Storiesonline.net ------- What Did I Do? by Barneyr Copyright© 2013 by Barneyr ------- Description: I got an e-mail from a friend concerning his messy divorce that somehow just got a whole lot nastier this week. I don’t have any details and it’s really not any of my business, but it gave me the idea for this story. Codes: rom het slow ------- ------- Author's Note: First I must apologize publicly to my ex-editor, Pepere. I have publicly humiliated him and even though it was not deliberate, it happened. I erroneously uploaded an earlier version of this story that did not include his edits. I take full responsibility of all the errors that occurred in that version of this story. I have updated the story to include his edits and hope that he can forgive me for my stupidity. He has been my editor for some time now and I really appreciated his insight and help. My last English course was in 1961 and I managed a "D" as my final grade, even thought I am a college grad now I never had another English course. To all readers, please accept my humble apology for the errors; I know you have come to expect more from me. I just hope I can find another editor as kind and helpful as Pepere was for me. BR ------- Chapter 1 I never saw it coming; but then, I guess no one ever does. It comes straight out of the blue, nine times out of ten, like an unexpected lightning strike. While this strike won't really kill you, it does hurt your heart, and kills love, trust, and respect. What am I talking about; divorce, of course. Yeah, a word that instills fear in everyone's heart. It rips the heart out your chest, and then stomps on it while it's it still beating away, desperately trying to understand why and how could this happen? I'm Gerry Dunne; thirty-five years old and average in every way, I guess. I'm 5'11", weigh in at 195, and I'm starting to get a little 'tire' around the middle. I'm an electrical engineer by trade, and I do a little editing for some author friends on the internet. I met my lovely ... no, strike that! I met the bitch who I married in college. I was in my junior year, and I bumped into this girl running out of a classroom. It was a Monday, and I was walking fast to make my next class, when this redhead slammed into me, knocking my books, as well as hers, to the floor. "Watch where you're going, Asshole! I'm now going to be late for my next class, because of you, you big oaf." "Excuse me, Miss, but I was watching where I was going, and you just rushed out of that door without looking and ran into me. No problem; I'll get your books for you." I bent down to pick our books up. I hit my head on her head as she too bent forward to pick her books up. "God damnit, now look at what you did. You have got to be the biggest, dumbest, clumsiest idiot in this whole fucking school," she said. She stormed off with her books, and that was it. I was standing there scratching my head about what the heck had just happened. As I picked the rest of the books up off the floor, I found that my Calculus II book was missing, and a Principles of Marketing I book was in its place. I looked inside the book, and it had a name and phone number. I hoped that the name and number belonged to the rude girl, so that I could get my Calc book back. I had put my name in it, but that was all. I went on to my drafting class and thought nothing more about it. I would contact this redheaded hellion after classes today. I'd at least try to see if the name written in the book was really the person who ran into me earlier. I had two more classes after my drafting class; and, of course, Calculus was one of them. Upon entering Professor Hardesty's classroom, I asked him if he had an extra textbook that I could use since mine was accidently taken by another student. I explained about our little run in to him. He handed me a book from his bookcase and asked that it be returned to him after class. I thanked him and sat down ready for class. I returned Dr. Hardesty's book after class, and left for the student union. Once there, I used the pay phone and called the number listed in the book. "Hello, you have reached Gail and Colleen; we're not available right now, but if you leave a name and phone number, we'll get back to you as soon as we can. Please wait for the beep ... beep." "Hi, I'm Gerry Dunne, and I hope that one of you has my Calculus II book. I have a Principles of Marketing I book that belongs to Colleen O'Brian. You can reach me at the following number after six this evening; thank you," I said, and gave my dorm's phone number. I did my duty and could wait a bit, since I didn't have Calc again until Wednesday. I did have some homework, but I could use my roommate's book to get it done. Thank goodness that we were both engineering students. I left the student union, drove my truck to the dorm, and headed up to study for tomorrow's classes. There was a knock on my door shortly after six. Gary Noonan said that I had a phone call in the hall. "Gerry, I hope that you can understand the bitch on the phone. She started cussing me out until I said I wasn't you. Man, what's gotten into her?" "I have no idea, Gary, but she is a redheaded Irish woman by the name of Colleen O'Brian. I guess the redheaded temper comes with the name and the hair." "You might want to hold the phone away from your ear, because she sure cleaned the wax out of mine tonight." "Thanks, Gary. I'm forewarned." Picking up the receiver, I said, "This is Gerry, you must be Colleen." Gary was right, what I got was uncontrolled screaming. "How dare you take my book? I needed it for that next class and I had to wait until now to call you to get my book back. Where are you so that you can bring me my book?" "Excuse me, Miss O'Brian, but you also have a book of mine that I would like returned. I can meet you either in the library, or the student union, in a half an hour, so that we can exchange books, if that's convenient. Please let me know if you have another place in mind." "Get your dumb stupid ass over to the library in fifteen minutes or I'll have your ass handed to you on a platter. Now get going, you fucking asshole!" She hung up. Wow, what a temper. I did kind of notice that she was about 5' 4", at about 125 pounds, and had fiery red hair. I see that her temper is just as fiery as her hair ... and what a mouth on her! "That is one bitch that I will have to stay away from ... far away," I said. I now see why. She didn't change; she just mellowed a bit, aged until the current time, and has now exploded into a maelstrom of hate and destruction. More on that later. I went back to my room, grabbed her book, and hotfooted it over to the library. Thank goodness that my dorm was only three buildings away from the library. I checked inside and she wasn't there yet, so I waited outside. I was there about fifteen minutes, and no fireball had showed up yet, so I went inside again, looked around the checkout desk, and didn't see Colleen. I asked the librarian if she had seen a short redheaded ball of fire, and she said no. So I went outside again to see if she was out there. Long story short, I waited almost an hour before I saw her headed my way. I could almost see the heat waves coming off of her as she headed up the steps to where I was seated on the wall by the entrance. "Well, it's about goddamned time you got here, Colleen. I've been waiting for over an hour for your scrawny ass to show up. Here's your book; now where the hell is mine?" I asked, trying to defuse the fire I saw in her eyes. "You're wrong