Just Once: Conclusion

"I wish you well and hope you stay in touch. But if your marriage falls apart and you choose to leave Rick and live with -- who was it? A Dr. Platter? ..."

M: "Trey, his first name is Trey. I see you try to memorize things by association," I added with a slight chuckle.

L: "I'm sorry, yes, Trey. If you choose to leave Rick and live with Trey, let me know. I have an older sister. Some people say we look like twins. She is much more conservative than I. She is just recently divorced. Her husband left her because he wanted an open marriage and she wanted no part of it. If Rick wanted to regroup and marry the type of girl who believes that marriage is one man and one woman for the rest of their lives, he and my sister would be perfect for one another."

M: "While we still have work to do on our marriage, I'd like to caution you, 'Don't hold your breath.' I'm not ready to give up on Rick yet. And like you said, he is a one man and one woman for the rest of their lives type of guy. It's getting late and I have at least one more call to make, so I'll let you go, but I hope that the four of us will be able to get together soon. I know that Rick really needed you that night and considers you a true friend. Take care. Good night."

There, the first call was done. Now it was time for the call that was potentially more difficult -- maybe not. I called Rick.

R: "Hello?"

M: "Hi Rick, it's me, Marcy."

R: "I've been waiting for your call. Do you want me to come and get you?"

M: "No, I've been rereading your gift to me and I want to sleep on it. Can you get me in the morning, say, around 10:00?"

R: "Will you have eaten there at the hotel or should we plan on stopping at a pancake house on the way home?"

M: "I'm so sick of hotel food. Can we stop off at a pancake place? I'd love it!"

R: "Your wish is my command."

M: "Thank you, Rick. I love you so much. See you tomorrow at 10:00."

"That went pretty well," I thought to myself as I got ready for bed. "My last night in a hotel. My own bed at home is going to feel so good."

I slept fitfully. Every time I woke up it seems as though I had been dreaming about something related to the contents of the letter. I got myself ready. I checked out and was waiting for Rick in the lobby of the hotel by 9:45. I saw Rick pull into the parking lot right around that same time. It was raining so he brought my car instead of his truck. My luggage would have gotten wet riding in the back of the truck.

It looked like Rick was going to wait in my car until precisely 10:00 before entering the hotel. I walked to the door and waved out in the direction of the parking lot, hoping he would see me. He did and moved the car to the entrance to pick me up. He opened the passenger door for me. When I was safely in he put the luggage in the trunk of the car and off we went. We made small talk about safe subjects that continued into the time we spent in the pancake house. How was my flight back? What has the weather been like during the six weeks while I was gone? He reminded me that I had not talked to either one of the kids since before I left. I resolved that I would make the call to the first one while Rick was driving us home, and call the second one soon thereafter. He talked a little about his work. I raved about the pancakes, eggs and sausages -- I was so sick of hotel food.

I told him that he was looking good. He told me that he still kept up his routine of running every day (except Sunday -- which we considered to be our day of rest) and lifting some weights three days a week. I told him that I did not make it to the hotel fitness room. I left out the part where when I tried to go to the fitness room Trey did not want me to do that. He wanted me in the room with him. I knew it was Sunday, but I asked Rick if I could go running with him later in the day. He responded by saying he thought it would be fun, but if I had not been running for six weeks we'd start out slowly and with a relatively short distance.

When we were done eating, we went back to the car. I called Kyle. He was glad to hear from me. I told him about South America. Notice, I did not say I told him all about South America. I did talk about the hotels we stayed in, the people we had come to serve, the conditions in the various countries, and so on. I asked him how things were going for him and he gave me the highlights of his days as a student -- at least those parts that were appropriate for parents to hear.

Rhonda was not out to sea, but stationed in Norfolk. I called her and had a nice talk with her as well. They were in the process of getting their ship ready for its next cruise. She was looking forward to going to sea. They would be headed over to the Mediterranean.

When we got home, I went into the house. Nothing had changed since I left. Rick had kept the place clean. He brought the luggage to the laundry room. I immediately sorted out the contents for washing. When a suitcase was empty Rick would put it into storage. When all the laundry was sorted I put in the first load. We moved to the kitchen. Coffee? I asked.

