Chapter 4

Jessica Longley could have provided fuel for several Psychology Ph.D. theses. Blessed with the brains, beauty, and personality to achieve anything she wanted, she was also afflicted with severe neuroses.

Jessica's mother, born Marie Chamblis, had the instinctive ability to mold, warp, and control the mind of her daughter. Jessica had been expertly brainwashed since she first noticed the difference between boys and girls.

The origins of Marie's attitude toward men are unclear, her own parents and siblings seeming very normal. Cliff Longley, the unfortunate man who had married her, had gone in with no inkling of his new wife's antipathy toward men. Indeed, she had totally captivated him with her beauty and her apparent passion.

Jessica's childhood was fairly normal, at least while she was too young to understand the tension between her parents over the lack of sex. Marie had deemed a child essential to her plans for winning the best possible settlement when she divorced Cliff. As soon as she was pregnant, she practically shut him off. For whatever reason, it was clear that she entered the marriage planning for the divorce. Cliff had been carefully chosen for his probable ability to generate wealth.

Children always sense tension as they grow older, even when they have no understanding of the causes. Marie was a loving, caring mother, and Cliff an equally good father. Jessica did not suffer overtly from the marital discord, but there is no doubt that she felt it.

Perhaps with some intuition that detected her mother's evil intent, Jessica became closer to Cliff from her earliest days. There was nothing wrong with her relationship with Marie, it was just that her feelings for Cliff were exceptionally strong. He had the ability to make his daughter feel totally safe and secure, something the little girl always craved. Daddy's lap, wrapped in Daddy's arms was Jessica's retreat for as long as she could remember.

As Jessica grew, Marie became concerned about the closeness between father and daughter. To her credit, she did not want Jessica unduly hurt by the divorce. However, there was a less altruistic motive, as well. Her plan was to contrive molestation charges against Cliff, research having shown that charge to be almost impossible to fight for the father. As she got older, Jessica's credibility as a witness for Cliff against the bogus charges would increase. Also, Marie was concerned that Jessica might get the wrong idea about men. The fact that Cliff seemed to be an upright, loving parent had to be an aberration. Men were not really that way.

The divorce happened when Jessica was ten. Marie had planned to wait a few more years until the business Cliff was building became even more successful, but she decided she could not wait. Not worried about incestuous activity, Marie was concerned that young Jessica might get the wrong idea about men from being around her father.

Taking full advantage of a system that required ridiculous levels of proof of innocence of abuse or molestation, Marie fabricated grounds for divorce based on Cliff molesting Jessica.

In cases of child abuse accusations, due process is largely abandoned, which for the immediate protection of the child is understandable. Determining the veracity of the charges, however, is too often left to a social worker, sometimes one with a radical agenda. Such was the case with Cliff. The social worker skillfully deflected and distorted Jessica's vehement testimony that her father had done nothing wrong.

Cliff had not built a promising business by being a complete pushover, however, and he put up a hard fight. Unfortunately, it turned into a scorched earth policy.

In a clever move, his attorney argued before the judge presiding over the divorce hearing that if the charges were true, then Jessica was the one who should be compensated, not Marie. Marie had foolishly not included any accusations of abuse against herself, and she had a very good position as a fashion buyer.

Cliff's attorney, in her brief, argued that the accusations were false, would never stand up under a criminal investigation, and had all the earmarks of a money grab by Marie. She declared that the judge's intention to rule against Cliff seemed clear. She asked that as a hedge against the possibility of pure avarice on Marie's part, a protected annuity be set up for Jessica. It would pay out to Marie the amount customary for child support until Jessica reached college age. Thereupon, it would pay enough to to cover college expenses for four years.

The judge, while angered by the implication of an unfounded, prejudicial ruling on her part, saw some of the wisdom of Solomon in the request, and ordered it so. Marie's explosive reaction made the judge seriously question her entire ruling, and for a while, Cliff almost won out.

Unfortunately, the way the law was written at the time, and with the so-called evidence that had been presented, the judge had little choice. Her discomfort with the situation led her to accept one more motion from Cliff, however. Cliff asked for a ruling of a lump sum settlement, essentially everything he had, including ownership of the business. Editorializing dangerously, the lawyer's brief said that since Cliff's child was being unjustly taken from him forever, he deserved a chance to start over afresh without the anguish of continued connection to his past.

