Cheater's Plan

After a couple of days Kathy sat down in the chair alongside John and reached out to take his hand. She had decided she needed to tell John what had happened and this was the time.

"John, I have something I need to talk to you about. I love you so much and am so happy you are doing okay now. I was so afraid for you when we first came here and I wanted you to come back from the coma so bad.

"I am sorry you lost your short term memory. There were a lot of very good things that happened in our lives during that time and I will do everything I can to help you recall what they were.

"But John, there was one really bad thing that happened during that time that I am ashamed to tell you about but I must tell you."

She started sobbing and couldn't continue. John hugged her closely and said, "It is okay Kathy, just go ahead and tell me."

Kathy finally got it together and said, "John, I planned to cheat on you with Phil Swanson. You found out and had me served with the separation papers we had executed when we were married. Then you left and went undercover. I had not spoken to you since then until here in the hospital.

"John, I am so sorry I did that. It was the biggest mistake of my life. I am sorry. I can tell you that I did not have sex with Phil and have not had sex with anyone the entire time you were gone from me. I know just planning to do it was bad enough but I never completed my plans. I even took a cab home from the restaurant.

"Oh John, I wish I could go back and change all of that, I can't, I did it and you left me over it and I can't take it back. I am so sorry."

John asked, "Why are you telling me this now Kathy? You could have kept it from me and I probably never would have remembered it."

"Because I love you John and because I couldn't go forward in our marriage with a lie as the foundation. I want you to love me, to forgive me eventually for hurting you and for being so stupid, I want us to have a life together but it has to be on the basis of truth not lies. I was ashamed to tell you John, but I had to tell you if there was going to be any chance for us."

John was extremely hurt by the revelation Kathy laid on him but it did nothing to worsen his condition. He told Kathy that he would have to spend some time thinking about what she had told him and he would talk to her later about it. He asked to be left alone totally for a couple of days.

It was a Monday, three days later that John called a meeting with Kathy, Sharon, his doctor Mark and a nurse who had cared for him named Carol.

Ironically during that three day period John received an envelope from William Barkley, attorney at law. It was a letter from his attorney explaining the documents enclosed.

The letter read:

Dear John,

As you had requested of me, the legal separation papers you and Kathy executed when you were married have been officially filed with the courts. Also, since the six months from that filing date have passed the divorce documents executed back then too have also been filed with the courts. You are officially divorced from Kathy.

Please contact me if there is any additional work you wish me to do for you.

Sincerely,

William Barkley

Attorney at Law

With that letter in hand, John began his meeting with those he had called.

"I just want to thank you for being here for me during this long time of recovery and during these days when I couldn't recall things that have happened over the past year.

"I want you all to know that as of yesterday I believe I have total recall of what was previously lost to me. Dr. I assume there will be those who will want to test out that theory but I believe they will confirm my statement.

"Now, I want to discuss my personal situation."

Dr. Gordon and Carol moved to leave the room but John told them to sit tight for a few minutes.

John continued, "Kathy, I have received notification that our separation and in fact our divorce papers were filed with the court systems per my request and as of this moment we are officially divorced."

A gasp went up from both Kathy and Sharon. "Oh God John, no!" wailed Kathy. "Why did you do this without giving me a chance to make this up to you and work this out?"

John said, "Kathy, it was all automatic once I requested the official separation. It was part of our agreement so many years ago.

"I am going to tell you that I will allow the divorce to remain as it is now. But, I want to explain why to you. You know that I loved Sharon and still do. Then I met you and I knew that we clicked somehow and I loved you at first sight, even more than I loved Sharon.

"That same situation doesn't exist today. Oh, I still love you a great deal, how can I stop that?

But, I don't love you more than I love Sharon anymore. Your actions hurt me so much and it tore a part of my heart away.

"One other thing Kathy, I don't know if I can trust you anymore."

"Oh no John," Kathy piped up, "I will never ever do that to you again."

"But," John continued, "I have an additional reason for believing I can't trust you. Dr. Gordon and Carol, the reason you are here is that I want you to confirm a conversation that I heard in my subconscious brain while I was in a coma.

