Chapter 53

When Selena confronted her father about going to Interventional and Confrontational Counseling he showed reluctance. He insisted that he and her mother were happy and nothing was wrong. Selena began to well up with tears but quickly began to lose her cool. She turned and drew up to him face to face.

"Nothings wrong? HOW CAN YOU SAY NOTHING IS WRONG? YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING!" She screamed at him. "My mother loves you and you're trying to demean and belittle her into thinking you are the only option in the world. She knows better than that and will not go through what she did before; if you don't take part in these sessions and WAKE UP, SHE IS LEAVING YOU."

"Your mother would no more think of leaving me than... "

"SHE HAS A LAWYER, DAD! SHE CAN'T TAKE THE HEAD GAMES!"

Scott paused long and hard as his eyes went around the room before settling on Selena's face.

"A lawyer? We just made love this morning and she told me she loved me." Scott insisted.

"YES, she loves you, but she can't live being afraid of you, of what you'll say to hurt her. She wants to make you happy, but you do nothing to make her happy besides your intimacy. She's through with the button pushing. If she can't have the man back that she married, she's prepared to move on. You totally wiped out all intimacy from your relationship before and made her feel worthless. You were shocked out of that mindset by MY intervention before, but now you're working your way into it again and she can't go through that again."

At this point Selena reached a boiling point and blew a fuse.

"STOP ACTING SO FUCKING INNOCENT AND STUPID. YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU'RE DOING! You're doing every little thing you can to make her think she's not worthy, to make her think she's not the sexy pretty woman she really is. You're afraid you'll lose her and nothing could be further from possibility. DADDY, SHE LOVES YOU. She's broke her ass for over 20 years to keep herself as pretty, sexy and desirable as she could. She loves to dress sexy for you and the world, she's so proud. But all she hears from you is that she looks like a fool or a tramp or a whore. YOU'VE PREYED ON HER LOW SELF-ESTEEM FOR THE LAST TIME! She's seen herself in the mirror and heard the compliments from me and from Joe. PLUS, she dresses herself up nice and walks through the mall or down the street and knows she's catching men's eyes. THE ONLY EYES SHE WANTS TO CATCH ARE YOURS!" She railed on in a red-faced rant.

"Selena, I think... " He began in defense.

"SHUT UP DADDY! YOU ARE GOING TOMORROW TO THESE SESSIONS and you'll take them seriously and open up and talk about the fears you might have and you'll have to do a lot of it in front of Mommy, and YOU WILL DO IT! If you value one second of your marriage or one cell of the life you created in me you'll grow a set of balls and do something for the both of you so you can go on with the rest of your lives together happily."

Scotts face turned blank and his shoulders slumped as he sunk onto the arm of the sofa.

"Selena honey, I don't know what makes me like that. I wish I could tell you I get some sort of satisfaction from it besides some rush of power over my most prized possession. I'M the one who's not worthy and I know it!" Scott said lowering his head in disgust.

"Daddy, the both of you are wallowing in your low self-esteems and you both have so much going for you. I'm not saying another word and you save it for the clinic tomorrow. Mommy knows I'm here talking to you, but she doesn't want a confrontation when she gets home. She knows she's supposed to save it. Do you understand me?"

"I understand, I don't want both of you hating me."

"Daddy, NOBODY HATES YOU. We both love you dearly with all our hearts and want to help you out of this sickness of thought. If she hated you she would have been gone long ago. Now let's go up to the house and see if she needs help with Joe and we'll plan dinner." Selena said as she took her fathers hand and began to walk out.

Scott Hanson stopped and hugged his daughter tightly.

"Thanks. You know I couldn't live without her."

Selena looked at him and rolled her eyes in disbelief at his statement. To take him to task on it would only cause her to blow a fuse again.

At Joe's house he was also amazed at some of the things Betty Hanson was telling him. Her reactions and behavior may have fed the phobias and kinks of her husband. When Scott was particularly mean and verbally abusive was when Betty would go to the bed room and strip and then open the door to call Scott in for a long sweaty session of sex. While she felt it was her way to get the man she loved back to an adoring state, she was giving his libido all the more reason to be abusive. She would have stopped having all sexual relations with Scott except "I always thought that THIS time would be different afterwards" became a running excuse.

When Scott and Selena got to the house he jumped out of the car and rushed into find Betty. She was in the living room fixing her hair in the reflection from the picture window. They rushed to each others arms as he came into the room.

"I'm so, so sorry. I don't want to lose you." Scott whispered.

"I love you Scott, but we have to fix our heads because I'm going crazy on the inside. We can't talk about it but you KNOW I want to live and love with you forever. The sessions will be a great help, please cooperate." She responded.

"Oh, I am and I will. I think our daughter will kick my ass otherwise. I love you both so much." Scott answered as they heard Selena's steps on the front porch.

