All Comments on 'A Study in Scarlet: Epilog'

A perfect ending to a story that aroused all emotions. Blue88, ignore the naysayers; they are 50% misogynists, 30% psycho, and the other 20% in need of serious therapy!

1. Bill and Ben are a couple of nosy motor mouth old women with a BS theory.

2. In vino veritas.

3. Never heard of a cop shooting for the shoulder instead of center mass. Someone enlighten me.

4. Yeah .32 is BS. If you have room to carry a .32, you have room to carry a .380. If you are a woman, you have room to put a cannon in that purse.

1. If you like that door I'd suggest you unlock it before I put a foot through it.

2. Again, "in vino veritas". Under the influence, she's saying and doing what she wants to do but doesn't when her inhibitions are in place.

3. I guess this bullshit alcohol sensitivity theory exists in this author's created universe?

4. Dumbass should have been gone after the first slap years ago.

5. Pat and Irene/Renee are evidently mind readers.

6. And finally John turns out to be an emotional girl.

1. Esther's office told someone on the phone that Esther has cancer? Really?

2. And Dr. Berg just made the judgement call to tell non family members about Esther's condition? Must be that this author's universe thing again.

3. What friedcheese said

4. 12/31/17 Anon-I take it all back, clearly magic alcohol disease exists.

5. DirtySingleMom, I offer, as an answer to your comment, your screen name.

6. Chao-yeah exactly what I was thinking about your comment.

7. clarkgable-helluva screen name.

he made his decision right or wrong. She knows she wouldve fucked the guy had he not stepped in and shocked them. Irene and pat need to be slapped pushing pushing because they KNOW best. He shouldve cut them both off. Whether you like it or not he made his decision and the so called know it alls and do gooders pissed me off. Lousy epilogue and unneeded and bad.

Booze made me do it, how did she get to be that age and not know she couldn’t handle booze and he didn’t know either. I don’t think so and as for the other 2 mind your own business tell them once then cut them off. Nobody shoots in the shoulder you put 2 into the centre of the body, also it was a dark alley so why try. I know it’s a story but it does need some accuracy. 3*.

You wrote it that way she suffered punishment enough

Enjoyed

One of very few except reconciliation

Now these "friends" who all know what's best for someone else will forget how much pain THEY caused and down the road they'll fuck with someone else'd lives because they know what's best.

"She looked down at the gun in her hand in disgust. "Damn 32 calibre. I really should know better, but the 38 is so damn heavy. Well, I learned a lesson tonight. This toy is history." That's why you shoot to wound, you are always trained to aim for center mass, that means the chest with a real hand gun.

All of the insight by Pat is fine, well and good but it was also involuntary incarceration if not out and out kidnapping. He should have either kicked the door down and/or picked up the phone and called 911. Even Woody finally had enough, so fuck Pat, fuck Irene and fuck Esther. I'm always up for an earned rec but this was too over the top with the meddling "friends" of Esther and John. This would have ended a bunch of friendships for me, in fact it did end a couple with my best friend and his wife. What is it they preach about when a woman says no it means no? Why doesn't that seem to work in reverse? Some how these "experts" all managed to find a way to turn a lot of her lies and cheating around to be at John's door. At least the cancer and surgery were accurate, been there, got the tee shirt for the exact same thing, four times to be exact. The first one the day after our first divorce court appearance. Two other questions; why couldn't three lawyers force a landlord to fix a leaky roof? ;o} What happened to good old boy Moriarity? Seems he got off scott free. I thought the entire story was well done and ended pretty much the way I expected. I just don't buy the ending, but I'm not going to insult the author over it. Signed: BTW

By damn it's that happy Hollywood ending that I feared.

Authors really need to know when to say "Hold, enough" ( so saith the Bard ).

Oooh. I'm a dark, brooding academic and my wife cheated/was about to cheat on me. I know...I'll really hurt myself and become depressed by deciding that I can't stay with my wife and live with suspicion, so I'll divorce her and live with regret. So for thest of my life I'll be a miserable and depressing bastard.

It took a horse kick to his head, then he finally got it.

What a roller coaster.

5*s and then some.

A well told story but I'm not sure realistic. Her lack of self control when drinking should have steeled her to avoid such situations. The realization that she would have slept with Moriarty is clear. John made a hard decision in the original story for the right reasons. I was married to and divorced a heavy drinker (alcoholic?) and understand the decision he made. No one should have to live through the doubts and torments continuing the marriage would have resulted. Though a sad ending, the original story said it all - this chapter was unnecessary and IMHO detracts from the original.

Absolutely lovely story. Had a tear in my eye.

Well done Blue88

She hadn't told him about Moriarity. That's cheating.

And why the slap? I never understood that...nor was it ever satisfactorily explained.

