Plans Change The Story Continues 2

Watching the mother of my children, get out of bed my insides felt like they were being torn.  The truth I realized was I still loved her but it was not the laughing lets have fun love we had in those early days.  This love was one wrought with sadness, frustration and anger.  If I spoke now I knew the words would only tear what little threads still connecting us apart.  Pointing out the door as she looked at me she smiled and told me her room was actually the large one on the far end of the house.  Needing to use the bathroom I got up and went to the door that did not open into the hall only to find it was a closet filled with unpacked boxes.  As I turned around she asked if I was okay and I whispered asking where the bathroom was.  Grabbing my hand she kept the conversation to a silent one.  Seeing the view from her great room of the orchards I stopped.  She spoke and said she forgot real men like to use trees. I looked at her and when she looked back she nodded her head as she lead me down the hall into her bedroom and pointed to the double doors.  She told me she had brought my bag in last night after finding me sleeping in the maids quarters when she went looking for my keys.

The shower helped my mind immensely.  When she whipped up some grits along with biscuits and gravy I asked when she took up cooking.  Looking up she said without her chef who had kept running off over the years she had to learn to cook something to feed the kids besides hot water for her cups of noodles and microwave popcorn.  As we sat at her island looking out on the pool area she asked if we could talk now.  I nodded; she said she would start and told me she was really sorry and explained why she had married the sheriff end then on the same day began the process to have the marriage annulled.  I never said a word and was able to detach myself from the situation, until she finally asked if I had been serious about reaffirming our vows in that little church back home.  It took me a minute before I told her I had been serious and that was where I left it.  She finally told me she was hoping I was going to just jump and embrace her and that we would live happily ever after.  Life though rarely is a fairy tale though I have known a few that were close, it was just not mine and I suppose much of that was my fault as even though I do not understand how women think, I do know they were made to be loved if not understood.

Christina as if reading my mind mentioned that she knew I still loved her and was having difficulty coming to terms with her abhorrent behavior. I had to smile at her directness and ambiguity as abhorrent did not really say anything.  As she went about cleaning up the kitchen I just watched and finally she asked if I was going to partake in this conversation, nodding I told her I was doing the listening.  Nodding she smiled and told me it was her turn to listen.  I nodded and told her I would be leaving for Panama shortly.  She nodded and told me she had never been to Panama and then asked if it was my first time.  I told her to be honest no but the first couple of times did not count as I was never there.  She said Christopher was right; I asked about what and she told me I was a spy.  I laughed and said she watched way too many movies, probably with that old neighbor of ours in them.  She asked who hasn't seen his movies, I raised my hand.  She asked how I knew he was in the movies if I did not watch them, smiling I told her I went for the cliff note version better known as the trailer.  She asked what movies did I watch; smiling I told her when I did get the urge to actually sit and waste my time doing such a thing I preferred old musicals or silent movies, but also did catch some of the independent art films at the festivals and did not mind some of the documentaries on while I was working.  She asked who I went with and I smiles and told her myself mostly though I did take the girls to Sundance a couple of times.  She eyed me and asked why she was not there, I told her my guess the first time I took them was when she was sleeping with our neighbor as she had wanted to stay home and it had been about ten months before Christopher was born.

I could tell she was trying to do the math and then she told me that was not long after we had moved to Colorado and she guessed she had been somewhat star struck.  I nodded and told her I had already kind of came to that conclusion.  I left the topic at that and she finally told me that it must have been hard to come home not knowing who would be in my bed sticking it to my wife.  I told her it had been but thankfully I no longer had that problem.  I could see her trying to fight back the anger and she actually succeeded she asked if there was any hope for us.  I paused and then told her from the last I had heard there was no us, as it took more than just one to make an us.  Before she could answer I told her that when I came home a couple of years ago; I had to pause at the realization that a couple of years had passed since I had walked away from my career as a contractor for mainly our federal government.  Looking at her after staring out the window I told her I had hoped then we could put the past behind us and move on but recent events since my return and her subsequent decision to divorce me and then her deciding to marry that other fellow kind of changed the dynamics of our relationship at least in my mind, like for instance the only reason I had continued to even talk to her was she was the mother of my children. She asked if we did not have that in common would I have bought back that small little intricate web of companies.  I shook my head and said nope.  She went white and told me she had those three security experts I had hired look into what had been going on and they had agreed with my assessment as did the colonel.  Nodding I told her it had been kind of obvious and as we had an outside audit taken I could not guarantee she was free and clear of any possible ramifications arising from her letting an unknown entity use her company to launder money.

