Without a Second Thought

I was sitting at the back of the bar on a Saturday afternoon enjoying the quietness of the time. It had become my favorite spot a few years back when I was walking alone. I had discovered it shortly after I had arrived here after I had left Paradise, the place I used to call home. During that time, I bought the local gas station and garage for less than what it was worth. It had been on the market for two years. The owner was desperate to sell. I saw its potential and made a low ball cash offer as I saw it as the perfect location for me to start over. It helped me put behind me what I had been forced to leave.

The first thing I had done was built a large retail store at the front of the property facing towards the gas pumps to supply the town after the only grocery store closed down for the evening at seven and changed the pumps, to pay at the pump. In order to do that I had to relocate the tanks. Now the pumps were seen from the store, which left lots of parking spaces for customers In the middle of our large lot. From seven pm to midnight it became the store's busiest hours.

The gas bar/ convenience store was now open twenty-four seven. The garage which was towards the back of the property was open from eight to five, five days a week. I would come in and work on Saturdays on special projects.

The bar was upset for a while when the retail part started carrying the basics in alcohol. It was like most of these small-town operations you would never get rich quick, but it provided a very good living and helped to add needed employment to the community. Each and every year we were able to save better than most. With no real employment outside of farming, most young people moved out as soon as they could.

After a bit of restructuring of internal store merchandising, thanks to a lady I had to hire, was done it had become a very successful business. In a short time, it had repaid the money I had invested in as a shareholder's loan. We had to double the staff it became that busy. On Friday and Saturday nights, we sold a lot of junk food as those leaving the bar tried to sober up a bit before going home. On Sundays, we sold a lot of cold beer at a reasonable price.

I was just sipping on a straight double shot of Jack Daniel's with a glass of iced water and a cut lemon on the side having just finished up replacing a steering column in an old-timers old truck. It was a family heirloom and his pride and joy.

It had taken me eight months to find the dam part and even then, I had to fabricate by hand some of the attachments for it. His family had driven the truck since the forties, and he wasn't going to stop. I thought if he had his way, he'd be buried in it.

Between four and seven it was the best time to be here in the bar for most of the regulars would be having supper. In a couple of hours, the place would fill up with the music crowd when the band started playing. The farmhands would be bringing in the farmer's daughter for fun and after work hours entertainment.

In the six and three-quarter years, I had been here I had built a solid reputation and had quite a few friends. Most of the locals had a habit of watching out for each other and would tip the person off when something out of the normal was going on.

I only came in once a week to the bar always on Saturdays at the same time, to have my one and only before heading home. It was my downtime that I used to gather my thoughts in peace.

I saw them walk in, I wished I hadn't for they automatically ruined the end of a perfect day. I would still recognize them anywhere, anytime, or any place and still wish I hadn't. The lady was my ex's twin sister and the young man with her I had at one time called him my son. It brought back memories, that I wish it didn't. It was a time period when I learned that you could not see evil when you are living with it.

Since I had last seen him, he had grown. His overall looks had changed a lot he was looking more like his biological father. It proved to me that with time the truth would have come out no matter what. The question today was why they were looking for me now?

They walked directly to the bartender to chat with him for a few. I saw her pull out a picture out of her purse and show it to him. The bartender said a few words to them, and I watched them turn and head out back out the door.

I was grateful for my long unkempt hair, full beard, and mustache for they helped to give me a completely different appearance, especially since I had lost the extra weight I used to carry. No one noticed a text message I had sent out. All it said was "their back be home when I can."

It was about half an hour later that the bartender came out from behind the bar. He walked over and sat down.

"What did they want, Tom," I asked.

"They are looking to get a message to you. They say they had heard a rumor that you were living here, and they came to check it out." Tom replied. "They are saying that a person named Willa is dying of cancer and hasn't long to live. They are looking for you because she wants to make peace. I asked to see a picture of you claiming that I did not recognize your name. Who are they and what do they want?"

I took my Pall Mall red one hundred out, took out a cig and ripped off the filter sticking the smooth end in my mouth before lighting it.

"The lady is my ex-wife's twin sister. The young man is my wife's bastard son that she passed as being mine for years. Based on your years of summing people up, what do you think," I asked? "Were they speaking the truth?"

"This time reading their body language," He replied. "I would have to say that they are trying to be honest in part but are definitely hiding the truth on something big."

I nodded my head. My ex-wife and her sister had always been masters of deception making things appear to be one way to your face while at the same time stabbing you in the back. He got up and went back behind the bar. My mind flowed back to almost seven years ago.

When I had left that day, I had told them all I would not be back for seven years. They had all laughed at me as if I was nothing but the fool. I guess to them I was. They learned the hard way that day, for it had been for the last time they had seen or heard from me directly.

They didn't believe that I was that serious or that hurt. They thought I was just pissed off because of the joke they had just pulled. Little did they know that I had learned a few weeks earlier that our youngest was my brother-in-law's son. It set me on a path of discovery that had led to this point.

At that time, they did not know that I had been given proof by a family member who said she had seen me stabbed in the back once too often by Willa and Tammy the evil twins as she called them.

