She Wants His Baby

"Henry, I don't...I think..."

I think this was the first time I had ever seen her speechless. Maybe she really thought that Wally and I were on an even playing field. Maybe she knew we weren't but didn't think I'd realize it. Or maybe she simply thought she could get away with this too. Again, it really didn't matter. I headed for the door.

"I'm gonna stay with Erica tonight. I'll let you know when the papers are ready."

I had expected her to say something more but nothing came out. Tiffany was sitting at the kitchen table seemingly in shock. I guess she expected this to go differently.

**********

Erica's door opened and she knew something was wrong instantly.

"What'd the bitch do?"

She pulled me inside and led me into the bedroom. She had me lie down on the bed then pulled off my shoes and socks. I had a couple drawers full of clothes here so that wouldn't be a problem. She climbed on to the bed and gathered me up in her arms and let me mourn the end of my marriage without saying a word. It wasn't long before I drifted off to sleep.

**********

I was mostly useless at work. I couldn't concentrate and kept going over everything in my mind. I knew it was at least partly, maybe even mostly, my fault. Hadn't I married her knowing she was screwing Walter when they were on the road? Hadn't I done that for years? I had obviously given her the impression that I was okay with her putting him first, so why would she expect this to be any different?

When we were dating she had convinced me that what they did on the road didn't have anything to do with us. She obviously thought she could do the same thing about her having his baby, but I figured after my initial refusal that she'd understand that I was completely against this.

I received no fewer than 50 texts, emails, and phone calls from Tiffany over the course of the day. They started with pleas to not start any sort of divorce proceedings, but eventually just became requests to come back to the house tonight so we could talk about it some more. Figuring she wouldn't stop until I agreed I finally responded that I would come over after work but that I would be spending the night at Erica's again, and any request to the contrary would result in my simply leaving. Basically, we could talk, but any attempts to seduce me or her even asking me to stay there with her tonight would send me out the door. She agreed.

It turned out to be something of an ambush. After Tiffany let me in the door and I got settled in with a drink, old Wally himself emerged from some hiding place down the hall. I briefly considered just leaving but I have to confess to being curious.

"Hey Wally," I said loudly as he bristled at my use of the form of his name he hates so much. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I thought we should all get together and talk about this before things get out of hand."

"Sure Wally. What's on your mind?"

"I'd like to know what it'll take to get you to forget about this ridiculous divorce."

"There's nothing that'll stop it. Nothing at all."

"More money perhaps?"

"You don't have enough money. Hell, there isn't enough money. Some things don't have a price, at least to some people."

I looked pointedly at Tiffany as I said that.

"There must be something, Henry."

"Why the hell is this so important to you, Wally? I understand why Tiffany is against it but why do you care?"

"First of all, I care very much for Tiffany, so what's important to her is important to me. But from a strictly selfish point of view, Henry, it wouldn't look good."

"Wouldn't look good in what way?"

"We try very hard to maintain a professional distance at work, but that doesn't mean people don't think something is going on when we're on the road. If you were to suddenly divorce Tiffany after she gets pregnant that would only lend credence to rumors that our relationship is more than business."

"It is more than business."

"But for all concerned, it's best that remain a secret. Suspicion is not proof, but something like you leaving Tiffany at this point, while not direct proof by itself, would certainly not look good."

"And how is that my problem?"

"I suppose it's not, though I don't imagine you'll come off looking all that great. But you asked why it's important to me. As long as you stay married I can keep my son close without anyone, particularly Margaret, knowing it."

"Son?"

"Okay, that part was wishful thinking. But the point is the same."

"While I can understand your reasons, they don't change my mind. I've given all I can here. I married Tiffany despite your relationship, hoping that she'd love me enough to stop after a while, but that hasn't happened. Frankly, the longer it's gone on the more my feelings for her have suffered."

"Baby, you never said anything," Tiffany interjected. "I really thought everything was fine."

"What was I gonna say, Tiff? Frankly, you'd always put your relationship with Wally ahead of me so I figured all that would get me was divorced, and I wasn't ready to go there. But then this baby thing came up, and I saw an opportunity. There was no way I was going to allow that, and it was the perfect chance to finally get you to put me first. I thought that if I could get you to actually say no to Wally about the baby, to put my wants and needs first, maybe that would be the first step toward getting you away from him.

"But it didn't work. Instead of putting me first and just refusing to carry his baby, you two worked out a compromise. Let me say that again: I said no but you two made a compromise. And that was that it was okay with my wife's boss for me, her husband, to have a CHANCE at getting her pregnant. That's it, just a chance. And you actually thought I'd go for it. At least you were honest about it, and I thank you for that."

"Henry, I really thought that once you had time to think about it you'd understand it wouldn't affect us. And there was the chance that it would be yours."

"Except there was no chance, was there Wally?"

He had the decency to not try and deny it, which surprised me. That little fact didn't sit well with Tiffany.

"Walter?"

"Okay, I did set things up to give me the first real shot, but there was always a possibility she'd come home without being pregnant."

"So, I don't think there's anything else to say here. There's no doubt in my mind that the baby is Wally's, and even if it's not, the fact that it even might be is enough for me. Let's try to make this easy, okay?"

I stood up with the intention of leaving and going back to Erica's, hoping that would be the end of things. It wasn't, though to my surprise it wasn't Tiffany that continued to conversation.

