A Wife's Choice

My mind snapped back as I had been fantasizing about her body in my arms as she shuts the water off.

She started sliding the door open. When she saw me staring, she stops opening it and reached out to find her robe hanging nearby. Donning it inside the shower, she stepped out and used a towel to wrap around her hair. Neither of us said a word.

Silently, I watch as she brushes her teeth and straightens out. She knows I am watching and seems irritated. I wonder what is in her mind. I usually am at work this time in the day, and she is alone at home. Does she masturbate when she is alone? As intimacy is no longer part of our life, I imagine she is uncomfortable with me near her in a vulnerable position.

"Don't worry," I said, "I won't rape you if that's what you are thinking."

"I know you wouldn't," she replied.

Surprisingly, the comment cruelly cut to my core. I should be proud that my wife thinks enough of my character not to force her into sex. But at the same time, I am annoyed that she thinks me harmless.

I'm also annoyed that she stands there in her robe, waiting for me to go before she dresses. But I stare at her defiantly, daring her. But she is smart and defuses the situation.

"Let's get some coffee, and you can tell me your news," she said, pulling her robe tightly around her.

In the kitchen, she pours herself a cup and sits on the table.

"There used to be a time Lisa that we served each other a cup, smiled at each other and..."

"A lot has happened since," she said with a distant voice.

"I wouldn't know, Lisa," I replied. "You live your own life. You won't spend time with me even on weekends. Not to mention there is no intimacy and, to be honest, no love. What happened to you, Lisa?"

"Our daughter got sick, is what happened. Did you miss that part of our lives?" she snapped back. "I have had to work hard to pay the loans off. If you only knew..."

"I know you shut me out, Lisa. Like it was my fault Amber got sick and that we didn't have the money to pay for the surgery. I appreciate what you do for us, but why shut us out. Even on weekends? Why?"

"I told you, I work hard. I do two jobs in ten to eleven hours a day. It's tiring. And sometimes I have to go in on Saturdays to catch up. Why can't you understand?"

We stared at each other for some long seconds that seemed minutes. I couldn't help but feel that she was hiding something from me.

"Well," I replied, breaking the impasse. "You won't have to do that anymore."

"What do you mean? My job is important to us. We need the money and the healthcare..."

"We won the lottery," I said to stop her from rambling on.

"What!" she asks in disbelief.

"You heard me. Our pool at work won the lottery. We will clear six million-plus after taxes. We can pay off all the loans, credit cards and have money left over. Plenty of money."

I was smiling as I said it, with hopes she would be happy. In my deluded mind, I imagined her running to me, sitting on my lap, and kissing me happily. That she would tell me she would stop working so much and at nights, if not quit altogether.

Instead, I was greeted with a look of horror or a trapped animal. Moving quickly, Lisa pushed the cup away and stood.

"I can't quit my job," she replied. "I have an obligation to do the job I promised to do."

"What!" I said, stunned at her reaction. "Why, Lisa? The only obligation we have is to pay back the loans. We can do that as soon as the money is deposited in our account in a couple of days."

She shook her head, wiped her eyes, and ran up the steps. I followed her, but she locked the door on my face. Thinking back on it, I should have broken the door on its hinges and barged in. Grabbed her by the shoulders, and then... what? Ravished her?

That shit only happens in old movies, and not much ravishing at that. These days that is considered rape and assault. When the cops are called, they have to arrest someone for the disturbance. And that someone is usually the husband. I may not be the forceful male of stories and old movies. But I was not stupid either to get myself arrested so she can have custody of the kids.

I sat at the kitchen table, fuming at her. This should have been a happy time for us. Instead, my wife was practically horrified that we could pay off our debts, so she didn't have to work nights and so many hours.

An hour later, she came down the steps dressed for the gym and carrying her business suit on a hanger covered by plastic. She tried not to look at me as she went for the door.

"Not so fast," I said, blocking her way. She recoiled but stood her ground. "It is quite apparent that you staying at your job at night is more than just because we need the money. I could ask you what it is, but you would come up with some bullshit reason to blow me off at this point. So, I'll make it easy for you."

