Marriage as a House

"It would be part time. Only while the kids are in school, I hope. I don't want anything to interfere with what we're doing."

"Good. If you need my help with anything, job search, referrals, resume, whatever, just let me know."

She got up and put her arms around me. "You do love me, don't you?"

"I would hope you wouldn't even have to ask, baby. You're everything to me."

"I'm sorry that I started to forget that. I'm going to make it up to you. You'll never have to worry about me again, I promise."

"I know. I'm willing to accept part of the blame. I wasn't doing my part in keeping the love alive and vibrant between us. Wasn't maintaining our 'house' like I should have. That's one mistake I won't allow to happen again."

"I love you, Allen."

"Thank you. I love you too."

* * *

That afternoon I hired professional help. I had been hoping to avoid it, but the information gleamed from the bastard's computer necessitated it. It wasn't cheap, costing me $2000, but it was fast. Friday morning I had the results. I was ready to make my play.

Public libraries are great things. The computers are free to use, and mostly unprotected. Within 20 minutes of sitting down, I'd inserted the USB into the machine, and installed the anonymous private VPN service. The bastard was considerate enough to leave his credit card information on his PC, and he paid for the service. I felt I'd covered my tracks as well as I needed.

His emails involving his previous conquests, along with some very incriminating photos, were sent to their spouses, and his as well.

The full history of his current ongoing seduction was forwarded to the unlucky husband, with the information about his previous successes included. GPS locations and car discussions outlined nefarious lunches, and a planned future meeting. The soon to be cuckolded spouse was provided with the location, date, and time.

One of the women he'd been involved with worked with him at the same company. She no longer worked in the same building, but that didn't change anything. His email contact list was filtered to get all the company emails, and his co-workers were all included on a very informative missive about his activities with his fellow employee, and everyone else he'd been involved with.

All customer contacts extracted from his emails were notified of the type of person he was. In detail, with photos.

It was a start.

* * *

Donna was dressed as I'd requested. The kids were with her sister for the night, and I took her out for dinner and dancing. She turned down the few men who asked her to dance, spending her time with me. I thought we had a great time for the most part, but she seemed distracted. At the end of the evening, on the way home, she turned down the radio.

"It's started, hasn't it?"

"It has."

"He must have called the house and my phone at least a dozen times. He left some disturbing text messages. He blames me."

"I'm sorry. I'll make sure he stops. After this weekend, I hope you'll never have to hear from him again."

"Is it going to get ugly?"

"Probably. For him. I've done my best to keep you out of it."

"God, I really screwed up, didn't I?"

"Yes. It's water under the bridge. Did you have a good time tonight?"

She nodded, her hand caressing my shoulder. "I did. I should have brought this up earlier. It was distracting, I kept thinking about it."

"Please trust me. Don't be afraid to ask anything. At the worst, I'll explain that I'm not going to tell you. I honestly believe our lack of communication in the last couple of years was our biggest issue."

"I know. It's better now, isn't it?"

"I think so. Getting better. We still have a ways to go, but I believe it's improving. We should have been doing this more often. We need to make time for just you and me."

"I want to. Can we do it once a week? Time for just the two of us?"

"I don't see why not. I love being alone with you."

"Do you? Really?"

"You have to stop doubting my feelings for you Donna. I love you. I always have. I'll never stop. I may not have excelled at expressing them, and I regret that. I'll strive to do better."

"You're going to show me tonight?" she asked, teasingly.

"Over and over again, it you'll let me."

"Let you? I'm going to insist on it. Take me home lover, I've been wet for you since we left the house this evening."

* * *

We lay together, spooning, in the delicious afterglow. I had my arms around her, and she was holding them tightly. "I love this feeling," she said softly.

"Me too. Believe me."

She giggled, wiggling her rump against me. "Oh, I do." She was quiet for a few moments. "I need this, Allen. This time together, afterward. The holding and cuddling. Sometimes a quickie is nice, but we were losing this. The intimacy. It means as much to me as the sex does."

I thought about it and realized she was right. We had been in a rut. Sex was practically on a schedule, and afterward I'd give her a quick kiss goodnight and try to get some sleep.

"I'm sorry," I whispered. "I didn't notice the gradual change, but now that you mention it, I'm almost embarrassed I didn't. I was taking you for granted."

