How High a Price: Broken Trust

This is my suggestion for an ending to the story, "How High a Price", by the Troubador. In his introduction, he said of Susan and Early Conroy, "They are attractive people, keep that in mind. They are highly intelligent, caring and feeling individuals. Keep that in mind also." I tried to keep that in mind, but odd things happen to intelligent, caring individual when they stop trusting their spouse. Like the original, this is about couples, choices, emotions. It has no sex, but is about sex.

Be kind to me, dear readers. This is my first submission to Literotica.

* * * * *

How long Early sat alone on the deck behind the house, he was not certain. The sun had climbed well past midday as he played the morning's events over in his mind. Had someone told him a week ago that his life would have turned into such a disaster, he would have thought them crazy. He had a successful career and a nice home. He had a gorgeous, talented wife whom he loved more than life itself. Better still, he was convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that Susan felt the same toward him. Now? He just didn't know!

His heart broke as he listened to the muffled sound of Susan's sobs coming through the sliding door. If she could only admit what she had done, if she would just tell him honestly that she had slept with John Strickner and begged Early to forgive her, maybe he could feel some hope. At least then they would be on the way toward healing. A few months of counseling, mixed together with some serious work to rebuild communications and maybe he and Susan could be whole again. They would never again be back where they were before this all happened. Those halcyon days were gone forever. Once trust is broken in a marriage, a part of the hurt never heals. But at least if Susan admitted that what she did was wrong, they could move forward.

Early thought about all of the evidence. There was Susan's lie about being home, the fact that she was out of the office both Thursday and Friday, and the image of Susan's gray BMW parked beside John Strickner's garage. Even more haunting were Susan's own words--talk about owning John big time and saying that it was something he deserved. God! How could she? Yet in spite all of the evidence, Susan still wanted to make it sound as though her cheating was no big thing. Early wiped the moisture from his eye. The worst part of all? Even with all that Early knew about his wife's tryst with John, he still loved her!

By the time Early realized that the house behind him had become extremely quiet, several hours had passed. He decided to go look for Susan. Maybe she was thinking more clearly, more serious. Maybe having had some time to consider the sad state of their marriage, Susan was ready to own up to what she had done and how badly she had worked to destroy their marriage. There might yet be a chance to move toward that road of healing.

Early was surprised to see things exactly as they had left them. Dirty dishes still filled the sink. Susan's things were still where she had dropped them, and his tea cup was still on the mantle beside their wedding picture. The house was ghostly quiet. A little bit of panic crept into the back of Early's mind. What if Susan had done something stupid? What if she had tried to....

No! No, he couldn't even think of something so horrible. Susan had prostituted herself for career advancement, but she was still his wife, the woman he had promised to love for better or for worse. With a little quicker step, Early hurried to the master bedroom. What he saw was definitely not what he expected. Wearing only a white satin basque and matching lace panties, Susan was sitting at her make-up table carefully brushing her beautiful long hair. It shimmered in the late afternoon light, looking even more beautiful than he remembered. Then Susan laid down her brush and opened a new package of black thigh high nylons and began to slide one up her leg.

Early let out a frustrated sigh. "Susan, if you think..."

Susan didn't even look toward him. "Don't even think about it, buster!" The bite of her words communicated the look Early had often seen on her face. It was the angry determination of a lawyer preparing to attack. "I'm so--so mad at you!" She paused for a moment, her whole body tensing. "Damn you! Damn you Early Conroy!"

A contrite Susan was what he had anticipated. A Susan in passive denial he might have expected. A resolute Susan, stubborn and unyielding in her insistence that she had nothing wrong would not have been a surprise, but an angry woman spitting out venomous words was the very last thing Early expected to find.

Susan took a deep breath, shook her head, and then finished pulling the elasticized stocking up her long, beautiful leg and prepared to put the other one on her left leg. She slid her foot into the stocking and stopped. "If I didn't love you more than anything else in the world, I'd leave you right now and never look back."

"Me?" Early spat the word out. "You have the audacity to attack me when it was you who willingly broke our wedding vows? I catch you prostituting yourself--caring more for your career than your marriage--and I am the bad guy?"

