Dissolution Of Marriage. . .
“Robert, I know you’re ready to be done with this whole thing. Simone has stretched this out as much as she can because you got her to sign that crazy prenuptial agreement,” my lawyer, Jason Kimmel, said with a titter.
I didn’t want to laugh, but I had to because when my father sat me down with the draft of the prenup that he wanted me topresent to Simone, I thought he was crazy. I had no plans to be with Simone for the long haul, but I also had no plans to create broken homes. Yes, I should have been more responsible in how I moved with Simone, but I was still a boy trying to be a man in his twenties. Once she told me she was pregnant, I knew I would have to love her or at least try.
My shoulders lifted to my ears. “Hey, a paid off house, car, and a two hundred thousand dollar payout was a great deal when I offered it. Remember, I didn’t know I would be where I am now.”
When I married Simone, MediGenix employed me for less than a year. Immediately after the ink was dry on the marriage license, she informed me that she would be an at home mom and wife. I had no say so in the decision. I complained to my father, but he had no sympathy for me at all. He claimed his only contribution to the mess that I made was the prenuptial agreement to protect me later.
Jason nodded his head because he knew I was right. We were in his office to wrap up what we needed for court. He called me this morning and asked me to come in for something that came up in discovery. He had yet to say exactly what that was. He pulled a folder out of his desk drawer and set it in front of him.
“Let’s get to why I called you in today. You know I have had a private investigation on Simone for a while. She’s been careful, mostly, but she slipped up in a big way.” His mischievous smirk had my brow hitched.
Without words, he pulled photos out of the folder and laid them out in front of me. My face tightened with confusion first, then anger at what I assumed the pictures were. “What the fuck is this shit, Jason? I know this bitch wasn’t out here giving me hell and cheating on me! Where were these pictures taken at?”
“So, we discovered that the monthly girls’ trip that she takes with her circle, that includes your daughter, Lanette, by the way, is a cover for her and a few of the women to meet their lovers. We almost missed it, but Simone, for whatever reason, put her credit card on the room account for incidentals. When my team saw the charge on the statement, they confirmed the hotel details and found out that the room was in a man’s name. Do you know Kevin Yancy?”
The name swirled around in my mental rolodex. Do I know Kevin Yancy? The last name Yancy sounded familiar, but I couldn’t place it. “I don’t think that I do.”
I picked up one of the pictures of Simone and who I assumed was Kevin, to study him. He looked familiar, but from where? My lawyer ran down Kevin’s background. It wasn’t until Jason said that Kevin went to the University of Georgia with Simone and me, but he was a year behind us, before it clicked. The click brought out my laughter.
“This has got to be a damn joke. Wow! Of all the niggas that Simone cheated with, she picked this one? Yes, I know Kevin Yancy.”
I told Jason about my connection to bitch ass Kevin. It was important to know that Kevin was not a fan of mine. In my junior year of my undergraduate career, I was the president of my fraternity’s chapter. Kevin was a sophomore at the time and wanted to be a Sigma more than he wanted to graduate. Those were his words. He stepped foot on the campus and made it known that he wanted to be a Sigma. There was no issue with that, but it was all about how it was done.
For his entire freshman year, he spent it trying to make a name for himself as the cool nigga on campus. It was like he watched all the wrong movies, documentaries, or television shows about what to do to be cool and applied it to his life. He made sure he was at every party my organization held,but when we had open community service, scholastic events, or anything that didn’t have to do with drinks or women, he was a ghost. We saw all that and stuck it to our recruiting board for later conversation.
When it came time to bring in new members, I was the president. He came into the interest meeting with an arrogance that rivaled the men that were already Sigma men. I didn’t have to tell any of my brothers how I felt about Kevin, because they formed their own opinion. He didn’t make it to the interview process.
Kevin could not fathom that we wouldn’t want him. He harassed us about why he didn’t get an interview. We technically didn’t have to give him an answer at the point in the process that we dropped him. I gave him an answer because I was on the verge of whupping his ass. When I did, he reported me to my international headquarters.
Nothing came of his little report outside of him being blackballed. Simone knew about all of this because she was there for a lot of the harassment. We joked about how lame he was.
“I guess Simone didn’t think that he was too lame because they’ve been dealing with each other for some time.” He shifted uncomfortably in his seat.What the hell is he about to tell me?“When I got the research and noticed that you all went to college together, I had my team dig further back.”
“Jason, I feel you beating around a bush. You can stop and just say what it is, bro.” Jason was my fraternity brother. We met a little over six years ago.
He huffed. “Alright. From what my team found out, Kevin and Simone have been dealing with each other since you and Simone’s third year of marriage. I didn’t want to think that Simone would be this scandalous, but I had to cover all bases.”
He picked up a piece of paper from the folder, then slid it over to me. It took me less than five seconds to know what it was. I scanned the paper until I got to the bottom. “There is no fucking way! What is really going on?”
Had I been that aloof in my marriage that I didn’t realize that my wife cheated on me the entire span of our marriage? Was I so out of my mind and invested in my marriage that she could have a child from another man and I didn’t know? I stood from my seat with both hands on my head.Lanette is not my daughter.
“Man, when I got the results yesterday, I was floored. I’m so sorry, man. I never saw this coming,” Jason admitted.
He never saw it coming! I would have never thought in a million years that Simone would cheat on me, much less have me raise another man’s child. “So, this woman let me take care of a child that wasn’t mine? That’s crazy.”
“I honestly don’t think she knows Lanette is not your daughter. I truly believe that she’s gone all this time thinking that she was your child. I wanted you to see all of this before I sent it to her attorney. Simone could very well deny the affair allegations, but it’s going to be impossible to deny the paternity results.”
He had a good point. This new discovery would change everything about what I owed her according to the prenuptial agreement. Boy, was she in for a bad ass day when her lawyer called her into the office with this news.
Take It to The Judge . . .
The day had finally arrived to get this divorce finalized, hopefully. This should have been over with months ago, butwhen my lawyer sent over the new discovery, a small amount of hell broke loose. It didn’t make sense to me because who gave a fuck as to why she cheated. It didn’t change the stipulations within the prenup that she signed. Next it was that she signed it under duress. Luckily, the judge saw through the bogus motion her attorney filed.
I wanted this to be over because I had a major opportunity coming down the pipeline. I did not want to be connected to Simone in any way, shape, or form when it came to fruition. I would never say that I was the perfect man in our marriage. I should have never married her, but I did for the sake of my baby girl, Simonette. In hindsight, I might have done better if I didn’t marry her, but such is life.
I could admit that I was an absent father for the most part. I was always there when my daughters—well, daughter and others—needed me, but outside of that I was gone. When I wanted to leave early in the marriage, I thought about the girls. I should have left and took Simonette with me.
