Gang Aft Agley Ch. 04

"After we did the first two times we decided to order a pizza. That's when I knew I should have packed another nightgown. I had to wear a baggy T shirt or get fully dressed. Joel did spend the night with me. I told you that much when we finally talked Sunday morning." Nancy knew buying the nightgowns had nothing to do with Joel and everything to do with seducing James. Part of her mind wondered why she wove the nightgowns into the Joel part of her story but she decided to let the reason slide. It just wasn't that important to her or to Robert.

Nancy also decided not to use much time telling details of her time with Joel. She was ready to have her husband in bed. She left out their bareback sex session in the middle of the night, and let Robert assume Nancy's morning finale was with a covered cock as well. It took Robert almost no time to tell of his second lady. He too wanted to get his wife into bed in that enticing gown she was wearing. Both Nancy and Robert had their desires satisfied. Robert thought his wife was the most beautiful woman in the world stretched out for him on white sheets in black nightgown.

Reflecting backward on the third Friday night revelations of summer adventure, Nancy realized that she and her husband both downplayed their long term romances. She described James mostly as study partner she slept with for sex when she missed Robert and wanted a warm male body beside her at night. Screwing was afterthought; Nancy never did describe in detail the wonders of foreplay James gave her body or some of the new to her techniques she had already shared with her husband.

Robert did admit that Friday nights Marjorie always took her place in the master bedroom, but explained that choice as more convenient so he could share a goodnight poem with Leezabad. He also admitted that sometimes he would spend the night in Marjorie's bed during the week. He didn't think it necessary to dwell on the details of extra clothes in her closet and leaving his travel kit on Marjorie's bathroom counter for most of the summer.

Monday, walking from her car into the school building, Nancy gave a small whistle to the best of her ability. Aloud to the sky she gave thanks that the own up to summer fun part of her life was behind her. Once again her colleague Jane happened to notice and comment. "You must have had another one of those weekends, Nancy, good for you."

Nancy smiled and waved, "Yeah, I guess I did, Jane, I guess I really did."

> > > - - < < <

The veil shrouding Nancy's continuing relationship with James was becoming more and more murky. After the second of their Wednesday conversations Nancy realized that Robert just might get some hint of her calls when he went through their bills with his usual MBA mindset. She purchased a simple prepaid phone that she kept at school turned off except on the Wednesdays she spoke with her lover, problem solved.

Their weekly calls and her memories were all Nancy had of her affair. She hadn't seen James; they didn't even exchange emails. Both were being models of discretion. They really weren't having an affair, were they? Yes, they really were having an affair and they would get together if and when they could, Nancy admitted. I want to continue my summer affair with James, not often, but often enough.

Nancy pushed the only speed dial number she programmed on the little pink phone. After two rings she heard, "Hello, Nancy?"

"My darling James, yes, it's your Nancy. It's the lady who really misses being next to you, holding you, kissing you and loving you." The illicit couple swapped endearments and desires for a few minutes then Nancy outlined her schedule. "I'm almost finished the final draft of my thesis; I want to submit before the month is out and try to do my defence by the end of November. My first elementary teacher's council meeting will be the first weekend in November. Will you be at that one; can we be together?"

James assured Nancy they would be together at the meeting. He too needed the warmth and affection of the woman who had been so much of his life this past summer. James hinted that there might be a way to get adjoining rooms in the hotel where the elementary school teacher's council had their meeting. He also asked Nancy keep him abreast of plans for her thesis defence. "If there's a way for me to support you I would come in a heartbeat."

"Oh god James, that would be so perfect. You know how good you are for me with organization and building my confidence. Having you with me would be so perfect," Nancy paused and pursed her lips in a kiss gesture James couldn't see or feel. "You are so perfect beside me and inside me too. I want you."

The lovers talked for just a few minutes longer before Nancy looked at her wrist to check the time. "I need to get back to my class my love. Here is my kiss and hug through the phone line. I love you my sweet James. Goodbye for now, for this week." Nancy clicked the END button. She tingled from inside to out as she returned to her fifth graders with a glow on her face.

