Eve and Jerry's New Baby

Jerry took the envelope from Greg and put it back under his seat. He said, "I will slip her IPhone to you tomorrow if you catch me at the job site at lunch time, O.K.?"

Greg responded, "I can arrange my schedule to be there about lunch time. See you then."

Greg got out of Jerry's car and said, "This conversation never happened - Sure you won't have another beer, Jerry?" The 'Artist' shook his head, 'no,' and waved good-bye.

!!

At the moment Jerry was driving home after talking to Greg, Eve was frantic. Jerry was late coming home, and both children were crying - while the older one was hanging on to her. She needed help badly. But it was her recurring nightmares that were her worst enemy! She tried to convince herself, "Jerry surely knows that Mark isn't his, yet he walks around here as if nothing is wrong - as if he is bored. He spends all of his quality time with our daughter and wants to stay in Melissa's room and play with her as much as possible, and then hide in his music room and play his trumpet. Why doesn't Jason Crawford answer any of my texts? Oh God! I need help. Should I call Mom? Should I confess to Jerry? I remember now that Mom pleaded with me not to get married so young and wait so I could find the right man. But Jerry is the right one. I am fucked up."

Jerry finally came home and perfunctorily kissed his wife on the cheek and said, "Hello Dear, several of us had a beer tonight." Then he went straight to Melissa's room to check on her. Since he paid only scant attention to Mark, Eve assumed the worse. Jerry was reading a book to the three-year-old and in the process, she fell soundly to sleep. Jerry whispered good night and went straight to the kitchen to fix a cup of tea and look for some food. Eve came in holding the quiet newborn as he waited for the water to boil.

She asked, "Jerry, may we visit for a while?" As soon as she spoke her question, Eve's subsequent thought was, "How trite that must sound to him?"

Jerry turned to Mark and said, "How are you doing, buddy," while touching him warmly on the cheek. He then looked at Eve and said, "I had some disturbing news today that I don't want to talk about right now. I am going to the music room and blow a few notes to calm down - otherwise, I will be too upset to work tomorrow."

Eve was still awake when her husband crawled in bed with his wife much later, She asked, "Will you share with me what disturbed you?"

"No, Eve, not yet. Goodnight." He turned over to face away from her to go to sleep.

Eve screamed silently, "My God he knows. Or does he? Be cool, old girl, and this will work out." She then leaned over her husband in a desperation move and said, "According to Mom, Darling, it's O.K. if we have sex now."

Jerry said without looking at her, "I am not in the mood tonight, Eve, maybe after you start back to work, and we get into our routine again I might be in the mood again."

Jerry went to sleep, but it was impossible for Eve. She got out of bed and paced back and forth for a half hour in the bedroom while her husband soundly slept. "I don't want to confess to my husband because I don't want to shut Jason Crawford from my life. I want a lover and a husband! Why hasn't Jason texted me? Why do I want both? Am I crazy?"

The next morning, the carpenter was rushing to get out the door clutching his lunch box, when he spotted his wife's phone lying on the toilet tank top. He was pissing before beginning his commute. He slipped her phone into his pocket and picked up the trashcan liner full of trash and bellowed as he was leaving, "There is an odor in the bathroom trashcan, so I am emptying it."

He heard his wife say, "Thank you, Dear," as he dumped the trash into the big one outside and then he ran to his car.

When the job-site crews stopped for lunch, Greg Pierce came by to see Jerry as he ate his sandwich. In fact, the geek shoved a sheet of paper into Jerry's hands and said, "The last time I got this hacking request, my client used this attorney and was only half-raped, rather than the usual completely raped - and this lawyer accepts after-hours appointments."

Jerry replied, "Thanks. Here is Eve's phone."

Greg said,"This will take a couple of days, and now I must get back to my own 'wife' - eh that means that I need to get back to my server room in the corporate office."

It was Thursday before the Monday that Eve would be returning to work. Jerry left the job site and drove to Eve's parent's condominium and knocked on the door. When Mrs. Betty Nash saw who was there, she opened the door wide and smiled a warm welcome. "What a pleasure to see you, Jerry. Come in. Come in. What brings you to see us?" Eve's father, Marvin Nash, stood beside her.

