Father's Day Surprise

He couldn't stand ballet, opera or orchestral music and was more than glad she had someone to go with. At times it seemed that his wife actually discouraged him from going out with her, but that was her being loving towards him by not forcing him to go to those places. Doris, her sister, was very different to Helen, very overweight instead of Helen's slim build. It was funny that Doris' husband, Stanley, often went with them. He never seemed a culture buff, but you never know what goes on in someone's head for likes and dislikes. Ned only thought he liked unhealthy food like his wife did, both being excessively fat. He even knew that the neighbours, Mary and George, went with them sometimes as well. She was okay looking, but he was the real sporting type at over six feet and built like a professional athlete, even in middle age. Again he wondered how that type could sit and listen to that classical nonsense all evening. He never heard any instrumental music being played when they were home with the radio up loud. It might be, he thought, that their wives were not as loving as Helen was to himself, because they forced their husbands to accompany them to those awful shows.

Anyway, Ned always got a nice quiet evening to do some research for his investment portfolio, watch TV shows or movies that only he liked. He could also get on the internet forums and talk about things he was interested in, instead of being told not be so antisocial by Helen. He loved her, but she never really understood his liking the stock market or talking to other like minded people over the internet. He had made a lot of chat friends on the internet and they all understood each other.

Helen was in the kitchen, dressed and ready to go out.

Giving her a kiss on the cheek he said, "You look really luscious tonight dear. Is that outfit new? I don't recall seeing it before. Is it a special night or something? Oh, you look a little flushed, are you feeling ill or something. Hope you aren't coming down with something. Your lippy looks a bit lop sided as well. Sure you're not sick?"

"Careful Ned, you are all sweaty and dirty and will ruin my makeup. No, nothing really special tonight, just a night out with Doris and Stanley, plus our neighbours, George and Mary, might come too. I'm not ill. I'll check my lips now, thanks. I had a drink of water and must have smudged my mouth."

She went to the bedroom and was soon heading out with just a quick wave to him before heading out the door.

+++

Ned was having a break from his research and 'chatting' with his online friends. One of the usual members of this chat group, NoClue, had divorced his wife of ten years after discovering she was cheating with her boss at work. He had only found out the truth after she inadvertently called out, "You are the best Tom," while they were having sex. She never noticed but her husband did. Apparently NoClue's real name name is Boris. Her boss' name is Tom. NoClue complained how she tried to get everything in the settlement despite her being the cheating skank. She even listed his gaming computer for herself, despite not even knowing how to use her smart phone except to make and receive calls. He even had to keep showing her how to do that. He argued against the settlement and managed to allow her the house while he kept his computer. Everything else was split evenly down the middle as they didn't have kids and their jobs had similar wages. What she, her boss and her idiot lawyer never took into account was that the house was fully mortgaged after the recent real estate price falls. His computer system was worth a lot more to replace than the equity remaining on the house. They even laughed afterwards at how much of a fool he had been about him preferring a silly computer in preference to bricks and mortar building. Her boss moved into the house with Boris' ex-wife after the divorce as Tom's now separated wife had kicked him out. They then found out the mortgage had to still be paid. It had all been signed off in the settlement that bank loans went with the house, all being transferred into the wife's name, instead of retaining his name. He also intimated that he had been able to hide away a lot of his money after finding out about his wife's cheating long before the showdown. They never even noticed before the divorce that it was missing, although she had thought they were better off than what was found. He explained that they had been living high enough to spend all his income without saving much. Recent bank records proved this as true.

#3

Life continued for Ned and his family, although some things he found surprising. His wife had a funny habit of saying out aloud anything she was reading, or when giving herself instructions. He thought it a cute affectation of hers, as he would always know what she was cooking, especially if it was something new. He would be able to hear her speak as she read the recipe from the book, then again as she did the cooking with the instructions in her head. Each stage had a clear vocal output. It did occasionally get annoying if he was watching an interesting show on TV, or reading a good magazine and she would be in the room reading or knitting as she too watched the show. Hearing 'knit one purl two' continuing for a long time can become really annoying.

One night soon after the paving weekend, they were in the lounge room when Helen received a message on her phone. As she went to use it he heard her softly saying numbers. As she did this without conscious thought he could clearly hear each one, and besides they were not exactly hard to remember, just 1234. Ned was about to ask her what the numbers meant when it occurred to him she must have put a password on her phone. He was astounded as she had never been tech savvy before and wouldn't have even known it could be done. Keeping his eyes staring at his magazine so she wouldn't notice him paying attention to her, he frantically considered the why's and wherefore's of her sudden need for secrecy. He had never felt the need to use her phone, they were not in the habit of snooping on each other. He tried to think back to when he had ever even listened to her talking on the phone. He could often hear her speaking but never paid attention. He guessed she was the same towards him. By the end of the night he had let it all pass as the article in the trade magazine took his attention.