> > > - - < < <

Until the first Friday in November Nancy could argue that her phone calls with James met the letter, if not the spirit, of the Memorial Day to Labor Day pact with her husband. From this day forward she knew she could not win that argument. Nancy Winthrop had every intention of knowingly breaking her wedding vows to Robert Winthrop this November weekend. When she packed her suitcase last night Nancy made sure the yellow nightgown only James had seen was included. On a whim she also packed the pink baby doll nightie. Robert carried the suitcase to his wife's car while she filled Leezabad's school lunch box. All three shared kisses, hugs and words of caution to be careful and safe while Nancy was apart from her family this weekend. Nancy waved goodbye as she left for work; the smile she beamed was for her lover James who would be bed partner tonight.

The young girl at check-in gave Nancy a knowing smile as she handed over the key to Room 414. James checked in a half hour prior and insisted she make sure a Mrs. Nancy Winthrop was booked into the room next to his. I'll bet housekeeping only has to change the sheets in one of those rooms tomorrow, the clerk thought. Nancy clutched in passionate embrace with James almost before the girl's smile faded.

A social mixer gave opportunity for Nancy to meet some of the other early arriving delegates. James knew everyone so he made introductions which gave reason that he was constantly close to the attractive elementary teacher from Kansas City's suburbs. Several times Nancy slipped up and reached to hold hands with her lover. Many at the reception noticed the small intimacy but no one said anything, at least within Nancy's hearing.

Shortly before nine Nancy excused herself saying she had to return to her room to call home. She asked James to give her twenty minutes privacy then she would be ready for him. James was prompt; Nancy answered the soft knock on the adjoining door wearing the yellow nightgown she reserved for him. They shared a single glass of wine. Foreplay began at nine-thirty. James and Nancy made love until midnight and then slept snuggled close until dawn.

Saturday evening followed much the same routine; Nancy wore her skimpy pink nightgown. They ordered room service breakfast-in-bed Sunday morning. Nancy wore a radiant - I just had great sex - glow all through their last meeting session Sunday morning. Nancy insisted on one quick final love making instead of lunch. She was sure the drive home with James warmth filling her inside was more important than soup and salad in her stomach.

That evening Nancy talked of the people she met and the meetings she attended. She made no mention of James, of course. That she had spent the weekend in premeditated sex with her lover did not faze her a bit. In her mind Nancy accepted that she had finally been unfaithful to her wedding vows, but infidelity was with her lover James. As long as she was faithful to James as lover and faithful to Robert as husband her life was in balance. Her veil and vow slipped further into background.

Nancy's trip beginning the Sunday after Thanksgiving was an even more blatant adultery. Her defence of thesis was scheduled for Tuesday, but she decided to travel Sunday and meet with her professor Monday. She wanted to be totally relaxed and focused, she told Robert. In truth she wanted as much time as possible with James. With no others to ask questions one hotel room would be sufficient. Friday evening at dinner Leezabad did ask a question that took her mother's breath away and nearly blew her cover too. "Momma, since your trip is for a final exam is James going to be there to help you study?" Leezabad was not as young and naive about matters sexual and adult relationships as her mother and father would like to believe. Children do grow up.

"What - James?" A pause and cough allowed Nancy to continue, "Oh no honey, this time it is just me all alone." Nancy checked in and got the keys to her hotel room at two p.m. while James didn't arrive until almost three. They had enough time to make love before dinner.

Except for a forty-five minute meeting with her professor Monday and the three hour defence with her committee Tuesday morning, Nancy devoted all remaining time to her lover. From Sunday afternoon until checkout time Wednesday she may as well have been James wife. They spent every possible moment together. They made love at twice every day.

Robert was surprised arriving home from work Wednesday to find Nancy so upbeat; she was smiling, humming to herself as she fixed dinner and almost bouncing. He remembered back to the final review for his MBA. He had been drained for days after. Well, there is a difference between a business degree and an elementary education degree, Robert assumed, still . . . I wonder if there might be something else?

