Forgive?

"Nate, can you tell me?"

"That's just it. I don't know. Over the course of two weeks, I went from having the perfect, loving, affectionate wife to someone who won't look at me. I don't think I did anything wrong. What the hell could have her acting like this?"

"I hate to say it, Nate, but these symptoms sound like a typical problem. You don't think she was unfaithful, do you?"

He saw anger in my eyes. "NO. HELL NO. You know Beth almost as well as I do. Do you really think she could do something like that?" I was mad as hell that he could suggest such a thing.

"No, I don't. But what can the issue be?"

"I don't f... fricken know. But she sure as hell is going to tell me when she gets home!"

Paul started roaming around the room to clean up the damage I'd done.

"Paul, leave it. She needs to see I'm pissed as hell, and I don't want to recreate it in front of her."

"So, what can I do, Nate?"

"Bro, you've helped by being here. Go to church. Pray for us. I don't know what for, but it feels major."

"Call later if you need something or need to talk, okay?"

"I promise." I gave him a hug slightly harder than a normal 'bro' hug.

I had five hours to kill until she'd be home. I paced. I sat. The beer in the fridge kept calling me, but I was wise enough not to give in. Food had no appeal. I tried ginger ale and crackers to settle the churning in my stomach, but it didn't help.

I sat in my chair in the living room. I heard her car door. The front door opened, and I looked at her. Her face scanned the mess, the holes in the wall, and the clear look of rage on my face. She looked sad and I knew she'd been crying. But then I saw something I had never seen before—something I never wanted to see—something I hope I'd never see again.

She was afraid. She was horrifyingly afraid of me.

Beth started wailing as she ran and fell on her knees in front of me. She rested her head on my legs a cried harder than I've ever seen any woman cry. I made no attempt to soothe her. I sat there and let her go on for a while. Once she was quiet enough that I thought she could hear me, I had to get this conversation started.

"As you can see, my patience is gone. I don't want to lose it with you here. I love you too much. I suggest you pull it together, go sit on the damn couch, and tell me right now what's going on."

She looked and saw just how on the edge I was. I forced my voice to stay calm. I've never yelled at her. Her face told me she knew that statement may not hold true in a moment. She stood and backed to the couch and sat looking defeated, helpless, and defenseless. Her face was contorted. Tear kept streaming without the wailing. She couldn't make her mouth work. She was frozen. I felt my blood starting to boil.

I leaned forward and uttered one, insistent, sharply pointed word—"NOW."

She flinched in fear.

"I don't know how to say it," she mumbled as crying began again.

"Bullshit. You've been thinking of what to say for a week. NOW!" That was a shout.

"Oh, God," she exclaimed as her face contorted with more tears, her hands waved open palms on either side of her head as if she was frantically trying to push something away. She looked like she was searching for the words high on the wall in the corner behind me.

"I... I SLEPT WITH SOMEONE," she screamed, struggling with each word as if she had to pull every syllable out with all her might.

I let her wail as I tried to process what she said. After days of trying to figure out what her secret could be, she confirmed the only assumption I could imagine for her behavior. Paul was right. It was the only thing that fit. Was I surprised? Not by the news because of how she was acting. But by that fact that Beth was the one who did it shocked the hell out of me. I could not imagine a more remote scenario than what she just told me. I never, in all my years, considered intimacy with anyone but Beth. I believed she would say the same about me.

Beth cried for about 5 minutes while I just watched her. When she calmed enough, I tried to find out more. I kept my voice low and calm as if I were asking a young child about a simple math problem.

"What do you mean you slept with someone?"

"You know... made love."

I flinched but kept my voice low. "So, you love him?"

"NO!" she shouted.

I lost it. I slammed my hand on the coffee table and she darted backward.

"THEN TELL ME WHAT YOU DID. MAKING LOVE IS WHAT WE DO. WHAT DID YOU DO?"

My temper didn't help. She was back to uncontrollable crying. So, I helped her with the words.

"DID HE PUT HIS DICK IN YOUR PUSSY?"

She wailed and nodded her head furiously as she blurted out, "YES!"

"DID HE COME IN YOUR PUSSY—MY DAMN PUSSY?"

Same response.

"HOW ABOUT YOUR MOUTH?"

