I am Now a single Dad

I am now a single Dad.

Her paramour convinced her to leave, but they both died.

I am Thomas Parsons, Tom, a single father, widower, teacher, and educational leader.

It has been three years since my beautiful but cheating wife died in an accident with the guy she was cheating on me with.

What happened.

We started having marital problems about six months before the accident.

My wife, Jennifer, was a Girl Scout leader. Jack Marshall was a single father of two girls in her troop. Jack had temporary custody while his ex-wife finished up a degree in psychology. Jack volunteered to help Jennifer with her Girl Scout troop. I couldn't help because I was working on my post-graduate degree. My stepdaughters were Nicole, eight years old, and Megan, six years old. I was able to watch our three-year-old son James only on meeting nights. We had been married for five years.

For the last few months, Jennifer had found many reasons for not having any romance, ie. sex-- a headache; her period; she was mad at me, too tired, or too sleepy; the girls were having a sleepover, etc. There had been dry spells before, but this one was the longest.

One weekend, Jennifer and Jack took the troop camping. I was willing to go with them, but Jennifer quickly said she was worried that Jimmy would be 'in the way'.

One of the other parents had a large ten-passenger van, and both sets of sisters, our girls and Jack's, wanted to ride in the van, so when camping was over, Jennifer and her lover were alone in his pickup truck. They were on the US Forest Service road just off the Apache Trail, AZ-88, not too far from Tortilla Flat. It was a dirt road that hung on the side of the mountains in the Superstition Mountain range. The van was in the lead, and the pickup was behind, with another car bringing up the rear.

The father in the car told the Highway Patrol that it looked like the front right tire either had a blowout or simply went off the road. The pickup looked like it skidded to the lip of the road and teeter-tottered, and both Jack and my wife tried to get out. Jennifer had opened her door, but the open door changed the center of gravity, causing the pickup to go over the side. She tried to unbuckle her seatbelt, but the pickup was beyond the point of no return. As the truck went over, Jack tried to open his door to get out, but it was too late, and he was dragged down with it. It was almost three hundred feet down the side of the mountain.

That night.

It was getting late, about nine o'clock, and Jennifer and the girls were not home yet. I was worried.

There was a knock on my door; it was the Department of Public Safety (DPS), the Highway Patrol, and they informed me of the accident. I had to drive to the hospital to collect my distraught stepdaughters. When I got there, both Jack and Jennifer had already been pronounced dead. I went into a take-charge-but-numb mode; I would later fall apart. I asked when I could call the funeral home to make arrangements. They told me that there had to be an autopsy; the hospital administrator said they must do autopsies with all fatal auto accidents. It would be finished in about three to five days.

When we got home, Jimmy had fallen asleep on the way home, so I just tucked him in. I held both stepdaughters all night, and we cried together. The next morning, I had to call Jennifer's family and my family to tell them she had died. I did not have to call my stepdaughters' father because he had passed away just four years before. Our house was then flooded with family. We were all taken care of by our families. My sister, Ellen Johnson, and her son, Sam Johnson Jr., were there. (Ellen's husband, Sam Johnson Sr., was one of the 4,400-plus deaths in the Iraq War.)

What I found out.

It was three days later, when I was called to the hospital to be given a copy of the autopsy; it had the usual cause of death-- blunt force trauma. One thing it said was that Jennifer was pregnant, about six weeks. In my head, I thought, when did I last have sex with Jennifer?, I could not remember!

I asked, "Can you do a DNA test?"

I had my suspicions. I gave a sample of my DNA, and after two weeks, I got the results-- the fetus was not mine! They got Jack's DNA from the blood work they did before he died. It could not have been used in a court of law, but it was good enough to compare the fetus's DNA with Jack's at 48.6% shared DNA; it was close enough for them to say the fetus was essentially Jack's! My DNA match was less than 1%

Things were now real.

Shit, what was I going to do? I have two stepdaughters who consider me daddy, my son, and a dead wife with another man's fetus in her. I was too busy to deal with Jennifer's infidelity.

I met with an attorney to see what my options were. The first thing the attorney said was that a child born during a marriage is presumed by law to be the child of the husband, even if it was not. Even though the child was not born yet, it would have been mine by law. My attorney got the accident report and sued everyone she could-- Jack's estate, Jack's auto insurance, and even the US Forest Service-- in all, there were over eight lawsuits filed; six were settled with a large monetary award, and one was reduced because I did not want to take money away from Jack's girls.

