Rising From The Ashes

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Two broken families rebuild their lives.
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Two years ago I discovered my wife Rhonda was having an affair. That led to a vicious argument that ended with me packing my bags and moving out. Of course my moving out wasn't due to the argument. I was moving out because I wasn't going to live with a cheating slut. Our marriage was over the second she let another man into her panties.

I checked into a motel near my office. It was kind of seedy but it would do until I found something more permanent. I put the two suitcases I had packed into my room and walked to a nearby neighborhood bar intent on getting drunk and drowning my sorrows. By walking I wouldn't risk a DWI. The place I chose was pretty much empty due mainly to the fact it was a week night. There were two couples sitting at tables and one older man sitting at the bar nursing on a bottle of beer. I found a booth over on the far wall away from anyone else. I wasn't in the mood for conversation. The bored looking waitress came over and I ordered a shot of Jack and a beer.

By the time I had finished my second round I had had enough time to do a little thinking. I realized that I could either sit around feeling sorry for myself or I could do what I normally do and meet this problem head on. I was a spec builder, building upper scale homes and it was at the height of the housing boom. I would always have two or three houses in progress at any one time and when construction problems arose I learned that it would cost me money if I didn't tackle them right away. With a new resolve I returned to the motel for a fitful night of sleep.

The next morning I went to the bank and moved all our money from our joint accounts into one in my name only in order to protect myself. Next I canceled all our joint credit cards, keeping two that were in my name only and the ones that I had set up for my business. My final stop of the day was to my lawyer to draw up divorce papers. Keith was a friend of mine as well as my lawyer and even though he specialized in real estate law his wife Shelley who was a lawyer and his partner dealt in family law. After they both told me how sorry they were at the circumstances I found myself in we sat down to go over the details. I was given the usual spiel telling me how this was a community property state and that she was going to be entitled to half of everything and that I would be responsible for paying child support.

I told them I was well aware of that but there was no way I was going to change my mind and to proceed with the paperwork. Because of our daughter I filed for dissolution on the grounds of irreconcilable differences rather than adultery. I had done well in my business and even having to give her half would still leave me well off. I just wanted to rid myself of a faithless slut wife. I slept better that night knowing that I was now taking charge of the situation.

It was Friday evening, the second full day after I had packed my bags and left that I received a call from Katey, my thirteen year old daughter, telling me that she had not seen or heard from her mother since she got home from school and she was all alone and hungry. Cursing my hopefully soon to be ex I jumped into my truck and headed home. I consoled my distraught daughter then headed into the kitchen to fix her something to eat.

It was under a magnet on the refrigerator that I saw an envelope with my name on it in my wife's handwriting. As curious as I was at to see what was inside I tossed it on the counter to read later and continued to make dinner for Katey. It was only after we had eaten and watched a little T.V. and I had put Katey to bed did I return to the kitchen. I picked up the envelope and went into the den. I poured myself a shot of bourbon and downed it and sat down to read whatever was inside.

It was a note from my wife in which she said that I was crazy if I thought I was going to saddle her with a child to raise. It went on to say that she was leaving and for me not to bother looking for her. To say I was stunned is an understatement. I realized I had never really known the woman I had married. I just could not understand how in the hell a mother could abandon her child. I went up to what had been our bedroom and saw that most of her clothes and personal items were gone.

I waited until the next morning to call Keith and Shelley to talk over this new development and find out how it was going to affect my attempt to divorce my wife. Shelley advised me to wait until Monday and then she would accompany me to my wife's place of work. She would have the divorce papers drawn up and we could have her served there.

The hardest thing was sitting down with Katey to talk to her about what was going on. She already knew that her mother and I were having problems since I hadn't been home for the previous two nights. I decided that being honest with her was for the best and I told her that her mother had left a note saying that she was leaving. Other than that I really couldn't answer her questions about when she would come back as I didn't know myself.

We managed to get through the weekend and Monday morning I fed Katey her breakfast and dropped her off at school. I drove to my wife's place of work where I met up with Shelley. Together we went inside to inquire if my wife was there. At the mention of my wife's name we were directed to the Human Resources office where we learned that she and her boss had both turned in their resignations the previous Friday. Somehow I wasn't all that surprised as I had found out that the man she had been having the affair with was her boss. Her boss was stupid enough to have a sexual relationship with an employee under his direction but was smart enough to realize that when I made an issue of it he was going to lose his job for breaking company policy against fraternization between a manager and an employee under their supervision.

Once outside in the parking lot Shelley advised me that it would be in my best interest to file a missing persons report with the police. As she had been gone for over forty eight hours they would be obliged to take the report and with any luck find her.

She followed me down to the police station where a detective took my statement that my wife was missing. I was honest with him and told him that the reason I wanted to find her was so I could have her served with divorce papers and the reason for the divorce. I showed him the note she had left and told him what we had learned about her and her lover quitting their jobs. He wanted to know if I had an alibi for the Friday she was last seen on and I assured him that I had spent the whole day at one of the houses I was building and there were several contractors that could verify that. At the end the cop told me that if they determined that there was no foul play involved and she had left of her own volition there wasn't too much they could do.

