Balancing the Scales Ch. 02

I haven't been able to find any local employment, so my search extended to the next few towns over and eventually I landed a job about three hundred miles away in the next state. Kevin and I put the house up for sale and I promised to repay the money he loaned to me over the past months. It was a sad end to a happy chapter in my life.

Both Aimee and Ellen chose not to associate with me anymore. I facilitated the break from Ellen but the removal of Aimee from my immediate life was extremely painful.

The hardest part of my departure was my decision to leave my babies with their father. I knew Kevin was a great dad and would take good care of our children. There was no way I could take them with me without a permanent residence set up at the new location. It was going to be a teary good-bye.

Kevin:

It hasn't been easy on either Denise or me. She hadn't been able to find a job until now and when she did, it was a state away. I helped her as much as I could. My new position was going extremely well and now that I was going to be the primary caregiver for James and Kelli, I won't have to travel anymore. Other than a win with the new job, my life has been total shit. I often find myself broken down in complete despair.

I get up, take care of the kids in the morning, go to work, go home, repeat the childcare routine in the evening, and go to bed just to repeat all that the next day. It feels like I'm in a daze or maybe even a trance, each day blending seamlessly into the next. I've destroyed four lives with my reckless cheating. I've stopped blaming Denise and have accepted that my current circumstance is my own fault and that I deserve whatever I get.

Very few people involved in the Mike Sex Fiasco, as we started to call it, escaped any fallout. John was arrested and charged with the assault on Mike. Originally, the state was going for assault in the first degree, but he was able to plead down to assault in the second and accepted five years in prison as his sentence.

John and Krista divorced, and we all found out that her affair with Mike was just one of three she had been conducting over the prior year. Krista lost her PA job and now is a clerk at the local Target. She couldn't overcome the stigma that was the natural result of slutting around with Mike; many of her former acquaintances had downloaded the proof of how good a fuck she was, which didn't help. No one wanted a steady relationship with her. Because of her low self-esteem and her fear that the only way a man would want anything to do with her was if she slept with them, she ended up with quite the reputation as an easy lay. She finds herself with someone new just about every weekend.

Sarah's divorce from Mike was just the beginning of his problems. His run-in with the Roberts, John and Krista left a lasting impression on him. His recovery from Krista's assault on his groin was long and painful. We had all left that part out of our statements to the police while John took full credit for the damage and Mike was in no shape to disagree with our accounts of what happened.

John did love his wife and didn't see any reason for her to be in jail with him. The damage John inflicted on Mike was horrendous. John's crushing blows had destroyed Mike's left orbital bone and socket, causing Mike to eventually lose sight in his left eye. The surgeries to repair the damage left him with an obvious disfigurement, noticeable by anyone who saw him. The broken jaw and improper repair left him with a slight lisp. It was a miracle that John didn't kill him. For John's sake we were all relieved.

The Roberts lost everything they held dear. Mike lost the only advantage he had, his looks. It took a few weeks, but the police were able to tie the cousin to the email hacking and porn site videos who quickly turned-on Mike for a reduced sentence.

Mike fled the area before being arrested and I hear he is currently living on the streets in Portland, evading police and the prison sentence awaiting him at home. If the police had been able to tie him to the hacking sooner, he wouldn't have had a chance to escape. Of course, the site was taken down quickly, but unfortunately the damage to all parties involved had already been done.

Sarah got everything in the divorce since Mike did not attend, nor contest the proceedings; after selling the house, she moved back to her hometown to start her new life. As far as I know, she never saw Mike after his release from the hospital.

Mike's father divorced his third wife as soon as Sarah provided him with the video of her infidelity with Mike. His father was rather well off financially, so to add insult to injury, he disowned Mike and removed any chance of an inheritance.

It was still too early for me to even consider dating anyone. The only time I left the house was to take Denise and the kids to dinner. We would have pleasant conversations, but we both knew that too much had occurred between us to ever consider a reconciliation. I think that hurt Denise more than any of the other outcomes. Well, except for when she said goodbye to our children and drove into the late afternoon.

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Kevin:

Eighteen months after the sex fiasco, life has settled into a routine. For whatever reasons, Denise hardly sees the kids, and I've become a single father who puts his children ahead of everything else.

I started to date again and one of my first dates was with Aimee. We had a great time and got along well, but after a few weeks it was apparent that she wanted more than I could offer; I just couldn't give her what she needed.

Aimee and I remain friends though, but now I only see her when I take the kids to Denise's side of the family for events. She returned the thumb drive with Denise's video. She planned to show it to the family but was beaten to the punch by Mike. I appreciated her support during the ordeal and divorce, but I couldn't make myself fall in love with her.

Denise:

I'm on my third job since this whole mess started, my last job was still in financial planning but in a junior role. My sex video followed me there and anyone I dealt with, both customers and co-workers, felt I should be an easy lay. I'm not. I don't date now and I'm getting lonelier and lonelier.