Same response.

"YOUR ASS?"

Same response as she slumped to the floor.

It was my turn to break our rules of engagement in a disagreement. I left the house. I'd have to fix the front door later.

I drove to a park and cried myself dry. I wanted to hurt someone or something. Maybe later, but right now my raw emotion was overwhelming. Once my tear ducts were empty, I planned to do something I never did before. I decided to get drunk.

I sat at the bar where the guys often go after work. Mike, the bartender who knows my family, had no difficulty determining I was not in a good mood. I decided to get smashed quickly and ordered a double scotch.

I was only there for about 5 minutes when I felt a hand on my shoulder. Paul was standing behind me.

"Nate, let's go get the whole story."

"Either back off or sit and join me."

Paul sat.

"Mel is with Beth now. You were right. Beth told her last weekend and swore her to secrecy until she could tell you today. I only learned the details in the car on the way to drop Mel off at your house."

"What details, Paul?" She screwed some guy in every hole.

"She didn't plan it. She thinks she was drugged at some party at the trade show."

I burned a different fire of temper. Much hotter. Mike heard our conversation since the bar was mostly empty and approached us.

"Nate. If what Paul just said is true, and if you find out who the guy is, I know some people who can help with what I'm sure you'd like to see done."

"What?" I wasn't sure I heard him right.

Mike continued. "There's a highly secret group of ex-military that specialize in helping when a predator takes advantage of any woman and especially married women and girls before the age of consent. The leader had a personal experience that drove him into this line of work. And it costs nothing. In his words, it's always his pleasure."

"You gotta be kidding," Paul exclaimed. "Nate, you wouldn't go after the guy, would you?"

"You're asking me at the wrong time. Mike, what would these guys do to the asshole that took advantage of Beth?"

"It depends. They take into account a lot to determine how much the offender deserves. The range of consequences goes from beatings all the way through a very painful journey to a permanent disappearance. They do a full investigation to see if he's done it to others and to be sure there is absolutely no question of the guy's guilt. You'd never be in direct contact with them or the target."

I thought a moment before answering.

"Let me get the full story. I may get back to you."

Mike looked a little worried.

"Guys, if this conversation ever comes back to me or, even worse, to the Predator Justice Team, it will not be good for any of us. Nate, I've known you and your family for a long time. Are we good?"

"No worries, Mike. Paul, you good?"

"Yeah. And if I didn't believe in not cheating before, I think I'd be a firm believer now."

Mike laughed as I went to pay the tab.

"Nate, it's on the house. But a word of wisdom to a good guy with a great wife—do everything you can to love her, and forgive her—especially if she had no control."

Chapter 8: Scum Uncovered

Paul drove me to my house even though I'd only started to drink. I was glad I wasn't drunk and had my wits about me. I was devastated with guilt for what I already put Beth through if Paul was right and she had been drugged.

When I got home, I ran through my broken front door and grabbed Beth as we both cried tears of sorrow, of love, of guilt, of forgiveness, of comfort—we had a lot to cry about.

Beth and I sat on the couch muttering words of regret and forgiveness as we kissed. Melody started cleaning up broken trinkets and Paul worked on a temporary fix on the front door.

As they finished and sat with us, I pulled Beth onto my lap so her head could rest on my shoulder.

"Baby, if what Paul told me is true, it's not your fault. But I need to know what happened. Just to confirm, you didn't choose to do this, right?"

"No. You know I would never."

"Okay. We're good, we're calm. I love you. There's no doubt about that, so please try to tell it almost as if it were about someone else. I think we're both cried out, and it will help if we can talk facts with as little emotion as possible."

"Okay. I think can do that. Can you listen without losing it?"

"I hope so, but you know you're the only one I can count on to keep me under control. Okay?

"Yes. So, here goes. You know about the hospitality suite, and that we were serving about 60 guests over four hours with appetizers and drinks. We also had our entire field sales team there."

"Right. You told me about that. What happened?"

"My room was attached to the suite just like a bedroom in a house or apartment. As the night was coming to a close, there was a toast made to the show and its success. I hadn't had anything to drink all night, so one of the men handed me a glass of wine. We toasted, and I drank it. It wasn't long and I felt woozy as if I had a lot to drink. It was weird, I sort of knew all that was going on, but I had no control and felt limp. I sat on the couch as everyone left."

