Leave Me Breathless

Helena grabbed his hand and he smiled nervously. "I guess there's no point in putting this off anymore. Let the battle begin."

He went to see her the next day. From what he told me later, and what I learned from Grandma, when he walked into the room she'd been sitting up straight in her bed. She's lost some weight and had make-up on her face to reduce the effects of the bruising and the disfiguration. She went on the aggressive, as usual, only to find out that it wouldn't work anymore.

"James, I'm saddened that you couldn't manage to come and see me one time until now," she said. "How are we supposed to fix our marriage if we don't talk? I realize that I made a huge mistake and it will take us a great deal of time to get over it. In fact, I don't think that we can get over it alone. I have a therapist here in the hospital. She does do some family therapy. I think that the next time you come over, perhaps you should bring Melinda and we should have a session with her."

My dad didn't say a word. He just put a stack of papers down on her bed near her. She looked at the papers and started crying. "No," she said. "We're not doing this. We need to talk about it."

"Okay, Theresa talk," he said. "Talk to me about why you did this to us. Talk to me about how our daughter found you and that asshole, in our bed, in our house. Talk to me about how an eighteen year old girl had to try to save her father from getting his heart broken and then had to put all of the pieces back together when I found out anyway. Talk to me about how that asinine coach knew about what you were doing with Eddington. Talk to me about how Melinda caught you and you swore you'd stop but yet again you started up with him. Talk to me about how a grown woman would give that asshole a blow job while he was driving her around. Go ahead...Talk."

"Jim, I'm sorry," she whined. "We have to get by this. I'll never do it again. I swear it."

"You told Melinda that same thing," he said. "I guess there's nothing left to talk about. Get a lawyer Theresa."

The very next day my mom was served with her official divorce papers in her hospital room. According to my Grandma, who was there, a woman who looked like a college girl came into the room. She was chewing gum and carrying a file folder. "Theresa Carson?" she asked. My mom expected it and just held out her hand. That began the fight. Over the next few weeks, they fought. They sent charges back and forth.

My mom refused to agree to the divorce and even mounted counter charges. She claimed that dad had moved his own lover into the house, which was technically true. Helena felt awful about it. The day after the accusation came down; she went back to her apartment for the first time in months. My dad went and got her and brought her back to the house. He told her that she belonged with us and nowhere else.

The battle raged for weeks. I finally couldn't take it anymore. I asked my dad when his next meeting with Mom and her lawyers was. He told me the very next day. I went and saw Mom that evening. I explained to her that she'd lost Dad. There was simply no way he'd ever take her back. The best thing possible for her would be if they could at least be civil.

Things had gone so far back and forth that Dad had taken back his original settlement offer. He now offered her nothing. He basically just wanted to say, "Fuck you. Get out of my house." Dad wanted the house, full custody of me and for Mom to never bother him again. He refused to pay her for ruining his life. He was also going after Eddington for everything he could.

I invited Mr. Eddington and his wife to the meeting. I sat there at a long table with Dad and Helena on one end. Mom and her lawyers were on the other and Mr. Eddington and his wife along one side.

I gave them my plan. My plan called for Mr. Eddington to pay Mom alimony for four years and re-hire her as his secretary. That way, Mom could go back to college and pick up some skills so when the alimony ran out she'd be able to support herself. Dad got the house, Mom got to keep her car and she took over the lease of Helena's apartment. In exchange for this, Dad agreed not to sue or mention Mr. Eddington in the divorce and Mom didn't try to bring about her fraudulent sexual harassment case.

"I could go for that," said Eddington. His wife looked relieved. She smiled at me and told me I was going to be a great lawyer someday. It was a good deal for the Eddingtons. Paying my mom for four years would be expensive, but not nearly as expensive as either one of the lawsuits my parents would have brought. He also got to keep his job. Neither my dad nor my mom looked convinced.

"It just doesn't seem right," said my dad. "It's like they got to destroy my life and my family for free. Theresa just gets to walk away without any problems and no penalty. And he gets to just walk away and keep his career."

"I won't agree to this at all," said my mother. "I'm not giving up my family. I admit that I was wrong but I was coerced. Eddington was in charge. He was a person in authority. I had no choice. If I hadn't gone along with it, I could have lost my job. I'm too old to start over. I want my life and my family back."

