When You Least Expect It (51 page)

             
Carrie hesitated.  She didn’t feel the judge was on her side.  What would happen if he didn't give her the alimony?  She wouldn’t be able to survive on her income alone; not in the manner that she and the kids were accustomed.  She’d be struggling to survive, and that’s not what she wanted.  She then turned to Sam.  “Bring up the adultery.”

             
“What?  We didn't prepare for that!”

             
“Just do it!” She hissed.

             
“Mr. Richards?”

             
“My client wishes me to provide the court with another tidbit of information, your Honor.  Mr. Knight has been seeing another woman.”

             
Mike rose.  “Objection, your Honor!”

             
“Let me hear this out, Mr. Mahoney.  You’ll get your chance for rebuttal.  Now, what proof do you have?”

             
Sam reddened.  The judge was going to have a field day with this, at his expense.  “Actually, your Honor, I might have to turn the floor over to my client.  This is news she just told me.”  He cleared his throat.  “Carrie?”

             
The judge looked at Sam as if he were the scum of the earth.  “You and I are going to have a long talk after this, Mr. Richards.  You seem to need a refresher course on how to handle a divorce hearing.  If your client is doing the talking, what does she need you for?”

             
Sam’s anger flared.  “You try dealing with this woman and then tell me how it turns out.  She told me she didn’t want to bring up the adultery.  She hired an investigator to find out who Mr. Knight was seeing.  She has a name; in fact, she has spoken to this woman.  Prior to the hearing, she didn’t want to bring this up; I have no idea why she has changed her mind.  If we could take a recess, then I could find out what has possessed her to put me in this predicament, then we could all know.”  Sam’s face was beet red, his nostrils flaring.  He wanted to walk out, but knew he would face a contempt charge.

             
Judge Grijalva applauded.  “That was quite a speech, Mr. Richards, but I thought I asked for no drama.  Sit down, I’ll just ask your client myself.”

             
Carrie rose.  “My husband had an Internet affair, your Honor.  They were speaking on the web while he was still home with me; she admitted this to me herself.  They’ve been talking on the phone since he left me, and two weeks ago, she came to visit him.  Since we’re sitting here today, you know that we’re still married; therefore, it is adultery.”

“What did she say to you when you spoke to her?”

              “That they were friends.”

             
He turned to Ray.  “Were you having an affair, Mr. Knight?”

             
“No.  My leaving Carrie has nothing to do with her.  I only just met her two weeks ago when she came to Maine.”  Ray prayed the judge would believe him.

             
“This is a crock.  I see no evidence whatsoever of adultery here.  As long as they were not carrying on a relationship while Mr. Knight lived at home, I see no reason to enter this into today’s proceedings.  Motion denied. Anything else you want to pull out of your jack-in-the-box, Mr. Richards?”

             
Sam reddened.  Without turning to Carrie, he said no.

             
“Good.  Mr. Knight, I’m granting you this divorce with the alimony and child support guidelines that we previously discussed. The alimony will drop every two years, giving Mrs. Knight plenty of time to get on her feet. Visitation with your children will be at your discretion, and Mrs. Knight, I do not want to see you back here because you’re being unfair with that.  Your husband is being more than reasonable; the least you can do is reciprocate.  This case is over.  Divorce granted in the case of Knight vs. Knight.”  He banged his gavel and the bailiff asked all to rise.

             
Ray turned to Mike.  “Thank you.  It looks like I get to have a somewhat normal life now.”

             
They shook hands.  “I’m glad it turned out this way.  I’m sorry he didn’t bend on the alimony, but you still get what you want, right?”

             
“Yes, Mike, I do.  I get my freedom.”  He turned to look at Carrie.  Ray smiled at her, wanting to thank her for letting it end, but she stared at him sadly for a moment, then turned and walked out, without so much as a glance back in his direction.

~~~

                            Ray couldn’t wait to call Amanda.  He rushed back to his desk and first thing he did was call her at work. 

             
“This is Mandy.”

             
His heart soared at the lilt in her voice.  “Hi honey.”

             
“Ray, hi!  How was court?”

             
“Well…”  He couldn’t help messing with her a bit.

             
“Oh no, what happened, another postponement?”  She couldn’t hide her disappointment.

             
“All I can say is, you’re now speaking to a free man.”

There was a moment of silence as his words sunk in.  Then she let out a whoop!  “You’re divorced!”
             

             
Ray started to laugh.  “I’m divorced.  It’s finally happened.”

             
Amanda laughed with Ray.  She couldn’t believe it was over.  “I wish I were there so we could celebrate.  Congratulations, Ray.”

             
“Thanks.  I wish you were here too.  I’d love to take you out, proud as could be, as a free man.”

             
They hung up the phone, both feeling exuberant.  She sat at her little desk wanting to explode.  She ran to Mariah’s office. “He’s divorced!”

             
                                                        ~~~             

             
That night the girls went out and celebrated enthusiastically.  There were more than one beer involved, and before the night was over, everyone thought it was Amanda celebrating her divorce, and everyone was buying her drinks, toasting her, and celebrating with her.  She had a great time. 

             
She called Ray late in the night, waking him up.  She was feeling no pain.  “Hi there, sexy.”

             
Ray smiled in his bed.  “Hey you, what are you doing up so late?”

             
“It’s not that late.  I just came back from a celebratory bash at Nene’s.”

             
“Oh?  What were you celebrating?”

             
She laughed.  “My boyfriend got divorced!” 

             
It was Ray’s turn to laugh.  “Hey, how come you got to go out and get drunk, when I was the one getting divorced?”

             
“Did you go out and celebrate?”

             
“I guess, if you call having Chinese with my mother, then going out for ice cream a celebration.  I’d have rather been with you.”

             
He settled more into his bed at this thought.  “I would have rather celebrated alone, just you and me, nobody else.”

             
Amanda twirled her hair.  She loved Ray’s sexy voice.

             
“Really and how would we have celebrated?”

             
“Mmmm…let me think.  There would have been champagne, rose petals, and well, clothes would have been optional.”

             
“No clothes; and then what?”

             
As Ray explained to her in explicit detail what would have happened, Amanda laid back and lavished in it.  It didn’t take long before they were both lost in the fantasy             