on both counts, Asshole. I'm not Colleen; I'm Gail Sanders, and I saw you walk into the library not five minutes ago." "Yeah, I walked into the library five minutes ago, looking to see if you came in a different door. I got here at 6:22, and I've been either sitting out here, or going inside to look for your sorry ass, ever since then." I looked at my watch and said, "It is now 7:36, and you told me to be here fifteen minutes after you called me. I left my dorm at 6:11, and I was here within that fifteen minutes, but you weren't. So where is my Calculus book, Bitch?" I would never have expected the response I got from my tirade. "I'm so sorry, Mr. Dunne, here's your book, and may I please have my roommate's book? I'm very sorry about my earlier outburst. I had grabbed Colleen's book by mistake today. Please accept my apology for the way in which I've treated you. I assumed that you were some asshole who bumped into me to take advantage of me. I never expected someone like you. You were so sweet over the phone, and then I'm so late coming here. I was shocked by your attitude and by what you said; but I guess that you had every right to cuss at me, like I did to you, both when we first met and over the phone. That's not the real me; it is kind of a defensive mechanism that I use when I am embarrassed or upset. Please forgive me." "Of course, Miss Sanders. Shall we try this again? Hello, I'm Gerry Dunne, and I am pleased to make your acquaintance, Miss Sanders. Would you care to go over to the student union and have coffee or a Coke? My treat." "Why, thank you, Mr. Dunne, I think I'd like that very much." That is how it all started. We had a Coke. Well, I had a Pepsi and she had a Dr. Pepper, but all sodas are Cokes down here in the south. It's not uncommon to hear, 'What kind of Coke did you want? We have all kinds.' We got to talking, and then we noticed the time. It was midnight and we both had early classes in the morning. I called Gail on Wednesday to see if I could take her out to dinner and a movie on Saturday. She accepted, and I had asked for her hand in marriage by January of my senior year. We visited both her parents and mine during spring break of that year, and I formally asked her father for her hand. We stayed engaged until she graduated a year later. I graduated a year ahead of Gail, and got a great job at a major electronics firm in Austin. Gail was able to find a job at Geiger Manufacturing, and we got married a year after Gail graduated. Things went fairly smooth for the next five years. We had a few hiccups, and a couple of arguments where Gail became a super-bitch, just as when we first met; but things went well, overall. I asked about children about a year after we were married, and Gail asked to wait another year so she could get established. Jeremy came along the next year, and Bethany came into our lives a year later. Gail called a halt to the baby factory. We didn't want to mess with pills, patches, diaphragms, foam, or condoms, so I got snipped. I was all for it. It could be reversed, and was fairly painless compared to having a baby. When Bethany and Gail were still in the hospital; I went to my doctor, and got clipped. I should be ready to continue our sex life by the time the doctor cleared Gail to resume bedroom activities. We continued to have a very active sex life, three to four times a week, and that was fine by me. Anyway, fast forward ten years. Beth is in fifth grade, Jeremy is in sixth, and things were looking up. Gail was due for a promotion to Marketing Manager, and I had been made Manager of Engineering Services. Gail did travel some with her job, but it was only three to four days every other month. This was something that we could handle, so it wasn't a problem. I did travel some with my job, but it was mainly to seminars on new equipment. Those usually lasted a week and I wouldn't have to go again for maybe six months to a year. I had just been assigned to head up a new project. I was working a little overtime, but there was no boost in pay since I was now salaried. I just worked longer hours during some weeks. Instead of the normal forty hours, I was putting in about seven to ten extra hours each week, and I tried to schedule them for maybe an hour or so each day, or on Saturdays. I was only working overtime maybe once every other week. Our sex life had taken a tumble, but we were still getting it on one or two nights a week, after the kids went to bed. Our house had the master suite on one side, and the other two bedrooms and a small den on the other side, with the living and dining rooms in the middle. The den was actually a third bedroom, but we made it into a den after the kids got older. It was originally their playroom. I had taken up doing some very amateur writing for the internet and did a little editing for some of my favorite authors, but that wasn't much more than maybe one or two hours a night. That usually happened after Gail had gone to bed at ten. I could have done it earlier, while Gail was sitting in her chair reading and/or watching TV after supper. I had recently noticed that Gail having trouble with mood swings and thought that she was sick, or maybe taking up her old ways of being a super bitch when things didn't go her way. It wasn't too often, so I forgot about it until I noticed Gail squinting last week, and asked her if she needed new reading glasses. The bitch came out to play for a few minutes then went back into hiding. This was kind of new, and I asked her if she needed a full physical since it has been a few years since her last one. She said that she would make an appointment and I dropped the matter. Tonight was a Tuesday and my turn to fix supper, so I didn't work overtime. I had put a roast in the crock pot before I left this morning. I added the potatoes, carrots, peas, celery, and baby onions as soon as I got home. Gail came in about an hour after I got home, and said, "Boy, something smells good tonight." I replied, "Yes, Honey. I have a roast in the crock pot, and it should be done once you change and relax a little. Do you want some wine with supper?" "Oh, that sounds lovely, Gerry. I'd love some. I'm going to take a shower and I'll be right out." I had already fed the kids, and they were in their rooms doing homework. The kids always stopped at my parents' house after school, as it was just a five minute walk from the school grounds. My folks lived about two miles away from us, in the subdivision just before ours, so whoever got off work first would pick the kids up and bring them home. I had finished my new project a week ahead of schedule, and I was planning to do something for Gail, since I had put in quite a bit of overtime on this project. I was going to surprise her tonight by asking her if she would like to spend a long weekend at a bed and breakfast, out in the hill country of Fredericksburg, in the next couple of weeks or so. I hadn't made the reservations yet, because I wanted to make sure that she could go. My director had already said I could have some time off, plus I would be getting a big bonus for getting the project done ahead of schedule. I got a bottle of red out of the pantry, opened it to breathe, and went about getting things ready for our meal. I heard the shower running, and thought it a little strange that Gail took a shower right after getting home. It had been a hot day, so maybe she had been out and about before coming home. I didn't think anything more of it as I puttered around the kitchen, getting