A Bigger House

A Bigger House

There is no sex in this story. Sorry!

I don't know what bothered me the most; the fact that I was a failure as a husband or that I was a failure as a father. I don't know if I was depressed or just pissed off. It was a bit confusing, to say the least. I spent my whole life trying to make things better for my family and all I ended up doing was providing them with things and money. That just doesn't work. It quickly became very apparent that my only function was to keep the well full. I loved my wife and I loved my children. Please note that that was all past tense.

I have my own business; Enterprize Welding Associates. Terry Martin and I grew up together. We were best pals from grade school on up. Terry and I started the company right after we finished trade school, and it grew faster than we ever imagined. So technically I should say that 'we' have our own business. A few years later both of us married our High School sweethearts. Life was good.

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For the first fifteen years or so, everything was great. The company was doing well. Terry and I were both pulling down nice salaries and we had over thirty full-time employees. Terry, and his wife Myra, had three Sons. Allison and I had twins, a boy, and a girl. We both had modest-size MacMansions. We enjoyed dining out, nice vacations, and expensive cars.

Terry and I were very business orientated. The business came first. We figured out early on that it was important to keep our customers happy and our employees happy. A third of our best workers were ex-cons. We had hired them directly out of the prison trade school. In eight years only two of the ex-con workers turned out to be a problem, and it was quickly taken care of by the other cons. They had it good and were not going to let any deadbeats screw things up for them.

We supported several community programs and even sponsored a softball team.

Unfortunately, my home life did not fair as well. Somehow or another my wife became socially active with several progressive causes. I wasn't nuts about it, but she let me do my thing, so I let her do hers. Politics had never been a part of our family, but all of a sudden we started to have talks about current events and political things that were happening. I tried my best to avoid such discussions, but it was to no avail. The more I tuned her out or ignored her, the more determined she became. It was as if CNN and Fox News were playing at the same time. I started trying to avoid her, but it was difficult.

As my wife and I became more distant so did my children and I. I had tried for years to get my son Jacob interested in some type of activity. I didn't care if it was sports, hiking, or hunting and fishing. All he wanted to do was play video games, and, as I discovered later, enjoy a bit of marijuana now and then. All of my efforts were rejected and finally, my wife told me to just leave him alone and mind my own business. I would have put up more of a fight, but my son was smirking at me as she said it.

My daughter, Jordan, was a clone of her mother. She used to be daddy's little angel, but now she didn't even seem to recognize me as her father at all. I couldn't begin to count all the piercings that she had. Even though she was on birth control, it didn't keep her from getting the clap, twice. She loved to accompany her mother to all sorts of political gatherings and social meetings, but wouldn't even think of going with her father for ice cream or a pizza. I gave up trying with her also.

One of the biggest downhill slides came when I refused to donate company money to one of her causes. They wanted to provide needles to drug addicts so that they would not get infected by shared or dirty ones. Allison didn't talk to me for a week.

It was hard to envision that things could get worse.

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The company Christmas party was coming up. Terry and I insisted that Allison and Myrna take care of it. Myrna was more than happy, but she had to drag Allison kicking and screaming to help her.

Allison had been staying out more and more the past few months. She was also going on overnight trips to participate in various progressive functions. I don't know if they were protests, rallies, or seminars. It didn't matter. Jacob had progressed from grass to pills. I don't know what kind, but that didn't matter either. Jordan now had her own video cam website.

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Myrna did a great job on the Christmas party. She tried to share the credit with Allison, but Terry and I knew better. We did have beer and wine, but no hard stuff. We had a hundred percent employee participation. I think that the annual bonus checks had something to do with that. Allison and the kids were there, of course, but didn't seem to be enjoying themselves as much as everyone else. There was no sit-down meal, but there was plenty to eat.

"John! I need to talk to you for a minute." Terry was trying not to be conspicuous as we wandered over to the side.

"What's up?" I tried to keep it casual to put him at ease.

