Cancer

"Yeah, she's sick again, but it's not cancer," said Kelly

Over the next few minutes, Kelly told me about the places she'd seen my wife lately. She told me about the things she'd seen her do. She even told me about some of the guys she'd seen her with.

"I don't have photos or anything, but it's pretty clear she's cheating on you," she said.

"Kelly, you're a great nurse, and up until now I thought you were a great person too. Ramona would never do that, she loves me," I said, though I didn't believe the words as I said them.

"I'm sorry, to be the one to tell you, but you need to be careful," said Kelly. "I just hate the thought of her doing this to you."

"I don't believe she is doing anything," I snapped. "And all you have is some vague suspicion. No evidence. No proof. Maybe you should just mind your own business!"

I got up and started to leave, but Kelly grabbed my arm. She gently put her hand up and touched my cheek. For some reason, I was frozen in my tracks and my building anger dissipated.

"For your sake," said Kelly softly," I hope I am wrong. It kills me to think of you going through all of this pain for someone who isn't worth your little finger." She gently rubbed my cheek and I swear I felt electricity.

"Whenever you need a friend, I'll be there," she said as she pressed a card into my hand, and then walked away.

I stuffed the card into my pocket, and watched Kelly walk. It had been a while since me and Ramona had done anything, and I was as hard as a steel rod watching Kelly's ass.

That went better than I expected, thought Kelly. If she gave him too much too soon, it would hurt him worse than she'd planned. Better to have a couple of little shocks, than one big devastating blow. She would never do anything to hurt Brad, for any reason, but he had to know about his cheating wife.

Kelly couldn't remember exactly when it was, that she had fallen in love with Brad, it really no longer mattered. It was probably during the time she spent watching him come to the hospital everyday, no matter what to care for Ramona. Or after she started to recover and began treating him as if he was her butler, instead of her husband who' had just endured months of sacrificing everything in his life to be with her.

Kelly knew that she was beautiful, she'd heard it all her life. She'd been with lots of guys, but never one who treated her with anywhere near, the degree of love and affection Brad showed Ramona. She couldn't think of anything she wouldn't give to have someone like that in her life. She was ready for step 2 or her plan.

When I got home 2 nights later I was charged up. The party, though small, would be the start of my quest to rekindle my romantic flames with Ramona. Over the past few days I'd paid more attention to what was going on with us and found her to be distant and drinking far too much. When I finally did go to sleep she was never there. When I awoke she was already asleep. She'd smiled and rolled over when I told her I was planning something special for her birthday.

I knew that she was perhaps drinking and partying a bit much but this was Ramona after all. When we first met she was anti party. She was just trying to experience some of the things that "fat dumpy" Ramona never got to. She was also celebrating the success in her battle against cancer. I just wished that she would celebrate with me; but maybe I was just being selfish

Ramona's mother Maddie arrived at 6:30 with her other daughter, Ravonna.

They began decorating the house, and worked quickly because they knew she'd be there at any moment. There were only 6 other people invited, because I wanted a small intimate get together with a few close friends. By 9 p.m. everyone was wondering where Ramona was and a few of the guests had left their presents and gone home. By 11 p.m. Maddie, Ravonna and I were the only ones there. I called Ramona's cell phone for the 4th time to find out where she was.

Ramona called back a half hour later.

"Hi Honey, I'll be home soon," said Ramona sounding drunk and out of breath.

"Where are you?" I asked.

"My mom wanted to take me out for a drink, and I figured I'd go out with her for a while, instead of coming home. We lost track of time," she said. "Actually I came out with her and my snotty sister, because they still don't like you much and I didn't want their bad attitude to ruin whatever surprise, you have for me," she said. I heard a guy asking her in the background to hurry up back, so they could have some fun.

"Anyway, I'll see you in a bit, so you can give me my surprise," she continued. "Is it a big surprise?" she asked

"Kind of," I said softly.

For a while no one said anything. Then Maddie looked at me. She could see that I was fighting not to cry in front of her. I was shattered. It was as if my whole world had come to an end and I didn't know exactly how to react.

"You know that isn't really true," said Maddie.

"Well, maybe in the beginning, I thought that you were just wrong for Ramona, but that's no longer the case," she said.

