Virginia Ménage

Part I

From my window over the manufacturing floor I could make out the two figures huddled together at the far end of the #1 Line with their animated gestures and exaggerated responses. If the conversation limited itself to just that, all was probably fine. If it escalated then I would need the shop foreman to step into intervention mode no matter how much it pained him to do it. The couple is married and she had recently discovered her husband was having an affair with a young machine operator over in Finishing. Unfortunately my foreman was the brother of the wayward husband.

When your business is the largest employer in a small town it's impossible to segregate the drama and intrigue from the necessities of the work world. At least half the employees here at VA-Kraft are related with some of them representing three generations. Our oldest employee is 79 and the youngest is 18 out of a workforce of 450. In a very real sense, the fortunes of the company are tied directly to those of the town.

I think it was that sense of connectedness that spurred me to put my office up on the upper mezzanine out on the floor rather than take the nice corner office that my late father always occupied. I spent a good bit of the last twenty years working in various parts of this plant that constituted the view I now had and I knew just about everybody out there on a first name basis. There were deep roots in this business.

The couple on the far end of #1 Line was getting into it a good bit more aggressively now. She was yelling at him and just when I thought she was going to turn and walk away she instead turned back toward her husband and slapped him full force across the face. That was a bad move on her part. As bad as things might get, the last thing you want to do on the floor is strike someone. We can handle words and anger but hitting someone is bad news.

I have what some might call a modified zero tolerance policy. We are an industrial site and OSHA rules. Any violence and you are out the door. This kind of incident would not go well. Later that morning, my floor supervisor, Jim Reed, talked to me in the office.

"Carl, I know she's sore as hell and sorry for what she did but I had to send her home. She reddened Johnny's face some fierce. I know the policy calls for terminating anybody who hits someone but in this case, she might have been patting the side of his head, you know?"

Jim was grinning when he said it but he had a point. She would probably end up taking her husband back when it was all over. They had five kids to feed and while they made ends meet one of the kids had several medical issues and was running back and forth to the hospitals and doctors in Charlottesville. Besides all that, she went through her own affair a few years earlier.

If I treated this as a rough housing incident, it would still merit a suspension without pay. That was unavoidable. So to keep the peace and to be as compassionate as I could, HR gave both of them a one week suspension without pay and required counselling for two months unless a court orders otherwise if they take it to a divorce.

At the end of the day, I sipped a mug of coffee and reflected back on my own life. My father, Carl Harvey Sr., passed away unexpectedly at the age of 60 a couple years ago and left me in charge of the company he built from the ground up starting 35 years earlier. Being the only child of a hands-on entrepreneur and a star struck artist of a mother who abandoned the family 15 years ago, it fell on me to continue the business. As I noted the fortunes of 450 people depended on somebody being at the helm.

The floor was running fine when I turned the key to my office door at the end of the day and after wishing the security crew a safe night I turned the Dodge toward my home. The drive was empty when I pulled in as was the house. My wife Lucy had left the previous Friday evening and now it was just me, the television and some leftover pizza in the fridge.

----

Six years earlier she had showed up at the office wearing skin tight beige slacks and matching blouse that did nothing to minimize her abundant bosom and somehow maneuvered the office floor wearing four inch pumps and a smile to match. Her name was Lucy Crane and she was the new administrative assistant to Tommy Jones, our HR manager. For a guy with a penchant for a frown he sure kept a wide grin on his face when Lucy started working for him.

"Good morning, Mr. Harvey. I hope you are having a great day!" She smiled as she gracefully strode past me on her way to my father's office.

"Ms. Lucy, if you'll greet me every morning like that, every day would be great." I replied while watching her delightful ass sway down the corridor.

We kept that banter up for a few months before I finally worked up the courage to ask her out. She turned me down with a smile. I guess it's not every day that a beautiful girl turns down the "boss's son" for a date but she had an excuse.

"I can't, Mr. Harvey. Somebody beat you to it and I've been seeing him for a little while now." She informed me.

