hesitated. “I don’t want them arrested; I just want them to leave me alone.”
I went into the bedrooms and checked on the kids. I didn’t care what Marilyn did. When I came back out, the three men were out of the handcuffs and were leaving. I asked, “What is going on?”
The detective said, “Your wife won’t press charges against them.”
I looked at Marilyn. “Then don’t call me again. You deserve what you get.” I got in my car and drove off with Marilyn begging me to stay.
I wasn’t quite home when my phone rang. It was Marilyn. I answered and she said, “I am sorry, but I work with those guys. I can’t put them in jail. I am sorry that I disappoint you, but I am doing the best that I can. I have to work with them.”
I smiled. “Damn, Marilyn, they were all going to rape you, and you let them get away with it. Trust me, they will rape you one day, and it will all be your fault.” I hung up my phone.
My phone rang again. It was Marilyn. I answered, “What is it?”
She said, “Don’t hang up, please. Please come back and stay with us. Whether you believe it or not, I don’t want to be raped.”
I didn’t hang up on her. I said, “They will rape you; you can count on it. You just gave them a free pass to do it. What is wrong with you, Marilyn?”
She responded, “I love you, Brandon. I want you to come home. I will be the perfect wife. I promise you, I will do what ever you say.”
I swallowed hard. “Marilyn, I am serious. I am going through with the divorce. I am sorry, but you are going to have to learn to fend for yourself. I am sorry!”
This time she hung up on me.
I didn’t see nor hear anything from Marilyn until Thursday morning, at the hearing.
Julie was draped all over my arm and she was dressed like a movie star. She took center stage attention. Even the Judge stared at her. Marilyn was fit to be tied.
The Judge ruled completely in Marilyn’s favor. She got the house, half our money, and I had to pay child support of seven-fifty a month. The Judge said that his ruling would be final in two weeks.
Marilyn caught me outside the courtroom and slapped me, even as Julie held my arms back.
When Julie and I were alone, she said, “You got what you wanted. Don’t worry about money; I have enough for both of us. You got standard visitation with your kids; you are fine. Don’t do anything stupid. Just go home with me and you can move in with me now. We both won, Brandon. Aren’t you happy?”
I wasn’t happy, but I put a smile on my face. “Honey, you really want me to move in with you?”
Julie smiled. “As long as we are going to get married, I don’t want a big wedding, but I want to get married as soon as possible.”
I said, “There is one problem. Do you love me?”
She smiled. “Yes, with all my heart.”
I didn’t see how that was possible, but I said, “I love you too.”
We went to Julie’s mansion, and she made room for my things in her bedroom. I went and brought two loads of things from the apartment and I had moved in.
We began sleeping together every night after that.
It was after her divorce was final that an older man, her husband Ralph, showed up with two deputies and began taking his things out of the house. He called Julie a “whore!” I figured that he was baiting both of us, so we just clung to each other and did nothing to him.
Finally, Julie responded, “You got it wrong, Ralph. You and your mistress are both whores. I did nothing wrong. You had the affair and left me. I cleaned your clock in the divorce.”
He looked at me. “I hope you enjoy your whore.”
I smiled. “Old man, one day we will meet again, then we will see who has the big mouth.”
He smiled back at me. “You are getting used goods. How do you like them?” He was really baiting me big time.
I smarted off, “Once I got past the used part, it was nice.”
He grinned, looked at Julie. “You didn’t get near what you could have. I have some dirt on you now.”
She went to slap him, but I grabbed both her wrists. “Calm down, honey. We both won, remember?” Ralph stuck out his chin to both of us.
I said, “One day, Ralph. Not today.”
After everyone had left, I said, “Let’s go out and celebrate!”
We went to a place that I had never been before. It was the Reunion Tower. We had dinner, then sat and had drinks and watched the moon come up over Dallas. It was the most romantic thing that I had ever seen. We danced, and I noticed just how much attention Julie garnered. She was accustomed to it, and knew exactly how to get it. I suspected that she had once been a model. She was incredibly beautiful. I had never met anyone quite like her. She had wit, charm and lots of grace.
