Chapter 12

Sunday lunch was much the same as the one years ago just before I decided I couldn't live with Mary anymore and reinstated the divorce proceedings against her. Liz was here to be formally introduced. I glanced at Liz and she smiled, remembering last night. Bob wasn't present as he was still in the hospital. I guess he was the only one I felt any real animosity toward. He just wouldn't let things be.

After lunch, Max rose and announced, "Dirk has graciously agreed to be present today. This is the first time I have met his new wife, which I am very much pleased to do. I'm going to call this a confession session, for want of a different label. I have a lot to confess so I'll be first. Dirk accuses me of stealing Mary from him. I was attracted to her the first time I met her. She became aware of my feelings and eventually we started an illicit affair. But no matter how careful a person is, something like this will become known. Then the night of the Christmas party other people became involved, which I don't have to repeat here."

I asked, "So how long were you going to keep your illicit affair with Mary from me?"

"Not long, and we were working on that. Mary was supposed to be so taken with me for saving her from Bob, that she was going to fall in love with me and ask for a divorce. In the end the timeline was about the same. Mary and I were able to marry and give little Jimmy my name legally."

Everyone in the room was looking at me. "You are a bit of a bastard, Max. You not only played me, but you played all of your neighbors too. You had these parties harking back to 'Lord of the Manor, ' when in reality you were having them in so you could steal my wife."

"I know and I apologize for that. The thing is, I really enjoyed your company and miss having you around as a friend. I still don't regret having Mary for my wife though. I guess doing what I did to you has made me feel more guilty than anything I have ever done in my life."

I shrugged. I mean what could I say.

There was silence for a few minutes. Finally Mary got to her feet. "I guess I will have to apologize to Dirk for what I did to him too. I always admired Max from the first day I met him and I know I was very much attracted to him. He always looked so unattainable and I was a married woman. And I admit I am a bit of a hussy when I'm drinking. The day I dropped my top, I only had eyes for Max. I had decided that this was the day I was going to get him to notice me. At that time I had no idea in my mind that I would be unfaithful to Dirk. After all he was my husband and the father of my children. But then Bob saw me and you now know how that turned out.

"After Labor Day, Max and I made sure we bumped into each other. Dirk was very angry at me, and I had the feeling that if he didn't want me, I knew someone that did. Sometime around Thanksgiving, before actually, it was time for Max to start planning the yearly Christmas party. I mentioned it to Dirk and he asked me to go help Max. From the first time Max touched me, I didn't belong to Dirk anymore. I was pregnant with Jimmy when Bob and you guys raped me. I regret what I did, but I wouldn't change a thing."

She gazed at her husband and the smile she gave him was almost blinding. In the nine years she and I had been married, I had never received a look like that.

I stood up and addressed the men and their wives. "There is no doubt that on the edited tape Mary was raped. I saw the woman I loved and who I thought loved me, turned into a slut. I could have turned you all into the police and you all might still be in prison. I didn't, because I counted the number of children we all fathered and I couldn't tear that many families apart and it was my decision. I still don't regret it. How has the rape of who I now know as my unfaithful wife affected you?"

Joey answered. "I don't know if it is good or bad. There have been consequences from seeing the tape of Mary being raped. Barbara always had rape fantasies and watching that released her into begging for it to happen. The only blame I have to place is with you Dirk, making the tape and then letting Barbara see it. Of course you holding it over our heads has been a fear of the authorities knocking on our door at any given moment."

I immediately answered. "Joey end your fears. If you think back, I never made any threats. I suggested to you what I could do. The only danger to you has been Bob and his drunken actions. I never would have jeopardized your children by taking their father from them. As far as the tape of Mary becoming a slut, I take no responsibility for that at all. Mary was the one that made it available for you to watch."

"You're shitting me, aren't you?"

"No. Ask Max. He has the original unedited copy, but that is all. My dear friend and my unfaithful ex-wife may have copies of the edited tape he requested. All others have been destroyed. If a tape surfaces, it would come from them. If a jury ever saw the original, there would be enough doubt about what you did with Mary that night to make it possible to escape the classification as rape. So what happened to Barbara? You've implied there is more."

"There is. You tell him Barb."

"Once a month I get my fix. George has been reluctant to be part of it, but with Pam the way she is, he comes through. You are invited to be there anytime too, if you wish. I could use some strange meat in me."