Jordan - His Story

This story was inspired by a case of a couple that I read about on a blog. The story is told from multiple perspectives.

I originally posted the start of it in several parts but have decided to amalgamate it all into one giant part - so here it is.

Hope that some of you enjoy the story. If you don't, that's okay, move on to something else, just don't bother leaving insulting comments; I will only delete them. I do invite constructive criticism. I'm working to become a better writer; but I must say it's a challenge. Writing dialogue is my weak spot.

All the characters and names are fictional and not based on any real people.

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Jordan

Okay, where do I begin. I'll start with myself. My name is Jordan Kennedy. I'm 34 years old. I'm an architect, and I design both small and large buildings used for commercial, educational and residential purposes. I'm about 6 feet tall, I weigh in at about 170 pounds

I studied civil engineering at university and became so interested in the design of those things that I was learning to build, that I went back to school and got a degree in architecture. I really love my work. It gets me up and out of bed early in the morning and out the door. It's not just a job, it's a passion that I look forward to doing every day. I'm constantly challenged by new and interesting situations and enjoy figuring out design problems and making solutions that work. Innovative solutions to design and engineering challenges are what is going to help make out planet energy efficient in the future. It pays good too. I get paid extremely well, over $200,000 a year and when I exceed our goals, I get healthy bonuses that almost match my salary.

My older brother, William Kennedy, is a corporate lawyer. He specializes in making companies more efficient and profitable. He and his wife Charlotte have seven children. They have a blended family; it's a second marriage for both but they have all the kids with them. My brothers first marriage ended badly when his wife left him to have affairs with other men. He hung on, trying to avoid a divorce, for as long as he could because of the children but there are limits, and he eventually found his. He and Charlotte, and the large bunch of kids they have, are very happy now. They built a cottage at a lake and they all look forward to spending the summer there. I've been there and it's a beautiful place.

My wife is Emily Abernathy. She is also 34 years old and a lawyer. She works for a mid-size firm that employs just under two hundred lawyers. The firm is in three cities: Dallas, Phoenix and Santa Fe. We live in Dallas. They're relatively small-time players in the big law firm world but are growing every year. Emily started out in the business law part of the firm but did a rotation in the other departments: criminal law, environmental law, civil litigation and finally family law. When she did the family law rotation she would come home with stories of wives and husbands that would fight like savages over the most ridiculous and trivial of things; their hate for each other compelled them to stupidities that boggled the imagination and defied logic. That was the minefield-laden world of divorce.

Emily is about 5 foot 10 inches tall with red hair from her Irish heritage and the fiery temper to match. Her eyes are hazel and can look through me like laser beams without so much as a hesitation. She is slim and while her breasts are not large, they are just perfect to me. They would fill a champagne glass and with a slight upturn. Not bad for a woman that has had two babies. Yes, we have children. Two little girls aged 7 and 5. Rebecca and Alexandra (Becca an Alex). Those two little charmers have me firmly wrapped around their little fingers. They command my attention and efforts and I willingly will do for them whatever I think needs to be done. I will take a bullet for my family.

Emily and I met in university. We dated our senior years and married just after I got the first job with the engineering company. She had gotten into law school and we struggled during those early years to make ends meet. But we did. And we even managed to do it without a lot of student debt. After Emily graduated law school, I went back to school and studied architecture. The engineering firm that I worked for was paying half the shot on the agreement that I agreed to work for them for at least three years after I graduated. I've stayed with the company and have done well by the arrangement.

Things, overall, were looking good for us. We bought a house in a very nice part of Dallas/Fort Worth. It has four bedrooms and three and a half bathrooms. It's a colonial design, isn't huge, but it's all the house we need and even has a small pool in the backyard. We live in a family-oriented neighbourhood and there are good schools for the kids nearby.

I love my wife. She is beautiful, smart, talented, resourceful, incredibly sexy, extremely independent, has a great sense of humour and I love her to the end of the earth. She's a very classy and elegant woman who has gotten even more beautiful with each passing year. Maybe that's the problem. I'm pretty sure that she has been having affairs with other men for the last few years since she went to work at the law firm.

Emily has been discreet and very careful about who she has been having an affair with and makes sure that it doesn't spill over onto our marriage or family. You might be wondering how I know all this. I didn't just suddenly find out one day, if that is what you're thinking. No, I found out over a lengthy period when there were small, almost insignificant, signs that something was amiss. Travel schedules, late night meetings, business dinners. All those things that I had come to expect of her work. But there were the subtle things. Lack of interest in our sex life to the point that we were only doing it once or twice a month. When we were first together it was almost every night. Initially I figured it was because of having two children and the pressure of our work schedules. But then she would come home from work with a big smile on her face and traces of the look that she would have after we had made love. Work doesn't give you that look. I figured that she was getting satisfaction somewhere else, other than from me. And there were lots of other little signs. You just have to look for them. Sometimes you need help.

Is it always the husband that is the last to know? I'm not sure. An investigator can often help find out the truth. I somehow regretted using one to confirm my suspicions. When I had proof that she was having an affair with another lawyer; a single guy about five years younger than her, I was sure that I was going to confront her and do something about it.