"How about some pop?" replied Rick. "I stocked the refrigerator with quite a variety -- both regular and diet - in the hopes that we could just grab and go, rather than take the time to make something." I got myself a diet cola, Rick took out one with sugar. We were going to run later in the day -- Rick would burn off the extra calories.

We moved to the living room. Rick sat down in a recliner, I sat on a swivel rocker and turned it so that I was facing him. "I don't know where to start," he said.

"That's okay, because I do," I replied. "Your theory. Remember? You wrote that your theory that Trey was really a sexual predator could be tested. Guess what? When Trey dropped me off at the hotel (his car had been parked in airport long term parking) he said, 'Say hello to Cucky for me,' just as you predicted.

"One more example that you were right on: He was completely aware of my desire to get tested for STDs a week before I came home and to abstain from any sexual contact from then on. I got tested on Monday. By Tuesday he had worn me down with his arguments that I knew he was clean -- he had not been with anyone else but me, and the wimp, Cucky, would never know. Wednesday was a long, hard, day and everybody crashed -- too tired to even think about sex. But Thursday the pressure started again and we had sex, ". . . for the last time." Friday was our going away party where there was way to much alcohol and way too few inhibitions and we did it again. Saturday he dropped me off at the hotel at 2:30 and wanted to do it one last time, but I felt the danger of getting caught was too great.

"'You call my husband a wimpy cuckold, but you know full well that after 24 years in the military, if he caught us, he could easily kill you with is bare hands -- although I don't think that he would do that. But I can see him inflicting career ending injuries upon you and getting off Scott free by claiming temporary insanity or even protecting his wife from what appeared to be a rapist. So for your own sake, just go home. It's not worth risking your life or your career for one last fuck,' I said. He got the message. But as he left he had to get that last dig in, calling you, 'Cucky.'

"As I read your letter about male predatory behavior I could think of numerous other examples of where he fit the pattern perfectly. But I don't have to go on. The point is that I learned from your letter that he did seduce me -- not with flowers or candy -- but by exerting his alpha male dominance over me. What a fool I was for letting him do that to me.

"Last night, as I thought about your letter more and more I decided there is one other test I want to give him before I devise a plan for dealing with him. I hope you will understand and trust me. Thanks to you I think I have a pretty good idea of what I'm dealing with here and I have to deal with it in order to stop any further predatory behavior. I got myself and us into this mess and I intend to get us out of it. Do you have my back?"

"I have your back," Rick replied.

"That's all I need. Thank you," I said. "Now let's go for that run." We ran and we walked. When we walked we held hands. It really felt good. We looked at neighbors' flower beds, listened to birds singing and I just enjoyed being back where I belonged. "This is what I want," I said to myself. When we got home I worked more on wash and Rick made a Taco salad for supper. We watched a little television. I would have to interrupt our time together to work on wash. As it got close to 9 PM I was getting tired. I had not slept that well the night before. I had one more item I needed to bring up.

"Rick, I know that you moved out of our bedroom because you knew you were not going to have sex with me. But I would like you to rethink your move. We are not going to have sex for a week because I have to get myself retested. After all, I was the one who insisted that you get tested and then abstain for a week and went on to say that I would do the same. But I didn't abstain until yesterday. So we will abstain at least until the time that I get the results of my STD tests back. I'll go in tomorrow to get that ball rolling.

"But you wrote that you had trouble every time you imagined me in that you would imagine seeing Trey with me every time you saw me. So I'm thinking that it would be good for you to come back to bed with me. That way, when you see me go to bed you'll see it is only me going to bed with you. And if you wake up in the middle of the night and look at me you'll see that it's just me lying there next to you. And when you get up in the morning, you'll see that it's just you and me, Babe, nobody else. I don't know for sure. But I don't see where going to bed together will hurt anything, and I think there is a possibility that it might help. What do you think?"

"I think it's worth a try. I've got everything to gain and nothing to lose. I'll sleep with you tonight and move my stuff back into the bedroom tomorrow," said Rick.