Honestly, I think I respected her more because of it. She didn't lie and she didn't break her commitment to the lucky fellow who beat me to it. That said, I didn't ask her again. I always looked at relationships like a marriage. A guy just doesn't intrude on a couple that might be getting serious about a life- long commitment. The world is full of available women. They just didn't all look like Lucy Crane.

About six months after my 'rejection' I received an email from Lucy that shifted the paradigm of my world from that point on.

"Carl Harvey: Will you go out with me Friday nite? - Lucy"

That was it; just a one line email, no sweet talking or anything like that. My reply was just as straight forward.

"Lucy Crane: Maybe - Carl"

Three and a half minutes later, Lucy was standing over my desk.

"So, Carl, does maybe mean you will or you won't?"

"Lucy, it depends." I said as I adjusted myself in my new reclining office chair. "It depends on whether you are still in a relationship with that lucky fellow you have been seeing for the last few months. If you are then my answer is no but thanks for the offer. If you aren't, my answer is yes. Hell I'd love to."

"Carl, I broke that off a couple months ago so here's the deal ..."

Lucy went on to explain that she wanted me to take her out to dinner with a couple friends of hers and their husbands which is just what we did. We had a great time and did it again sans the friends the following week. On the 3rd date, she fucked me senseless and we became a regular couple after that. We went out together 2 or 3 times a week and stayed in a couple evenings, mostly spent in the bedroom. Two years later we were married.

The marriage was a major event. My side of the family was pretty small since I was an only child and my father only had one sister who I rarely saw. Her daughter, my one cousin did come at my insistence. Ruthie was her name and she always stopped to visit when she was free and driving through. Lucy's family on the other hand was enormous. She has four brothers and three sisters and both sets of grandparents came as well along with what seemed like a dozen aunts and uncles with their broods. In addition to those guests, we each had our assortment of friends and standups.

The big surprise for me was when my mother showed up. It took me a moment to recognize her. I had not seen her in five years even though she looked remarkably young for her 55 years. Deborah Harvey had always looked young. My father married her when she was 18 years old and he was 22. She had been knocked up with me at the time and her father made sure that 'daddy' Carl lived up to his responsibilities. So Carl Sr. slipped the gold ring onto Deborah Johnson's finger to make me legitimate.

She didn't come alone. The smarmy looking bastard with her was a fellow named Dale Rhodes and he had on enough jewelry to put a Gypsie to shame. One thing absent was a wedding ring, on his finger as well as my mother's. Trotting behind both of them were two identical twin girls, maybe 11 or 12 years old. I had seen many twins in my day but I had never seen a pair of them that looked damn near identical to my own mother.

The twins were introduced as Tammy and Tonya Harvey. My mother introduced herself to other guests as Deborah Harvey and Rhodes just kept his mouth shut.

"Carl! You are looking so wonderful." She gushed over me while hugging me uncomfortably close.

"Mother, it's certainly a surprise, in more ways than one." I replied. I glanced over at my father who just shrugged. He had conveniently stayed well out of the way and was not coming to intervene in any fashion.

Rhodes piped up with something about it being his fault because he had set the invitation aside and forgotten to tell Deborah until just a couple days ago. Well of course, that had to be a bunch of baloney because as far as I knew my father and I had never sent an invitation. It didn't matter really; she was here now.

The wedding reception was actually a grand affair even with the surprise visitors. Everybody got damn near smashed except for my father and I. I don't know what his excuse was but I planned on consummating my marriage that night with my new bride. The two of us took off for a couple days and nights at the Peaks of Otter Lodge before flying off to Martinique for two weeks. I set aside all the revelations of mother and her daughters or my sisters until I returned. Lucy was my sole focus of our entire time together.

When we returned from the honeymoon we were in for a bit of a surprise. Mother and the twins were still here while Romeo Rhodes had returned to NYC. They were staying at a Holiday Inn not far from the plant. Lucy and I had just returned the previous evening and were enjoying a nice Saturday afternoon as newlyweds might be expected to, both nude and lounging around the pool. We had spent nearly two weeks soaking up the sun and it had become an enjoyable addiction.