I then offered to buy Shelley lunch and we called her husband and met up at the Olive Garden. We requested a table that was fairly private so we could talk.

"So Shelley, what does this do as far as the divorce if we can't find her to have her served?" I asked.

"What that means in this state is you are going to have to wait for a year before you can file on the grounds of abandonment. I'm sorry Steve, but that is what the law states," Shelley answered. "The reason I wanted you to report her missing is so that we have an official report of when she left to document it. Other than that, if the police don't locate her your only other option if you want to pursue it is to hire a private agency to try to track her down."

"Well, I guess that gives me something to think about. I guess I will wait until I hear from the police. Honestly though I don't know if I even want to know where she's gone. As I'm in no hurry to get married again if ever I guess waiting a year isn't that big of a deal as long as I don't have to deal with her."

I could see the look of sympathy in Shelley's eyes when I said I wasn't looking to get married again. She reached over and patted my hand. "Steve, I know how tough this is on you and I know you're hurting right now but as your friend please promise me that your not going to cut yourself off from life."

"For now my focus is on Katey. I'm sure she is even more shocked and hurt than I am. I have to be there for her." Keith and Shelley both nodded their understanding and told me they were both there for me and would help any way they could.

After lunch I went by one of my job sites and checked up on the progress and then went to Katey's school to wait for her to get out. As she exited the building I saw her looking around almost frantically until she saw my truck upon which she came running as fast as she could. I stepped out and she flung herself into my arms. I could feel her shaking.

"I was afraid you wouldn't be here," she sniffled into my neck where she had buried her face.

"Oh baby. I promise I'm not going anywhere," I answered, hugging her tight to me.

"Do you really promise," she asked staring at me with her big blue eyes shimmering with tears.

"Yes honey, I really really promise." I kissed her forehead and carried her around to the passenger side of the truck and seat belted her in. I again cursed my wife as I walked around to get in. With a little prodding I finally got Katey to open up about her school day on the drive home. Once home Katey wouldn't let me out of her sight. I continued to do my best to reassure her that I wasn't going to abandon her. Despite that she began to have nightmares and I would wake to hear her sobbing in her sleep. I would rush to her room and when I would awaken her she would throw her arms around me and hang on as if for dear life. When I asked her what she was dreaming about she said that she was lost and she couldn't find neither her mother or me.

The biggest saving grace I had at this time was my office manager. I had hired Renee to help me with the many mundane aspects of my work such as filing for permits and arranging for inspections so as to free me up to concentrate on the more demanding tasks. Since then I had come to totally rely on her. She now worked to keep the subcontractors on schedule and ordering and tracking materials as well as handling all the necessary paperwork. I might go several days without stopping in at the office but I never worried about it as I knew Renee was able to handle it. I had such trust in her that I even had her make out the checks to pay the subs or vendors. All I had to do was stop in on Friday and sign them and then she would see to it they got delivered.

When I had decided I needed help running my business I had put out an ad in the local paper and had begun to interview people. I was getting discouraged with the respondents and couldn't find anyone who had the qualifications I felt were needed to handle the job. That was until Renee applied for the job. I still remember the day she walked in the door. Even though I was married I still recognized a good looking woman when I saw one. She stood only five foot four but she had such lovely big brown eyes and a cute button of a nose. I judged her to be in her early thirties and she obviously kept her self in shape by what I could see. She wore a blue business suit that even though it wasn't revealing did little to hide her trim figure. The interview went well and I was impressed by her qualifications. She had worked for her father who owned a construction company and was well versed in the business.

When I asked her why she no longer worked for him she explained to me that her husband had been transferred here so they had to move away. I also learned that she had a daughter the same age as my Katey and now that she was in school Renee wanted to return to the work force. We reached an agreement on wages and I had an office manager. Now don't get the wrong idea. Nothing ever happened between the two of us, not even flirting. On my part that was because I was married and took my vow seriously and and even if I wasn't married she was. I have a firm rule that I never mess with another man's woman. For her part, it was obvious she loved her husband very much and wasn't the type of woman to mess around.

I had let Renee know about what was going on with my marriage and when I told her about the nightmares that Katey was having she immediately suggested that I should put her in therapy. I quickly realized she was right and together we found a therapist who was willing to work with us. I had chosen a woman therapist because I believed that it would put Katey more at ease as she had always been extremely shy around men she didn't know. I met with Dr. Walters to tell her about all the things that had happened and why I felt it was necessary for her to see Katey. We set up a schedule to meet twice a week and she let me know that it would be good if I were to be available as she would want to see us together at times and just Katey alone at others.

Other events that had happened in the meantime was that the day after I had made a missing persons report the police sent over a woman detective to talk to Katey. My daughter told them that the last time she had seen her mother was Friday morning before she left for school and that her mother had seemed distracted but Katey hadn't been all that concerned at the time. It was a week later that I was asked to come down to the station and meet with the detective I had first talked with. He said their investigations had tracked her lovers credit card usage to two motels and they had determined with the use of pictures that the two were together of their own free will. They had apparently left the state and as there was no evidence off foul play the police weren't going to pursue the case any further.

