Mothers and Daughters Ch. 16

Felicia Alice Baxter (née Carter) was not a happy camper. Almost from the date when Jed and Vera returned from the TLR orgy and started their torrid affair, Felicia had full knowledge of it. Her knowledge was not based on a surmise attributable to her woman's intuition. Nor was her awareness of the affair based on speculating the suspicious change of his habit of staying overnight at his office every Wednesday night. No her knowledge of their affair was based on solid concrete evidence of its existence.

Shortly before she made that explicit agreement with Jed that she would not complain about any of his extramarital sex so long as he avoided public scandal, she had engaged the services of Ellery Snodgrass, who proved to be a remarkably proficient private investigator. She engaged his services so that she could keep tabs on her husband's extramarital sex life. Felicia's purpose was not to accumulate salacious evidence to support a lucrative divorce settlement. The last thing she wanted was a divorce from Jed Baxter.

As far as Felicia was concerned, there was no more desirable situation in life for her than to be married to Jed Baxter. His qualities both pragmatically and emotionally would appeal to even the most discerning female seeking the ideal husband. First of all he was wealthy. Not only was he the richest man in Chicago but he ranked amongst the wealthiest in the entire world. His wealth of course initiated from his father but within the first five years of becoming the CEO of Baxter and Sons companies, he increased his personal fortune twenty-fold. Every year thereafter no matter the general economy of the United States, he would always increase his net worth.

His enormous wealth made him prominent and influential both in general high society, as well as in the political world, although he had no ambitions for political office. He was prominent not just in Chicago, not just in the United States, but he was prominent worldwide. For example if he found himself in England and wanted to meet or dine with the Queen or the Prime Minster the doors would be open for him to do so. Likewise, while visiting most other countries even those that were not particularly friendly towards the United States, the movers and shakers of those countries clamored to entertain him during his stay in their country. As for the United States, no matter who the President was or of which Party, if Jed wanted to attend or have a social evening at the White House he could easily secure an invitation.

Such international and national prominence of course made Jed virtually a god in Chicago. They were the first couple of the city. No important social event in Chicago was considered a success if it did not include the Baxters in attendance. As Jed's wife, Felicia was the second most admired and recognizable woman in Chicago, behind only Oprah Winfrey of course. And even Oprah would pay deference to Felicia whenever they were seen together in public. These were heady perks indeed to being the wife of Jed Baxter; and Felicia enjoyed them all.

Although her father had criminally molested her for several years, he did instill knowledge of the niceties of proper behavior and female duties in high society. Consequently, Felicia was in her element as Jed's wife, and proved to be a perfect public companion for him. He sincerely acknowledged to her that he appreciated her social skills, and could not ask for better in this regard.

Usually those women who were labeled as "trophy wives" of rich men had only their physical beauty to recommend them. In other matters such as decorum and conversations in society, they were dreadfully lacking, and continuously embarrassing their husbands in public. Felicia on the other hand was as beautiful if not prettier than a typical "trophy wife", but she also possessed superlative social skills that served her well in the highest social settings. During the one time that the Baxters were amongst the guests at a dinner party with the Queen of England, Felicia's comportment was so delightful and engaging that the Queen felt compelled to offer her a sincere compliment. Felicia never embarrassed Jed.

Setting aside the material advantages of her marriage, Jed Baxter was unbelievably handsome. Coupled with his physical good looks; he had the most winning personality that would make any woman weaken to his charms. Felicia swore that if he was the poorest man on earth, he could still lure any woman to surrender her body to him. She was therefore especially gratified that he chose her above all others to be his wife, and she was well aware of how fortunate she was.

By far in Felicia's eyes, the greatest and most important virtue Jed possessed was the fact that he loved her; genuinely loved her. She couldn't be more grateful, and his love for her was certainly the most satisfactory aspect of her life. She was naturally in love with him in return. Consequently, her marriage was a paramount concern to her, and she was determined to preserve it at all costs.