They made love that Wednesday night. Nancy seemed frantic as she sexed with her husband; Robert was far more casual and relaxed. He pulled his wife close and went to sleep straightaway. Nancy lay awake nestled close to her main man with very guilty memories flooding her psyche. When she woke Thursday morning Nancy knew she must let the whole truth of her relationship with James out from behind the veil; she must tell Robert all

"Tonight I want the mousie Dada, tell me about the mousie's house." Leezabad tried her best to project her I'm a big girl self now that she was in junior high school, but on Friday nights at bed time she was still her Dada's little girl.

Once again Robert told his daughter the tale Burns wrote about the mouse who had his home destroyed just as winter's storms and winds approached.

Wee, sleekit, cow'rin, tim'rous beastie,
O, what a panic's in thy breastie!
Thou need na start awa sae hasty
Wi bickering brattle!
I wad be laith to rin an' chase thee,
Wi' murdering pattle.

I'm truly sorry man's dominion
Has broken Nature's social union,
An' justifies that ill opinion
Which makes thee startle
At me, thy poor, earth born companion
An' fellow mortal!
(several stanzas omitted)

Toward the end of tonight's poem Leezabad decided she wanted to test her memory and her brogue. She recited the last stanzas as her Dada looked on.

But Mousie, thou art no thy lane,
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men
Gang aft agley,
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promis'd joy!

Still thou are blest, compared wi' me!
The present only toucheth thee:
But och! I backward cast my e'e,
On prospects drear!
An' forward, tho' I canna see,
I guess an' fear!

"Very good my little precious flower, your brogue is just like mine and your memory even better. Next Friday night you can read to me." Leezabad gave her Dada a big hug and kiss before saying goodnight to both parents and heading off to bed.

It's time, Nancy thought, I can't put telling off any longer. Is this going to be a Sexy Couples night, or a new TV show - Severed Couples? "Robert my love, we need to go back and revisit what we've told each other about our summer adventures. I don't think you revealed everything about you and Marjorie. I know I have more to tell about me and James."

"You're right about Marjorie, and I've been thinking lately there is something going on with you and someone. Is it James?"

"Yes, me and James, you might say something going on. Tell me about you and Marjorie first; have you seen her lately?"

"Me first; you're the one . . .? You want me to go first to know how much of your truth to tell, is that it?" Robert stood and walked away.

Nancy called out to him, "No, no, Robert no", but he disappeared into the kitchen. Oh crap, what now; I am not making a good start of this. She saw Robert returning with something in his hand. As he sat back down Nancy recognised the calendar they kept in the kitchen.

"I wanted to make sure I hadn't missed something about this year's calendar, the dates I mean. As I thought, Labor Day is still in September and this is November, isn't it Nancy? Do you teach your fifth graders about dates and calendars and that sort of stuff?"

Nancy sighed, "Yes Robert, it is November; I know Labor Day is long past." She was about to change tactics and just admit to her ongoing affair when Robert continued.

"Okay, about Marjorie, about me, we did have an arrangement the last half of the summer. Call what we had an affair if you like." Robert was clearly annoyed with his wife. He intended to describe his affair with his office mate succinctly, directly and with a tone of vehemence.

"Yes, I still see Marjorie every day, Monday through Friday; we work together."

"Yes, I talk to Marjorie; I say hello to her almost daily. That's it!"

"Yes, we spent weekends here in this house, in our bedroom, every weekend."

"We had great sex together in our bed."

"Yes, I slept in her bed during the week."

"I was with her Tuesday and Wednesday every week."

"Do you want to know about after Labor Day?" Robert went on without waiting for an answer. "Marjorie and I became close over the summer. We had feelings for each other socially as well as sexually, emotionally too I think."

"Yes, I admit, I didn't want to lose everything we had with each other."

Robert paused for breath; he just stared at his wife a moment and Nancy could see his anger painted all over his face. "I knew I had to give up any emotional attachment and especially any sexual activity with Marjorie. I knew that and accepted that much, Nancy." Robert left unsaid, unasked, the obvious what about you question.

"Yes, I admit, I wanted to keep our social closeness. I asked Marjorie out for an after work cocktail so we could just talk. Do you know what happened?"