Not as good as parts 1 and 3, but better than part 2. I don't mind happy endings and I do think Hubby was partly to blame for the marriage problems. I think he made the right move to divorce her. The jury is still out whether reconciliation will work. I agree with some of the other readers who are wondering what I'm wondering. WTF over. What happened to Moriarty?

Too contrived wrap up of what had been a very good story.

-1 stars for this effort

Then, cancer... REALLY????

The story stood well on its own, without this fatuous epilog.

A real shame author chose to ruin it

This was a study in fantastic story telling.

MFH

Produces nothing but a shit full of belly button lint.

My fault, your fault, nobody's fault eventually it doesn't matter.

With friends like Renee and Patty who the fuck needs enemies. Those two are the consummate busy buddies who just can't leave John alone. Ending of a marriage is much like a death with all the accompanying stages of grief and its not your so-called friends business to decide what stage you ought to be at and for how long. In fact, its their constant interfering that keep him from naturally moving on with this life.

I don't mind a reconciliation, in fact, I thought these two should have reconciled. But this last chapter was crap. Two women planned an ambush to harangue the poor bastard 'till he surrendered? And he let them do it???

Patty sure is a great shrink; she psychoanalyzed and proved his ex-wife to be innocent and pure as the driven snow... without ever meeting the bitch. Truly amazing. It's not her fault, she just can't tolerate alcohol. Hell, it's really the husband's fault because he was so intolerant and unsupportive of the poor baby.

The author relied heavily on feminist dogma to have two meddling women prove the husband was at fault. Jeeze. If you hold the female cheater at fault, that makes you a misogynist. LOL. What laughable crap.

Like I said, I thought reconciliation would work for them, I figured they'd get to sooner or later. But all the crap in this last chapter sucked.

Esther CHEATED on John!!! Period!!! RAAC sux... Cancer is no excuse for Reconciliation!!!

This is a heart breaking story of how fragile we all are and how little we understand about life and how complex it really is. Having grown up in an alcoholic home I know how hard life can be for them and their family. I also know how stupid we can be when we judge them.

I know BTB fans would be disappointed with ending. but I feel this the correct ending even though she fucked up twice. As we know she was under the influence of alcohol, I think it should be taken under consideration. I am not saying that she is not at fault. She should have taken steps to prevent it. No lone dinner with jackass and just eat your room, tell your boss about the New Year transgression and finally be upfront with hubby that mildew ingrown butt hair is back.

Great storyline, nice ending, very touching.

Good explanation to her alcohol problem, John was sure resistant, but finally accepted it.

Perhaps too simplistic and naive. Your story, your universe, your fantasy.

Overall well done. 5*s. It does deserve a major rewrite and fairly severe editing, but I can support this story in this form. This shouldn't be an epilogue but Chapter 4.

Poorly contrived ending... let some woman try and lock me in her place so she can interrogate me and see just how far down her bra I would go to get that key and leave... never to see her again... and their is no way Patty would have all that info and insight to batter John with anyway... poor and rushed ending.

The police fascism in the first page is revolting. Do you really think cops get to behave that way? Even if they do in the uncivilized Blue states, any cop who does that needs a fucking beat down. The lady cop character is an unfortunate genuflection to feminism. Women cops who aren't clerical are welfare in a uniform.

This was a great series. I was frustrated by John's ego and anger that kept him in his own misery. The way John's character is written with his and level of anger he exhibits some serious emotional issues that he should have been having therapy for.

I simply hate when other people meddle into the relationship and feelings of two people in loving wife stories and get away with it.

The correct choice of action for Watson would have bee to burn any bridge between him and his past and forget any pain by never be reminded of said past. That would have been a lot easier for a reader to comprehend and not led to such a long and drawn out story of wired shit.

I hated the story for a while, was going to vote it down. But l loved the ending, l know, l’m a softy at heart and had tears in my eyes at the end.

Well Blue88 you engaged me fully into your story and l ended up loving it. I score it 5/5

A fitting end to a great series, but I still wonder why anyone (especially Esther) would tolerate John's continuous wallowing in his self-righteous misery, total lack of introspection and eagerness to blame everyone except himself for his plight.

The breakup of a marriage between a moral coward who considers himself without fault and an emotional masochist who willingly absorbs the sins of everyone involved was always going to be a messy, depressing and long drawn out process. Personally I think she would be better off without him but the heart wants what the heart wants and the author was skilful enough to make the reconciliation work.

LA

LA

Your main character is a pussy.

Wow, that was an awful epilog to a very good series. How dare he hold his ex-wife accountable for her actions. The poor woman has an alcohol problem that turns her into a slut. You have to wonder how many other drunken affairs she had while they were married. But his so-called friends think he needs to suck it up and support her. Maybe he can pay her bar bill.

I figured you couldn't leave well enough alone. What? Did the RAAC cuckys threaten to give you bad reviews if you didn't rewrite this?