"What a bitch," said Ravonna.

"Well thank you ladies very much for coming," I said.

"I'm going to clean up, this mess and put Ramona's presents away," I said. "I'm sure she'll be home soon. You can stay for as long as you'd like but I'm not sure it would be good for you to be here when she gets home." I said.

"Why not?" asked Ravonna, "As her snotty sister, I'd love to see her reaction, when she walks in and gets caught in her damned lie."

"She went through a horrible ordeal, with the cancer," I told her, "None of us know what that was like or what it did to her. All we can do is be there for her and hope this is only a phase." I said quietly. Both Maddie and Ravonna shook their heads as they left.

I went to my closet and started packing my clothes and some personal items.

It didn't take me very long to pack, so I left a note for Ramona on their kitchen table. I packed as many things as I could so I wouldn't have to return for a while.

The next day, I looked for divorce lawyers, while I was at work. I found several listings on the internet but didn't call any of them. I barely spoke to anyone and all of my colleagues thought I must have been fighting off a bug or the flu. Ramona called my cell phone a couple of times and left messages, but I didn't return them.

I followed the same pattern for three days. Go to work. Go home to the motel room I was staying in. Sleep, get up then repeat.

On the third day Kelly was sitting on the hood of my car as I left the building.

She was on the verge of tears, and I didn't know why.

"Why the hell didn't you call me?" she asked.

I didn't answer, I just looked at her, and the wall I'd been putting up to shut off my emotions collapsed. As the tears ran down my cheeks, I quietly said, "you were right."

Kelly jumped off the car and hugged me. I felt like a pervert for noticing the way her breasts smashed against my chest.

"I didn't want to be," she said.

Ramona looked around her apartment. Her head was killing her.

"What day is it?" she wondered. Brad needed to clean this fucking place up when he got home. Why wasn't he home already? What was that banging? She stood up and toddled naked to the door and looked out the peephole. Ugh, it was her mother. She grabbed a dressing gown and opened the door.

"Forgive the mess mother," she said.

"My husband is kind of falling down on the job," she continued

"Ramona where have you been and what have you been doing?" asked Maddie.

"Or who have you been doing from the looks of you," she continued.

"Mother, what are you talking about?" asked Ramona irritably.

"Ramona, why do you have bite marks on your leg?" asked Maddie.

"Oh shit I'd better not let Brad see that," said Ramona.

"Mother can you get me some coffee, my head is splitting?" she asked

Maddie grudgingly went into the kitchen and started to make coffee.

"So how did you cover up your lie, the other night?" Maddie asked.

"What lie mother?" asked Ramona.

"The lie you told your husband, the night of your birthday party," said Maddie.

"Ramona when you told him that you were with me and your sister, we were standing here next to him at the time," said Maddie

Ramona's eyes snapped open, "What?" she said. "I'd better figure out something to say before he gets home," she said. "You've got to help me come up with a plan, mother."

"Why should I?" asked Maddie.

"Mother, I realize that I've been doing some things that I shouldn't have," she said.

"But it was all just for fun. I just wanted a chance to do things, and try things that I never did when I was younger," she said. "When I was younger, I was Fat Ramona, always the hot girl's fat friend, never the one they wanted," she said. "Then I met Brad, and everything changed" she said. "I became more confident. I dressed better, because to him, I was the hot girl. But I was only the hot girl to him. And only because he loves me," she said."But now with all of the weight I lost I started getting attention from more guys, and it's refreshing," she said. "Now I can play with them for a while, and dump them, when I want." she said. "Now I'm the one with the choice, and its fun," she said."It's not a serious thing; I'd never really leave Brad, because I love him. I'm just having fun for just a while," she said. "But you said it yourself, mother, he's kind of ordinary and boring. And Brad will never find out anyway," she said. "He's always working anyway," she continued. "He'd better step up his game or he might just lose me. Just like right now, he should be home by now," she said

"He probably is," said Maddie quietly. She walked over to Ramona and gave her the note she'd found in the kitchen.

