Can Their Marriage Survive?

"Do you think Adam and Jeff will come back looking for more sex?" Beth asked.

"No, I told them that it would only be a one time thing." Kelly said.

"With that video they could try to blackmail you into more." Beth said.

"It wouldn't work. John already knows what they did. The rest of the world could know and it wouldn't hurt half as much as it hurts right now after seeing the pain in his eyes last night." Kelly said.

"Okay. You should stay here, clean up the mess in your bedroom, and throw away the sheets and the mattress. Even if John refuses to come back here that mattress remaining in this house after what happened is a slap in the face to everything that you once had." Beth said.

"You're right. Beth, when you see him tell him how much I love him, how sorry I am for everything, and tell him that if he gives me the chance I'll do whatever I can to make things right." Kelly said.

"I'll tell him Kelly, but I'm not sure this can be made right." Beth said.

Beth got in her car and drove back to her and Tom's house. John was sitting silently staring off into space when she came in.

"John, I'm back." Beth said.

"Was she there?" John asked.

"Yes John she was. I found her sitting on the floor of the shower crying." Beth said.

"Did she talk to you?" John asked.

"Yes she did John. She answered the questions that I asked." Beth said.

"Who were they?" John asked.

"Two men she met through an online adult personals website." Beth said.

"Was it the first time she'd been with them or was this a long term affair?" John asked.

"She said it was the first time and I believe her." Beth said.

"Did you get their names?" John asked.

"Adam Wright and Jeff Daniels." Beth said.

John stood up quickly, which surprised Beth and caused her to stumble backwards. He walked over to where they had their phone book, flipped through the pages and scribbled down two addresses. John then walked into Tom's den and grabbed his baseball bat. He then headed for the door. Beth saw the bat in John's hand and stepped in front of him.

"John, what do you think you're doing?" Beth asked.

"I'm going to go get that tape. I doubt they'll want to give it up so I might have to convince them." John said.

"John, don't run off half cocked like this." Beth pleaded.

"I'm fully cocked Beth, but last night they were double cocked, and they were taping as they fucked my wife. I'm going to get that tape. So please Beth get out of my way. The anger that I should have felt last night is boiling up right now and I don't want to hurt you, but I'm not going to let anything or anyone stop me from getting that tape. I say again, Beth, please get out of my way." John said.

Beth looked scared as she stepped out of John's way. He walked out to his car, fired the engine up and drove to the home of Adam Wright first as it was the closest. John knocked on the door, he opened it, saw John, and tried to slam the door shut, but John got the bat between the door and the frame and was able to force his way inside. Adam was stumbling backwards.

"Where is it?" John asked.

"Where's what?" Adam asked in a terrified tone as John stood over him.

"The tape you made of my wife." John said.

"I don't have it. Jeff has it." Adam said.

"Stand up and put your hands behind your back." John said.

Adam was terrified as he stood up. John took some zip ties that he had in his car for wiring and secured Adam's hands behind his back.

"Okay move. Just so you know, if we get over to his place and he doesn't have the tape you won't like what happens." John said.

Adam was crying like a baby as John drove over to Jeff's house. John pulled Adam out of his car and dragged him up to Jeff's front door. Jeff opened the door and John pushed Adam into Jeff knocking both of them to the floor.

"You have one chance. Either give me the tape or I kill both of you right now." John said.

"How do we know you won't kill us either way?" Jeff asked.

"You don't, but you stand a much better chance of survival if I leave here with what I want. Now where is it?" John asked.

"It's still in the camera." Jeff said.

"Let's go." John said.

Jeff started to stand up.

"On your knees or I'll break a few of your ribs." John said.

John didn't want to take the chance that Jeff would outrun him to some hidden weapon. Jeff and Adam got to their knees and shuffled their way into Jeff's office. Jeff picked up the camera and pulled out the tape.

"Here. Please don't hurt us. She did it willingly." Jeff said.

"I know she did; that's the only reason you're both still alive right now. Play this; prove it's the real thing." John said.

Jeff put the small tape into the adapter to a standard sized VHS, put it in the VCR in his office and hit play. It was the tape of them with Kelly.

"Okay, that's enough. Give it to me." John said.

Jeff handed me the tape.

"Are there any others?" John asked.

"No." Jeff said.

