An Unfaithful Wife

Finally, Dan nodded sagely, "Well, I think I see what we are up against. Folks, this is just a get-to-know-one-another meeting, and our forty-five minutes are about up today. The real work starts next time.

"Jill, your affair is certainly the defining symptom of the problem. Next Wednesday I want you to come here alone to discuss your affair with me. You must be completely honest and open. I am professionally bound not to reveal anything that you tell me, not even to Tom, until you give me permission.

"Tom, I will meet with you the following Wednesday. I want you to be ready to discuss your real feelings about your wife's affair. The same promise of confidentiality applies to you too.

"The third week we will all three meet and see if we can openly and honestly suss out what Jill's affair means to you each as individuals and as a married couple."

We dutifully had our separate meetings with Dan in the following weeks and gathered three weeks later for our first kumbaya group meeting.

After we all took a seat, Dan looked at me and said, "Okay Tom, why don't you get the ball rolling and tell us why you think Jill had an affair with another man?"

Well great, I get to start. Now I have to air my hurt feelings and injured pride in front of my cheating wife and this damn know-it-all counselor.

I took a deep breath and snarled, "Okay, basically, our sex life is the pits. And as the old cliche goes, I am not satisfying my woman in bed so she went looking for a man who could provide her the hot steamy sex she needs."

Dan turned to Jill. "Do you have any comment on Tom's observation?"

Jill nodded at me thoughtfully as I gave my answer. She said evenly as she gazed in my eyes, "I am sorry honey, but I think you hit the nail on the head."

Dan pursed his lips and asked me, "And Tom, how do you feel about your wife having sex with another man?"

I grimaced and growled surlily, "Mad, angry, embarrassed, ashamed." I blew out a breath and continued slowly and thoughtfully, "I don't know. It is complex. The dishonesty and loss of trust is probably the real issue. At this point, for all that I know, my wife has been screwing guys behind my back for years and may very well still be doing so."

Jill gave me an incredulous look of outrage and than with a voice tinged with icy fury exclaimed, as she indignantly emphasized each word, "I have told you I only did it once. I am certainly not screwing anybody now. I am no slut. Damn it, can't you believe your own wife?"

I shrugged my shoulders nonchalantly and added, "Hell, the physical sex is actually the least of it. If Jill wants to screw some guy just to get it out of her system, fine; have at it."

Jill and Dan both looked over at me in surprise - that certainly caught them off guard.

I continued quickly with a cynical grin, "However, that comes with the obvious corollary that I get to consort with other women of my choosing and enjoy the same conjugal delights with them that my wife enjoys with her lovers."

Jill's face turned pale with anger as she spat out, "That is ridiculous. I would never consent to any such nonsense. Totally out of the question. Anyway, as I have told you repeatedly, I only cheated on you the one time."

Dan turned to Jill and said, "Let's get back on track. Now Jill, it is your turn. Tell Tom about your affair. You know, like we discussed, why you think you had the affair and what did you get out of it that Tom is not providing."

Jill blushed and stuttered, "Uhm, well, I got sexual satisfaction out of it, obviously. I am also very sorry I did it. I really, really am.... Tom has done a great job explaining the situation. Kudos for his honesty. I really don't have anything else to add. But Dan, I need more time before I can talk about details in front of him."

And so it went. We would have our individual meetings with Dan. Then in the group meetings, Dan would get me to discuss some embarrassingly private issue. Jill would expand on this as far as it concerned me but always refused to reveal much of anything about her feelings and nothing about the original affair while I was in the room. This was the pattern, month after month.

TIME MARCHES ON

Despite Jill's affair and the stalemated marital counseling sessions, life went on. I went to work and traveled. The kids went to school and played. Jill did her thing, whatever it was. The marital bed remained uninspiring.

When I traveled, I had no idea whether my wife back home was dutifully tending to domestic matters or whether she was out getting her hormonal bonfire relit by some hot stud. Maybe I am just paranoid, and she really has put it all behind her. Then again, maybe not.

One Saturday Jill and I were over at Barb and Joe's house. Joe was a coworker from the office. Joe and Barb were a dozen or so years older than we were, and they had befriended us upon our arrival in town five years back. Their kids were both in college now, and ours were with a baby sitter.