everything ready and laid out on the table. I had picked up some flowers ... from the kid selling them at the front of our subdivision ... on the way home. I had them on the table in a nice vase. I set our plates next to each other, then dished up the roast's veggies when I heard the shower shut off. I cut the roast and was dishing everything up when Gail came out of the bedroom in her mid-length robe. Her hair was still damp, but she looked like an angel to me. I held her chair for her, poured her wine, then bent down and kissed her neck. I whispered that I loved her and I had a surprise for her after our meal. "I have kind of a surprise for you afterwards, too." We had some small talk as I dished up her plate and we ate our meal. The kids came out after their homework, before they started playing with their games. I had explained that we needed some adult time together. I think they understood. Even at ten and eleven, they knew that we didn't have a lot of alone time with all the overtime I had worked, Gail's traveling, and her working some overtime too. I did tell her during supper that my overtime would be gone for a while since we had completed my project early. She said that was nice, and I somehow knew that things weren't alright. I had a feeling of impending doom and wondered if she had to take a long trip. I cleared the dishes away and sat back down next to my wife. She poured us each a full glass of wine and said, "We need to talk, Gerry." "Oh, God, what happened?" "Gerry, I'm not sure how to say this, but I want a divorce, and I'm taking the children with me." I stared into those emerald green eyes and saw the fire. I hadn't seen that look for probably five or six years. I knew right then that I was in for a very bad time. After my initial shock, I asked, "Why? What did I do to deserve this sneak attack from you? I thought we had a great marriage! I'm home every night except when I am in training at some seminar, I make love to you every chance I get, usually two to three times a week, and I give you everything you want. That new car you drive, this house ... God, Gail, what did I do wrong?" "Gerry, it's not any one thing, it's kind of an accumulation of things. You go into that damn den on that computer and look at porn all night. You never have time for me at night. You don't touch me like you used to, you don't hold me, and you never want to go out and party like we used to. It's all that and more." "How can you say those things, I sit right there in my chair and watch the crap you have on TV while you sit there with your nose in a book, then you have the gall to say I never pay any attention to you. Nine times out of ten, I only get on my computer after you go to bed, except when I need to do something for work and I usually do that later after you go to bed, as well. I never made you wait for loving in the bedroom. You would either say something, or I would initiate it, and we went to bed after making sure the kids were asleep. How can you say I don't appreciate you or don't pay attention to you? I just don't understand. It was only two weeks ago when we went out dancing at the Tip Top Club, so how can you say those things about me?" Just about then, the redheaded bitch came out to play and things got very heated, very quickly. Then as she was screaming her head off at me, I looked and there stood Jeremy and Bethany, in the hallway to their rooms. Jeremy was tightly holding his sister to his body, and they were both shaking with eyes open as wide as garage doors. I grabbed Gail by the shoulders and tried to turn her around, but she slapped my face and turned to go into our bedroom when she saw the two huddled children on the floor of the hallway. "See what you've done now, you asshole. Get out of my house! Leave! Now!" I couldn't believe what had just happened. I turned toward the kitchen, grabbed my truck keys, and walked towards the door to the garage. I left after taking a quick look back at my children. I got maybe a block from the house, when I pulled over, and imploded. I was shaking so hard that I couldn't drive. I sat there, weeping. My whole life had just ended. My wife wanted a divorce, she wanted to take my children away from me, and she kicked me out of my own house. I started to call my dad, and I got my phone out of my shirt pocket, but my clumsy hands were shaking so hard that I couldn't hold it, and it clattered to the floor. I sat there, slumped over the steering wheel, while my life blood drained out of me with every sob, every sniff, and every beat of my heart telling me that my life was going down the drain. I have no idea how long I sat there, with the truck running, and me slumped over the wheel. I heard a tapping noise from very far away, I kept trying to push the noise further away, but it got louder and louder. Then words started to come to me. "Hey you, open the door" or "Roll the window down, Mister," just words that had no meaning. Nothing had meaning anymore; my life was gone and there was nothing I could do about it. I might as well just die right here. There suddenly was a crash of breaking glass. I looked up and saw nothing different; but wait, there were some blue and red flashes on the trees and fences around me. Then a hand grabbed me and shook me. I looked to my right, and I saw an arm reaching through my shattered passenger window. The arm was covered in dark cloth and had some kind of fabric banner or badge on the upper sleeve. The door on my side then opened, and I looked that way. All I could see was a bright light shining in my eyes. I thought it was the light at the end of a long tunnel at first, or maybe the infamous light that people at death's door say they see. That is when everything went black ... then ... nothing. ------- Chapter 2 I was in a bed when I awoke, with all kinds of tubes and wires attached to me. I was strapped down to the bed so that I couldn't move. Even my legs were strapped down. I tried to yell, but nothing came out except a croak of some sort. What had happened? The last thing I remembered was the light. Had I really died, and was this heaven? Probably not, so this had to be hell. But ... I thought that I had been a good and honest man. Therefore, I should have gone the other way. Maybe this was some cruel joke of Gail's. Oh, yeah ... Gail. The bitch that ripped my still beating heart from my chest, ran it through the meat grinder, and then tried to hand feed it to me. God, she was a cruel and heartless bitch. I tried to move a bit to get more comfortable, but I must have pulled on something. There was an excruciating pain in my dick, and I screamed bloody murder. Sound did come out of my mouth this time; and man, was it loud in that room! The door suddenly swung open, and two nurses came running through the door. "What happened?" said one. "I don't know! All I know is my dick hurts something fierce! Can you see what happened? Then, please, tell me if is this heaven, or hell." One of the nurses, a woman of about forty-five or fifty lifted the sheet, and I yelled out in pain, again. "The tape on your catheter came loose. It was stuck to the sheet and it pulled on the tape and the catheter when you moved." The younger nurse, who was probably in her mid-twenties, said, "You're not in heaven or hell. You're in Seton Medical Center, Williamson. You've been here for four days, now. The Round Rock police brought you in after your seizure. They found you slumped over the wheel of your truck. You had a seizure of some kind when they tried to wake