All Comments on 'Another Love - Rob Moves On'

This is the best ending to this story. This should be the only ending to this story. When I first read the original story I wanted to puke at the ending......You did this story proud

Although well written, this is a total departure from the original RG story. The characters are forced in to different molds and 'satisfying' is certainly not among the words one would use to describe this version.

Ultimately, I didn’t like it. To pick up a sequel to another’s story, one must accept the original’s premises while trying to correct or at least minimize what are perceived as the faults. This story failed to do either.

The original essential premises were that Rob felt Karen had been a good wife (something RG’s original story failed to convince us of) and that Karen’s relationship with Philippe was truly a loving alternative.

The reimagining of their relationship as manipulative and degrading is a violation of one of the main premises.

The major problem with RG’s story is that readers couldn’t accept Rob’s ultimate reaction. Because RG hadn’t convinced us that Karen had been that good as a wife (assuming there was a way to convince us, but the story didn’t really try), we couldn’t accept his acquiescence to the final 3 way relationship. Coming up with a response from Rob consistent with his character arc has been the elusive thing for both the original and all the sequels.

I must say that I didn't know what to expect when I came across your submission. RG did a right royal job on his saga of long term infidelity and deceit. He focused not just on the husband's emotions but took a lot of effort setting the background story behind hubby's military research work amongst other plot strands. While I regard the saga as one of RG's best works, I admit to feeling that his portrayal of the wronged hubby came across as somewhat cold and unemotional. I got it that as a military man his service background trained him to rationally deal with all problems.

However, I have to tell you that you did a splendid job in focusing more on hubby's emotional state and his responses to his wife's deceptions. I am also delighted that you had hubby defacing that fucking portrait of his slut wife, thus eliminating others to benefit from its existence. Overall, a worthy addition contribution to the great Another Love saga.

"semi-conscientious state" - semi-conscious state

"conscience thought" - conscious thought

"My life with Philipe was totally independent of my marriage." - No it wasn't, not once you brought him into your children's lives.

"I never wanted to hurt you". - This is always one of my favorites! "I never wanted to hurt you," I just did things that I knew would hurt you.

"She wore black crotchless stockings with 4" heels." - Stockings never have crotches. You're thinking of pantyhose or tights.

DuMonte's should be DuMontes, unless you're talking about something they own.

I'm not familiar with estate law, but I would assume that an executor could be forced to release sufficient savings for the widow's living expenses.

In the other versions, Phillipe's womanizing was shown to be accepted, here it's an embarrassment.

Unlike old-fashioned answering machines, I've never seen a cellphone or smartphone where you could listen to a message being left.

First, Karen is shown as distraught at the breakdown of her marriage, then, she's supposedly planning on a new "companion," then she's upset at losing he marriage again.

"dressed sharply yet conservational" - conservative.

"He provided you with the social status you lacked" - Except he didn't! She was humiliated and looked down upon.

I wasn't aware that Philippe's work, outside of Karen's painting was particularly erotic.

There was never any explanation of his estrangement from his sons.

I can't believe that Richard agreed to this bastardization of his work. Philippe a pedophile?

While I, among many, disagreed with the second half of Another Love, but at least it was well-written. This was a total mess.

The ending of the original story was difficult to swallow. Another spineless cuckold gets bulldozed. But you tried too hard. Too much psychobabble. Too many far-fetched explanations and excuses. Yes, I liked the fact that he divorced Karen. But in the end you never addressed his relationships with his sons. Your manipulating the facts and putting him together with Avril seemed like cheap revenge. Not badly written. A different ending. But not very entertaining.

3 stars

At least he didn't wimp out this time. It was a better ending.

I enjoyed this ending much better than the original. If I were the protagonist, I would have taken her sky diving and when she pulled the rip cord, the painting would have come out instead of the parachute. But that's just me!

You've taken an excellent story and re-imagined it into another excellent story. Well done and thank you. I will look forward to more from you.

Mind you if the painting had been of my wife.

It would not have survived 5 minutes past the penny dropping as to it's significance.

Cheers

Finally; the painting is defaced, the DuMontes are shunned by the Montreal élites, Karen is divorced and Rob is better off.

