Free Solomon's Porch by Wid Bastian

up to her standards of what a “man” should be, and in very subtle, effective, and ingenious ways constantly sent and reinforced the message, “If you want to be worthy of me, you’ve got to be the best.”
    Peter bought into this trap, one of the devil’s biggest lies. The evil one wants us to measure ourselves by our worldly status, or by what others think of us, rather than by our good works, love, and obedience to God. This is idolatry and it is a mortal sin.
    The second problem was that Julie Morgan still worshipped this evil, hollow idol.
    Walter Morgan was the oldest son of Lewis Morgan. Back in the mid- 1800 ’s Walter’s great-great-great granddaddy started making high quality bourbon in Kentucky. By the end of the twentieth century P.R. Morgan Distillers had a net worth of over $ 400 million dollars. When Lewis died, Walter was in line to inherit half the company.
    Julie stepped right into Walter’s world, beyond grateful for the second chance at marrying the “right man.” That Walter was a boring, spoiled, childish trust-fund kid who at forty-five still acted fifteen mattered not. She didn’t give a damn that Walter couldn’t turn on a light bulb in the bedroom, or that he looked like a toad sucking on a lemon.
    That Walter ignored Kevin and resented him was a problem, but she did the best she could with the situation. Kevin would be given the pick of everything, from clothes and cars, to friends and schools. In her mind, this more than compensated him for having a distant and uncaring step-father.
    None of this was Julie’s first choice.
    What Julie really wanted was to live the life Peter Carson had promised her. Together they were going to set the world on fire. Their strong sexual attraction and intimate friendship only intensified all their other desires. She loved Peter, always would, but he was a failure. Worse, he was a criminal and a disgrace. Her god made no allowances for such foolishness and neither did she.
    In order for her to overcome, to not be denied at least part of the dream that was rightfully hers, to atone to her gods of materialism and pride, Julie “captured” Walter Morgan.
    The ugly spectacle of Peter’s arrest and conviction drug Julie through the sewage along with her ex-husband. While the affair was by no means a sensation by Atlanta standards, it got more than a little public attention. All of Julie’s family and friends were caught up in the soap opera of it all; some had even lost money at the brokerage.
    Although she never bluntly declared it to herself, or to the world, Julie knew she had to make a choice. She could either be a victim or an accomplice. She had to tread that fine line between abandoning her husband at his most critical hour, which no “proper” wife could do, and being dragged down with him.
    Julie played the game superbly. From the time of the initial exposure of Peter’s embezzlement, she knew that they were through as husband and wife, but she didn’t tell him that. Keeping her distance from both him and the situation from that moment on, she kept up appearances until Peter was convicted and sentenced. A week before he self-surrendered at Parkersboro, their divorce was made final.
    Julie was devastated, but by no means destroyed. An old college friend introduced her to Walter Morgan a couple of months after Peter began doing his time.
    Theirs was not a romance. They didn’t fall in love. Walter loved only his money, but he was enchanted beyond measure by his future bride. Julie became adept at the art of having sex with a man she found physically repulsive, while at the same time making him feel like he was the most exciting and accomplished lover on the planet. She fed Walter’s ego, played the Madonna and the whore to perfection, and charmed his friends. Julie knew she would never be heir to Walter’s fortune, because he had two ex-wives and a grown daughter. She would have to “make do” with a cash settlement of five million dollars