Broken Pieces

By Bob Pirtle

A mother of 20 years walks out on the Albrights, leaving two teenage daughters and a husband wondering what happened to their perfect life. The way that they deal with this potential devastation and return to wholeness is creative and inspirational. The way the errant mother is restored to a decent life is sad and difficult. A novel of redemption and restoration through God's love and pastoral wisdom.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jan 27, 2014
• ISBN: 9781491846544

Bob Pirtle

Bob Pirtle has been a business owner, A developer, A CEO, and A Chaplain, he was a successful consultant to churches and non profits. He has years of experience dealing with the emotional turmoils of life. he has dealt with people in all stations of life. The emotional and spiritual problems he writes about come from years of observation and personal interactions. Bob writes about the real world and the way it is often faced by those with firm values.

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

Andy set quietly in the kitchen, at the bright small table bathed in the late afternoon sun. It was taking every ounce of self discipline to not start an angry retort to Julie. Had he not been here as the recipient of her cruel and painful ranting, he would not have believed her capable of inflicting such calculated, hurtful, and emotional pain on him and the girls. Julie was finishing what was obviously a partially rehearsed recitation. She had handed him a divorce petition complete with a tentative property settlement, and informed him in a calloused voice that she no longer wanted this life. She had a complete new life waiting for her as soon as she walked out the door.

She said she would not discuss any part of her desire to leave him and the family. That would all be handled by her attorney and his. When she had wound down enough that Andy could get a word into the dialogue he said, Julie, this is crazy. You can’t be serious that you will not discuss why you have filed for divorce and why you are leaving right now.

What Andy really wanted to do was to hide and cry. He knew that he had to control his emotions, much like a spouse who could not cry at a funeral. As the VP of strategic planning at the Acton Group, he had learned the art of the expressionless face in tense situations. He thought it totally ironic that he was now hiding emotions after hearing the most distressing news he had ever heard.

Julie responded coolly, While you and the girls were at the church picnic today, I had everything I wanted removed from the house. I won’t have to come back. When I am gone, I do not want to see you, or talk to you. All you need to know about my life is in the documents you have. Any further discussions you may have with my attorney. As you will see, I have asked for nothing but a reasonable lump sum payment. This is not about destroying you financially; I just want out of this marriage and this life.

Julie, you owe me at least some discussion, I responded. Did I do something to drive you away? My entire life has been devoted to you and the girls. This house, the cars, the girls college funds, and our retirement are what I have spent my life providing—not to mention that I have done my best to make you feel that you were the center of my world. Every effort I expended was because of you. Surely you can’t have decided that none of that was enough for you. You need to explain. This is not an unreasonable request!

Julie turned and said, I am leaving. All future communication is through my attorney.

No! You can’t leave yet. You are not only leaving me; you are leaving us. Squelching the anger and panic he felt, Andy hollered for the girls to come to the kitchen immediately. In a few moments, seventeen year old Jamie and fifteen year old Jacqui were standing in the breakfast nook, recognizing that something really bad was going on. The first thought each of them had was that something bad had happened to Grandpa or Grandma.

Is it Grandpa or Grandma? asked Jamie. No, I am sure that they are fine, but your mother has just served me with divorce papers and said she is leaving us immediately. I wanted her to tell you guys herself so there was no chance of me relaying her message incorrectly.

What is Dad talking about Mom?

I know that it is difficult for you girls to understand, but I have been fed up with this life for a while and I have decided to pursue a life that I want, stated Julie, flatly.

Are you just planning to leave Dad and Jamie and me? Jacqui asked fearfully. When were you going to tell us? I am nearly sixteen and Jamie will be eighteen next month. We are old enough to hear your complaints and try to understand why you are unhappy, but you seem to have chosen another course.

Jamie, always the family fireball said, You are just leaving us on our own? What could possibly be so difficult in our lives that you would walk away from it? That is not how you have taught Jacqui and I to handle things and I can’t believe that you would.