Of the now 3 “officially” sanctioned alternative endings to RichardGerald’s original story, this one satisfies me the most (but I’d still love to read Vandemonium1’s version if he ever publishes it).

I applaud the way the author has retained the sense of loss and despair born out of love that Rob must have felt, while at the same time being proactive in finding out as much as he could before ending his marriage. And I love the twist involving Avril – she is somewhat redeemed in my eyes as to how I viewed her in the original story, but I just wish she would get right out of Karen’s life.

GeorgeAnderson made the comment a while ago that a woman who loves two men really only loves herself, and the author has taken that concept to heart and given it substance in how he expanded on Karen’s character (while at the same time giving a plausible rationale for her behavior). I always search for reasons why cheating wives cheat, and this story provides that which makes it an even better story for me.

So, Mr Loejtc, I’d cottoned on to your favorites list quite a while ago and enjoyed most of them but you’ve very pleasantly surprised me with this alternative ending.

Well done, congratulations, and 5 stars from me.

But I still feel that the wife got off too easily. She is one of the most evil, delusional, slutish wife characters on this site. To cheat for 20 years, turn his sons against him and continue to think she did nothing wrong is hard to read. I also cant believe no one has written a BTB version of this story. Hoping someone will soon.

It was alright, but the confrontation between him and Karen was basically him delivering a long monologue. I can't imagine a selfish narcissistic slut like her staying silent and not trying to deny and deflect.

This also needed far more pain for the cheating wife. She had an ongoing affair for 20 years! Him apologising after telling her a few home truths was bizarre.

Oh and Avril's still sleeping with the nasty whore? At the very least he should have demanded that Avril cut off all contact with Karen, leaving her completely isolated and alone. It's no wonder he didn't trust Avril if she was still fucking his ex-wife!

for destroying that damn painting.

It bugged me that it survived in other versions of this Literotica classic.

Well done!

5*****

I gave up, way, way, too WORDY. You need an editor. No score.

ok so your first work on here tries to feed off another's, you would have been better served by coming up with your own idea of fiction, the original parts 3 and4 was not my cuppa tea in the least and I felt cheated by RG's ending, your ending is worse in my opinion. Now submit your own Idea's from scratch so we can comment on that. Your writing does suggest you are capable of some good BTB and other stories.

but you broke your own internal world building logic on the very last page

'We kept discussion of Karen to a minimum during the weekend. They are still living together and occasionally share a bed. They both know they are not lesbians but the need to relieve pent up emotion and sharing the warm of another human being is necessary at times. '

and then five seconds later, 'To that she responded, "But you don't have to trust me, because I will never give you a reason to doubt my love and fidelity.'

can you hear your own internal gears grinding to a halt? I can. I can't even make excuses for you, because you made it very clear with wording like, 'relieving pent up emotion' that there is sexual nature to their bed time together.

so why is avril sharing a bed with a woman that they both understand now to be the female version of her dead narcissistic husband? the same husband that cheated her new lover, that she claims to want to totally true towards. none of that makes a lick of sense. even without animosity in her heart, avril has NO REASON to be with karen in ANY capacity. Karen's depression is her own battle now.

I DO like that you made the living husband aware, even if only a small degree, how untrustworthy avril is. That's fair. The husband could either pursue a monogamous relationship with avril, or take on occasional lovers, and keep avril on the side. that's how I feel you wrote the ending anyway. avril is promising one thing, but doing another. so she can be the cat's pajamas in every other capacity, but still locked herself out of any real commitment with her new man. but that works out for him anyway, since he really wont benefit from monogamy anymore. he's now free to just enjoy himself, much like his crazy ex did...only without hurting others.

It's revisionist history. Din't feel true to the original for me.

Rob here seems human, unlike in the original story where he is painted as an intellectual genius in a very narrow field, but completely clueless and also an emotionally retarded wimp.

I didn't like this Avril any more than the original one. The end with she living with the master slut doesn't ring true. Even more if she claims to be Rob's woman.

And Karen, well, she is as much a sociopathic bitch as she was in the first story, so her hinted breakdown at the end of even the suicide risk don't make much sense. That kind of person won't be destroyed by being abandoned, will be either furious or neutral. Furious because she doesn't understand how anyone could not adore her, or neutral because there is no need for that puppet anymore, there will always be another.