Jack's auto insurance found out about the DNA test and tried to claim since the child was not mine, they did not have to pay anything for 'its' death. My attorney argued successfully that, by law, I was the father!

We were now financially secure.

My dad was a retired insurance executive and had insisted Jennifer and I should get life insurance on both of us to pay the mortgage and other life expenses if one of us were to pass away, so our house would be free and clear. The 'mortgage insurance' was just one of the life insurance policies Dad had us take out on each of us; one would take care of college costs for all three children, and a couple more that made our futures more than comfortable. Yes, we were overinsured, but Dad had always said, "You can never have enough insurance." All the policies had a double indemnity clause, in case of accidental death... thank you, Dad.

My attorney also filed adoption papers for Nicole and Megan. A sister of Jennifer's, Misty, tried to get custody; she was single at that time. The girls told the Department of Child Safety (DCS) investigator that they wanted to stay with me and their brother. The judge saw it my way. They became my daughters! To this day, I wonder if Misty was looking at the trusts I had set up for the girls.

When the dust settled, we had a family trust and smaller trusts for each of us, a paid-off mortgage, but we did not have a mom or a wife.

I found out a lot about the affair she and Jack had... Not long after the accident, my lawyer hired a private investigator who had computer expertise. We figured out Jennifer's password on her laptop. (She used the same one on everything.) The private investigator accessed her diary-- a journaling app, social media, and personal messages; there were emails and text messages, and we found out that she was maybe just two months away from filing for divorce. It had all been overseen and orchestrated by Jack! They would accuse me of abuse, infidelity, and claiming abandonment--abandonment of all things!

From all the information we received, we were able to deduce that Jennifer had complained about me not being home; it was because I was taking classes for my master's and doctorate, trying to improve my family's circumstances and surroundings! Jack saw it as a way to get 'closer' to my beautiful wife.

We read in her texts and emails that Jennifer thought she was pregnant and was trying to get everything ready. If she were pregnant, she was going to have the baby and have me pay child support-- again, orchestrated by Jack.

You could see how the son-of-a-bitch used psychological suggestions, even in his writing, to gain Jennifer's cooperation, almost like she had been hypnotized. Had he not died, I would have killed the son-of-a-bitch myself. The private investigator contacted Jack's ex-wife, Barbara, and was told this was not the first time he had romanced a married woman, but this was the first time his paramour was pregnant. Their divorce was because he philandered, and she knew of two other married women whom he went after.

She said she did not think he wanted to marry Jennifer; he just wanted to have a 'good time' with a married woman, but with Jennifer being pregnant, who would know? Maybe he had stepped up his game. Jack was a creep to the third power, his ex agreed. We figured KARMA caught up with him and took Jennifer, my children's mom, with him. Because of their divorce decree and child custody orders, Barbara and his girls received Jack's life insurance, which would pay for college and more.

Jennifer and I each had a checking account in our names and a family one. When we met, Jennifer was so financially inept that she couldn't even keep track of the money coming in and going out of her checking account. I stopped helping her when she told me she was able to balance her account months before the accident. My lawyer had a forensic audit on Jennifer's and my finances; she had been stealing money out of the family account.

I thought she had finally learned how to balance her checking account, but Jack was balancing it for her. She also put all of her paychecks into a new account, and with Jack's coaxing (again through emails and texts), she was hiding it from me in another bank. Jennifer must have forgotten about the wills we had written when Jimmy was born; basically, we just gave everything to each other. So, when my lawyer found the hidden accounts with the forensic audit, the money was turned over to me.

********

It had been three years since Jennifer's death, Nicole was almost twelve, Megan was just about nine, and Jimmy was six. We had settled down to being a family: a single dad, two daughters, and a son. On weekends, we would do a family activity on Saturday. We would have a Sunday meal at my mom's place or Jennifer's family's. When Jennifer's family found out about her cheating, and I told them she was pregnant with the son-of-a-bitch's child, all communication stopped. (Most of them apologized years later at one of the girls' weddings.)

