Mementos

I didn't ask these questions to Ellen directly. I used these facts to lay down a foundation for me feeling betrayed by Ellen.

Ellen now started to argue with me about my conclusions, but this time the counselor did exactly what she had done to me. She wanted me to be free to express myself, and that meant that Ellen had to be open to listen to me talk about my feelings of betrayal. Ellen then changed her story, but the counselor started to side with me this time. By the end of the session, the counselor was picking apart the holes in Ellen's new story for me.

On the third session, Ellen went through a new confession, and insisted that she had had told the complete truth. I then asked the counselor if I could bring Brian Jennings into the office for the forth session, and Ellen turned pale. I then explained how I had also found Brian's number in her cell phone records, and the same pattern of purchases that I had seen with Carl.

I also showed some additional information, my photo albums. I found photo's of Ellen with her father, a man that was 6'1" with blue eyes and sandy brown hair. I found photo's of Ellen's ex-boyfriend, who was about 6' to 6'2", had blue eyes, and sandy brown hair. Carl and Brian also fit this profile, along with three of the guys in the fraternity. I had letters from each of them saying that Ellen had flirted with them. When I showed photos of any of these guys with Ellen, she was smiling and looking up in admiration.

I still had two more boyfriends that I could have used to push my point. I decided that I would wait for an additional full confession before using them. I didn't want to empty all the chambers, so I also didn't I want to tell Ellen that I had come back.

After explaining the incident a month before our marriage, and Carl, told the counselor that I could not trust Ellen with any man who fit that profile. The consoler then asked the question that I didn't want to ask, "Did your father do something to you when you were little?"

Tears started flowing down Ellen's face, but she wouldn't say a thing.

I got up, and walked to the door. "Counselor, I cannot trust my wife. I feel that her father taught her to be a pathological liar, to cover up what he was doing to her. I feel that Ellen chose me over her past boyfriends because I don't look like her father. I also feel that Ellen wanted for me to raise children sired by her father. I was selected because of my shorter height, brown eyes, and dark black hair would make it easy for Ellen to prove to her father that they were his children, and not mine."

Ellen jerked back, and started to protest. I simply held my hand out.

"Ellen, these are my feelings, and I have no proof of this. But, this is the mountain of distrust that you will now have to climb, in order to save this marriage. You have told a different story each time we have met for counseling, and I still think we will go through several versions of revisionist history before anything close to the truth will surface."

Counselor, I don't think I will ever get a straight answer from Ellen, until she faces what her father did to her. Accepting Ellen back right now will only teach her to hide her affairs better. I also want to tell you that if I was selected for the reasons I have mentioned, then I would want nothing to do with her, for the rest of my life."

Ellen looked up, but could not look me in the eye.

"Counselor, these sessions have made the gap for reconciliation even wider."

The counselor nodded. "I will inform the court that counseling has failed."

The divorce went through uncontested after that. As far as I know, Ellen is still in counseling.

***** EPILOG *****

Three months later, Ashley showed up on my doorstep.

"John, I saw you take care of 22 idiots, when you were in a lot of pain. I had hoped you take me up when I offered a revenge fuck, and you didn't. This really pissed me off, but you did get to stop thinking about that prick of a boyfriend I had."

Ashley shuffled her weight from side to side.

"John, aren't you going to say something?"

"Like what?"

Damn it! You're not making this easy! John, I can't stop thinking of you, and how loyal you were to your wife, and why couldn't I have a boyfriend who was that loyal to me. You fucking ruined it!"

"Ash... Slow down. You're not making sense."

"The hell I'm not! I wanted to get fucked silly, and bury my sorrow in meaningless sex, and YOU and you FUCKING LOYALTY made me want to save myself for someone who cared about me!"

Ashley started to break down and cry.

"You have proven to me that I can trust you completely. I think Ellen was an absolute fool for cheating on you. Now that you're free, I think I just found the father of my 22 children, if you're up to the challenge."

"Ashley, are you asking me to marry you?"

"Lets just start out with a date first, and see what happens. I'm a bit submissive, and I tend to turn into a love slave, and then get taken advantage of. You're a straight shooter, and I feel I can trust you with my heart. I have a week here, and I will be interviewing for jobs during the day, but every evening I will be free and willing to let you show me your world. And when you do decide that I am right for you, I expect you to drag me into the bedroom and claim me."

We were married in Bricktown, at the reunion the following year.

***** ***** *****

I hope you enjoyed reading this story. I will try and post the next chapter of "The Contract" in a few days. Comments are appreciated.