Still, a huge improvement over the original story. As I wrote, you managed to transform Rob into a person.

This is the best version I've read. Good job

I couldn't believe in the other stories that the damn painting lived on! Why oh why didn't the husband destroy it? Finally, you did. Well done.

When the husband gets his chance to rant and rave, he does so... and then APOLOGISES to his cheating, slut/whore wife for doing so! Really? He's sorry for saying those nasty things to her? When she... never mind. He was a weak, slightly retarded, cuck husband for twenty years so of course he FORGIVES her for what she did.

Then the issue of his two sons knowing of the affair, visiting the "other" family regularly... and never saying anything to their father... for 20 years. Cause they saw him for what he was: a weak person with no backbone. Why should they respect him?

Jeez, that one thing alone should have raised red flags with a father. Didn't he ever wonder why? Anyway, interesting different perspective if a tad verbose in parts. Cheers.

...to get five stars was ruining that damn painting. Good effort for a first story. I suggest an editor, or to use a grammar checker, as there were numerous incorrect word choices that a spell-checker clearly missed. This sequel also completely ignored his military engine project and his devotion to his team, which was part of the reason he was able to be blind-sided by Karen's betrayal. Military, Iraq, etc., and then building engines consumed his attention to his own demise. Here, he takes a week off and moves to ATL with no explanation.

It had potential, but was verbose and contradictory in many areas. I could have lived with that, but the last page with Avril still sleeping with the slut was to much. 2*

Better than the original and the other followups.

But a little disjointed. Especially when in third person mode you start to explain Karen's plotting and Avril's seduction. I was not sure what was going on.

But as mentioned. Still much better than the original. I wish I never read that claptrap.

These is also better than the other followups I have read. I liked the husband. In the original there was not a likeable character in the bunch.

Ignore the hate. Embrace the loving.

Really liked this story. Gave it five stars for the enjoyment of the tale.

There is no cure for the sociopathic personality disorder.

Need for an editor to catch the most glaring mistakes with word choices.

Thanks

This is painful to read, like a sore eye you just can get rid of. I can't rate this. It's too convoluted.

No willing cucks here, and a slight burn - but the changes in viewpoint are jarring.

Too bad there was no justice available against Dumonte, other than destroying his reputation after the fact...

4/5

Four stars for the aberration of a painting being destroyed.

Well written but still not satisfied with the wife’s lot.

I liked your version especially since the painting was finally destroyed, but hooking up with the other slut was too much. Also, the wife met NO retribution. Please, someone write an over the top BTB so this birch gets what she really deserves.

When I started reading this I was worried it was gonna be another crappy alternative story. But you surprised me this was a great story! After I finish the story I was looking to see if you have written any other story I was disappointed to see you hadn’t keep up the good work write some more!!

Loejtc

First let me say congrats on your first submission. Unlike some of the other comments I see nothing wrong with writing an alternative ending to someone else's story, if they give you permission no one should complain.

As a first story you made the same mistakes as any other writer, misspelled words, missed punctuation marks and the worst paragraphs that are so long it bores the reader. But hell nobody does great the first time.

As stated, you took on a classic for a first attempt, I was hurt that you didn't put a shout out to Vandemonium1. If you give accolades to one give them to all.

Please continue to write, and if you see a story that you disagree with the ending don't let the naysayers here change your mind.

I enjoyed your version of the story, Great Ending

. . . it still failed because of one underlying cause: the author assumed a conservative American morality and tried to impose it on French Canadian elites, and that just doesn't work.

The wealthy artsy-fartsy set doesn't see anything wrong with a married man having a mistress, and never has. While the example is French, not French Canadian, both the widow and mistress of French President François Mitterand stood, side-by-side at his funeral. The artsy elites in Montreal and New York wouldn't have lost one bit of respect for Monsieur DuMonte for having a mistress, nor even for having fucked a fourteen-year-old girl, or at least French/Polish film director Roman Polanski not only didn't lose respect, but is still fêted for his work, despite raping and sodomizing a 13-year-old girl.

