A Wife's Fall Pt. 01

"I was," I agreed as I looked around the room. My eyes running along the castoff spray along the walls and ceiling, "you find the knife yet?" I asked, knowing what kind of weapon was used just by the look of the spray.

"Not yet, you know you're going to have show me how you do that," Dale sated finally looking up at me.

"Trade secret," I said, forcing a smile like I always do before getting to work.

---Betty---

I was pretty much useless as I was curled in a ball on the couch. The bedroom that I now occupied was still a mess. I just couldn't bring myself to straighten up. The look in my husband's eyes seemed to paralyze me. His words made my heart weep at what I had done to him. I'm not ashamed to say I was a drooling, weeping mess as the TV covered it all up. That was when I noticed the news had interrupted the show I wasn't watching. I wouldn't have paid attention to it if I hadn't seen Wane's car there. Quickly hitting the record button knowing that this was probably the only way I'd ever be able to see my husband.

"You bitch! You take your damn hand off my husband!" I yelled as I noted how the red head behind the reporter was touching Wane's upper arm and the way she smiled at him. Telling me that she was interested in my husband. "Shit! This is bad! Really bad, if I don't try to save our marriage I'm going to lose him," I thought to myself. Racing over to the phone praying that Maggie could help me. Praying that his sister knew of a way that I could earn Wane's trust again.

"Hello?" I heard Maggie answer after the third ring.

"Hey Mags it's me," I said, as I walked around the kitchen nervously.

"Oh hey Betty! How are you?!" I was always amazed how different she was from Wane. While Wane was cold and logical, Maggie was always chipper and joyful.

"Not great," I admitted sadly.

"What's wrong?! Did Wane do something?!"

"No, no! Wane's done nothing wrong," I said, taking all the pictures out of the trash. Even if I lost my husband I wanted to always remember that I was the cause of losing him in the first place. So then, if I ever remarry I wouldn't be as stupid as I have been to risk Wane's trust.

"Then what's this about?!" I could hear Maggie's confusion in her voice.

"I need your help. I fucked up really, really bad! I don't know if Wane will ever love me again!" I broke down crying again as I told her what happened yesterday and what I came home to.

"You stupid, selfish bitch! How could you do that to my brother!" I let Maggie lay into me: I deserved every word that came out of her mouth.

"I know, don't you think I don't know. I should have never listened to my sister," I said, as I leaned against the door of the refrigerator as I sat on the floor. Pulling my legs up to my chest as I pressed my forehead against my knees. "Is there a way I can save our marriage?"

"I don't know. I don't really think I want you as my brother's wife right this second. I can't believe you would listen to what the town slut has to say?!" I heard Maggie's disdain for me in her voice. "Yet I never truly understood my brother. The one time I know that someone crossed him Wane when dark for a few days, only to find everything that person valued destroyed. But that was someone he really didn't like. I don't know what I can tell you. I mean you still there right? He didn't destroy your stuff did he?"

"No, he just dumped it all in the guest bedroom along with the bed I... cheated on," I said, weakly.

"Oh... umm... listen just stay away from him for a few days. Don't even try to talk to him. Trust me right now you don't want that. He will eviscerate you! And whatever you do, for the love of God keep your damn legs closed! I'll call Wane and see if I can't talk to him."

I slid the phone away. Rocking back and forth not knowing what to do. I don't know what I'd do if I lost Wane. He might be hard to understand and not express his emotions and his needs. Yet I knew! I knew all those quirks of his. I knew what he wanted if he viewed something more than once, something he rarely did. I learned to read between the lines with him after six years of being together. However, I have no idea of the man I met at the door this morning. I've never seen that side of him before. My mind raced with what he was going to do to me, Sean, and Dean. Wiping my tears from my cheeks, I could at least tell him why I did it even if I don't understand it. Walking over to the computer desk that sat behind the kitchen table so we could break up the space between the kitchen and our sunken living room. Writing out an email to Wane praying that he read it. Pouring my heart into those little 'ones and zeros' hoping that my husband read it and didn't send it to the trash the first thing.