Julie said, You girls are old enough to handle this and your dad deserves it. I will call you when I get completely settled in two or three weeks and we will have lunch, but I am telling you now, none of this will ever be explained to you or your father. I have decided that it is not in my best interest to try to explain anything to you. I am taking nothing that does not belong to me. You don’t have to move, and your father will only provide me with a lump sum that is easily affordable. I just want to be my own person. I love you both, our divorce will be more than fair, and I will see you as often as possible. Good bye.

With that, Julie walked out the door to the garage, hit the opener, started her Cadillac, backed down the driveway, and turned on the road toward the front gate of the community. She was gone!

The girls sat in stunned silence while they saw their dad try to stifle tears and sobs. Soon they had joined him. When they slowly allowed their intellect to overcome their emotions, Jamie started the painful review of what had just transpired. Dad, did you know that any of this was happening?

Andy replied quietly, Absolutely not. Until a half hour ago I thought I had a reasonable marriage and that we had a great family life. I just want to get away and try to think about this. I keep telling myself it isn’t really happening. If I can get your mom to talk about it, we can solve this, whatever it is.

I don’t think it is that easy Dad. Jamie continued. "Mom took all of her stuff, that’s what Jacqui and I were looking at when you called us. She also had all the divorce papers ready to be finalized and she refuses to discuss any of this with us. That took a lot of advanced planning. She had to have help, at least an attorney and a moving company. She has to have a place to go and a place for all of her stuff. This was not a spur of the moment thing.

I know that all of us would like to go to a corner and fall to pieces, but we can’t. That is clearly what she wants, what she intended by being so brutal in her timing, her presentation, and her departure. How Mom handled this indicates a lot of premeditation and more than a little malice. She must have moved her stuff while we had a great day at the church picnic, which she refused to attend. Rather than moan over this devastating loss, we need to create a plan to cope with this and mitigate some of the damage she has intended," finished Jamie.

Jamie is always the analytical one, thought Andy. Remembering she had handled the breakup with her first semi serious boyfriend in similar fashion. The overwhelming sadness was quickly replaced by a more objective view that allowed recovery to start.

Julie leaving would certainly continue to wreak havoc on all of us. But it had happened; we had to get through it as best we could. The important element in all of this is that we would face this as a family. I started thinking immediately about my girls. There was little I could do about Julie, at the moment, and perhaps nothing in the near future based upon her comments. I could seek ways to help my girls cope with this tragedy. That thought had to become my first priority. I could fall apart later which I knew I would do in private.

CHAPTER TWO

As Jamie and Jacqui discussed their surprise that their mother was capable of an action so different from any they had ever observed in their somewhat sheltered world, my mind went back to 20 years before.

I had met Julie Simmons at a church party. The event was for those of us that would soon be attending college. As I recall, it was not a special occasion, just a casual evening with some kids from the local college Bible Club. They had brought some cokes and their guitars. They played music and sang, then answered questions from our group about college life.

Julie seemed like a nice girl and I had been seated next to her. At the end of the evening it was natural for us to share some of our future plans with each other. I would be in college, at the local public university, the following year. She would be doing the same another year behind me. She said she already knew a lot of the information disseminated that night.

I have an older sister that is already a junior at state, she said. I remembered Rachael Simmons (her sister) from when I had admired her from afar while I was a sophomore and she was a senior cheerleader. Julie was also attractive, but I did not recognize her as nearly the high profile high school lovely that her sister had been.

I soon made sure that I ran into Julie at lunch in the cafeteria at school. Soon we were visiting a lot both at church and school. I was quite honestly intimidated by girls at that time, but something kept telling me that I would like them if I really knew one or two. As it turned out, Julie was the only one I really got to know.

It wasn’t long until Julie and I were spending a lot of evenings together between school sports events, movies, and church youth activities. By the time I started college in the fall, Julie was my girlfriend. She had become so special that we started talking about a future that was together instead of our individual plans.

The Simmons family accepted me in a way I thought I would never experience. My parents were honest and hard working and did their best to encourage me; however, unlike the Simmons family, our home was not openly hospitable. I also recall that apart from an occasional church event, they attended no social activities.

Julie’s parents, James and Esther Simmons, were a different story. James was a leader at church and had been the president of some local service clubs. He had even been on the school board for several years. They started treating me as if I were part of the family as soon as it became obvious that Julie and I might spend our future together.