Nor do they ever go broke. Not to go all Marlboro Man in this, but we've all seen hos the children of the elites have been given do-nothing positions with high salaries to keep them flush.

I remember Mr Gerald's original, and it was set in a society which was simply different from Rob's. The closest the author came to that was the part in which he said that the DuMonte's society acquaintances looked down on Karen not so much because she was a mistress, but because she was an 'American commoner.' Their criticism was based not on the fact that he had a mistress, but that he had the wrong mistress.

With that fundamental error, so much of what the author wrote is undermined. There would be no ostracism of M DuMonte's work, and damned little criticism of it, because he had a mistress, even the wrong one, because that undermines the larger elite society. The most would have been some minor tut-tutting of his choice.

Thus, the duMontes don't have financial problems, and the gallery in New York would not have cancelled the show.

What Mr Gerald wrote was not popular here -- though the first chapter scored well -- and the usual suspects heartily condemned it in the comments; Harry in Virginia in particular waxed wroth. The audience here being mostly Americans, it was judged by not just American standards, but 1950s morality American standards. I appreciate Loejtc's obvious work in composing this alternative ending, and that means it is with some regret that I have to say that this just didn't work.

I enjoyed this version, with only one exception. His apology to Karen, asking for her forgiveness was off-putting.

"This sequel trashes the characters in the original"

They were already trash. By the original ending, everyone must have been an alien or a robot.

Wow...my second 5 star story of the week.

This effort starts strong, but devolves into something that is alternately hilariously ridiculous and tritely absurd. Most of the hilarity comes from the portrayal of the "sophisticated" Canadian "elite" and Philipe as the embodiment of the "renown" essence of fancy French (Canadian) lover (Even in France the reality is Little Boy Macron and the troll Hollande, not Charles Boyer).

Canadian elite? Today, whether in Canada or elsewhere in the West, the very idea of an "elite" as anything other than a self-regarding collection of twits who have wandered into high places through politics or wealth is ridiculous. And the idea of Canadians, who speak a version of 17th Century French, as somehow representing the pinnacle of sophistication and masculinity is utterly risible. The reality of the male French-Canadian "elite" is represented by their leading Soy Boy, Justin Trudeau. Canadians, plaid wearing and otherwise, would find this part of the story delusional, Eh?

Then we come to the trite and cliched. One sign of a lack of creativity in an LW story is the inclusion of the stock character of the the Vodoo High Priest/Priestess, the psychologist/marriage counselor. Only the patented, weak LW husband trope is more overused. Unfortunately for the story, the masculine war-fighter gets reduced mentally to the psychological level of Oprah, Dr. Phil, and the advice columns in women's magazines. This part of the story adds nothing worthwhile, while diminishing the MC to the pathetic level of so many LW husbands. The "forgiveness" discussion is, for example, especially stomach turning. Unfortunately, as is often the case, the "counseling" portion LW stories is not only used as a lazy way of dragging out a story, but it almost always is used to "psychologize" or "medicalize" questions of good and evil. This story is no exception. Moreover, this part of the story tends to feminize the MC and, of course, perpetuates the superstition that psychologists and counselors are something more than the modern version of witch doctors.

Apart from all of that, the author changes the characters in various degrees that are inconsistent with the original story. "Avril" is the most egregious example.

I think I have read all of these "Another Love" stories now. This is by far the best. I loved the confrontation with Karen and the relationship with Avril. Five glowing stars from this reader.

If you are going to post a story that requires knowing another story, provide a link to that story. Whether it is easy or hard for the readers is immaterial. You know its location. It is not the readers' job to do your work for you.

I thought this was a pretty good take from the original, and I wouldn't have minded Rob and Avril hooking up a little tighter, but I can follow his reasoning. What I really missed was any mention of Persephone, which I saw as being truly "Another Love".

Good Job!

Hello Loejtc!

.

Congratulations on posting your first story. Putting your work out there can be daunting and having your first effort be a reimagining of the end to a very popular story makes it double so.

.

I look forward to reading your next effort.

Reed, not to get into one of our usual pissing contests, my objection to the original had little, if anything, to do with morality.