"What do you mean?" she replied.

"I'll file for a legal separation. We can both still stay here. It's not like we see each other much. If you do nothing in three months, it turns into a divorce proceeding, and this charade of a marriage comes to an end. The way you are never here, I will ask for custody and the house for the kids. We can get you an apartment. Probably close to your job, so you can do more of whatever you do up there."

She was sneering at me up with arms crossed until the apartment and the "whatever she did up there" comment. That made her cringe, but I was too pissed at her to catch it and its possible implications.

"I don't want a divorce," she said.

"Well, I didn't want the shit show our marriage has turned into, either. But it's what I got. I will talk to a lawyer so we can divide our assets and pay off your company. You will need to get the payoff balance from BCE soon. If you don't, I'm sure the lawyers will file a subpoena to get that from your job. They won't like that, so I suggest you go to HR and ask for a payoff statement."

"If I pay the loans off, will you stop the separation or divorce thing?"

"We have to pay the loan off no matter what we do with our marriage," I replied. "So, let's get that sorted first. Get me a statement to take to my lawyers."

"I will ask, but I can't promise they..."

"What entity that has an outstanding loan doesn't want to get their money back, Lisa?"

"Fine," she replied. Saying it in the way wives tell their husbands when they have been forced to agree to something they would rather not. It translates to "I hate your guts." All married people know what I'm talking about.

With that, I stood aside and let her leave. After she was gone, I called a friend who had been through a nasty divorce and asked for his lawyer's contact information. I was surprised that he saw me that afternoon. In between the call and the meeting, I moved my stuff to the guest room.

***

The lawyer agreed that a separation was better than divorce at this point. When and if we did cross that line, he wanted me to play by the rules and avoid arguments that she could record and use against me. Again, that we hardly saw each other helped that situation, but I had to be careful.

The money was deposited in an account I requested under the control of my lawyer. On the second day after I had the conversation with her, Lisa produced the payout statement from BCE Systems. It was delivered to my lawyer by a courier from her legal representative. Considering how much money we now had, the $5,000 we still owed her company seemed minuscule.

She had to know that we were free of that debt and could breathe easier financially. Yet she had acted in horror that she had to quit working there. Then I did the math I should have done all along. We had needed $80,000 for the surgery alone. The amount had ballooned to $100,000 with other unexpected costs. The BCE charity covered twenty grand of that, which left $80,000 for us to pay off. The total loan at 5% interest should have cost us $102,103 in five years.

Lisa cleared $120,000 a year. That is $60,000 more than she used to bring home before the surgery. That meant she had been paid $600,000 in the last five years that was more than enough to pay for the loan. Where had all the extra money she earned gone?

Looking at our tax returns, I noticed no irregularities, but I was no expert. It just seemed to me that she had been paid a lot of money, and only half of it went into our bank account. I took it to my lawyer, who contacted an accountant... who confirmed the discrepancy. My lawyer called her lawyer, and that started a shitstorm for Lisa.

Who was this woman I was married to? What had she morphed into and why? Yes, we had financial problems and had faced our child's possible death, but why this? Why had she practically withdrawn from me? And why was she hiding money? She had enough to pay everything off and... And what? I asked myself.

Realizing that my wife had taken a separate path in life by choice, I had to come to terms with it. We had ceased to be a team of two. No longer the couple I thought we were and might be one day. It hurt, but so long as I had the kids and we had not split up, I came to terms with the new phase of our life. My kids needed me if their mother no longer did. With her working during the time the kids were home, I was their only parent.

Having resolved that, I indulged myself in a new car, the Lexus IS. And Lisa bought a Mercedes SUV of some kind. I know it was black, but I hardly saw it as I was back at work. The money we took in from the lottery would not be enough to retire on. And then we had two smart kids that would want to go to expensive colleges. So, I kept working at Abberton.

Lisa's lawyers refused to disclose where the money was that she stashed away. It seemed that as soon as taxes on it were paid, it disappeared. I had been too trusting in letting her handle our finances. But then I had loved her and trusted her.

