Last day of the divorce proceedings, and if anyone had told me that I would be trying to reconcile with my wife, I would have thought they were lying. I had accepted the fact that Montana and I were finished. I was about to live my best life as a single man. Enjoying the fruits of my labor. I planned on purchasing a superyacht and going on a two-week sailing trip to celebrate my latest deal with an Arabian prince. Last week, I signed a three-year deal worth thirty-five million dollars, to provide service to the prince while in the US. Prestige Airlines was making big moves.
“Christion are you sure you want to do this,” my lawyer asked as I stood up to walk over to Montana.
Hell yeah, I was sure. I realized at that moment I was still in love with my wife. I don’t think I ever stopped loving her. Sad to say, Anori gave me the attention I felt I was missing from my wife. Now, I realize how wrong I was.
We wouldn’t be in divorce court if those damn pictures hadn’t surfaced. To this day I still can’t figure out how someone knew Anori and I were spending the weekend in the Dominican Republic. I was always private about our whereabouts. I never booked my rooms under my name. Hell, Anori didn’t even know where we were going until we arrived.
“Christion listen before you do this, I want to make sure you know what you’re doing. I don’t want…”
Before he could finish, I was already walking towards my wife. My heart was racing, I wasn’t sure how she was going to react to what I had to say. When I heard her speak, something moved in me. Her voice sounded like angels speaking. That’s how it had been my whole life with her until the day I met Anori. Then her voice began to sound like the enemy.
This entire situation was on me and my huge ego. My wife’s political career began soaring, and she was getting all of the attention. I became jealous of the woman who stood by me when we didn’t have anything. I mean not even two pennies to rub together.
Montana and I had history. I had known her since the second grade, and always had a crush on her. My ego kept me from approaching her because she was always the “big girl.” But, the summer before our junior year in high school, that all changed. We began working at that pool together and I always made sure I was on the same schedule she was on. I still remember the first time we kissed. I never thought we would be here. She’s been a constant in my life for 22 years. Now, I was giving it up for an Instagram chic.
If I had to be honest with myself, I didn’t love Anori. I loved the way she made me feel when we were together. She hung on to my every word and made me feel things that I hadn’t felt in a long time. But it came at a cost. Lavish shopping trips, vacations, her apartment, car, and jewelry. Not to mention the abortion she claimed she had. But, I still second guess that because I always used a condom.
“Son, what are you doing?” I turned around when I heard my pops’ voice behind me.
He had this concerned look on his face. From the moment he found out about Anori, he never understood why I risked my family for her. My parents had been married 46 years. And, I had never seen or heard anything about my pops cheating on my mom. “You not going to bring Montana any more grief, are you?”
“No, sir. I’m going to get my wife back,” I whispered. I felt him gently pat me on the back as I walked away.
I had inflicted so much hurt on my family, I was ready to spend the rest of my life making up for it. The look on my daughter’s face when I told her I was agreeing to the divorce, still haunts me to this day. I was my baby girl’s hero. There was nothing I could do wrong in her eyes. Montana shielded her from my bullshit over the years. And for that, I will always be grateful.
As I approached the table where my wife of 18 years sat, I thought about how good we were together. Then when I purchased my third aircraft, I started pulling away from her. I got the big head because the business was bombing, and I had just graced the cover of Money magazine.
From the beginning she had my back. When this crazy country boy dreamed of owning his own airline, she believed in me. It was just an idea I threw out to her, but she gave the idea life. She cheered me on from the first moment.
Montana quit her job as a senior manager at an insurance firm making six figures to concentrate on building my business. She started our customer service center in an empty boardroom at her dad’s church. It was her and a team of two. The three of them worked magic. You would have thought it was a customer service team of 30 people, not 3. She even reached out to corporate clients she had connections with to convince them to fly with us. The next thing I knew we were getting million-dollar contracts. She’s a beast when it comes to business. And, politics.
Yeah, I was stupid for cheating on my wife. I know that. Especially, when she still worked at the company on the weekends, while serving as a state representative. Traveling two hours a day, to make sure she was home each night to fix dinner for us.
Of course, I wasn’t thinking with the right head. After, I secured the third plane that’s when her political career began to climb. Her best friend was doing a bid in prison for embezzlement charges. During a visit to see her, Montana learned about their living conditions. Eating food that wasn’t for human consumption. Montana was outraged. She started a program called, Supporting My Sister, which gained state and national attention. Her advocacy for the rights of others is what lead to her political career.