Sure enough, two weeks later, my divorce was final, but that didn’t mean that Marilyn left me alone. She called me nearly every day at work. Then I told her that I was getting married and she began to cry and beg. Her phone calls became more persistent. She called me often in the middle of the night. This infuriated Julie. I did my best to calm her down. But the phone calls intensified, then suddenly they just stopped.
The two weeks before I married Julie, I didn’t hear a word from Marilyn. I checked on her at work and she was there every day. I talked to my daughter twice and she told me that there had not been any men around. Marilyn seemed to have settled into a groove.
Julie and I just went to a justice of the peace, and she took two of her girlfriends and we got married.
For the first month things were wonderful. I worked at my job and she worked at hers. Then one day, I came home and she was crying in bed.
I knelt over her. “What is wrong, angel?”
She said, “Ralph fired me today, in front of everyone. I was so embarrassed. He had me ushered out with security guards. I want to kill him.”
I said, “You and I are going to be fine. You aren’t going to kill him. You can get another job, or just stay home and I will support you.”
Julie said, “He is reneging on the twenty million that I was supposed to get. We can’t pay the bills without it. I am sorry, you just don’t make enough money, and no one is going to hire me. He will give me a bad recommendation, and all I have to fall back on is my modeling background, which I am rusty at now. I have put on weight and would have to lose it all. I have no option but to sell my house, and I will have to do that in a hurry, and I won’t get near what it’s worth; he will see to that. He has power that you can’t even imagine. He can stop things in their tracks like you can’t believe.”
I said, “Don’t worry, honey, we will make it. We can sell stuff in here and live on it for a while.”
She said, “You don’t know about the lawsuit that he just filed. It ties all the furniture, artifacts and artwork up in courts. We can’t sell it. He has really screwed me again.”
I was getting worried. “Exactly where do we stand?”
She smiled. “I barely own the clothes on my back. He even has my shoes and mink stoles tied up. I literally have nothing. If he dies, I have a hundred million life insurance policy on him. But I can’t make the monthly premiums.”
I asked, “What happens if the mansion burns down?”
Julie smiled. “The house insurance is in his name, not mine.”
I had run out of ideas. “We will make it, honey, don’t worry.”
She asked, “Do we still get your kids this weekend?”
I nodded. “Yes, but I can cancel it if you need to do something else!”
She shook her head. “I am looking forward to some fun.”
The next day was Wednesday. We put Julie’s house on the market, but two hours later, the realtor withdrew. In fact, we couldn’t find a realtor that would sell the house for us. We put it out as For Sale by Owner, or FSBO.
On Friday, I went to pick up my kids. Marilyn said that there had been a man coming around asking questions about
me and the kids. She was worried that he was going to abduct them. She had called the police but they had done nothing.
I took them to the mansion for their first time. They immediately wanted to get in the pool. We had to watch little Johnny. He didn’t know how to swim. Julie got in with him and taught him how to doggy paddle. To my surprise, for an only child, she knew how to deal with children. We took them to the park and to get ice cream. They had a ball with us and had their own rooms. I went out and bought me a handgun, and I patrolled the grounds at night and even during the day, but I never saw anyone out of place.
We took my kids back home Sunday evening. Surprisingly, Marilyn and Julie got along fine.
We had to let the maid and gardener go. That meant Julie had to cook, clean, and do all the little jobs inside the house. I had to keep the yard up. That meant having to work in the yard every day, and I had no idea what I was doing. The flowers began to die, and I had no idea why. I watered and watered them, but it made no difference. The grass began to turn brown in places. I put fertilizer down and watered more. It was so frustrating. I had never dealt with such finicky plants and grass.
We began turning lights off at night and had the alarm system turned off. We did away with everything that we could, even Ralph’s insurance policy. Then we found out more bad news: Ralph had stopped paying the insurance on the place. If anything at all happened, we were just out of luck.
Then it happened. We were both asleep and I heard the smoke alarms go off. The house was on fire. I tried to fight it with a garden hose,