Had.

Accepting that I was no longer in love with my wife was the final nail in the coffin for me. But it was true. Years of distance, even while living in the same house. What had begun as an attempt to save our daughter and keep ourselves financially afloat had turned our marriage into this sham of distance and little if any communication.

Our outstanding debts, including mortgage, were paid off before anything was to be split 50-50. The part Lisa had not hidden away, that is. An accounting firm handled all this agreed to by the lawyers. Until the three months were up, we were officially separated but living in the same house with the kids.

Following the legal advice, I did not ask Lisa why she had stashed all that money that could have paid off our debts. I figured she and her lawyer would just come up with some bullshit reason to explain her shenanigans. In my mind, the lottery win was a Godsend. And that I was lucky to be getting out of this marriage without being broke.

The critical hang-up was custody. Lisa refused to discuss divorce but let it be known that she would fight for the kids. And that was a problem as we had nothing to show she was doing anything to place the children in danger.

My lawyer informed me that I could date so long as I was not exposing the kids to my dates during the separation. While I knew I was legally allowed to, I had issues with having sex while I was still married. Not just moral, but practical. I was worried Lisa would find out and tell the kids to turn them against me. On top of that, Lisa still refused to consider divorce.

I had no proof that Lisa was cheating on me. So, if I went with a woman and the kids found out, I would be that bad person, the confirmed cheating dad. So, I decided to wait until after the divorce. Sheila was not amused by that at all. But I didn't see any other way. My kids and their respect was more important to me than she was. Eventually, she understood.

We went to dinner from time to time, but in separate cars as I just assumed I was being watched. Paranoid, you say? Not so. Private investigators cost a lot of money to hire. And with the lottery proceeds, Lisa had plenty of it to spend to keep tabs on me. Not out of love or jealousy, I expected. But to make sure she had ammunition against me for the eventual divorce. In Ohio, infidelity can be used in divorce proceedings only on the marital assets. And we now both had plenty of those.

Since I now had money as well, I hired a private investigator to tail my wife. After two weeks, the PI said she only went to stores, to visit the kids in school, and work. They could investigate her BCE activities, but it would have involved getting one of their people to get a job there to snoop about. That would take another month and more money. I was contemplating that but pushed ahead for a DNA test for the kids. Thankfully, both were mine.

And that was when Kathy Sanchez-Weise made her appearance.

***

Revelations

She drove her Land Rover into the lot of a swanky restaurant, and we walked in.

"Reservations for two. It's under Ms. Kathy Sanchez-Weise," she told the maître d'.

We were escorted to a private room with just one table. I never knew that was an option, but then the place was frequented by people of means. It still had not sunk into me yet that I was one of those people these days.

We sat, and she picked up a menu. It was dinner time, but my appetite had gone out the window.

"Order something. It's on me," Kathy Weise said, still reading.

"What you told me so far has my stomach in knots."

"I know the feeling," she replied. "When I found out, I was in tatters. I never expected my husband to stoop that low."

"He didn't do it alone," I replied.

"David, I think..."

"I prefer Dave, I replied. "David is what she used to call me when she was mad at me. And what she has been calling me for the last four years or more."

Kathy placed her menu down and exhaled with an empathic gaze back at me. Regrettably, that was the sign for the waiter to approach and ask for our choices. I ordered some soup and she some pasta. I can't remember what kind as I barely touched mine. What I needed was a stiff drink, but I wanted my mind clear at this point.

"So, let me get this straight," I said as soon as we were alone. "Your husband and my wife have been having an affair since right before my daughter's first surgery?"

"It was not your normal affair at first," she replied with a faraway look before she looked at me directly. "This requires some explaining."

"I bet," I replied with a scowl. "But then most affairs have similar aspects. Including both parties agreeing to indulge in them."

She tilted her head before speaking. One of those mannerisms that say there is more to it than that.

"Erich... my soon-to-be ex-husband, is mainly responsible for it. And no, he did not woe her the way most seducers do. It was more insidious than that."

