Devil or Angel

I got up, put my empty coffee cup in the dishwasher, and walked out. The moment I was in my car I called my attorney. It was before office hours so I left a message telling her to date the documents for service tomorrow. I stopped by her office over lunch and signed everything. My next stop was to see Thorsen to review our plans for the next evening. I wanted to hurt her as bad as she had me.

I stopped off and had a beef sandwich on my way home from work. Michelle pulled in the driveway a couple of minutes later. I had already retreated to my office and didn't respond when she called out, "I'm home." We didn't talk the rest of the evening.

Friday morning I woke up first. I was sitting at the breakfast table but not eating. I couldn't, my stomach was churning. A few minutes after Michelle sat down with a cup of coffee I spoke. "I will ask you one last time to join me tonight. If you don't, I promise, make that I guarantee you, everything about our relationship will change. This is your last chance."

"Don't be so dramatic. We can go to dinner anytime. I promise I'll make it up to you Saturday night...and Sunday morning."

"It'll be too late then."

"Don't you dare threaten me! I may be your wife but you can't treat me like I'm a child." She stormed out of the room and went back upstairs. Five minutes later she reappeared with a small suitcase. She was wearing her casual Friday uniform, designer jeans, an expensive blouse, and a pair of boots.

"We'll talk about this when I get home tomorrow afternoon."

Michelle's day wasn't going as planned and she got stuck on a lengthily call from a potential customer. She kept watching the clock as 3:00 came and went. She sent a text to Ravlis, 'Running late. Will call when on way.' She tried to wrap up the call but he always had just one more question. 3:30 found her still on the phone. Finally, at 3:45 she had answered every question and was able to start clearing her desk off.

At exactly ten minutes till four a dozen long stem red roses arrived at Michelle's desk. Her co-workers flocked around to admire the flowers and ask what was the occasion.

She assumed they were from her boyfriend and was a little nervous when she read the card lest one of the office gossips get wind. It read, "To my loving wife. It's not too late. Please join me for a fantasy evening."

She dismissed them with a flip comment about how her husband "must feel guilty about something."

Thorsen was waiting when my wife walked out a few minutes later. He was parked where he would have no trouble following her.

Also parked in front of the main entrance, where everyone had to walk to get to the parking lot, was a white stretch limousine. The chauffeur, all dressed in black, stood next to the open door. holding a sign that read, "YOUR ABSOLUTE LAST CHANCE." Several of her coworkers were standing on the stairs discussing the limo and the cryptic message. One offered, "It's so romantic, like An Officer and a Gentleman" Another said it reminded her of Pretty Woman.

Michelle ignored the gawkers and walked around the car.

At 4:15 Ravlis texted her, "I'm counting the minutes until you join me in room 605."

When Michelle arrived at the hotel she stood in the atrium lobby and mentally counted up six stories. Then she walked to the ladies room to prepare for her tryst.

She has no ides four sets of eyes were upon her. Thorsen, his process server Charles Eastlund, and their wives were seated at a table in the lounge where they had a commanding view of the entire first floor. The middle aged couples were dressed to blend with the score of businessmen and women unwinding after a long week at the office.

They had done this dozens of times through the years and everyone knew their part. On cue the ladies excused themselves to go to the little girls room to confirm they had the right target. Once inside they ignored the mark and carried on as if nothing was happening.

Five minutes later they reported back to their husbands, "She looks nervous," Marla Thorsen said. "She just stood there staring at a ring on her right hand."

"Nervous hell, she reminds me of a cartoon where the guy had an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other; both were whispering into an ear," Virginia Eastlund stated. " I think she's going to back out."

"I always bet my wife's hunches. I'll wager fifty bucks she doesn't go through with it."

"You're on."

"I always feel creepy when you guys bet over someone's marriage Like you're casting lots for Christ's robes."

"Nothing would make me happier than to lose this bet. Her husband is a real nice guy and deserves better than her."

The ladies were starting to get hungry so they ordered appetizers to hold them over while waiting to see what Michelle did next. It was fifteen minutes before she walked out. They almost didn't recognize her.

Thorsen texted me a picture of Michelle. She was dressed to the nines in a sexy black dress. I had never seen her wear something so short before, nor so much make up.