"Jorge Martinez needs to talk to you, but he is a bit anxious."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, he doesn't want to ruin the party and he doesn't want to piss you off, but he does feel that there is something that you need to know." Jorge was one of our ex-cons. He had been with us for six years and we didn't want to lose him.

"Okay! Bring him over. It isn't going to be a problem, is it?" Terry gave me a slight grimace.

Jorge and his wife, Elena seemed a bit anxious. I smiled and tried to appear casual to put them at ease. Terry quietly walked away.

"Mister Terrell, We don't want to cause any problems, but when my wife saw your wife today she felt that she had to say something. I tried to talk her out of it, but she insisted." I looked at his wife and nodded my head as a sign for her to continue. She looked at Jorge, gave him an elbow, and motioned for him to speak.

"Elena works at the Hampton Inn. She is in charge of housekeeping on the fifth floor and has been there for two years now. Your wife and a Mister Franklin, have been using room 511 once or twice a week for the last year. They usually only stay two or three hours and always in the same room."

I was speechless. I had a million questions, but I didn't think that now was the time or place to bring them up. Elena looked relieved that it was all out, but Jorge was very anxious because he could not figure out how I was going to react. I simply took his hand in both of mine, looked into his eyes, and said "Thank you." I smiled at Elena and motioned for both of them to return to the party. Jorge relaxed.

As I walked out, I passed by Terry. "Give Jorge a raise next month."

Kyle Franklin ran the Parking Authority for the city. I didn't know him well, but I did know that he was a civil servant for almost twenty years. He had aspirations to someday run for mayor. He was married to Nora Franklin, who owned one of the top real estate firms in the county. She was a good-looking woman and liked to put her ads on the side of the city buses. I wonder if she got a special rate.

I got a royal chewing out from my wife that evening for leaving the party early. The kids were not too happy either. I just smiled and went back to my reading. Mickey Spillane was still good reading after seventy years.

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On Monday morning, I was waiting comfortably in the Franklin Real Estate Office for Nora Franklin to arrive. The secretary had a pot of hot coffee going and I brought the 'Big Kill' with me. She sauntered in about ten, stopped, and paused for a moment to look at me. "I wondered when you were going to show up Mister Terrell. It took you long enough." I followed her into the office and took my coffee with me. I guess when you own the company you can make your own hours. Why didn't I think of that?

"John! Can I call you John?" I nodded approval to her.

"John, I am not going to rehash all of the drama. I just want to know what you are planning to do. I have a lot of irons in the fire and I don't want you to screw things up."

That was not what I was expecting. I had figured that I was going to be doing the great reveal. Boy, was I wrong!

"Ms. Franklin, it appears that I am way behind the power curve here. I didn't even figure it out for myself; I just got clued in by a friend. I have no idea what to do next and have no one to confide in or discuss it with. To be honest, I figured that you were unaware just as I was."

"John, I've known about it for over six months now. I guess I should have contacted you earlier, but I had a lot of things that I had to do and didn't want you screwing up the works by doing something rash. Oh, by the way, call me Nora."

"What do you mean 'something rash'?"

"Oh, you know! Like going Rambo on Kyle out in public. Maybe exposing them in some embarrassing manner. It is hard to tell what you macho men are going to do when something like this happens. I think it is a lot more effective if you approach it calmly."

"I never thought of myself as 'macho'."

"Well, anyhow. What are your plans? How can I help you?"

I slumped down in my chair and let out a big sigh. "I think we are going to need more time."

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Over the next two weeks, Nora Franklin and I became good friends. Nora had systematically been setting her husband up for the past few months. The IRS was very interested in his taxes. Nora had carefully kept her personal and business taxes separate from his. The state's attorney's office was looking into the way he was redirecting state funds meant for roads and transportation into other nondescript projects. The city was checking into his use of city funds for motel rentals and restaurant bills. What made it really interesting is that she was able to get all of them to cooperate in their investigations, so that they would all come together at nearly the same time. None of these efforts however were any help to my situation.