"There will be no divorce," said Walter.

He said it in a voice that I can only assume was meant to stop any further argument on the topic. I assumed he used it in his office with some regularity, but the problem was that I didn't work for him.

"And just how do you plan to stop it, Wally."

"My name," he said with indignation, "is Walter, and you will stop any action or talk about divorce. You and Tiffany will stay married and you will raise this child until I say otherwise."

"Or what?" I asked.

I was genuinely curious.

"Henry, you don't get to where I am in the business world without having a few favors that can be called in. Let's just say I know a few people in low places who owe me several favors."

I almost laughed out loud at his attempt at intimidation.

"What're you gonna do, Wally? Have me rubbed out? Fitted for cement shoes?"

"Oh, I don't think that'll be necessary. I'm sure I can come up with something short of that. So, it's decided then?"

"I'll give you credit for brass balls, Wally. Too bad that won't be enough. Wait here."

I went into the home office that Tiffany and I shared. I dug into the bottom drawer - my drawer - of our filing cabinet and pulled out a small accordion file I had stashed in the back. I shut the drawer and returned to the living room. I handed the file to Wally.

"Take a look in here and then we can talk some more."

He glanced at Tiffany and then popped the snap on the folder and pulled out the contents. His bugged-out eyes told me he realized what it was immediately.

"What you're looking at, Wally, is years of photographic and audio evidence, not to mention PI reports, of your ongoing affair with my wife. You'll see that's it's all date-stamped."

"How did you get this?"

"Shit, it was easy. You guys thought you were totally safe on the road. Tiffany always gave me your hotel accommodations as soon as she knew them. It was apparently quite easy for my PI's to get surveillance into your rooms."

I watched as Tiffany and Wally flipped through all the evidence I had gathered, which was not an insignificant amount.

"Honey, I thought you were okay with Walter and me. Why would you do this?"

"I was never okay with it, Tiff. I put up with it, but that's different than being okay with it. And I did this to protect myself, just in case. So, here's the deal: the divorce goes through without a fight. We split the assets 50-50. You keep your retirement and I keep mine. No alimony at all. If by some chance that baby is actually mine then we will figure out child support but I doubt that'll be an issue. In exchange, none of that finds its way to Margaret."

"You wouldn't!"

"Oh, I would. And that is by no means the only copy of that stuff. I have several people with copies of that material ready to send it to Margaret, the press, and the board of directors if anything at all happens to me. You better hope I'm not even randomly mugged."

"Honey, please, surely we can work this out. I love you."

"No, you love having someone treat you like a queen at home and who was willing to put up with you screwing old Wally here. At least this way Wally keeps his job and you keep yours, and Wally keeps you and the baby close just like he wanted."

"I have your word that none of this sees the light of day?"

"Walter?!"

"Tiffany, there's nothing we can do. If Margaret gets this she'll dump me for sure. I'll get next to nothing in the divorce thanks to the pre-nup, and there goes the money I promised you plus any money to support us."

"As long as the divorce goes through without any problem and nothing happens to me then it'll stay under wraps. All I want is out."

"Baby, please..."

"We're done, Tiffany. You had your chance to put me first and you went to Wally instead. All I wanted was to be first in your life in this one way and you couldn't even do that. I think you should think very seriously about why that is. But I'm not waiting around for the answer."

With that I left the house. I did glance back to see Tiffany sobbing in her hands and Wally sitting there not really knowing what to do. I closed the door quietly. We were done here.

**********

Epilogue

The divorce did go through, though it was on hold until the baby was born and the DNA test results came back. As I expected, Wally was the father of the baby, so the divorce was finalized and I was a free man. That gave Erica and I enough time to get married before she started to show.

Walter did hire a nanny to take care of the baby whenever they were on the road. I presumed things with them continued on as they always had, except that Tiffany was now a single mom when she was at home.

I kept my word about the evidence I had collected: I never personally made Margaret aware of it. But about 2 years after the divorce was final I was involved in a minor fender bender and one of my friends that held a copy misinterpreted it as an attempt to me harm and reacted.

As it turns out, Walter had actually made good on a portion of the money he had promised to Tiffany, so when she lost her job when Walter was fired she was actually still in position to support herself. The nanny was let go, of course, and Tiffany could afford to stay home and take care of the baby. It was a girl, if you care.

Margaret actually tried to recoup the money but it was deemed a legal transaction and contract and was made when Walter had the authority to make it. I think everyone was stunned when Margaret's high-priced lawyers didn't win.

Of course, that left Tiffany as something of a pariah in that area, and she ended up leaving town to parts unknown. I loved her for a long time, and I wish her well despite how things turned out.

Walter didn't come out terribly in the divorce, despite the pre-nup. They had been married for 3 decades so the judge exercised some discretion and awarded him a larger settlement than expected, though it was still just a fraction of what he had access to while being married to Margaret. The last I heard he was trying to find Tiffany and his daughter.

As I relate this tale, Erica and I have just passed out 5-year wedding anniversary. Anjelica will be 5 soon and Eduardo is moving up on 2-1/2. We don't know the sex of the baby due in 3 months by choice. We do know it'll break the tie and that we'll probably stop there, but we've by no means made a final decision.