As she walked into the bar Michelle received a text from Ravlis. She paused, glanced down, and read it; at the same time the surveillance team also read, "Hurry up, I'm getting impatient."

"Score devil one," Marla announced.

"Looks like you're gonna owe me some money."

"Not so fast. He's called her three times since she got here and she hasn't answered one."

The private eye began filming her with a well concealed camera.

Michelle took a seat at the bar and ordered a vodka gimlet.

As the only unescorted female Michelle drew the attention of every letch in the bar.

Before she could take her first sip her phone chimed to say she had a text message. She ignored it; we didn't.

"Where RU?" " She did not respond.

"Score, devil one, angel one." .

A couple of minutes later she let a phone call from lover boy go direct to voicemail. He didn't leave a message.

"Chalk up another for the angel." Virginia was grinning.

Thorsen has encouraged the wives to be loud; four people sitting in silence draws attention. The same four having a good time barely merits a glance.

A couple of minutes later her phone chirped to signal yet another text message. She ignored it.

"What an asshole," Marla opined.

"Score one more for the angel," Virginia shouted.

Michelle was nursing her drink when a middle aged businessman in a rumpled suit stepped up the bar. She tore into the poor slob when he pointed out all she had in her glass was ice and offered to buy her another.

He muttered, "Psycho bitch." as he walked away.

"Wanna make it a hundred?"

"You're on. C'mon psycho, go home to daddy."

"Shhhh. Not so loud."

For the next hour Ravlis alternated between phone calls and texts. She ignored them all.

"He's certainly a persistent asshole," Marla said.

Virginia replied, "God's gift to fallen women is getting worried he wasted his money on a hotel suite." Everyone laughed.

Her phone rang a second later; she slipped it into her purse.

My wife sat staring at the empty glass for ten more minutes before she settled her tab, hopped off the bar stool, and walked towards the exit pulling her roll-away bag. She ignored everything around her and walked straight towards the main entrance.

"Ha! angel wins!"

"Not so fast, she hasn't left yet."

The two couples followed her into the lobby. They stayed close enough to hear Michelle's heels click on the terrazzo floor. Ten more steps and she would be outside waiting for the valet to get her car.

READER'S CHOICE: PICK AN ENDING. You have now reached the promised fork in the literary road. Two endings are offered. One is as told by the actual husband, the other is the product of my fertile imagination. Please read both than cast you comment and/or vote. In two weeks I will tabulate the results and announce which version was true. I will also give an update on how things worked out for the Vernors.

Your choices are 1. The devil and darkness and 2. The angel and light.

Scenario one...Devil. I choose to walk the path of darkness.

Then the damnedest thing happened. She stopped dead in her tracks and looked at her phone. After she read the message she turned and walked straight towards the elevators. When the doors opened her four shadows followed her in.

"Six please,' she said.

The bells chimed to mark the passing floors. When the elevator stopped both gentlemen politely waited for the ladies to get off then followed a respectable distance behind. The door of room 605 flew open the moment she arrived, Ravlis stepped into the hall, threw his arms around her, and said, "I was so afraid you weren't coming." He then began kissing her like his life depended on it.

Eastlund said, "Shit, you win." as he interrupted their clench by handing her an envelope and saying, "Michelle Vernor, you've been served."

Her anguished scream echoed throughout the atrium.

The PI's last assignment was to send pictures of the adulterers to Ravlis' wife; this included the video of him greeting Michelle at their room just moments before. This was followed by a phone call to advise her that husband wasn't in St. Louis but was actually in room 605 at the Business Suites Hotel in downtown Chicago having an affair. He even gave her the phone number of the hotel so she could express the sentiments which she was screaming into the phone direct to her husband.

And where was I while all of this was going down? At the opera of course. Thorsen said I needed a rock solid alibi in case things went south. Don't tell anyone but I was escorted by a beautiful woman all evening.

It was almost noon when I walked into my house. Michelle was sitting at the dining room table; the Petition for Dissolution of Marriage was in front of her. She was still wearing her new little black dress but looked like shit.