John pulled the bat back ready to swing.

"In the bag, there's two more." Jeff said cowering to the floor.

"Get them and give them to me." John said.

Jeff gave John the other two tapes.

"You two cock suckers should consider yourselves very lucky; I've decided not to kill you. If I hear about copies of this floating around town or on the internet or something you'd better be the hell out of the country though because if that happens I will kill you." John said.

John left Jeff's house and went back to Tom and Beth's.

"Well there's no blood on the bat; that has to be a good thing right?" Tom asked.

"I didn't hurt either of them. I scared the shit out of them and they gave me what I wanted." John said.

John held up the 3 tapes.

"Now that you have them, what are you going to do John?" Beth asked.

"I haven't decided yet. I wanted to be the one in control of the tapes though. If they had them they could have used the tapes to try to blackmail Kelly, or they could have tried to humiliate me. This way I have the power over what happens with these. If things go that way I can use them to prove infidelity. Or if things don't end up going that way then at least I know they won't be getting out and they won't be used to blackmail anyone." John said.

"John, I'm shocked that I'm doing this, but I find myself having to stick up for Kelly a little bit. Obviously what she did was wrong. She's hurt you a great deal. She knows that. She still loves you with all her heart and even though she's the one at fault she's hurting just as much as you are right now." Beth said.

"How could she possibly be hurting as much as me? I didn't do this to her, she did it to me." John said.

"Yes, she isn't hurting for herself John, she's hurting for you. She's been destroyed by what she did to you. She told me that she wanted to die John. Not because of what she'd done, but because of what she had done to you because of what she'd done." Beth said.

"Right now part of me wants her to die too. It's only fair, an eye for an eye. Well when I saw her last night I died. I died, my heart stopped beating, the breath left my body, life ceased for me." John said.

"John, I know that it's hard right now, but eventually something will have to be sorted out. Tom and I will let you stay with us for as long as you need, but you have a home of your own." Beth said.

"No, I no longer have a home. I have my name on the deed to a house, but that place ceased to be my home when I saw them there. I can never go back there. Not to live; not even to get my things. I will never again set foot in that house." John said.

"Okay. I'll go over there and get you some clothes and stuff for the next few days and we'll go from there." Beth said.

Tom's cell phone rings. He leaves the room for a few minutes, then comes back.

"There's been some trouble at work; I've got to go down there. It sounds like I'll be late. Will you be okay by yourselves?" Tom asked.

"We'll be fine. We both functioned pretty well as people before we met you; I think we can handle it for a few hours." Beth said.

Tom kissed Beth and he left.

"Does he always ask you that before he leaves?" John asked.

"Usually; when we were first married I hated being alone when he was gone and he knew it so he'd ask me that to make me feel better. It always made me smile so he still does it. I'll go back over and get some of your stuff. Is there anything in particular that I should get?" Beth asked.

"My pocket watch. It should be on top of my dresser." John said.

"Okay. You try to relax and I'll be back. Try to lie down and rest, you look really burned out." Beth said.

"I'm fine...well, not fine...but not tired." John I said.

Beth drove over to the house. She knocked on the door and Kelly answered it. She still looked terrible.

"Did he send you back for more answers?" Kelly asked.

"No, actually I came to get some of his clothes. He's still got on the same clothes he had on yesterday and he doesn't think he could come here right now so I came for him." Beth said.

"Yes...clothes...I'll help you get him some clothes." Kelly said.

Kelly and Beth packed a bag for John.

"There was something else that I was supposed to get...what was it? Oh, I remember. There it is." Beth said.

She picked up the pocket watch.

"He asked you to get his pocket watch?" Kelly asked hopefully.

"Yes, is that significant?" Beth asked.

"Open it." Kelly said.

Beth was confused so she opened the watch. On the inside of the cover was a picture of their wedding day.

"If he wants that then maybe I haven't completely destroyed the love he had for me." Kelly said.

"I can see it in his eyes that he still loves you, but he's also lost right now." Beth said.

"I am as well. I'm lost in a different way, but I'm not any less lost." Kelly said.

"Oh, John tracked down the two guys and got the tapes. He didn't even hurt them." Beth said.

"Oh no." Kelly said.

"What's wrong with that? Aren't you glad that they don't have the tapes?" Beth asked.