"Here's what she said: No, don't ask again. She said we had too much together over the summer to continue casually. She wanted me too."

"Marjorie also said she would never do anything to come between you and me, Nancy. She said she would not be responsible for breaking up our marriage."

"Marjorie told me never to mention any relationship we had over the summer, never again."

"There! -- That's my story! -- Satisfied? -- Have you heard enough about me and Marjorie?"

Robert was still hot under the collar, his heat directed toward his wife Nancy as it had never been in their years of marriage. "Have I told enough to let you scrape the mud off your affair with James?"

Robert suspended his vocal attack and focused his gaze squarely into his wife's eyes. He considered whether to use his last thrust, his final accusation. He had no proof but he knew. "I have told you about Marjorie saying no to even a continued friendship. Are you going to tell me about James fucking you through you master's defence weekend?"

Nancy gasped. She bowed her head because she couldn't face her husband. Tears flowed from her eyes. How did Robert know? Softly, so softly Nancy spoke; she was barely audible. "I'll tell you. About James and me, I'll tell you everything. Please let me tell you my way."

Nancy sat on the sofa beside her husband, head still down, still crying. She sat there and cried remaining silent for a minute, a second minute and then a third. Robert reached for her hand. Nancy's tears removed the jagged edge from his anger. Robert hurt, but he still had love. "Wipe your eyes. Let me pour another glass of wine." Nancy raised her head and nodded agreement. She kissed her husband lightly. Taking the glass, she drank her wine and tried her best to compose herself and her thoughts.

"James wasn't my lover, not at first; we studied together, mostly in the student center or the library. He is almost fifty years old. After the two younger guys I tried out as sex partners, I decided to seduce James. That's when I bought the nightgowns; that's when we started using my apartment to study. James was really great at helping me organize my study work. He's really great at organization, so thorough."

"He's thorough at other things too, foreplay and afterward. You know how much that sort of attention means to me. He is terrific; he makes me glow." Nancy paused in her story; she looked inside herself and remembered her summer with her James.

"I didn't have you Robert, I'm sorry but I really needed someone at times. Not always, but I needed someone to hold me. We didn't make love every night, not even most nights." Nancy took a few deep breaths. "We studied every night."

What Nancy didn't see in her admission about James as lover was how much she used him to replace Robert while she was away from her family. James became her support and she attached to him as though he was part of her. Had she been living at home Robert would have been her James and there would have been no affair. Nancy didn't make the connection but her true husband certainly did. His wife had just pierced him.

"I wanted my summer relationship to continue too, Robert, just as you wanted something with Marjorie I wanted some little bit of what I had with James to live on. I don't work with James. I don't see him every day. I can't even say hello James in the morning. I needed something."

Robert just couldn't resist exploding into her story. He almost screamed, "So you decided to fuck him since you couldn't say hello, is that it? Come on Nancy; that's so weak."

"Nooo! No, no, no, that's not how it is; that's not what I mean at all." Nancy wailed. "I talk to him by phone every week, every Wednesday afternoon, we talk. I bought a new cell phone. It's pink. I only use it to call James every Wednesday. I keep it at school with my things."

"James is the one who got me appointed to that committee so we could see each other at least once a month. He agreed to take some vacation and be with me when I did my defence. He helped me. He relaxed me. James was good for me there."

Once again Robert boiled over. "I'll bet he relaxed you. I'll bet he was good for you. I'll bet he used his lips and his hands and his dick and relaxed the hell out of you, didn't he? Tell me he didn't screw you every day. Tell me he didn't fuck your pussy inside out. You are a fine piece of work as far as being a faithful wife and mother; you're one hell of a good example to our daughter aren't you?" Robert finally let up; he stood once again and paced back and forth in front of his wife.

Nancy could do nothing but break into tears again. She sobbed and sobbed as Robert berated her. Finally she went to get a tissue to blow her nose and wipe her eyes. When she returned she reached for Robert and guided both to sitting on the sofa again. She was determined to steer their conversation forward and away from her infidelities.