My girls did not realize anything was going on between Jennifer and Jack, thank God, so I left it alone. Later, Jack's girls told my girls during the lawsuits. My girls never talked to Jack's girls again. The girls did not understand why their mom did what she did. They never liked Jack. After counseling, the girls realized that they had missed what was going on between Jennifer and Jack. They apologized to me; I told them that I was fooled, too. With the counselor's help, we moved beyond the pain. I made the decision not to remember or dwell on the bad times; we did have at least four and a half years of a good marriage. Poor Jimmy never knew about it until he was an adult. He just knew his mommy had died in an accident.

Okay, yeah, I need to tell you more about me.

I need to backup almost three years.

I was a math teacher at Desert Horizon Middle School. After a two-month bereavement leave, we all returned to school. I had kept the girls up on schoolwork while we were all out of school, and they were not behind in any class. I could not say that about my students; they had had four or five substitutes during my bereavement leave. It was not that the substitutes were bad; it was the continuity of instruction that was lost.

Then I lost my dad to fucking cancer, just months after Jennifer's death. My over-insured dad took care of Mom, my sister, the kids, and me.

In the wisdom of the administration, they assigned me a paraprofessional (aka teacher's aide, a para), Cassandra Davis, Cassie. I lucked out; she was a recently graduated education major. She was older than most new grads, just five years younger than me, having been married, divorced, who had worked a couple of years after the divorce, and finished college. She had a son, Jeffrey, Jeff, who was the same age as my Megan. Cassie became my right-hand man... er... woman; she acted as my teaching assistant and helped and supported me a lot in my teaching.

Cassie was a cute, twenty-seven-year-old single mother, medium blonde, five-foot-six; she always dressed professionally, but was still very attractive. I have to say, when no one could see me, she had my full attention.

I had a problem. I had met Cassie just over two months after the death of my wife. No one knew about Jennifer's infidelity or the baby; it would have been inappropriate to show any interest in a woman so close to the death of my wife.

After I returned to school, that was when Jennifer's death hit me. After all, I did love her at one time; we were married for over five years, I felt my children's pain, and there was an emptiness in our house.

As the next two years progressed, so did Cassie's and my relationship. We became good friends at work-- she became my work wife. We had lunch together, went to faculty meetings together, and we would go out for a decompression at the local bar after school. We shared our stories about our exes. I told her the truth about Jennifer, and she told me about how she caught her husband cheating on her. I would walk her out to her car if we stayed late at school, or after a Friday night get-together at the bar.

I even invited Cassie and Jeff over to our house for a barbecue.

Here I was, a thirty-something widower 'rich guy'. I dove into my teaching post-grad work. (What else could I do?) I received several good evaluations, and before I knew it, in my mid-thirties and with a doctorate, I was high on the list to be considered for a principalship. WHY? Because I delivered, if I could say so myself. My last few years of cloistered existence had helped me.

Romance? What the hell was that? I was about to find out.

But then, Cassie was in my life. We kept a professional relationship at work. Outside of work, we flirted like high schoolers' first love... I was sure the feelings were mutual.

Home life was kind of like the old sitcom 'My Three Sons', but re-titled to 'My Three Kids'.

The girls were coming up on puberty, moving from dolls to boys. To tell the truth, I was scared shitless! Maybe Misty, Jennifer's then-married sister, might have been better. No, she married a truck driver. While the truck driver was gone, she had all the strange cock she wanted. I was so glad I was their father.

I had written a glowing recommendation for Cassie. I hadn't realized we had an opening for sixth-grade math. The principal told me he was taking my para, Cassie, away from me. I showed a little sadness, but he then added she would be teaching sixth-grade math, and my frown turned into a big smile.

"I am sorry I am taking your work wife away, but I need a math teacher."

Kiddingly, I said, "Oh, what will I do?"

My principal, Mike Jones, turned around and started to walk away, laughing. He added, "You could make her your real wife, how does the song go? '... if you like it, then you should... put a ring on it'..." as he entered his office.

And here I thought Cassie and my non-relationship had been under wraps.

************

Puberty!

I told Cassie about the upcoming talk I was supposed to have with my daughters about puberty. She suggested that we switch kids for a weekend. Cassie would take Nicole, just twelve, and Megan, ten.

Cassie said, "Don't worry, ten is a good age, also. The girls learned all about 'girl stuff' that weekend.

I took Jeff, eleven, and Jim, five, fishing. During the day, I spoke with Jeff about responsibilities, well, sexual responsibilities; while he did listen, Jim was having a ball playing with leaves floating on the water.