The front door chimes went off and before I could get up and find suitable clothing, around the corner and through the gateway came two girls. My mind didn't seem to communicate with my body for whatever reason and I just froze, full monty. I looked at them and they both looked at just a portion of me. Lucy was thoughtful enough to quickly wrap a towel around me just as my mother came around the corner too.

"Oh there you are, Carl. Your father didn't know if you would be back yet or not so we came on over. I hope we are not interrupting anything." She chuckled as Lucy stood there with just a wrap and a towel wrapped around my waist. Tammy and Tonya just stood there smiling mischievously.

"Mother, what in blue blazes are you doing here? Of course Father knew we were back. I called him last evening!" I was actually a bit miffed that she would have told such a tale.

"Well, he must have forgotten." She replied.

More than likely he just told her he didn't know just to get her to hell off the line or away from his door or wherever she was at the time. There has been no long distance love affair between the two of them for the previous 12 years. He sued her for divorce on the grounds of abandonment after two years and shortly after took up with a widow woman for the companionship.

Lucy chimed in. "Then you folks need to make yourselves at home. We need to go change and we'll be right down."

She looked at me oddly for a reason I couldn't figure out. I had told her about the relationship between my mother, father and me and her reply was family never stops being family no matter what happens over the course of a lifetime. I simply told her she didn't know this family. Hell, the first time I laid eyes on my newly discovered sisters was at the wedding.

I was a 37 year old newlywed man with brand new 11 year old sisters and my mother shows up after years of absence with a Gypsie lothario on her arm. My father was probably laughing his ass off at the absurdity of it.

We changed into suitable clothing and joined the guests downstairs.

"Mother, seriously, why aren't you in New York now?" I asked earnestly.

"The girls and I are moving back here. New York is no place to raise teenagers in today's world and they need better schools and friends and everything." She said without taking a breath.

The twins sat there with their eyes on me the whole time. It made me nervous to sit there like that. When I glanced at them, they just smiled sweetly. It was almost creepy as if there were three 'mothers' in the room. I knew they were my sisters but I hadn't really absorbed all that yet. Lucy offered both of them lemonade and fixed Mother a long island tea. I just sipped my beer and tried to gain a better understanding.

"So your guy Rhodes, there, he's gone back to start the move?" I asked.

"Oh no, he's not coming at all. He wouldn't have a clue what to do here in the sticks. I have some household goods in route now. They will arrive at our new house tomorrow." She replied.

"Really? Where did you buy?" I asked with a bit of hesitation.

"The Jamison place," she informed me with only the very slightest smile on her face.

"What???" I exclaimed.

The Jamison place was a 200 acre horse farm that was adjacent to my place. It was on the back side of me fronting on Crossover Road instead of the Kyle Creek Road that I live on. Now I knew my father was laughing at me.

Lucy was getting to know the girls and I continued my "chat" with Mother until Lucy took it upon herself to invite the three of them to stay with us which they readily agreed to. I just shook my head and opened another beer. They left the next morning to direct the movers when they arrived and by Monday morning, my mother and sisters were all moved in and living on my backside literally and figuratively.

Father was off visiting his widow friend with the benefits so I didn't bother chasing him for the details of Mother's surprise move back to town after her long absence. I did need to find out about the girls though. I never really knew the reasons for her disappearance other than she thought the small town life was holding her back and driving her crazy. The question I had was if the girls were my sisters or half- sisters. It was a big fucking mess; that was for sure. Mother cleared up the matter soon after, if she could be believed.

"They are your Daddies children, Carl, sure as we are sitting here. He knows it too but he won't admit it." Mother said while rubbing her foot.

"I think that's bullshit, Mother. You know there are tests for that nowadays. You can buy a kit at the drugstore and they'll mail the results to you. But, let's just suppose they are Father's kids. Where in hell have you been for the last 12 years? I'll tell you where!" I replied but I was getting angry.

"You were off fucking that sleazy bitch of a man, Rhodes. Do you know he's a fucking Gypsie?" I added.

"Carl Jr. there is no need for you to talk that way "was her retort.