I laid a copy of the opera magazine right next to the pictures of her and the marriage wrecker. "My date said to tell you she enjoyed our evening."

Michelle looked perplexed, then responded, "I swear on my life I never had sex with him."

"It doesn't matter. You broke our marriage vows when you kissed him."

She began to stammer, but we never..."

I held my hand up to stop her. "Even after you let that predator kiss and grope you I was prepared to forgive you. The detective I had following you actually thought you were going to be faithful. All you had to do was keep walking."

She began sobbing, "If you knew I was going to cheat on you why didn't you stop me" Forbid me from going?"

"And what could I do" Lock you in a cage like an animal? Slap a chastity belt on you? No, you're an adult. You have free will. Our marriage had to be your choice."

"You can't throw five years of marriage away because of a little mistake."

"I would hardly call having an affair a little mistake. Besides, I told you what the consequences would be if you made the wrong choice. "There's a line in one of my favorite songs, Angel of the Morning, that goes, There'll be no strings to bind your hands, not if my love can't bind your heart. I guess my love wasn't enough to bind your heart."

Michelle began wailing...I could barely make out her repeating, "Why didn't I keep walking."

"If you ever figure out the reason don't bother telling me because I don't care."

Michelle doubled over and began puking on her nice new dress.

"Don't you want to know how I found out you were cheating on me? It's a funny story. Yesterday morning I actually felt bad after you walked out. Then I had an idea. I was going to hire a children's clown to stop by your birthday sleep over and make balloon animals. I grabbed your address book on the way out. Imagine my surprise when I looked up Peggy's address and saw her birthday wasn't for two more months. I went through the book page by page looking for another Peggy. You know there isn't one. I felt like you had cut my heart out".

Then it got worse. The kid from the mail room knocked on my door and said a woman dropped off an envelope for me. It was chock full of pictures of you and your paramour. It also had quite a dossier on that piece of shit.

"Did you know your boyfriend's wife is 8 1/2 months pregnant. Or that he has an eighteen month old baby at home." Michelle groaned. "Oh, did he forget to tell you that? "

"By the way, the note in the envelope said his wife was also getting copies of these pictures delivered so you might be getting served in her divorce. Either way on Monday morning my lawyer will be paying a call on your employer to discuss the moral turpitude clause in your employment contract. I am quite certain you will be fired. Your boyfriend has experience at getting fired for sexual misconduct because that's why he was canned on his last job. Seems he has a talent for cultivating stupid women.

"Please, give me another chance. I promise it will never happen again."

"Do you realize you've never once said you're sorry nor asked for my forgiveness.

"But I am sorry."

"You're only sorry you got caught."

Michelle screwed herself up to her whole five foot four and hissed, "You're a hypocritical bastard. You're just as guilty. Go ahead, take me to court. I'll tell the judge you didn't come home last night because you spent the night with another woman."

"I did say that, didn't I. Too bad it looks like you overplayed your hand. I'll bet no one ever called my mom the other woman before. That ought to make her laugh. Yes, my mom was my date. She said the opera was okay but next time would prefer I took her to a hockey game. By the way, I showed her the pictures of you and your paramour. She said she always knew you were a cheating slut.

"So get the fuck out of my house. Yes, my house. Not your house, not our house. My house. Read the prenup. You're a whore so you lose everything."

I have never seen a person look so broken...yet I took no pleasure in the death of our marriage.

Scenario two... Angel. I choose to walk the path of light.

It was almost one in the morning. As I got closer to home I could see the dining room light was on; Michelle was sitting at the table. I slowed down and pressed the garage door opener. I parked, grabbed my attaché case, and walked inside. I didn't say a word as I sat down across from my wife. She was wearing my favorite black negligee.

"I'll bet you're surprised to see me." She sounded chipper. I stared at her without speaking.

The only sound was the clock ticking in the kitchen. A long minute passed before she spoke again. "Did you enjoy the opera?" There was a quiver to her voice.

No response.

"Who did you find to go with you?" I glared at her without making a sound.

"Was the restaurant as good as they say it is?" I clicked open the two locks on my case. Michelle was starting to look very nervous. The clock ticked on.

"I suppose I owe you a big apology. I should have told you sooner I already had plans for tonight."

