It Took Nothing Away From You

Inspiration can come from so many places. It has come from songs, memories from the past, things I've read, comments from real life, and with this story, comments from readers. One comment that inspired this story was from Johnadp from my story "What could be the harm in that?" I thank him for giving his permission to expound on that comment. Another comment that inspired this one was from my story For the Kids. This comment was from anonymous, I'm not sure if it is THE anonymous that has told me many times that this is an erotic website. He/she/they/it will be disappointed with this story also. Sorry anonymous.

As with all my stories, I appreciate all comments, good and bad. Who knows, maybe it may inspire another story, from me or someone else.

This story is one of my longer ones, I hope you will take the time to read it. Thanks.

SLAP!!

Wow, that hurt! It made me stagger back, dropping the drinks, she hit me so hard. I think she may have dislocated my jaw. My left hand went to the side of my face, trying to rub the hurt away. I really do think she may have dislocated my jaw! It hurts and clicks when I open and shut my mouth.

I looked around the room, embarrassed. Everyone is looking at me. I look back to my wife, there is fire in her eyes. She is pissed!! I don't understand where this anger is coming from.

Ten minutes before we were laughing and mingling at my company's 30^th anniversary part. When I say "my company" I don't mean I own it, rather it's where I work, have for the last 25 years, since I got out of college. I'm the Director of Operations, the owner's right-hand man. We've worked hard to get this company where it is today.

It's been 10 years since we had a company party. Our last one was on our 20^th anniversary. Ten years ago, I didn't know if I would be staying for another month, let alone another decade. It had nothing to do with the company, it was personal life that had me wondering what I was going to be doing with the rest of my life. I didn't know what would happen, or where I'd be.

Back then I was contemplating filing for divorce. I had just received an anonymous email from someone at my wife's Corporate Offices. The email was addressed to me, but also to an Elizabeth Jones.

I was curious, why was I receiving an email from Bridgit's company? I opened the email and my life changed instantly. There was a picture of my wife in a passionate kiss with some man, they were standing in front of a hotel room door. I can remember every detail of that photo, the blue business dress my wife wore as she embraced the man with her hand on the back of his head. This wasn't a picture taken out of context, they were in a lover's embrace, his hand on her ass, his other arm around her back.

The door framed the picture of my wife's betrayal, the room number 321 clear as day. It wasn't my wife's room, I checked. It was reserved in Gary Jones name. The kicker was that when I tried to find out what room my wife had reserved there was none.

I would find out more of the details later. I had to leave work to wrap my head around this. I went to Jim, the owner, and asked if I could leave and take the next day, Friday, off. He could tell something was wrong, but he didn't ask, at least not then.

When I got home I brought the kids to Bridgit's parents, we would need time to talk and I didn't want the kids to hear the words that I knew I would be saying.

When Bridgit came home that night it was about 6:30, her flight had got in around 5:15 and after she grabbed her car from the long term parking lot she made the 45 minute drive home.

Bridgit works as an Area Rep for a company out of Chicago. She works out of our home, which gives her the flexibility for the kids, but once a quarter she has a 3 day meeting at the Corporate Headquarters. This had been one of those meetings.

As Bridgit walked in the door from our garage she was pulling her carry-on luggage with one hand and holding her purse in the other. I was standing in our kitchen, just looking at her. She said, "Oh Kurt, can you grab my suitcase out of my trunk?"

"No. You might need it left in there." I said to her.

She looked up at me, confused. She could tell I was mad. "What's wrong, honey?" She said, concerned.

"You're a lying, cheating, CUNT!" I yelled as I held up the picture I had printed off. There were others, but this was the most damning one.

She gasped, "Where did you get that?"

"Someone from your company cares more about our marriage than you do. They sent it, wanting to make sure I knew what was going on."

Her face went emotionless. We stood there in silence for at least a minute.

"That's not true, Kurt." She finally said.

"What, do you think this is a fake picture? Do you think I can't see with my own eyes the passion in that kiss? What isn't true??"