I went to a lawyer that specializes in divorce cases and she and I had a long hard talk. I gave her all the details of our lives and even took with me a list of our assets and debts. I wanted to do something about Emily's infidelity. And then my lawyer educated me about a few of the realities of divorce.

Margaret Collins is my lawyer and she listened with a sympathetic ear to my case, and then she offered her advice.

"Jordan, I wouldn't be worth the money you're going to pay me, if I didn't tell you the absolute truth about divorce. Nobody wins!" She said those words with a clear and emphatic tone. The look on her face, with her eyebrows slightly arched and her eyes wide, told me that she was likely telling me a hard-learned truth.

"Now, if you really want to get a divorce you can certainly do that. Texas is a 50/50 state. But since you have kids and you make a bit more than your wife, you can expect the court to lift a chunk of money out of your pocket every year until your two daughters finish university. That and the court will likely want you to pay money to your wife as alimony until she makes as much or more than you do every year. That, and you can say goodbye to living in the house that you bought. Do you really want to reward her, indeed pay her, for her infidelity?"

There it was. The bold-face truth of divorce. She screws around and I get screwed. What the fuck is that all about?

"Jordan, let me propose to you an alternative."

"What are you talking about Margaret?"

"What I'm talking about is an alternative to getting hauled through the court system merely to lose financially, emotionally and likely the ability to see your children on a regular basis. First let me ask you this; do you love your daughters?"

"Oh Jesus, yes, they're the most important thing in my life."

"Jordan, do you want to see your daughters more than every other weekend and every other holiday?"

"Of course, I do."

"Jordan, do you love your wife? Put aside that you think she is having an affair with another man. That's hard to do, I know, but you're a smart guy and I think you can compartmentalize this for now so that we can explore an option for you."

I thought for a moment about Emily and our life together. "Yes, I do love my wife, or at least I thought I did."

"Do you want your wife back; I mean, for her to stop her affair with this guy?"

"Yes, I do."

"Okay, then here is what I'm recommending you do. Tonight, you're going to go home and pretend that you didn't come here to see me. You're going to hug your daughters and play with them. When you see your wife, you're going to give her a hug and a kiss and act as if everything is just fine. You're going to forget that you ever had any thoughts about divorce and you're going to go about your life, secure in the knowledge that your life could be a shit-ton worse. You could be living alone and most days eating your supper alone. You could be lonely and miserable. When you cozy up to your wife in bed appreciate the fact that the woman that you're married to is in the bed next to you, your daughters are just down the hall in their beds and that you are not calling an apartment or another house, someplace else, home, all by yourself."

"What the fuck? Are you telling me to just forget that my wife is having an affair?"

"My advice, as your lawyer, is to take into consideration your best interests here. That's the high-value target that you need to keep in mind. If you want to keep your children close, and in the same house as you, right now, this is the best way to do that."

I couldn't believe that I was paying my lawyer to talk me out of getting a divorce from a cheating wife. "But Emily is the one doing the cheating, shouldn't she pay in some way?"

"Jordan, this is 2015, not 1915. The courts are so not interested in justice when it comes to marriage breakdown. Because almost half of marriages end in divorce, the courts are only interested in rubber-stamping whatever agreement that you and your wife make to end your marriage. That's about it. The courts don't care about you or fidelity of cheating wives and husbands. The courts only care about getting files closed and out the door. So, go home, have a drink, enjoy your life and forget the fact that your wife has a lover. Hell, if you really want to, get a lover yourself. I mean why not; you have nothing to lose. Even if she finds out she can't do a thing about it without tipping her hand that she has a lover."

Margaret sat back in her chair and was smiling as she said all this. I sat for a moment to let it all sink in.

Do nothing. That was the solution to Emily's infidelity.

"Also remember that your wife is a lawyer too, and she knows divorce law in Texas. She does have some ability and resources to oppose you if you initiate a divorce proceeding. I'm going to assume that she will want to fight to keep your daughters with her. So, if you're smart don't do it."

Margaret got up from her desk to let me know that there was really nothing more that she could tell me.

"Jordan, if you need me, by all means, don't be afraid to call me. But really, the best thing for you to do, is to do nothing. Go back to work and then tonight, go home, enjoy your children, and then screw your wife silly. Get aggressive with her, let her know who's the boss. Trust me, you'll get rid of a lot of your frustrations and you'll feel a lot better after. When was the last time that you had sex with her?"

I was stunned. I slowly got up and shook hands with Margaret and made my way to my car. What the hell was that?

It's amazing that I got back to my office since I couldn't remember driving there. I needed to hide from people for the day to think about the crazy-ass advice my lawyer had offered.

At the company, our workspace is all open concept, designed to have team members near each other, so there is not a lot of privacy or quiet space. I got myself a cup of coffee and headed off to an empty conference room to collect my thoughts and plan my way ahead.

One of our draftsmen, a young woman, Jacqueline Ryan, we all called her Jacq, came by and could see the look on my face. "Jordan, are you okay? You look like you have a problem. Is there anything I can help with?"

