Later that same
night, after Sheila had made her devastating call to his wife, Cheryl, Todd
came home to an empty, dark house. The moment he stepped through the door, he
sensed a change for the worst. When he discovered that Cheryl, Janie and Trisha’s
clothes and belongings were gone, he knew she knew. He didn’t know whether to
feel relief or horror. On one hand, he felt relief that his double life was no
longer a secret, yet on the other hand, he felt horror that Sheila had actually
had the nerve to tell Cheryl about them, merely in an attempt to keep Todd.
Unfortunately, he never
once blamed himself for the situation—he was too busy blaming Cheryl for
deserting him without so much as demanding an explanation. He even blamed
Sheila for having the gall to interfere with his first family. Todd could not
find it in himself to take any responsibility for what had happened because, in
his mind, Cheryl had driven him to be attracted to other women by allowing
herself to become less attractive.
That evening, he sat
alone in the dark living room, chain-smoking, contemplating how different
things would have been if only Sheila hadn’t “ruined” his life and caused
Cheryl to abdicate her role as his wife. He only knew that life without Cheryl
and his beautiful girls was going to be intolerable, and he wondered how he had
ever let it get this far. But Todd just could not accept his own role in this
scenario. Wasn’t it an accepted fact that men who were workaholics simply had
to have outlets other than a loving home, a devoted wife and lovely children? Now
he was going to have to face a legal battle with Cheryl in an extremely ugly
divorce proceeding and, at the same time, deal with Sheila and the increasing
demands she was about to make on him. All Todd could think about was that he
was the one who’d been deserted by Cheryl. Yet he would be forced to deal with
Sheila—a new challenge that might very well prove his final undoing.
He also felt that the
new challenges he was now facing at work had
forced him to become a workaholic, and because of that, he and Cheryl had
somehow drifted apart. Despite the fact that he loved his wife, he had
discovered that he was now more vulnerable to other women. He had innocently
gotten involved in a few flirtations at work, thinking it was just harmless
fun. He really believed he was above the sort of “fooling around” other married
men did. These other men might have their own so-called reasons for their
infidelities, but he did not; his wife was the best thing that had ever
happened to him and he knew it.
Sure, she had gotten out
of shape after two back-to-back pregnancies and had had no chance to get to the
gym to work out as she would’ve liked. He did not resent her for that, but he
did hope she would find the time to work out at home, if possible. He needed a
wife he was attracted to, and Cheryl had always made sure she was attractive to
him. At the same time, Todd wondered if he was being unreasonable, since he
knew that she was now very busy with their two little girls. Cheryl was doing
her level best to keep up with the increased demands on her time and energy but
was finding it difficult, even on the best of days. Since Todd had gotten a
well-earned promotion to manager, he was unable to come home on a timely basis
most days; in fact, needed to spend even more time at work. It was ironic,
really; he wanted and needed his family, but he also needed to put in more time
at work in order to be successful. Now he was left with no one and nothing at
home.
The day Todd got the
divorce papers from Cheryl’s lawyer, Ryan Lowe, he was shocked, though he knew
he was technically in the wrong. Sheila’s
call to Cheryl had given Cheryl the legal grounds of infidelity that she needed
for a divorce. Although he knew she was within her rights to demand a divorce,
he had fervently hoped they could still work things out. Todd knew that he’d
been wrong to support Sheila’s “accidental” pregnancy last year and to accept
their illegitimate child. He also knew that even though Sheila did share a
child with him, she was not the kind of woman he wanted to spend the rest of
his life with. Their liaison had been just “one of those things” that happen
sometimes between men and women, especially if the man is weak and vulnerable
and the woman is conniving and somewhat amoral. He didn’t particularly dislike
her, per se, but he knew she was not his “long lost love.” Her “accidental”
pregnancy was her excuse for keeping him. Yet here she was, getting between him
and his wife, simply because she wanted him. It didn’t seem fair that she could
trap him like this. He didn’t see any way out of an extremely ugly divorce from
Cheryl, if that’s what she was determined to do.
One evening, out of
sheer desperation, Todd called Ryan the attorney in order to arrange a meeting
with Cheryl, since he wasn’t legally allowed to talk directly to Cheryl about
the divorce. He decided to make an unusual proposal: that they try a sort of
reconciliation for a year. If after a year it was not working out between them,
Cheryl could have her divorce—no questions asked. Ryan replied that he thought
Todd was just trying to delay the inevitable, and in a sense, he was, but it
was the only option left if he had any hope of salvaging his all-but-over
marriage to Cheryl.
After conferring briefly
with Cheryl, Ryan called Todd back and confirmed that a meeting was possible,
but both parties’ lawyers had to be present, and they would do most of the
talking. Cheryl did not want to talk to Todd by herself. Todd was forced to
agree to this condition.
Cheryl’s immediate
reaction to Ryan’s question about arranging a meeting with her
soon-to-be-ex-husband, Todd, was that she never wanted to see him again. “He is
nothing but a scumbag, liar and cheat—the list of his bad-ass attributes is
endless. Why the hell should I see him at all to talk about god-knows-what? Something
that’s important only to him? I’ll save us all a lot of time now and just say
this: I do not give a sh*t about him, now or ever! Or his slutty girlfriend! She
can go jump off the nearest cliff along with her illegitimate brat!”
When Todd heard Cheryl’s
initial reaction, he wasn’t surprised. He would have been surprised if she hadn’t
said these things in her own particular way.