Joe was a handsome guy, a convivial sort, witty, and good company. He did fancy himself a lady's man, and at parties, I noticed females did tend to cluster around him. He could, upon occasion, be cutting and verbally cruel to Barb, and he loved to spread naughty gossip about coworker's who were not present to defend themselves. Barb tolerated his periodic crude behavior with good grace.

Barb was a very nice looking middle-aged woman and pleasant company. Jill looked upon her as something of an older, wiser sister or aunt in whom she could confide. I am sure Barb knew far more about my wife's affair and our marriage counseling than I did. But what she knew, she did not divulge.

On this particular evening, I had been put in charge of the ribs on the smoker, one of my widely lauded talents. While I tended to the slow cooking ribs, the others came and went while amiably visiting with me, providing delectable hors d'oeuvres, prepping other meal accompaniments inside, and ensuring my drink glass was never empty. Just a restful and pleasurable Saturday with friends in suburbia.

At about dusk, I was standing on the back patio near the smoker by myself enjoying the balmy weather and a slight alcohol induced buzz. Barb marched out the back door and briskly delivered a glass of ice and bourbon to me. She was tense and angry, and it showed in her posture and face.

"My husband and your wife sent me out here with a fresh drink to ensure you stay here," she said in a tight, strained voice.

I looked at Barb in confusion and replied casually, "Thanks. Uhm, stay here? Barb, what is going on?"

She answered angrily, "Yeah, stay here. Your wife is in there French kissing my husband, her panties are on the floor, and my husband's hand is up her skirt. In case you can't guess, my husband is getting ready to fuck your horny wife. That is what is going on!"

Barb continued through gritted teeth, "They really pissed me off. Ordering me to keep you out of their hair while they screwed on the couch. I am not their damn go-fer or their wingman. Now my husband is in there fucking your wife's hot little ass while you stand out here fat, dumb, and oblivious."

Well, this certainly answered all of my questions about Jill.

I think Barb expected me to march inside and break up my wife's lusty little tete-a-tete with Barb's husband. But from my perspective, why bother.

Instead, I kissed Barb. Her eyes popped wide with surprise. Then I felt her smile. Her tongue began to probe. This rapidly evolved into a prolonged passionate kiss as she molded her body into mine with happy encouraging moans.

Time was of the essence though since our spouses were inside only a few dozen steps away. They might appear at any moment once they finished their own carnal amusements. I bent Barb quickly over the nearby picnic table lifting her skirt. As I dropped my shorts she shucked her panties, and I quickly entered her. She was ready and pushed back with a happy groan followed by a muted intense plea, "Cone on; come on; fuck me." I took her vigorously, and she responded in kind. We both came quickly with powerful final thrusts.

As I was spilling myself into my "friend's" wife, and she was gasping in delight, I heard the door from the house crack open and Jill and Joe's muted voices. I jerked my shorts and underwear back up and hastily refastened my belt. Barb pulled down her skirt as she took several steps away to provide some visual camouflage to our intimate position of a few seconds before.

Jill and Joe were laughing as they stepped out onto the patio. Jill wore a smug smirk, and Joe had a very self-satisfied gleam in his eyes. No doubt Jill enjoyed the existential thrill of cuckolding me while I stood barely twenty feet away. Joe was obviously amused to have nailed my wife right under my nose.

Jill exclaimed teasingly with a happy lilt, "Tom, Barb, what are you two up to out here all alone? Joe, I think we better keep an eye on this pair!"

Jill laughed as she went on, "Hey, I worked up quite an appetite this afternoon and am absolutely starving. I sure hope the ribs are ready. I could eat a whole cow."

I saw Barb's eyes widen in horror. I followed her gaze to the panties she had forgotten about lying on the ground. I casually dropped a cooking mitt, and as I bent to retrieve the mitt, I surreptitiously palmed the lady's incriminating panties and tucked them discretely into my pocket.

I answered Jill with an ironic, "Oh, there's been a hot time in the ol' town tonight! You all just missed it. I believe we can eat anytime now."

Barb smiled at me and gave a conspiratorial wink as she said, "Then I will get the rest of the food on the table." She disappeared inside to carry out her task, and no doubt, don fresh panties.