My issue was, and has always been, with the spinectomy Rob endured between the first half and the second half of RG's story.

The story was not bad, but you did more than just change the ending. You changed the characters and the background and more. It was a little off-putting.

Also, you need an editor or at least a proofreader.

For instance, on the first page, you wrote “semi-conscientious” when I think you meant semi conscious. Somebody needs to proofread a story. You cant just use spell-checker.

Well done, especially for a first effort. Towards the end, it really got more than a bit long winded. A good editor could have done more than a bit of trimming which would have moved the story along as was needed. Keep writing.

You seem to be a good writer. Next time, write your own story.

most fall short. yours was far better than the original.

Very good, like that our wronged hero gets the girl in the end!

The fact of the matter is that there is absolutely nothing romantic about your wife turning into a cheat a slut and a liar. Also Philipe showed exactly what he thought of Karen by sending the painting to her husband knowing it would cause trouble in her marriage.

I think for the most part the writing here was good. I just never liked the original story also I hate the fact that an american soldier is basically turned into a clueless fool when the worst of his faults were doing his job. I also thought that it was a travesty to talk about the rape of a 14 year old girl even though the story didn't give the child a name it was still sickening to me. The story would have worked just as well if phillipe the asshole were just taking advantage of married grown women not 14 year old girls it is just wrong on so many levels. I agree with other comments saying maybe next time just write your own story your writing was fine it was just your subject that bothered me. 3 stars from me until you write your own story average is the best you can hope for from me.

5* The best sequel of all. Karen reduced from Companion of Elite Canadian society to working stiff like the rest of us is sweet. Write on!

The characters have been changed too much from the original storty. To be an alternate ending, the characters need to remain the same.

You did a good job for a 1st story. Yes, most of the criticism was deserved and I’m sure you’ll learn from it and go on to become a better writer.

Beware especially of the Homophones and the near Homophones; I find it useful to use the thesaurus on any word I’m not absolutely sure of, since spell check won’t catch them. Also it’s a good idea to go over a finished work, trying to cut at least 10%, but 20% is usually better. (Tips from an accomplished published author)

You, however, did not accomplish your stated aim of writing an ending to RG’s story. You have written a completely different story using RG’s characters and basic plot. Not one of your characters would have recognized their counterpart in RG’s story. Since this site is heavy in BTB readers you still received many accolades, but I’m looking forward to reading one of your ‘start from scratch’ stories.

Thanks for the effort, cd

"an expert psychiatrist". To be differentiated from the amateur ones, I assume? That struck me as funny when I read it.

These characters don't resemble in any manner the characters that RG created. I understand wanting a different ending to the story as I was a bit disappointed in the original ending myself. The problem with alternate endings is if they are truly an alternate ending you are stuck with the characters as the original author created them. That's a tough thing to do as the original author's creations ended up as they did for their own reasons. Changing that is difficult as they need to see the same things, feel what they feel based on their backgrounds the original author supplied, and yet come to different conclusions to fit where you want the ending to go. I find that writing alternates well is quite difficult if the original story was written well. RG wrote an excellent story with an ending I didn't care for but the actions fit the characters he built. You sure picked one heck of a mountain to climb for your first attempt. My hat's off to you. Keep digging.

I would like to again thank RichardGerald for the opportunity of using his seminal story. I am well aware that my offering would not have garnered the number of reads and comments had it not been associated with his original story.

To all who tried to read it, read it, scored it, or commented on it; thanks.

Being an ardent reader of LW stories the diversity of opinions expressed is astonishing.

To those who started following me, I’m afraid there will be few if any other stories posted by me.

As an engineer, fiction is not a comfortable venue for me. Reading LW stories is about my limit in this realm. Non fiction is by far my preference.

I’ve written extensively throughout my career but always in the objective, concise, rational non-fiction mode. I’ve been told I’m pretty good at it. It’s who I am.

Lastly, I wanted to reveal my main storylines:

Revenge, anger, bitterness, etc. are self punishments for the mistakes of others. The intelligent, mature individual forgives, not because he feels sympathy for the offender but because forgiveness allows him to shed the irrationality that’s associated with negative emotions. He is able to stop living in the past, and become focused on his future. Forgiveness benefits the forgiver more than the forgiven. Nor is forgiveness synonymous with reconciliation as I tried to show. It didn't go over all that well with a number of readers.