Then he remembered that a few weeks ago he had to make a quick phone call to a plumber about water leaking in the kitchen. Her phone was on counter just near him and his phone must have been in his study, so he just used Helen's phone to make the call. She came in as he was finishing the call and had a weird look on her face. She snatched the phone from him and demanded to know why he was touching her phone. He told her about the plumber and that was all that was said. He thought it peculiar that now she had her phone password protected.

About a week later he was searching the house for a spare thumb drive. He had run out in his office and went to look for one in Helen's study. She was out for the afternoon or else he would have just asked her. Going through her desk was another activity he could not recall ever doing before. It had three drawers either side of the central seat space. Going down the left side first, he found the bottom drawer locked. Strange, was all he thought as he eventually found what he wanted in the second drawer on the right side. Out of curiosity he tried the final drawer on the right side and it opened easily. Again he was confused about a single drawer being locked. If secure storage was needed for important items they used the safe in the bedroom. Shrugging his shoulders at this weird discovery he took the thumb drive back to his own study to download the files he wanted. That was two things recently that seemed out of character for his wife, who had always been open and carefree. He put it to one side to ask her when he had a chance. Then promptly forgot about it as life took his attention. He did replace the thumb drive during the following days and forgot to mention anything to Helen.

#4

Once a month Ned would take Helen's car to the car wash station and give it a thorough clean inside and out. It was just one of those things he did that he considered were the man's thing. She was always appreciative as it saved her from doing it herself, although she had never cleaned her own car in all their marriage. She always just left her rubbish in her car while driving, and he would clear it away. The car wash station spray wash and vacuums were much more effective than what he could use at home. A couple of weeks after the thumb drive issue he headed out the door at home to take her car for this monthly clean, when Helen raced out behind him calling that she would clean the car this time.

"Hold up Ned. You don't have to do it this time. I can get it done myself tomorrow when I go out."

"Huh? I've been doing this for years and you've never mentioned anything before. What's wrong with me doing it as normal? Have you damaged the car or something? No problems if it is scratched or anything. I won't yell at you or blame you. These things happen at times. It's just a car."

"No dear, nothing like that. I just thought I could do it for once. You help with so much I thought it would be nice if it was my turn. I can even take your car for its clean this week if you like."

Now Ned was getting a funny feeling about things. Helen was looking very nervous about something, and this was totally out of character for her. It was the first time she had ever volunteered to clean her own car, let alone his as well. Just to be asked to put her rubbish into a plastic bag instead of the passenger side floor or backseat was too much to expect. After only one week it would look like there was more rubbish in her car than the household garbage bin. She just never worried about her vehicle at all. Then he recalled the other oddities lately concerning the phone lock and her locked desk drawer. It now became very important for him to get to the bottom of things, and just asking her didn't seem like an acceptable method.

He smiled, tossed her car keys gently in the air before catching them in the same hand as he brightly said, "It's alright dear. I'll do it as normal."

He quickly walked away trying not to run, expecting his wife to dash after him, retrieve her car keys to stop him going. He was determined to have a very close search through the car before cleaning it.

As he got into the driver's seat he called back to her, noting she had not moved but looked very dejected, "I'll just toss all your rubbish straight into the bin as normal. I know you always leave a big mess, it doesn't bother me at all."

He drove off seeing her still standing in the driveway. It was extremely odd behaviour from a wife who had always been very open with him from the first time they had met. That very first blind date had left him really happy. She was so perfect for him in every way. They were exclusive basically since first meeting, such was the automatic bond between them. They did not even do anything sexual until after six months of going out, and that was just a hand job that she had to talk him into. His dick into her vagina did not occur for almost another year as they slowly built up to it, just before they were married. They were both very shy about these things and had no experience before they met. From what she said he was almost her first boyfriend, and she was in their early twenties to his mid twenties.

+++

The task before him was daunting. Normally he just grabbed handfuls and stuffed them into a garbage bag. He could not understand his wife and the way her car became one big rubbish bin. The house was never allowed to be even slightly messy, but a car obviously did not count. Mostly it was nut bar and other food wrappers, parking receipts from shopping trips, petrol receipts. He even found a parking fine that had not been paid. Shopping lists and shop receipts amongst so much detritus. What he didn't expect were the receipts for motel rooms and another for a sex shop. If he had done what he normally did these would have all been thrown out without being looked at. These were bad enough and he had to wonder how often in the past he had just thrown them out. They didn't fully explain his wife's behaviour earlier, and the locked drawer and phone, but had shed some bad light that she was up to something. The glove box only brought out more rubbish amongst women's necessities, but this at least was normal things including window cleaning cloth and hand wipes.

The boot brought up the reason for her fears. Again he would never have bothered opening a box and just put it to one side as he vacuumed and cleaned. Today was different though as he tried to open it without causing any damage. If it contained nothing except some recent shopping she had forgotten about, or maybe a present for him he could close it and plead ignorance about its contents. It was ten months before Christmas and just after that was his birthday, seven months until Father's day in September, and they had just celebrated their wedding anniversary last month. So it was unlikely to be a present for him as Helen really was not organised enough to be this far in advance.