"Yes of course, but John didn't hurt them. There was a time when he'd have knocked a guy out for smiling at me. If he didn't hurt them after what they had done it could mean that I don't mean anything to him anymore." Kelly said.

"It could also mean that you mean a lot to him and he doesn't want to go to jail and be taken away from you." Beth said.

"Oh I hope it's something like that." Kelly said.

"Well, I'd better get going." Beth said.

"Wait. Beth, would you give John something for me?" Kelly asked.

"What?" Beth asked.

"This." Kelly said.

Kelly hugged Beth tight for over a minute.

"Will you give him that for me?" Kelly asked.

"Sure." Beth said.

"Thank you." Kelly said.

Beth got in her car and drove home. She carried the suitcase into house. John was sitting on the couch again. Beth walked over, sat down across John's lap and gave him a firm hug for a minute or so. Then she stood up.

"What's that about?" John asked.

"Kelly asked me to give you that." Beth said.

"Oh." John said.

"John, don't just say 'Oh'. Your wife asked me to give you a hug. That's not something to just say 'Oh' to." Beth said.

"What do you want me to say Beth? She asked you to give me a hug? Well then everything is forgiven. If that's what you're expecting you're going to be disappointed." John said.

"I wasn't expecting you to say that, but I thought it would get more than just an 'Oh'." Beth said.

"The reason it didn't get more than an 'Oh' is because if it had been a hug that you wanted to give me I would know how to feel about it; but I don't know how I feel about her right now so I don't know how to feel about a hug that she asked you to give me." John said.

"John, I can't even imagine what you're going through, and I don't want to." Beth said.

She sat back down on John's lap and held him again. It wasn't as firm; it was tenderer, compassionate.

"This one I know how to feel about. This one I know is genuine." John said.

"Yes, it is." Beth said.

"I guess I have a lot of thinking to do huh?" John asked.

"I guess so." Beth said.

"What would you do?" John asked.

"What?" Beth asked.

"If you were in my position, what would you do?" John asked.

"I don't know. Finding the person that you love willingly doing something like that in your own bed, that's quite a lot to deal with. You obviously still love her." Beth said.

"I could never stop loving her. Even now I'd throw myself in of a truck to push her to safety. But she willingly had sex with 2 other men in our bed. That's a knife to the chest. I'm angry that I'm not angrier with her. I find myself feeling guilty, like this is my own fault." John said.

"Your fault? John, of all the people that deserve blame you aren't even on the list." Beth said.

"Aren't I? Kelly told you that she was bored. That's why she first went onto that website. You don't go on a site like that if you're bored with your job or with what's on TV; you go onto one of those sites because you're bored with the partner you have. She was bored with me so she went looking for something new and exciting. Well she found it and I ruined her fun." John said.

"John, I'm sure that isn't the case. I'm sure she was just curious about those sites. I can't believe that she went on there actively seeking someone to be with." Beth said.

"It isn't that hard to believe Beth. Would you go onto a site that's set up for people to find other people to have sex with and talk to people online for 5 months without being interested in having sex with someone else?" John asked.

"I admit that it doesn't look good John, but Kelly didn't seem very bored with you to me. For as long as I can remember she's been regaling me with stories of how wonderful you are in bed. She has been telling me how passionate, tender, and giving you are as a lover. She's told me that thinking about kissing you is enough to get her excited and give her butterflies. She's been making me jealous for so long John. In fact Thursday we had lunch together and she told me how much she was looking forward to making love to you all day today once you'd gotten home from your trip last night." Beth said.

"I was looking forward to it too, until I stepped into that doorway." John said.

"Even with what you saw in that room, do you really believe that she was bored with you? From the way she's described it to me the two of you have always had a wonderful sex life." Beth said.

"Well...that's true...our sex life has always been very fulfilling for both of us." John said.

"Then how could you possibly think that she was bored with you?" Beth asked.

"It's the only reason I can think of for why she was on that site. It's the only reason that makes sense." John said.

"Life doesn't always make sense John. Maybe she was bored with some other website she'd been spending time on and went exploring." Beth said.

"And maybe she went on there looking for someone to cheat on me with." John said.

"Calm down John. Let's work on another list of questions that you want answered and tomorrow I'll go over again and get more answers. It doesn't do anyone any good to speculate. Okay? Can we just calmly work on a list of questions?" Beth asked.