"Dear Ramona,

I'm really glad you're out having fun. After what you went through you deserve to. Almost no one beats cancer, but you went into that fight and you won. You more than won it, you obliterated it. You actually came out a stronger, even more beautiful person than you went in. From the very start I knew that you were very special, and I fell madly in love with you. Now you have the confidence to go out there and let everyone see just how special you are, and just how big your heart is. You deserve this as well. I can see now that means there's just no room in your life or heart for me. After all you captured my heart a long time ago and you need to and deserve to keep moving on.

I'm hoping that you get this note tonight and call me, so we can talk about where we go from here, if anywhere. If I don't hear from you tonight I'll just assume the worst, and file for divorce so you can be free of me. You can have the apartment since I couldn't possibly ever return to it anyway, it's too full of memories. I just hope that your next man is more worthy of you, than I was. I tried my best, to do everything, I could for you, obviously I was lacking in some areas and you deserve better. I'll always love you.

Brad."

After reading the letter, Ramona collapsed on the floor sobbing. Maddie, looked at her daughter and thought, "What a fool I raised."

Across town Kelly drove Brad to her house. She walked around the car and opened the door. She reached in and pulled his listless arms to get him out of the car. She walked him up to her door and opened it pulling him inside. She sat him down on her couch and started to talk to him. She could tell that he'd been running on autopilot for a couple of days; just going through the motions. But now he had finally crashed. He's a lot stronger than he thinks he is, she thought. I'm going to help him get that bitch out of his system.

Kelly knew that now was not the time to give him the rest of the information she had on Ramona. For the past week she'd had a PI firm following both Brad and Ramona.She knew the exact date and time when he'd walked out on her, but wanted to give him a few days, before she confronted him. Ramona had done far more than Brad knew and she wasn't sure that his fragile psyche could handle it yet. Baby steps she thought.

She left Brad sitting on her couch and changed into shorts and a T-shirt. She made them a dinner of steaks and a salad. She ate hers while Brad pushed his around on his plate. During this whole time, neither of them had spoken a word.

After dinner Kelly checked Brad's cell phone, she had purposefully turned it off just in case. There were no messages on it yet. That was a good sign; it meant the bitch was still too drunk to realize he was gone.

Kelly called the hospital and told them she'd be gone for a couple of days on personal business. Then she got Brad to call in also. He was reluctant to miss work though because he still had to pay his bills and he couldn't do it missing time at work.

Kelly didn't take no for an answer. Brad called and took the two days off.

Kelly brought him a blanket and laid him down on her couch. She tucked him in as if he was a child and kissed him on his forehead.

"If you need me, for anything, I'm right there," she said pointing upstairs to her bedroom.

Ramona called Brad's cell phone 20 times that night. Pick up the damned phone, she thought. Where the hell was he? She just needed to explain this to him. She didn't want a divorce. She couldn't live without him either. He was her rock, her anchor. So, she'd done some things over the past few weeks, none of that mattered. It was just fun, her marriage was her life. Brad was the one person who really loved her, he always had. Even when she was fat and no one else though she was special, Brad did. When she got cancer, she didn't beat it, they did. Without him there with her she'd have given up long ago, but he wouldn't let her. She remembered a thousand silly things he did. She could still remember the day he came in with all of his hair shaved off. How could she have been so stupid? She called him again. Then she called his job. She knew that he'd be there because he was still working as many hours as he could to pay off their medical bills.

His boss told her that he was taking a couple of days off. He also gave her Brad's new office number, and reminded her that since his promotion Brad worked in a different department. When had Brad gotten a promotion? Ramona felt really bad. For the first time she realized that getting Brad back might not be the slam dunk, she'd expected. Up until now she thought that he was sulking and angry. She could easily overcome his anger by calling him and telling him to come home. Once he got home a little talk and a little sex and he'd be fine. She'd spend the rest of their lives together making it up to him.

Over the past few hours she'd done a lot of thinking and realized that her fun had probably not been worth the risk of losing Brad. She'd started out so smart, how had she become one of those stupid bimbos, she'd hated so much in college. She'd wanted a little fun and some control. She now realized that she hadn't been the one in control after all. They had allowed her the illusion of control, in exchange for something that she should only have given her Brad. There was no love involved just mindless, drunken sex. The only questions now were how much did Brad know, and what would it take for him to forgive her. She on the other hand would never forgive herself. She had become what she hated most.