Bottom line she wasn't drunk enough to get aroused from his finger banging, wasn't too drunk to play with his cock under the table. She even thought of having an affair completely sober.

You fucked up....

Meddling bitches. 1 star. I couldn't stomach the disrespect. They didn't deserve his friendship.

Esther died from Covid complications 2 weeks later.

The end.

Melodramatic with no payback on Jim M.

John is contender for the worst male emotional basket cases on Literotica.

Don't worry about the haters. I loved it

5 Stars

The haters probably never loved anyone in their lives and most assuredly no one ever loved them. They are typically the guys who live in their mother's basement making love to their hand. Remember, no one is perfect and to forgive is divine. The man came to the conclusion that his life is better with her than without her. Good story, great ending. 5/5

Superb, Well written, Thank you.

and after all this Jim M skates. lame.

"The haters probably never loved anyone in their lives and most assuredly no one ever loved them." => What's love got to do with it?

If you understand human nature so much, you would know love is but a chemical state in the brain.

The issue is the habits and co-dependency formed over the lifetime of the relationship are hard to break.

A person still chooses whether or not to engage.

With the foundation of the relationship broken, there is no reason to engage anymore.

Yes, his life would have been better without the selfish cunt. He chose to not forget because he is masochist and weak willed. Simple as that.

Again, what's love got to do with it?

I’ve said it before, but I will say it again. What you put the Main Character through I. This story is disgusting. Woody needs a divorce, not just John. Irene and Pat need to be arrested tbh. Unlawful imprisonment, emotional manipulation galore. Betrayal all around of the highest order. With friends like these he doesn’t need enemies.

Woody needs to watch out. No telling what Irene is capable of.

Offensive in the extreme.

Mixed emotions right now.

Re-read story and I have to admit, this was the only way it could have been written. Normally, stories in this vein have me thinking a total split is the only answer. But you excellent writing and describing the feelings of all involved sway my opinion. Easy five star…easy.

This is the 4th story I have read of yours,you're a very good story teller,you write well, This is also a 5 star story because of that..BUT,no mater how well you write it,you justified the reconciliation and its wrong,it should not have been. For this reader like many others we are simply tired of alcohol,drugs and blackmail used by authors as a free pass for reconciliation..You all put the simple fact aside that they put themselves in that position otherwise none of those excuses need occur...Sorry,just does not wash....and love does NOT conquer all.... JZK

I enjoyed your story. Thank you.

Enjoyed this series. Thank you.

I love reading the comments of the narcissistic nutjobs who believe that hurting the people you love is so much more important than allowing a life of happiness because of reconciliation. They obviously have never loved anyone and are incapable of positive emotions. They are usually born again happy clapper religious lunatics who can't follow the teachings of Christ. They are truly evil

good story wIth a kind ending. I guess there's room for a few of these:)

"I think that her pain is over". Wonderful ending. Regrets can grow bigger over time and become crushing. His reaction to the betrayal in the lounge was so visceral because he loved her so much but he ran away and did not communicate until it was too late. Now with time he became haunted. His biggest fear was suspicion bedeviling him if he stayed. But he had evidence that alcohol really screws her up. I can identify. My wife has a very low tolerance to alcohol. 2-3 glasses of wine and she is drunk and her inhibition are just gone. If she is angry or depressed going in, she can be very acerbic or nasty. If she is happy l, she will go giggly. If therr is anything sexual or romantic involved, she gets really horns and during sex her orgasmic potential (already high) goes ballistic. But one incident when we were exclusive on a Halloween some 31 years ago, she got drunk. First time I saw it. It almost broke us up. She did not pass the boyfriend test (barely over the line) with another guy who was a mutual friend of one of her cousins. I almost walked out and left. Instead I went back in bracing for a fight, broke up their dancing, and told her I was taking her home. Thank God she said yes and I stared the opportunistic guy down. Worse the next morning, she remembered virtually nothing. She also never gets a hangover how much she drinks. She might vomit but no hangover. Our relationship hung by a thread because I had felt humiliated and upset that night. She was moody and non communicative and I think ashamed. Took several weeks and then we really started talking. She told me of her drinking issues in college. What they cost her. She isn't an alcoholic, it is just alcohol has an outsizes effect on her, by like a factor five. In this case she was afraid of commitment as our relationship had been building like a firestorm. We got past it. She didn't drink for 2 years. On our honeymoon in Hawaiii she had 1.5 Mai Tais. I didn't even realize at the luau she had finished the first. That night no real issues except she passed out and vomited heavily. Yes a Mai Tai is worth several shots, but really? No.memory next morning and no hang over. Except for sips of wine with me at home or a restaurant or as part of a toast she didn't drink for another another 8 years. After my son's christening she had signs of post partum depression. My in laws were in town and driving her a bit nuts. She is doing dishes in the kitchen. I was going back in and out. Realized she was drinking and moody. Found she had drank 2 small glasses of cooking sherry. It was scary. She was really not herself. Not just angry but dark and foreboding and caustic and getting worse. Finally while I tried to talk to her, while my in laws hid in the living room, she snapped at our 4 year old daughter who wondered what was wrong with mommy. My wife snapped out of it and began crying like a child had died. Turns out the real trigger was a miscarriage (our first child( from 5 years prior that came flooding back. Except for a half glass a wine she didn't drink for another 19 years. In more recent times, now as empty nester, we have experimented with drinking a bottle of wine. 5 glasses to a bottle usually. She drinks a half bottle over 2 hours and she is drunk. But she is happy and with me and we get amorous. The sex is simply unbelievable. Her inhibitions just crumble and her passion is like a forest fire. We didn't have sex like this 30 years ago (of course part of it is practice, practice, practice). We do this like once a week. No kids around. Just us. Never outside our home. And yeah it is amazing. But the rule is only with me. Because I guarantee that if she had 3 glasses of wine and was being hit on at a club or a party and I wasn't there to protect, some predator could get past her guard and the only defense would be she got sick and vomited on the asshole. So what is the solution. For years she never drank and more recently ONLY ever with me in private. Otherwise she sips and then starts getting virgin daiquiris. So yeah I can empathize. I am glad they found their way back to one another. The prior chapter nearly broke my heart. I think from time to time if I had just walked away that Halloween 31 years ago, what I would have missed. The regrets would have ruined me. Thankfully I manned up and got hernoutnif there and we finally talked it out. Really talked. I am blessed she is in my life. And I am glad that one time when she freaked over our daughter seeing her, she just stopped drinking. Well until more recently, hehe...