"Fine." John said.

Beth got up off John's lap and grabbed a pad of paper and a pen. She motioned for him to follow her to the kitchen. They sat down at the table.

"Okay, question number one, what was she bored with that made her get on the site in the first place? What else?" Beth asked.

"Did I do something to drive her into someone else's arms?" John asked.

"I already know the answer to that one. No. But I'll ask her. What else do you want to know?" Beth asked.

"Was this the only time she's cheated on me? Has there been anyone besides those two?" John asked.

"You don't ask easy questions do you?" Beth asked.

"This isn't an easy situation." John said.

"No, I suppose not. What's next?" Beth asked.

"Why did she do it in our bed? There are two other large beds in the house, why did she do it in our bed?" John asked.

"Yikes...that's another hard one. By the way I told her to throw out the sheets and get rid of the mattress." Beth said.

"Good." John said.

"Okay, so what else?" Beth asked.

"When she was with them was she thinking about me at all or was she only thinking of herself?" John asked.

"Damn John, Kelly's gonna be in tears when I ask her these questions." Beth said.

"If she didn't want to answer them she shouldn't have put herself in position for them to be asked." John said.

"I can't disagree with that. What else?" Beth asked.

"Was she ever thinking about one or both of them when she was with me?" John asked.

"Remind me to take a box of tissues with me; I think she'll need them. What else?" Beth asked.

"We were thinking about trying to start a family soon. Was she still on her pill?" John asked.

"Oh God, that would be horrible." Beth said.

"Yes, it would." John said.

"What else?" Beth asked.

"I think that's all I can stand for now." John said.

"Okay. That's 7 very hard questions, all of which you deserve answers to. I'll go over there in the morning and talk to her. Are you hungry? I could fix us some dinner." Beth said.

"I'm starving, but I don't have much of an appetite." John said.

"Yeah, I don't blame you. I'll whip something up real quick and we'll see how much of it I can get you to eat." Beth said.

She made some dinner and she convinced John to eat a good bit more than he had the appetite for. They moved back to the living room and talked for a while. At after 9:00 Tom got back.

"Man that sucked. How are things here?" Tom asked.

"Well, I went over and got John some clothes, we came up with a list of more questions for me to ask Kelly tomorrow, we had sex, and then we ate dinner." Beth said.

"Uh-huh, that's great...wait, what was that?" Tom asked.

"I just thought I'd see if you were really paying attention." Beth said.

"So you didn't have dinner?" Tom asked with a grin.

"No, but I did get John to 'eat' something." Beth said suggestively.

"Oh yeah, was it your very special treat?" Tom asked.

Tom kissed Beth.

"It was wonderful; by the time he was done 'eating' he needed much more than a napkin." Beth said.

"And what about you? Did you enjoy watching him eat your special treat?" Tom asked.

"I was very satisfied when he'd finished." Beth said.

"Okay guys, this is getting weird, your room is that way, go...please." John said.

"Do you want to watch?" Beth asked suggestively.

"Uh...no thanks...I've already watched someone have sex this week...I'm good." John said.

"The guest room is all set up John, I hope you'll use it and try to get some sleep." Beth said.

"We'll see." John said.

Tom and Beth went down the hall. John heard their bedroom door shut. At 7:00 Sunday morning the door opened and Beth came out in a towel again.

"You didn't sleep again John?" She asked looking concerned.

"No, I can't stand to close my eyes just yet." John said.

"So you wouldn't close your eyes even if I did this?" Beth asked.

She walked over in front of where John was sitting and opened her towel exposing herself to him completely for the second morning in a row. John just stared at her.

"Beth, I'm sure Tom wouldn't be very happy if he came out here and saw you standing in front of me like that." John said.

"Oh don't worry about Tom; he'll be out cold for a couple more hours. We were up pretty late; I could scream bloody murder and he wouldn't wake up. If you aren't going to sleep you should at least shower and put on clean clothes. Go get cleaned up and I'll make some breakfast." Beth said.

John grabbed some of his clean clothes out of the suitcase she'd brought from the house and headed to the guest bathroom. The warm water of the shower felt good; really good. When he stepped out of the shower Beth was there. John stood there completely naked and he startled her so her towel dropped so she was completely naked as well.