OND

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I sat and watched from the rear of the court as a man's dignity was taken from him. "There but by the grace of friends go I," I thought. Without the Judge, the Sherriff, and so many other people, especially Janet, would I be in the same shape as that poor bastard. His wife was domineering and seemed to delight in everything that had befallen him. Was Mabel any better? Sure in our marriage I was the one in control of the money, but Mabel had controlled me, so what was the difference?

Though I'd wanted to see Jeffrey humiliated, this was simply too much. Mabel had stepped up to the stand and said her bit. It told me a bit more about what had gone on between her and Jeffrey, or at least as much as she'd been willing to admit to in court. According to both of them a few blow jobs and him finger fucking her were as far as they'd gone. Somehow it didn't make me feel any better.

The thing that hurt me the most was finding out that she'd been doing it for months and I hadn't had a clue. She'd claimed that she was bored with me and with our marriage at the time. It was funny. Our home had every modern convenience. Cable TV with over 200 channels DVD and Blu Ray players, games, we had anything you could name and she was bored? For the past two months Janet and I didn't even have a fucking radio but we were never bored.

The case left poor Jeff with nothing but the clothes on his back and my pity. As his wife and her powerful team of lawyers left, she glanced at me and nodded her head. "I guess it'll be your turn next," she said. "Rake that bitch over the coals."

I turned to leave and as I walked out of the courtroom Mabel ran up to me.

"Dave, Honey, I'm so sorry for all of this," she said. "I guess my hormones were out of whack. I don't know what caused me to act like that."

"I guess something was out of whack Mabel, You look, uhm different," I said then I started walking away.

"Wait Dave, are you going home? Do you want to talk? Maybe we could have dinner together?" she asked.

"I don't think so Mabel," I said. "I'll see you in court."

I was smiling and whistling to myself as I walked away from her. I finally knew what I wanted. And what I had to do.

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Eight days later Janet went home. Millie was the first person to meet her when she drove into the parking lot at the store.

"Hey Millie," she said. "Sorry about that thing a few weeks ago."

"Don't worry about it," said Millie. "We were both after the same guy, it happens."

"Have you heard the news about your sister?" asked Millie.

Janet shook her head.

"Her and her man decided to sell that big ass house and move away. They've been driving around in that fancy car of hers all week ordering people around and buying things. They can't wait to get out of here. Guess it just goes to show you what a little bit of money can do," said Millie. "After all of that shit he went through, the divorce and everything you'd have thought that he'd have a bit more backbone than that. Once a sucker always a sucker, I guess."

Janet's heart and her stomach clutched. She really believed or she hoped that Dave would have been stronger. But she'd go on with her life, she had no other choice. She drove up the road to her house, and saw the white Mustang in her driveway. Dave had always been generous; he'd probably left her the car as a token of the time they'd spent together. If he only knew how much their time had meant to her. When she'd accidentally blurted out her true feelings she knew she had to get away from him. Then the morning after that, talk about timing she'd discovered yet another reason to let him go.

She stuck her key in the door and was having trouble opening it, when suddenly the door was yanked open and she found herself grabbed and squeezed unmercifully.

"Welcome home," said Dave.

"What the hell are you doing here?" she snapped. "Shouldn't you be off with my idiot sister?"

"Why would I be with her, Janet? I love you," he said. "We're divorced. I gave her the house and some money and told her to sell the house and get more money and take a hike. If she hasn't sold the house in six months she gets only fifty grand and we level the property and turn it into a sports complex for the kids from both towns."

"So where will you live?" she asked.

"With you," he said. "I hope. But I can sleep in the guest room if you want."

"Oh, no buster we've already talked about that," she said wrapping her arms around him. Then she pulled him over to the porch swing.

"Dave, there's not going to be a guest room for much longer," she smiled.

"Are you finally going to enter the twenty first century and convert it into a media room like your parents did," he asked.

"Uhm no, Honey," she said. "It's eventually going to be a bedroom but it'll be something else for a year or two."

"So eventually I'll get my own room?" he said.

"Oh God, doofus," she snapped. "You got me pregnant. It's going to have to be a nursery for a while and then we'll convert it into a bedroom for our child. Oh and I love you too."

"Well, I'm glad I didn't give your sister all of our money," he said.

"Why not?" she smiled. "We'll be fine."

"Yeah but next time I get you pregnant we're going to have to add another room onto the house," he said.

"So who's Mabel's new man?" asked Janet.

"Jeffrey," smirked Dave. "I met with them the day Mabel and I signed our final divorce papers. I offered them a million dollars and the house to share. Since Janet was only going to get a few thousand dollars over a very short period and Jeffrey was basically homeless and penniless, they jumped at it. But I did put a few stipulations on it."

"Like what?" Janet smiled as she kissed me and pulled herself into me.

"Well even though they hate each other now, they only get the money as long as they stay together. If either one of them leaves the other or cheats on the other, they forfeit any claim. The cool part of it is that Mabel has gained at least fifty pounds and Jeffrey is no longer interested in her, if he ever was. He blames her for ending his marriage and his career. And she's seen how spineless and simpering he is, and she blames him for our marriage failing so she hates him with a passion. There are, however, only two things the two them hate more than each other."

"What are those two things," asked Janet.

"Working, and not having any money," Dave said, smirking.

"They're going to kill each other," said Janet stretching her long legs over his and placing his hands on her barely rounded tummy.

"Don't get too comfortable yet," I told her. "We still have some work to do."

"Like what?" she asked.

"Well," I said. "When this whole thing started I was a happily married man. Now I'm happy again but I'm not married."

Janet looked up at me with tears in her eyes. "You mean..."she said. "You want me to..."

"Yep," I said. "I want you to get me Millie's phone number. Janet three me onto the floor of the porch and looked at me with an evil glint in her eyes.

I felt down around my hip. "Oh shit Janet you broke it," I said.

"I'm sorry honey," she said. "Is it the leg or the hip?"

"I'm not that old," I snapped. "You broke the box with your engagement ring in it."

She rolled me over and attacked my pants. As she was feeling around in my pocket something else came up. I could tell she noticed. She found the box and put if off to the side as she stripped my pants down right there on her porch.

"Don't you want to look at the ring first?" I asked.

Don't get me wrong," she said. "The ring is important, but It's not like I'm going to say, "No." I've wanted this for most of my life. But as important as the ring is, this is more important." She gave me the best blow job I've ever had in my life. Even years later my toes still curl when I think about it. Then she picked up the box and the ring and headed for her car.

"Janet where are you going?" I asked puzzled.

"I have to go and show my ring to Millie and those bitches in town so they can leave you alone," she smirked.

Janet and I got married, we have four kids and lived happily ever after. Less than a year after we got married, though, roughly three months after the birth of our oldest daughter, Mabel showed up in town. Her and Jeff had gone through all of the money and parted ways. Jeffrey ended up in prison for writing bad checks. He and his cell mate Bubba are supposedly happy.

Mabel needed a job. The problem we had was that she has no skills. Still family does for family and since she was Janet's sister we hired her as a minimum wage delivery driver. She lives in a tiny apartment we built over the garage. We pay her extra sometimes to watch the kids while Janet and I go out and get nuts. We figure the degree in childhood development may as well get used for something.

Sometimes Janet and I catch her looking at us longingly, and we just smile and wave. I know that there are those of you out there who figure that she got off too easily after what she put me through, and you may be right.

But on the other hand, it's been said that the best revenge is a life lived well. I'm extremely happy, and I love Janet and our kids and my life far more than I ever loved Mabel. Janet is ecstatic she got me, in the end. And Mabel has to watch us every day and think about what she threw away and what might have been.