"It isn't true that someone from my company cares more about our marriage than I do." She stated.

"BULLSHIT!!" I yelled. "Take your cheating ass back out to your car, go to a hotel, go to your parents, ... go to Hell for all I care."

"Kurt, we need to talk about this. You know I love you and the kids more than anything in life. You have to know that!"

"Fuck You!! It sure doesn't look like it from the picture. If you did, you would never have been with him!! You need to leave ... NOW!!"

"Kurt, that doesn't take anything away from my love for you and the kids. If you search your heart you'll know, I love you."

"You have a funny way of showing it, shacking up with some other man when you're out of town. You have to leave. I can't stand the sight of you right now!"

"NO, I'm not leaving. We need to talk about this. You need to let me explain." She said.

"I don't want to listen to your bullshit! If you're not leaving, then I will!" I said as I stormed out the front door. I went out to the garage to hop in my truck. Bridgit had already come into the garage from the kitchen door. She came around to the driver's side as I was getting in.

"Kurt!" She said, "Stop!"

"NO!" I yelled and cranked the ignition, revving the engine to drown out her voice. I slammed it into reverse and she jumped out of the way as I squealed out of the garage. I backed out into the street, put the truck in drive and peeled away.

My heart was pounding as I took off down the street. "That Bitch thinks she's going to try to talk her way out of this. NO WAY!!"

Just then my phone rang. Of course it was her. I didn't want to talk to her. I was tempted to throw the phone out the window, but I would need it to make the necessary calls and for internet access. So, I turned it off, not wanting to be bothered by her, or anyone else for that matter.

I drove up to Spring Hill. My wife may try to call around to all the hotels in Columbia, Tennessee where we lived, but she wouldn't think to call hotels in Spring Hill.

As I was driving I started thinking. Who is this Gary Jones? How long had this been going on? Obviously Gary was married too, the email sent to both Elizabeth Jones and I stated that "These are pictures of what your spouses are doing." Were they planning on leaving us, maybe they were just waiting for the right time to spring it on us. Well this may have moved up their plans a bit.

So many thoughts were going through my brain. I had to do some research, find out as much as I could. I needed information in order to formulate a plan of action.

I found a hotel and checked in. I didn't have any luggage. I didn't have a change of clothes, or even a toothbrush. I headed to Walmart and bought some necessities as well as a pair of jeans and a polo shirt to change into tomorrow. I didn't buy too much, just what I could pay for in cash. I didn't know when I would be back home, but I didn't want to use a debit card in case Bridgit was looking for me.

I grabbed a pizza on the way back to the hotel and sat on the bed eating, not even really tasting it.

Bridgit my wife, for now, had been cheating on me. For a while, since they were sharing a room. "How long?" I wondered.

I started reviewing our marriage. I know husbands are the last to know, and oft times can be clueless to the signs, but I really couldn't think of anything that would make me question her fidelity. I researched 'signs of cheating' on my phone. There were none of the ones they listed. There were no accusations or even hints that she thought I was unfaithful. There were no late night phone calls or texts that she had to take into another room or outside. She hadn't changed her appearance or her routines. We talked about our days and even made time for each other. There had been no reduction in our sex life, in fact, we were still, even 15 years into our marriage, having sex 5 times a week on average. We never slowed down like so many other couples do, even when the kids came along.

She hadn't suggested any new or unusual sex acts either, but then again there wasn't much we didn't do. Even when she had her period she either gave me a blowjob or we did anal, or sometimes we put a towel down and used the extra lubrication to enhance our ferocity.

I truly didn't see any indication that she was cheating on me. In fact, if you had asked me two days ago I would have told you that I was the luckiest man on earth. I had a wife that I loved, that loved me, and 3 kids -- 7, 10, and 12 -- that made both our lives that much richer.

That made me think of the kids; Jared the oldest, followed by Jeremy and finally Jennifer. Yeah, I know, all J names. We probably shouldn't have done that to our kids, but we did. What probably makes it worse is that my last name is Jenson. Jared quickly became JJ because of it, so we insisted on calling the other two by their full names, Jeremy and Jennifer.