Susan said nothing. When she had smoothed the last nylon into place, she crossed the room to her closet. She took a long time before retrieving her favorite "little black dress." The strapless mini dress had just enough lycra and nylon to cling to Susan's frame, accentuating all of Susan's best features.

"Where are you going?" Early demanded.

"Why should I tell you? You wouldn't believe me if I told you. You don't trust me, remember? You made that perfectly clear today."

"Don't you think I have a right to my suspicions?"

"Sure! Anyone has the right to be an idiot."

"So now I'm an idiot." Early fumed as he watched his loving wife slither into the tiny, sexy dress knowing that he was not going to be the one to help remove it tonight. "Are you going to him again?"

"No, I am not going to see John." Susan inspected herself in the mirror. "And I still don't like how you make what I did sound so tawdry. If you only knew what those two days were like..."

"Thank you. I'd rather not. I'm not the kind who relishes being the cuckold, having the sordid details of their wife's tryst rubbed in their face."

"Early, I may be guilty of a lot of things--poor communications being at the top of the list--but I am not guilty of anything as tawdry as you make it sound. What I did was beautiful and nothing you say will change that." She looked at the smirk Early gave her and then added, "But then you know that happened, don't you?"

"Yes Susan," Early sighed. "I know what you did! Why can't you just admit it? I can forgive you if you do. But we can never begin to heal as long as you are in denial."

"You know what I did," Susan repeated, placing emphasis on the second word.

"Yes, of course I do! What do you think all that stuff we talked about this morning was?"

Although Early hadn't noticed it, Susan's voice had indicated her shift into lawyer mode. "And you have evidence to prove what you know to be true." Susan emphasized the same word as earlier.

"Of course I do!" Early let out a frustrated sigh. "Susan don't do this; don't deny it. We both know what happened. Please..."

"No, I know what happened. You only think you do."

Susan smoothed the dress over her hips, making sure that the skirt was pulled just far enough down toward her knees to tease.

"I saw you, Susan!"

Susan erupted into laughter. "You saw me? Now this I've got to hear!"

"Your car was parked outside John's house! I saw it there on Friday. You spent two nights with him."

Susan slid her feet into her sexiest stiletto pumps. "Early, you are a great trouble shooter. I'm proud of what a great job you do at work. Your boss doesn't know what a talented worker he has, but when it comes to examining things closer to your personal life, you suck!"

Early ignored the jab. "So you're not going to tell me where you're going."

Susan smiled and shook her head. "As I said before, you wouldn't believe what I tell you anyway. I'm not going to see John, if that's what you want to know. Beyond that, all I am going to say to you is that I belong to you--only to you. I always have and always will. I have no plans to do anything tonight that would either put that promise at risk or make me ashamed of myself."

"If you go, I may not be here when you get home!"

"That's totally up to you, Early. I can't make you believe me or trust me. Whatever you do, just remember that I love you." With that, Susan got up, checked her make-up one last time, put on her lipstick, and headed toward the door. Before leaving the room, she turned and glared at Early. "And only a fool goes to trial with only circumstantial evidence to back up their case."

Before he could stop her, Susan had hurried to her car. He listened in shock at the sound of her heels as they clicking on the hardwood floor. A few moments later, Susan's BMW came alive and backed out of the garage. Then in frustration, Early picked up a book that had been lying on the night stand and hurled it against the closet door. His vision suddenly blurry, Early slumped to the edge of the bed.

Early couldn't believe what had happened. His beautiful wife, the person he had loved more than life itself had just left the house looking as though she were headed off on a date. She claimed that she was not going to meet with John Strickner, but if not John, then who? Were there others? Was their marriage really over? From where he sat, it sure looked to Early as though it was.

Wiping a tear from his eye, Early wandered back through the house, stopping in the kitchen to pour himself a scotch and soda. As he took a long gulp of the drink, he spotted Susan's overnight bag, still sitting on the dining room chair where she had left it that morning. He stared at it for long moment while he worked on his drink.