"Me too. You've been so good to me, but I came to expect it, not to appreciate it. I always loved you, but I think I was getting to the point where I wasn't in love with you. You were my husband, provider, and my children's father, but no longer my lover and confidante."

She turned to face me, wiggling a leg between mine, snuggling in as closely as possible. She kissed my neck. "We used to talk in bed. About anything and everything. We talked about our dreams, our goals, our fantasies. It was the most precious part of our relationship, this sharing time, and it slipped away. I don't even remember how or why, but it stopped." She squeezed me tighter, and I realized she was crying. "Don't let us lose it again."

I pulled her in closer, enveloping her in my arms. She felt so small, so fragile. I kissed the top of her head. "Never again, Sugar. I promise."

She stayed in my arms, until she fell asleep. Even then I didn't want to let her go. It was a breakthrough for me. A window into how things had deteriorated and why. I felt like an idiot. An extra 10 minutes of cuddling a night, might have helped so much. It was a time for communicating, just the two of us, intimacy and openness. I'd let it slip away, once. Never again.

* * *

I got up early, leaving her a note. I checked the GPS monitor, and found the car parked outside of a motel just off the highway. I drove there, prepared for any eventuality. I hoped it wouldn't be necessary.

At 8:30 AM I was knocking on the door.

Gerald Wheaton was a big guy, and I suspect a lot of women would appreciate his looks. Didn't do anything for me.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"Don't ever call Donna again. If I were you, I'd take your lumps and get out of town. If I ever see you again, you won't see me. I'll make sure that you never mess with my wife or any other woman ever again."

"You're the fucker who set me up?" he growled. "I'm going to enjoy kicking your ass and fucking your woman."

I smiled. "Don't say I didn't warn you. I've been kind so far." I opened my jacket to show him the holstered Ruger LC9. "Leave her alone, and disappear. Last warning."

* * *

I wasn't surprised to get a visit from the police later that morning. They asked me if I knew a Gerald Wheaton and if I had threatened to kill him.

I explained that I heard he'd seduced several married women, and had made a play for mine. I wanted him to leave her alone. I played the recording of the conversation I had with him.

"At no time did I threaten him with any type of bodily harm. I told him to leave my wife alone, or I'd make sure he did. That was the extent of it."

"You didn't point a gun at him, threaten to kill him?"

"At no time did I brandish a weapon of any type. I never threatened him. I told him to leave my wife alone. As a matter of fact, the only threat made was by him."

"Would you mind if we had a copy of this recording?" one of the officers asked.

"Not at all. If you'll come in, I'll make a copy."

Provenance works in strange ways. I had more plans for dealing with the scumbag, but he decided to make it easy.

The bastard called the house, and was yelling into the answering machine. "You stupid fuckers! You messed with the wrong man. I'm going to hunt you down, beat the shit out of you, and fuck your woman in front of your eyes. You're going to pay for messing with me, asshole. I may even have to do your daughter while I'm at it. I hope you have eyes in the back of your head, because I'm coming for you."

What an idiot. I had to wonder how my wife ever saw anything in him, other than bullshit stacked 6'2" tall.

I had a copy of the recording I'd made. I also made a copy of the logs of the dozens of calls he'd made in the previous days, including the recording of his latest threat.

"Here's the recording, officer, including a copy of the threat he made just now. I'd like them to stop. I don't want him having sex with my daughter, she's only six years old. Is there anything you can do about that?"

The lead officer nodded. "If you'd like to come down to the precinct, I'll file your complaint. I have no doubt the DA will take this very seriously."

Don't you love it when a plan comes together?

* * *

The kids were playing on the Wii, when I let him in. "Hi Jerome, I'll be honest, I didn't expect to see you anytime soon."

"She cheated on me, Allen. I don't know how much, or for how long, but my wife is a cheating slut. I'm sorry it affected your marriage."

"Come in, sit down. Can I offer you a beer?"

"That or something stronger."

"Scotch/rocks?"

"That would be perfect."

I hunted down my wife, who was doing the laundry. "Who was that at the door?" she asked.

"Jerome. He's figured out that Karen was cheating on him. Would you be a dear, and bring us both a glass of the Johnny Walker Blue on the rocks?"

"The Blue?"

"I think it's the least I can offer him, since I was the one who started him looking into his wife's behavior."

She finished folding the towel. "How much does he know?"

"I'm not sure. I'm hoping you can help clear that up."

"Me? But Allen, what she told me was in strict confidence. She was my best friend."

