Broken Vows

After Billy passed out, Kitty grabbed what was hers, took the car and drove as far south as she could. Ending up in Key West. She had been hiding and living in her car for 2 months before she had enough money saved from her day time waitress job to get a share of an apartment with a friend who had a spare bedroom.

Not once during the entire conversation did she look at me. I could not help thinking how different our situations were. After a few minutes of silence, she looked at me, and said, "All I wanted, was to study and become a nurse. To find someone who loved me as much as I loved them. To have the life my grandmother always wanted me to have before she passed away."

I sat there and thought for the first time in a week about something other than Stacy.

I turned and looked at Kitty and she at me, and then she said, "I have seen you feel sorry for days and try to drink yourself into forgetting. You have had your time to feel sorry for yourself. You have a great life. You love your wife, or you would have picked up some of the young hotties in the bar a week ago. And since you really love your wife and your kids, it is time to get you back on your feet and fight to get her back. You are better than this, and I am going to help you."

I was surprised at this revelation. I thought we had come to the beach to have sex. However, here was this girl, about the same age as my daughter, but who had lived a life a million times worse than me, telling me to get my head out my ass and start living.

All I could mutter was, "But how?"

Kitty looked me straight in the eye, and said, "First, if you really love her, you will go back there and claim her! Take her back! Show her who is her man! Show her what she lost! And if she still wants to go in another direction, then you will be able to hold your head high and walk this earth knowing you did everything in your power to make your marriage work!"

And with that, Kitty was on the mission. She got up and told me she was going to handle everything for the next 24 hours, if I let her. The first thing she wanted to do was get me cleaned up. She said I smelled. Bad! Very, very bad! The next thing I needed to do was to understand why my wife had had sex with someone else besides me, and what I was going to do about it.

It was close to 3 am, when we got back to my crappy shit hole of a hotel room. I let myself in, and Kitty looked at it, and commented on how nice it was. I looked at her thinking she must be joking, but I was saddened to see that she was not. My crapper of a room was better than anything this poor girl had lived in. For the first time in a very long time, a new emotion flooded over me. I felt shame.

She told me go to sleep and in the morning, we were going to get my life back in some sort of order. Whatever that meant at this point. I crashed on one bed, and she went to sleep in the other. When I woke up at 10 am, she was already showered, dressed and ready to go. With a big smile on her face, she told me that she had taken the day off from her waitress job, because she had something more meaningful to do. It actually warmed my heart to see her smile.

I took as shower and after I was done, Kitty told me to get back in there to shower again and shave. She was not going out with me looking and smelling like a homeless person. After my second shower, Kitty asked me where my other clothes were, because I was wearing the same thing I had taken off and the smell was still there. I told her I had none. I told her, I had walked out of the house and had been wearing the same things for over a week. I swear she almost lost her breakfast right there. Stating we would be having none of "that shit", we walked outside to a beat up 1992 Toyota Corolla, that looked like it had been in more than one wreck.

She hopped in the passenger side and crossed over to drive, saying the driver door was broken. I drew the limit and said no way. We would take my BMW M3 shopping. You would have thought it was her first time ever sitting in a luxury car when she settled into the soft leather seats. Up until that point, I believe she still thought of me as some drifter who was living on his last dime.

We spent the next few hours shopping. It was fun. Just as much for Kitty as for me. I finally broke out my credit card for both of us, and $2500 later we had clothes that suited us. It took me almost 30 minutes to convince Kitty that I could afford the clothes that she had picked out for herself, and they were a way of me saying thanks for putting the first smile on my face in over a week.

After a long morning shopping, we stored the clothes in the car and went for lunch at the Hot Tin Roof in Key West. Let's just say, that Kitty had never been to a place like this in her life. The finest steaks and lobster were served. In addition, we had beautiful oysters, rich deserts and fine wine. Three hours later, Kitty had developed "Operation Take Back Todd". OK, we were a little drunk from the wine when we named it, but the plan was basically for me to face Stacy and come to grips on what was to become of my life in the future. Kitty was quickly becoming my little guardian angel.