Jerry said, "First, let me thank you for taking care of Melissa for the past few days." He paused as if hesitating to talk but finally said, "Mister and Misses Nash, I only have a minute so may we sit down?"

"Yes, right this way. Can I get you a..."

Jerry held up his hand and blurted, "I am not the father of Mark, Eve's new child." He gave her a copy of the cover letter from the lab with a highlighted portion that read, 'Specimen 2 is not the offspring of Specimen 1.' Then Jerry continued, "I am petitioning Eve for a divorce to be served in the morning about 9:00. I am asking you two to cancel whatever else you had planned tomorrow and visit your daughter because she and her two children will need your help and support. You may keep that cover letter copy, and I will let myself out." As he abruptly rose and was walking toward the door, he noticed the Nash's were in such a state of shock until they could not respond."

Jerry turned off his cell phone and went to his motel and got his suitcase out of the trunk and checked in. He walked to the IHop adjacent to the Motel and had a simple meal. He got back to his room and blew a few soft notes of 'Almost Blue,' taking care not to disturb other guests.

!!

Eve's Mom and Dad knocked on their daughter's door with tears streaming down both faces thirty-five minutes after Jerry drove away from their home. Eve was holding the new baby, and the three-year-old was crying holding on to her pants leg. As soon as Melissa saw her granddaddy, she stopped crying and raised her arms to be picked up. Mister Nash did so and carried the child into her bedroom and sat on a stool beside her.

Eve's Mom said, "Let me hold Mark while you read this letter." After the transfer was made the cheating wife opened the letter and started reading. She staggered backward and then made her way to the den and sat still to complete the reading of the letter.

Mrs. Nash said, "Your husband just left our home where he dropped this off. Your divorce petition comes in the morning. The court will not allow Jerry to kick you three out on the street, and I am very confident he loves Melissa, but that doesn't change the fact that you and the children have a bleak future for which we must prepare. Would you tell your heart-broken mother where I let you down, Eve, and how my only child could get into a mess like you find yourself," as tears were now gushing down the mid-forties woman's cheeks?

"Mom, we have a site visit the last week of each quarter - and we had such an event going on nine months ago. I was the administrative assistant to the Inspector-in-Charge of the visits just taking dictation and typing the hand-written findings submitted by each of the many team leaders on the site visit. I became pregnant by that officer.

"Three years ago the old Team Executive retired and was replaced by this younger and handsome Randy. I was immediately attracted to him, but I resisted our natural magnetism at first. This executive's preference was to do our work in a conference room the agency had booked in the hotel where the visiting team members lodged, rather than the office. Then when we two worked alone in the activity room, he started trying to seduce me real time. I could barely keep up with all the handwritten notes on the findings pouring into the room. But in time, he talked me into going with him to his hotel suite. I did and continued doing that each subsequent site visit, and now my life has been destroyed. Worse, two children's lives were done in also."

Her Mom blew her nose loudly and said, "I can not raise my voice at you because I have been in your shoes. "

Eve asked, "How so?"

It's time that you learned that your Mom had an affair when she was young, and Mister Nash was not your bio-father when I became pregnant with you?"

Eve asked, "What? Is this on the level, Mom? Why don't I already know this?"

Her Mom said, "Yes. My husband sensed at once that you were not his. I, too, had plans to divorce my husband and marry your bio father. But, that beast no longer had an interest in me - just like the bio-father of your child, Eve, will have no interest in you or his child."

Eve put her hand to her open mouth to stifle a scream and said, "You are right. That explains why he has not responded to any of my communications since Mark was born. I gave him the news and sent a snap shot."

Her mother looked at Eve shaking her head with pity and said, "Then we have a kingsize problem. But, back to my dalliance, So I was alone. In time, your father, Mister Nash, took me back and raised you as his own, and it has been my and his secret for 23 years - and now you know all about the bones in our closet. I told you this painful news because you can forget your lover in Washington riding to your rescue - they never do after the thrill is over. That leaves Jerry. Is there a chance that he will take you back?"

"Mom, how can I take a man back after I have pissed on his brain? I am damaged goods. Jerry can do better than me. No!"

