Saving a Marriage Ch. 01

Simone stood in front of her closet, shaking with anticipation while she attempted to select an outfit for tonight. She finally selected her tiniest, slinkiest black dress and started putting on her make up. Sipping a glass of Merlot, her second of the night, she was trying her best to calm her nerves as her mind raced through the events of the last 24 hours.

Sunday morning, she had finally had the nerve to confront Henry with the evidence of his affair. She waited for him to come home from his 'night out with the boys', which she knew full well was really a night in a hotel with the tramp he was fucking.

After she had confronted him with the credit card bills and photos she had taken while following him the night before, all hell had broken loose. She had screamed and cried, flinging pieces of their wedding china at him, landing one right in the back of his head. After that he had turned and come at her, and Simone had thought he was about to strike her. Instead he grabbed her, holding her tight as he began to apologize.

Henry agreed to end his affair and get a marriage counselor first thing in the morning. After that, she had sat on the couch for the rest of the afternoon, vaguely aware of him puttering around the house cleaning up the mess her fury had created.

When Henry had called her just after lunch to tell her that he had gotten a reference for a counselor from a client, she was surprised to hear the name, Dr. Cynthia Ryan. It was amazing enough that Henry had suggested a marriage counselor but a female counselor was completely against his personality. Her husband was sexist, though she had only discovered that after years of marriage. His business associates were always men, and he made little comments that made it clear what he thought of women in the office.

They left after a simple dinner. The office building was very upscale, not shocking considering the sort of people her high power attorney husband worked with. It was Dr. Ryan that was a shock. She was tall and thin with long perfectly kept hair with a movie star face and her body moved gracefully. Her breasts where no larger than a B-Cup, nowhere near as large as Simone's own natural beauties, but they were shapely and would be considered desirable by almost any man. Despite her skirt being too short and her heels being too tall, Simone had to admit that Dr. Ryan was classy looking.

After nicely talking around the problems in their marriage, Dr. Ryan had Simone leave the room while she spoke to Henry alone. Fifteen minutes later, Henry emerged, looking a bit embarrassed as he told her that she was next. Simone sat down in front of the doctor and before she knew it, had broken down and spilled out every detail of her troubled marriage. Dr. Ryan came from around her desk to sit next to her, holding her as she sobbed.

When Simone had finally calmed down, Dr. Ryan stood back, leaning on her desk as she looked down into Simone's eyes. She couldn't remember the first few minutes of what her counselor had said, only how calming Cynthia's voice had been, and how looking into her eyes had given her a real sense of peace.

Thinking back, she could remember bits and pieces of their conversation. She had thanked Dr. Ryan when she told Simone that she had gotten Henry to agree to end his affair. She told her that Henry, in his own way, was a loving and caring man. Since they had married, Simone had never wanted for anything. Henry never forgot a birthday or anniversary. They did not get to vacation much, but when they did, she had him all to herself. She didn't share her time with her husband with his smartphone like so many of her friends did.

Her husband was strong in body, personality and mind, and that is what originally attracted her to him. He was a serious man who knew what he wanted and how to take it. The truth was that his attitude was a real turn on for her.

It was also part of the problem. Henry confidence and strength also make him arrogant and bossy. Most of the times that they fought, the reason her anger after he told her what to do. He would make comments on how she dressed, what she ate, who she kept as friends, or any number of things that ended up upsetting her.

Dr. Ryan had listened patiently to all of it, agreeing that such behavior understandably would justify some of the issues in their marriage. Simone felt relief to finally speak to a woman who understood her troubles, but she also found herself agreeing that she had a part in causing her husband into seeking an affair.

She had admitted that she had been a prude, and had denied her husband much sexual gratification. They talked a long time about her background. She had grown up in a lower middle class family in the Midwest. When she started to develop, her conservative parents, especially her mother, had been very concerned. Proper women didn't wear a size 2 dress and have a 40 inch bust at the same time, and if they did they needed to dress to hide it. Even in the shapeless long dresses her mother bought for her, she knew what people thought of her. She hear the 'body built for fucking comments' the boys made when she walked by. No matter how loose fitting her clothes were, the proper girls still whispered about how her butt and tits made her look like a 'porno star'. Under her parents firm rules, she hadn't even kissed a guy until her second year of college.

As the conversation with Dr. Ryan continued, Simone had agreed that it was understandable that Henry would seek enjoyment elsewhere. She could scarcely believe herself when she conceding that a powerful, wealthy man like her husband could easily leave her, especially with the prenup they had, and she needed to do her part to keep her marriage working.

There was something about Dr. Ryan's voice and her gaze that was so reassuring. It had made everything seem safe and warm, and left her with a sense that if she just followed her guidance her marriage would be saved and life would be good again.

She sat quietly in the car on the way home, deep in thought. When they pulled into the driveway, she told Henry that she had a lot to think about and avoided him for the rest of the day and into the next morning. Finally, in the afternoon she called Henry and told him that she would like him to be home on time so she could treat him to a nice dinner and a relaxing evening at home.

Simone did not know where she got the idea for her current plan; if she had come up with it herself or if Dr. Ryan had given it to her. All she knew was that though she was terrified of the night ahead, she was committed to ending her prudish ways with her husband.

She had "gone down" on her husband on their wedding night. Afterwards, she made it clear to Henry that she thought it was degrading and that she had only done it because she wanted to make him happy on their wedding night. He begged and pleaded, but after a while he just gave up. At the time, Simone had felt she won, but it was clear that Henry had just decided to get what he wanted from other sources. She planned on putting an end to that tonight.