Shawn:

When Todd's credit card was used in Key West, I was notified immediately. As we knew where Todd's credit cards were, it was just a matter of getting hold of him so he could sit and listen to Stacy's explanation of what happened with Peter. I had to act quickly.

At this time, we understood more about what Peter had done at the retreat. Peter had intentionally, drugged Stacy and raped her. He had taken pictures of her having sex with him and he had planned to blackmail her for a promotion to VP of marketing at their company upon their return to Atlanta. How did we learn all this? Well, let's just say that you never, ever fuck with an Atlanta Policewomen who is out for vengeance. After getting arrested Peter had found himself in a small room without cameras and three very angry policewomen. Pretty soon, he was only too willing to confess anything and everything to Beth, including how he was cheating on his taxes.

My first call was to Beth and then to Toni. I wanted their opinion of how we should handle the news with Stacy. She had been home all week and was either drunk out of mind or cracking at the seams. It was only a matter of time before the kids knew there was an issue and came home to help. Either that or Stacy just lost it all together, probably resulting in the loss of her job and the life she had worked so hard to build.

Toni had the answer. I had to fly down to Key West today and find Todd. As his best friend, I would have to sit with him and tell him what happened and try to get him to understand that it was not Stacy's fault. He would believe me. Further, I would have to convince him that he needed to come home and talk it out with her before it was too late. Toni would handle breaking the news to Stacy that Todd's credit cards were used in Key West and that I was on my way to find him. She wanted to be sure to tell Stacy that just because we found the credit cards, it did not mean we had found Todd. However, we all felt the lead was good and her best friends were with her and I was on the trail.

Beth agreed with the plan of action, except she told me to buy 2 tickets. Having two people search Key West would be better than one.

Todd:

It is amazing what a good meal, a good wine and good company can do to a person's spirits. I actually smiled at some points during dinner. I felt better and fresh. I felt like I could at least face the world now. No, my hurt was not gone. My heart still bled at the confession my wife made, and I recognized that my life was no longer going to be what it was before, but at least there was hope I could go on. A 23-year-old cocktail waitress with little hope of a normal life had brought me from the depths of my personnel hell back to the reality that I did have a life to go on with. For myself. For my kids. And who knows maybe even for my wife.

When the check finally came, as I paid, I looked at Kitty and asked her if she had ever been to Atlanta. She looked at me with dismay on her face. Confusion set in and she said, "no, why".

"I want to take you with me. All expenses paid. I need your help. I need your support. You have shown me a way out of my hell, now I want to show you a way out of yours. Come with me. Be there when I face Stacy. You are the only friend in the world I know I can trust at this time. I don't know the full extent of what Stacy did and with whom. I also don't know which of my friends knew about it before hand and were laughing at me behind my back. I only know that you have stood by me at my worst moment, with no reason, you have tried to help me get my life back in order. Come with me, please. I am begging you. I need your help.", I pleaded.

And with that, 30 minutes later we found ourselves and our recently purchased clothes in my BMW heading back to South Florida on our way to Atlanta. Once we hit Homestead, I withdrew $350 on my ATM card, and made a quick call to my best friend Shawn from a payphone. I wanted him to know I was alive and that I was on my way back to Atlanta and should be there in 2 days. All I could get was his voicemail. I tried Beth too, and her phone was the same. I thought about calling Stacy or Toni, but I was not ready for that conversation yet.

It was about 9 pm when we finally stopped for the night at a hotel. We were tired from a long day of shopping, wine and driving. We needed to rest. This time I was not staying in a dump. We stayed in a 5 star. I chose to pay for the room in cash, but they wanted a credit card deposit for incidental. Kitty used her credit card to secure the room for the night. I would have used my card, but I was still cautious about letting people know where I was. I was too hurt to be found just yet. I was still grieving inside and as long as nobody knew where I was, I sort of felt protected or safe with my anonymity.

Shawn:

When we landed in Key West, I turned my phone on as we were about to taxi. There was a single phone call from a number I did not recognize. It was Todd. He said he was calling me from a pay phone (I did not even know they still existed), telling me that he was on his way home to Atlanta. He would be there in 2 days. To say the least, I was relieved. Naturally, I tried to call the number back, but I ended up getting hold of a nice couple on vacation from Omaha. They said the pay phone outside the diner was ringing, so they picked it up and answered it.