"Oh, Hi Jacq. I'm okay, just have a lot to think about. It has nothing to do with our project."

She could see my dejected look. "If you need anything just let me know. I'm going to meet with the engineers later today to talk about the electrical system; I need to get the specs from them so that I can get the conduit chases sorted out." I nodded.

We were designing a new building for a university that would house the business department. It was being designed to meet environmental LEED standards and ultimately reduce the carbon footprint of the building and the impact that it would have on the environment. In the foyer of the building there would be a 'living wall' of vegetation that would help remove pollution from the air and generate oxygen improving the quality of environment inside the building. As well the building would be heated and cooled through geothermal systems; ground water from deep holes dug beneath the building. Solar panels would adorn the roof and the windows are designed to both capture and reflect the sun depending on the needs and temperature.

We were looking at cleverly integrating wind turbines at the top of the building to take advantage of the wind up high but hadn't quite figured that out yet. The zoning bylaws didn't allow wind turbines in the city yet, so we needed to come up with something that captured the wind but did it without big giant blades turning in the air. The design was not cheap, and the construction would be a challenge. But then again, this was the way ahead for public spaces. One of my challenges was to design a building that could be easily modified and upgraded in twenty or thirty years when technology has advanced and there are even better, more efficient ways, to use this building.

Right now my work was not what was occupying my thoughts. I sat with my cup of coffee and mulled over what Margaret had said. I kept coming back to the two things that were my biggest issues. First was that my wife was having an affair with another man. Was I a failure as a husband? Why did she need to get her sexual satisfaction from another man? Was I not enough for her? My confidence as a husband and a man was under attack. I was angry at Emily. Really fucking angry. It made my blood boil when I thought of her with another man. I loved that woman. Hell, I still love her. Could I get past this if she stopped?

My second thought was about my children. I desperately wanted to keep my children. I did not want to ba a part-time father. If I were to leave the house, or kick Emily out of the house, it would have a big impact on the kids. They would be without one of their parents. I might suffer, or Emily might suffer, but the kids would suffer the most. I didn't want that. My first concern was to make very sure that the kids didn't get caught in the crossfire from a divorce. One that could get nasty if we decided to fight over little shit. I wanted to keep my children. That was the thing that drove everything else that I did. I would put up with a lot for my children. But how long could I tolerate Emily's cheating in order to make sure that I kept my kids?

I made up my mind that I had a couple of things to do in the coming weeks. I needed to go slowly in my planning, and if I confronted her, would it precipitate a separation and affect the kids, or could we work through it?

Margaret had advised me to do nothing. Well, not really nothing. She suggested that I needed to go home and fuck my wife. Not make love to my wife; fuck my wife. Not fuck her around, either. There is a difference. I had built up a bunch of anger over this whole thing and my desire to do just that was increasing. I needed a good fuck and she owed me.

The second thing was to spend more time with the kids. I needed to make very sure that the kids were happy; they're little and for them happiness is easy. I needed to be with them more, play more with them, to be a bigger part of their lives, not just today of for the next few days. I resolved to spend more time, and better-quality time, with them. I would need to rearrange my work schedule; work had indeed infringed on family over the last few years. That needed to be fixed. It might mean doing a couple hours of work late at night after the kids were in bed and I had spent time with my wife.

Emily had her own demanding schedule. As a corporate law attorney, she had several clients that demanded her attentions and consequently she put in long hours at work. Some weeks it was difficult for us to even be together as a family for a meal. Maybe this was one of the reasons that she was having an affair; we were never together as a couple. I couldn't remember the last time we had a night out together. That's sad. That had to be fixed. If I wanted to keep my wife, I needed to reconnect with her, and soon, before I lost her; if I hadn't already.

It was mid-afternoon before I was able to get back to thinking about work. I went to see Ken, my boss. I had to confide somewhat in him, and tell him that I needed some flexibility to organize my time at work so that I would be able to attend to the kids more than I had been doing.

Ken looked at me, "Are you okay Jordan? What's going on?" He could tell by the look on my face that all was not well with me. "You know that whatever you tell me stays between us. If you need something right now whatever that is, I will do my best to help." Ken was about fifteen years older than me and almost like a father figure, in some respects.

He had gone through a nasty divorce himself several years ago, but was married again to a very nice woman, so he understood exactly what I was talking about. We talked about what I was needing to do, without me telling him too many details and disclosing that Emily was having an affair. I just said that our busy careers were having an impact on our lives, that we didn't want and that the kids were going to suffer unless we made some changes very soon. It would mean me leaving the office a bit earlier so that I could be there for my kids. It would mean having to schedule longer meetings for earlier in the day so that we didn't start the important stuff late in the day. We came to an agreement that would give me a greater degree of flexibility and I thanked him and left to go home.

So, I planned to be home for the kids at a reasonable time, play with them, have supper with them, help with homework and get them ready for bed. I needed to be a better father. I needed to be around my kids more. It was that simple.

In the back of my mind I had even considered that if Ken and the company couldn't give me the flexibility I needed, I would leave the company and start my own architectural design company. It would mean a lot less money, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Thankfully I didn't have to go there, just yet.