She did however set up a deal to sell her real estate business that I found interesting. I could make something like that work.

My big problem was the house and family. I no longer had a close relationship with my wife or either of my children. I hated to leave the business, but it would be necessary. Nora had that solution.

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About a month later, I announced that we were going to move to a new house. Allison's ears perked up, but all I got from the kids was a moan. They loved our MacMansion. Jordan got interested when I mentioned the pool and Jacob thought the three-car garage might be neat. The trip to look at the new house went well. It was twice the size of our present one and also cost more than twice as much. The kids each had their own bath. Allison commented on the fact that we didn't have enough furniture to properly fill the new place, but seemed happy when I told her she could get all new stuff. She loved the professional kitchen. To top it all off, I informed them that we would all be getting new cars. For once in many years, I was a great dad and husband.

Nora did a good job finding the new house for me. It only took two days for her to get all of the papers ready. When I informed Allison that Franklin Real Estate was handling the transaction for us, she grimaced a bit, but then seemed to resign herself to it. Nora already had a cash buyer for our old house.

I thought it was interesting to see my wife and my wife's lover's wife sitting down at the same table to sign the documents. There were no phony greetings; we just sat and started in on the papers.

The first stack to be signed took care of the sale of the old house. Allison and I both signed everything as it was presented by Nora and then notarized. We cleared four hundred and fifty thousand dollars on the sale and had it electronically deposited. Allison was feeling pretty good about things and was not paying attention; just signing.

The papers for the new house were next. Allison smiled when Nora mentioned that the price was nine hundred thousand dollars. She smiled again when I mentioned that I was putting the new house in her name for tax purposes. She thought that was a great idea. What she didn't notice, however, was that it wasn't a sales contract, but an option to buy. If she would have read the fine print she would have seen that the option was for one hundred and twenty days. If the actual purchase was not made by that time, the price would revert back to one million dollars and the forty thousand dollar option would be forfeited. I hated to lose the money, but it would be worth it in the long run.

After everything was signed and notarized Nora handed her the keys to her new house and congratulated her. It seemed sincere and I had a hard time keeping from laughing.

Allison was bubbling all the way home. She had not expected me to actually put the house in her name. She also didn't expect the ten thousand dollar gift card from our local high-end furniture store. Sometimes you have to spend money to make money.

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The next day was car day. Jacob opted for a Mustang, which I expected. Jordan surprised us all by picking a lime green KIA Soul. Allison went with a white Lexus. I explained to both of the kids the importance of getting their line of credit established. They seemed to understand and that made it easy to have both of their cars put in their names and of course fully financed. What they didn't think about was the fact that that also meant that somebody would be having to make car payments. I did the same thing with Allison's new Lexus. I put ninety days of insurance on each of the new vehicles. The total cash outlay for all three cars came to just under six hundred dollars. Most of that went to tags and titles. Another good investment on my part.

One week later we were all settled into our new home.

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The more that Nora and I worked together the closer we got. We were getting together daily. Sometimes I would be helping her on a project, and other times she would be helping me. We seemed to be getting very comfortable with each other. Terry was taking care of our welding business and Nora had enough staff to operate the real estate office. All of our efforts were directed toward the termination of our marriages. Nora was planning on waiting until Kyle had been brought up on charges by one of the organizations that were investigating him. She didn't know which one would get there first. She seemed to think that it didn't matter.

My situation was a bit different. Somewhere along the line, I decided that I didn't want to get a divorce. I had too much to lose, but I knew that I had to do something. I just wanted it to be all gone. Nora came to the rescue again.

"John, have you ever been to Aruba?"

"Just as a port of call while we were on a cruise, but I never actually stayed there."

"Did you like it?"

"I wasn't there long enough to make a decision. Why do you ask?"

"I have an option to buy a condo in Oranjestad West, for one million two. Would you be interested in something like that?"

"That might be a little tight for me. I probably don't need anything that elaborate."