The next two months passed and the therapy seemed to be working for my daughter. I believe that she finally understood that it was in no way her fault that her mother had left but more importantly that I would always be there for her. The frequency of her nightmares had dropped off and she no longer had to keep me in sight whenever we were together.

Renee and her husband began to invite Katey and me to their house for barbecues. At first I was hesitant to accept but Renee convinced me that it would be good for Katey to spend time with her daughter doing normal girl things. I knew her husband James from having met him at different times but I was a little concerned how he would take his wife inviting a man, even if it were her boss, into their home. I quickly found that my worries were for nothing. He and I quickly bonded and became friends.

My Katey and their daughter Jeanna also quickly bonded and became best friends. Not only that but Renee being a loving mother made sure to spend time with both girls giving Katey what I felt was much needed motherly guidance.

My wife had been gone for ten weeks with no word from her and I decided it was time to rid my bedroom of the last vestiges of her former presence. Although she had apparently packed a lot of her clothes and personal effects she had still left stuff behind. I brought a couple large garbage sacks up and started going through her drawers emptying out her belongings. In the last drawer which was mostly sweaters I found a small box tucked into the back.

Being curious I opened it up and gasped when I saw what was inside. There was a baggie with at least a quarter ounce of pot in it and a vial of white powder. Now I wasn't naive about drugs. In my younger days before I married Katey's mother I had done some experimenting myself but put that aside when I graduated college and got serious about life. I opened the vial and sniffed at it before taking a little powder on my finger and tentatively tasted it. Cocaine. The only other thing in there was a CD.

I turned on my computer and put in the disc to see if there was any thing on it that I could access. I saw that it contained a movie so I opened it with the movie player and was surprised to see that it was obviously shot in the basement. I had built the house we lived in and had the basement set up with exercise equipment on one side and the other was basically a game room with a pool table, plush couches and large screen T.V.

The scene showed four couples sitting or standing most with drinks in their hands. Two of those people were my wife and her boss. I advanced the movie forward and at this point I saw people passing around joints while others were snorting lines of white powder off the glass top of the coffee table. Once again I forwarded the movie and this time it showed my wife impaled on the cock of a man laying on his back. There was a second man behind her with his cock shoved in her ass and a third standing to the side with his cock shoved down her throat.

I have always had a strong sex drive and even occasionally watched some porn when my wife was on her period and not receptive to my advances. And I know there are men out there who get off to seeing their wives fuck other men but I'm not one of those. All I felt was a great upheaval in my stomach and I raced for the bathroom. I would like to say that I made it to the toilet but alas my vomit spewed forth across the floor. I did finish up emptying my stomach in the toilet and then sat there in a daze for a while.

Finally I pulled myself together and headed to get a mop to clean up the mess. On the way out I saw the movie was still playing on my computer. Without looking at the screen I quickly shut it down. After I had everything cleaned up I called Shelley.

"Hey Shelley, it's Steve. Got time to talk?"

"Steve, Keith and I always have time for you. What's up," she replied.

"Well, I decided to get rid of some of Rhonda's stuff that is just taking up space and in one of her drawers I found a box with drugs and a CD. I was wondering if I should call the police and report the drugs."

"Honestly, I don't that would be a good idea. The drugs are in your house and if it came down to it it would be your word against hers as to who they belonged to. I really think you would be best off getting rid of them."

"Wow, I didn't really consider that," I said. "How about the CD? I put it in my computer and it's a movie of her and her friends doing drugs and having unprotected group sex. That slut had an orgy in my basement."

"Oh God Steve. I'm sorry. I know that you would never have wanted to see that. However, since it was filmed in your home it could be used as admissible evidence in court especially if came down to a matter of custody. I would suggest you hide it somewhere secure in case it's needed."

"That's what I was hoping you would say. I intend to try to do anything I can to keep her away from Katey."

***********

"So, how are things really going?" James asked me on our fourth visit to their house. The girls were out of earshot being in the house preparing lunch.

"I guess things are as well as could be expected when you find out your wife is a slut into drugs and group sex," I answered.

"What?" James said with a gasp. I went on to tell him about the CD and drugs I had found.

"I guess I never really knew her. The woman I thought I had married would never have done something like that. You don't know how lucky you are to have a woman like Renee."

"Actually I do. Not a day goes by that I don't thank my lucky stars that she chose me to love. She's a beautiful woman and I know guys hit on her but I have always trusted her to do the right thing. Now if I just get her boss to stop hitting on her," James said with seeming seriousness just as I was taking a drink.

I couldn't help but splutter at his statement spitting my drink down my front. My head swiveled to look at him. "Jesus James. You don't think I would ever make a pass at Renee," I croaked out.

I then noticed the mirth in his eyes and he bust out laughing. "Relax buddy. Renee tells me everything about your relationship. That's why she enjoys working for you so much. You treat her with total respect and she knows you would never do anything to abuse her respect for you."

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