What We Do for Our Children

Susan was surprised to see her husband at her father's small law office. She was invited by her father that morning to go to lunch while her mother looked after their two children. Both her father Pete, and husband Rich were upset. Her husband was looking guilty as hell, and her father was angry. She has no idea what was going to happen, and now she was worried.

He father started off telling her, not asking her, but telling her to sit down. He took a few seconds to compose himself then started off. "Your husband didn't come home last night, did he?" Sue shook her head no. "He came here at 6 am this morning waiting to talk with me." Sue was now very worried, she had a lover over last night for an hour while Rich was out with the boys watching sports in a bar. Her father went on. "It appears the Rich got a little drunk last night." Then looking at Rich, "You tell her the rest of it."

Rich hung his head low, not wanting to make eye contact with his wife. "I got drunk last night. A girl came on to me." He held his head in his hands. "I had a one night stand," and he started to cry.

Sue was shocked, angry, but breathed a sigh of relief. She was not found out so she could cover by being angry. Being angry was easy for her; it was how she defined her life. "You fucking bastard, getting drunk and laid..." She started to stand up and was about to go on when her father told her once again to sit down.

"Your husband came to me and told me what happened. I am a man, I can understand. I don't condone being unfaithful, but he was honest and upfront. I've known for quite some time that there are problems in your marriage. It is up to the two of you to work this out. Your husband offered something that may show how serious he is." With that her father pulled out a contract, the last page was already signed by her husband and a witness.

Continuing, "What Rich suggested to me was a new nuptial agreement. If there is a divorce in this state, all resources are evenly split between the wife and husband. What is written up here is for what happens from this point on. If Rich is unfaithful, emotionally or physically, he starts by giving up any interest in the house completely. The children will be with you. Your mother and I will approve and supervise visits. Instead of an even split of the remaining assets, he only receives 25%, and will pay significant child support till the children are 21 and alimony to you for the next 10 years." Her father looked at his daughter and son-in-law and continued. "This morning, he made appointments for personal counseling for him and you, and marriage counseling for you both. He will be moving into the spare bedroom that you use as a den now until the issue is resolved, one way or another." Waiting 10 seconds he looked at her and said, "He has demonstrated that he is very serious about all of this. For the sake of your family, you need to agree to this."

Rich started talking, "I want to work this out with you. What I did was wrong. It was so destructive to our marriage and to our children. Please?"

There was some tense but overall positive discussion for the next 10 minutes when Sue agreed to all the terms. At that point, her father had to answer a phone call and left the room. His assistant came in to finalize the document with them.

On their way out, the young lawyer looked directly at Rich with a level of partially covered contempt. He told him and Sue that this was an iron tight contract. The person who is unfaithful will be out of the house within 24 hours and the rest of the clauses will then be invoked immediately. He was direct and demanding. They both jumped at the ferocity, but for different reasons. Rich left to go to work and Sue picked up her kids from her mother and went home.

Rich never did have that one-night-stand. Last night was at his in-laws house showing them a live video web feed of his bedroom. The three of them watched his wife/their daughter with her lover. Her mother Grace called her daughter on phone and they saw and heard her answer it and talk. She talked while her lover's face was between her legs. The parents were not that shocked as much as just angry.

They become incensed when their three year granddaughter started crying, and the lovers continued. Rich asked for their help. He did not really want a divorce, not just yet anyway. He said that it was too early to do anything rash. He was more worried about his children than his marriage, his children were more important than himself. Their daughter Sue was always full of herself. He just never thought that she was this full of herself.

Pete and Grace were the children of immigrants that came to this country with nothing. Hard work and studying, along with part time jobs allowed him to earn a law degree. The practice was for the neighborhood, not high and mighty well-paying clients. It was a living, not rich and not poor or struggling. They lived what they felt was a comfortable life. Their daughter's attitude in life has always grated on them. Sue was always a piece of work, not like them at all; a sense of entitlement, not of respect or giving. They made a decision; it was going to be tough love.

Rich was honest with his in-laws. He did not know if it would work or even work out, but always wanted his children to be with their grandparents. His own parents had passed by the time he was 20. They were also the son and daughter of immigrants.

Pete and Grace always liked their son-in-law, almost as much as they loved their daughter, that is until today. They all spoke about a possible divorce and all of what that physically, emotionally and financially means. Rich asked his in-laws, if it happened, would they be the caregivers to the children during the day when he had to work. He offered them the master bedroom if they wanted to stay. He was willing to do everything he could for his children and the problems that may happen if his wife would have to leave their home.

Looking at one another, the grandparents quickly nodded and smiled to each other and said yes. Their grandchildren were most important in their lives. Her father said that Sue would need a place to live, and letting her rent their 2 bedroom condo would solve many problems. Their daughter needed to change, big time. It was going to be tough love. They were not going to throw her under the wheels. She would have to do that herself.

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Across town, there was another meeting. Carla was meeting with her in-laws. She also had a live feed to Rich's bedroom. After some denials, Carla called her husband Tony on the phone and his parents saw and heard their son speak with his wife.

The father-in-law started to minimize it, boys will be boys. Carla slammed her hand on the table and looked deep into their eyes. That will not be a problem. I will be moving to California from Chicago. I will be at O'Hare on a flight in 2 days. The divorce papers have already been written up; it is only a matter of when they will be served. My three children will go with me and we will not return.