As time passed, she started spending more and more time away from home. She was giving speeches, meeting with legislators, and appearing on talk shows. And, I was spending more and more time feeling resentful. I felt she should have been at home with me. Yes, she was always talking about our business whenever the opportunity permitted itself. She’s the reason that I started taking on more and more big-name clients. Yet, in still I was jealous.
And, that’s when I forgot about being married and started falling for the young girls around the office that wanted my attention. Out of all the women, Anori was the one I seemed to keep running back to.
Anori, started working as a customer service rep at our downtown location. We were taking on more and more clients, so we needed to hire more representatives. In the first five years, my wife had established us as one of the best places to work in the state. During one of the job fairs at Common Central University, my wife hired Anori. My wife hired my mistress. Now, that’s some shit to think about.
Within six months, Anori was our leading representative. She quickly worked her way up the ladder. And, into my bedroom. I tried to keep it professional at work, but the other girls started taking notice. Threatening to reveal their relationships I had with them. I would ease off by ensuring they received a promotion or a pay increase. When we opened the headquarters at the airport, I was relieved because I didn’t have any contact with the representatives. Except Anori.
At one point, I even had the nerve to talk to Montana about a sister wife. I still feel the sting of her hand across my face. And, that was four years ago. I was bold, arrogant, cocky, egotistical, and shallow. If it wasn’t about Christion Yates, then it wasn’t about anybody. I was real selfish, and my wife was real selfless.
Now I think about it, it was no way she didn’t know about my extramarital affairs. But she never said a word. And, I didn’t care if she did or didn’t know what I was up to at the time. It was all about what I wanted. I stopped sending text to check on her, flowers to the office just because, and bringing home her favorite chocolates after she had a long day of dealing with my customers. Hell, I haven’t had sex with her in a year because I was so into Anori.
The surprise trips I used to give her, were now being spent on surprise trips for Anori. I didn’t have time to sit down at the table like a family when she prepared dinner. I turned my back on my wife.
I thought about all of that as I approached the table where she was sitting. The look in her in eyes when I reached the table had me a little nervous. The wall she had put up to shield her from my bullshit, slowly started to come down as I started talking. When she left out the courtroom, I didn’t know what she was thinking. I wanted to go behind her, but my dad told me to give her space.
“You just told the woman you’ve mistreated for so long that you want her back. She needs time to process what you’re saying is real,” my pops told me.
I knew he was right. I told him, “It's real. The only reason I left her was because the pictures surfaced, and I thought that’s what she wanted.”
“You mean you never asked her how she was feeling or wanted after the pictures surfaced?” My pops wasn’t raising his voice, but I could hear the disappointment all in it.
“No sir. I didn’t even go back to the house. I just had the movers bring the rest of my things to the condo. Then the next thing I know she sent divorce papers.”
“Son, what else was she supposed to do? You gave her the impression it was over. I should smack the shit out of you right now.” My pops wasn’t a man who got mad easily but, when he did, it was serious. I could see the fury in his eyes.
“Pops,” was all I managed to say.
He held his hand up, “I need to step out for a minute.” The disappointing look on my pops’ face made me feel like a kid again. I watched as he walked out the courtroom. I had just sat back down at my table, when my phone started vibrating in my pocket. It was a text from Anori.
I knew why she was texting. Before, she left my place that morning, I told her I would be back by noon. And, it was almost one. The only thing she had been talking about the last few weeks was our life after the divorce. She was even throwing hints about getting married. Something that I wasn’t about to do, even if I did divorce Montana. Then it was the trip she had planned for us to Miami in the morning. I needed to figure out just what to say to her before we talked.
Just then my dad came back in. He told me he wasn’t judging me, but he loved Montana like she was his own daughter. Despite our separation, he still treated her the same. I was surprised that he even sat on my side of the courtroom. She was his only daughter-in-law and he treated her just like he treated my sisters.
As my dad and I were talking, Bishop walked up. Up until the pictures surfaced, we had a great relationship. I was his only son-in-law and he treated me like I was one of his sons. We spent time going fishing, hunting, camping, football, baseball and basketball games. Every other Thursday we met at the country club for a game of golf.
“How you doing Bishop,” my pops asked as my father-in-law approached.