you, and you were rushed here. You have been here, in a coma, ever since." "Have my wife and children, or my parents, been informed of me being here?" "As far as I know, your wife was notified. She has not appeared, so far. Your mother left about a half hour ago, and your father is due anytime now. Is there anyone else we should contact?" "No, no one. I guess I can wait on my dad and see if he can call my office and let them know. Oh yeah, can I get unstrapped out of this contraption?" "I'll call the doctor and see what he wants done, but I'm sure that he'll authorize that for you." "Thank you, Nurse ... ah?" "I'm Nurse Pamela, but you can call me Pam, and this is Nurse Agnes." "Thank you both, but especially you, Nurse Agnes. That feels much better now." "Only trying to help, young man. You said that you have a wife and children and yet they haven't come to see you. That's very strange. I know that they were notified. I heard the officer specifically say that he used your cell phone to call the people on your phone that you identified as 'ICE.' Why would a wife not want to see her husband?" asked Nurse Agnes. [ICE: that's 'In Case of Emergency.' It is something that should be on everyone's phone. BR] "I wouldn't mind finding out the answer to that myself. What I remember was that I was at home and had just finished eating dinner when my wife told me she wanted a divorce and that she was taking my children away from me. Then she kicked me out of the house. I drove away, and ended up here. I have no idea why she wants a divorce. I thought everything was fine until she dropped the bomb on me." "You didn't cheat on her, now did you, Son?" "No, Ma'am, I would never do that. I love my family too much to do that to them." Nurse Agnes said, "Well, I won't pry. You try to rest, now, and I'll get with the doctor as soon as I can." "Thank you both, you've been a big help, but I really would like to get unbound from this bed." They left the door open when they exited. My dad came walking in about five minutes later. "Are you alright, Son? You had us both worried. Do you know why Gail just took off with the kids?" "She did? That bitch! She dropped this on me after supper on Tuesday. I was on my way over to your house, when I had to stop driving. I couldn't see for the tears in my eyes, and my hands were shaking so bad that I could hardly hold the steering wheel. I woke up here about twenty minutes ago." "What happened, Gerry? I haven't spoken with Gail since last week. I tried calling her at work, at home, and on her cell, but I get nothing. The kids haven't been to school since Tuesday. We have no idea where they are. We're getting kind of worried about them. We were also worried about you, and wanted to know what had really happened that night. After we got called, I went over there, and the house was dark and I couldn't tell whether or not Gail's car was in the garage. Your mom and I spent that first night here with you, and there was no answer when we tried to call Gail. Tell me what she said." I told Dad everything that I remembered, and then said, "We need to call the police and the FBI. She kidnapped the kids, and I want that BITCH found!" My dad pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, dialed a number from memory, then said; "Hal, this is Jim. She kidnapped the kids, told Gerry she wanted a divorce, and kicked him out." A pause then, "Yeah, he said to call you and to get the FBI involved." Another pause, "Yeah, it's been over three days, so the waiting time for a missing person report is up ... Okay, Hal, I'll let him know. See you soon," Dad said. He hung up then looked at me. While my dad was on his phone, I was thinking, 'My God, what's happening to me? Why am I thinking and saying those things about Gail to my dad? She and then our children have been my whole life since we've been married. How can I suddenly change from a loving husband into a monster like this, thinking all these horrendous thoughts of torture and mayhem against someone that I love, or did love until Tuesday evening?' "That was Harold Price, the Round Rock Chief of Police. He is going to call Jack Webb over at the FBI and get them involved in this. Nobody at Gail's work seems to know anything about this. They may be hiding the fact that she's still working there, or maybe she skipped on them, too. Do you know if there might be a secret lover or something like that, as the reason for the divorce? Why hasn't she filed if she wants the divorce? Hal is going to check with the County Court Clerk tomorrow, to see if she has filed a petition for divorce yet. Man, this is a real mess." "Dad, I really don't care where that bitch is! I want my kids back! I want her hunted down like the black-hearted bitch that she is! I don't give a good rat's ass if she is having another one of her 'defense mechanism' episodes. She went too far this time!" "What do you mean by a 'defense mechanism' episode?" he asked. I explained how she would suddenly be this mean-spirited bitch every once in a while, and she called it a 'defense mechanism' that allowed her to cope with things that were out of her control or out of her comfort zone. He grabbed his phone after I explained and gave him some examples. I was thinking all these thoughts of what I would do to Gail if she was to be here right now, again. I've heard about a mother's response concerning her children; you know running into burning buildings and coming out with their robe or dress on fire and not thinking anything about it, or ripping a car door off its hinges to get to their child. It's a mother's response to their child in danger; that plus an adrenaline rush. Well, fathers get it too, and it seemed that mine had kicked in with a vengeance. I should interject something about my dad. Dad spent 30 years in the Air Force, the last ten stationed out at what is now Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (ABIA) when it was called just Bergstrom AFB. It closed in 1993 and my dad was a part of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, or AFOSI, the Air Force's version of 'NCIS' for the Navy and Marine Corps. As one of their higher ranking special agents, he knew a lot of the law enforcement officers in the area, as well as FBI agents, DEA, DPS (Department of Public Safety – State Police), Texas Rangers, and others whose affiliations were never mentioned, but probably belonged to some alphabet soup organization out of DC, so for him to just dial a number on his phone and get an immediate response was just a part of who he was. He was just my dad to me, but he had a way about him that got people to do things for him. I guess he was owed so many favors that people just responded when he called. I have no idea what the hell was going on, but I just knew that that bitch better never harm my kids or she would be one sorry, dead bitch. God, there it is again, where is this hatred coming from? I never would have thought this way about Gail, well any woman actually, a week ago. Nurse Agnes came in a little later, unstrapped me, and took the catheter out. She left the wires that were monitoring my vital signs on me, though. She came back a few minutes after taking everything she had removed out, carrying another tray of stuff. She injected something into the drip line of my IV. "Mr. Dunne, the doctor wants you to get some rest. We could see that you were starting to get agitated again, and he wants you to stay calm for a little while longer. This shouldn't make you sleepy; it's mainly to calm your