A FREEDOM PLAN

Barb's sister and her husband had a nearby cabin on a lake out in the woods. They used the cabin only on the weekends, and it was vacant during the week. The sister turned a key over to Barb for our trysts during weekdays.

At least once a week, and sometimes more, I met Barb at the cabin for intense sexual marathons. Barb was totally uninhibited, wildly passionate, and a skilled grandmaster of the bedroom arts. I was having far better sex with Barb than I ever had with Jill. I really didn't care who my wife was fucking at this point; they were welcome to her.

During multiple sessions of post-coital pillow talk, I learned that Barb and Joe inveigled my wife to join them in a menage-a-trois about a month after we arrived in town. Barb was no plaster saint and happily joined in the lusty fun and games.

According to Barb, Joe really got a kick out of fucking other men's wives and had quite a harem of adulterous wives he savored from time to time. My Jill was a particular favorite. Barb said his fondness for fucking my wife reflected his jealousy of my golden-haired status and rapid advancement at work where I had already surpassed him in pay.

Joe also took perverse pleasure in periodically fucking these wives while Barb was assigned to sit and watch from the sidelines. Barb would describe the encounters with different wives, a number of which I knew, and just shrug and laugh as she said, "That's just Joe. It is like watching a live porn flick starring your husband."

One day Barb sat up on the edge of the bed and poured us each a glass of wine. We were both naked and sweaty from a delightful bout of lovemaking. She smiled fondly down at me saying, "Tom, I am afraid I have been something of an enabler abetting your wife in her affairs. I feel rather bad about that. I am sorry. Still she was cheating on you before you moved here and would have cheated on you here again, regardless of what I did."

I shrugged and replied, "I certainly don't blame you for my wife's behavior. My unfounded and naive trust in her, her own proclivities, and my travel schedule created the cheating wife she is. That's my problem, not yours.

"I would love to get rid of her, but she has outfoxed me with this confession and marriage counseling thing. That leads the court to judge I condone her adultery. The episodes at your house and here only prove both Jill and I are guilty of adultery so I can't use the adultery argument in court. The only remaining option is a very expensive no-fault divorce."

Barb gave a wicked grin and whispered conspiratorially, "Oh honey, that wasn't the last time Joe fucked your wife. More importantly, Jill suspects nothing about us and still confides in me. She actually enjoys describing her sexual adventures to me... and to your marriage counselor too, by the way. I am happy to share with you what I hear. You need to get rid of that woman."

Now I have a mole in the enemy camp, and so a freedom plan was hatched.

PREPARATION

As my wife unwittingly confided her ongoing extramarital affairs to my mole, Jill and I were still doing the stymied marriage counseling thing. We also socialized, I traveled, Jill kept up her private sexual life (the details of which I learned via Barb's illuminating reports), and I kept my trysts with Barb for fun and information. As I collected and correlated the intelligence from my pillow talks with Barb, I bided my time until the proper moment.

Finally in early summer, Jill flew with the kids to Chicago to visit her folks. She left on a Sunday and would return home the following Sunday. The kids would stay with their grandparents for two more weeks before coming home.

On the Monday after Jill left, I arranged for our house to go on the market at a very competitive price the following Monday. Next I tended to financial affairs that had to be reorganized and had a new will and power of attorney drawn up.

I had started discussions with a lawyer a month earlier, and on Monday afternoon I picked up the draft divorce agreement on which we had been working. I was to return it with any final comments or questions by midweek. He would have the completed final agreement for me to pick up by Friday afternoon.

At two pm on Wednesday, I went to my routine private session with Dan, the marriage counselor. I walked in and announced, "Dan, I have decided on divorce so there is no need for us to meet further."

Dan just laughed and said, "Well Tom, I have been waiting for you to get there." He shook his head with an amused look of amazement, "God Tom, your wife and all of those men! She was trying to have her cake and eat it too."

Obviously, my wife was much more candid about her affairs with the marriage counselor than with me! Ethically, Dan couldn't discuss such with me, but it no longer was of any consequence.

Dan said warmly, "Come on in and sit down. We will shift from marriage to divorce counseling." He then proceeded to provide some lengthy and sage advice on divorce, coping with Jill, and life afterwards.

