It's Only Fair

IT'S ONLY FAIR

"You're going to what? Like Hell you say!"

"Now are we going to discuss this calmly like two reasonable adults, or are you going to throw a juvenile temper tantrum?"

"Kelly, you tell me you're going to take on a lover like you're changing your hair color and you expect me not to react emotionally?"

"Oh, don't you like my hair this color?"

"We're not talking about your damn hair color! Now what's this nonsense about you having a lover?"

"It's not nonsense, Will. It's only reasonable. Look, you know that as we've aged our sex drives have not been in sync. It's not anyone's fault. It's just what nature does to men and women our age. Your need for sex has mellowed while mine has gone viral. I am now giving you and will continue to give you all the sex you can handle. You, however, do not give me all I need. I have done what it takes to keep you happy. Now, you need to do what will keep me happy -- accept me having a lover or two to keep me sexually satisfied.

"After a few years, my libido will get back to normal and I will be monogamous again. We finish our lives together just as we have planned. You lose nothing. I gain something. It's a win-win situation."

"Kelly, I really enjoy our sex life and will do my best to increase the frequency and passion in our love making to help satisfy you. You say I won't lose. I vehemently disagree. I would lose my wife because . . . . "

"But Will you wouldn't lose me."

"Let me finish, please. I WOULD lose my wife because I define 'wife' as a woman who commits to her husband many things including fidelity. I would lose because I would constantly worry that my wife may be falling in love with someone whose dick was bigger than mine. I would lose because I would constantly worry about whether or not you were bringing a sexually transmitted disease into our bed. I would . . . "

"I would make sure he has a clean bill of health and uses a condom. Please give me more credit than to . . . "

"Come on. If the guy supports you cheating on your husband, he won't think twice making it with another guy's wife. Are you going to have him checked every week? And you're going to stop when every time to make him put on a condom? Do you remember how many 'accidents' we had when we were supposed to be using condoms? If not, let me introduce you to our daughter Ashley. Now, let me finish.'

"Let's see, where was I? Oh yeah, I would lose because I could never trust you again even if I could tolerate your whoring. You say you would return to monogamy after years of promiscuity? You don't think you could get addicted? I would lose because every time we were making love, I would be wondering if you were thinking of him or thinking how much better he was than me. I would lose because everyone, especially me, would know I was a cuckold, a wimp, a 'pussy boy.' That doesn't sound like a win-win to me."

"That's it, isn't it? You are just worried about your frail male ego. I will be discreet. I will be careful. I will be safe. All you need to do is be happy that you are making me happy. Doesn't that matter to you? You will still have the same loving wife who cooks, cleans house, mothers our kids, works to help support the family, and makes love to you. My time with you and our family will be sacred. I will not be thinking about anyone else."

"Okay, I'll take another tact: NO!"

"Will, I wasn't asking permission. It's going to happen so we can stay husband and wife for the long haul. In one sense, I'm not doing it just for me but for our marriage."

"You won't be doing it for our marriage because WE WON'T BE MARRIED!"

She chuckled. "You obviously don't know the divorce laws in our state. I doubt that you'll believe me so, please, go see a divorce attorney and see what would happen to you in a divorce."

"I'm going to bed -- by myself in the guest room."

"Suit yourself. Just remember, that will just be one less night you will get this pussy when you could have enjoyed it."

The next morning, he took off work. By the afternoon, he was sitting in a divorce lawyer's office. He found out that a 'fair' split would reduce his lifestyle barely above what a minimum wage earner. As far as being with his kids, he would have be restricted to one weekday night, every other weekend, and alternating holidays. Kelly would be having sex while he would be looking for a girlfriend who would be unimpressed at his financial situation. Even those terms of divorce would depend on his ex-wife being cooperative. All she had to do was move in a boyfriend and with him contributing his income, she wouldn't lower anything in her lifestyle. In fact, she might be better off financially than now. His wife was right about divorce being a terrible choice for him.

Will headed to the bar some of his colleagues frequented. He was several drinks ahead when a couple of them came in after work. "Hey Will, you do look sick. And I thought you were faking when you asked off this morning."

"Fuck you."

"EEWW, what's got you so prickly?"

He told them what had happened. The range of advice was varied: Get your own whores. Take your money and leave. Kill the bitch. And the favorite -- get revenge.

He already had the next day off work to get his annual physical from his doctor and good friend, Alex. Alex noticed his depression immediately. Will presented his case to Alex and cried. He asked Alex if he had something that would increase his sexual libido and stamina so he could reduce Kelly's need to seek other lovers. Alex mentioned Viagra and similar drugs, but he didn't recommend any yet. Alex doubted that Kelly's idea of other lovers had more attraction than just more sex. He said he assumed she was also seeking the excitement and secret cheating aspects of an affair. Alex thought she would probably go back to normal soon. Then he said, "I can, however, give you some anti-depressant medication to help you deal with your situation."

Will went home. His brain was on autopilot. As with all previous medications he had been prescribed, Will reviewed the side effects on the internet. He perked up when he read that anti-depressant medication can cause reduced libido in women. It took him two whole seconds to come up with a plan.

Will was home sitting on the living room couch when Kelly returned from work. He appeared downcast. "Kelly, I hate to admit it, but I have come to the conclusion that letting you have an additional sexual outlet may be the best thing for you. I have my doubts that it will be the best thing for me. I love you so much, I will let you do what you think will make you happy. I would rather you wouldn't and if you ever show signs of less sexual interest with me, all bets are off. I will start divorce proceedings no matter the cost to me. In addition, you must schedule your 'happy times' after the children have gone to bed. I will not let you neglect your duties as mother."