~~~

Chapter 36

Ray was on top of the world.  He finally felt liberated.  Free to pursue his new life, his happiness.  He knew that Amanda was a big part of his happiness, but he wasn’t sure where it was going to go from here.  He wanted to be with her.  There was just one little glitch in this plan—the distance between them.

             
Ray sighed.  He wasn’t going to let this, or anything, get him down.  He was going to turn his apartment into a home for both him and his girls, he was going to change his wardrobe and maybe his hairstyle, and finally he was going to travel.  First stop, El Paso.

             
He was on the Internet trying to plan his first trip when his phone rang.  With a lilt in his voice, he picked it up.

             
“Hi Dad.”

             
“Glenda?  Hey.  How are things?”

             
“Things are okay.  Mom told us about the divorce being final.”

             
“Yeah, isn’t it great?”

             
Glenda couldn’t help but be happy for her dad.  He sounded as if the weight of the world no longer sat on his shoulders.  “I’m happy for you, Dad.  Mom had a rough night though.”

             
Ray slapped his forehead.  He could be so insensitive sometimes.  “I’m sorry Glen; how did it go?”

             
“She just told us the divorce was final, and how we were still a family; minus you, of course.”

             
Ouch.

             
“Then Dad, she mentioned you had a girlfriend.  Actually, she called her a mistress.”

             
Double ouch. 

             
Ray couldn’t believe that even Carrie could sink this low.  “A mistress?  What exactly did she say?”

             
“She told us you had a mistress.  She said she hoped you still had time for us now that you had a mistress.  Are you seeing someone?”             

             
Ray knew that lying about this wasn’t an option.  If his relationship with Amanda ever went anywhere, she’d need to try to establish a relationship with the girls.  It was not off to a great start.  “Well, kind of I guess.  I wouldn’t call her a mistress though.”

             
Glenda flinched.  “What would you call her?”

             
“My friend.  She’s someone that I talk to about things.  She helped me through this divorce, just by listening.  She’s a good friend Glen, that’s all.

             
“Mom says you met on the Internet.”

             
Ray knew where this was going.  He had no access to the Internet at his apartment, so she knew it had started at home.  “We chatted on the Internet a few times.  We met about two weeks ago.  Like I said, I needed someone to talk to, and she was a good listener.  She was recently divorced herself and could answer my questions.  That’s it.” 

             
“How did you talk to her, at work?”

             
Ray groaned.  “Glenda, why are you interrogating me?  What’s bothering you?”

             
“I just don’t understand how you have a girlfriend and didn’t tell us.  Why did you keep it a secret?  Why did we have to hear it from Mom?  She made it sound so creepy.”

             
“I’m sorry.  She’s a friend.  Maybe now that we have actually met it might turn into more, but Glen, she lives in Texas.  It would be tough to carry on a relationship, don’t you think?”

             
“I guess, Dad.”  Although she actually wasn’t convinced, she decided to concede.  “Will you tell us about her when we come up next weekend?  Do you have pictures?”

  “Yes.  I will show them to you on Saturday.  It’s a harmless friendship Glen; don’t let your mother make you think otherwise, okay?” 

              “Okay.  See you Saturday.”

             
“Okay.  How do your sisters feel about this?”

             
“About the same way as I do; I’ll let them know the scoop.”

             
Ray hung up, no longer feeling quite as lively.  Obviously, no matter what, there will always be a catch in his happiness.

~~~

              That night, he told Amanda about the conversation.  She handled it a lot better that he’d expected.

             
“So the cat is out of the bag.  Now your kids know about me.  Wow, things went from not happening at all, to happening way too fast.  After the initial shock wears off, how do you think they’ll react?”  She was out of breath.  This seemed surreal to her.

             
“I think they’ll be just fine.  Ultimately, they want me to be happy.  If they see you make me happy, they’ll accept you, I’m sure of it.”

             
She wasn’t quite as sure, but she didn’t let on to Ray.  “That’s good.  We’ll just have to take it as it comes.”