The original story represented a clash in cultures i.e. the elitist French and the conservative American. Karen chose to align herself with Philipe’s culture thinking she could persuade Rob to acquiesce to her rationale out of their love for each other. In the original he does. In my alternative he doesn’t. Consequently Rob’s behavior is inconsistent with the original by intent.

My premise is that it is far more likely that Rob would behave as his culture has inculcated him than convert to Philipe’s lifestyle. That is the basis of the story and I stand by that storyline.

A little payback in the story seemed appropriate so I directed it at Philipe’s reputation as an artist and by association the DuMonte family and in a role reversal Rob gets to have his wife as his plaything if he so choses. The little comment about meeting Avril’s children and grandchildren was also a role reversal with Rob having the opportunity to play granddaddy to Philipe’s grandchildren.

As to Karen’s comeuppance I thought that losing her husband to her lover’s wife, losing the painting that could have made Philipe a noted artist and her, being the model, notable in her own right, being dismissed as insignificant by the DuMonte family, and estranged from her sons a reasonably severe outcome.

If the reader didn’t sense these themes then my attempt failed. I apologize.

The story was too long. It should have been no more than four pages.

There is no specific intent to BTB. What happens to Karen can reasonably be expected when viewed within American cultural mores.

The whole erotic art subplot is extraneous. I should have dropped it.

I’ve deleted one comment. It had overt political content. I do not believe this site is a valid venue for such postings regardless of the commenters political leanings.

I read all comments. Thank you for your interest.

Loejtc

The word that comes to mind is, "superficial." The technical aspects of the writing process are done well... the writer knows grammar and has used a spell check... but the concept of the story, along with the dialogue, are one-dimensional and plastic.

Second he had sex with Avril, I stopped reading.

You did the best you could with an almost impossible to save story. Karen still hasn't suffered enough for my taste, and rehabilitation of Abdul is questionable in any sense. I have you *3 for good work with your first story, but for one simple thing I boosted you to *5. You finally had Rob destroy that damn painting! Thank you , and for that you have made a fan.

I could have done without the many soliloquies, essentially uncontested. It was, however, an interesting contribution to the several conclusion to this base story.

4*

CTC here replying to you on behalf of Vandemonium1 as he is stuck in the jungle in Papua New Guinea with mosquitoes and lousy internet.

Van1 has an alternate ending for Another Love ready to rock'n'roll but when he contacted RichardGerald looking for his blessing to post it, it was denied.

Van1 and I have a blog, see the SemperAmare profile for our collaborative works for more info, where Van1 was tossing around the idea of posting the story.

He'd love to publish it on Lit and finally get poor Rob some justice but won't without RG's blessing.

Loejct, you took on the world by trying rewriting the ending to this story as your first effort. A story written by a very talented and highly rated author on this sight.

I for one think you accomplished your goals. The story was always difficult and has always sparked heated debate. The fact that so many of the best authors on this sight have tried to write satisfactory endings with mixed results proves that point.

The number of comments already posted, both for and against your version is another indicator.

The grammar, word, and spelling mistakes, although jarring where not that many and have already been discussed. It did not subtract enough from the substance of the story enough to prevent understanding.

I enjoyed it.

5* from me

Thank you

Very good first effort

The angle of wife being mostly in love with herself was compelling. Unlike some, I had no problem with husband having sex with Avril given his wife’s 20 year affair. RG’s original work struck a chord in many of us, apparent by the number of alternate endings, wish he’d just give blanket permission to all to submit alternate endings and see wat other good writers come up with. 5 stars

Good except for the big loose end of his relationship with his children.

3*

I thought you did well with the characters. They stayed pretty close to what Gerald had in her original story, and let's face it: even she changed Rob's character from the fighter pilot at the beginning to a spineless worm at the end.

Gerald needs her husband-characters to be wimps or she couldn't humiliate them as much as she does. Gerald writes cuckold stories and it's almost impossible to save a crap story like that without changing at least some facets of the characters.