---Wane---

I sat at my desk, going over the photos that the other crime scene techs had taken of the inside of the house. Typing up my report of how it looked like a crime of passion given the amount of cast off there was, and the numerous stab wounds. I had found the spot on the wall were the spray had jumped over and that only meant that was where the killer stood. I wasn't going to speculate on who the murderer was that was the police's job. I was only there to fill in the blanks for them. The DNA wouldn't be back for a few weeks or a month depending on the backlog in the lab. That's when my eyes noticed the icon on my mailbox.

Narrowing my eyes as I saw my wife's email. My left index finger tapped my cheek as I leaned on my elbow wondering if I should read it. I moved my cursor back and forth between the email and the trash button. As the old saying goes: 'Praemonitus, Praemunitus' or loosely translated 'Forewarned is Forearmed.' I fought from rolling my eyes as I opened the email.

Dear my sweetest love,

I know you hate, or whatever happens when you flip that switch in your head, me right now. I can't say how sorry I am that I gave into my desire to experience what a threesome was like. I wish I'd never allowed my sister to talk me into it...

"God fucking Celine!" I growled loudly. I should have known that bitch had a hand in this. Opening up a new email, inputting Celine's email address.

'You fucking bitch!' I wrote in the subject line. 'You had to fuck up my marriage because you and your whore mother can't keep your damn legs closed. Yes. I know all about your fucking slut of a mother. And yes, I was the one that told Bill about your whorish ways. You're welcome! For someone as supposedly smart as you are, you sure are as dumb as you fucking look! I wonder if you even care that you're known as the 'Town Whore' given how you slept with about every man in this city! Do you even fucking care that Jan knows this! No. I doubt you do! How I know this, because when Bill had to run in to work and you were out 'At the gym' as he put it, but we both know you were on your fucking back. Me and Betty took Jan to the park, I was walking her back to the playground when she overheard a group of fathers talking about you. You should have seen her cry! Still, I don't think you care, what kind of mother leaves that kind of legacy for her own child?! Now stay the fuck out of my marriage! If you don't heed this warning, and it's the only one you will ever get, then you will see a side of me that you will never forget!' I hit send before going back to Betty's email.

I will forever hate myself for hurting you so much! Yet every time I brought it up to you, you shot me down. I know, I know. I should have listened. I should have never allowed that itch of mine to torment me so. Yet it did, and it only got worse as my mind wouldn't let go of it. I promise you it was only going to be the one time! I know that doesn't make it right. But once it got out of my system I was never going to stray again! I know you probably don't believe that. I don't blame you. Just know I swear it was only going to be a onetime thing. If you see it in yourself, you don't have to answer me now I know that might be hard for you at the moment if ever, to work through this with me. I swear I'll go to a marriage counselor. I don't want to lose my husband! Although, I realize as I sit here in our home, that this email might be my last plea, this might be my last night as your wife, the last night I'll be able to spend under the same roof with you. Wane I hope you read this email and give it some thought before you do anything. I really do love you, and I'm so ashamed of myself. I'll end this here and pray that I can still be called your wife.

Love always,

Betty.

As I was closing out the email, I heard the doorknob of the door that lead to my enclosed area starting to turn. I tried not to appear that I noticed how Holly strolled in with her blouse unbuttoned. Something I knew she didn't do walking around the bullpen. So I wondered just what she had in store as I arched an eyebrow as she closed the blinds. Opening up my report, hitting the print button before I forgot.

"So..." I heard the soft cadence of her voice as she ambled over to me. I watched her reflection in the glass screen of my computer as her finger ran along my back as she walked around me. My eyes glanced to the right as I noted how Holly rested that tight ass of hers on the edge of my desk. "I see you aren't wearing your wedding ring. Trouble in paradise I take it?" Holly asked, smiling coyly at me as I leaned back in my chair.

"Something like that."

"You going to the award dinner next weekend?" Holly asked, slyly touching the back of my hand. I knew all the signs of flirting. I mean how could I not if I want to appear as a normal, sane, person.

"I was planning on it but..."

"Ah! And you're not ready to make up with your wife," Holly said, filling in the blanks as I bopped my nose telling her she hit the mark. "So do you think the two of you will work it out?"

"Can't say, too soon to tell," I stated shrugging my shoulders.