Beth had almost the same message on her phone as I did. Basically, a message looking for me. She quickly called Stacy and Toni and filled them in on investigation. I could almost hear a sigh of relief from Stacy that Todd was still alive and was at least coming home so she could confront him and beg him for forgiveness. Beth was quick to point out that she had been raped by a predator. As bad as it sounded, if Todd could not accept what Stacy had to say, then he was not the man she had thought he was for the last 30 years. She further went on to say that if Todd could not forgive Stacy, she would have nothing to do with him in the future.

After Beth hung up the phone, she looked at me, and said, "Our team of friends from the fine University of Georgia is going to work this out, and after things are back to normal, I am going to find and kill Peter for the pain he has caused my friends." And I believed her.

Over the next 2 hours, we found a hotel, rebooked our flights back to Atlanta the next day, and I went to sleep next to my loving wife, knowing that if I ever screwed her over, nobody would ever find my body.

Todd:

Well this was it. The day I had been dreading for over a week. I was going to have to face Stacy and the truth behind her affair. What would the conversation be like? Would I have to listen to her talk about the man she had sex with. Listen to her tell me how much better he was in bed than me. How much bigger he was? How he made her cum so many more times that I had? How she let him do things to her that I was never allowed to do, like take her anally? Or would I have to listen to her beg for forgiveness? Explain that it was a onetime thing. How she made a mistake. How she only truly loved me and it was only just sex and did not mean anything. Ha! Only just sex? Nothing was only just sex. She had allowed another man to have what was mine. In front of God and our families we promised to forsake all others and she had not lived up to that promise. How could I ever forgive that? How could I ever trust her again? Even if she did say it was a onetime thing and she only loved me, how would I ever get the image of her allowing another man to penetrate her out of my head?

I must have been in deep thought for a few hours, before Kitty said something to me. She could tell that I was anguishing over the meeting and it was starting to break me up inside again. She told me to relax. What had happened was in the past. It was done and there was no use letting it eat me up inside. She then asked me to tell her what it was that was bothering me, so we could talk it out and she could help me through it.

A few hours down the road, I had cried out all my fears and issues to her, as we crossed over the Georgia border. It was only a few hours till we got home.

It was at this point in the trip, that Kitty showed me a new level of maturity. She asked to drive my car so I could make a few phone calls with her phone.

Personally, I think she just wanted to try driving something other than the Corolla she had had since she turned 16. Confused, I stopped and we swapped, and I asked her who I should call. She told me to call a few marriage counselors and see if I could get one of them to talk to me about my situation. I never knew you could do therapy by phone, but I soon found out that with a credit card anything was possible.

It took me a while, but I was able to find a certified marriage counselor, Dr. Blake who had some free time and was willing to talk. I gave Dr. Blake my credit card number and we started right away. She balked at first saying that I needed to come to her office, but when I explained my situation, she said, what the heck and I was in my first therapy session. For the next hour, I explained the last two weeks in as much detail as I could. Dr. Blake asked a few questions, and occasionally, asked Kitty some questions too. I was surprised at how much I hurt and at the same time, felt better by getting it all out.

After an hour, I stopped explaining and asked Dr. Blake what she thought I should do. Her answer was simple. "I needed to communicate with Stacy and understand what happened, why it happened, what Stacy felt the future held for her and for us. And then she had to make a decision. What decision I asked. Dr. Blake said it very clearly, either she wants to go on without you, or not. Stacy has to tell you. If she makes the decision that she wants to go on with you as her husband, then you need to decide if your life will be better with her in it or out of it. It is as simple as that."

As simple as that? Are you fucking nuts? Nothing is as simple as that. Dr. Blake and Kitty let me rant for about 5 minutes, before Kitty spoke up and said, "I agree". Dr. Blake continued, "You need to make a decision. Yes or no. If you decide that your life is better without her, then you need to get a divorce. You will never be able to regain the trust and love that was your previous life with her. Trying to do so is just a mistake for both you and her. You will hurt both of you, your kids and your friends. Man up and pull the Band-Aid off. However, if she says she wants to get past this, and you do decide that your life will be better with her in it, then the hard work begins. You need to work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for months or possibly years, until there is a new bridge of communication and mental foundation. You will never have your old life back. That life is gone. Dead."