Silence. Marco and Lydia look at each other. They knew that Carla did not bluff. Her parents were the children of tough Calabrese dirt poor peasants. Carla then asked if they wanted a few minutes to talk this out with each other. She told them that she was leaving in 10 minutes. If their answer was no then the conversation is over, over for good, right now. It will not resume ever. There will be no second chances. She would make sure that their grandchildren will send cards in the mail for Christmas.

With bit of hesitation, Marco and Lydia start asking what she wanted of them. "Questions need to be answered clearly and honestly. If I find out that anything you ever say to me is not honest and important information is not forth coming without my asking, my children and I are out of here for good. I need complete trust in you." She looked at them, "And you in me."

"Do you want your grandchildren to grow up in a broken home?" Marco and Lydia shook their head no. Lydia said "Those children are so important to us. It would kill us not to be near them. I will do nothing to put my relationship to them in danger. They are more important than my son, that bastard."

Carla asked what they knew. Marco answered, "He has been more secretive in the past month. We honestly know nothing more, but to say that he was different. And before you ask, as far as we know, even with paying attention to any rumors, we did not think he ever went outside of his marriage and his family. All our extended family members who ever went outside of their marriages are divorced or dead. He knows the stories, dead in one case because of the straying."

Carla asked what they were willing to do. Lydia answered. Carla knew that Lydia was the force to be reckoned with. Whatever she said, went. Lydia did not dictate the results, she got compromise. She was just the force of the marriage. "We want to see and be part of our grandchildren's life, everything. Everything, including disowning our son if it has to come to that. We know that he is part our trucking business, a big part. But everybody can be replaced." Then they were asked if that would include firing him.

Lydia answered without looking at her husband, "If you promise to stay in Chicago and let us be part of our grandchildren's lives, yes. I don't know how long I can promise that he will not be part of the business, but we give all our being to you and your children. We will work it out until any of us realize that it cannot be saved, one way or another. You have our word." Carla answered "You have mine also. We need to talk about a plan."

The next hour was spent on what was to be done. Tony was going to have many people checking up on him. Direct questions were going to be asked in the presence of his children and his wife and others. Carla was only going to listen. All he is will become transparent.

If he is unfaithful again, starting right now, and the first falsehood comes out, he will immediately be fired by parents, kicked out of house by wife, and served with papers. They will suggest a lawyer to him, treat him with disgust. Carla and the children will move in with his parents. Visits with children would be supervised by his parents.

The goal is for him to be fully honest, contrite, publically apologize to the husband in front of everybody, all families. Counseling will be mandatory. There will be no backsliding allowed. The issue of the marriage continuing was left open. Both of the in-laws agreed, and supported her. They knew she was right.

What Carla did not know is that Marco made a decision that no one was going to know about. He had a single favor that was owed to him. Somebody owed him one, and he was going to call it in. No one was going to do anything to mess with him seeing his grandchildren, even if it was his son, that fucking bastard. He always had respect for his daughter-in-law, maybe not always agreed, but a high level of respect. She raised her children with class and dignity. That was more than his son had right now. He had a way to put the fear of god into his son from ever being unfaithful again.

The family immediately started to pressure Tony. All during his day, he started to see people that he normally would not see, at places that they normally would not be. All were looking at him. There were some new faces that he had never seen before. He was at first puzzled, and then became nervous, real nervous. He felt that he was being targeted and laid low. He did not know who was targeting him. That mean much in the trucking business. During the day at work, he never drove off of major streets, let alone onto residential streets.

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The plan that Rich and his in-laws agreed to was simple. Her parents would monitor the bedroom and the other rooms that are web cammed. They would get to see and hear everything that goes on in the house. If she strays, then they and Carla's family would converge on the bedroom. It would be tough love all around. No guarantees that the marriage will not be over, only the unfaithfulness.

The monitoring showed that Susan was scared. Her parents overheard her bitching about it to her friends and a cousin. Those people were immediately put on the no longer welcomed list. But one of these friends was not put on that list. Joyce kept giving her grief and confronting her about what she was doing, and Joyce does not ever back down.

Sue's mother heard her talking with Tony about what was happened a couple of days after the contract. Tony told her to not worry, that it will all blow over. It appears that nothing had registered with him yet. He wanted to meet again. She said no. After he insisted again, she told him to never call again and hung up. It was 10 minutes later Sue called him back; just one more time, just one more time. After that call ended, Sue called her mother to schedule some babysitting time. Her mother put her off till next week, noon on Monday. She would pick up the kids at 11 AM.

Carla and Rich coordinated with all the parents. On Monday they all met about three blocks away in the park about a half hour before the lovers were to meet. Carla and Rich were monitoring the webcams. Tony arrived 15 minutes early. It was immediately apparent that his actions and attitude was not what Rich and Carla expected. It was not a meeting of lovers having a last fling. It took on a more funeral tone. Instead of getting into their cars to out the lovers, the spouses and parents all watched. They all silently watched and listened to what unfolded.

Sue started talking about this was her one big mistake. That she had put everything at risk. It was never going to be worth it. Tony started talking about not being able to look at people in the eye anymore. He had a hard time looking at his kids. They never touched each other, and neither made an effort to be closer than 4 feet to the other. They stood the entire time in the hallway. He left after 15 minutes, saying that they would never meet again.

It was the most hopeful sign in what was a hopeless situation. It did not change the problem of their spouses being unfaithful to their marriages and families, but it caused everyone to take a step back from the edge of the cliff.