Selena had come in the front way to give her Dad a moment to see Betty before she and Joe spoke with both of them. She also was making sure the steps were clear of ice for the visit from the home health aide. She quietly walked by the embracing couple and went to the office to find Joe in front of the computer screen, but not really looking at it, but rather in a daze.

"Oh Hi sugar, I was just daydreaming about your parents sessions. Is everything OK with your Dad?"

"Yes, any talk of my Mom wanting a separation and my Dad turns into a quivering mass. Plus, I showed him a glimpse of my dark side to get his attention and make sure I meant business." She said with a regrettable chuckle.

"You lost it, huh? Red faced, furrowed brow, 5000 decibels and pointing fingers?"

"Regrettably, yes. That's the one. He was trying to act stupid and innocent and I had to reinforce the gravity of it all. I don't like blowing off like that and I'm not proud of myself when it happens, but it certainly gets results." She opined.

"Heh, it works for me!" Joe said rolling his eyes and reaching for her to come to the chair for a hug and kiss.

With one knee on the locked wheel she kissed Joe deeply and hugged him tightly breaking the embrace just to whisper.

"Let's get rid of all these people and go back into the bedroom where I can screw the daylights out of you and suck the cock right off you. I need to forget my problems and love up my man." She giggled in his ear.

He reached around and patted her on the butt.

"We'll have plenty of time for that, don't worry. Right now we should go out and go over the prep that the clinical nurse gave you over the phone this morning." Joe suggested.

"You're right, let's go." Selena said as she unlocked the wheels and pushed Joe ahead of her to the living room.

"Listen, Mom and Dad, why don't you sit down so we can talk to you. Tomorrow you are seeing a clinical psychologist for Interventional and Confrontational Counseling. Now I am what they call the "bookmark". I mark the place I think you were before everything went to hell and will know when you get back to the right page. They will handle this as a non-violent problem, because it is, obviously. A man and a woman psychologist will interview each of you separately, and then later on together. There will be points that you may be called onto explain the difference in answers from the interviews and you both have to agree to be as painfully honest in your explanations. There should be nothing either of you should be afraid to say to each other after living and loving together for almost 25 years. Tonight you should both refrain from talking about the session and keep your prejudgments and doubts to yourself." Selena explained.

"You know there has never been a moment in our marriage when I didn't love your mother." Scott said to be sure the idea was never implied.

He looked at the other 3 sets of eyes on him and suddenly felt guilty of something, but not quite sure what.

Betty seemed to understand more than everyone thought and took Scotts hand.

"No one ever said that, and I feel the same way as well, honey. Now let's do what the clinic said and not talk about it anymore and keep our thoughts and ideas as introspection that we can use constructively tomorrow." Betty told him.

Right away Joe knew that Betty had been on the computer and searched this type of therapy. He felt bad for what must be going through her head. She truly loved this man, but was prepared to go out into the world looking for another love if he would not accept her as a whole partner in their marriage without constant judgment, control and ridicule.

Betty patted Scott on the leg twice saying, "Come on Scottie and help me make dinner tonight. It's our turn and I found some nice shrimp today to make my shrimp Alfredo with."

Scott got up like a puppy dog and went with his wife to the kitchen while Joe and Selena watched in amazement.

"Do you think the doctors will see through your Dad and see what a phony he is at times? Will he care?" Joe wondered aloud.

"I think, and I'm quite serious about this, that my Dad will be a well spanked, changed man after the sessions. My Mom will not be found guiltless, but she will have the hammer handed to her for quite a bit of the session. The ploys my Dad has been using were not 100 percent fully orchestrated to achieve the results he got, but as they unfolded he saw where things were going. He's a control freak inside. When he had my Mom puppy dogging around before without any sex in their lives; he was willing to forfeit that to have the control. Control was that important to him. When he turned off the control and all of a sudden it was open season in the bedroom he realized what he missed and then tried to modify things to get control and the sex together. We'll never know what happened behind those doors, but, don't be surprised if you don't see evidence of what I'm thinking."

"You don't think your Mom will talk about it?"

"She better not, unless he rejects her in every way, and that will not happen. They will have to swear to each other that the session is theirs and theirs alone. They will be told that it is as intimate as the sex act itself. They can only seek out one trusted sworn to secrecy outlet if they "have" to talk. I've read a lot about these things. When I took my Psyche course my prof had just kept a journal on a blind session for a thesis she did for a psychiatric magazine. That's how I knew so much about them." Selena said as Joe listened in amazement.

"Essy, you are the smartest person I know, and I mean that too. When I first heard you were going to be in the WSG think tank I wondered to myself what they could possibly see in you that I didn't have. I tried six ways to Sunday to get a foot in the door there. But your retention and logic are off the grid." Joe said with a true reverence.

"Oh JOE! If you want to kiss my ass, let me take off my pants! I wasn't paying lip service to the subject to make you think I was smarter than you!" She said a bit miffed at his comment.

