John and Cheryl Ch. 03

Cheryl came over and sat near me. "Hi, John." She looked up at me demurely.

"Hi." I just looked back.

"How are Ted and Natalie?"

"Well. The arraignment was covered by the papers in a pretty salacious manner. I had to sit the kids down and tell them that you had been drugged, attacked and hurt, that's why you ended up killing some men in self defense. They haven't been teased by their friends yet, so things are still a little calm."

She stared at me for a second then looked at the floor. "You should tell them the truth, John. They will hear it anyway and you can tell it so that they understand it." She looked up, pleading with her eyes. "Please."

"I will."

She turned to Meryl. "Meryl, you can help him."

"I already told him that."

I wanted to discuss other things. "Cheryl, what is going on here? Are you getting counseling?"

"Well, I need help making sense of all that happened in my mind and the doctor is also putting me under light hypnosis to see if the doctor who was drugging me put any hypnotic suggestions into my head. There are also medical doctors here who are testing me for the drugs and any problems they might have caused."

I thought about that. "Sounds like it's good for you. You look really good today."

I don't think I had ever seen Cheryl's face go from slightly tense to so happy and with such a large smile in such a short amount of time. You would have thought that I just told her she won the lottery. I think she blushed, too. "Thank you."

I glanced at Meryl and she was smiling, too.

Cheryl looked at me very seriously then. "John, do you think I can come back home and live with you and the kids if I get out without serving too much time?" I guess she saw something in my eyes. I can't really describe what it was that passed over my face. I hadn't had time to even think about it much. I was just a little surprised by it, but she must have felt it was a no. She continued. "I... I don't mean as your wife, but I would like to be near my kids until I can find a job. I'll have a record, which will make it hard to find a job, and it may be awhile before I get out of jail, but Jake thinks I can get out without too much time served now that he has all the facts. I'd just like to be near them if they are still young when I get out -- and you, too." She barely whispered the last part.

I stared for a second. "I guess we'll have to see when that is, won't we? I don't see a problem with that, but who knows what the situation will be then?"

Cheryl shoulders seemed to relax a little and she nodded. "Okay, that's good, I mean, I can deal with that."

Meryl leaned over and put her arm on Cheryl's arm. "We'll do whatever we can for you, Cher."

Cheryl suddenly stumbled from her seat and fell weeping into Meryl's arms. They hugged and cried and I tried to hold it together. Finally they sat back and held hands. They whispered to each other for a couple of minutes and then finally parted.

When they finished, Cheryl stood up. "I really should get back. I just wanted to see two of my favorite people for a few minutes."

All three of us stood and Cheryl hugged Meryl and then came over to me. She hesitated and wanted me to indicate that it was okay to hug me. I put out my arms and she crushed me with her hug. She wept a little and I held onto her, letting her get it out. She felt wonderful in my arms, but I was still unsure of my feelings about all of this. Meryl also teared up watching it.

We left and when we got home, the grandparents, parents of Cheryl and Meryl, were there feeding the kids. The kids were seemingly unfazed by all of this. They didn't seem to realize the gravity of the situation their mother was in.

On Wednesday morning, I was having a dream. I had been up a couple of times with different things nagging at me, but I was slowly coming awake from a dream that left me with a raging hardon. I then realized that I was being sucked! I pulled the covers back and there, staring up at me, was Meryl. She was sucking my cock and I stared for a second before trying to push her away. I succeeded in getting my conscience-less dick extracted from her mouth and she sat up. It had been so long that my dick was hard as a steel bar and protesting at the interruption of the wonderful feeling of a woman's mouth. I looked at the clock and it said 5:10.

"Meryl, what the hell are you doing?"

She looked away for a second. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry. Just tell me what made you think this was okay? I mean, right now I'm still your twin sister's husband."

"I know. But I'm horny and, truth be told, have always had a crush on you. I told Cheryl about it the other morning and she told me to go ahead. She said that you needed some comfort and that it was okay."