heart down some. He doesn't want you too excited. You really did have a seizure of some kind, and he wants you calm for a while longer so that you don't have another seizure. He did a MRI of your head, and there are no lesions or aneurisms, so there was no stroke, but we are still monitoring you very closely. I overheard some of what you said to your father, and I want you to know that he is talking to a couple of police officers, and I think an FBI man, right now. I can't be sure, of course. I understand your anger and you have every right to feel that way, but it's not doing your body any good to get so worked up right after something like the seizure that you went through. You weren't medically put into the coma, so that was your own body shutting down. You were tossing and turning so much that we had to strap you down to make sure that you didn't injure yourself any further. I hope that you can understand me on this. We need you to be calm and rational right now. You won't help your children any by being even more hurt than you already are." "So you're saying that I really did hurt myself with this seizure, and that I need to stay calm for a while to make sure that I don't have another episode, right?" "That's it, exactly. We are trying to help you get well. Your staying calm will really help allow your body to heal itself. Do you understand better now?" "Yes, I do, Nurse Agnes. I appreciate you speaking to me this way. I need to stay healthy for my precious children's sake. I'd like to find that woman, but I understand that I can't right now, and I have to rely on others to help me with this. I'll try to think of where she might have gone. I think if anyone knows her after almost fourteen years together, it would be me. We have been married for almost twelve years now, and this is the very first time she's acted this badly since I first met her. I feel much more relaxed now. Thank you, Nurse Agnes. Please ask my father to come back in when he's done outside." "I certainly will, Mr. Dunne; now you try to rest a little." I was kind of dozing off when my dad came back into the room. "Dad, I've been thinking about where Gail might go, or where she would think no one would ever look for her. She has a crazy uncle over by Shreveport, and she had a roommate in college named Colleen O'Brian, who came from near Springfield, Missouri. Those are two places people would probably never look for her. Her uncle was only about ten years older than her, and I know she does write to Colleen at Christmas time. If my computer is still at home, and if nobody has messed with it, there should be a Christmas card list in an Excel spreadsheet. I'm not sure, but her uncle may even be on that list. I keep the list so I could print the labels out for the greeting cards. I think Colleen's name is Spaulding now." "Wow, Gerry, how can you remember all that? I have trouble remembering half the people we send cards to each year. I think your mother has a list like that she uses each year, but she doesn't use labels. Let me call Hal and see what he can find out." Dad was on his phone again when I fell asleep. I was really tired. I worried about my precious Bethany and Jeremy, and what that bitch had done to them too. I remembered that Jeremy had his arms around his sister, trying to protect her from his mother's wrath. I really wanted to strangle her after that slap of hers, but not in front of the children. That's why I walked away. I wanted to protect my children, but the thing I'll never forget is the look of betrayal from Jeremy, when I didn't fight back and just left. I didn't realize that I had seen that look from him as I turned back to look at my children one last time. Now the question was, would that be the very last time I would ever see them again. Only time would tell. That is when I lost conscious thought, and slipped into the arms of Hypnos, and his son, Morpheus. ------- I think it was morning when I woke up again. There were different nurses fussing around me, and Mom was sitting on the chair, placed out of their way. The nurses moved and I croaked out, "Is there any word yet, Mom?" "Not yet, Gerry. Oh, I am so sorry you had to get hurt like this. I knew something was wrong when she picked the children up on Monday night, but I just couldn't put my finger on what the trouble was. Gail seemed okay, but there was something in the back of her mind. I should have warned you that something wasn't right. I just hope your babies are alright. I'll never forgive her for what she has done to this family." "We can worry about forgiveness, hate, and everything else much later, Mom. Right now, our primary concern is finding the children; and hopefully, her, as well. Once that's accomplished, I'm going to see about having her committed for psychiatric care, because she is definitely not right in the head." "I think that is an excellent idea, Honey. Your father and I will help you all we can. We love you and we love your children. We even came to love Gail, but not her temper." "Are you saying that you have seen her fiery temper before? The last time I remember seeing it was about five years ago, shortly after Beth started school. Have you seen her mad since then?" "Yes, Son; I have, twice. She came over to pick the children up one night and she was mad about something that happened at work. She was slamming doors and was very upset. I tried to calm her down and she appeared to be much better when she left. Jeremy had torn his jacket at school the other time, and she almost slapped him, but I grabbed her hand before she could. I slapped her face so hard that my hand stung. She turned toward me and raised her hand, but Jeremy jumped up, grabbed her arm, and hung on for dear life, then she just as suddenly changed and dropped to the floor. She was sobbing about whatever it was that caused her to fly off the handle like that. I know I should have told you about both times, but she made me promise that I wouldn't say anything. Your father doesn't even know about this yet, but he will. I'll tell him as soon as I see him." "Mom, has this been occurring more lately? I mean has she recently had more episodes than before she went back to work after Beth started school?" "Well, now that I think about it, she has been acting a little more irritated when she picks the children up. But she calms right down once she sees the kids or I call her on her attitude. I guess I need to call him right now." "Tell him everything! Include the other two times, and last Monday night, too. He needs to know, so that he can tell the police and the FBI. Gail is a very sick woman, and she desperately needs help. I plan on making sure that she gets it." "You are such a good son and a good man, Gerry. I'm so glad you turned out like you did. Most men would have killed a wife who took their children and ran off like she did." "Well, if the problem is her fiery temper, Mom, I'll try to get her some help in taking some of that anger out of her. But if she is just doing this to be mean to me, then killing may not be such a bad idea. We'll have to see what happens when she is found." Mom called Dad, and was talking to him when the nurse came in. She asked if I needed anything. "Yes, I sure could use a little rest. I'm tired and worn out from trying to keep it together until I can find out where my children are, and if they're alright. I'm sure the doctor doesn't want me worrying myself into another seizure." "Not a problem, Mr. Dunne. I believe he has left instructions for us to