Kelly very slowly and very carefully worked on Brad. First they went to his hotel and retrieved his clothes and belongings. Then she took him shopping for things that he needed. Next, at her insistence, they moved his things into the guestroom in her house. She got him talking; just a few words at first, but soon they were having full conversations. The only thing they didn't talk about was Ramona. After the 2 days were up and both needed to return to work she gave him back his cell-phone. As she watched, he checked his messages. There were over a hundred calls from Ramona. He deleted them all without listening to them. He had a firmer set to his jaw and she thought that he might be OK.

When Brad got to work, he was better, not back to himself yet, but better than he'd been. Some of his colleagues had seen Kelly pick him up the other day, and there'd been plenty of gossip about it.

"So Brad, who the hell was that redhead driving that Mustang?" asked his friend Dave.

"Brad's got a friggin' supermodel on the side," said another colleague.

Brad smiled, but said nothing. Kelly was definitely beautiful. In terms of pure physical beauty she was much prettier than Ramona. Had he actually thought that?

The damper was put on Brad's good mood when someone suggested that he was cheating on Ramona with the mysterious redhead. No one knew the real story; that Ramona was cheating on him. Everyone assumed everything was fine with Brad, until it was time to go home.

The security guard came bursting into Brad's office and told him he needed to get to the parking lot, NOW!

Brad thought that someone had perhaps hit his car or damaged it. He was unprepared for the scene he found. Brad heard the yelling before he even got to the parking lot.

"What the fuck are you doing on my husband's car you God damned home wrecking bitch!" screamed Ramona.

"You gave him up, when you did your magic trick," said Kelly just as loudly.

"What the fuck are you talking about, you silly cunt?" asked Ramona.

"You disappeared into a liquor bottled and transformed yourself into a whore," spat Kelly.

The security guards were holding the women back from each other, but a large crowd had drawn up to watch.

Brad went over to Kelly and put her in her Mustang. He quietly told her to drive to her house and he'd follow immediately. He then told the security guards to keep Ramona there for at least 10 minutes, and drove off after Kelly. He saw Ramona screaming after him, he still loved her more than she'd ever know but he was angry now.

"Brad, we have to talk," she screamed. "We can work this out, you still love me. I can see it in your eyes." The terrible thing about it was that she was right. Brad drove away with tears in his eyes.

Later at Kelly's house, Brad was ready to talk.

"What do you want to do Brad?" asked Kelly.

"I guess I want to find out what happened to my marriage" said Brad.

"Do you really want to know?" asked Kelly.

"Of course, I do" said Brad.

"I don't think you do" said Kelly. She went into her office and pulled out a large manila envelope. She placed it on the table in front of him and said, it's all in here, but please don't open it.

"What is it?" asked Brad.

"When I went to tell you about her after seeing her, you said that I had no proof," said Kelly. "And you were right, I knew what I'd seen, but just like when it happened to me, I didn't want to believe it," said Kelly. "I knew you would need proof so, I got a PI to follow her," she said. "It didn't cost me anything because he's my cousin, and he owed me a favor anyway. I've stitched him up a few times."

"There are pictures, audio tapes, receipts, reports and even video, but trust me, if you still have even a grain of love left in your heart for her, you don't want to see it," said Kelly. "For now, you know that proof does exist, that she has definitely done things that have broken her marriage vows, but seeing it would only hurt you more," she continued. "Once you've seen the hard evidence you won't be able to get the sight out of your mind for a very long time," she said.

"You're starting to see it. I know it's going to take you a long time to get over her, but you're starting to come out of this," she said hopefully. "All this file can do is to set you back. But do what you think you need to do." she continued. "What should we have for dinner?" said Kelly turning toward the kitchen.

Brad reached for the file and pulled out the first of the pictures. It clearly showed Ramona lying on a table in what appeared to be a bar. Her dress was raised up to her waist and she had no panties on. There were at least 3 men with their hands on her vagina or her breasts. Ramona hand's appeared to be fondling one man's penis through his pants. Until that moment Brad had thought his separation from Ramona was painful. But the sight of the picture was like a physical blow. He had trouble focusing and even breathing.