"If you try to go back to what you had before she talked to you, you will fail like many before you. You need to build on your new life with Stacy and you need to learn to live and love again. You need to find a new foundation to live on. You must build on that foundation daily. You fabricate and strengthen that foundation every day for the rest of your life. If either of you stop giving 100% then you will slip quickly back to where you are today, and you will end in divorce."

Wow, I thought to myself. In about three hours on the phone, I had probably had 15 weeks of marriage counseling without my wife even being present.

Now what, I thought. How do I handle the next 24 hours. Heck for that matter, the next 3 hours, as we neared the outer ring road of Atlanta.

Dr. Blake provided me with a simple solution. Give her Stacy's phone number and she would call Stacy. She would try to get her to talk and if possible, come to her office, tonight. "What?" "Tonight???" "Yes, tonight" Dr Blake said. I would drive directly to Dr. Blakes office and wait for Stacy. I would confront her there, in front of our marriage counselor, assuming she wanted to still be married.

Dr. Blake made another great point. If Stacy really felt that what she did was a mistake and she was truly sorry and wanted to move past this, coming to Dr. Blakes office in the middle of the evening, with no warning would be a good sign. A sign of trust. A sign of positive movement in our marriage. A sign of us moving forward.

I agreed. We had a plan. Kitty and I would drive to Dr. Blakes Office and meet Stacy there, if she decided to come. The confrontation would happen. The shoot-out at the OK Corral. I would have Kitty and I am sure Stacy would bring Toni. I would have liked to have had Shawn. However, at this point, I was still unsure if he and Beth knew anything about the affair and had not told me.

I gave Dr. Blake Stacy's phone number and got her office address. Kitty plugged it into the GPS and we told Dr. Blake we were coming to meet her, and would be there soon. Then, just before I hung up, I told Dr. Blake, "If Stacy agrees or declines to come, I don't want to know before I get to your office." I just could not take the defeat of hearing in the car that my marriage was over.

Stacy:

It had been almost 2 weeks since I had heard from my husband Todd and it had been the worst two weeks of my life. I was raped. I was further violated when Peter took naked photos of me that he had hoped to use to blackmail me. If that was not all, I had to tell my husband that I had had sex with another man, and then he left me for almost two weeks without contact. Lucky for me I had good friends. For the first week, my best friend Toni spend almost every minute sitting or sleeping next to me, as I cried. My other friends were out there searching for my husband and even had got my rapist caught and convinced him to confess.

After the first week of hearing nothing, I decided to go back to work. That was a mistake. When I got there, all anyone could talk about was how Peter got arrested for trying to drug and rape some cop. I truly loved Beth. She is one of the best friends anyone could ever ask for. Of course, this brought me to tears, and that brought me to my boss's office for a sit down and a talk.

I confessed everything to my supervisor. I told her that I had had sex with Peter on the retreat, and that I confessed it to my husband and he had left me. At the time, Beth had not yet convinced Peter that it was either his balls being flushed down a toilet or he was going to confess that he had drugged and raped me. She listened to me cry for almost 2 hours. When I finally stopped, she asked me, "Do you still love Todd?" Another 10 minutes of crying later, I was able to blabber out, "Yes, more than anything in this world. If I could just tell him it was a mistake. If I could just tell him how sorry I am. If I could just tell him how much I love him, I could fix this. I could. I am really good at fixing things. I am. I am your best sales person. I could do this!." My boss, simply said, "there are more important things in life than work. Your God and your family are the most important. Go. Find your husband. Hold your husband. Do whatever is necessary to get him back and make him know that you love him more today than you did the day you married him. When you do that, you call me, and your position will be waiting for you. I don't care if it takes a week, a month or a year. Except for Peter, we are a family and we will stand behind you." And with that, I left her office to come home to start my quest for reclaiming my marriage.