If looks could kill I would have been a widower.

"When I got to Peggy's and told the girls what you had planned they all said I should rush home to surprise you. Surprise!"

I slammed my fist onto the table so hard the wood cracked. "Liar!" I screamed as loud as I could.

Now Michelle looked terrified.

"I know all about your affair with Keith Ravlis." I opened my briefcase, took out the Petition for Dissolution of Marriage and threw it on the table. Michelle turned white as a sheet.

"You have exactly one chance to save our marriage but if you lie again it's all over."

Michelle's lips were trembling but no sound came out.

I reached into the case and took out a picture which Thorsen had taken in the lounge.

"This picture was taken tonight. Could you please explain why you were wearing this very sexy dress at the lounge

in the Business Suites Hotel tonight."

Michelle began sobbing so hard I couldn't understand a word she was saying.

"Cut the crying. You have a choice, start talking or start packing."

Instead Michelle began retching all over herself.

I ignored the vomit and continued, "Please explain this picture." I thrust another picture in front of her. She was kissing Raylis. I slammed it down on the table..

By now she had doubled over with the dry heaves.

Still no answer. I pushed another picture in front of her.

"Do you want to know how I found out you were cheating on me? It's a funny story. This morning I actually felt bad after you walked out. Then I had an idea. I was going to have a children's clown stop by your birthday sleep over to make balloon animals. I grabbed your address book on the way out. Imagine my surprise when I looked up Peggy's address and saw her birthday wasn't for two months. I went through the book page by page looking for another Peggy. You know there isn't one. I felt like you had cut my heart out".

Then it got worse. The kid from the mail room knocked on my door and said a woman dropped off an envelope for me. It was chock full of pictures of you and your paramour. It also had quite a dossier on that piece of shit.

"Did you know your boyfriend's wife is 8 1/2 months pregnant. He also has an eighteen month old at home." Michelle groaned. "Oh, did he forget to tell you that? "

Michelle made a sound that sent shivers up my spine then collapsed in a heap at my feet. Six months of hatred and betrayal screamed for vengeance. I wanted to hurt her. It took all of my willpower to not stomp her face. Looking at her cowering in shame and fear scared the hell out of me.

This was the woman I swore eternity to. I wanted to protect her, to scoop her up in my arms and tell her we will overcome this. But first she had to own her sin. I've never felt so torn. I wanted to scream. Instead I covered my face and cried like I haven't since my father died.

It was several minutes before I could compose myself enough to talk. Michelle was still lying at my feet. I offered her my hand. She took it. "Go wash up, take a shower; then come back. I want to know everything that predator said. If you sneezed and he said God bless you I want to know it. Then I want to know every time you betrayed me and our marriage. If you lie or omit even one it's over."

Ten minutes later my wife walked out wearing a pair of shorts and a sweat shirt. I motioned to the chair.

Instead she dropped to her knees and began pleading, "I made the biggest mistake of my life. Please forgive me Brian. I swear I never had sex with him...I was going to but I didn't. I couldn't. I know that's no excuse..." She kept rambling "I'm sorry...I'm so sorry I hurt you."

"Get up and quit the theatrics. I said you had one chance to save our marriage. I want the truth."

We spent the next three hours in confession. Michelle gave a remarkably complete account of their relationship. I didn't let on I had copies of all of their texts and e-mails but used them to help craft questions. I was the Grand Inquisitor demanding answers be torn from her soul. Through the entire ordeal I never touched her nor said anything to comfort her. She answered each without trying to rationalize or explain her way out of it. She would recite the facts then add a comment, such as, 'I can't believe how stupid I am."

I damn near bit through my lip trying not to lash out when she told me the details of the two early Friday's she spent with the bastard. Knowing he had kissed and molested her didn't make it any easier to hear. She kept her eyes lowered as she spoke, pausing to wipe her tears and blow her nose. She sounded very sincere and penitent.

When she reached the current date Michelle handed me her cell phone. "While I was sitting in the bar wrestling with my conscience he kept calling and texting. There are over two dozen text messages from last evening. I didn't respond to a single one. He also left several voice mails which I never listened to...plus several dozen hang ups."