We caught our limit. (I made sure the boys did; a couple of times, I'd see I was getting a nibble, and I'd hand my pole to one of them.) You'd think we were bringing home a million fish!

I taught the boys how to lie about fishing; the one they liked best was, "You should have been here yesterday..."

Their excitement lasted for the first seventy-five miles on the way home, and both crashed in the back seat, sound asleep.

Sunday, when it was time to transfer the kids, Cassie asked to talk to me. It wasn't a 'we need to talk', it was more like a 'let us talk about us' kind of talk.

Cassie started, "You know some of the other teachers have been calling me your work wife... Even now that I am teaching in my classroom."

"Really?"

"Tom, we won't be seeing each other as much as before."

A light came on in my brain. I looked at her and told her, "I know a way to solve it. You know my mom wants to see the kids, and she is just dying to meet Jeff. I bet she would love to have them over to her house for a grandma sleepover."

Cassie did a double-take. "A what?"

"I used to sleep over at my grandma's all the time; I think that's how my sister came about."

With that last comment, Cassie's eyebrows jumped up her forehead.

"We could go out on a DATE. I have wanted to ask you out for quite a while."

"Doofus, I was about to lose hope. I have been waiting on you for quite a while, too."

I looked at the clock; Mom would still be up.

It rang twice, she had caller ID. "Hi, honey, are the kids okay?"

"Yes, all are okay. Are you doing anything next weekend?"

"What's up, you got a hot date? Oh, I hope it is with that cute teacher's aide you have, Cassie."

Mom had met Cassie at the first 'meet-the-teacher-and-open-house' after Jennifer's death.

"Mom! You have been reading too many romance novels. And Cassie is teaching in her classroom now."

"Your sister told me you had a thing for her. You need a babysitter for your girls and Jimmy?"

"Okay, Mom, be cool, yes, we are going out on our first date."

"You mean to tell me this is your first date!? Son, you are slipping. I never saw you on any weekend once you started to drive!"

"Mom, I have three kids, I need to be a father first!"

"Honey, they need a mother, too. Have you had THE TALK with the girls yet?"

"Cassie did it for me just this last weekend."

"Great!"

"Okay, I will watch all the kids, BUT you have to have dinner with me...! ALL OF YOU!"

"Okay, how about we bring the kids over Friday and have dinner with you, and we will pick them up Sunday, and then take you and the kids out for dinner?"

"Okay, that sounds good to me. Do the kids like spaghetti?"

"Is the Pope Catholic?"

"Okay, I will fix spaghetti for Friday night."

I put down the phone and filled in Cassie. "Friday, you two come over here, we'll have dinner at mom's, you will sleep in the guest room here, and the kids will stay at mom's Friday and Saturday. We will go out on Saturday night, so wear your dancing shoes. Sunday, we will take Mom and the kids out to eat."

"Okay, Tom, it works for me."

As Cassie and Jeff were leaving, Jimmy gave Cassie a hug, which the girls followed with their own. Poor Jeff looked at me. I don't think he was ready to hug me (it's a guy thing), so I stuck my hand out, and Jeff shook my hand and had a smile on his face.

Jeff ran out the door, and my kids ran to their rooms, leaving Cassie and me alone. I hugged Cassie, and I stole a kiss on her neck right below her ear. I felt a shudder run through her, and she hugged me a little tighter. As we ended our hug, Cassie's eyes seemed to sparkle. Cassie then wrapped her arms around my neck and gave me another kiss, one hell of a kiss.

I was taken by surprise. It was almost a hit-and-run. She started to leave, well, she tried to leave. I took her in my arms and again hugged her, and again, she turned her lips to me, and we kissed again. When we came up for air, she turned and left, and I closed the door.

As I turned around, I had two pairs of eyes looking at me-- my girls. Both girls had tears in their eyes. They both grabbed me in a hug; it was happy tears. They both said, "We are so happy for you, Dad."

But when they stepped back, Nicole said in a stern voice, "Whatever you do, Dad, don't screw it up, we like Cassie!"

Megan added, "Daddy, this 'girl stuff' weekend, it was like having a mom again! And we haven't seen you kiss a lady besides Grandma for three years.

Nicole corrected her, "Almost five!"