That ruling caused Marie to gloat, knowing that she had ruined him. She thought she had won, not realizing that the business without Cliff was practically worthless. Still, the cash lump sum was enough to provide a nice addition to her own income and there was substantial equity in the house.

Everyone present was brought near tears when Jessica charged across the hallway outside the courtroom and had to be pried sobbing from her father when she heard that she would not see him again. Everyone but Marie and the social worker who had become her willing accomplice, that is.

Marie had expected the divorce to clear the way for her indoctrination of her daughter, but she did not anticipate the depth of Jessica's anguish over the separation. She herself could not imagine that kind of feeling for a man, and she misjudged the impact on the girl.

Explaining why she had to divorce her father became the ultimate brainwashing opportunity for Marie. She spent endless hours explaining Cliff's ulterior motives for being so nice to Jessica. To Jessica's protestations the he had not done the things Marie had claimed, the response was that he was still working up to them. It took many weeks before the girl began to understand the truth about men - the truth according to Marie.

Although she disdained men as little more than animals, Marie was fully aware that their proper service to women would not be given willingly. They would have to be tricked, trapped, coerced, cajoled and seduced into doing what they were supposed to do. None of those strategies evoked the slightest guilt in her.

Believing that the real value to be provided by men was not in their persons but in the things of value women could get from them, Marie raised and shaped Jessica for a single purpose: to catch a man and strip him of his wealth when she discarded him.

Realizing that the biggest threat to her entrapment and extraction strategy was hormones, Marie hammered Jessica about sex long before the girl had any idea what she was talking about. Marie's indoctrination would be intriguing if it was not so frightening.

First of all, she stressed the feminine wiles of flirtation and seduction. A woman's first important task was to make men want her, and Marie was well-equipped to teach that. Jessica came by her beauty honestly, inheriting it from her mother. Dressing, grooming, exercise, manners, vocabulary, conversation skills - Jessica was carefully and expertly tutored in all of those things. To mother and daughter, beauty pageants were the premier worship experience.

Next, Marie spent endless hours teaching Jessica about men, or at least her concept of what men were. This is where the warped part came in. All of the sex appeal things above were normal: most women studied them throughout their lives.

Men did not love; men could not be faithful; men lived only to spread their sperm; men viewed women only as possessions; men had no concern for women's pain or emotions. These were the concepts that came through Marie's training of her lovely daughter. The principles were not always stated baldly, but the meanings were unmistakable.

The last, most poisonous part of Marie's brainwashing concerned sex. It was an uncomfortable, dirty, disgusting, degrading thing, necessary for procreation and for controlling the male until such time as he could be discarded. A woman had to be good at sex, but must never let herself enjoy it. Enjoyment might let the male gain control, something that could not be allowed to happen.

After the divorce, even though Jessica was yet to experience the first signs of womanhood, Marie hammered hard on the evils of sex. The lurid tales of how terrible it would have been when her father eventually raped her finally got thru to Jessica.

Jessica Longley was born and bred to be an alimony generator.

Now, trapping a man with sex appeal and controlling him with carefully metered doses of pussy is a universal female strategy dating back to Eve. It is what makes the world go around. The problem with Jessica's version was that some important corollaries were denied. There was no acknowledgment that true and lasting love could develop between both partners. It was unthinkable that sex could be pleasurable and sought after by the woman for its own sake. The idea that a male and female could complement and strengthen each other to the benefit of both was too ridiculous to warrant mention.

Possibly because of some personal catastrophic experience, Marie tragically over-emphasized how dirty, disgusting, and degrading sex was. She built a revulsion in Jessica that later made her unable to use sex for its intended control purpose. Inexplicably, she also instilled in the girl a pathological fear of exposing her breasts or genitals.

How could an intelligent, otherwise seemingly well-adjusted girl be so strongly indoctrinated? Just as there is a wide variance in susceptibility to hypnosis, so other forms of mental manipulation can have more or less effect. Jessica was one who imprinted deeply and strongly.