I took a deep breath. "Meryl, I'm sure that Cheryl was feeling guilty and thought this might make us both feel better, but that's not what I need right now. I mean, yes, I would love to have sex with you, but I don't know where Cheryl and I are going right now and I'm confused about everything that has happened with her. I don't need to add to the confusion and difficulty by becoming involved with her sister."

"But we're not getting 'involved', we're just having sex and comforting each other."

I shook my head. "Sorry, Meryl, but I can't get my head around that right now. Please go back to your own bed."

She stood up and with the lights from the outside I could see every curve of her beautiful body, a copy of my wife. I wanted to throw her down and fuck her right now. I wanted to get even with my wife for what I considered bad judgment and having sex with five other men. I wanted to do a lot of things, but I also knew that it would be a disaster. I just stared at her as she stared back and watched me. She knew I was studying her body and she let me.

"Good night, Meryl."

"Good night, John. You are a very good man and Cheryl knows that. If you change your mind, let me know."

"Thanks. Now go to bed."

She left and I fell back onto the bed. I was still tired, but also worked up. I decided to try to go back to sleep, but it avoided me. I finally got up and went to the den. I had an early breakfast and watched an old movie on AMC.

Chapter 9

Over the next two months things went well. Christmas came and went and I took the kids out to see their mother. They had a wonderful time and Cheryl looked great. When I told her that she beamed. I was really feeling the loneliness now. I kept a little distance between me and Cheryl. I was not sure how I was going to deal with her if she got off. I still had strong feelings for the woman, but I had watched the rest of the videos, and I now had these images burned into my memory of my wife servicing a customer and the 5 assholes who were blackmailing her. It was hard to get past it.

The trial was starting after the holidays and Jake had found a lot of evidence on the computers. He even said that the prosecutors were having a difficult time thinking about prosecuting Cheryl after all the stuff they found. Cheryl even recounted a conversation she overheard about them taking another woman up to a cabin to 'take care of her'. That led to the discovery that Fred owned a cabin up near a lake and eventually to finding a grave with a young woman's body in it. Testing had revealed it to be a woman who everyone had assumed had run off with someone, leaving her husband in the lurch. Now the truth was out and they were considering what kind of men they had and what it would look like for Jake to bring that up as part of the reason Cheryl was justified in doing what she had done. But they still wanted to bring her to trial, stating that that was not a good reason for killing them. They argued that she should have gone to the police.

The kids were starting to question more about Mom's problems since she was gone for so long. They had also heard some things from friends even though we kept the newspaper away from them. We tried to put them off, but Meryl and I had to sit them down and try to explain what blackmail was without getting into the actual acts and particulars. It went better than I thought and they seemed to understand blackmail. I told them that these evil guys had said they would hurt me and their mother and that mommy couldn't let that happen. They were actually proud of mom so I don't think they fully understood the morality of killing another person. I didn't say anything about the threat to them.

When the trial started, it took a week to select the jury. They started the prosecution's case and it didn't take long since Cheryl had confessed. They had the psychiatrist there saying she was sane, but the defense also scored points about her mental condition during the drugs and blackmail.

After two weeks the prosecution was done and the defense presented. That took three weeks and then it went to the jury. They went out on a Wednesday afternoon. On Friday morning I got a call from Jake. The jury would be coming back in at 10am to provide their verdict. He was happy, as he felt that he had provided an excellent defense and thought that the jury would deliver a not guilty verdict on all counts. It was only 8:45 and I was dressed and the kids had been dropped off at school by Meryl. We raced to the courthouse and got there at 9:50. We parked and rushed into the courtroom. We couldn't even get close. The word was out and all the news media that had been covering it were present.

Meryl and I managed to get a little closer and could at least see in the courtroom. The trial was not on TV, so we couldn't watch it any other way. Suddenly, there was a lot of commotion and everyone in the courtroom started murmuring. The judge quieted them down and was speaking, but I heard nothing. Then he slammed his gavel down, stood up and left, and the courtroom erupted. There was yelling, celebrating, and the news people were pressing closer and closer. We were shoved back against a wall and decided we had to just wait it out.