It was the longest week of my life. We had a faculty meeting on Monday, and I had to have a math department meeting on Tuesday since I am the math department chair. Cassie sat next to me. Believe it or not, she started to play footsie with me. I had seen her foot moving, so I was ready and did not flinch. When the meeting was over, we walked out to our cars. I felt like a schoolboy because I was carrying her books. As I leaned over to put her books in her back seat, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Cassie look to the right and look to the left, and as I stood up, SHE stole a kiss!

I had to remember that Nicole was in sixth grade and a student at my school, and Cassie was her math teacher. Just as Cassie and I broke our embrace, Nicole came running up to me, exclaiming, "You're doing better, Dad!"

Nicole hugged Cassie...

"Nicole, you don't do that during school hours, do you?" I asked.

Cassie said with a wink and a chuckle. "Oh, Tom, lots of kids hug me... Jealous?"

We went to our cars. Nicole got in the passenger seat. "Dad, you really like Cassie, don't you?"

"Well, I guess I do."

Nicole continued, "You know what Jeff said to me? He said, 'I wish you were my real sister! Then I could call Tom dad.' "

*****

Hell, this was only Tuesday.

I picked both Megan and Jimmy up at their schools' after-school programs. Thank God, I only had to use the after-school program for about an average of an hour a day, a week. Some kids were there for three to three-and-a-half hours each day. Megan helped with the little kids, so she felt like it was a job.

When we got home, Nicole hustled her brother and sister into her room and shut the door. Unknown to me, it was a strategy meeting.

Nicole polled her siblings, "How would you like a new mommy?" Both siblings raised their hands.

"How would you like another brother?" Both siblings raised their hands.

Do you want Cassie and Jeff in our family? Both siblings raised their hands.

"Well, I think it might happen. I caught Dad and Cassie kissing again."

The siblings sang out a "Yea!" and high-fived each other.

"We need to plan; I bet we can get both Jeff and Grandma to help."

Megan said, "I heard Daddy telling Grandma they are going on a date on Saturday."

*****

We arrived at Mom's at a quarter to six.

Mom took charge. "Cassandra, would you help me in the kitchen?"

I had the kids in the family room.

"Cassandra, will you fix the salad?"

"Sure, but call me Cassie."

"Okay, Cassie, I don't really need your help."

"Didn't think so, Mrs. Parsons."

"You can call me Beth or even Mom if you want. I just wanted to talk woman to woman with you. I know my son, and I won't beat around the bush! I think my son loves you. But that is all I am going to say."

"Thank you, Beth. I have strong feelings for him, too."

Mom and Cassie had their girl talk; it was not all Mom had to say, and I guess Mom decided that marriage was in our future!

To say our date was a success would be an understatement. I took Cassie to one of the most romantic restaurants in the Valley. We took a romantic drive to a scenic overlook. We talked about the future and what it had for us.

We returned to my house. As we entered, Cassie wrapped her arms around my shoulders, and we connected with a kiss. We moved to my couch and sat down. We melted into each other. It didn't take long before I suggested we spend some time in the hot tub.

"Honey, I don't have my suit with me."

With a wink, I said, "Uh, Cassie, we don't need suits."

Within minutes, we were neck-deep in the hot tub. We, at first, sat apart; I leaned over so our lips could meet. To say we kissed would be putting it mildly. Our lips and our hands explored each other. I was caressing Cassie's back, and then we were exploring each other's intimate parts.

Cassie had wonderful breasts, Cassie began to caress my cock.

I whispered, "How would you like to take this..."

"... to the bedroom," Cassie added.

I helped Cassie step out of the tub. We walked, hand in hand, into the master bathroom and then into the shower. I sat down on the shower seat. I then had unrestricted access to both Cassie's breasts and her pussy. The shower stream was striking her shoulders. I was sucking on her tits and had two fingers in her pussy. I added a third finger, then I slipped a fourth finger in.

Cassie responded with a satisfied sigh and moan. Cassie then gave my cock an erotic squeeze.

I pulled my hand away, and Cassie switched with me and sat on the shower bench. That put her mouth at almost cock level; she held my cock with both hands with my glans exposed to her velvety tongue, and she began to lightly lick its tip.

I knew I was about to climax, so I whispered, "I think I hear my bed calling us."