"Eve, you made a terrible mistake. I made one concerning your sperm-donor as well as far as that goes. But, I never sufficiently impressed upon you that you are responsible for each and every decision you make - whether or not your hormones are active in your body. God knows I have tried - and my husband was very proud of you although another man impregnated me. Yes, you've done an evil deed, but you are not an evil person. So let me ask you another way. Do you still love Jerry?"

Eve was struck dumb for a moment and then said, "Oh God! Yes. But, I want to be free, also, and Jerry only wants a committed relationship."

Her Mom said, "Eve, no man wants a floozy wife - especially a skilled artist, like Jerry, who has a head on his shoulder."

After a pause, Eve said, "You obviously are right. But, Mom, life is unfair. I just wanted to get a little strange cock on the side, and I enjoyed it, and I didn't want it to stop."

"How did you manage to get pregnant, Eve?"

After relating her forgetfulness, Eve said, "Mark could just as easily have been fathered by Jerry. I am cursed."

Her Mom breathed a sigh of relief and said, "If you way down deep do love Jerry, there is a chance that he will forgive you, and you need to sell him on the idea that you do. I am convinced that he loves you. And, remember he only has muddled barflies and internet leftovers to choose from if he doesn't choose you. At any rate, you will be served with his petition in the morning, and I am certain he will take care of his daughter - whatever the outcome of this nightmare. But I am worried about you and Mark because Mister Nash and I don't have the means to support you two and ourselves. Remember also, that my husband knows you are not his offspring, so taking care of you over the years has been one thing, but now adding a baby to his expense load is entirely a different thing."

Eve looked at her Mom as she silently screamed.

!!

Jerry Bass sat with a group of tradesmen who were eating lunch at a construction site. The self-proclaimed artist was eating harvest grain pancakes from IHop, and had cursed under his breath when he left for work this morning, "Damn! I have nothing that can go in a sandwich." Again Greg Pierce sat down beside Jerry and handed the carpenter four sheets of paper plus two large photos printed on glossy paper. He said, "Every text message from and to Mr. Jason W. Crawford for almost a year, who lives in PH4 at this address in Arlington, Va., is listed here. The first Photo highlighted a well-fucked Eve Bass and a smiling Jason Crawford. A waiter used Crawford's phone apparently - since he texted it to Eve. The background checks show little on him except that he is a front-tit bureaucrat in the Executive Program at the DoD. Plus, he has a wife who is also a top Manager in the Executive Program of the Education Department. Any man who lives in a high-end condo like him should not be fucking clerks married to someone else, like Eve." The second photo is of the new son who is not yours taken right after he was born and Eve texted it to Jason Crawford - she probably hoped that he would celebrate the new arrival with her."

Greg slipped the working phone back to Jerry and pointed to the sheaf of papers and said, "Good Friend, my only word of advice is that you need to get divorced, pronto. Oh, by the way, that last sheet of paper has some commonly used text language translations when you try to translate what they are saying to each other."

Jerry scrutinized Greg's face and said, "She never sends or receives text messages at home. How could this be?"

Greg shrugged and said, "Who knows? Maybe both have hours to burn between bouts of busywork in their workaday world - Think about it. What better way is there to pass the time? People in laid-back jobs do that all the time."

Jerry shook his head recalling how very labor intensive all the people trained in the crafts and trades worked so hard for a building to rise and was bewildered. He asked, "How much do I owe you for all this," pointing to the sheets of paper?

"Greg said, "Nothing, I am still trying to hone my skills, and I am getting better at this peeping. So, because you are a one-of-a-kind craftsman - just like I am, almost - and because I like people who have developed their skill sets, and because you are my friend, just think of it as a lesson in my 'on-the-job-training Program."

After work, back in his motel room, Jerry kept reading the texts and walked around cursing. One of the ones that made him fighting mad when translated from text language, was from J Crawford:

(JCraw), "Did our fucking six months into your pregnancy cause you problem?"

(EBass): "No, come back and do it again and again before I am too big."

JCraw: "Can not do. Get relief from hubby."

EBass: I have cut him off until after the baby."

JCraw: "Surely you give hubby some relief?"

EBass: "Yes sometimes a BJ but I spit him out."

JCraw: Do you secretly spit me out also?"

EBass: "Never. Come and Give me all you got!"