"This is what I heard. 'Mark, those twins sure are two beautiful women. I bet you have already hit on the sister in law.' 'Well yes I did Carol but she wasn't having any of it. She appears to only have eyes for John. But, one day I thought I was flirting with her and it was in fact the wife and she told me that she wasn't interested. Then she smiled and said that maybe after things settled down she might think about it.' "

Kathy gasped rather loudly. Mark and Carol got weird looks on their faces. John knew that what he had heard was accurate or at least close enough that the total meaning couldn't have been misunderstood.

"Mark and Carol, is that indeed the conversation you had in this very room when you thought I would not hear you? I need an honest answer. Just for once I want to know the truth."

They both looked embarrassed but nodded their head 'yes' to the question. John looked at Kathy and there were tears streaming down her face.

Sharon glared at her sister and yelled, "How in the hell could you do that? What is the matter with you?"

John was very saddened to have this confirmed but held it together. He turned to Mark and Carol and said, "You two can leave. All I wanted was verification of what I thought I heard. I guess you have learned that a person in a coma does indeed have a connection to what is going on around them."

Dr. Gordon and Carol left the room.

John turned to Sharon and said, "Sharon, I am planning on going into witness protection after I testify in court against all of those indicted because of information I have provided. It will be necessary because others connected to them will certainly try to kill me after I testify.

"I want you to come with me. I always did love you and you have proven your love for me and loyalty to me beyond belief. I am not offering marriage because I think I am done with that, but I would love you no less because of that. Will you come with me?"

"John you know I do love you I would love to go with you," Sharon said, "But, no matter how stupid my sister is I cannot leave her out of my life forever. She and I are part of each other and I just couldn't do that."

John nodded, he somehow knew that would be Sharon's answer so he added, "I knew you would tell me that, I knew that is the kind of person you are and I fully expected that answer. I already said that I still loved Kathy even though I am terribly hurt and disappointed in her I still love her and if you agree I will ask her to come with us.

"I am not going to remarry her though because I don't love her more than you as I did before and still don't trust her.

"Will you come with me if Kathy comes with us?"

"Yes I will," Sharon said with a smile.

"Kathy, I know this is an awful shock to you but you have to confess that you brought it all on yourself. I do love you but I don't trust you. I will never remarry you because if you ever are unfaithful to me again I will just walk out of your life. No muss no fuss as they say. That you have earned.

"If you agree to come with us my intentions are to live with both of you, to love both of you and make love to both of you. I would like to have children with both of you. Yes you will both have to share me equally. Our relationship will never be what it was before your actions destroyed the trust. You will live under this threat Kathy; if you ever are unfaithful I will walk away and take any children we do have away from you. This is my promise to you.

"So, under these conditions do you want to go into witness protection with Sharon and me?"

By this time Kathy was sobbing but was able to respond, "Yes John I want to be with you. No matter how stupid I have been I do really love you and my life would lose its meaning if I couldn't be with you. I promise you I will never be so stupid again."

"It's settled then, Kathy and Sharon, from here on I will love both of you equally. I want to build a life for all of us that will make us all happy."

With that John reached out to the twins and brought each of them into his arms and kissed both of them. Kathy's tears had dried up and both smiled at John with the smiles that had melted his heart for years. Somehow he knew this was going to work out.

Epilog:

John did testify in all of the cases against the drug dealers and bosses and every one of them was convicted of one or more offenses. His information was spot on and the prosecution had little trouble proving their cases. They were all sentenced to prison for varying terms from 5 years up to life without parole. These cases were a landmark event in crime prosecution.

For his participation and testimony John was relocated along with the sisters. His location is of course confidential since he is high on the list for retaliation. Exactly what efforts have been made to conceal their identity cannot be disclosed but effectively John, Kathy and Sharon do not exist anymore.

John is now a successful businessman and as a further reward he of course has two beautiful women in his life. He loves them both and they love him. They always sleep together and he often makes love to both of them in the same night in the same bed. There is no apparent jealousy between the sisters and John never has trouble sleeping.

It has been four years since this all happened and John and Kathy have two daughters ages three and one. John and Sharon have a son aged three and a daughter on the way, due in two months.

Every night John goes to sleep with a smile on his face.

Every night Kathy remembers how stupid she was and how lucky she is that she still has John and Sharon in her life and vows to herself that she will never make that mistake again.

Every night Sharon thinks how fortunate for her that Kathy was so stupid. Now she gets to share her life fully with John whom she always loved.

Every night I wish I was John.