Felicia was a very intelligent woman, and so was very cognizant of the one troubling aspect of their marriage and its potential to sabotage it: i.e. her frigidity. Right from the get-go she tried everything she could think of, to overcome her aversion to sex. She had hoped that when she first got pregnant, the joy of becoming a mother would subconsciously remove her aversion. But alas, it was not to be, and her second pregnancy did not do the trick either.

She never refused Jed sex, partly in the hopes that eventually her body had to become used to frequent sexual intercourse. Her terror for sex surely would have to dissipate. It did not happen. Forget the fact that she never had an orgasm, but she never even got aroused. Everything Jed tried in foreplay proved to be an anathema to her. She was always dry in her vagina, and every sexual intercourse was physically painful.

She tried professional therapy with the best reputed sex therapist in Chicago, Dr Janet Bivens, but to no avail. Not surprisingly the frequency of their sex decreased; drastically so after the birth of their daughter. At first blush, Felicia felt relief in not requiring to perform what had become a distasteful wifely duty. However, she also knew this was a wake-up call, in that unless something was done their marriage would eventually disintegrate.

She feared and suspected that the partial curtailment of sex was a signal that Jed was now cheating on her. Thus, she hired Ellery Snodgrass to first ascertain if that was truly the case. She had a faint hope that perhaps Ellery's investigation just might reveal that he was not cheating, but simply that his libido had waned, and his desire for sex had weakened. She had read somewhere that men lose interest in sex quicker than women. If that were indeed the case, she certainly could put up with the rare sexual intercourse, and all would be well.

That hope was truly in vain. Felicia was somewhat surprised to learn how much extramarital sex Jed actually did engage in during the six month time period covered by Ellery's initial investigation. During those six months Jed had gone to Dallas twice to participate in orgies at the sex club, the Texas Love Ranch (TLR). In addition, he had fucked three other women in Chicago with various frequencies.

There was a somewhat silver lining in all the bad news of Ellery's report. As Felicia saw it, the TLR activity was not much of a threat to their marriage since it was just a venue for satisfying carnal lusts as opposed to the starting point for an affair of the heart. All of the three Chicago women seemed to be the instigators of their mini affairs with Jed, and the same were ended as soon as Jed got bored with them, and he simply ignored them thereafter. And he got bored with them rather quickly.

Still Felicia knew that nothing good results from clandestine adultery, and something had to be done. She of course knew that expecting and demanding fidelity from him was a zero sum game for her. If he did remain faithful as a result of her insistence, he would surely develop a hatred towards her for being deprived of a real sexual need. If he was unfaithful despite her demand for exclusivity, he would harbor guilt feelings which in turn would develop into the same kind of hatred towards her. Once such hatred no matter the scenario would take hold, it would only be a matter of time before their marriage would dissolve.

So Felicia took the dramatic pragmatic step in consulting Jed, and conducting a very frank and deliberate discussion. Admitting to her lack of libido as being the sole cause of their unhappy sex life, she gave him explicit permission to seek sex outside of their marriage with only the one caveat, that he be circumspect, and not bring public scandal or shame to their marriage.

She intimated that her love was so strong that she would not be hurt by his having sex with other women since this was something she could not supply. She was lying of course, because her knowledge of his adultery sure did hurt. She was mortified to find herself in a position where she was forced to condone, and to even encourage adultery by her husband. But it was her cross to bear.

This blunt agreement did provide some solace for Felicia, and of course for Jed as well. Jed needed sex but he truly loved Felicia. So he certainly had vague guilt feelings whenever he fucked another woman or attended the sex orgies at the TLR. However, with it out in the open that he now had explicit permission from Felicia to have sex with other women, he was able to easily subdue any lingering guilt feelings. This removal of guilt caused him to be grateful, and more prone to please Felicia even more. As a result he was very attentive to her and to her feelings.

