Chapter 2: Who?
A Promise Was Kept
September 2015
Jace and I boarded the flight when it was called, and settled in for the evening flight to LA. The flight attendants had my profile so they kept the drinks coming. After we were at cruising altitude Jace filled me in on more than a decade of his "Life is Hell with Cindy."
I knew that Cindy's family had some association with religion, but I never heard the details. It turned out that Cindy's great-great-grandfather Elijah was a preacher who could not keep a church; it seemed he was not the type of involved minister a congregation needed. Finally he was "called" to start a religious supply and publishing outfit in one of the Carolina's. The brand had grown into a significant family business; every legitimate direct descendant of that preacher and his first wife had a job from the time they were 16. They also employed a good percentage of the local community, which was also very christian. In fact, the community was nicknamed Christian Hollow. Cindy had a full-time job waiting for her every summer; she needed to earn in order to return to school in the fall.
"Why did she take the job if she had so many problems with her family?"
"Money. As a direct descendant she was paid a year's wages for each summer's work, plus she had stock in the company. The stock was valuable, like six figures. But the stock was restricted and would be lost if she didn't work every year."
"Well, at the end of the semester you told me you were not intending to marry her. If you were apart all summer, what got you back together?"
"I was weak. I mean, in terms of the sex, she was a dream, as you know she only said 'yes' or 'yes please' regardless of what I asked. Actually, I take that back, she refused to consider anything with another woman. 'Been there, done that, did the drama, got over it,' she said. But otherwise, she was golden. I also knew she was naturally faithful, she was wired that way. She was only promiscuous in proximity of 'her man' and with his blessing. After you I never blessed anybody else. It took me about a week to work out the general plan. I figured that we could sneak a few dates in during the summer, and in three months I would have my hot little Cindy warming my bed again every night... we were going to shack up at school. But it would not be St. Andrews."
I knew the problem, because she was wealthy while he was not, living together was against policy and virtually impossible. On the other hand, with her grades and money, getting a school that fit would be easy.
"How about her meds and her condition?"
"We had that covered. She had a 100-day supply when she left campus and a scrip for the next school; the medical center was very understanding."
"So what happened?"
Jace's telling the tales of woe that beset the couple that summer took our flight to the the Texas-New Mexico border. The couple followed the plan but only to a degree, and during summers they were bedeviled at every turn. Part of it was geographical, there were a lot of miles between them. She had obligations 6 days a week. Calling her by phone was impossible. So summer was a bust. They wound up finishing their last two years at a college in New York, near Jace's home in Vermont. Cindy returned to her home each summer. As graduation approached things were going to have to change.
Over the summer Cindy had not lost her enthusiasm in the bedroom, but her meds kept her in control. While she and Jace were shacking up she was, by nature, faithful and fun. With no studly roommate like me to help poor Jace in the bedroom that means she plum wore him out. This was part of their deal, at the new college Jace had nobody he could trust so he said that while he appreciated the uninhibited sex, he could not marry a girl who spread her legs so freely with others. Such behavior was fine for college girlfriend, but not for a wife. He insisted she change if she had expectations of marriage.
Well, you know what they say, sometimes you get what you want - to your own great regret.
Cindy became a one-man woman at all times. When they were at school she still studied like a fiend and was a living sex doll on Wednesdays and over the weekends. (They arranged for class-free Wednesday afternoons. Meds were adjusted.) Jace kept up with her demands - barely.
Towards the end of their senior year, Cindy and Jace had a serious talk about their future. Jace was thinking marriage. Cindy was thinking marriage. But there was a hitch. To keep her ever-more-valuable stock she had to work in the family business. The job paid well, much better than the best Jace and her could do elsewhere, but it meant living in a community where being seen going to church on Sunday was a virtual requirement. Cindy's 'church on Sunday' with the family took four hours on a routine week, plus there was choir practice and other activities during the week. Jace wrestled with this, but he told himself the money was good, and the bedroom life was great, so after much discussion a date was set and a ring was purchased. They were looking at a one-year engagement. Jace got an okay job nearby and avoided the family Sunday mornings by joining another church - the one with the shortest Sunday service. Jace's parents got an inheritance and bought him a home in an ideal location. Cindy returned to her family home until the wedding, but she found time to be intimate with Jace on Friday nights and Saturdays. This was allowed because they were engaged, and Cindy made some promises to her family.
What Jace did not realize was the influence Cindy's mother and sisters had on her at home. That next year, living at home before marriage, they changed Cindy by installing (or maybe re-installing, since it reflected her childhood) a self-image of a married woman, an image he could not predict.
Then on the Monday before their Saturday wedding, Cindy and her mother presented Jace with a prenup. They explained that the most valuable asset coming into the marriage was the family stock, which was restricted and so had to be protected. Jace thought that the house was pretty valuable too, until 'Mom' explained that the stock had a "stated value" that was 50% more than what the house cost.
Jace was unhappy, but they said he should talk to a lawyer. Their only requirement was that it be signed before the wedding. Cindy said that, since his parents would arrive Thursday, that if the document was signed she would stay with him Wednesday night and "help with cleaning the house." Her mother was okay with this.
Jace took the prenup to the local lawyer (there were only 2) who told him that it was pretty standard in the Hollow, he had seen dozens like it. One clause was a heavy penalty for cheating; if Cindy cheated she would lose the stock; since it was restricted the equivalent of it's "liquidated value" would be paid to Jace. Jace did not understand the term "liquidated value" but did not ask, he assumed it was the same as the "stated value" mentioned by Cindy's mother. There was a corresponding clause relating to Jace cheating or otherwise damaging Cindy's public reputation as an exemplary wife; any such acts would cost him the house even if Cindy forgave him. The lawyer said all other clauses were "traditional" in all ways. The lawyer also convinced him that the family would accept no changes. Frustrated with no options and no time, Jace signed. The lawyer notarized at no extra cost.
Jace did not realize honest lawyers never provide services for free.
The honeymoon was 2 weeks in Bermuda. Cindy was the perfect bride on honeymoon, doing all Jace asked for a bliss-filled bonding period. Then the couple got home and Cindy dropped her bombs. Cindy explained that since returning to the family she had 'been born again' in her own way. She stressed to Jace that it was not to the same extent of her mother and sisters, but still there would be some adjustments. Now, as a married woman, she could make her own decisions about drugs. She would stay on the ones to help her maintain control; her family saw how these made good changes that brought her back to the church, so they had to be a blessing. Jace was not going to argue about that.
When it came to sex, as a married christian woman "of the Hollow," Cindy said she was obligated to procreate, so she would stop using all birth control. In addition, she had come to see that sex for procreation was a sacred duty between spouses. To that end she would only have vaginal sex, and that only in one of those positions where they, as 'sanctified lovers' could kiss and gaze lovingly into one another's eyes as they coupled, as an aid to procreation.
From his education Jace recognized this as something borrowed from Islam, but he knew better than to say that.