I thought Loejtc did well, especially for a first story. It beats the fuzz out of that repugnant tripe Gerald wrote and I think it's the best submitted (so far) for alternate endings. I'd certainly like to see Van's story, maybe he'll post it on his web site if cowardly Gerald continues to refuse.

Didn't mind that this time he found Avril, but didn't like that he threw a psychological and sub/dom element into it. It was bad enough that she carried out two twenty year long relationships at the same time and hid that from him, but to become a slutty plaything added nothing to the story.

To me , the problem , other than fidelity, is the conflict of acceptable relationships. Paul expects monogamy and got less. The artists family found the behavior acceptable and challenged his response due to excessive pride. That to me is the story and this starts way off the mark. It is a story thought , and if the names and crucial facts were changed , a good one , well written . It is just not a true response to the original work.

Don't get the sudden about turn of his sons.When he tried to reach out to them before they didn't want to know him,nothing as changed other than Philippe's death,so why do they now talk to him?.

As can well be seen I believe cheaters AND all enabling cheaters severely punished

Enjoyed this ending very much. It was well written and creative. Please keep writing, we need more authors of your caliber on this site. I look forward to reading your original creations.

Brave attempt, but your characters behave in a completely unbelievable fashion.

Good writing. A few words misused but not to the detriment of the story. Keep at it!

The outcome of the story left me melancholy. If that was the intent good job. If not well .......

I like this version because it includes and expands April’s character much more. She too was a victim of her husband and Karen. I’m glad she and the MC end up together and happy. It ties the tale off neatly.

Another good take on the original story. I’m still all about destroying Karen completely and this one doesn’t. A little better on handling a relationship with Avril in this version, although I still don’t like her.

Just found your version. I really liked your take. 5-star effort on a difficult premise.

Hooked

At the heart if this waste is the lack of closure payback Phillip. I could also well picture Arvil overacting through all her lines. Uggggh!

Your story was 1 step above the original which gives you a rating of "2".

What an interesting, deep analysis of the original story. While some of the detail Rob discovered in his research seems extreme, it all fits into Loejtc's finely woven version of the story. In the end, the good guys get their rewards and the bad actors get isolated. We can only hope the sons react positively to the exposure of the lies they were fed by their mother and are able to refresh a good relationship with their father.

We can only hope that Loegtc decides to grace us with another story some day in the future. Keep 'em comin'.

Excellent!!!!

I like this ending (I've read it before) but one thing I'm really noticing lately is the absolutely vacuous, lazy, and totally worthless list of suggested "Similar stories".

~

I've been in bed for 4 days now with the flu and I've whiled-away some of the time reading old favourites and searching for new ones, but the list of "Similar Stories" ALWAYS includes "An Unexpected Reaction" by qhml. Who would have thought that qhml's great story was so vague, so lacking in anything to set it apart from other stories, that it could be so similar to about 95% of all the Loving Wives stories? Some sort of record, surely? If I were qhml I'd be pissed-off, and rightly so.

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The reason I bring it up is that, in this case, there have been quite a few alternative endings to Richard Gerald's "Another Love". Initially Richard was reluctant to give anyone permission to publish a different ending so a few were written that had a similar, but not the same, premise. A good example is imhapless's "Tradimento". Richard finally did give permission to do a genuine alternative ending, and the first to receive this was my (Pencarrow) "Another Love - an Alternative Ending", followed later by GeorgeAnderson's "Another Love: Lost". I'm not sure who was next, but we have Loejtc's version right here, Saddletramp's version, and the most recent was Vandemonium's "Another Love: Final Justice" which should really be the full-stop to any more because it'd be hard to top for action, humour, underhanded-ness and real justice (sorry if I missed anyone out).

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The point I'm making is that there a plenty of EXTREMELY similar stories already. So similar, in fact, that they all miraculously even have the same characters in each. So why the hell don't they appear in the Similar Stories list????

I am reading this story for the 3rd maybe the 4th time who knows. I like this version just as I like the others. My least favorite unfortunately is the original, but it is still a great story. I lean toward the reconciliation ending most instances in these stories only rarely looking for a BTB badly finish. This story begs for retribution in some form.