"Then..." I glance down as her hand ran up my arm as she leaned forward. Causing her blouse to open allowing me to peek as her light blue lacy bra and her rather alluring 36B breasts, "how about we go together?" Her perfume filled my nostrils as her hair brushed against my cheek. "I promise if you do I'll make sure you forget all about her for the night," Holly purred into my ear. "Think about it, won't you?" she cooed before she kissed me. Did she ever know how to kiss, I have to say as her lips pulled away my mind was a little befuddled. "See you later Wane, thanks for coming in again," Holly spoke as she took my preliminary report from the printer before leaving my small office.

---Betty---

I grunted as I wrangled the mattress of the bed I had broken my vows on onto the box spring. If I had to sleep away from the man I loved to show him I still loved him, then I would stay in that room until the day I die if that was what it took to show him I was still his wife. Even if I was a stupid, slut of a wife. I was hanging up the clothes my husband had dumped on the floor. That was when I heard a pounding on the front door of my home.

"Alright, alright. I'm coming, hold your horses," I grumbled as I walked towards the front door. "Celine?! What are you doing here?" I asked, perplexed as to why my sister was on my doorstep.

"You bitch!" Celine screeched at me. "Why did you tell Wane I was the one that told you to cheat on your husband?!"

"It's true was it not?" I replied with a pointed look.

"That's not the point!"

"Then what is?" I sighed loudly. "Own up to it sis, I have to live with it the rest of my life. I don't even know how you can look at Bill and not feel like shit. I do every time I see Wane."

"Can we not do this out here?" Celine sighed in defeat.

"Why not, the whole neighborhood knows what my naked ass looks like. So what if they know the kind of sluts we are. If you're worried about that your kind of..."

"I know!" Celine yelled. I arched an eyebrow as my sister broke down crying. "I just couldn't stop. God. What's wrong with me?!" Celine sobbed into her hands.

"Come on," I muttered as I guided my sister into the house. I could see her eyes moving around the room as I led her to my new bedroom. I saw her glance at me knowing how the walls once sported dozens of pictures of me and Wane now they were bare, then her eyes shot down to the floor knowing what she had cost me. Her shoulders sank as we stood in the doorway of the guest bedroom reinforcing the new reality that had become my life. "Okay, why don't you start from the beginning," I said, keeping the joy from my face that Wane had indeed read my email and didn't trash it like I thought he would. Maybe there was hope for me yet.

"Here read it for yourself," Celine sniffed handing over her phone.

As I read through the email that Wane had sent her. My heart began to beat faster as I read the line about our marriage. "I still have a marriage!" I cried out in my mind. Although I wondered how he knew about Mom. I never told him about how we both knew about how she was cheating on our father -- to this day still. My head shot up at the realization of that my parents haven't slept in the same bed in over twenty-one years, or my father hasn't spent any length of time alone with my mother since I was seven. Were we destined to go the way of my parents?! Not if I could help it. I, unlike my mother, would never cheat on Wane, ever again. "Well, all I can say is you should heed my husband's warning," I said, handing back Celine's phone.

"But he couldn't mean it could he?" Celine asked, with a trembling voice.

"Oh, he does. Wane doesn't say something he doesn't mean Celine. I told you, you do not know that man like I do," I said, in a matter-of-fact tone. "So how about if we try and not cheat on our husbands anymore?" I stated as I looked at my sister. "Do you want to live like Mom and Dad? When was the last time you and Bill had sex?" I watched as she fell face forward into her hands. "That long huh?" Rubbing Celine's back nodded her head. "A year..."

"Three," Celine whispered.

"Didn't you find that odd?"

"I didn't notice, I was so absorbed in the thrill of it I didn't see what was going on around me. Now my baby knows what kind of woman I am! How can I ever show her how to be a strong woman if I'm willing to ruin her life and Bill's because I can't stop sleeping around?!"

"Well... maybe you can talk to Bill, get some counseling for you and your marriage. I don't know if you can save your marriage Celine. The way I saw Bill look at me this morning, you might never win him back. But are you willing to try, or do you want to be one of those divorced mothers that's known to take a man to their bed every night and not have a lasting relationship when they all know your reputation?" I asked, in a stern sisterly voice. "Because you know Bill won't let you have Jan if that's how your life is going to be. You know how much he loves his little girl."

"I love Bill, and I'm not going to end up like Mom! Fuck! I am Mom!" Celine expectorated as she fell back onto my naked bed. I had thrown out the sheets from that night. Wane had left the residue of my sinful fall on it to visibly smack me across the face.