Jerry highlighted these text messages and noted that these spurt of messages were dated the week after the last site visit - when Eve was about six months along.

The distraught husband went back to the text messages she wrote to her lover after Mark was born. Jerry examined all carefully and concluded, "Crawford never answered any of them."

!!

Jerry Bass sat in his attorney Barry Green's office after work hours the next day, and they made small talk for a moment. Then the husband said, "The sperm-donor of Eve's baby is one Jason W. Crawford at this address outside of D.C., as he pointed to an address on the sheet of paper in front of the attorney."

The attorney said, "Interesting. How do you know?"

Jerry explained the geek reading deleted correspondence at the bit level on his wife's cell phone and then pointed to the four sheets of printouts of the messages and two sheets of photos. He continued, "What is the chance of getting a court order for him to pay child support for his child, and maybe I can reduce my payment package to my soon-to-be ex-wife by that amount."

The attorney said, "Slim and none. In a sane and orderly world, such a court order is rather easy for ordinary citizens, and only takes a hair or swab sample from the Randy. But your wife works for a black-box agency, and several people may have an 'accident' and die if you disturb their ongoing thing. Who is this guy, Jerry?"

The depressed husband recited the details given him by Greg: These included the Executive Program at the DoD as was his wife at another agency, quarterly site visits, etcetera. He ended by saying, "I thought maybe you knew somebody in D.C. land who might get a hair sample from him."

The attorney rubbed his fingers and said, "Jerry, that is not practical, but you are probably looking at another two or three grand because my local guy would farm out the work there to do something he or she thinks in practical - for a price. Can you swing it?"

For the first time, the cuckold smiled and said, "I can handle it." Jerry thought, "I have Grandpa's power-of-attorney, and I will borrow the money from his account if necessary after I get his approval at the rest home."

The attorney said, "Jerry, please wait in the ante office for a few minutes. Make yourself some coffee and the toilet is down the hall to the right."

The cuckold passed the time examining the artwork on the wall in the anteroom. One poster that caught his attention was of Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy. The quotation beneath the portrait read: "There was a land of Cavaliers and Cotton Fields called the Old South. Here in this pretty world, Gallantry took its last bow. Here was the last ever to be seen of Knights and their Ladies Fair, of Master and of Slave. Look for it only in books, for it is no more than a dream remembered, a Civilization gone with the wind." Prolog - Gone With The Wind

This reminder of this history struck Jerry as a parallel to his upcoming divorce from Eve. He exclaimed to himself, "Accept it, Jerry! It is morally O.K to dissolve a marriage by dumping a cheating wife - my mother was outright wrong. Even though I have never enjoyed another woman sexually, surely adjustment to another won't be impossible."

The door opened after twenty minutes and the attorney said, "Come on in, Jerry." Once he sat in front of him the lawyer continued, "O.K. Our skeleton plan is to convince Mister Jerry Crawford to pay a lump sum to your wife for an income stream for child support over a period of years. We will encourage him to do this by our promising to keep his black-box agency out of the legal melee that is his alternative. The backup plan is to get a hair sample from her paramour and have the same lab that you previously used to analyze it and certify it. Once we show that Jason Crawford is the sperm-donor of the baby, the certification you have plus the additional one that you will get is all we need. We will go into court with all guns blazing - including those we will need to ward off the black-box agency. But, it is important that we try first to make this a personal thing. Involving his employer might result in your and Eve's 'accidental' death, so that option is a last resort.' As a Human kindness to the mother of your daughter, you might suggest to Eve that she should get cock from another source. Fucking around with rancid meat from her agency, like Crawford is a recipe for another disaster when she goes back on the meat market."

Jerry said, "Of course, you are right. But, I probably can not convince Eve of anything."

The attorney said, "Anyway, from all indications this Randy has moved on to another whore and he thinks he has heard the last of Eve Bass Heh heh. In fact, Eve won't see him again because a coward like Crawford will surely assign another Admin person to assist him on the next site visit."

!!

Two days later at lunch break Jerry called his wife. "Hello, Jerry."

"I would like to take Melissa out to dinner. May I drop by about 6:00?"

"Yes, of course, you may come anytime as you have a key, and I consider this our house."