A Conspiracy to Commit...

Barry took his time formulating his thoughts and trying to figure out where to go next with this event. There was a strong voice in the back of his mind which was shouting loudly for him just to throw her out and be done with the slut.

Countering this angry voice in his head, was another voice. A gentler voice a voice that told him about the deep love he had for this woman. Could he be man enough to give her another chance? Was there some room in his devastated heart to try to come to terms with the events that happened and try to forgive her?

"Tell me how you would like to see this crisis resolve itself, Carol. You're sitting there listening to me condemn you as an adulterous wife, and there must be something good that you want to come out of the whole mess. Tell me what you want, Carol." Barry was now done thrashing her verbally with her sins. It was up to her to spill her guts.

"Most important, Barry, I want to remain married to you. I do not want a divorce." Her tears had stopped and she once again was working hard to regain her composure.

"I am willing to do anything you ask of me, if you could only find it in your heart to try and forgive me. And then for us to try to rebuild our marriage." Her eyes had that sorrowful little puppy dog look to them.

"You know that your infidelity has broken that bond of total trust that I once had in you, Carol. How do you think that you could ever rebuild that trust again with me? Do you think it would ever be possible for me to leave you alone again and not wonder if you haven't fallen off the faithful wagon while I was out of sight?" Barry tried to craft his words as precisely as he could.

"I don't know if you will ever be able to rebuild that full trust that you had in me before all this ugliness came about. But, I swear to you, Barry. There will never be any secrets from you again. Whatever I am feeling inside, I will tell you. That way, I believe that the two of us should be able to head off any challenges to our marriage." Carol was trying hard to put forth her most convincing argument.

The final moment of decision had arrived. The loud voice was still calling for Barry to throw her unfaithful ass out of the house. Yet, the soft gentle voice reminded him that he would probably never forgive himself if he didn't make some attempt at trying to make a new start in their marriage.

"Carol, one thing you must know is that I have always loved you and I think I always will. This ugliness may have destroyed my trust in you, but I don't think anything will be able to change the fact that I do love you." Barry stopped and ran his tongue over his lips to wet them before he proceeded.

"Right now I cannot fully forgive you for the terrible heartache that your actions have caused me. But, I don't think that I am ready to walk away from our marriage just yet." He could see a wave of relief come over Carol's face. Then she started to get up from the chair to come over and hug and kiss Barry.

"Please sit down, Carol. I'm not ready to for the 'hearts and flowers' scene just yet. There is a wide chasm that now exist between us. It would just be a phony act of 'kiss and make up' if we got touchy-feely at this time." Barry was very solemn as he continued to looked at her very hard.

"We need to get some professional help, before I am willing to move forward in our marriage." A very deep breath.

"So, here's my proposal. We put our marriage 'on hold' while we both get involved in some serious personal and marriage counseling. I will permit you to move back into this house but we will remain at arms length. We should be very civil toward each other, but no attempt at hugs and kisses until we know that there's a chance we can begin to rebuild our married lives.

"And, there will positively be no sexual contact between us until I am sure that I can handle it." Their eyes locked as the house rules were being laid out for Carol to either accept or refuse.

"Do you agree to these rules, Carol? Is there anything you would like to add?"

"Only one thing, Barry. I agree to the things that you have just stated, but between now and the time you, or we, make our final decision about our marriage, I do not want to be treated like a leper. It's possible that I can abstain from having sex during this period, but I do need to have you hold me and comfort me so that I will be able to get through this crucial time."

Carol was in a very vulnerable place in her mind. There had been so much trauma thrown at her in the last twenty four hours, that she just needed to be held in someone's arms. Barry could see her fighting to hold back the tears that were about to gush forth.

"Only for the purpose of comfort, Carol. I don't want you to get aroused and then expect sex from me. That wound is still too fresh and tender in my mind." Barry replied as the ground rules continued.

"There is a doctor, really a professor, who deals extensively in marriage crisis such as ours. I will contact him and tell him that we are in need of his services. If he accepts us as patients, then we will begin whatever treatment he prescribes for the both of us. Will you agree to this, Carol?"

"Oh yes, Barry. As I told you before, I am willing to do whatever it takes to get our marriage back together." Carol's voice was clear and resolved.

"Just give me another chance to be your wife, Barry."

Barry could tell that every nerves in her body was crying out to be comforted. He stood up and walked around the table. Carol jumped up and threw her arms around his neck. She went to kiss him on the lips but he moved his head back.

"I said nothing more than comforting hugs, Carol. We have a long hard road ahead of us." His arms held her tight as she lowered her head to his chest.

*

Chapter 22: Counseling

Barry moved his clothes into the guest room as his place for sleeping. He told her that it would be hard for him to sleep in their bedroom while the visions of her lover sleeping there were still fresh in his mind. Reluctantly, she agreed that it was necessary for them at this time. But down deep, she craved for someone to fuck her hard and make her do his bidding.

Jack was more than willing to accept Barry and Carol as his patients. From the very outset of Felix telling him about the crisis in the Knoll marriage, Jack thought this would be a great opportunity to add another test case to his on-going research.

The Knolls met with Jack together on Wednesday, the second day after Carol found out the truth about her lover and the conspiracy. They drove together to their first meeting with the. doctor, both sitting in silence as the car radio played smooth jazz tunes.

Carol was not sure what these counseling sessions would tell her about her fall from grace. In her mind, she was skeptical about 'shrinks' and their ability to help people straighten out their lives. In spite of these misgivings, she was going to see Dr. Lee because it was part of her agreement with Barry, no other reason. She felt that she was 'all right and normal' and that from now on she would be able to control her urges for extra marital sex.

The good doctor had done extensive preparation for this first meeting. There was the patient consent forms that he would have to be filled out and signed by the both of them. That consent would authorize Jack to conduct his therapy session in a more clinical research manner. There would be cameras and audio recording devices in the room during the sessions. He would be granted the freedom to conduct the sessions more like interrogations than the typical Q&A sessions of other therapist. Jack's approach would not be the typical shrink, not like Dr. Melfi talking to Tony Soprano, he would be more aggressive and more demanding of Barry and Carol.

He was up front about the fact that he wanted to peal back all the layers of repressed and active sexual desires. There would be no area of their lives that he would not explore completely. Short of having actual sexual intercourse with her, Jack told her that he would ask many erotic things from her. Including having sessions where she would be completely nude.

Carol was taken back by all of these very intrusive demands that the doctor was requiring of them. She made several mild protest about this level of complete mental and physical intrusion into her life that he was expecting of her.

"It is imperative that I am able to strip away all forms of mental and ego protection that you have built up in your mind, Mrs. Knoll.

"Until we can peal away all those layers in your mind, the whole truth will remain hidden from us. Without those deep truths standing in the glaring light of reality, I can never hope to extend to you the help that you might need to make your marriage work. It won't do you or your marriage any good to try and keep those dark truths buried."

The three of them sat in the silent office for a long minute. Dr. Lee sitting in his wing back chair with a note pad in his lap facing the Knolls. Carol sitting next to Barry on his right side. And waiting foreboding near the wall was the empty analysis couch.

The silent office setting looked like a flash back to the final scene in the movie 'Unfaithful' with Richard Gere and Diane Lane.