When James arrived, Mary met him at the door and brought him into our living room.
"Where are the damn keys?" I said.
James, calm as ever, asked if the CB was hurting me. I told him it didn't hurt, I just wanted it off.
"As long as you are not in pain." He said, please bear with me a few minutes.
"Go ahead," I replied, glaring at him. Mary was sitting next to me as James started talking.
"I have put both of you through a lot recently," he said. Let me explain.
"I know a great deal about both of you. I know for instance that in the last month, at least two men have asked Mary out. I know that Mary has been talking to one woman in particular about meeting privately. I know about the wager that Mary had about which of her friend would be first to have an affair," he said. "It was at my suggestion that Wanda started the initial betting." He continued.
I looked at Mary who was looking down, her hands in her lap.
James kept talking. "I know that your finances are, shall we say, strained."
"You obviously know now that meeting Ginny was planned from the beginning," he said.
I looked at James and simply asked "Why?"
"Its quite simple Jake, I want your wife. She has qualities that I find very appealing, and, speaking from personal experience, she it quite capable of accepting, and enjoying, what I have to offer," he said with a grim. "Not many woman are."
"As to Ginny, I needed someone to occupy you, Jake, and take the sting out of my taking control of Mary. It would have been easy to find another woman for you, but Ginny is special," he said.
"How do you know her?" I asked, still trying to understand everything James was saying.
"That's easy, he said, she is my daughter, or my son, before her, ah, shall we say, the change."
I just stared as James continued. He took an envelope out of his jacket pocket and placed it on the table in front of us.
"Inside, you will find checks made out to your mortgage company and the bank that carries the second mortgage that you used to start your business. There are checks to the companies that carry the loans on both of your cars. Three credit card companies and one check made out to both of you for one hundred thousand dollars," he explained.
"I am offering you financial freedom, or," and he placed a small ring with two keys on the table next to the envelope.
Mary and I just stared at James and at each other. "What do you get out of all this?" I asked.
James said, "If you take the keys, I will leave and never bother either of you again. If you take the envelope, than Mary is mine whenever I want her. You will continue to live together for the present, although you will no longer have sex. Think about your choice."
I reached for the keys.
Mary said, "Jake, we have wanted to get out from under our bills for so long, and our love life hasn't been all that great. Please don't throw this opportunity away."
Mary looked at me, silently pleading, She had tears in her eyes.
"Is this what you want Mary, are you sure?" I asked.
Mary nodded.
I picked up the keys and as Mary held her breath, I handed them back to James.
I picked up the envelope, and placed it in Mary's lap.
"Excellent," he said, "just one or two more details."
He stood, and motioned for me to do the same. He said, "Jake, from now on I want you to think of me as a friend. He shook my hand. He took the keys and handed them to Mary.
"From now on Mary is my keyholder, she will decide if and when your CB will be removed and for how long. If she removes it, I trust that you will comply with her wishes if she wants to place you back in chastity."
Mary was softly crying, She held the envelope and keys tightly, afraid to put them down.
"Jake, from now on you will call me Sir. I think I have bought that simple courtesy," he said. "