I leave today for a new role as a PA in another state, eight hundred miles away from my babies. I will be working for a financial partner in a small private firm. He's an older widower whose wife died in an auto accident and who knows of my struggles. I have fallen so far. I was once a happily married woman, successful in a man's world, and now I'm a secretary.

I never see my kids anymore and just recently signed over full custody to Kevin. He brought the kids out to see me once, and I couldn't love him more for it.

I've really made a mess of my life, but not nearly the mess that Ellen has with hers. Aimee and I started speaking again about three months ago and she told me what happened.

Apparently, Ellen was on a date with a married man when his wife entered the bar. She and Ellen started to yell at each other, and the woman gave Ellen a hard shove, who lost her balance on those six-inch stilettos she wears. She fell, hit her head, and was rushed to the hospital. Sometime during that first night, she threw a clot that ended up causing a stroke that paralyzed her entire right side. She's in rehab now but will never walk again nor will she have full function of her right hand and arm. Her parents moved her back in with them and are now providing the needed care for their adult daughter.

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Denise:

I've been in my assistant job for a little over a year and I barely make enough money to support myself, so I haven't even considered having the kids come out to see me. Kevin offered to bring them, but I refused; I don't want him to see me like this. I've gained weight and I can't afford the things that make me feel good about myself anymore.

I've started to date my boss, Dennis; he is older than I am but takes good care of me. It isn't love, but I do care about him, and he treats me well. It appears I have outrun my infamous incident and video. I think it helps that I now go by my middle and maiden names.

I'm now Lynn McMurray.

I've lost so much over the past years: my pride, my humanity and most important, the love of my life. I regret the latter most. No one knows me here other than as Dennis' girlfriend. Maybe I'll stop running and build a new life here.

Kevin:

Denise/Lynn keeps falling further and further into despair and into a hole that she can't seem to climb out of. We talk regularly after she finishes her call with the children. She's dating now but misses the life she once had, as do I. I can't help that I'm still deeply in love with her. The kids sense the deep funk into which I fall into each time we speak on the phone.

Six months ago, we had a transfer from our California plant; wouldn't you know, it was Jayden. She had divorced her cheating husband a year prior and needed a new start. It turns out that our night together stemmed from her despair about finding out that her husband had had several affairs during their five-year marriage. At first, we skirted each other. She had heard what had happened to my marriage and rightly figured it had something to do with our night together. She finally approached me, and we both apologized for our night of infidelity.

Jayden became a manager of the materials department and we worked together closely. Life is a funny thing; I found myself growing more and more attracted to her, and I could tell my attraction was reciprocated. We started out with some work lunches which then grew into a few dinners and company party dates. We have had many discussions about trust and cheating; we both swear that the night we spent together was the only time either of us had ever strayed from our spouses. Our mistrust and pasts become apparent each time we become jealous over trivial matters like smiling at someone at a party or a company function. I just can't shake the feeling of suspicion whenever she doesn't return a call promptly. I know it's silly and it's my insecurities showing through. I guess that's the life of a cheater.

It took us about another three months before our relationship became more solid, but it did. The kids love her as do I. I had missed having a partner in my life.

I've been reflecting on the journey that got us here as we walk along the river's edge after a delightful evening. I finger the small box in my pocket. Summoning up the nerve, I stop to look into her eyes.

"Jayden, these last months have been some of the best in my life. I knew I had feelings for you the moment we met all those years ago, I figure that's why we both did something so out of character for us." I look into her eyes and kneel, removing the box, "Jayden, would you do me the honor ..."

"Yes. Oh my God, yes!"

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Kevin:

I find myself in a maternity room holding my beautiful new daughter, while her equally beautiful mother sleeps. As unlikely as it is for two cheaters to find love again, we have. We talk about everything, all the time. We're both committed to making sure that history won't repeat itself.

Even though we do still have occasional trust issues, we've learned to talk about them in a positive way. It took a while, but the love I have for Jayden completely outweighs the level of love I've ever felt with anyone before, not even during the best times with Denise.

We each carry the scars of past mistakes, and life is a struggle at times. When I look back, I often laugh out loud at what can only be described as karma. So many lives have been destroyed and altered because I got drunk and couldn't resist a beautiful temptation, but of course, each individual makes their own choices. I owned up to my mistake and was willing to accept the consequences for my actions.

It was Denise who decided to 'Balance the Scales' beyond repair.

The only true victims here were James and Kelli, the two children who had their mother removed from their lives due to the actions of their parents. I work every day to repair the damage that I caused to them. Jayden is a great stepmother and tries her best to love them but, in the end, she isn't their mother.

I have no idea how the future will turn out; all I can do is live the life I created, one day at a time.

Denise/Lynn:

Dennis and I now live together. I heard about Kevin's marriage to the tramp that ruined our lives. I no longer speak to Kevin and have only spoken a few times to the kids. My life is here and now. Dennis has said we won't marry, but he does take care of me and I'm as happy as I deserve to be.