Divorced! Now what?

Chapter 55

Third-Person POV



Cynthia, Wendy, and four other women met at a restaurant. These women were called the married group. They came up with that idea when they thought about naming their little group. They thought it was a fitting name, and they have collectively been married over one hundred times. The group used to be just the older ladies, and Cynthia was the only daughter who had been included in the group. The rest are all older women, and Cynthia felt special to have been included in this group until today. 

'Cynthia, you are the cause of our group starting to fall apart. What do you have to say for yourself?' one of the angry women growled out at her. They blamed her for losing Bethany, a lucrative income for them, and Wendy lost Bob too. If she had not been greedy, they could have reaped the rewards for years to come. Now, they are going to have to stop for a while and hope to wait for the heat to die down. They did not know how much damage being caught like that would cause, plus they had to cancel the holidays that they had planned till things settled back down, which could take a long time.

'How was I to know she was home? She was supposed to be at work; everything seemed fine; I had no idea until after the weekend that anything was amiss.'

'No, it was not fine at home, and pushing Bret to start the holiday a day early was stupid; you went against the rules; we never ever push for more.' Another woman growled at her.

'What about Bret? How is he taking this? We have used him several times for pretend weddings now. Does he suspect anything?'

'No, he does not suspect a thing. He thought it was all fun, playing with his wife like a fool. He loves me, always has, and if he did suspect, he would do nothing about it, as he still wants me to be his wife, for real this time.' Cynthia gloated, and Wendy nodded in agreement. Bret was besotted with Cynthia. She had him where she wanted him.

'It was a shame you did not get that media promotional job at the heart of the research hospital. That would have been a good disguise for us, a new area to source out. What happened?'

'Bethany happened. She was the lead person in research labs and was the one to decide who got the contract. Even Bret missed out.' Cynthia whined.

'It has been good over the years, having you both vying for the same contract, it was a win-win. It is a shame both of you missed out. Bethany is becoming a liability, a huge thorn in our sides, and no longer the pliant wife she used to be. Let's see if our contact can remove her. It has been a few years since we needed his help. A small car accident might be all we need.'

'She rarely drives.' Cynthia complained.

'Don't worry; we will think of something suitable. She needs to be taken out of action for a while,' one old crone said.

'Or permeate.' added another.

'With that settled. Ladies, what do we do now? Do we make the holiday on a cruise ship and not involve any men, shake off any questions our husbands have?'

'Yes, let's go on a cruise. I am ready to move on,' Wendy said, and Cynthia agreed.

'Time to vote? Only one hand did not get raised.

'Daffeny?' 

'I get seasick, and I will pass on this one.'

'Okay, girl, you take a rest. It might be a good omen, time for us to be separated for a little while, meet only in public places and look like a book club or something like that.'

'As long as the police are not suspecting anything, how did you end up having to give back that jewelry, Cynthia?'

'Her lawyer, when she went for the divorce, asked for it all back, as it was purchased on her credit cards, and she had the right to have it all back.' Cynthia was bitter that she had to give all that jewelry back. 

'Never mind, we should be fine. What could the police find anyway? Just a group of ladies having some fun with pretend weddings, creating a dream come true.' One lady crowed with delight, thinking they had not left any trails behind them. Most used false names when getting married. Only Cynthia and her wedding with Bret were not there, and that concerned one lady. She did not want to be caught. She loved getting married all the time. It was still not clear how Cynthia could get married using his and her real name, and it did not pop up as Bret was already married, and it was beyond them to work that out.

They decided that no harm had been made, and it was a shame that they had lost Bob and Bethany, but they would find another rich man for Wendy and a wealthy married man for Cynthia to snatch up. The group would lie low as they hunted for new prey and enjoy what they had accumulated over the years while they waited.



 A loud knock woke Bret from his sleep. He had stayed in a motel for the night and had yet to return to Cynthia's place.

'OPEN UP, POLICE.' Bret rushed to open the door, and armed police pushed their way in.