The kids, how would they take this? I didn't know what the future held, but I would be their father, no matter what. If we decided to get a divorce, I would insist that they not be moved. I wanted to continue to play a major role in my children's future.

Divorce. Did I want to get a divorce? No of course not. I wanted a loving marriage with a loving wife and family. I can't think that any man, that has a family, wants a divorce. What could I do though? I couldn't live with a wife that choses to sleep with another guy.

That got me to thinking, who was this Gary Jones? I needed to do some research. I Googled him. There were a lot of Gary Jones, but only one that worked at my wife's company. He was an Area Rep for the company also. His area was the Denver area. So, every 3 months they would be at the quarterly meetings together. I knew he was married, so I started searching Facebook to see what I could learn about him. It took some digging, but I finally found the Gary Jones in Denver with a wife Elizabeth. They had two kids, a boy 6 and a girl 8. I wondered how she was taking the news. Would she divorce him, make him a parttime dad too?

I found her Facebook page and made a friend request. I figured she'd recognize the name from the email and would, hopefully, accept the request. I wanted to talk to her, or rather have a Facebook conversation. I needed to know more.

I grabbed my 4^th beer and sat back against the headboard of the hotel bed. "How had my life gone to shit?" I asked myself. Was I the reason she cheated? I had tried to be an involved parent and a loving husband. I brought her flowers on occasion, even for no other reason than I loved her. I tried always to put her needs first in bed, ensuring that she got off before I did. "What had I done wrong?"

I knew that I wouldn't be able to figure out the answers to those questions without speaking to Bridgit, but the wound was too fresh to talk to her tonight, maybe I would be able to talk to her tomorrow, maybe not until next week.

As I was thinking that, I thought again about my kids. I had brought them to their grandparents, Bridgit's parents, so that we could have it out. We didn't talk long before I couldn't take it anymore. What had she said? "It's not true that someone from the Corporate Offices thinks more of our marriage than I do."

How could she say that? If she thought more of our marriage, she wouldn't be cheating on me.

Then she said, "You know I love you and the kids more than anything in life. You have to know that." How could I know that if she is sleeping with another man?

Then she had the audacity to say, "That doesn't take anything away from my love for you and the kids. If you search your heart you'll know. I love you."

That's just it, when I did search my heart, I did know that she loved me, she loved all of us. How could she do that? Doesn't she know that by doing what she had done it does take something away from her love. It takes the trust I had for her away. How could I ever really trust her again?

The kids were at her parent's house. What would she tell them? What would she tell her parents? Would she lie about why I had brought the kids over? Would she lie to the kids when they came back home?

No, I knew she wouldn't lie. Bridgit was as honest as the day is long. She would rather not say anything, or she would tell them that she would tell them later. No, she wouldn't lie.

That is another thing that bothered me. How could someone that was so adamant about not lying be so dishonest in our relationship? If I was doing something that made her want to turn to another man shouldn't she have told me? More questions to ask her when we had that confrontation.

I'm not a big drinker, so the 4^th beer was making me sleepy. I decided that I had better get undressed and try to get some sleep. I knew it was going to be a fitful sleep. The beer would help with that though.

I probably got about 4 hours of sleep, much of that as an effect of the beer. I kept waking though, having dreams of my life as a divorced dad.

When the light from the outside was strong enough to hamper my ability to sleep, I got up, showered, and put on my new clothes. I turned my phone on and there were more messages from Bridgit, both voicemails and texts. She was concerned and wondered where I was. I didn't want to deal with that yet. I decided to go to the Cracker Barrel for breakfast instead.

I sat by myself, looking at the other patrons in the dining room; families younger than ours were enjoying themselves as the babies made a mess of themselves and the floor around them, some people like me, sitting alone, surfing on their phones, and an older couple sitting across from each other, talking to one another with a look of love and familiarity in their eyes. That couple made my eye tear up. I had been so stoic up to this point, but seeing them made me think of my dreams when Bridgit and I married. My dream was to grow old together.