"Shut up Mother," I snapped. "You need to accept this deal so we can all move on. Mr. Eddington may have been your boss, but you're forgetting that I was the one who caught you and if I testify what I heard and saw, your case goes down the tubes. You're also forgetting the fact that in the accident, you no longer worked for Mr. Eddington, so there was no coercing anyone."

"There are two other things you need to consider. The first is that all it would take is a word from me to have Daddy take you off of his health care account. Without that, you'd never come up with the money you need to get your face fixed. You'd have to go through the rest of your life looking like a Picasso."

"And finally Mother, you didn't give your family away, you threw us away. We just weren't as important to you as what you were doing with Mr. Eddington, so you don't deserve us. If you push this too far, it probably won't even be possible for you to someday become friends again. Do the right thing, Mom. End some of Dad's pain. Let him go."

I turned to my father. "Dad, you're right, of course. You're the one who got hurt here. I see that. So I only have two things to tell you because even though you were right about your points, you have to look beyond this. Both Mom and Mr. Eddington ARE paying for what they did. It probably isn't enough, but they ARE paying."

"Mr. Eddington had uhm...a vital part of his anatomy taken away from him. From what I understand, it is not going to be easy for him. The reattachment surgery was unsuccessful and they're going to try to build him one from scratch like they do with transgendered people. So that's one way he's paying. He'll also have to pay Mom alimony so you don't have to."

"Isn't it enough what he'll have to go through? Or does his family have to pay too? His children deserve to be taken care of, Dad. They're victims too. If you ruin his career, you're also ruining the lives of two innocent children who haven't hurt you. He isn't going to have an easy time even if you do this. His wife can't stand the shit out of him. She'll make his life hell. And having to work with Mom every day while she blames him for losing us; won't be easy either."

"Mom is paying too, Dad. She's losing the man she claims to love and her daughter too. She's losing her home and most of her friends. Even the job that Mr. Eddington is giving her is only temporary. She's going to have to get her shit together and start her life all over. Life isn't easy for older unmarried women."

My mom started crying then.

"And if you look at it Daddy, this will be better for you in two ways too. You're getting rid of a woman that you were never going to be able to trust again. You're getting rid of a woman who cheated on you, more than once. You get to move on with your life and you never have to see her again. We both do. And in exchange for that, you get the sweetest, most beautiful, most wonderful woman, I know to share your life."

My dad smiled and hugged Helena.

"Why are you hugging her? I was talking about me," I smirked.

"Very funny, Kit," said Helena. My dad nodded his head.

"Okay I'm in," he said.

I looked at my mom. She nodded her head then lowered it and started to cry again. The lawyers agreed to write it up just as I said it. The idea of having one of the cheaters pay the other alimony was unusual but both sides were sure that they could make it work. If a judge wouldn't agree to it as written, Mr. Eddington would simply send the alimony payments to Dad, who would then pass it on to Mom.

Three days later, they met up again to sign the documents. My mom had my grandma there with her. My dad had Helena and me. And Mr. Eddington was alone.

After the documents were signed my mom tearfully reached for my dad. She asked him for a last kiss and Helena said, "No!"

It was probably about a week later that Helena came to me for a favor.

She handed me some money and the keys to her car and asked me to take Becky and Dean to the movies.

I guess I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer because I didn't get it at first. Then suddenly I understood that she wanted some alone time with my dad. I giggled and looked at her.

"You don't have to send me away," I said. "Is this something special? Are you guys experimenting already? What do you two usually do?"

"We haven't actually..."

"Oh my God," I said. "I'm outta here. I had no idea that you two hadn't..."

Things must have gone really well because the next morning both of them were smiling from ear to ear.

A few months later and here we are at the church. I'm standing here serving as both the maid of honor and giving the bride away. Shit, why shouldn't I give her away, it was me who introduced them and put them together?

The problem is that my mom just won't shut up. I'm not sure why they invited her. Maybe they wanted to rub it in her face. Maybe she just crashed the wedding. But we had to get this wedding done this week. Next week I'm heading off to college and I'm not sure how much longer Helena will fit into her wedding dress. The doctor says she may be having twins.

A few moments later the priest asks the question at the end of the wedding vows.

"Does anyone here know of any reason that this man and woman should not be wed?"

I've moved back to stand next to my mother. As she takes a breath to speak I lean over and whisper sweetly into her ear.

"Mother, if you open your mouth, I'll slap the shit out of you, right here in this church."

Okay, this is the part where I say, "And they all lived happily ever after."

The end.