With their understanding, he seriously considered Felicia's sound advice for caution. He had to acknowledge that nothing more would make a paparazzi's day then having a compromising photo of him with a woman not his wife made public. No doubt the tabloids in such cases would be full of lurid suppositions. To ward off such suspicions in every date with another woman, he would prepare a plausible, and an innocent exculpatory reason for the presence of his date. He demanded that his dates promise to go along with his explanations if called to do so, otherwise there would be no further dates. That threat was usually sufficient for his dates to co-operate.

In addition, Jed was cognizant of the possibility that some of his dates outside of the TLR orgies might be predatory enough to try and entrap him to leave Felicia. They might even try to get themselves pregnant to advance such ambition. Up to know he was fortunate enough with the women he had fucked in this regard. He was either substantially certain that the woman was practicing birth control or he utilized a condom in other cases. Since he was definitely content with his two children borne by Felicia he really had no desire to sire more. So to be absolutely safe, he decided to undergo a vasectomy and advised Felicia of such development.

The arrangement certainly made Felicia feel more secure, but she dared not to let it all fall into chance and hope for the best. Instead she continued to employ Ellery Snodgrass on a permanent retainer. Again Felicia's purpose was not to secure evidence to hold against Jed, to utilize in any possible divorce proceeding. She believed that if she was armed with information on his women, she would be able to nip any potential problems in the bud. Her intentions were if any affair of Jed had the potential of causing scandal, or threatening destruction of her marriage, she would have foreknowledge from which she could utilize to rectify the situation, and preserve her marriage.

One example of the efficacy of her vigilance was the case of an attractive weather girl employed by one of the Chicago local television channels. Ellery's investigation revealed that this bimbo had been boasting to her friends, that she had a secret prominent lover, and as soon as she would lure him away from his wife, she would shock the world. The situation was getting dicey as her friends suspected she must be referring to Jed Baxter, given the hints she revealed to them.

At least the weather girl was smart enough not to actually identify him, as she knew she would be unceremoniously dumped by him. In any case, luckily Jed's reputation was so unsullied that her friends did not believe she was actually having an affair with him, but was merely hoping to start one.

Before the situation could get out of hand Ellery had uncovered an unexpurgated video of the clearly unmistakable weather girl having sex with a former boyfriend. Under Felicia's instructions Ellery arranged for the video to be available for circulation amongst various internet sites causing a minor tabloid scandal in Chicago. The tart was summarily fired by her employer, and was never heard from again.

Another example of the usefulness of employing Snodgrass to keep tabs on Jed was the case of an attractive attorney. This woman was employed by the law firm that Jed used for all legal businesses of his companies, and this was a rare situation where Jed had made the first move to initiate their affair. It soon became evident from Snodgrass' continuing investigation that Jed was starting to become somewhat infatuated with her. The affair was now into its third year without any let-up. Why he even lent a large sum of money at ridiculously low interest to her sister to help finance a trendy new restaurant in Chicago. It was very evident from Snodgrass' reports, that this woman was not going to be so easy to get rid of.

Unlike most of the bimbos Jed had affairs with; this woman had substance. Not only that, but this women's love for him appeared very genuine, as opposed to being mercenary. If their relationship had continued it's possible that Jed could fall hopelessly in love with her, as her snares to capture his heart was ever so subtle, but perhaps very effective. So effective that aside from a couple of trips to a TLR orgy where they went together, Jed did not fuck any other women. So, Felicia knew something had to be done to avert potential disaster.

Felicia took matters into her own hands and arranged a luncheon date with this dangerous female. On that occasion Felicia laid her cards on the table, and tried to convince the attorney that she had no future with Jed. The attorney was not dissuaded by such argument since she was cognizant of that outcome and was at peace with it. This was where Ellery's investigation proved to be invaluable. His report indicated that the woman was not utilizing any birth control measure and was therefore, deliberately trying to get pregnant. So when Felicia advised the woman of his vasectomy, she realized that information was devastating to the woman. Felicia knew the end of the affair would be forthcoming as a result.

To ensure the end of the affair, and as compensation for the woman's disappointment Felicia invited the woman to come to a low key dinner event at her home. Amongst the guests would include some suitable eligible bachelors. The attorney then did accept and came to Felicia's dinner party.