I agree with Pencarrow on the pathetic list of similar stories that tends to be given. That one of the alternate endings fails to make the list is just appalling. Furthermore, I find it disheartenIng that this list is virtually the same after every similar story. Someone needs to address this. I’d like a real list especially since I have read and reread almost everything in the list presented

Good ending too a divisive story, 5 stars. Sucks this author only did this story, they have some talent.

First the good - the story was very well written with few loose ends. The only critique there was the mention he was no longer close to his boys early in the story and then seemed to imply that he got closer to them again when he sent recordings of conversations to them. This didn't fit. Now, why I didn't score it, it was one of the top 2 sequels to the original. I hated the original (also well written) and disliked most of the sequels. Please, fledgling authors - find something else - there are 100's of thousand loving wives stories out there - find something better to start with.

The story would have been more interesting if Karen had not been so evil so as to want to find another lover.

Silly and melodramatic. Very limited likeness to the original characters.

So he falls for his ex wife’s ex lovers wife wow

Thought I had read them all and then I came across this pearl of great price. First a hearty thank you to the author for penning this amazing add-on. Finally someone got it right and created a proper backstory that properly deals with the wife as a complete sociopath. I absolutely loved the depth of analysis of the core personality disfunction of the wife. As a true sociopath their total obsessive focus on self is not a choice; it is the sole anchor component in their one person universe. A sociopath is ruled by impulse of the moment. They are utterly flawed amoral Anything goes…

The protagonist recognizes that no marriage ever existed until in the first place as marriage is a joining of two. For a sociopath, there is always only one. Everyone else is merely a walking tool… a thing rather than a person.

The author gets this and as a surgeon employs his pen as a scalpel first cutting decisively to the heart truths hidden by the innumerable layers of irrelevant nonsense in the original story. He then pares away additional societal and prejudicial nonsense to reveal core truths. I cannot remember a single work on this website that so clearly discerns and displays the core truth behind the subject of a cheating wife.

Sadly this tale proscribes only real prescription…a quick relentless divorce and a restart into a new life. One Cannot live with a sociopath.

Outstanding job 5 stars!!

Still reada lije a cuck story. .sorry

DOL

write more please i have read several versions of this though many were well written they were unrealistic either if ya can'y beat em join em or a total destrution is ways that destroyed the charator of our/your protagonist thank you for a great version of a wild storyline

poppycock.

Learned reading all of this is that none of it is in the least realistic especially the sex.

The best version Ive read. Thank you.

G

This is quite good as an alternate version, but there is a fair amount made up, it feels.

Yet, some of the analysis fits well, and that does not need some of the over-the-top new details.

Thank you for your effort.

To those who don't recall, this is a fiction story, not reality. Unfortunately people of this do exist, I've had the misfortune of being made aware of such from time to time.

Hoping you publish additional stories. A sequel to this story, would make a nice reintroduction to this site.

G

5 stars - I really like this version of an ending to a horrible original story.

To me the painting had to be defaced - not destroyed or burned - but the way that was used in this story - just softened and smeared. I would like to see more of this writers work - hopefully she/he returns.

The demeaning sex brought the story line down.

Loejtc, for me your take on the direction of Richard Gerald's classic tale was a valid interpretation and worthy of submitting. Thank you for your efforts

His job seems to have disappeared from the story, considering it was the major love of his life! The outcome was more appropriate to what the MC was feeling after he found out about the wife's infidelity in the original story! 4*

Dobbin55

I made it to page 3, and then could tolerate it no longer. Good try.

This was a great effort. Thank you ! You accomplished what most of us wanted, which was to have our MC step up to be the man we felt like he should be. Biggest criticism, it went on too long with the philosophical and psychological justifications. I know it's tempting to do that. A lot of us who have been subjected to cheating read these stories to help develop ways to cope and plans to deal if it happens again. Another issue that's very interesting to me is the views on forgiveness that you stated. While there is definitely something to what you said, it seemed more like an intellectual concept the MC was trying to impose to deal with his feelings. No way you can get to forgiveness that quickly after what he went through. And then there's the question of what forgiveness would really mean, especially in a context like this. That is just fascinating to me.

Well, at least he destroyed that fucking painting!