We dried each other off and fell into bed. We began to kiss and lovingly fondle each other. I kissed my way down across her stomach and down to her bare mons. My tongue found her clitoral hood and the prize within... her clit.

I understand there are over fifteen thousand nerve endings in the clitoris. Through research and personal trial and error, I pledged to myself to try to stimulate all of them. Within twenty minutes, most of Cassie's nerve endings seemed to be stimulated! Cassie's mouth, lips, and tongue had been busy also.

With an "Oh my God, Tom," Cassie began to shudder in climax.

I could not hold back. I tried to remove my engorged cock from her mouth, but Cassie just pulled me closer and took all of my seed into her mouth, swallowing with a slightly audible gulp. We took a breather. We fell asleep in each other's arms. We awoke in the wee hours and made love again. To this day, we don't know how we didn't get pregnant that night.

I woke up at about six in the morning and cooked some breakfast. Cassie and I had 'the talk', which ended up with us telling each other that we loved each other!

Then Cassie told me a heart-crushing fact-- the apartment building she and Jeff lived in was going condo, and her lease was not going to be renewed.

This got my mind going.

I still had all of Jennifer's jewelry-- her wedding ring, the engagement ring, and a pair of diamond earrings; I was saving them for the girls. Mom, just the other day, had told me she wanted to give me her engagement ring because... well, just because...

I thought, ... two shall be as one.

I called up my sister. "Ellen, what are you doing today for dinner? I am taking Mom, the kids, Cassandra, and Jeff out to dinner. I want you to come... I want you to be there; it will mean a lot to me."

"Oh my God, you are going to propose to Cassie, aren't you?"

"Shhh, no one knows... but I think Mom might know, you know, Mom. She gave me her engagement ring a few weeks ago. I was able to get it resized."

"Bubbi, I am so excited!

The restaurant where I had picked to have dinner that night had a pianist playing 'background' music. We were seated at a table that sat ten. I tipped the pianist a hundred dollars to play "Can't Help Falling In Love" in my singing range right before the dessert. I tipped the busboy twenty-five bucks to let the pianist know when to start.

The last to be seated were my sister Ellen and her son, Sam Jr.

As our busboy started to clear our table, I nodded to him, and he relayed the info to the pianist. You'd think I had practiced all week with the pianist. He nodded to cue me to start.

I stood up next to Cassandra. As I started to sing, I could see Mom's eyes tear up (I had sung 'Can't Help Falling In Love' to Mom and Dad on their last anniversary before Jennifer and Dad had died. It was also the last time I had sung anything.)

Wise men say,

Only fools, only fools rush in,

Oh, but I can't help falling in love with you...

... Take my hand,

Take my whole life too,

For I can't help falling in love with you,

For I can't help falling in love with you.

In the sudden silence, I continued, "Cassandra Davis, will you make me the happiest man on Earth and marry me?"

There was a deafening silence as the other diners waited to hear her reply. The fraction of a second it took for her to catch her breath and to answer seemed like an eternity.

When Cassie wrapped her arms around me, she said loudly, "YES!"

I slipped the ring on her finger.

The round of applause was close to deafening. We had three bottles of champagne bought for our table. Several women came up to Cassie and hugged her with tears in their eyes. I got a few handshakes from men, with a couple of them saying, "Thanks, pal, now, I have to top that!"

As we left, Ellen took the boys, and my mom took the girls.

Mom said, "I knew that ring would come in handy, you guys need some 'planning time.' We'll have the kids; we'll stop by and get school clothes for tomorrow."

When we finally calmed down at home, Cassie and I started to discuss our future.

"Cassie, when is your lease up?"

"I signed the lease just before the decision to go condo. I may become the last renter. I have received a letter stating that they want to cancel my lease before the end of the lease term."

I said to her, "I will call my lawyer first thing tomorrow."

We drove to school on Monday.

As Cassie and I walked down the math hallway, we were met by Nicole.

"Hi, Daddy and future Mom, did you have a good night?"

I knew Nicole was trying to be a cute smartass, so I said, "Oh, we decided to move you into Megan's room and move Jeff into your 'old' room."

Nicole squealed, "Daddy..." but stopped when she saw Cassie shake her head and wink. "Ah, Daddy, you stinker."

"Look, honey, we have some things we need to take care of."