When she left the house, Susan had implied that Early didn't have solid evidence to prove his case. Well, if that was what she needed, he'd give it to her. He unzipped the bag and crudely dumped its contents on the dining room table. Out fell a pair of sweats, a bathing suit (not the hot little red bikini Early liked so well, but the older one--the more modest one), a pair of jeans, and an oversized tee shirt. He also found a John Gresham novel, a pair of pajamas, and a change of underwear (not Susan's best, but something he's expect to find her wearing around the house). A separate bag contained Susan's toiletry kit. He poked in it and only found the minimum: tooth brush, comb, a few odds and ends of make up, and the creams she usually used. There was nothing special. Hmm! An odd assortment for a two day tryst. Not exactly the kind of thing he had expected to find. Early picked up the novel. And what's with this? Who takes a book on a date? The Joy of Sex, maybe...but John Gresham?

He was still poking through things strewn across the table when the doorbell rang. Early almost didn't answer it, but when it rang insistently for the third time, Early changed his mind.

It was Jennifer, Susan's executive secretary. "Hi Jennifer. How's Brandon?"

Both Susan and Early had a lot of admiration for Jennifer. Not a single mother by choice, Jennifer had been forced to deal not only with a child with spinal deformity, but a husband and father who had abandon them soon after Brandon was born. The only help Brandon's father provided was a check in the mail every month, and with Susan's help, that check was as large as the court would allow.

"Oh, Brandon is doing wonderful! Thanks for asking. These past couple days with nothing but special attention has made him one very happy little boy."

That made Early feel good. At least Jennifer seemed to have benefited from a couple days off. Brandon was a sweet natured little boy and it make Early happy to know that he and his mother had enjoyed two days together.

"Is Susan here?"

Early sighed and tried not to look too angry. "No, she went out for a while."

"Oh, that's too bad. I hope you know what a wonderful wife you have. I'm sure she's told you about all that she did over the last week. She's such a romantic!"

Early was stunned. "You approve?"

A confused look washed over Jennifer's face. "Oh God! She hasn't told you!" She edged backward toward he door. "I'm--I'm sorry. Don't let Susan know that I said anything."

Jennifer's hand was on the door nob when Early stopped her. "Wait! What do you know that I don't? What's going on between Susan and John Strickner?"

Jennifer cocked her head in confusion. "Susan and John? You mean the Melrose case?"

"No! I mean two nights they spent sleeping together!"

Jennifer squealed and then erupted in fits of laughter. "Oh Early! If Susan told you that, she was just pulling your leg!" Jennifer's face slowly began to color. "Susan didn't spend those two days sleeping with John, I did! That's what I wanted to tell her. John asked me to marry him and we've already set the date."

Early opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. He felt himself unsteady on his feet.

"Are you all right? You're suddenly as white as a sheet."

"So--so Susan..."

"Spent two days at John's house taking care of Brandon while John and I had three wonderfully romantic days in Cancun. She did it for you, Early. It's supposed to be a surprise."

"Oh shit!" Early slumped back against the hall closet door.

Early promised to let Susan know that Jennifer had dropped by and also agreed not to say anything about their conversation. As soon as he was alone, Early raced to his Mercedes and started looking for a gray BMW. Dressed as she was, there weren't many placed he would have expected to find her.

What worried Early most was what Susan was doing now. He knew that his accusation about an affair with John Strickner had been wrong. What Jennifer had told him suddenly fit with what he had found in Susan's overnight bag. It hadn't been a romantic tryst, but a babysitting outing. She had likely been at Strickner's house because John had a huge pool and hot tub--the perfect place for some physical therapy with a handicapped little boy.

Now, however, Susan was out God knows where dressed like a million bucks. Had she gotten so mad at him for falsely accusing him that she had gone out to get even? Oh God! If she had, then Early knew that he deserved it.

Then he found it. The gray BMW was parked in plain sight at "Delaney's", a quiet club next to the Marriott. Early sighed deeply. Things didn't look too good.

Early slipped in and found a quiet, dark place near the bar where he could survey the place before deciding what to do. His heart sank when he finally saw Susan. She was sitting at a booth in the center of the club. Across the table from her was a handsome man about her own age. Susan was leaning across the table, Susan's date holding her hands. They appeared to be engaged in a deep, personal discussion. Well, maybe Early was wrong about Strickner, but it looked as though he hadn't been completely wrong.

