Chapter 2

“Dan, I have one more present for you.” Wendy smiled again at her lover. “My divorce from Dave became final yesterday. It’s now legal for me to get on with the rest of my life,” she said, handing him an envelope. “But before you open it, I can now ask you the question that had to wait until I was divorced and it was your birthday.”

He knew what Wendy was going to ask him and began to smile. “Dave didn’t want to have any more kids after Timmy, but I still do. I love you more than I ever thought I could possibly love a man again. I love you so much and would be eternally grateful if you’d be the father of three children for me and for us.” She asked, yearning frozen on her face.

“I’m concerned about my age compared to almost every new father. I can imagine going with you to pick up our child from school. He or she comes running to us, yelling, ‘Daddy, Daddy,’ and Cathy’s son, Danny, runs along side, yelling, ‘Grandpa, Grandpa.’ I think I would feel embarrassed, not because of our child, which would never happen. But for so little age difference from child to grandchild,”

“Just imagine what a virile stud the younger women will think you are to be a daddy and grandpa in your mid-fifties.” Wendy smiled, brushing a few strands of hair from his forehead. Her soft, sensual touch always sent shivers up and down his spine. What had he ever done to deserve such a beautiful, loving, sensual woman, let alone being loved by two of them, including his deceased wife, Laura?

Dan paused for dramatic effect, and everyone was anticipating his answer. “Of course you’ve always known my answer would be ... yes!” He grinned.

Wendy practically knocked him out of his chair by jumping onto his lap, her bare tits pressing against his chest. “Oh, thank you, thank you, my love! You’ve made me the happiest woman in the world!” She squeezed him tight and practically swallowed his tongue in a deep kiss. “So as of now, I’m going off the pill.” She happily wrapped her arms around his neck, sitting on his lap.

“Can I have a baby with Dan too?” Tina asked, admitting her secret fantasy.

“And what about me, I know Dan would be a great dad to my baby too!” Bobbie supported.

“Dan is the father of my...,” Cathy almost blurted out her secret suspicions. “Dan is the father of my life! As the oldest daughter, I know firsthand how fantastic a father he is and will be should he have a baby with any of you.”

“Is that all I am to you women—nothing but a living sperm bank?” He joked.

“Imagine how much of a stud you’d be considered by the ladies who father babies with five women,” Brenda further teased.

“They’d say, haven’t you heard of using a condom?” He remarked.

“Can I go off the pill too, the same as Wendy?” Tina asked.

“And me too,” Bobbie added to the conversation.

Dan glanced at Karen, and she said, “Don’t look at me; you got yourself into this mess. But I do agree with Cathy and know that Dan would be a fantastic father to any of your babies.”

Karen painted a false smile on her face. Pains of jealousy tempered with instant hatred stabbed her in the heart, surely as if Wendy had thrust the knife herself. Karen rubbed her vacant belly where her growing baby girl should be; she couldn’t have children ever again.

The thought of her failure made her need to be punished and humiliated again by Tanya and Thor. She’d have to stay clear of the basement with her and Wendy taking Dan to the Hen House later on to celebrate his birthday. She silently laughed at the thought of actually keeping her clothes on in there.

“Now you can open the envelope,” Dan did as instructed. “Today I bought you several scratch-and-win lottery tickets for luck. I also bought myself a Super 7 ticket for tonight. It may be your birthday, but I’m feeling very lucky today. My lawyer said I had to wait until my divorce was final. If I bought lottery tickets and won any money, Dave would be entitled to half of it. So now, if I even win a dollar, he gets zilch,” she laughed.

Dan took a piece of paper from the envelope. He unfolded it and began to read, “I don’t understand.” He said this, looking from the paper to Wendy’s sparkling eyes.

“I got the idea from Brad. I asked Karen if it would be alright with her, and she agreed wholeheartedly.” Dan looked at Karen, and she pretended to smile and nodded her agreement. “I may not be legally able to marry you while you’re married to Karen, and I’m going to find a way somehow, but there is no law against me doing this,” she smiled, kissing his right cheek.

“What is it, Dad?” Diane asked.

“It’s an application for Wendy to change her last name from Cameron to Hayward!”

“I don’t want our babies to have a hyphenated last name or Cameron. I want them to have your last name, our last name of Hayward.”

“Oh, Wendy, I don’t know what to say! You’d be willing to become Wendy Hayward for the rest of your life?”

“Secretly, I’ve already felt like that for months,” she said, kissing and hugging him.

“Wow, I’m speechless!”

“Now that’s a first for Dad,” Cathy joked, and they laughed.

Dan looked at Karen and said, “You’re okay with Wendy becoming a Hayward by name?”