"I was thinking that we could go half and half. I am sure that you could do that."

"I am sure that I could, but you have enough to handle it yourself. Why would you even think of including me in something like that?"

"Consider it a partnership; an investment so to speak. I imagine myself to be a shrew businesswoman. I like to use other people's money and besides I enjoy your company." That got my attention.

"Would a half million get me a buy-in?"

"I'll draw up the papers. There will be papers you know?"

"Absolutely!"

I found it amazing that I had agreed to live with a woman that I hadn't even had sex with. I was now more enthused about the whole project.

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Terry and Myrna were both fully aware of my problems with Allison and the kids. They were willing to help in any way that they could without being intrusive.

"Terry, I decided that I want to sell my half of the business to you and Myrna."

"That's real nice, John, but there is no way in hell that we can afford to buy you out. I'd like to, but you know that is not possible."

"How does a thousand dollars sound?"

"Do you want to explain that?"

"Terry, you don't need me to help you run the business. We both know that at this point it will almost run itself. I am going to leave soon, and it will all be on your shoulders. You will be the sole proprietor and you will make all the decisions. All you have to do is call me periodically on a consulting basis."

"Ahh! I see, said the blind man. And I suppose that there will be a consultation fee attached to that phone call?" said Terry smiling.

"Think of it as sort of a life annuity. Don't worry too much about it. Just make it easy on yourself."

We had our company lawyer draw up all the papers needed. Terry and Myrna were a little concerned that I was screwing myself, but I assured them that I had it covered. It was nice to have a friend that you could trust.

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It seems funny but I never bothered to verify Allison's affair with Kyle. I never felt the need to get incriminating photos, e-mails, or phone messages. I wouldn't need them. I was not going to get a divorce. I was going to do what twenty-one percent of deadbeat dads do; just leave.

Two weeks later, Kyle Franklin was arrested. I don't even know who got the honors. He wasn't a big-time crook or embezzler. He was just a small civil servant who had his hands in too many pots and screwed around with my wife. Nora and I were long gone before all the dirt came out. She had sold her company along with thirty-two rental properties and three apartment buildings. She was set for life. I was her designated 'boy toy'. That was how she referred to me, and I didn't find it offensive. We did get to consummate our relationship after arriving in Aruba but never did go through any kind of courting phase. It was like it was all agreed to beforehand.

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I did not miss my kids. Does that make me a bad dad? Under the circumstances, I do not think so. I did not miss my wife. Does that make me a bad husband? I don't think so.

Nora became a regular golfer. She tried to get me interested, but there was no spark. She had a regular bunch of girls that she played with three days a week. We got together with them and a dozen other ex-pats several times a week to socialize. I adapted to that very quickly. It was a new carefree lifestyle, and it was truly enjoyable.

I decided to take up painting to fill my time. I always wanted to do that. Every morning, I would wander down to the docks and set up my easel. I really sucked at it. I would get back to the condo later, and the first thing that I did was scrape off all the paint on the canvas so that I could start over the next day. It has been three months now, and I still don't have anything to show for it. Nora thinks that it is quite funny.

I had been avoiding contact with anybody, but I felt that I should call Terry.

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"John! It's about time. I was beginning to give up on you. Are you settled in yet?"

"Settled in and feeling better than ever. It was the best decision that I ever made." For the next ten minutes, we chatted about my new life in Aruba with Nora. I had no trouble convincing Terry to bring Myrna down for a week or two. The business was doing well. Terry apologized for not forwarding any consultation checks, but I neglected to give him an address or a bank account number. I didn't need the money anyway.

"Terry, I hate to bring it up, but can you update me on the status of my wife and family?"

"I don't know everything, but I'll give what I can. Things don't seem to be going well without you. First of all, Jacob has been arrested. He got busted with a couple of hundred pounds of fentanyl in the trunk of his car, The car was of course confiscated and since he was now over eighteen, he was locked up. Allison couldn't get him out on bail. Don't know anything else about that."