"You think you were drugged?"

"Definitely. You know I can share a bottle of wine without getting tipsy. This was a small glass with not much more than a few sips of wine."

"Okay. Go on." I looked at Paul, who I had asked to record this without the girls knowing. He gave a thumbs up.

"One guy was left. He carried me into my bedroom, undressed me, and..."

Beth started to cry, so I hugged her.

"Baby, you don't need to be graphic. I can fill in the blanks."

"I'll try. Okay. He asked me to do things and it was if I had no choice but to comply. I was like his puppet. He wanted... he wanted oral first," she whimpered. "Then he had... you know, normal sex. He made me get him hard again with my mouth. Then..."

She was starting to lose control, so I hugged her and kissed her to let her know I was okay, which was true on the outside. Inside, I was feeling murderous.

"Then what, Baby?"

"He... He smeared a bottle of that hotel skin cream on his penis and jammed some in my behind, and... you know." She started to sob a little but could still talk. "It hurt bad."

"Okay. Rest a minute, Baby." I held her as she struggled to regain control. "I love you, Beth. We'll get through this. Is there more?"

"Yeah. The next morning, Saturday, he called me and said that he videoed our little time of fun. If I said anything, it would go public. He told me to watch it, so he sent it to me. I watched enough to know that anybody watching it would think it was consensual. It just looked like he asked, and I did it."

"Oh my God," Paul added. That explains last weekend pretty well."

Beth continued. "After I talked to him a thought hit me. I ran into the party room and it hadn't been cleaned yet. I found my wine glass, which still had some in it, and covered it with plastic wrap and sealed it in a zip lock bag. It's hidden in my dresser door."

"Great thinking, Baby."

"I'm not sure everything I did was great thinking. I didn't know for sure how to tell you yet. I didn't know what to do. You know I can't hide things, Nate. I knew I wasn't hiding them very well, but I wasn't sure what recourse I had, or how to tell you. Oh, God, how I wanted to—and I should have."

Her tears flowed stronger again as I tried to help her find strength.

"Okay, that's in the past. Let's move forward. What did you do after that, Baby?"

"That Monday I went into the office and talked to the HR director, Sonia Parson. She was no help at all. She told me she'd heard things about him before, and I'd just have to live with it and move on. But I learned something from the jerk. I recorded my conversation with her."

"Good girl. That will help in the coming weeks. Is there more?"

She whimpered a bit more. "Yes, and it may have been stupid on my part. He was at the next trade show too. I wanted to confront him to get him to admit what he did so I could record it. I did, and he laughed and admitted it all. He even added the names of other women he's done this to."

"So, we got him dead to rights?" I remembered my conversation with Paul and Mike and felt confident there was plenty of proof to win his friend's help. But Beth was getting more emotional. "What's wrong, Baby?"

"He didn't bother with drugs. He took me right there, raping me! I was dry, and he hurt me. I bled a lot."

I was really boiling. I don't know how I stayed calm for her, but I did. I held her as tightly as I could. When she calmed down, I asked the obvious. "Did you record that too, and did he?"

"I don't think he did, but I have audio."

We hugged while Melody comforted Beth from behind her. Paul started to pace, and then stopped suddenly with an urgent thought.

"Beth, did he use protection?"

"Oh, God. No! Oh, no, no, no, no."

"Nate, you need to get her tested for STD's."

Beth's tears came on full force. I knew what she was thinking.

"Paul, it's worse than that. Beth is off the pill because we want to start having kids."

I needed to hide my fears. I tried my best.

"Baby, don't worry about that now. We'll cross that bridge if we come to it."

The prospect of raising another man's bastard hadn't occurred to me until then. Suddenly, the obvious question I hadn't asked rushed to the surface.

"Beth, who is the guy that did this?"

"I don't know if I should tell you now. I don't want you to do something stupid and wind up in jail."

"I won't touch the guy, but we need to be sure the company deals with him."

"What if he spreads the video? Nate, I don't want that out on the internet."

"Baby, we need to talk to the right people to be sure that doesn't happen. But the longer he has it, the more likely it will get spread."

"Are you sure you won't get into trouble?"