Sheila screamed bloody
murder when Todd told her about it. “You bastard! How could you do this to me? I
have your baby too! You can’t just ignore me anymore! She’s left you now. You
don’t have to go back to her, ever! But here you are, practically begging for
her to take you back! Well, two can play at that game, and I’m going to show
you just what I am capable of. By the time I’m finished with you, you’re going
to wish you’d never even met her!”
Todd looked at her and
shrugged. Her reaction was basically just what he’d expected—outrage. But he
was determined to get Cheryl back if he could, even if an understanding between
them could only be a temporary one. He had to try to salvage what was left, if
anything. The idea of spending the rest of his life with Sheila was not
something he was ready to contemplate.
The next day, Todd
researched Yellow Pages online looking for a lawyer who handled divorces, and
after visiting several websites, was fortunate enough to find Aaron Patterson. On
the appointed day, after much discussion between the lawyers, Todd and Aaron
finally met with Cheryl and Ryan at Ryan’s offices in downtown Boston
At first, Cheryl wanted
nothing whatsoever to do with Todd, his lawyer or any proposed contract or
arrangement. She wanted nothing less than a clean break from Todd, even if she
were to give up all her rights to the house and everything in it. She only
wanted sole custody of her two girls. It was quite a while before she would
even listen to what Ryan had to say to her about what Todd and Aaron wanted to
discuss.
The gist of Todd’s
proposal would be this: Either party could bow out at any time if the other
party violated any of the stated conditions in the contract. It would not be a
legal contract in the sense that one party could sue the other party, but it
would be binding in terms of the new living arrangement. A violation by either
party would mean the contract would end, causing an immediate and permanent
separation and signalling that the divorce should go ahead. After a year, if
the parties had abided by all the stated conditions and wanted to renew the
contract for another one-year term, they could do so. There was nothing that
would prevent the contract from being fulfilled, except if one party wished to
end the contract before the one-year term was up. Either party could end the
contract whenever, and for whatever personal reason he or she wanted. It was
the best Todd could hope for, given his stated love for Cheryl and his illicit affair
with Sheila.
Sheila, no matter how
frustrated and angry, would have to wait for Todd to be legally free, if that
ever happened.
At that point, having
learned that Todd had elected to stay with Cheryl as long as their new contract
was in force, Sheila became absolutely furious! She vowed to get even with
Cheryl and then Todd. She didn’t know how she would do it, but she vowed she
would find a way to severely punish both of them. With any luck, Cheryl would
not be able to stand it and Todd would then get turfed out and come back to Sheila,
as he should. Her plan would take some time to work out the details and kinks,
but she had enough faith in herself to pull it off. As for what would happen to
her, she did not want to think about it. That part would come much later.
An agreement that both
Todd and Cheryl could live with and abide by was, indeed, drawn up that very
afternoon. Against all odds, it was a symbol of hope for Todd’s future with
Cheryl.
He was expected to abide
by all the conditions, and there were a considerable number, namely:
1)
He had to find time every day to give Cheryl a break
from her child-rearing activities no matter what was going on at work for him;
2)
She had to have enough time to go to the gym three times
a week to try to achieve her former attractiveness;
3) He had to account to her for any time he spent away from
his family while he wasn’t at work;
4) She had to try to make time for him after the girls were
in bed for the night; and
5) They would have separate bedrooms.
There were other less
major conditions as well. There would be no obligation for spousal intimacy,
since it was clear this part of their life had been seriously compromised with
the advent of Sheila. But they did have to spend time talking about their daily
lives with each other. Only by making time for each other and talking on a
regular basis could they hope to build a new relationship, maybe a better one
than before.
Sheila could not be part
of Todd’s life as she had been. While he could not ignore his parental
responsibilities to the child he now shared with Sheila, his direct
relationship with her would be much more formal and most definitely platonic. Any
hint of sex going on between Todd and Sheila would mean an automatic end to
this new contract between Todd and Cheryl. Todd knew Sheila wouldn’t like this
contract at all (in fact, she would hate it), but he no longer cared what she
thought.
Todd wanted Cheryl back
in his life and was prepared to do whatever it took to get her back. Envisioning
his life without her and their two baby girls made Todd determined to abide by
the stringent conditions of the new contract and living arrangement they now
had between them. If he thought this was going to be difficult, however, he
hadn’t reckoned with Sheila.
Sheila’s reaction,
besides outrage at Todd’s seeming apathy to her own situation, was utter shock
that he could just, in effect, blow her off and get rid of her like some old
piece of furniture. She could not for the life of her understand why Todd was
so willing to give her up in the vague hope of reconciling with his wife. After
all, she felt, it had to be a crapshoot at best. She was convinced Cheryl was
never going to forgive him and take him back.
Over time, Sheila was
having an increasingly hard time keeping her raging emotions from getting the
better of her. She knew that if she didn’t do something soon to deal with the
situation, Todd was going to regret ever having crossed her. She was determined
to get even with them somehow. That meant someone had to die—even if she had to
be the one to do the dirty deed.
Sheila was determined to have her revenge on both of them, one way or
another. How she would exact it would be a challenge, however. She did not want
to get caught in the act of murder, so she would have to be very clever. In
fact, she would have to be so clever that neither party would see it coming and
it would be over before anyone could do anything to stop it.
copyright - Anne Shier, 2013, all rights reserved, published by Authorhouse, Bloomington, Indiana, USA
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