As luck would have it, a spark of love interest ignited between Sam Crawford, the Chief Financial Officer for Baxter and Sons, and this woman. Her dalliance with Jed was soon forgotten as Sam seemed the one more likely to meet her desires, and more realistically fulfill her marital dreams. Their initial mutual attraction to each other soon turned into love, and from there into an exclusive serious relationship. They got married within six months of that first meeting at the Baxter mansion. Unfortunately for the attorney, Sam had a darker side unbeknownst to her. To the shock of all of his friends, acquaintances and co-workers, he turned out to be the embezzler of the significant funds of monies, which were uncovered by Vera's forensics accountancy assignment.

Thus, with the help of Snodgrass' investigations, Felicia's vigilance was able to keep the lid on Jed's secret extramarital sex life. As a result no one, not even the closest of their friends or relatives had any idea of it. However, the apple cart was upset when Ellery produced the report on Jed and Vera. Felicia was distraught.

Felicia knew that Vera was no bimbo like most of Jed's other lovers, and she knew Jed had a very high regard for her. Unlike the other bimbos who pursued Jed from the get-go, he met Vera in course of actually retaining her for his business. Apparently Vera proved to be so competent in the assignment that Jed decided to switch accountants and retain Vera for his business accounting needs.

Felicia was well aware of Jed's exceptional business acumen and that his business decisions and judgments were absolutely sound, and not affected by biases. He would not switch his accountancy needs from a highly regarded international accounting firm to Vera on a whim. To make the switch Jed would have had to have been convinced of Vera's superiority.

To top it all off, Jed had accepted the invitation to attend Vera's party to celebrate the opening of her firm. Jed's prominence meant that he was constantly besieged to accept all kinds of social engagements and consequently he had to turn down a majority of them. To agree to attend Vera's party in lieu of two other vastly more important social functions that Jed had been invited to that night, was an unmistakable signal of how highly he regarded her, professionally.

When Felicia attended the party, she was totally shocked at how beautiful Vera was. Her reaction was not based on any sexist preconceived notion that a beautiful woman cannot be a successful and competent professional. After all Felicia was gorgeous herself, and certainly was as competent and as sharp as any person, man or woman. Instead Felicia had a preconceived notion of a stereotypical accountant. Felicia imagined all accountants to be drab, boring and anal retentive. With such mind set it was inconceivable to her that an accountant, male or female could be an attractive person; at least not physically.

Felicia intellectually realized that such generalization was unfair, unsound and inaccurate but still an inborn prejudice is hard to shake. Thus, Vera's physical features and personality was absolutely at odds with what Felicia had anticipated prior to meeting her.

Not surprisingly, upon seeing Vera for the first time, Felicia wondered if there was a sexual interest to account for Jed's business favoritism. However upon close observation throughout the evening Felicia could detect no regard between them. Felicia had been relieved since she knew Vera would be a formidable rival, even worse than the attorney, if Jed showed any interest towards her.

So naturally Felicia turned sick when receiving Ellery's report. She felt that she had been duped at the party, although Ellery's report clearly concluded that there had been no mutual sexual interest between them prior to their meeting at the TLR orgy. Nevertheless, the orgy occurred within two weeks of the party so Felicia was suspicious. What was truly devastating in Ellery's report was the inclusion of the video of Jed and Vera at the orgy.

During his various investigations of Jed at the Texas Love Ranch orgies, Ellery Snodgrass had befriended an unscrupulous employee named Ivan Croft; and as a result had obtained some useful information. From Croft, Ellery had learned of the threesome sex between Jed, Vera and Pamela, and that the sex had been recorded at the behest of Pamela Rose.

In his line of work, Ellery had acquired some useful albeit criminal skills that facilitated his investigations. Accordingly, Ellery broke into Pamela's California mansion and located the safe which contained her collection of her personal erotica. It was child's play for Ellery to extract the incriminating video, make a copy of it and return the original to Pamela's safe without the latter ever being aware that she had been compromised.