“Imagine you trying to explain to people why our last names are the same. I ask that all of our family and friends accept Wendy’s choice to carry our name on with her new family with Dan,” she stated, looking around the group.

No one objected, and everyone kissed and hugged Wendy after her announcement. Outwardly, Karen agreed with the name change, but inside, she hated the thought of Wendy having a baby with Dan even more. It should have been her baby, not Wendy’s; he will playfully bounce on his knee.

“And now it’s time for the birthday cake and ice cream,” Karen mentioned after Dan finished opening his last present.

Dan cautioned Karen with an evil grin, “Remember I said I was going to throw you into the pool after opening my presents? I’m coming to get you, honey!” Dan joked, slowly stalking her.

“Oh no, you don’t! That’s what you think!” She partially laughed, hurrying from her lounge chair.

She backed up, keeping one eye on Dan and the other on the edge of the pool. She placed a chair in front of him, and he moved it aside. Dan made his move and cornered Karen by the steps to the shallow end. She shrieked loudly as Dan picked her up in his arms and walked toward the deep end of the pool. Everyone began laughing and grabbed their cameras in anticipation of the impending splash.

“Put me down,” she said, kicking her feet and lightly hitting his shoulders in mock protest. “Put me down!” She said it louder.

Dan ignored her plea and continued laughing, “Ready for a swim? Now you’ll have to change your clothes, and I can finally see what you’ve been hiding from me for the past several months.”

“Put ... me ... down ... now!” She demanded it and started hitting his left shoulder harder with her clenched fist. Any smiles had left her face; her brow furrowed, and her expression turned to pure anger. “PUT ... ME ... THE FUCK ... DOWN ... NOW!” She shouted and emphasized her demand with a hard slap to his face, his skin stinging from the blow.

“Okay, okay, I get the message,” Dan relented. Her fierce stare was glued to his eyes as her feet touched the concrete deck, her chest heaving from deep and rapid breaths. He rubbed the side of his face, feeling the sting of Karen’s strike. Everyone stopped in their tracks, sensing the joke was definitely over.

“What is it with you? Nobody can even joke with you any longer. I was just trying to have some fun with you.”

“I’m not in the mood for jokes or fun anymore!”

“Or are you in the mood for anything else to do with me, for that matter. Do you realize we haven’t made love since...?” His sentence remained unfinished. “You’ve let yourself fall to pieces. You dyed your beautiful blonde hair that shitty, awful-looking red and black. Your eyes are so dark around them; they look dead. You’ve lost a lot of weight, and you’ve shut the whole family out of your life. And you’re off to who knows where every night or hiding from us. Have you looked at yourself in the mirror lately?”

“I look at myself in the mirror every goddamn fucking day, and I hate what I see looking back at me!” She snarled through gritted teeth. Karen’s chest continued to heave from her adrenalin-fed, rapid breathing.

Dan’s pent-up frustration over the past four months had reached its boiling point and was now about to explode. Karen was beyond reasoning, beyond listening to Dan, and beyond listening to anyone.

“Years ago, you would have been the first to strip naked and go swimming in front of everyone, and now you won’t let anybody see you undressed; what are you hiding from us?”

“I’m not the same person as I was then!”

“You’ve turned your back on everyone in the family. I know life has been hard on you, and I’ve tried to help in every way I possibly can, but you won’t let me or anyone else help you!”

“I don’t want your help!” She glared at him.

“We married, for better or for worse, and right now we’re going through the worst. You haven’t been the same person since you had your miscarriage, and denying that it happened is threatening our marriage!” Dan, angry, replied.

The blunt truth hit Karen as if she’d been fatally stabbed in the heart by Dan. She drew back her right hand. “WHY YOU FUCKING BASTARD!” She screamed and let loose with all her strength, giving him a slap on the left cheek.

The resounding impact sounded like the snap of a rider’s whip. His head jerked sideways, and she followed it up with an equally hard backhanded slap to his right cheek. Dan staggered backward from the unexpected double impact. He stumbled over a chair, almost falling to the ground. His ears began to ring, and he rubbed his cheeks from the mighty blows to his face.

“Mom!” Diane cried, coming to her dad’s aid. The commotion had caused Sarg and Major to bark nonstop from the confines of their dog run.

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” She yelled to the dogs, and they immediately went silent. “I HATE YOU!” Her eyes were breathing fire at Dan. “I FUCKING HATE YOU!” She repeated, going to him as he stood, “I HATE YOU, I HATE YOU, I FUCKING HATE YOU!” She snarled repeatedly, pounding her fists hard against his chest, then slapped his face hard once more.

Scott went to intercede, and she stepped away from him. “Stay away from me, Scott!” She warned, pointing her finger. She swung an open hand towards him, and he barely avoided her certain strike.