Kiwihunter is dead on. I feel the same. I get sick of the hypocritical Old Testament types. Forgiveness doesn't have to reconciliation. But sometimes reconciliation is not only warranted but practically a necessity. This story is an example of the latter. A Mighty Pen and its sequel was another.

A police lieutenant who committed unlawful imprisonment?!? Yeah that’s charges and a lawsuit. Go to the media so the cops can’t hide it. Charge Irene as an accessory, or with conspiracy.

Again you present women as though what they feel is more important than what he thinks, and the pathetic excuse for a man just goes along with it. “They mean well.” There’s a few stories here where the man addresses the “well meaning bitches”. I wish you had done that here!

ZK

So, in the end it became all his fault. I don't believe alcohol can turn a women's panties into a sopping mess that would allow her to do what she did in the lounge. Why would the wife allow herself to be in that situation especially after the incident at the New Years party. That said it really was nice ending.

To the commenters who don't think alcohol can have a big effect on a woman's inhibitions and state of mind in a sexual sense: grow up and see the world beyond your phone or monitor...

Placing the MC into this Meubus Band quandary is pure fact. The women intruding into his life likely not even likely.

Interesting story but tge ending, they reconciled and lived happily ever after. Just not realistic.

I so liked this ending

I liked the ending. Your story telling is very good. The MC's came around and started acting like real people.

Sweet ending! Well done, I didn't think a reconciliation was believable but you pulled it off.

Great writing 5*. I did have an issue with the plot that the fancy underwear and the fact that she went to her room and returned was glossed over in the psychobabble. Still very entertaining and solid character development. Well done.

Ok I understand that you had to have some vehicle to make the reconciliation possible but really? Oh you were drunk? Thats ok dont worry about the woman you battered, the kids you killed, the store you robbed... THE MAN WHO FINGERED YOU AND YOU WERE JERKING OFF THAT YOU ALMOST FUCKED! you were drunk.

Really well done story arc. Was quite emotional.and gripping with some excellent character development. Author's best story arc. Was a reconciliation not a RAAC.

Agree wholeheartedly with the previous commenter. An excellent story. Glad they find each other again. The human heart is a complex and fragile thing. Irene was annoying at times with her pushing John and conniving with Patty. But Patty's analysis was dead on target and John took some time but realized much of it was accurate. Allowed him to get past the horrible scene he witnessed about 18 months prior. Touching scene at the end. If Esther doesn't deserve reconciliation with John, then no wife who ever cheated ever does. The only one that comes close is RhettBratt's two part story starting with "A Mighty Pen". Characters were well written. Author's best work across all four chapters.

Well written! Loved it

With friends like this, who needs enemies.

Outstanding effort! Thank you.

I'm too emotional to respond.

Blame it on the booze eh? Well I suppose in her case, I guess it's actually a valid excuse. There wasn't any actual intent to cheat; just a bad judgement call combined with the euphoria of her work success that gave her too much self-confidence, and that all spiraled out of control. Well at least they got back together in the end, which I think is the right call.

Nope. Shoulda left it well enough alone.