"I promise."

"Alright. It's... it's that scumbag Don Baird, the sales manager."

I remembered him. I knew right away he was a skirt hound.

"Didn't we meet him and his wife and kids at your company picnic?"

"Yeah."

"So, he has something to lose. We need to be calm and rational as we put together a plan with the right people."

The four of us spent the rest of the afternoon and evening formulating a plan of action. Paul and I knew there were separate plans with Mike's friends to be made if we were willing to go down that road. I wasn't sure I could.

Chapter 8: The Plan

The four of us laid out a map of what needed to be done. There were a lot of favors to call in, but the hardest parts fell on Beth. The first difficult task required Beth to go to work as if nothing happened. At least 'Don the Rapist' would not be there. He wasn't scheduled back into the office until Thursday. We'd be ready. She also needed to get an hour off for a doctor's visit.

While at work, Beth would approach three of the six women Don-the-Slime had admitted to molesting. The other three no longer worked for the company but we could approach them later. Two of the ladies still with the company felt destroyed by him and decided to work with us. They had difficult tasks—they had to tell their husbands. Beth offered to sit with them and they both accepted. Upon further discussion, it was decided we would have both to our home that night with their husbands. The third couldn't face the fear of the potential consequences. We weren't going to push it.

Paul contacted his high school best friend, Tom Willis. Tom was now a detective with the local police force and owed Paul lots of favors. After hearing the stories and seeing the evidence, he was more than willing to get involved.

I had helped Judge Gregg Dunn design and build his new home, and Beth and I became fast friends with Gregg and his wife. I paid him a visit on Monday morning.

"Nate! Good to see you."

"Your honor, always good to see you as well, and thanks for letting me visit on such short notice."

"No problem. Monday is my day off anyway. And what's this 'Your Honor' crap. You've called me Gregg for years."

"After I show you what I need to share with you, Your Honor may be more appropriate."

I showed him enough of the video Don was foolish enough to send to Beth, played the audios Beth recorded, and told him of the wine glass and that Paul was giving the details to Tom Willis. I also mentioned that Beth was following up with other women Don admitted to molesting. Gregg was visibly upset. He looked mad enough to melt steel.

"Nate, it hurts me deeply that Beth has had to endure this. You have to proceed with great caution to make sure any accusations stick. I assume you want something that I can help you with."

"We're hoping Tom can get enough to show you compelling evidence for a search warrant. I didn't want you surprised, and I was hoping you could give any guidance you're allowed to by law so we don't misstep."

"Well, first off, Tom can't come to me for a search warrant. That needs to come through the D.A.'s office. I'll call D.A. Hanna Ames and get Tom to work through her. I'm not sure how long that will take. How soon were you hoping to take action?"

"The culprit gets back in town Thursday. We really want to get all his electronic devices into police custody as soon as he returns so he can't launch that video."

"Nate, I think we can have it all in line by Wednesday if Hanna and Tom can get their ducks in a row. That wine glass needs to take priority so we know the contents to justify a search. Also, if you're meeting with those other families tonight, you need to have Tom there. Not only will that be best in case the husbands react poorly, but he will be able to use the evening as an opportunity to interview the ladies in order to press charges."

"Gregg, I really appreciate your help. I have one more major concern. There's a real possibility that he may have gotten Beth pregnant. I need to know what recourse the courts may allow if that has happened, and if the jerk would have any parental rights."

"I'll need to do a little research on that and get back to you. If it does happen that way, what will you do?"

"I don't know. My mind has gone crazy trying to figure out if I can look at, much less love the child of a man who raped my wife."

"Understandable. But remember, whatever you do, it's not the child's fault. One more thing, Nate. Don't do anything stupid. If you touch this guy, you'll destroy the case. Also, remember in North Carolina that you can sue for alienation of affection and criminal conversation. You can put this guy in the poorhouse, but remember it could also put his wife and children in the same poorhouse. If you've thought of that kind of revenge, remember who all you'll hurt. Also, you may be able to sue your wife's company for failure to enforce their morals code."

I left Gregg's home with lots of hope. I made it just in time to have lunch with Beth. I saw her at the table in the Italian restaurant we enjoy. She was crying. I was pretty sure I knew what that meant.