Edited by Barney R. Further touched by me all errors are mine.

There was no way to tame her. It was a confrontation where I said some hurtful words that turned out to be true.

I am Frank Miller, 49, Father of two grown children and married to Linda (Lin) Miller nee Smith, 47. We have been married for almost 23 years, and have two wonderful daughters, Sara 20, and Lacy 18. They are both in college at the University Of Michigan. We were preparing for a company dinner when I said it.

Linda and I met at a University of Michigan get acquainted party put on by the Greek council for all of the new freshman men and women. The university’s Greek (Fraternities and Sororities) Society did this every year, and that year I was one of the greeters and as a secondary duty, I was to watch for and stop any inappropriate conduct. There was always a ‘Romeo’ or sometimes a militant ‘Lezbo’ lesbian that needed to have a little attitude adjustment, or an escort to the door.

Linda (I found out her name by looking at the name tag on the breast of her blouse, and I was only looking at the name tag. LOL) looked overwhelmed, and was standing near the door not doing any mingling, just wide eyed staring at the crowd. I started to move toward her when Ralph Camminski, one of the worst ‘Romeos’ swooped in and tried to get her to dance.

Ralph was not only a womanizing asshole, he was a transient student. He was at his third university in five years. A couple million dollars from daddy and the school would overlook his sexual assault history. He must have been a smooth talker, because he had already had a couple of young ladies wanting to go with him that night.

The ‘deer in the headlights’ look changed to pure fear when Ralph put his arm around her shoulder and tried to move her away from the wall.

As I approached, Ralph had his back to me, but Linda saw me coming. Her look and mouthing the word help caused me to make my presence known. “Ralph, leave Linda alone, she is with me, and you know how I feel about poachers.”

Ralph looked at me with anger in his eyes until he recognized me. At the time he and I had run into each other at a local pub where I stopped him from fondling a high school girl who got in with a fake ID. He knew that I would make his life miserable if I had to intervene physically again.

His arm came down to his side so fast that I expected a sonic boom. He scooted away as fast as he could.

“Linda, please come over to my table, I will make sure no one bothers you, and you can relax a little.” Then I added; “I don’t want you to worry, I won’t bother you either, I will just talk to you and the other table mates and be there to stop the jerks from making a move on you. There are also a couple of other ladies there so if I have to leave they can be your cover

She came over and sat down. The ladies that were at the table welcomed her and made her feel comfortable. There were a couple of other slimeballs checking out the talent at the event, but as I was constantly moving around they left before the actual festivities started.

When it was time to have all of the welcoming speeches, the ladies had made Linda part of the ‘crew’. She thanked me for rescuing her, and for allowing her to sit here where she was comfortable.

I saw her around campus during the semester, and about three weeks after the meet and greet, she asked if she could meet me for coffee.

We went to an on campus coffee house and Linda thanked me for helping her. She told me she decided not to pledge, and her mother agreed once she explained what happened.

We talk for most of an hour. We made plans to go to a play at the Rackham Theatre. It turned out to be the start of over 25 years of life together. I thought it was exclusive.

We dated until I graduated. We were engaged in my senior year and would marry between her sophomore and junior year. Because of my family’s wealth, we had a pre-nup written up to protect the family company from a divorce. Linda signed without blinking. She agreed that the adultery clause made sense.

The wedding was held in Grand Rapids where both of our families came from. My family paid, as we were part of the ‘East Grand Rapids Money’ crowd. Linda’s family was upper middle class, but with five kids in her family, they did not have a lot of extra cash.

I had a job lined in my father’s accountancy. It was in his Ann Arbor office at least until Linda got her degree. My degree was a double major in Financial Planning and Business Administration. I had minors in accounting and Spanish. I was also on the Dean’s list every semester.

For a wedding present, my family gave us a million dollar trust fund. I had received a similar but larger amount for a graduation present.

The wedding was a grand affair, and I did my damnedest to make sure Linda’s family was not left out or made to feel uncomfortable. Her siblings were all in our wedding party, her oldest sister, was matron-of-honor, the other a bridesmaid, and her two brothers were my sidemen. My cousin was my best man and Linda’s closest friends were her other bridesmaids.

Linda graduated with her degree as a Nurse Practitioner. We moved back to G. R. and bought the house we still live in, in the Forest Hills suburb. Linda went to work for a private cardiac practice.

Sara came along and Linda became a stay at home mom until both girls were in school all day. When Lacy arrived we decided two was a very good number. I had the snip job done.

I progressed in the company, and by the time Lacy was six. I was a vice-president, and in charge of the Grand Rapids office. My dad had semi-retired and was only in the office a couple of days a week.

Linda went back to work. This time it was in a major family practice office with ten or fifteen doctors on the staff. She was getting a nice wage, and didn’t need to work overtime.

After she had worked there for a couple of years, she started to change, and not for the better. She tried to use sex as a weapon, so I hired a P.I. and found out that she was hanging out with a young doctor at lunch.

I confronted her with the evidence and she realized that believing the crap the asshole spouting was poisoning our family. She decided to have me meet her at a lunch with the jerk. I walked in and he looked like he swallowed a turd and it didn’t taste right.