help you sleep. I'll be right back." She came right back with a syringe for my IV, and I took another nap. ------- Chapter 3 It was several hours later that I awoke, according to the clock on the wall by the bathroom door. Dad was sitting in the chair, and he was smiling. "They found the kids and Gail, right, Dad? I can see it in your smile." "They haven't found them yet; but they know where she's headed and where she was yesterday. She went looking for you a little after you left, saw the police with you slumped over the wheel, and she thought the worst. She thought that you had killed yourself or had a heart attack like her father had, and that you were dead. She panicked and left with the children. She went to a co-worker's home. They stayed there overnight, and then left for Shreveport. Her uncle, Russell Navarre, said that she left for Springfield yesterday. You were right, Son. You knew where she would go." "That's great news, Dad; but how were the kids?" "Mr. Navarre said that the kids thought it was a great trip. Jeremy was worried about you, but Gail said that you had gone to heaven and that was why they were traveling. She had to try to get them used to doing things without you. They cried a lot the first couple of days they got to Shreveport, but he said that they were better before they left yesterday. Gail said she was going to see Colleen. The FBI said that they would have people there to intercept her and bring her and the children back home. She would be in custody, but no handcuffs or stuff like that in front of the children. Your mother flew up there right after we found out. She should be there just about now. We figured that the children would go to her before me, so she willingly went. They're going to call me when they get her and the kids." "Oh, that is such good news, Dad." I had a couple of catches in my throat, but I was soon okay again. "I do hope that there is nothing mentally wrong with Gail. I do hope and pray that this is some kind of hormonal thing that can be controlled with the proper medicine and not something wrong with her mind." "We all pray that that's the case, Son. We should hear in the next few hours, so why don't you get some more rest. I'm sure that this emotional roller coaster you're on is hard on you after all that you've been through, with the seizure and all. I talked to the doctor. He thought that they can take the monitoring wires off you and take the IV out once we know everyone is safe, and that you're calm. You'll be on liquids for a day or so, and then soft food until your system gets back to normal." "Did anyone call Frank, my boss, about all this?" "Oh, yes, Gerry. I called Frank the next morning. I actually got Susan, your PA, but she transferred me to Frank. We had a long talk and he said that you deserved a rest, but he didn't think that this was the way to do it. He said that you had at least a couple of weeks off coming after that last project. By the way, they sold the project for almost twice what you projected. Frank said that your bonus and promotion were in the works." "What promotion? I just made Manager of Engineering Services less than a year ago. This project was my first one as manager." "Frank hinted that Director of Engineering was up for grabs, and you had it locked up." "But that's his job, what's he going to do?" "I don't know, but he did mention that Fred Dwyer was retiring in two months, so maybe that means something to you." "Yeah, it means something to me; Fred is Frank's boss. Fred is the Director of Operations. Wow, I have a lot to look forward to! That also means no more travel for me, and I know just who I want in my old job, too. That's some news that will put spring in one's step. Thanks for calling Frank for me, Dad. I need to call and congratulate him later." Dad received a phone call about two hours later. I was handed the phone after some conversation, and said "Hello?" "Daddy, is that really you?" "Yes, Jeremy, it's me. I'm alive. I'm in the hospital, but I'm alright. I'm just missing my big man. How's your sister? Is she doing okay?" "Yeah, Dad, she's doing okay. She is still pretty mad at Mom right now; but she's real happy that you're alright. We were both so worried about you. We think that Mommy went a little crazy when she thought that you were dead. She sat us down and really apologized for slapping you and yelling at you that night. She said that she was kind of sick, and she needed to get away to think. We had a nice trip to Uncle Russell's, and I got to go fishing with him." There was a long pause then he said, "Can we come home now, Dad? I'm tired of traveling in the car so much. I just want to get back to school, and be at home with you and Mommy." "Of course you can, Jeremy! Can I talk to Beth for a minute? Then you guys can come home." "Sure, Dad. Grandma said we were going to fly home on an airplane. Here's Beth." "Daddy, are you really okay?" "Yes, Sweetheart. I'm fine, now that I know that my Princess is alright. I'll be out of the hospital and at home with you, real soon. I'm still a little sick, but not so sick that you can't come and see me when you get home." "Oh, goody, Daddy! I love you! Don't get sick and die on me anymore, okay?" "I promise, Princess. Can I talk to Mommy now?" "I'll see if the nice man will let her talk to you." I heard the phone being put down with a lot of banging then my mother came on the line. "Gerry, Honey, she's talking with a doctor right now. You don't have to worry about her seeing a doctor. She is going to be involuntarily placed under observation for fourteen days, then we'll see. They are also going to check her out physically, to see if something might be wrong there. She will be in good hands. My question to you is do you really want to press charges on the kidnapping?" "No, Mom. I just wanted the kids found and to be safe. If we can do that without a big fuss, then no. I don't want to hurt her that much if she's sick like I think, and that's the cause of it. I would say we go for it if it's something else, but I want to hold off for now. I know that that there will be something that comes of it with the FBI involved, but I'm not going to press it just yet. Tell the doctor all about what Gail has been doing lately, and tell him she has been squinting when she is trying to read her books. I noticed the last book she had from the library was one of those large print books." "I think that's the situation Jack was talking about. They are going to take a wait and see attitude until the test and evaluation results come back. We should be home tomorrow. We'll come see you very soon after that. I'll make sure I tell the doctor everything about her recent behavior." "Thanks, Mom. You and Dad are the greatest parents a guy could ever have. I love you two so much! Now hurry home so that my children can see that I'm okay." "We all love you too, Son. See you soon, bye." I gave the phone back to my father and just wept tears of joy. My children were alright, and my wife was getting proper care. I was pretty much out of the woods too, as far as sickness was concerned. It seemed that I was getting kicked upstairs to the top floor and I had a rosy future ahead of me. It all depends on what we find out about Gail. I laid back and slept in relieved exhaustion. They had found my children, unharmed! ------- My children's homecoming was a very tearful time. I hugged and kissed them both, as well as receiving many deep hugs and kisses. I was released from the hospital a week after their