I hastily finished my meal and left. I drove around the countryside. I thought more about my dreams, our dreams. When Bridgit and I met in out senior year at the University of Tennessee I knew it was love at first sight. She was so beautiful and put together, with her auburn hair and her jeans and white blouse top. I can remember every detail.

We started dating and became exclusive soon after. We graduated, and a year later we were married. I was all smiles as I stood in front of her church. My family, my parents and my brother and his wife, had driven down from Franklin, Indiana to attend. I also had a couple friends from college standing up there with me, and my best man was my best friend from grade school. I can still remember our promises to each other, "To love, honor, and cherish."

That was another thing I couldn't understand about what Bridgit had done. If there was one aspect of Bridgit that I thought was a little strange it is her thoughts on promises. She doesn't make them lightly. If she makes a promise, she will follow through with it, even if it is immensely against her interests. She feels that strongly, a promise is absolute.

How could she promise herself to me, "to love, honor and cherish." and then have an affair? It made me question everything I knew about her.

I continued to drive around. Tennessee is such a gorgeous state, from the mountains in the east to the Mississippi River in the west. There is so much of nature all around you. It is a sharp contrast to the mostly flat farmlands of Indiana. I definitely considered this my home state now.

Even though I was enjoying the scenery my mind kept coming back to the problem at hand. When I looked at my phone, as I stopped for gas, I saw more texts and more voice mail messages. I knew by the tone of the messages that she was worried that I had done something to myself. I needed to let her know that I was alive, but also, I didn't want to give her any indication that I had read or listened to her messages, better for her to think that I had deleted them.

I decided that I would call JJ. We had gotten him a phone for his 12^th birthday. I dialed the number and he answered on the third ring.

"Hey Dad, what's going on?"

"Why do you ask?" I said.

"Mom called here twice last night and then again this morning." He told me.

"So, you're still at your Grandparent's?"

"Yeah, Mom said we could stay overnight last night and kept us out of school today. I think she's coming to pick us up after lunch. So, what's going on?"

"Your Mom and I had a disagreement and I spent the night in a hotel. It's nothing you guys have to worry about though. Don't tell your brother or sister, that will just worry them.

"No problem, Dad. What do you want me to tell Mom when she comes to pick us up?"

"Tell her I'll text her later."

"Okay. Dad?"

"Yes son." I said.

"I hope you work everything out."

"I'm sure we will, son." I told him, but in actuality I wasn't sure. I wasn't sure about anything.

About an hour later my phone rang. I figured she would call me as soon as she got to her parent's and Jared let her know what I had said. In fact, I had been counting on it.

I let it go to voicemail and listened to it. She sounded relieved, but still worried, and also a little perturbed. Well, she was going to be downright pissed when she got home.

I pulled into my driveway, pulled into the garage, and went into the house. I started immediately to pack all my clothes and other belongings I felt I needed. When I say pack, I really mean throw my stuff into some garbage bags to get it out to my truck as quickly as possible. I grabbed my laptop and a picture of my 3 kids that we had had taken last year. I set my wedding ring on the nightstand on her side of the bed. I wrote a note to my children telling them I loved them. I set it on the kitchen table. It made me cry to have to write all my feelings for my kids in a letter. I would make it up to them sometime. After I wiped my eyes, I walked out to my truck, pulled out of the garage and hit the button for the garage door. I watched it go down. It felt like I was closing a door on my life.

About a half an hour later I got a call, yes it was Bridgit. I decided to answer it. "Yeah?" I said, in an unemotional voice.

"Kurt! What is this?" were her first words to me, not "I'm sorry" or "please forgive me."

"What is what?" I asked, again unemotionally.

"A note to the kids? You've taken all your clothes? And I find your wedding ring on my nightstand?"

"Sounds like you described it perfectly. Why do you need me to tell you what it is?" I said sarcastically. I wasn't often sarcastic with my wife, but when I was, she knew I was mad.

"Kurt, we need to talk about this! You don't have to go off half-cocked!"