In that old grand lady's eyes, they were black witches that practiced their art with pure evil. Earlier that week, we before I had left, we had discovered a freshly acquired insurance policy on me for double indemnity for accidental death. If I died by accident the payout would be four million. The Grand Dame had told me to run for my life.

When I walked out of our house to my work truck, they had no clue that it was already loaded with everything I wanted out of the sixteen-year marriage. I drove down the driveway to the county road turned right and never looked back. By the time I stopped driving I was two states away.

I must admit that I was partly to blame as I had knocked Willa up when she was sixteen. I was eighteen and just finishing high school. My family convinced me to do the right thing and we got married that summer. In quick succession, the two other children had come along.

They were still laughing at what they had done. They thought it had been hilarious. Willa said to our daughters your dad will be back when he's cooled down. He really needs to get a sense of humor.

A couple of hours later my wife saw the Sheriff's department vehicle drive up to the front of the house. She went to the door to greet him as he walked from where he had parked.

"Are You Mrs. Willa Racine," He asked.

When she said yes, he said, "Mam you just been served."

"With what?" she had asked in jest because she thought it was all a big joke.

When she opened the legal envelope, they all learned the hard way for the first time just how much I knew. I had heard through the grand dame that my wife had been devastated to learn that I had ended our marriage without a second thought.

My lawyer and I had even listed all of our assets and liabilities.

The DNA report showed it all. The affair had lasted for a year. The divorce petition had times, dates, locations, and hotel receipts which show the credit card that was being charged. The provider of the material even provided pictures of the couple in the act. During these events, Tammy had been a participant because she babysat our children and theirs so they could consummate their relationship.

Inside the legal envelope, by my request, he had put in a sealed letter. When She opened it up Willa's sister who was there learned I was suing her husband for back child support, marital inference, and for public slander.

That's when their laughter stopped. No one thought it was funny, anymore. I was no longer the joke they thought I was. It was me who was having the last laugh. After all, their standing joke was that the only thing, I was good for in their eyes was making money. Everything I did seemed to turn to gold and provided cash flow, so Willa and the kids were spoiled rotten and lacked for nothing.

Willa learned later that afternoon that I had sold our three businesses I had built from scratch and paid off all our debts. Even the two apartment buildings we owned were gone. I had sold them for a good profit. I had canceled all the credit cards and removed my name from all the bank accounts. I signed over my half of our home to her and took half of what we were worth in cash. All that was left for her to do was agree to the divorce. In doing that I had knocked down our cash flow from about ten grand a month to zero.

Sadly, for Willa's sister, she had to find out the hard way the cost of using me for their advantage. My lawyer took them for everything they had before they got divorced because of the damage I had done to them all. He had frozen their assets before they were even served. Once their divorce was done, they were both ruined.

My lawyer called her back into his office when it was all done and reimbursed her with a quarter of what they had lost. Why is he doing this, she had asked. My lawyer said it was never about the money with him. For him, it was and still is a matter of principle. In case you don't know that's something you and your sister have proved you do not have. He figures by giving you this money, it gives you a chance to start over and hopes you will learn from your experience.

Willa had refused to sign off on the divorce until she talked to me in person. So, we were still both in limbo legally separated but not divorced. I had no need to talk to someone who had deliberately lied to me for years. She had to work for the first time in her life. For her, it was a new experience to learn that money seemed to disappear fast with none coming in.

I had my lawyer forward anything of importance to a mailbox I rented from a fed ex-retail shop and once a week they would forward everything to my business address. I did it deliberately because I knew with the history of our lives together their bullshit would never stop.

The two sisters loved to play with human emotions and manipulate everyone involved in their lives. Knowing the two of them as I did, I knew that they would plot their revenge. It was not a matter of if, but when. With their family, there was no such thing as being able to walk away. It would frustrate them to no end if they could not find me. The longer it took the worse their payback would be. No one could be seen getting one over on them. Until now I thought I had. With Tammy showing up I knew their game had not come to its end.

I finished my drink and headed for home through the back door in case they were watching the front. I cut through the empty lot behind and walked around the block using the back lanes towards my pickup truck.

I was just unlocking the door, getting ready to climb in when the man stepped forward and said, "You're a hard man to find Mr. Arthur Seth Racine, No doubt about."

I turned and looked at him and said. "Just how would you know that?"

"My name is Peter Edwards your eldest daughter Connie is my wife." He said.

"That can be a blessing or a curse for you," I said, "If she behaves like her mother. So why are you here and what do you want."

"I came looking for you," He said, "some things need to be settled from the past."

"They would be if your mother in law," I said, "would just sign the divorce agreement."

"What divorce agreement?" Peter asked in surprise.

I told him to get in his car and follow me. A few minutes later outside the main drag of town, I turned right and drove about a mile then did left turn into the long driveway. I stopped by the farmhouse and led him into my home office. I pulled out my divorce file, turned on the printer and told him to make copies of whatever he needed.

Peter did not need to know this was not where I lived but I had built if for the Grand Dame who we hoped would finally say she was ready to move from Paradise.

