Freddy Fingers

"No, I hired him -- at least paid -- he was a friend of Brad's and did it as a personal favor. Brad told me that Patricia wouldn't want to see the results, but you were seeing someone and having sex under the same roof as your children." His tone changed defensively. "I didn't fault you for that, I mean it had been half a year, but it was to convince Patty to accept your marriage was over. I truly didn't know the reason why it was important -- I trusted him to be helping my only child and went along with whatever he felt was best."

"That should've been my job, not Brad's. You should've trusted me. You should've known damn well if I knew the truth, there's no way I would've left Patty. I would've been with her right through this -- as well as Reese and Ty. I'll talk to you later to make arrangements for Patty to move here long term, bye."

"Is that true? Even knowing what I did, you wouldn't have left me?" Patty said softly.

I turned to her and looked right into those beautiful eyes. "Patricia, I would've been upset about the flirting -- more at him than you -- but, never would've considered ending our marriage over it. Now I do know the whole truth, my first concern is you -- getting you the help you need and making sure that bastard can't mess with you ever again. My second concern is fixing our relationship, so we can be man and wife again -- if you will have me."

I expected more crying, but instead she had that little mischievous smirk that I hadn't seen in over half a year. "Help me pack and check out, Carl? We'll have to return the rental, but then I want to go home to our kids."

It was a busy day of running around and phone calls, but also Patty and I reconnecting. Besides the obvious trauma she was still dealing with, it was evident that the spark was still there. Once we stopped talking about us, and just talking in general was when we felt like ourselves again -- that humor and wit that drew us together in the first place. It's also when I realized the most how much I had missed my best friend.

I didn't say too much to the kids, and timed grabbing Reese from the center so Ty and her would be surprised to see their mother at our house at the same time. Words can't describe the joy and tears on both my children's faces when they realized Patty was staying with us -- and sharing my bedroom. They understood that everything wasn't fixed, and there definitely would be some challenges for all of us. Of course, Reese pretended the best thing about everything was she could stay home with her mom and not go to the center during school hours. The important thing was the four of us were together again.

*

All of Patricia's belongings were shipped -- including all our wedding photos and other couples keepsakes -- to us, as we decided to make her moving in permanent. Couples counseling ended up being only a few months, really just giving us some tools to move forward. Communicating was a huge thing. As well, we established clear boundaries of what each other thought was appropriate behavior with another person. Flirting was okay for both of us, as long as it didn't get suggestive or touching was involved. We practiced on each other to show which was crossing a line. The therapy with Alison went longer, though three weeks with her absolutely eclipsed what six months with Brad had done.

I fully expected and was willing to accept Patty would still have her aversion to physical -- especially sexual contact. However, the opposite occurred. She was more cuddly and amorous then she's ever been since we had kids -- which, unfortunately, I'm sure the kids could tell. Since we were really focusing on communicating, I asked whether she was trying to make up for what happened between us -- that is, still blaming herself. Patty told me that wasn't the case at all. After feeling so insecure while Brad was isolating her, Patty claimed she felt the most secure when feeling physical love from me -- that's the reason behind the blowjob and sex in the motel room. She also said her libido was through the roof since she started having regular sex again.

With all that Patty went through, someone at work directed us to a lawyer. From the school district, to the mental therapy office that Brad worked at, we had a few potential lawsuits. I wasn't expecting really big bucks, but hopefully enough to pay for the kids' college and some nice vacations together. Going after the school district was more principle than money, and they did admit that they were wrong in firing Patty and reinstated her license. With the black mark off her record, she was able to find a teaching job in our new city. Patty was absolutely glowing when she showed off her new classroom.

Speaking of classrooms, while Patty was shut away from the children, she didn't know about Reese not being allowed to finish grade eight until her father explained the results from the PI investigation. Shortly after moving in with us, she went to the local school district and proposed she home-school Reese to catch her up, and let her take the departmental exams to verify she passed.

Whereas the spotlight shone brightly on us for the Freddy Finger video scandal, there hardly any press for psychologist Dr. Brad Sunden pleading guilty and sentenced a year for abusing his position to try and court my wife. Patricia wasn't mentioned by name at all. If he succeeded in his attempts to have sex with her, it probably would've been four or five. I was initially upset at the short length, considering he'd be out in less than a year. However, he lost his therapist's license for life and basically blackballed in the community -- Bob had a bit of influence, so I settled for that.

All in all, we managed to find a bit of normalcy after our lives went into the blender. We still hear the odd mention of the Freddy Finger video when people find out we're from Winfield. No one ever suspects it was Patty, so it doesn't even faze us anymore. I still occasionally look at my wife and regret the time I lost from her, and am in awe of how she handled everything. Essentially, she was assaulted twice in a row by men that she trusted. The strength she had to recover from that -- especially when one happened while she still was suffering from the first occurrence essentially alone -- astounds me. There are times when I think what would've happened if I never found out about Brad, before it was too late, and shudder. My life would not be the same without her.

******************

The actual events for the curious:

In 2014, somewhere in the central US, a therapist was arrested for having sex with a patient he was counseling after a sexual assault. The patient was married with children, and the therapist convinced her to essentially abandon her family and stay with him as the best way to recover from what happened to her. The husband was who reported the therapist, but I couldn't find information whether the patient reconciled with him.

In 2018, a Canadian college student in her final year of her education program went out to a bar with female classmates (yes, the dreaded girls' night out) and ended up having a drink with a mutual male friend of her and her boyfriend. Her classmates trusted the male friend to take her home to her boyfriend. The male friend took her to his apartment instead and fucked her while she was barely conscious and posted videos to Snapchat. The girl was of course drugged and raped, but everyone including her boyfriend assumed she was cheating. When a screen shot of her naked from the video ended up being leaked online, the school where she was doing her final teacher internship refused to let her continue. She was kicked out of the program for moral conduct unbecoming a teacher even though the guy was charged with raping her and filming her without her consent. At least it didn't go viral like Freddy Fingers, but the poor girl never returned to college, though still lives in town. A lot of people at the college know the story, but it didn't get any real media coverage -- as it normally is with most sexual assaults on campus. (The girl posted her story to a college confessions site on Facebook, so I don't think she'll mind it here).