With all care he undid the flaps and looked inside, to find nausea rising up his throat. He chucked onto the pavement away from the car, glad he would not need to clean that up from the carpet in the boot. It wasn't a large box, but then what it contained was all smaller items. Some of which he could not guess its use. He had seen some on the internet recognising a ball gag, fluffy handcuffs, a small riding whip and other things that just seemed bizarre. The only items that closely resembled anything that was normal in his life were the various pairs of underwear, still in the packaging. Crotchless panties, penis pouch jocks, bras of various sizes although their was almost no material in the cup or strap materials. He recognised these only by the labelling. Strangely, more than the already strangeness, was they had various sizes of underwear from small to extra large. Other items that seemed to be rubber, leather and metal with straps, chains and buckles, mesh and other oddities had him beat as to what they could be used for. For the sake of his sanity he didn't want to know. He at least now had an idea what the sex shop receipt was for.

His only hope was that she was holding this stuff for someone else. That was a silly idea as she would have just needed to laugh and show him the box if it belonged to another person. He was naive and not very worldly, but he was not a prude when it concerned what others did. He had always been a level headed man, not prone to outbursts of anger or any other strong negative emotion. This, however, had his ire boiling over. Helen had been with him for decades in what he thought was a really good marriage. They had been so compatible and loving, others had called them too sickly sweet to be around. They had always had what he considered a great sex life, even if it was slowing down this past few years. He always managed to get her off with an orgasm or two each time they did it. Heck for all he remembered she had enjoyed sex from the first time they tried it before they married. She got off very easily making him feel like a hero. By the second time they did it she was teaching him what to do to her making it better for her. Even the first time they did it she just knew how to get him hard enough, where he had to go and how to move. She said she was always researching sex in the women's magazines and talking with her girlfriends to get new ideas. He guessed she thought about new ways a lot as she seemed to know exactly what to do. He loved following her instructions as he was happy to make her happy. In the process he always got to climax and be satisfied.

He walked away from the car to let himself cool down a little. A more level head allowed him to spread out all the goodies to photograph with his phone. He included the relevant receipt in the photos, but also stored the papers in his wallet for safe keeping. He resealed box without anything out of place showing that it had been opened. He did have tears falling from his eyes before he was finished as the various scenarios of what this all meant passed through his mind. At the bottom of it all was that he had the horrid suspicion that his marriage was not what he had always thought it was. He just had no idea yet what was wrong or where things had gone astray.

Hadn't they been happy all this time? He certainly had been. He had been a good provider and could afford the better things in life for them. He had a really good job with great prospects before he had even met Helen. Then, as now, his salary was way above the norm for his profession. He might have been a nerd and lack life experiences and have trouble relating to everyone, but he was extremely clever in his field. The company that employed him saw his potential and successes, and rewarded him handsomely. He also had a lot of money in the special deposits and put away into an investment portfolio. Losing his parents early in his life was a trauma he wished had never happened, but as he was adult age and at university he didn't have to worry about foster care or anything. If he had been the lazy type there could have been enough inheritance, that if careful he never had to work at all. His problem was that he got bored if idle, and trying to think up new things to do all the time would soon get old and he would get dissatisfied very quickly. He was much better working as this kept providing new things to think about and do. He considered with dismay that he was obviously not a self starter, but on the plus side if he is given a task he excels at completing it. Except for rare occasions his projects were always within time and cost constraints.

He was paid enough that he never needed to touch his inheritance or draw from the investments. He didn't even know if Helen knew of what he had hidden away for a rainy day, or their retirement. He guessed that she did, but couldn't remember telling her specifically about what he had. It just never came up as a topic of discussion.

#5

Ned managed to get his aggravation under control and finished cleaning her car. By the time he got home Helen was dressed and waiting to go out. He barely got inside the house before she grabbed her keys and left. Barely a word was said, let alone telling him where she was going and for how long. The world had now become a very odd place and his life was feeling weirder every minute. He was settling down to think about his life and his wife when he recalled the drawer in her study. Feeling really miffed about her treatment of him recently, he went to her room and checked the drawer which was still locked. Thinking for a minute he went to get the keys he had for his desk that were never used. He had to do a bit of searching to find them as they were buried at the back of the deeper drawer. The two desks were the same make and type, so maybe the keys might be interchangeable. A long shot, but worth trying he thought.

As it happened the fourth key he tried did unlock it and another shock followed when he pulled the drawer out. There were some DVDs and thumb drives. Not knowing how much time before Helen returned, he grabbed one DVD and a drive. These should not be readily missed unless they were specifically being looked for. He re-locked the drawer, pleased that his keys worked. Going to his own study he fired up his laptop and inserted the thumb drive. A short time later his entire world collapsed as he viewed the photos on his screen. As an automaton he removed the thumb and inserted the DVD into its slot. If his world had already collapsed this buried it. A file list came on screen of recorded videos. Selecting one he broke down and cried. A part of himself wished he had never found these things, and could once again be ignorant and naive. Nobody wants their life to be worthless. He was now lacking any feeling of being worthy of anything. Nobody in his life of personal importance could have any respect for him.