Peter was a nice-looking young man, perhaps about twenty-five years old. His hair professionally styled. He carried a self-assurance that came out quite naturally. He came across to me as an educated man. The question for me was he who he said he was and was he part of Willa and Tammy's team.

He used my Wi-Fi password and uploaded everything into his laptop from my house computer. All-important records where kept here with a master copy of everything in a bank box. One of the things that interested him was the copy of the sheriff's department report that Willa had to sign on the day that she got served. The only thing he got a print of was the letter from Willa's lawyer to mine.

It was that lawyer's letter to mine that did the most damage to what he had been told. It laid it all out in black and white. Willa and her lawyer had agreed to the settlement of assets but would not sign off on the divorce until I talked to her in person. The letter from her lawyer acknowledged the receipt of all the outstanding money by them.

While he was doing all that it gave me a chance to watch his facial expressions. It showed that he had no clue as to what he was learning. My documents as they were laid out were contradicting something that he had believed.

"Do you think Connie knows?" He said.

"That's a question you will have to answer for yourself," I replied. "One question for you though, is Willa actually dying of cancer or not?"

"Who in the hell told you that?" Peter asked.

"Tammy was in town today with Seth looking for me," I said. "That's what they told a bartender that I know."

"She is fine and is living common law with the man who was her lawyer back then, she is currently carrying his second child," Peter said. "She was the one that asked me to find you so she could start the divorce. She claims it's so she can get remarried."

He opened up his cellphone and called his wife. I could hear her in the background. He then turned on the speaker so I could hear both sides of the conversation.

"Connie, did you know that your mother was lying about the divorce not having been started?" Peter asked.

'What are you talking about?" Connie said, "You know our dad skipped town because he was going broke. Just after he left that day, us kids went out too, so we were not home when our mother found out. Mom told us later that it appeared that our dead beat dad had walked out on all of us. Mom and Aunt Tammy told us later that he had cleaned out what was left before he left town. If it hadn't been for our stepdad, we wouldn't have made it."

"I'm sending you a legal file. Get my sister to watch our baby." Peter said. "Then get back to me as soon as possible after you have read it."

As they talked a few more minutes I got up and took two bottles of Bud's out and opened them up. I placed one in front of him.

"Why didn't you tell my daughter you had found me?" I asked.

"Connie and I have been married for just about two years. She gave birth to our son three months ago. Rest assured for now I'm not going to tell anyone I've found you," Peter said. "As far as anyone in the family knows I'm working long hours investigating a case."

With that, he opened up his wallet and showed me his badge. It showed that he was a police officer for the Paradise police department. I opened up my laptop and opened the web page for my hometown. Clicking the link, it took me to the police department's web page. It proved he was telling me straight.

"It was that fender bender that got reported a few months ago that gave me the lead to find you," Peter explained. "Connie put in a missing person's report on you which got forwarded to a watch for list. The insurance company informed me about the settlement in your favor."

"So why didn't you tell Connie you found me," I asked again?

'In reviewing your detailed file, it became clear that something else might be going on," Peter said. "The first question I had to ask was what happened to the two hundred and fifty thousand cash Willa was supposed to have received on top of the deed to the house. The second is why have all of them are lying about what really happened?"

"Sounds like someone has been fed a bunch of lies just like I was," I said as his cell phone rang.

"It's my wife I will throw the speaker feature on," Pete said. "So please be quiet."

"Hi dear," My daughter said. "Where did you get all of this? Is it real? If it is, we all have been lied to for years. Seth has no clue about his true parentage just as I didn't. My sister Carin is going to be shocked to see this. Mom rode her ass hard for always standing up for our dad so much so that they're no longer speaking. This paints a different story from the lies we have been told. By the looks of it, my mom and my aunt left my father no choice. The two of them had been playing with his life behind his back for years. What gets me is the fact that divorce is not finalized because my mother won't sign off on it. This makes me wonder what is really going on."

"It's real I got the information directly from your father's lawyers widow. Sadly, I had to go out of state to find it. It seems her husband kept duplicate copies of all of his records on his home computer." Peter said, "I'm sure glad he did. The files show that your mother got served the divorce petition the same day he left."

I wrote out on a piece of paper tell Connie to talk to her great aunt Josie if she's still alive. Peter nodded his head.

"Pete it's now more important that we find my father," Connie said. "If only to get the divorce done for him, my Dad deserves to be free of my mother and her scheming ways. What happened to the money she received? If she owned the house, why did she have to sell it? The more I review the facts before me the more I am asking what in the 'f' was going on and why was she planning to sue him for desertion once she found him."

"Hey, I got an idea; get my sister to watch our son a little longer. You go talk to Aunt Josie and let her know what we have learned. Maybe it will force her to open up," Peter said. "To you about what she knew. For now, this has to stay with us because beginning to look like that there may be a strong case of fraud going on. The question that has to be asked is why your mother has been slandering your father for years. This is something I will have to talk to the District Attorney about. Two hundred and fifty thousand in cash seemed to have disappeared once it was out of your father's lawyer's hands. One final thought, don't even tell your sister for now. If the DA wants to investigate it's better that no one knows anything."