“I’m well Herman. How about you?” My father-in-law had a boisterous voice that vibrated every time he spoke. People in town referred to him as the Barry White of the gospel.
I stood there patiently waiting for the two men, who had taught me so much over the years, finish their conversation.
“Christion, how are you doing?” Bishop asked. He sounded genuinely concerned about me. I don’t know why I suspected anything less.
“I’m good sir, and you?” My voice was a little shaky.
“I’m well. I know that the last few days have been trying,” he put his hand on my shoulder. “But despite that I’ve been praying and fasting for God to do something in your marriage.”
I didn’t expect anything less. And, I was grateful for that.
“I hope he heard your prayers,” I told him. I excused myself from the conversation to check my phone. Anori had sent me a text that she was coming to the courthouse. I didn’t need or want her coming. When I told her no, she started calling. I couldn’t talk at that moment because the judge was coming out of her chambers. A few seconds later, she called again. I took a chance by answering the phone. I told her not to come and I would explain everything later.
Before the judge gave us her ruling, I informed her we wanted to hold off on the divorce. Then she had us to come up for a photo, so her husband could see the couple that changed their mind. After that she advised us of the 60 days postponement. This gave me the chance to start making up for the 6 years that I had been a complete asshole.
By the time we walked out of the courtroom, I had forgotten about Anori. But the moment we stepped on the courthouse steps, I spotted Anori’s car in the middle of the parking lot. Damn, I thought to myself. I knew if I didn’t get Montana out of there, Anori would cause a scene. I sent my driver text to bring the car around. I told him, Code Blue. That was the code I used whenever I was in a sticky situation.
As we were waiting for the car, Anori started blowing up my phone. I needed time to gather my thoughts. Once, I got in the car I sent a text and instructed my team if she contacted them to inform her that I would talk with her in the morning. I planned on spending the night with my wife.
“What about my car,” Montana asked as we pulled out the parking lot.
“I’ll have someone come back to pick it up.” I was trying to focus my attention on Montana, but Anori was still blowing up my phone. I blocked her calls because if I didn’t, she would call all night long. I prayed she didn’t show up at the penthouse.
When we arrived at the penthouse, the first thing I did was make love to my wife. Something that was long overdue. We were in the middle of ordering something to eat when I got a call that Anori was in the lobby of my building. “Damn.”
“What’s wrong?”
I wasn’t going to lie to her, so I told her that Anori was downstairs. She looked at me, “Go talk to her. Handle the situation the right way. No more lies.”
I knew she was right. I sucked it up and headed downstairs. Things didn’t go the way I planned. All I remember seeing was Anori dropping to the floor as the elevator doors closed.
And, the little trip that she had planned to Miami, I took my wife and daughter on. With the help of my assistant and a few changes, the trip was Anori free. The media ate it up. To be honest, the only thing they had to do was go on my daughter’s social media account to get the pictures. The headlines read, Future Senator calls off Divorce.
As for my baby girl, I hadn’t seen her that happy in a long time. She never stopped talking to me or took sides during the whole ordeal, but I knew it had to affect her. My family had been suffering at my hands way too long. I promised myself and them on the trip, that I would never do anything to hurt them again. My wife and I discussed renewing our vows, which my daughter was all for.
Back home, Anori didn’t make breaking up with her easy. For about two weeks she posted pictures of us all over social media. At first, we ignored it. Then the media started reaching out to my team. After we returned home from our family trip, we finally made a statement that we were working on our marriage and we asked for privacy.
I was grateful that once we released a statement things started to calm down.
Sixty days later
The morning we returned to court, I got a huge headache. I figured it was a migraine coming on, so I took something before heading out the door.
I couldn’t wait to tell the judge that we decided to stay together. Montana was insistent on giving her an invitation to our vow renewal. I didn’t fight her on it because she could have whatever she wanted.
The drama with Anori had died down. I transferred $900,000 from the account I had been using to finance my affair, to her own personal account. I could have sworn it was more in the account, but that wasn’t my concern. No telling what she had purchased when she first learned that I was going back to Montana.
As I was walking into the courtroom, I started feeling lightheaded. I shook it off. I figured it was because I didn’t eat breakfast that morning. Then as we stood up to address the judge, the room started spinning. I tugged on Montana’s arm to get her attention, but it was too late. I felt myself falling to the ground.
The only thing I was thinking, “Please God, don’t take me now.”