homecoming. Gail still had another six days of observation. She was at a local mental facility in Austin. They did try a few things to make her angry; they told her I was divorcing her, and they said that I had taken off with the kids several times. I finally did get to see her one time, and I said, "I know that you're sick, Gail. I'm just not sure if it's in your mind, that your hormones are somehow out of sync, or something else; but I will find it out, whatever it is. You will probably not want to be around me for a while when I do. You have built up an awful lot of anger in me. You know I take martial arts classes to defend myself and I probably know fifty ways to make you hurt like I've been hurt by what happened that Tuesday night. "I've wanted to hurt you for what I went through that night and the next four days, and if I ever find out that this was some kind of ploy by you to get rid of me, then some day, when you least expect it, you will get payback for what you did to me that night tenfold. You may not be not be able to live through that payback, so just remember that it can come at any time. "I still have some love in my heart for you, but my trust in you is gone, Honey. I may at some time in the future be able to forgive you, but I'll never forget. For your sake, I hope that you can get well from whatever is wrong with you and you learn from your mistakes." "I'm so very sorry for what I have done to you and our family, Gerry. I have scared the children almost half to death, but I was so afraid that you were dead when I saw you slumped over that steering wheel. When I saw that the police were there too, I just panicked, left, and spent the night with Colleen and Steve. I left for my uncle's place in Shreveport the next morning. I guess you know the rest of my ill fated journey to hide. "The doctor says that yes, I am sick, Gerry. But the sickness in my mind is not all that is wrong with me. I also have problems with my body. I have a brain tumor. I apparently have had it for some time. I may even have had it when we met. They don't think that it's malignant since it has taken so long to manifest itself, so they want to operate after I get out of here. They will then bring me back for observation again. I really want this to be done. I can't authorize it, since I'm in here. You'll have to do that as my next of kin. I hope and pray that you can forgive me enough to let me have the operation. I'll be back to my old self if all goes well, and we can get on with our lives. If not, then I may not be around to kiss my angels again. I need to see them before the surgery so I can tell them how much I love them. "I love you more than I can ever hope to express, Gerry, but there have been times I didn't like you very much. The doctors say that is when the tumor was putting pressure on a certain area of my brain that controls emotions. It would trigger a response in my brain when I got really upset over something in my life. That would aggravate the tumor, and that in turn would mess with my emotions. It was a never ending cycle that I had to try to break. I could look at our children, or you, and that would calm me down most of the time. "But Tom Forrest and Ray Woods at work have been hitting on me this last time. I finally had enough and complained to HR. I filed a sexual harassment complaint against them on that Monday. When I came in on Tuesday, Tom told me that I would be fired if I pressed the complaint. I went back to HR and said I wanted to file another complaint; however the creep at HR blew me off. I got much angrier, and went to his boss, who said he would handle it. I got written up with a poor performance review by Ray instead. I took off and found a woman lawyer to sue the company, Tom, Ray, and Dale Givens for sexual harassment, and threats of firing me if I didn't back off. "My only witness is Cindy Lou Harris, and she is scared to death that they will fire her too, if she says what happened. That's what made me so angry toward men in general, and then you said you had a surprise for me, and I blew my top. I'm so very sorry for that, but it took me almost until Springfield before I calmed down and realized what I had done, and what I needed to do to stop all this once and for all. I just hope that my apology isn't too late, Gerry." "My only question to you is why didn't you tell me about the problems at work before now, Gail? Did you think that I wouldn't care, or that I would think you were cheating on me? We ... you, and me ... are what makes this marriage work, Gail! With our love, our understanding, and most importantly, our communicating with each other; we can make it through many hardships that others can't. Through communication, we can solve just about any problem that we are faced with, head on, just the two of us. But things fall to the wayside without real communication, or they get to be too big of a problem for one of us to solve alone. "My surprise, that Tuesday night, was that I finished my project ahead of time, and way under budget. I was given a three day weekend at a B&B in Fredericksburg. I've now also learned that I am getting kicked upstairs to Director of Engineering Operations. We are going to go see your lady lawyer or maybe someone new, once we get you out of here. We are going to pursue this complaint, and heads will roll over there if I have anything say about it. If not, Tom and Ray, along with a certain HR creep, may need to be visited by some friends of mine, but we will work this out together. I love you very much, Gail, but we both need to work a little harder on our communication skills." Gail then came and sat on my lap, hugged me, and cried for a while. I noticed her doctor watching us through the solarium's window. I think things were working out for us. I had a long talk with the psychologist who was observing Gail. He said that he felt that she needed an MRI of her head. Some of her symptoms made him think that there is something, probably a tumor that was pressing on certain parts of her brain, and it is making her violent mood swings, headaches, nausea, and eyesight changes. Stress can cause some of her symptoms, but not all of them. He also said that her not being able to handle stress very well was causing more stress, and this stress combined with a possible tumor, could cause a lot of the problems Gail was experiencing. "Gerry, there is one unshakable thing in her mind right now. She loves you. There is no question about that; outside of work, you and her children are her world. Her work environment is causing her a great amount of stress. She has told me some of that and she elaborated under hypnosis. I was able to get a better picture of what she has been experiencing. It really is a very hostile environment filled with aggressive flirting, sexual innuendo, and dirty jokes. If need be, I can testify to the state of her mind as a result of the constant bombardment of the sexually hostile work environment Gail was forced to work in. This also applies to several other women in that section. She was sent to a neurosurgeon for an MRI to see what was going on inside her head during her mandatory 14 days of observation. Sure enough, there was a tumor, and her new neurosurgeon had scheduled her for its removal. Where the tumor was, was the cause of a lot of her mood swings. It also caused her violence, and her forgetting what was going on during her attacks. Her neurosurgeon, Dr. Spansky, took me aside after the surgery and explained what he found. This tumor had been