"No, honey I'm serious. I could tell you just outlined all that in your head from bits you stored away and you made perfect cogent sense to me. I wasn't kissing your ass, although I would LOVE to." Joe insisted.

"Well, when I'm with the "old men" I am aware that we all share something special and that not everyone would understand the level in which we think. But don't think I would ever rub that in your face Joe. YOU are the smartest and brightest man I know." She said as she hugged him glad that she was able to tell him something that made him understand her thought process.

Working at WSGG for the short spurts she had made her realize her gift, living with Joe made her understand it. The one thing she never knew before was how gifted she was. When given the tools and when shown how the others used them it all just fell into place. A think tank, where pooled resources construct ideas and policies, became common in the 80's in political and economic circles. But this tank of truly gifted minds focused on the financial world that used every speck of input available was somewhat different. There were no agendas. It was like when 6 tuning forks are struck. At one point they all vibrate at the same resonance to form one beautiful pitch. They knew when that pitch was heard and the conclusion came from it. Now, in her life outside the tank her mind fished for the knowledge it retained and used her power of logic and probability to form cogent ideas and hypothesis. Joe was witnessing her chrysalis being shed before his very eyes. He was not only in love with her, he was also in awe.

Although Betty's dinner was great and the four of them enjoyed a nice conversation, Joe felt uncomfortable knowing that he knew so much of their problems and what was going to happen the next day. Joe's only rescue was Lucy and Jeromy showing up, not really expecting dinner, but able to share the rest of the pot from the kitchen. They changed the course of the conversation and made pie and coffee following the meal a less stressful time for all as they steered the conversation toward the movie they saw the night before. By 8:30 Betty and Scott were ready to leave and obviously ready to be alone. Scott was already shedding his facades, and at least for the night, Betty was buying the change. She knew from her internet research that tomorrow was going to be a shock to Scott. She was praying that in 24 hours they could start a new honeymoon.

Joe, on the other hand, couldn't wait to get into bed so he could sleep. His carnal desires would have to wait for his body to build its strength back. Once he was finally settled he was asleep holding hands with Selena. He barely moved and never knew she got back up and went out to talk with Lucy before coming back to bed. The roommates had barely had time to compare class schedules to adjust routines and plan their week.

Selena made sure both her parents got to the therapy sessions early the next morning and secretly prayed it would be the last she would ever have to worry about the two of them. There was obviously something in Scott's past or his make-up that made him insecure once Selena got out of the house. Selena was supremely confidant that Scott would become painfully aware that his wife held her self-esteem and psyche in high enough regard that she knew she couldn't take the mental abuse he had dealt. Nor, had she deserved any of it. The fact that Joe was about the same age and looked at the rest of his life as one full of horizons, she saw no way she should see 40 as the beginning of the long trek down.

The rest of the week brought the first visits from the physical therapist was able to work Joe through some of the ache of inactivity. He was far enough post-op to have supervised removal of the splint to manually bend the knee a few times. Joe felt the gentle pulling inside but was just happy to move it, if only for the few moments in the therapists hands. Friday Betty was up to the house early for her first "Joe-sitting" session since the therapy. Selena and Lucy were getting their dorm room back to normal with moving things from storage to the room and stocking the refrigerator, washing sheets and blankets, etc. Betty seemed happier than Joe ever remembered. As much as he wanted to question her, he kept mum and enjoyed the lack of "background noise".

Joe was enjoying his new independence as he got to better know his wheelchair and got rid of the soreness in his arms from pushing himself around. While Betty puttered, cleaned and watched her quiz shows and soap operas, Joe went to the computer and communications center at his desk and conducted business. He was particularly happy with a hunch he bought a few days earlier that had blossomed into a real money maker in just 2 days. With the Super Bowl just 2 weeks away there was talk of the ads that would fill the TV broadcast. For the first time in 21 years a commercial for Monster Locks would not be seen. The famous gunshot through a lock ad was being dropped for one reason or another by the company and it alone was giving the company free publicity. On a slow news day every network picked up the story of the ad being dropped. Invariable the clip of the bullet going through the lock accompanied the story. Free publicity and product endorsement, Joe figured. He rarely traded in stock above the $10 range, outside of blue chips, but this intrigued Joe. The stock was secure enough that a few day run shouldn't hurt him too bad. It was selling at 73.10 and hadn't been below 72 for 30 months. Its top had been 77 in the same period. The story broke on Sunday and Joe bought it Monday, some 3000 shares. Now on Friday morning he felt the stock had gotten all the legs it could from the story blitz earlier in the week, and had taken advantage of the internet hangover the story enjoyed. The stock opened at 97 at the bell and by the time Joe's sell went through it was 96.40. He smiled to himself at the 65K net after fees. Luckily Joe wasn't stupid enough to think that moves like this were out there without finding a clunker in the pile. He would go back to his low risk speculation habits after this small triumph.