'What is going on?' Bret was still half asleep, and his brain was still a little fuzzy.

'We are taking you to the police station for questioning,' one of the more prominent men said as he looked around the room, searching for something, but Bret could not think of what.

Bret was handcuffed, his personal things were put into his suitcase, and they were removed from the motel, and he was pushed into the waiting police car. He tried to ask what was going on, but none of the police were talking. Once at the station, he was taken to a room and told to sit.

'Read his rights before we start.' Once that was done, Bret, who had yet to ask for a lawyer, looked at the men in confusion. His mind went in rewind, trying to think about what he had done recently that would attract the police's attention.

Mr Morrison, do you know a 'Cynthia Peterson'?' the older man asked him with a stern face. He was a man who had seen a hard life, and it showed on his face.

'Yes, she is my sister-in-law. What is this about?'

'What about Bethany Peterson?'

'My ex-wife, we recently divorced.'

'Was it you or her that organized the divorce?'

'She did.' 

'Why did she divorce you?'

'She caught me cheating with her sister Cynthia.'

'According to our investigation, you were married to Cynthia first and did not get a divorce before you married Bethany.'

'What, no, not possible.' Bret argued back.

'During one of your college school breaks, you went to Vegas with Cynthia and married her. We have no records of you divorcing her, so your marriage to Bethany was bigamy. You are still technically married to Cynthia.'

'That was a pretend marriage, not real. It was for fun; we were both drunk, and it happened in one of those little chapels they have there.'

'According to our records, it was as real as you are sitting here now, being charged with bigamy.'

Bret put his head in his hands and took a deep sigh. All along, he had the woman he wanted and did not know it. He had wasted all those years being with Bethany. When he should have been with his real wife, he did not think of poor Bethany's opinion on all of this, just that if he had realized all those years ago, he would never be going through all this pain now.

Lifting his head, he looked at the police officers and panicked.

'What is happening now?'

'We are chasing a bigger fish than your bigamy. If you co-operate with us, we can speak with the judge and see if he can reduce your sentence.

'What do you need?'

The police started to inform Bret of what Cynthia and her mother had been doing and the small club they were in. They just needed a few more pieces of the puzzle to come together to pull in the whole ring. Bret confirmed times and dates and how he had married Cynthia on more occasions than Bethany had spoken about. They did not give all the information, just enough to have him realize he was in a pickle and jail time was going to happen, but with his co-operation, maybe less time would be served.

He was about to lose his true wife. After only finding out she was his, he tried to contact Bethany to see if he could get back together, but only half-heartedly. He did not get around to phoning her again when she did not answer her phone. It was Cynthia's idea, pushing him to get back with her, that he was even trying to, but now he saw why Cynthia had pushed. It was all to do with money. He had given her a lot of money over the years, and for what? He had nothing to show for all that he had done for Cynthia, and now he was realizing she never really loved him and was using him for what she could get from Bethany. 

Now, according to the police, Cynthia was in more profound than just what she had been getting him to do, and it made him sick. How many men had she married? Besides me? Bret was feeling rather ill as more and more information came forward. By the end of the meeting, he wanted nothing more than to divorce Cynthia and get as far away from her as possible, and what he had done to Bethany was now sinking in. It was all to hurt that woman, who had never hurt a fly.

'How had Cynthia married so many other men?' 

'She had been using a false name when marrying others, and the flags were never raised. It was never raised with you marrying Bethany because the officiant wrote the wrong date of birth for you. That only came to light in the divorce application.' The man stared at Bret for a while, letting it all sink in.

'We can help you with your divorce and bigamy charges if you can do those last few things for us. Remember one word to them, informing them we are on to them, and you will spend a long time in jail.'

Bret was allowed to leave on bail, and he was not a happy man. He wondered how he had gotten into such a big mess. Should he tell Bethany they were never really married? Or will the police inform her?

Chapter 56 - Divorced! Now what?