - word over my lips, but I have strong feelings for you. Yes Mandy, I want to make love to you again. The only promise I can make at this point is to be honest with you, not use you for my own good, and be your friend and lover if you want it."

That's what happened, we became lovers and enjoyed the company of each other at least one night every week, and life was starting to look good. The only outstanding question seemed to be, - who was Jane's father?

"Are you still anxious to know who is the father of your girl?" Jack asked one day.

"Yes, I am. Not only for myself, but to be able to give her a sensible answer when she asks one day, as she surely will," I replied.

"I know you will not let me pay for a private investigator to look into it. The outcome is uncertain and the cost can be high, so with your most probably limited funds, it would be a risky road to walk down." He paused and looked at me, and continued, "But I think I have a solution. Our law firm employs a small but good PI company from time to time. The owner came to me today and asked if I had anything for him. He had not much to do at the moment and had free time. I told him no, but thought about you and your problem. I mentioned I had a friend who might be interested in having his help. I told him briefly what it was about and asked him if he would in between jobs work on a 'no cure no pay' basis trying to find your girl's father. If he succeeded and found the father, you would be able to pay because the father would have to pay child support to you back dated to the birth of Jane. If he did not succeed, you do not pay anything. He said he would consider this. I suggest you get in touch with him Mandy and refer to my conversation with him."

"Do you think this is possible?" I asked. "I have some money saved, and even if the father could not pay anything, he might be dead, a bum or some other person without means. I can handle a not too high fixed amount. Yes I would like to try this, thank you."