"She agreed to it, didn't she?" I asked.

"Yes, she did," Kathy agreed. "Look, this will work better if I just tell you what happened and you don't interrupt. I understand this is a bit of a shock, and it will get worse as I go along, but you need to let me tell it."

"Before you do, I need to ask one thing."

Kathy was a bit annoyed, but she waved me to do so. This was a woman used to power and getting her way. I could tell. I made a mental note to google her as soon as I had the chance.

"How certain are you that your information is correct?"

"I have spent over fifty thousand dollars this year alone for the information. And seventy each for the last six years. The firm is expensive and exceptionally reliable. Now can I go on? Please?"

The way she said it, I realized that saying please was not something Kathy often did. It wasn't just her money that brought power to her. She had those looks most women wished they had. Not only the captivating attractiveness. Kathy was downright intimidating. She reminded me of someone.

Then I remembered: the actress Tracy Scoggins. Not identically as that woman, but they shared the down-pointed lip edges and full lips. When they were not smiling, they exuded control and dominance.

Women like her are used to men falling over themselves to agree with or flatter. I could just imagine what Kathy had looked like in her twenties. But she had probably reached her stride at thirty. A combination of confidence and self-worth that few women ever achieve.

I acquiesced by waving for her to continue regally the way she had with me a minute ago and smiled in the process. She gave me a semi-cold stare then rolled her eyes with a slightly amusing smile. One that faded as she began her story.

"My family has old money; Texas oil and lots of land money. When I was young and wild, my parents decided that I should mingle and eventually marry a young man of similar means. Being the snotty princes of the Sanchez family, I agreed. After meeting a few American, British, and assorted European upper-class offspring, I found Erich Weise to be the top contender.

"He was handsome, charming, and when I gave him a road-test in bed, exceptionally well equipped."

I flinched at the implication. Had that been the reason why my wife had fallen to temptation?

"BCE Systems was a subsidiary of my family corporation. It was my dowery for the wedding. And a door for the Heinz family to the US business world. Erich married me, became a citizen and a business owner all in one deal. I didn't mind, as I would be right there with him helping him run it, which I did until our children came along and I had to step off.

"So, you know, my investigators had to plant people in BCE to get the information I need," she said, making me think of the option my investigators had offered, and I was still contemplating. "Without them, everything would not have come to light. And there is a good reason for that. Everything started at BCE and continued so until three years ago. In fact, most of it continues in the BCE campus in town. I'll get to that later. But let's start at the beginning."

Continues! Even though any hope of salvaging my marriage had faded, my stomach was still tied in knots. But I was compelled to find out. I was expecting the worse and braced myself. Affair! My wife had been having an affair. How had I been so stupid not to consider the possibility? Internally, I was kicking myself for having been the clueless husband.

"Before BCE switched hands, the office space Erich converted into his CEO's sweet was a conference room and two other offices. All the rooms were bugged to keep audio records negotiations. Not the cheap kind you can buy online. These were expensive devices at the time and built into the walls and ceilings.

"I learned of them from my father, who had told me never to trust people I worked with. But I was young and in love, so I trusted Erich. Some years later, I heard a rumor he had cheated on me. I never found proof of it, but I decided to bring in an outside firm to make sure the old devices were active. And indeed, they were and had been recording many things, not just audio, but video as well. It took time to go through the recordings. By then, this situation with your wife had been going on for some time.

"It started just before your daughter had her first surgery. Your wife, Lisa, desperate to get financial help, spoke to HR, asking them for assistance. The only thing HR could think of was the Charity fund BCE had set up to help employees in case of catastrophic health issues. The problem was that only five thousand dollars could be dispensed per employee per year. There is an option to dispense up to twenty thousand, but it would have to be approved by the CEO: Namely Erich, my husband.

"An appointment was made, and Lisa met Erich in his office on the top level. At that meeting, your wife explained the financial hardship you two were on. She also explained the pressure to secure that financing for the surgery before the end of the month. I have a recording of that meeting. Not much happened there, so I will paraphrase their conversation: