Chapter 13

Our lives got steadily better. The bakery decided that my operation was too small to be included in their corporate plan. They offered it to me at a discount. Better than that, in small type, I was allowed to put after my new company name, "an associate of ABC Bakery Corp." This was in small type and had no real monetary value. Liz and I gave up our bake-off prizes and they went into the corporate display as something won by their employees. We did acquire one thing that proved very valuable over the years. That was the ability to purchase our materials through them at the bulk price that they were able to demand. This increased our bottom line by almost 20%.

When we split off from the ABC corporation we tried for weeks to think of an appropriate name for our fledgling company. We wanted something that sounded homey and warm without being cute. Edie and Josh always referred to our bakery as "our Daddy's bakery." When little Jimmy Stinger came in with his half-siblings and called it that, only because he had heard it called this by them, we knew we had the name. And so it became, "Our Daddy's Bakery."

Our neighborhood was the same as neighborhoods everywhere with its trials and tribulations. Love and hate, marriages and divorces, births and deaths. Liz and I have survived all except the last so far and I hope that is in the distant future. We were even able to tolerate Bob. My beating of him was the last of my troubles with him. He came in when he could first get around, with Rena by his side. "Dirk, Bob wants to say something. Will you hear him out?"

"Yes." I waited.

"Dirk, why the fuck didn't you beat me up after I raped your wife? Every time I got to drinking, I would think you were a wimp and didn't deserve a woman like Mary. I'm done. No more. You are no wimp and you must love this woman more than you did Mary. You certainly showed me you did. Now, I'd like to ask for your forgiveness."

I looked at Rena. I could see the hope in her eyes and I could see that she was totally serious. For her, I said, "Bob, I can't feel sorry for the beating I gave you, and I don't know if I can forgive you--yet. You have a wonderful wife in Rena. Be good to her for a change. You've put her through a lot. That would help me make up my mind. Sit and I'll pour a coffee for all of us."

I never could be comfortable with Max and I don't know if all the resentment against him and Mary will ever go away. Also they never could be easy around me because of my revelations to their neighbors about their adulterous affair behind everyone's back. Mary and I had children together, as in Josh and Edie, so there was no getting away from each other totally.

Little Jimmy also made life tolerable, for I was always glad when he came in with Josh and Edie and my resentment never extended to him. He was the best little kid and much loved by Edie and Josh, and eventually Liz and I treated him the same way'. Whatever made them happy made me happy.

Liz gave me a son and we are hoping for one more child. God I love her! Pam did snap out of her condition, but never would be alone in the same room with Bob, Bing or Joey. Barbara got wilder and wilder and finally Joey gave up on her and kicked her out. He managed to keep custody of their children when she left. He imparted that her being gone is a big relief. No one knows where she is now.

Our little bakery is becoming well-known. Liz and I won three prizes in the small bakery category in the national bake-off last year. If you come through our city and see a sign that says, "Our Daddy's Bakery," please stop!