"Well, Mother, maybe not but you didn't exactly leave here on a good note. Hell, I think I've seen you twice in the last 12 years and only now did I discover that I have two sisters that I never knew a thing about. Where were these girls five years ago when I saw you in your apartment? How come none of us knew anything about them?"

She was just gazing out the window and I thought I noticed a tear on her cheek but I didn't push it any further. She was back, living next to my place and somehow I needed to figure out a relationship to the two girls. It was only right. Lucy saw to that with a passion. I just accepted the situation and let everything run its course.

Rhodes did show up again eventually, a couple months after Mother moved in. He looked all tan fit and rested. A note about Rhodes, though; He was around my age and real theatrical; not in a gay way but just with a flourish. Apparently he had been a two bit actor in a few off-Broadway shows and that's how Mother had met him. He was real charming with the ladies, certainly with my mother and Lucy seemed charmed with him as well which I didn't like one bit. He was a gold digger and a lothario that much I could discern.

Being a gold digger would make sense with regard to chasing after Mother. She was loaded with family money. That's how she was able to buy the Jamison farm. Father had his own money as well so we were never hurting for anything growing up but Mother grew up in a family that was pretentious and always chasing the arts. I don't know if Rhodes planned on mining up some of that family treasure or not but to be honest, I didn't care if he walked away with her whole treasure lode. That's how close we were.

But, with regard to Lucy, he was another matter altogether. Lucy is a reasonably smart woman and not in any way inexperienced around men with pursuit in mind. She is also a complete ditzhead when it comes to theater and art performers. For whatever reason, she has always loved the theater and since she was a little girl she has been enamored of anything to do with the performing arts. Slippery, smooth Rhodes had a particular charm in Lucy's eyes and her perception of his charms was probably not the charms he might have had in mind for her. Like I said, he was smarmy.

Lucy and I settled into our home lives and work world. She wanted to keep working even though I told her it wasn't necessary if she wanted to do something else but she insisted so she stayed on as administrative assistant to HR and Tommy Jones continued walking around with that same wide grin every time she walked past his desk. Mother never did the paternity test as I suggested and I never pushed it. It didn't matter really. The twins were a regular fixture in the house and I started to grow attached to them. The one guy I didn't want in the house was Rhodes and I made that real clear to Lucy. As far as I knew he had never set foot in my home.

I started turning a lot of my time and attention to the plant for the next couple of years and Father stepped me up to production manager. That put me out on the floor and out of the office. It also kept me away from home a lot more than before but it was territory I needed to cover if I was ever going to be general manager as Father intended. Then life turned bad quickly.

I heard the rescue call-out siren over the loudspeakers from the back of the plant alerting the response team to proceed to the main office building. I was just finishing inspecting a Lock out-Tag out on a chest vessel repair job and looked up to see Jimmy Fitzgerald, one of the responders, on a tear heading down the lane towards the offices. After giving approvals and directions to the maintenance team, I headed as quickly as I could in the same direction.

There was a lot commotion and a few tears from some of the ladies when I arrived. Tommy Jones grabbed my arm.

"Carl, it was your Dad. They think he had a heart attack. I'm real sorry, son."

I didn't pay much attention after he said it was Father and just headed into the office where the response team was placing his body on a gurney. I went to my father's side and held his hand before breaking down in grief. They wouldn't move him until the Sheriff's Dept. arrived and the county coroner had a look; OSHA requirements and Sherriff protocol.

Father was fit as a bull all his life but it was a heart attack that killed him. He never once had a cigarette touch his lips and he worked out nearly every day for the past 20 years but at the age of 60, all his good health and practices didn't count for shit when the reaper made his call. We buried him in the family plot on the old antebellum farm he lived on right up to his last day on earth.

Contrary to the perceptions of suspense and intrigue, the 'reading of the will' was a bit anticlimactic. Father's attorney simply called me into his office and gave me a copy of what was being filed with the probate court. He was the executor of the estate and I trusted him immensely as he was an old family friend of father's and even my grandfather when he was alive.