During my planning period, I called my lawyer. She called one of the lawyers in her firm who handled real estate law. The lawyer wanted to take on the owners of the apartment-soon-to-be-condo building, as he had three other clients at the same apartment, and Cassie had the longest remaining lease term. I could almost hear him salivating at the chance to take on the owners.

We both tapped our inner nerds and created a checklist for our wedding and joining our families.

Will the house become a home?

What we had on the table regarding us would make our lives easier. After all the legal hearings over Jennifer's death, I had upgraded my kids and my living arrangement. Jennifer and I had a nice four-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bath home.

Then, because I had the money, with my girls and Jimmy, we moved into a six-bedroom (five bedrooms and a den/home office) home with three baths and a mother-in-law's apartment, still in the same elementary school and Desert Horizon Middle School attendance areas as the old house. It had a big garage with a man cave.

Without knowing it, the new house I had upgraded to was parent-friendly, the master bedroom suite was on one end of the house, and ALL of the other bedrooms were on the other end.

We needed to design a backyard. I already had a hot tub, so I scheduled to install a pool; I was sure a pool would help our soon-to-be teens entertain friends. We planned for a vegetable garden and a flower garden; a shop in the third bay of the garage; a basketball backstop; we even had room for a small animal barn. (Shhh, don't tell the kids, I think the pool will be enough.)

It looked like Mom, Ellen, and Cassie would be in charge of the wedding and the move, BUT I was in charge of bedroom assignments! Until, of course, when we were married, that was when it would change. I took Dad's advice from years ago, "Buckle up and hang on," which was exactly what I did.

Then, it was time to join our two households.

--------

By lunchtime, the whole school knew of my Sunday night proposal. We had sworn Nicole to secrecy, and she honored it. But it was just our luck that a student was eating at the same restaurant where I had proposed. As Cassie and I entered the lunchroom, it was like a stadium, doing the wave, the kids stood and applauded, in turn, as we walked to the lunch line-- THE STUDENTS KNEW!

Nicole ran up to us and told us, "I didn't say anything. Karen Jones and her family were at the restaurant, too, and she told everyone!" (Karen was an eighth-grader, a cheerleader, AND the principal's daughter.)

I hugged Nicole, which brought more applause and some cheering. Both Cassie and I took hold of Nicole's hands and took a bow.

To our surprise, there was an unoccupied table with two lit electric candles. We had our private table. (Middle school students are so corny but sweet.) The principal, Mike Jones, walked up to our table with a kitchen towel draped over his forearm like a maître d'.

He asked, "Madame, Monsieur, today's menu is cheese pizza or pepperoni pizza, fruit cup, and a cookie. Today's lunch is also accompanied by grape juice."

There were two grape juice-filled plastic wine glasses on the table.

Cassie answered, "I will have the pepperoni pizza."

I said, "I will have the cheese pizza."

Mike Jones served us!

As we took our first bites, the cafeteria's speakers came on with Elvis singing, "Can't Help Falling In Love."

Nicole came over to us. "Honest, Dad and... Mom, I did not say anything."

The students started chanting, "Kiss her, kiss her, kiss her."

Mike winked at Nicole and gave her one end of the towel, held it in front of us, and said, "Go ahead, I endorse it."

I leaned over and gave Cassie a quick peck on the lips from behind the towel.

When Nicole and Mike dropped the towel, our red faces proved we kissed. The kids cheered.

The rest of the day was delightfully hell; the kids did not want to do math. Both Cassie and I gave up trying to teach halfway through each class, haha.

Our romance took on a life of its own. Kids constantly asked if we wanted to send 'notes' to each other; they wanted to be the delivery people.

As a wedding gift, our lawyer got Cassie a payoff of just under five digits for breaking her lease very early. They really wanted her unit.

During spring break, Cassie and Jeff moved in. Jimmy and Jeff bonded immediately, and it was a 'bro' kind of thing. (Remember the fishing trip?) I was, by default, a member of the bro club-- safety in numbers.

The girls began the process of bonding with Cassie. Seeing Cassie and the girls together would bring moisture to my eyes (No, I was not crying... that's my story, and I am sticking to it.) To tell the truth, seeing Cassie with my girls made her even sexier. It seemed any night after Cassie, Megan, and Nicole had a 'girls' night', our lovemaking went into overdrive.