Kelly jumped in his arms, "Thank you, sweetheart. You won't regret it, I promise. Let me show you right now." They headed for the bedroom where Will was treated to his best night of sex -- ever.

Will added the anti-depressant medication to various drinks that Kelly had during the week. He was surprised and disappointed in how quickly Kelly was able to start her trysts with other men. She finally admitted she had 'auditioned' some men before telling Will her intentions.

After a month, Will was beginning to wonder if the medication was working. She was going out three times a week, after 9:00, and usually not returning until midnight or later. At first, she showed no problems in passionate sex with him or trouble getting up and going to work with limited sleep. Will decided to give it another two weeks.

The first sign of her slowdown was her reduced enthusiasm when they had sex. He was about to threaten to end the arrangement when he noticed an overall reduction in her energy. Then there came the Friday night when she actually stayed home. Friday nights were always nights she spent with one of her lovers. Will asked if she was ill. "No. I just decided I wanted to stay at home for a change. Can we watch a movie and have some popcorn?"

In a couple of months, Kelly was staying home every night. Her nights for sex with Will got less and less intense. She started begging off from helping Will achieve more than one ejaculation. Will thought this was the time.

"Kelly, we need to talk."

"Sure, honey. What about?"

"Our sex life. You've not been living up to our agreement. Our sex life has deteriorated."

"I know, but haven't you noticed that I am no longer very interested in going out with other men. I didn't think it would come this quickly, but I believe I am ready to resume a normal, monogamous relationship. I thought that would make you happy."

"It doesn't. You aren't giving me the level of attention in bed I expect from a wife. As a result, I have made a decision. I will be starting relationships with other women to meet my sexual needs. I expect you to agree just like I did when you had your 'detour' from our marriage vows."

"What? No! The idea was for me to have my flings and then return to normal. I'm ready to do that now. I'm not giving you permission to cheat on me."

"Like you, I'm not asking your permission. You have the same choice you gave me about a divorce. Thanks to you, I have been able to prepare for a divorce so that it will not be nearly as difficult on me than it would have been before."

"It's not fair."

"Oh, is that your frail female ego speaking? How can you say it's not fair when it's the same thing you did to me?"

"It was different with me."

"How?"

"I don't know. It's just different." She mulled over all the ways her husband having sex with other women would be detrimental to their marriage. Kelly could only think of the problems Will had mentioned to her and she had dismissed when she was the one needing more sex.

"I tell you what, Kel. I will only go out for sex the same length of time you did. Surely you see that as fair." She reluctantly agreed. That night, Kelly slept alone or cried alone.

Will began using the same schedule that she had for going out. When he came home, he showered and put his perfume scented and lipstick smeared clothes in the hamper. Will also stopped giving Kelly the anti-depressant medication. Soon his sex with Kelly started getting better and better. She still looked like she was going to die whenever he left the house for a date. Her eyes begged him to stay. He hated to see her suffer on one hand but was glad she was now feeling what he felt the months of her betrayals.

Kelly had a calendar where she marked off the days until Will's extra-sex sessions were supposed to end. The day after, they sat around the breakfast table. It was a Saturday morning and the kids had gone to play at a neighbor's house. "Will, are you ready to give up your girlfriends and return to me only?"

"I am. Kelly, are you willing to give up being with other men because I will never tolerate you doing that again?"

"Yes! I can't believe I was so stupid to do what I did in the first place. In all that time, I only tried three men although I dated and flirted with many more. I thought the first man was only mediocre in bed, so I tried a second and a third. They were even worse. What's funny is that the man with the bigger penis was the worst of them all. It felt great for the few seconds he was in me. He had no technique and was done in record time. For him, he thought foreplay was only something that occurred between threeplay and fiveplay. I went back to the mediocre man because I enjoyed him a little, and I doubted I would ever be tempted to fall in love with him.

"Will, this is hard to admit, but I wanted to stop a lot earlier. My stupid pride wouldn't let me. No one loved me like you do. I guess once I was having the extra sex, the desire to do so diminished. It didn't hurt that the sex we still were having was the best ever. My libido shrank. Once you started dating, my libido began returning. My sex with you now makes me doubt I would ever want to have another man again. Even if I did get those urges, I cannot and will not betray again the man who loved me so much as to let me take on lovers. I love you more now than ever. Do you still love me want to stay married to me?"

"Kelly, I was deeply hurt when you first proposed to me that you have extra-marital sex. It was very difficult for me to tolerate your being with other men. A large part of me did not believe you would be satisfied with stopping the extra sex, but enough of me trusted you and our love. The extra sex I got was pretty much revenge sex and, like you, was nowhere near as good as sex with you.

"So, Kelly, where do we go from here? I suggest we go to marriage counseling. If it is successful, I think we might want to renew our marriage vows."

Kelly put her head on his shoulder and wept into it. "Will, I think that's a great idea. I promise to be the best wife I can be. Thank you for loving me enough to give me a second chance."

EPILOGUE

They went to counseling and they were pleased with the results. Soon after they had a renewal marriage ceremony in their back yard. The 'foresaking all others' was highly emphasized. Their kids we ecstatic at having fulltime parents again.

Will and Kelly remained married for many years and neither ever sought another person for sex.

Will never told Kelly that he never had a date, much less sex, with another woman those times he was supposed to be having extra sex. It was better for her to go on thinking he had.