"Yeah, you kind of are sis," I agreed. "But maybe there's still time."

"Would you stay with me if you were Bill?"

"With the amount of whoring around you've done? Probably not," I admitted.

"Shit! Shit!" Celine cursed as her hands covered her face.

"Well, you got another eleven years to win him back," I said, offhandedly.

"Huh?"

"You think Bill is just going to leave his daughter?" I asked, arching an eyebrow knowing how the courts usually sided with the mother no matter how much of a slut she was. I knew Bill well enough to know that he would never give up his daughter. He just loved Jan too much.

"But what if we do end up divorced?"

"Then you can be my roommate; no sense of us both being miserable alone," I said, with a warm smile.

"That's not helping," Celine chuckled for the first time since coming into my home. I hoped it was still my home in the years to come. My head quickly turned towards the window as I heard a car door closing.

"Stay the fuck here, do not leave this room," I warned as I got up from the bed. "I don't think you or I would like to deal with Wane if he saw you here right now." Watching how Celine zipped her lips as I walked hurriedly to greet my husband. "Welcome home Wane," I said, as my husband walked through the door. Swallowing hard, wishing I had taken his sister's advice and gave him a few days as those eyes narrowed. Dropping my chin as he didn't return my greeting as he closed the front door. I felt a tear running down my cheek, then the forceful grip on my chin lifting it up.

"Why the fuck are you crying?!" Wane asked, in this cold tone.

"Because... I'm the one who took the light from your eyes. The light I always saw when you looked at me. Now I hate how I see myself in them," I admitted. Lying to him now would end everything I hoped to save.

"Good. As you fucking should," Wane said, roughly releasing my chin. "Tell your sister to get the fuck out of my house!" I jumped as he slammed the door to my former bedroom. I wondered how he even knew Celine was even here.

Turning to look at my room as Celine exited it. "Sorry sis, I thought I was doing the right thing. I thought... fuck what I thought. Do what you have to do to save what you can. I'll apologize to him if it will help."

"It won't." We swallowed uneasily as we both looked at the man that inhabited my husband's body. "Leave. Now. I won't tell you again." I felt the temperature dropping rapidly as his eyes bored into my sister. I had never seen the look of fear in my sister's eyes as I did that day. I began to think Celine was starting to realize he meant every word of his warning.

"I'll call you later," Celine said, quickly exiting out the door.

"I'll be in my room if you need me."

"I won't." How those two words felt like a knife in my heart as Wane walked into the kitchen.

Sulking back to the life that was now mine and mine alone to live. Trying not to cry as I heard Wane rummaging through the kitchen as I went back to hanging my clothes.

---Wane---

It was eleven o'clock on a Sunday morning as I stood out on the back patio my father had built years ago. The smoke of my cigarette drifted on the air as I stared at nothing in particular. I hadn't smoked in years. God. It felt so good to inhale that rich aroma. Why had I quit? Betty of course. Yet now, everything I changed or gave up for her was making a comeback. If she didn't like it I really didn't care. I heard the sliding door opening behind me.

"Wane...?!" I kept my face placid as I turned. I saw the shock in her eyes as I blew out a puff of smoke. "I thought..."

"I did."

"But why?!" Betty asked, in a worrying tone.

"Who did I give it up for, and what did I come home to three days ago?" I asked, flicking the ashes. Turning back around as she dropped her head.

"Please Wane, don't risk your health because I've been so stupid. I don't want to lose you to that." I felt her so close to me as I kept my back to her.

"Why do you care Betty? Obviously, you didn't when you let two men fuck you in my house," I asked, taking one last drag before letting the butt fall to the ground. My body jerked forward as she hugged me from behind. I felt her trembling as her hug tightened.

"I care! I've never stopped caring Wane! And I never will, you're the only man I want!"

"Could have fooled me," I said, coldly.

"I can only say sorry so much Wane! Please, tell me why did you start smoking again?"

"I saw no point in denying myself the things I used to like doing but gave them up for someone that didn't respect me enough not to break their vows. And you know how I am when I give my word. So, I'm going to give you another one, I am going to date..." I felt her body stilling as a wicked smile formed on my lips, "as a matter-of-fact I have got one already lined up next weekend."