She asked to please repeat that particularly the part about laundering money, I told her it was pretty obvious since there was not any actual engineering services being done during her tenure as owner that someone was using the companies reputation of doing large jobs overseas which included large payments from various places to move money while the engineers and field workers were being paid to sit at home and do nothing and coupled with taking several of the holding companies public when not one of them save for the company which had owned our house or rather her house that I built her were not doing any business except further helping water down the origins of the large cash transactions.  Christina asked if I really had to do an audit and I told her having been to jail and prison on more than one occasion I preferred to not go again as it was way overrated.  She almost lost it as she told me she did not want to go to jail.  Grabbing her I told her first she needed to calm down as we had just begun our internal inventory on the assets which would take time and in the mean time she may want to write down her take on what was going on and why she had made certain decisions such as divorcing the man who she had earlier promised not to divorce and her decision to wipe him clean.  She told me she had not completely wiped me clean as she had known I had cash reserves hidden around the world.  Nodding I told her at the moment most of which were untouchable as one someone had taken my keys and many of the identities used to rent the deposit boxes had either been in that box in a little boutique inn or in a bag I had kept in a locker in an airport. So when I headed for Mexico the first time I had been gambling and calculating on the possibility that I would end up broke and just another man homeless, living on the street after finding out he has lost everything.  She told me that was not the case now, I smiled and told her the truth of the matter was those checks I had been continuing to send her were all I was getting paid besides a small per diem which I was saving so that when I did come home I could afford to eat.  She looked at me and asked why I was sending her anything; I told her when women divorced men, men got stuck paying alimony and instead of having her two lawyers trying to flank me I had made the decision to just give her the whole damn check.

She asked why I disliked them so much; I told her I did not hate them but knowing they made their fortunes off of helping to destroy what little hope I had left of saving my marriage and doing a fine job of taking what I had built and stealing it while I was laid up incognito in a hospital wondering why my wife was not visiting when I was awake; I stopped talking then and told her she had hired two very good lawyers who had done right by her and thanks to them I now owed her several millions of dollars to be paid out over the next several years which was another reason I could not pay myself very much which hopefully would do two things, keep her out of jail and let me at least save something of what I had spent a lifetime building.  When I stopped she told me with my putting it so simply she was surprised I was still talking to her.  Looking at my watch I told her I needed to be going and I did not expect too many of these little pow wows which I supposed was probably for the best.  She gave me a hug and told me she would be grateful if I would reconsider.  Shrugging I told her she knew where I lived at the moment.  As I went and grabbed my bags I heard the door open and a familiar voice.  When I walked back through to the front door, the colonel looking much older was waiting with her.  I told him I was glad to see he was still kicking and asked where he was living these days.  Christina said he lived in the guest house as a permanent resident now as we were the only family he had, being he was her uncle.  I had known from the onset he was mom's brother but neither of us had ever acknowledged it and now I only nodded and told him to enjoy the weather.  He told me a storm was coming and I told him a storm was always coming and long after I was gone more storms would come so there was no sense worrying about them.  As Christina's security team came in I told them thanks and was asked if I needed a ride to the airport or was I planning on parking my truck in long term parking, I told the senior of the two men I supposed it would cost less if I did not leave it parked at the airport.  As I stepped out there was a dog there which I reached down and petted.  Christina grunted and said she thought I was afraid of dogs.  I told her no I was not afraid of dogs but if she was referring to the night those guard dogs had attacked I knew they were being handled by K9 handlers and had been released  for one purpose and I had made the choice not to face them as I did not want her mad at me for hurting those poor helpless creatures.

She looked at the colonel and then at her security team, they did not say anything so she asked why I said I did not need a dog and I asked if she was coming over every day to feed a dog and take it for runs because I could not.  She nodded and after a moment of awkward silence I told her I would see her later and walked toward my SUV and was told by Christina to leave it and she would drive me. The colonel told her that was not a good idea and I agreed with him.  She asked why and I told her the sheriff if he saw us together might not be so nice after I filed a restraining order against him, forbidding him to come onto my property and the complaint I lodged against him for his poor conduct with the allegations against him for trying to get my ex wife to bring my daughters into their marriage bed with her, will probably not go over so well with the state or federal government.  I watched the colonel and could tell he was a little surprised.  He said maybe I should take her with me.  I told him she had some sort of procedure she needed to do and I was not going to play babysitter anymore at least not until I had grandchildren and then only if my finances were in order.