I will always remember the barbecue that Julie encouraged her family to host so that I could come over and get acquainted. Her parents were so gracious. They made me feel, from that day, that I was part of that family. Even her sister Rachael offered me complete acceptance.

James took me to a baseball game using the box seats that a business associate had given him. All through the afternoon we talked about my hopes and plans; but, it was not like an interrogation. It was genuine interest. I knew by then that I had a good mind for analysis and I discussed with him how that aptitude and skill could be developed and utilized.

By the time the day was over I knew that I now had a friend and advisor that could be trusted to share his experiences and wisdom with me. By the end of my freshman year at college, Julie and I were growing closer daily. I had truly adopted the Simmons as my family. I found love, assistance, and encouragement in them that my own parents seemed incapable of providing.

Julie and I seemed to go everywhere together. I had managed to purchase an old Chevrolet with my earnings from working on a landscape crew in the summer. With transportation, we showed up for everything. People became used to always seeing us together. It was always Julie and Andy. I was a business major. Dreams constantly popped into my head regarding a future with a large company, where I could garner a decent income and enjoy the fringe benefits that would provide security for Julie and me.

It was the summer after my sophomore year in college and Julie had just finished her freshman year, when the Julie and Andy thing almost came apart. Rachael had graduated that spring and had been accepted into the university’s MBA program. She also had a job (no doubt because of her looks and poise) with a local advertising agency. She became the spokesperson for a regional group of Pontiac dealers. While she had kept a fairly low profile in college, it seemed that now pursuers were coming out of the woodwork. I think Julie, who was also quite attractive, was convinced that if she were available (our arrangement precluded that) she would be in the same demand as Rachael.

One evening Julie seemed a little unsettled and broached the subject of how young we were when we became, a couple. She was sixteen and I was eighteen. She thought that we owed it to our relationship to spend time with some others just to be sure that we were right for each other. I was crushed. I didn’t need further proof that Julie was the girl for me. There had never been another possibility.

This discussion raged for about six weeks. I tried to logically express my opinion that we had talked about a future and we didn’t need the kind of information she was seeking, to verify our feelings. We didn’t break up, but I knew she was accepting calls from friends of friends who had been told that she would soon be available.

I was at a complete loss. By then Julie was my world. She was my motivation toward that secure future that I wanted for us. We had also had some very affectionate times that would haunt me if I thought she was doing the same thing with another guy. I really was as down as I had ever been.

Not knowing how to deal with Julie’s new need for separation, I decided that I should discuss it with James Simmons. I knew that it would be awkward to discuss this with him, but I really had no other older friends who might be able to give me the benefit of true wisdom and a proper perspective. As usual, James was prepared to discuss my feelings, my reasoning, and my alternatives. James understood how my analytic mind worked. We were always on the same wave length.

I explained the situation as best I could from my perspective. If Julie had discussed this issue at home, he never indicated. What he did was encourage me to review the situation in order to clarify the difference between my emotional and my logical response then determine what my real options were. By the time we were through with our extensive discussions, I realized that I really only had three options: first, to halt our exclusive relationship and let her be involved with other people; second, to reject her proposal out of hand and inform her that I also would be prepared to allow others into my life (probably a hollow threat); or, third, to convince her that after three years we should be ready to commit completely to each other and that I certainly was.

Julie and I met. I laid all of my cards on the table. To my great surprise she wanted me to wait a week and then meet again to explain completely what I saw in each option. I was certain that the relationship we had enjoyed was in for a drastic change.

That summer had been my first to work as kind of a gopher for some relatively young guys that James knew. Three young stock brokers had pulled away from their big time brokerages thinking that they could bring enough large investor money with them that they could form a venture capital firm. I mostly ran errands, got signatures on agreements, and journeyed back and forth to the attorney’s office.

The guys: Sean, Ron, and Ralph, treated me very well and they were always interested in what I was learning at school. They also paid me more than I could make anywhere else. As the summer wound down, they gave me the good news that they would have about 20 hours a week of work for me during the school year. I was ecstatic. I could now pay for my schooling as I went without going into debt.

