The Wicked Witch

With all the pain and disappointment, something unexpected happened that night. Nearly half the people that stood by Holly and George were strangers to them. They were women neither had ever met; and yet, no one ever questioned why they were present. There was never a sense of not belonging or the feeling that they were strangers. They were just women who were there for the people who needed them, each listening patiently, each giving words of support.

Denise tried to work her way back into her marriage, but George was having none of it. All the lies she told came back to haunt her now when she most needed George to believe her. Of course, most of what she said now was still lies and half-truths. She tried tears, but they didn't work. She threw herself on his mercy, but he had none. She tried seduction, but all he could see what Peter driving his dick into his wife. Nothing worked for her. In due course, she found herself alone, divorced, without friends, and openly despised at the office. She eventually realized there was nothing for her there. Her old spells failed her once her true face was known and she quietly left town, leaving the others to get on with their lives. Peter was not far behind her, although no one knew whether they left together or went their separate ways, and no one cared.

Bit by bit, they forgot about the wicked witch and all the pain she had inflicted until only Holly and George remembered. They would need more than time to help them forget. The good witches that surrounded them did what they could do, but the spells of smiles and hugs and time spent together can only do so much.

Since Holly had already suspected Peter of his cheating ways, she was the first to recover from his lies. She was completely surprised when one day, as she sat alone eating her lunch, a gentleman who worked at her firm, but who she hardly knew, asked to sit with her. They talked and made small jokes about the gossip around the office. That wasn't a surprise. Then he asked her to have dinner and maybe go dancing with him on Saturday. She looked at him in wonder and thought to herself "Is he saying what I think he's saying?" Before she could gather her thoughts, it spilled out of her mouth and surprised even her. "You know I have two kids?"

He laughed. "Yes, but what do you say we leave them with a sitter this week? I mean, unless they are really good dancers, in which case we could all get dressed up and see who can bust the moves..."

Holly tried to hide her laugh behind her hands, but she didn't do a very good job of it. "I don't know if they're ready to see their mother dancing just yet. They haven't gotten over the pitching lessons I gave them."

They laughed and talked some more. It looked like she might be healing after all. To no one's surprise, her kids loved her new friend. Mom gave a pretty good pitching lesson, but he taught them to swing a bat. Fourteen months after that first date they were married. Both Holly and her kids were never happier. She learned very quickly that there wasn't a dishonest bone in his body. She also learned there was one bone she liked very much and once he offered it to her their fate was sealed.

George took a little longer. He was completely blindsided by Denise's betrayal and it was a long time before he could view a woman with anything more than suspicion. When he was ready, she was there waiting for him and she hit him like a ton of bricks. It was Officer Karen. That lovely, quiet, red-haired sorceress who spent every day walking the line between good and evil, who was herself lonely and insecure never having had a man who saw her for the jumble of contradictions and needs that she was beneath the uniform.

It was at a cookout with her new-found friends. She and George had come to know each other well enough to make small talk in social situations like this, but they didn't see each other at any other times. She was wearing a simple, summer dress. Her hair was loose. She turned in George's direction, caught his eye, and smiled. George smiled reflexively, and then for the first time he saw her for all that she was. Officer Karen was a stone fox! She had been right under his nose all these months and he never realized it. She was bright, funny, a bit self-conscious, patient with the children around her, and lovely. George wondered how she managed to hide that figure under the uniform? It was at this moment that all thoughts of Denise left his head never to return.

George walked over to Karen, complimented her on her dress, and never left her side for the remainder of the evening. Of course, it was exactly what Karen had been planning for months. She had only waited until he was open to her charms. Then slowly, with a smile, a laugh, and a gentle touch, she quietly, patiently, and sweetly cast her spell over him, and he was never the wiser for it.

In the years to come, George and Karen would have three children. After the first arrived, she accepted a desk job away from danger. She was a mother now and had new priorities. After the second, she resigned from the force to raise her children in the town she had once sworn to serve and protect. Karen never did make detective, but years later her daughter did.

Epilogue:

Well, what did you expect? I warned you at the start that this is a fairy tale and fairy tales have happy endings. If you wish to believe that Denise and Peter were eventually burned for their actions, or later caught by less forgiving victims who were Green Berets, or Navy Seals, or Mafia Dons, that's fine with me. They were never the real stars of this story. Every good story needs a hero, a heroine, and a villain. Denise and Peter were my villains. The heroes and heroines abound. I like to think that's the way it is in real life, too. We may hear the most about the villains, but it's the heroes and heroines that make life worth living.