After Dan finished, I proceeded to my lawyer's office where I dropped off the edited divorce settlement paperwork and clarrified several issues. As I came out of the lawyer's office into the reception area, I was startled to see Monica standing at the desk of one of my lawyer's paralegals.

Monica was a paralegal with another lawyer in town and appeared to be delivering a large folder of paperwork. Consequently, it was not surprising to see her here, I guess. However, she was also one of my wife's friends.

Monica's eyes flickered from me to the lawyer's office door and back. Her curious gaze settled on me, and her mouth pursed thoughtfully. Damn, had she surmised my plan for divorcing her friend? More importantly, would she spill the beans to my wife and ruin everything?

I nodded and started past her to the exit. Monica reached out and touched my arm giving me a bright smile, "Why Tom, how nice to see you. I am almost done here. Why don't you buy me a drink at the pub next door. It's happy hour. I'll be over in five minutes."

I nodded and went next door where I ordered a double bourbon on the rocks at the bar.

Monica and I always got along well. She was the wife of one of my good friends at work. She also frequently played tennis with my wife and was part of the crew of gals that sometimes went out together. However, I don't really know her that well nor do I know if she was aware of Jill's affairs and the marriage counseling.

I laughed at myself as I thought, "Silly boy, the way women confide in each other, Monica probably knows much more about Jill's affairs and the marriage counseling than you do. Hell, probably all the women in their group know. That in turn means they probably told their husbands. I guess everybody in town but me always knew Jill was two-timing me."

Monica breezed in a few minutes later and ordered a Sancerre white wine. She suggested we move to a table in the back where we could talk privately.

After we settled at our table, Monica took a sip of her wine and looked at me intently. She asked in a low, nonjudgmental voice, "So Tom, are you going to divorce Jill?"

She had clearly put two and two together. I replied guardedly and somewhat stiffly, "Yes, I am. I have my reasons."

Monica nodded thoughtfully and quietly said, "Yes Tom, I know you do. You have very good reasons."

She snorted with amusement and chuckled, "Hell Tom, that wife of yours has been so generous with that cute little ass of hers that the Pentagon should give her a commendation medal for enhancing the morale of the soldiers stationed here on the coast."

Monica gave me a sly wink and whispered, "But that is not to say she doesn't also have a nice collection of tourists and local men to complement all of those lovely GIs. "

Monica became serious again and added gravely, "Listen to me Tom, don't play the noble hero. Do not try to be like Hosea in the Bible and redeem your adulterous Gomer from her whoredom. Just divorce Jill and be done with her. Does she know?"

I shook my head and replied, "No. I will pick her up at the airport Sunday night and will tell her then."

I don't know why, but then I went on and poured out my feelings and divorce plans as we sipped our drinks. Monica just seemed to be one of those women you could trust, and she was a good listener. I guess at this point I needed such a woman friend.

Monica listened sympathetically to my spiel. When I stopped, she reached over and patted my hand as she said earnestly, "You are prepared and in good hands with your lawyer. I don't want to get involved, but remember, if I am subpoenaed for a trial, I will tell the truth. I can and will testify that on two occasions in the last four months I saw your wife leave the bar where we were all gathered and go to a motel room with another man."

She grinned and explained, "By chance I was going to the ladies's room and watched them through the window in the foyer. The motel is conveniently right next door to our favorite bar. I am afraid it is not unknown for your wife to disappear for an hour or so with men she meets on the dance floor."

She shrugged her shoulders and said quietly, "Tom, if Jill forces you to take her to court, I think at least two of the other girls will also testify to your wife's adultery. The rest will probably want to not be involved and suffer from amnesia. A couple might even lie to try to cover for Jill."

I looked at her quizzically and asked, "Monica, why would Jill's friends testify against her? What gives?"

Monica smiled ruefully and said quietly, "Several of us really don't like the way your wife behaves. The rest of us are not screwing around on our husbands - well, there might be one or two exceptions, but if so, they are more discreet than your wife. Most of us respect and love our husbands. We despise how she treats you. You are a genuinely nice guy and well liked; not many men like you around these days."

Monica finished her wine and said with a laugh, "Now, I need to get home to my husband."

She stood to go, stopped, and gave me a warm hug. She then looked at me very seriously and said earnestly, "Tom, your wife is manipulative as hell. Don't let her change your mind. Divorce her! You hear me?"