Finally, after about 45 minutes, some of the news reporters left and some folks started streaming out of the courtroom. Meryl and I waited for the bulk to pass and shoved our way past the remaining folks to make our way to the defense position. I could see Cheryl sitting there in her chair crying. That could have meant bad news, but Jake was grinning from ear to ear and shaking hands with some folks. That meant that they could only be tears of joy and it was good news.

Jake smiled broadly at us and shook our hands. He was so happy. It was as he suspected, he got her off on all counts and she was going to be a free woman. I didn't know what that was going to mean to 'us' and our home life. Meryl seemed to sense this and prodded me with her elbow. I walked forward and Cheryl looked up as she saw feet approach her. She saw me and launched herself into my arms, sobbing. I held her and she finally looked up at me, concern written all over her face.

"Can I come home?"

"Yes."

She crushed me as she whispered thank you several times.

And so it came to this. Meryl picked up Cheryl from the police department after they out-processed her and brought her home. I stood in the living room with my two children who were as jittery and jumpy as I had ever seen them. We had all visited Cheryl several times, but they were so anxious to have their mother back that they couldn't sit down. Instead, they took turns manning the front window, waiting for Meryl's car.

Meryl's car had barely hit the front of the driveway when Natalie, the sentry of the moment yelled 'Mother' and rushed to the door, Ted on her heels. They rushed out and Cheryl barely had her door open before she had two barnacles attached to her. Cheryl was in tears and Meryl was, too, watching this scene. I might have been, also, but my mind was already focused on how we were going to handle this arrangement until we divorced -- if we divorced. I was still not clear what I was going to do. It was impossible to make a decision. I was completely stuck.

It took several minutes for the kids to let Cheryl get into the house and when she did, she walked over to me with trepidation in her eyes. I knew she was concerned about how the kids would react, so I opened my arms and let her hug me. She did. She hugged me for a long time and the kids also wrapped themselves around us for a group hug. Cheryl finally pulled back and whispered to me.

"Thank you. I love you and will support whatever decision you make."

I just nodded.

The rest of the day was taken up with the kids peppering Cheryl with all kinds of questions. She patiently answered them all, obscuring things she didn't want them to know.

We let them stay up late and then they were exhausted by 11. I put Natalie to bed and Cheryl took Ted. When we came out of their rooms, Cheryl walked tentatively toward me.

"Where am I sleeping?"

I looked at the floor. I felt like a shit, but I couldn't be with her right now. "In the guest bedroom."

She nodded. "I'll just get what I need out of our -- I mean, your, room."

I followed her in there and she got what she needed. She turned to me. "Can I ask you for a favor?"

"Yes."

Looking very meek she looked around the room. "Can I leave my clothes in here and come in here every morning to dress? I don't want to have to tell the children that we are apart for a while yet."

I didn't see any reason why this wouldn't be alright. "Sure."

"Thanks." She wrung her hands a couple of times around the items she was clutching and then fled the room.

It made me stop and think about where we were going. I thought about my life, her life, and our kids' lives. What was it I wanted? Could I get past what had happened to her? I wasn't a saint; I was just flesh and blood. It had shocked and angered me and had shaken my trust in Cheryl a little.

But then I reminded myself that it didn't happen to me, but to Cheryl. What about her? Could she get past it? I was standing there thinking about this for several minutes when I heard Cheryl's door close. Shit! I still loved this woman. Why couldn't I make up my mind? Either shit or get off the pot, as my dad would have said. I just couldn't make up my mind.

Saturday, Cheryl wanted to take the kids to their soccer games by herself and be with them after having missed so much time. She did and I relaxed and thought about our predicament some more. After a few minutes of this, Meryl came into the room.

"What are you doing?"

She asked because I was sitting there in the dining room doing nothing, just thinking about the situation.

"Nothing." Standard answer.

"What are you going to do about your marriage?"

I looked up sharply and she took it the way I meant, as a non-verbal rebuke for sticking her nose into our marriage.

"Sorry." She left the room.

When Cheryl got home I was sitting in the kitchen and things were not right. Apparently, some parents behind her had whispered about her exploits and the word slut was thrown around. The kids didn't hear it, but they said it loud enough for Cheryl. She was livid and stomped around being angry until she finally ran out of energy and stood near the kitchen table. She stared at me. "This is what I was afraid of."