The master suite, being on the other end of the house, gave us the right amount of parental privacy. And we used that privacy to the extreme. Believe it or not, we perfected giving each other oral pleasure. I found the musical composition for Cassie's orgasms, and like a good musician, I played variations on a theme many times. We enjoyed shower sex, a shower AFTER sex; Cassie enjoyed getting two to three fingers pumped into her pussy; she did not want more because, as she put it, my thumb on the clit was 'the icing on the cake'.

As the school year wound down, we seemed to get more excited about our wedding, which would be happening on the Saturday after Memorial Day.

We gathered for the wedding, we had formal guests and informal guests, mainly students. The front half of the church was family and formal guests; the back half of the church was, as we figured, going to be our students. We were not wrong. When I took my place at the front of the church, I looked out upon a full house. Cassie's family and my family members were all smiles.

Our students were never so well-behaved.

Instead of the traditional wedding songs, we had picked our own. Right before Cassie's entrance, the school's music teacher sat down at the piano and started playing "Can't Help Falling In Love." I had spent a month rehearsing with her. Cassie was standing at the back doors of the church, looking through the window. All eyes were on me as I sang. I extended my right hand while facing the back of the church when I sang.

"Take my hand,

Take my whole life, too,

For I can't help falling in love with you,

For I can't help falling in love with you."

Unbeknownst to me, the music teacher had taught the school choir to sing "A Thousand Years." When the choir stood and began to sing, the doors opened, and Cassie began to walk down the aisle on the arm of a tuxedoed nine-year-old Jeff, as the choir sang.

"I have loved you for a thousand years,

I'll love you for a thousand more."

When Jeff and Cassie reached the altar, the celebrant asked, "Who celebrates and honors the love shared between these two individuals?"

With a strong voice, Jeff responded, "I do, son of Cassandra and future son of Thomas, I bless this union."

We found out later that Mom had bolstered, encouraged, and helped Jeff practice the announcement. I held my hand out so Jeff could give me a shake. Instead, Jeff surprised us by wrapping his arms around me and saying, "I love you, Dad."

Jeff then turned to Cassie and hugged her as only a loving son can do. "I love you, Mom." He stepped back just behind us.

That was when we received the rest of the surprise-- Nicole moved from her place as a bridesmaid, Megan from her place as flower girl, and Jimmy from his place as ring bearer-- all four of our children were then standing behind us, in support of our union.

You could hear the soft 'aaawww' from the congregation.

After the celebrant announced us as man and wife, we kissed, and our children embraced both of us. We took the hands of our children and walked the aisle.

The reception was great, but as the evening wore down, the kids started to hit the wall; my sister and mom then took control of the kids. Everyone gathered along the walkway and threw flower petals as we headed to the Iimo.

Cassie and I settled down to married life with two daughters and two sons, just mild-mannered teachers. We got a surprise in mid-December. Cassie showed me a pregnancy test, and we were pregnant!

We figured Veterans Day weekend was when it happened. The kids were visiting with grandma, and we took full advantage of being kidless.

On August 4th, I adopted Jeffrey. And Cassie adopted Nicole, Megan, and James.

Our little Michael Thomas Parsons was born August 11th.

By this time, we had five children-- Nicole, Megan, Jeffrey, James, and Michael. All our kids had either me or Cassie as a teacher or principal during their school years. I finished my graduate studies and at thirty-seven, I became the principal of Desert Horizon Middle School. Then, at forty, I became the principal of the Golden Horizon High School. Cassie was named principal of Desert Horizon Middle School, and after two years, Cassie was named vice principal at Golden Horizon High School.

At forty-four, I became the assistant superintendent of McDowell Mountain School District. Cassie was named the principal at Golden Horizon High School,

Finally, at forty-eight, I was named McDowell Mountain School District Superintendent. I guess having my doctorate does pay off... I also began teaching part-time at East Valley Community College. Cassie worked hard and followed me, and was named McDowell Mountain School District Assistant Superintendent.

Four years later, I retired. In Arizona, if your age and years of teaching add up to eighty, you can retire. I had my eighty and took a full-time position as a professor at the East Valley Community College. When I left the superintendent's office, you guessed it, Cassie was named superintendent. Cassie held that position for eight years, until she reached her eighty points.

We bought a small summer home in Payson, Arizona. As the grandkids came along, we had many summer nights in the cool ponderosa pines with them.

Life can end up happily ever after.

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