While I was thrilled with this good news, I was extremely fearful of the upcoming meeting with Julie. In my mind I was clearly defining what I saw as the results of each option, afraid that my rationale, in each case, might not be accepted. I did one other thing I went to a jewelry store and purchased an engagement ring on credit. I was sure that I could pay for it and I really felt that it would put a strong exclamation point on option three, if it was chosen.

I went to meet Julie in the Simmons’ home. I somehow was certain that this was going to be the most difficult discussion in which I would ever participate. After preliminary discussions about our lives I was taken totally by surprise when Julie said, I know that we have some really important issues and decisions on the agenda tonight. I just want you to know that I do love you. We had told each other I love you before. I don’t think I was ready for that as a preface to our conversation. I wasn’t sure if that was going to be an, I’m going my own way, but I love you, or whether she had come to a position that would bode well for our future.

As I discussed the first option, I explained that if we were no longer exclusive and she was playing the field that when she had satisfied herself about the relationship, I had no idea how I would feel if she wanted to resume our prior arrangement.

As for the second option, I saw it as kind of terminal with both of us trying to form new relationships moving us in a direction that may prevent a future together. She seemed to just listen politely and not show any strong reaction to anything that I had said up to that point.

When I talked about option three, I said that there had only been her for three years and I could not imagine my life without her. I was prepared to commit. I got down on my knee and asked her to marry me. She looked startled and said, I didn’t know that you meant a commitment to marriage, with your third option. I accept your proposal.

Andy, now that we are both sure, we have to decide when and how we are going to make our lives work, especially if we get married before you graduate and can work full time. I honestly hadn’t given that predicament the thought that it deserved.

After we had both admired her hand with the new engagement ring on it, we called her parents, James and Esther, sharing the news with them. They assured us both that they were delighted and started talking about the when just as Julie had.

I asked James and Esther what they thought about Julie and me getting married around the first of the year. I would twenty-one and she would be nineteen at that time. I told them about my part time job at the company and we talked about how much it would take us to get by while I finished school.

Julie immediately interjected, I am willing to work full time until Andy graduates, then we can switch and I can finish school. Dad, you have offered before that I could work in one of your branches (James owned a four branch investment brokerage). Could we look at that seriously so that Andy and I can get married in four months? As I kind of expected, James response was that it could be worked out and Esther said she was fine with the timing.

I was overwhelmed again with the Simmons’ attitude. I knew for certain that I was part of the family and they were determined to help Julie and I attain our goals for our lives. I was absolutely certain that I had selected the right future wife and that part of the package was the best set of in-laws anyone could ask for.

Just as we were completing our discussion regarding timing and jobs with James and Esther, Rachael came home from being with some friends. Julie waved her hand showing her ring to Rachael. Rachael immediately hugged us both. As she hugged me she said, We are so happy to have you officially become part of the family Andy.

CHAPTER THREE

Coming back to the present, I tuned back in to the conversation that was going on between Jamie and Jacqui. Jamie was really wound up. Look Jacqui, her whole idea was to sink this family. She doesn’t think that we can cover the way she has been managing the house, fixing meals, paying the bills, and the other things that she has done in the mornings before she went to work. We have to find a way to surprise Mom and show her that we can do fine without her. That is the only way to show Mom that her plan didn’t work.

Turning to me Jacqui said, Dad, Jamie is right. We need to create a response that says ‘your plan to ruin our family in one Saturday night did not work.’ We need help and advice. We have time to feel bad later. I’m calling Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Rachael.

An hour later, Julie’s mother, father, and sister were in our family room. They listened to our recounting of an event that they might not have believed had I not been able to show them the divorce papers. The reaction from the three of them was somewhat predictable. After 20 years you know what to expect from your family. Esther, as expected, was crushed and sat quietly crying after stating, I can’t believe any decent person is capable of the action you have described, let alone Julie. I am disappointed and hurt beyond description.

James, ever the pragmatist, wanted to review at least the last few days to see if we could identify any indicators of what was coming. He did strongly agree with Jamie, who had once again stated that, the message and the means of delivery from Julie was intended to inflict pain upon our family. James expanded the family definition to include the three of them as well as Jamie and Jacqui and me.

After we had