slowly growing for about a year, and had somehow started growing larger recently. He thought that, due to the increased stress with her job and my absence at home due to long hours, it was being aggravated and may have even been starting to change from benign to malignant, and was what is called a pre-malignant tumor. He had caught it in time where the change had not yet occurred, however. She would need plenty of bed rest after her five day hospital stay. She would be well cared for, during the additional two weeks after surgery, since she was going back for further observation at the rehabilitation facility at Seton. She would be allowed home once that over, but under someone's care for an additional two weeks to ensure proper health afterwards. There would be the possibility of: weakness, loss of balance, loss of vision, loss of memory, difficulty in speaking, difficulty doing complex tasks, or difficulty making decisions. These were all symptoms that there would require further surgery or more MRIs to determine the causes. Gail finished her two weeks in rehab and came home. Mom kept her at her house during the day, and Gail would come home with me when I picked up the kids. We all catered and pampered her to the point where she said that we had to stop before she became so spoiled that she would refuse to go back to work and just stay home. I said, "Okay, Gail, with my new promotion and no more travel, except in emergencies, and the raise in my salary, I think we can get by on my income alone, so if you now want to stay home and become a housewife, do it." "You're not getting off that easy, Mister. I plan on going back to Geiger and taking Roy Woods' job, and that's final. I'm going to make sure that he and the rest of those two-bit office Romeos get what's coming to them. There will be no discussion on that score!" "Yes, Dear." What was I supposed to say, no? Not in a million years. My wife was back, and we could go back to making love two or three times a week again in another week. This was a very long dry spell for both of us. Seven, well more like eight, weeks of no loving for either of us. Needless to say, we were definitely looking forward to this Friday evening. We sent the kids to Grandma's for the weekend, and I'm not sure that we got out of bed except to have some food or drink until Sunday afternoon. We might not have been caught up, and we weren't complaining, except that we were very tired of being in bed for so long. ------- Epilogue Gail and I went into to Geiger Manufacturing, hand in hand, two months after our talk. In our entourage were the lady lawyer, Susan Stokes; her boss, Samuel Spade; and Britney, a gum-chewing, pony-tailed college girl, who was an officer of the court and a process server. I had made an appointment with the head of HR, Mr. Tate Manning. I had also insisted that his assistant, Dale Givens, plus Ray Woods and Tom Forrest be there. I asked if Mr. George Geiger would be able to make it, too. I was promised that he and his legal team would be there. We all sat down in the big conference room. Geiger and his staff were on one side, and our entourage was on the other. We started out by Britney asking for names and IDs. Once it had been established as to who was who, she handed her envelopes out and left, saying, "Gentlemen, you have all been served. Good day." That was when things got a little rough in the room. Mr. Geiger finally handed his papers to his legal team and asked what this was all about. I explained the situation. As I was explaining what had happened, Mr. Geiger looked at Tom, Dale, and Ray. He said to Tate Manning, "They are gone, as of this minute; all three of them!" There were loud protests from all three of them. They were trying to state their case to Mr. Geiger and that it was their word against a disgruntled, mental patient; that they had been with the company longer; and all kinds of crap like that. This went on for fifteen minutes or more when Mr. Geiger called a halt to the name calling and bitching, and asked for some quiet so he could think. George Geiger looked into my eyes, into Gail's, and then looked at the three men. I mean he really looked at them, much as he had looked at Gail and me. He looked over at Tate Manning, then his lawyers. He turned back to Gail and said, "I've made my decision and its final, understood?" he said, as he looked at the five of us again. Tate, I want Mr. Woods, Mr. Forrest, and Mr. Givens out of this building in thirty minutes or less, and I want them escorted once they leave this room; is that clear? There will be no arguments and no removal of any company property; is that understood? Good, then we are through with these three poor excuses for human beings. Now, Gail, we can get down to what you want." I said, "Not so fast, Mr. Geiger, there is still the matter of the alienation of affection suits against them." "You can take that up with their new lawyers, as soon as they hire them. As far as this company is concerned, they no longer work here! I'll help Miss Harris in bringing her suit against them, as well. I will not tolerate sexual harassment in my company, and I will not accept intimidation of employees to overlook wrongdoings, either. Now, what do you want from me, Mr. Dunne?" "I think that my wife should have her old job back, or perhaps Mr. Woods' job. From what she has told me, and from what I have gathered from several of her co-workers, she was doing most of it, anyway." "Tate, I want you to look into that. I think we may have a new Marketing Manager as of today. Now, Mrs. Dunne, I see that your hair is starting to grow back. I trust that the operation was a success?" "Yes, Sir, Mr. Geiger. First, let me say thank you for your confidence in me. I will do an excellent job for you in my new position. Secondly, I am still getting some treatment for some of the problems I had, but that should all be cleared up in less than a month. I'm actually kind of excited about getting back to work. I have missed the work and some of the people." "Well, if we have no further issues at hand, I suggest that we all get back to work. You, Mrs. Dunne, will soon be hearing from my legal team regarding some compensation. Do we contact you, Mr. Spade, or Ms. Stokes, regarding the settlement?" Sam spoke up and said, "Ms Stokes is the primary on this case. I do want to thank you, Mr. Geiger. I always like to see a take charge kind of guy on matters like this. I only came along to provide moral support for both Ms. Stokes and Mrs. Dunne. I am an old friend of the Dunne family. I went to school with Gerry's father, and served with him during the time between wars." The meeting broke up after some small talk around the table, and we went home. I guess that is all to tell of my tale of torture and pain. It's been almost a year now, and things are back to normal, although we have done a little more traveling with the children. We made it to Disney World in Florida during this last summer, and we have another trip to the Grand Canyon scheduled for next year. I'd say that my life is fantastic, overall. We settled all the suits, and Gail is now a very rich woman. She got almost two million from all the suits. She has put it into an investment fund, and we finance our trips from the interest. The rest is for the children's college fund, and our retirement. Edited by rrich and pepere Proofread by BettyR and prissy_35503 ------- The End ------- Posted: 2013-02-08 Last Modified: 2013-02-08 / 01:51:07 pm ------- http://storiesonline.net/ -------