"I know."

She blew up. "That's all you have to say? I know? What the fuck, John!" She put her hand up to her mouth as soon as she realized she had dropped an f-bomb with the children home. "Sorry."

I looked up at her. "If you knew it would happen, why did you go to the game?"

She sat down hard. "I forgot. I was just so happy to be back with the kids. I wanted to enjoy their unbridled zest for life and bask in their innocence. Is that wrong?"

I smiled. "No, it's not wrong. You are just dealing with jealous, narrow-minded, assholes. That's all."

She looked pointedly at me. "And at home?"

It startled me a little. It had been a while since Cheryl had been the strong-willed woman I fell in love with and married. "Well, I'm not narrow-minded."

She laughed. The first one I had heard in a while. She knew my penchant for this. Whenever someone said somebody was three or four negative things I would pick one and say, well at least that person is not 'whatever', leaving the others hanging by omission. She suddenly got serious again. "Sorry I reacted like that. I shouldn't have dropped that at home with the children around."

I gave her a small smile. "Yes, but that was the Cheryl I know."

She chuckled. "Yeah, maybe. Well, I'm going up to lay down and sleep. I haven't slept much in the last few months."

She left and I smiled to myself. That was definitely the woman I loved. I walked upstairs and checked on her after about 15 minutes and she was sleeping soundly. I continued to think about what I wanted out of my life. Fuck! This was starting to wear on me, but I also realized it must be completely freaking Cheryl out.

Chapter 10

During the next week, there was a meeting with my lawyer and the company lawyers about the lawsuit we had brought against them. My lawyer, Ronald Mason, had told me that we had a 99% chance of scoring big with them. They had found that the individuals involved had used the company's resources to correspond, set up the dates/times of the meeting, and even used it to do research on employees with wives they wanted to blackmail. It was a disaster for them and we meant to take advantage of it.

We all sat down and I tried to be calm, but my anger went up as soon as I saw the representatives from my old company. I didn't know them, but they had become the enemy. There were three of them and the leader spoke first.

"We've reviewed your lawsuit for five million dollars and are willing to make an offer. After a discussion on the fault that should be born by the company, we feel that it is reasonable to offer two million dollars."

My lawyer started to speak, but my anger got the best of me. "Hold on just a minute. My lawyer has taken me through the law on this. You guys are liable big time. On top of that, the company has 10,000 employees and revenue of ten billion dollars. You are going to tell me that after four members of the company used it to do what they have done that all you can offer me something that has no impact on the company at all? This is supposed to hurt. You guys need to feel pain. If that is the only offer you have, then I can guarantee that we will take it to court and drag your name through the mud until everyone thinks you guys are nothing but scum. Our lawsuit is now for six million dollars."

I have to give this guy credit, he was smooth. He didn't bat an eye at my little speech. "I will have to confer with the CEO, new COO, and my colleagues about this."

I stared at him and looked at my watch. "You have 30 minutes. In 30 minutes the demand and lawsuit go up a million dollars." I looked at my watch. It was 1pm. "It will go up a million every 30 minutes until 5pm at which time any settlement will be moot. I'm going to the kitchen to get something to drink. Let me know your answer." I stood up and strode into the small office kitchen to get a Diet Pepsi. My lawyer followed me.

He patted me on the back lightly. "Nicely done. I have never seen anyone handle that so well. I knew we could go for more, but I pushed for you to start at 5 million because I thought it would be easy to get them to agree. When they didn't and you upped the ante, it was perfect. They know they are stuck now. They don't want to go to trial, no matter what. Well done!" He started chuckling.

He returned to his office and I stayed in the kitchen while the company lawyers called the company leadership and discussed the situation. I finished the Diet Pepsi and was sitting there when my lawyer came back in. "They're calling for us." I looked at my watch. It was 1:45.

We entered and the lead lawyer was sitting there, he looked calm, but his eyes betrayed his anger. "The company has agreed to six million."