Jessica had a very strong desire for affection, fueled by memories of times with her father. She eagerly engaged in hugging, kissing, and light petting. Nudity, though, was another matter. Revealing clothes and bikinis were fine. She was proud of her body. But actual display of her breasts, pussy, or ass terrified her. Touching of her crotch area, by herself or anyone else, was so repulsive to her that she nearly became ill at the thought. That made intercourse almost unthinkable.

Though he had no inkling at the time, Marie's effective but unbalanced and overdone brainwashing was what had destroyed Matt's, and Jessica's, wedding night. It was also to threaten every good things in Matt's life in the months ahead.

There was a lot of drama surrounding Matt's dating and courtship of Jessica, much of which he knew nothing about. Jessica started dating none other than Rod Turner early in her junior year at Addison. Matt's old nemesis had chosen Addison, where he had played football before graduating. His family was old money and Marie approved wholeheartedly. It was the kind of money source she had always hoped Jessica could tap into.

Rod was good-looking and charismatic, accustomed to getting anything he wanted from a girl. Jessica became a supreme challenge for him, since she absolutely would not give it up. She would be the perfect trophy wife for him and he was not used to backing off from anything he desired.

Dating Rod was traumatic for Jessica. Her programming told her that he was the ideal man for her, and there was much to like about him: the places he took her and the things he bought for her. The problem was, she found herself wanting to do the evil things he asked of her, the disgusting things that should only be done in marriage, and then only when absolutely necessary. He was constantly pushing, and it frightened her that her resolve was weakening.

Part of the problem was Jessica's limited dating experience. During high school, Marie had not allowed any 'casual' dates, dinner and a movie, etc. A big deal was made of the major events such as homecoming and prom. Her dates for those had been boys she never dated again. Marie's mistake was giving her no chance to learn about a relationship. That was an understandable error by Marie, since how do you have a relationship with a monkey?

As with everything else, Jessica shared her fears about Rod with Marie, who roundly chastised her for thinking she wanted sex with the guy. When Jessica described the kinds of feelings she was having, Marie was aghast, almost panicking over the possible breakdown of her meticulous training.

It was unbelievable that it took until she was twenty-one for Jessica's hormones to clash with Marie's programming. It just highlighted how malleable Jessica's personality was, at least to the constant long-term efforts of her mother. There followed a period of several months when it appeared that a jail break might actually occur and Jessica might give in to what was natural, overriding her programming.

During that vulnerable period, Matt came on the scene. Jessica was majoring in Sociology, and like most of the soft sciences, her degree required courses in statistics that covered far more than she would ever use. As with many other bright non-technology majors, statistics threatened to ruin her stellar grade point.

Matt had the same statistics class for business school, and the second time they happened to sit next to each other, she let out a groan of frustration. When class ended, he stifled his awe at her beauty and said "You don't sound very happy with this class."

"It's going to ruin my GPA. I hate it!" It was not an intentional opening on her part, but he took it and offered his help. Ready to reject him out of hand, she paused for just a moment, genuinely concerned about her grade.

"We could meet in the library," he offered. "Try it once and see if you think it helps." To her, Matt seemed totally open and guileless, which he in fact was.

"Are you free next hour?" she asked, thinking that would get rid of him gracefully.

"I am now," was his answer. Not knowing where the inspiration came from, he made a slight bow and a sweeping gesture with his arm. "Shall we?"

Matt's three-plus years of stunning success had done wonders for his self-confidence, at least as far as dealing with people. Rubbing shoulders with CEOs and high government officials will do that. It had not, however, made him a polished ladies man. Quite the opposite, in fact. From his painful experience with Chelsea, he had become cynical about romance. From a few recent encounters with avaricious, predatory females, he had become gunshy, leading to his attempts to be 'incognito'.

A true geek love story would have Matt brilliantly planning out an approach that would soon have Jessica panting for him. In reality, dating her was far from his mind on that first day when he offered to tutor her. Knowing that she was a world-class beauty who could have any man she wanted, he did not even think of himself as a suitor. In many respects, the fact that he was definitely in the 'any man' class had not really sunk in.