"Was, is the operable word here. Two drinks, another for yourself if you'd like, and then please join us."

"I...I'm not sure if I can. It wouldn't feel right."

"Would it feel better than shacking up with your boyfriend Gerald? Losing your family, your children. On the run, always looking over your shoulder?"

She glared at me, then lowered her eyes shamefully. "You're not going to let me live that down, are you?"

"Forgiven, but not forgotten. This goes back to the trust. If you're hiding other people's affairs, you're only a gnat's ass from having your own. Approval through inaction. You can see that, can't you?"

"Fine. Give me a minute, will you?" She didn't sound happy about it, but I was confident she'd do what she had to.

It was closer to five before she joined us, passing out the drinks. She sat in the chair opposite us, taking a sip from her own.

Jerome looked a little surprised to see her. "Hi Donna, sorry to intrude on your Saturday."

"No apologies necessary, Jerome. I guess this is partly my fault. I've not been much of a friend."

"Please tell him, dear. Everything. How long, how often, how many, whatever you know," I urged her.

"It's bad. Are you sure you want to know?" she asked, turning and facing our guest.

"I don't want to, but I need to. However you can help."

She sighed, taking another drink. "She's a slut. Total unrepentant slut. We laughed about it, I'm ashamed to say. She was one in college, and she remained one throughout your marriage. I don't think more than a couple of months ever went by without her seeing someone."

"Even after we were married?"

"At her bachelorette party, and within a week of you returning from your honeymoon. She had some regular boyfriends, and didn't want to give them up. Two of them, until they both moved on about 4 years ago. A couple of times a week back then, often with both of them."

"Did she say why?"

"She likes sex. She likes doing doubles, and she enjoys big dicks. That's what she said."

"But how?"

"She's a stay at home Mom. She has lots of time to play. She always made sure she was home and cleaned up before you got there. She almost never did it in your home. On the rare occasion you went out of town, she'd go a little crazy. She loved to tell me about it. I was the one she could share with, since she knew I'd never tell. We were best friends, after all."

I could see he was struggling to contain his anger. "Once they left?"

"She was in the dumps for a while, before she found some new playmates. None of them seemed to last more than 6 months or so. She was picky, and finding discrete men with big cocks who liked to play in groups was more difficult than she thought, I guess. I'm sorry to be the one to tell you."

"She never tried to get you involved?" I asked.

"Of course she did. For years. I kept reminding her I was very happily married, and lived vicariously through her adventures. I didn't really think about it much, how wrong it was. She'd always been that way."

"What are you going to do, Jerome?" I asked.

"I don't have a lot of choice, do I? First thing I'm going to do is see if the kids are mine."

Donna spoke up. "They are. She was always very careful about that. She might be a slut, but she loves you, and only you. This is going to devastate her."

"It's not doing a whole lot for me," he said angrily.

"Is there any way you could forgive her?" Donna asked.

"Forgive her? For cheating on me our entire marriage? I'm not enough for her, obviously that's never going to change."

"She says you're a great lover. She loves what you do for her. She's just wired wrong. Maybe you could see a marriage counselor, or work out an open marriage."

"Enough, Donna," I said. "This is his decision." I turned to him. "If we can help in any way, just let us know. I'll hold off on any action until you decide. You don't deserve any of this."

His eyes were red, as he stared into his glass. "I'm such an idiot. I thought we had a great marriage. I really did. She's a wonderful mother, and the sexiest, most loving woman I ever met. I guess that's the problem, isn't it?"

"I don't know what to tell you. I'm sorry you had to hear it from us," I said.

"No, it's not your fault. I'm sorry that my cheating slut wife almost dragged your woman down with her." He took a long drink from his glass. "You wouldn't know the name of any good divorce attorneys, would you?"

I shook my head. "Can't help you there. I would never get a divorce, or allow one to happen. I'm not wired that way." I turned to my wife. "I imagine you might know one."

She blushed. "I have a card, if you'd like me to get it."

I was irritated, to be honest. "Why don't you do that? I don't imagine you'll be needing one, ever."

She shook her head. "No. I'm sorry, I'll be just a moment."

She returned with the card. "I got it from Karen. He's supposed to be the best. You'll want to call him before she does."

"Has she slept with him?" Jerome asked.

"I...I don't know. I don't think so."

"Great. Just fucking great." He finished his drink, placing his empty glass on the table. "Sorry to intrude. I'd say it was fun, but that would be a lie, wouldn't it? It has been enlightening."