Early ordered a drink and for a long while just sat, watching his wife and her friend talk. Then Susan got up and walked toward the ladies room. Early moved instantly. Like a shot he crossed the room, grabbed his wife's unknown companion by the shirt and roughly pulled him to his feet.

"Hi, you son of a bitch! My name is Early Conroy and that's my wife you're with."

"Early! You stop it now!" The voice came from behind him.

Susan jumped between her husband and her friend, pushing Early back. "Early, this has gone far enough. When will you learn to trust me?" Then turning to her friend, she said, "Father Mike, are you all right? Did he hurt you?"

Early felt as though all the air had been knocked out of him. A priest? "Oh shit! I did it again."

He closed his eyes, pursed his lips, and lowered his head. "Father Mike," Early began in a soft voice. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have gone off on you like that. Susan, I don't know what you think of me." Early couldn't even look his wife in the eyes. "I know about the time you spent with Brandon. I actually came looking for you to apologize. It seems as though all I managed to accomplish was to make a complete ass of myself."

"But Early, how could you even think that.... I told you I loved only you. Why can't you trust me?"

Early shook his head. "I don't know. I guess...." Early shrugged. "I don't know."

Father Mike laid one hand on Early shoulder and the other on Susan's. "I think I know. Once trust has been broken--even if by mistake--it takes a while to be regained. Don't blame Early, Susan. He loves you."

"Look," Early said, quickly backing away. "You two finish your conversation. I'll meet you at home."

"Early, wait," Susan called, but Early ignored her. He needed time alone.

As Early slowly drove the city, the realization slowly hit home. He had been the problem all along. Susan had been faithful to her vows to him, but he had failed in his vows to her. She hadn't cheated on him with John Strickner, she had taken care of Jennifer's son so that Jennifer and John could have a romantic weekend apart.

Then, after coming home and hearing Early rip into her, demonstrating beyond a shadow of a doubt his lack of trust in her, she had gone out to talk with a priest. Suddenly the question that filled Early's mind was not if he could forgive Susan, but whether Susan could forgive him. Early made a couple of stops along the way, but headed home to find the answer to that question.

Susan was sitting in the kitchen when Early returned. "I was worried when you weren't here," she whispered.

Early handed his wife the bouquet of roses he's stopped to pick up. "I also have some champagne--if there is a partnership to celebrate."

Susan shrugged. "Won't know until tomorrow, but I think there's a pretty good chance. John said that the senior parters were pretty convinced. All they wanted to see was the outcome of the Melrose case."

Early set the champagne bottle on the counter and took his wife into his arms. "How can I begin to apologize for what I accused you of?"

"I think you'll find a way." Susan nuzzled her face into Early's neck. "What hurt worst wasn't that you didn't trust me, but that I did it for you. John told me he wanted to pop the question with Jennifer on a romantic get-away. He also knew that she would never leave Brandon with anyone she didn't trust. He arranged for me and a private therapist to spend two days at his house with Brandon. While the two of them were in Cancun, the nurse and I were in the pool giving Brandon some therapy." Susan gave Early a gentle kiss. "In return, John has a time share on a condominium in Costa Rica. He promised that you and I can use it for a week next June over our anniversary."

Early gave his wife a gentle kiss. The embrace grew in intensity as their tongues battled. When the kiss broke, Early whispered, "I promise never to mistrust you again. I belong to you, my darling."

"And I belong to you--I always have and always will."

Early scooped Susan into his arms and carried her to the master bedroom. In spite of it all, Susan's smile melted his heart. Her eyes twinkled with love as Early lifted her dress over her head. Early couldn't help chuckling at how things had changed in the last few hours. He was the one who helped remove that gorgeous dress off after all.

Susan placed a gentle kiss on Early's lips and then scrambled onto the bed. Early was quick to shed his clothes and join her. He loved the soft satiny feel of Susan's basque as he held her close.

It was a long evening and Early was in no hurry. Making love with Susan tonight was going to be special, and at least for tonight, that big bed would not be lonely.