For once, naivete was an advantage, for it turned out that Jessica was in fact panting for Matt after just a few weeks. She was going with Rod and did not feel right about dating Matt. So she didn't date him, and he didn't ask. Instead, he helped her with statistics; they went for coffee afterward; they started meeting for lunch before statistics. In other words, the only times they were together centered innocently around a class.

Innocent or not, Matt's relaxed, brother to sister interaction with Jessica was a better plan than he could have come up with. It helped that she informed him very early about her boyfriend, making it clear that she was exclusive. She did not identify Rod, so Matt had no idea at that point. It also helped that Matt knew how to be friends with women after the years with his sisters and with Chelsea and Tracy. That was just normal for him, but completely new for her.

The result of their easy-going friendship was that Jessica felt comfortable with Matt, and most of all she felt safe. Not just safe in the sense of physical safety from injury, but safe from sexual pressure. He reawakened many of the same feelings she dimly remembered from sitting in her father's lap.

Rod always made it perfectly clear that he wanted more, much more than she was willing to give. Every date with Rod was a struggle between her barely suppressed libido and her deeply ingrained feelings of revulsion about sex. Every minute with him held a sense of danger, and she could never be truly comfortable. With Matt, there was no pressure, just easy comraderie.

Uncharacteristically, Jessica had never mentioned Matt to Marie, and that led to a huge blowup. A well-regarded Broadway touring company was coming to town, and Mel had secured a box for Integra for the entire run, reserving one night for the family. Matt explained the situation to Jessica and asked if she would like to go with them.

Seeing in her mind the confrontation that she would have to endure to get permission, she automatically declined. A big part of her wanted to go in the worst way. She loved the theater, she enjoyed being with Matt, and she was intrigued by what she had heard of his family. But nothing was worth what she would have to go through.

Matt was not willing to give up. He pointed out that there would be a few other people in the box, as well, and then he had the stroke of genius. He suggested that her mother come along, hoping desperately that there would be one more seat for her. That stopped Jessica cold. Marie's fascination with any kind of a showy event would make it hard for her to refuse. Jessica said she would try.

It took an unusual amount of courage for Jessica to bring up the invitation. The grilling about Matt and what she had been doing with him was even worse than she expected. At first, Marie acted as if the poor girl had been whoring around. When finally convinced that the two had never met outside of school, Marie backed off from the third degree.

Next came the questions about Matt, and Marie became irate again at how little Jessica knew about him. "Did you forget everything I taught you, girl? You know better than to waste your time with a college student who is probably a nobody!"

That triggered a very rare explosion from Jessica, one that rocked Marie back on her heels. "Mother, I'm not wasting time with him! He's helping me keep my grade point up. You should be happy about that! God! Why should I check him out? I'm not going to date him. If you want to know all this stuff, just come to the damn play!" With that, she stomped from the room, leaving Marie seriously concerned about her control over her daughter.

The play was a comedy, but in the Integra box, there was high drama going on. The Conroy women cared only about checking out Jessica and her mother. Marie was equally absorbed checking out Matt and his family. Jessica knew what was going on and Emmett suspected, but Matt had not a clue. There was no nastiness; in fact, Matt had never seen any of the women more charming or vivacious. All of the social niceties were followed right up until they all parted.

Marie had driven and brought Jessica. She did not like the date connotation of Matt picking them up. That was OK with Matt, too. He had been debating what to do about a car. The Wrangler obviously would not do for a dressy event. The Cayenne Turbo in his garage would have given away far too much about his status. He did not want Jessica spreading any stories around campus.

Matt did escort both of his guests to their car and opened their doors for them. His Wrangler was safely hidden in another ramp, and when he got to it, Mel was waiting for him. "You're giving me a ride to our house." He never thought to argue about it.

Loving Matt as they did, his mother and sisters gave him the third degree very gently, but also very thoroughly. Emmett watched the show and sipped a beer.

"YOU may think you're just helping her with statistics, but she is way beyond that," Geri summed up at the end.

"But she's got a steady boyfriend!" He objected.

"He's history if you want her," Mel insisted.

"Matt, Honey, she is just gorgeous," his mother said.