Donna stood, and gave him a hug. "I'm so sorry, Jerome. She does love you. She's still in love with you. She's just...broken. If you had it in your heart, maybe you could fix her."

"I don't see how," he said. "Thanks for the drink."

"Anytime. You ever need anyone to talk to, don't hesitate to call, Ok?" I said.

"Thanks. I'll keep that in mind."

After he left, I stared at my wife. "Convenient, you having the best divorce attorney's card on hand."

She blushed. "I'm sorry. I never thought to get rid of it. Can we please forget about that? It's in the past, right?"

I sat down heavily, taking a drink. "Whatever. Your best friend was quite the slut, huh?"

She sat down next to me, moving in close. I didn't feel especially romantic at the moment, but I didn't shy away from her. "I think she's a certifiable nymphomaniac. They had a great love life, but it was never enough for her. She was always looking for the next great fuck. I didn't think it would ever rub off on me, we were totally different. For me, sex matters. It's the reason that I never cheated on you, even when I was considering leaving."

"We never talked about it. You say you never had sex, but I imagine you did more than hold hands."

"Do you have to know? I'll tell you everything if you want. Is it enough to know that I never had sex, oral, vaginal or anal? I didn't. I couldn't do that to you while we were married. Believe it or not, I took my vows seriously."

"Kissing, touching, feeling, fingering? Hand jobs?"

"I did things I'm ashamed of. I allowed him liberties I never should have. I didn't love him."

"But you were willing to walk out on our marriage," I reminded her.

"I thought I wanted something new. Something different. I let him convince me I deserved it. Just a separation, to see for myself. It wasn't out of love for him. Now, it's hard to believe I could even think that way. I don't know what was going on in my mind. Maybe I should be the one seeing a shrink. I don't even recognize the person I was becoming."

She leaned her head against my shoulder. "I didn't open the gate. It was unlocked, and I let him wedge his way in, little bit at a time, without ever realizing he was doing it. Building tiny walls between you and me with his little comments. I never saw it coming. I'm so ashamed. You deserve better."

I put my arm around her, hugging her. "I bet you won't let that happen again. First time you were seduced by anyone but me."

She nodded. "Never. I learned my lesson. Anyone pulls that shit, I'll see it coming a mile away."

I tilted her head up, and kissed her softly. "I could use some building reinforcement right now."

She smiled. "The kids?"

"We won't be long."

She climbed up and straddled my lap, wrapping her arms around my neck. Her lips pressed against mine. "Wham, bam, thank you ma'am?"

"A quickie. For now. I'll make it up to you later."

She kissed me again, grinning hugely. "No way. I'm still the one who gets to do the 'making up'."

"That works for me."

* * *

Gerald was charged. He pleaded out, and was given a suspended sentence. Too damn easy on him I thought. He was also given a 1000' restraining order from my family.

I was keeping dibs on him, even employing my PI associates a couple of times. He was in the middle of an ugly divorce, and eventually ended up in the hospital. It wasn't me that beat him up, although I'll admit to harboring such thoughts. I guess one of the other husbands didn't take lightly to his fucking around either.

I was questioned about it, but had a better than average alibi. Dumb luck. Dinner out with Jill and her husband Roger, with only about a hundred witnesses, and video surveillance. The police only asked once. I had mixed feelings. I had wanted to extract that kind of revenge up close and in person, now the associated risk was much greater. On the other hand, it looked like it was a serious ass whipping, with broken ribs and severely bruised testicles. I backed off at the time. It's like they say, revenge is a dish best served cold.

Karen and Jerome are separated. She's seeing a shrink, and they're both seeing a marriage counselor. I don't know how he does it, living with what she did to their marriage. I've put off any more revenge against her, at least for now. The loss of her best friend, most of their common friends, and the state of their marriage are pretty hard on her. She's put on weight. Jerome is paying for her apartment, and has it wired to the rafters. We talk regularly, and he's over for dinner at least every couple of weeks. He makes sure that Karen knows that as well. According to Jerome, she hasn't been with anyone since he gave her the divorce papers. Maybe it was the wakeup call she needed. He's still not sure if he's going to follow through on it. I guess love is a pretty powerful thing. Whether it's trying to get him back, or the meds the doctors have her on, she's at least putting on the semblance of being faithful. Personally, I don't think it's going to last.