As we crawled into bed I had one more thought cross my mind. "As a former spook, is there a spook store in town where I could get tiny devices to record sights or sounds without anyone noticing?" I asked.

Rick gave me the name and location of a place and the name of a person I should talk to. He warned me that I might have to show my driver's license to prove that I was his wife, but if I did that, they would supply me with everything I needed -- at a price, of course. After that our heads hit the pillows and both of us got the best night's sleep we had gotten in six weeks.

A normal day for us in surgery started at 6 AM. That means we aimed at getting done by 2 PM or so, but with surgery we never knew for sure. On Monday after surgery but before we cleaned up out of our scrubs Trey pulled me into a little private room. He had done this before. He took me into his arms and kissed me. "I miss you so much, Baby," he said. "When we can get back together again?"

"I thought I told you when we were first planning this out that it was to last just the six weeks of our trip," I said.

"I know, but our time together taught me that I can't keep on going without you. C'mon, when can we get together?" he pressed.

"Well, it just so happens that I may have some good news along those lines. Rick was preparing me all weekend for what he called, 'a serous talk,' on Monday night. That's tonight. How 'bout we meet in the back southwest corner of the Cafeteria tomorrow, right after we have cleaned up after work. The place should be almost deserted and we should be able to have a nice private conversation and planning session. Pick up your lunch and meet me there."

I cleaned up and changed into my civvies and went to the spook store. I found a metal letter "M" that I could fasten to my key chain which hung from the handle of my purse. It had the spook capability of recording a conversation as we spoke. I also stopped at a medical lab and got myself tested for STDs.

I met with Trey on Tuesday afternoon. I was in the cafeteria first, got a salad and sat back in the corner. I turned on my recording device. Trey was not too far behind me. As soon as he was seated and ready to eat, he asked me, "What's the good news?"

I told him that Rick was a defeated man. He could not get it up. Every time he thought of me, he could not stop thinking about Trey fucking me silly. So he had come to the conclusion that for his own mental health's sake and for my happiness he would give me a divorce -- on my own terms. "We can get married, Trey," I said enthusiastically as I reached for his hands to hold them in mine. "By the time we even get a small wedding planned, my divorce will be final and we can get married and live together. Divorcing me is the only way that Rick can see himself moving on. He will divorce me and move away and try to start a new life and we can get married and not have to worry that he will be around to cause us any grief.

"I'll have the house -- it's paid for and you can either move in or we can put it up for sale and buy a new house in which to start our new life together. It couldn't have turned out any better if I would have tried planning it. Do you want a church wedding? I was thinking a short wedding ceremony in a park might be nice. Unless you have a big family or lots of friends we can keep the guest list small. Many of my so called friends will probably not want to come because they were Rick's friends, too, and they won't want to appear to take sides in our divorce. But that's okay. I don't need them. I like the idea of a new start -- a new husband, a new home, new friends -- a whole new beginning of the rest of our lives together."

I was about to continue bubbling over with enthusiasm over my upcoming wedding to Trey when he held up his hand to stop me and said, "Whoa, whoa, slow down Baby. Who's talking marriage here? Certainly not me. Look, I'm not ready to be tied down to just one woman. I was with Donna Saturday night, Maxine almost all of Sunday and Judy on Monday. I like my variety. I'm not ready to be tied down to one woman.

"Sure, it was just you and me in South America, but there the pickin's were slim. I didn't want to get involved with any of the locals and wind up getting myself a disease where I would wind up taking antibiotics for the next six months.

"If you think you are marriage material for the old Trey, you are flattering yourself. What do I want with a woman who is pushing fifty and who's tunnel of love is loose. Let's face it, while you are attractive for your age, there is no way you can keep up with me or compete with the twenty and thirty year olds that I'm used to banging every day. I don't mind keeping you on as a fuck buddy. You're good, but not the best I've ever had and certainly not someone that I would suddenly become exclusive with. Look, when I say I want you, I'm talking about a roll in the hay, not a lifetime commitment. Be realistic here."

At this point I was beginning to get physically, agitated and began raising my voice. "Calm down," he said. "I'm not saying that it is all over between us. I still want to get together with you, but just not exclusively. There will be times when your husband goes on a trip for work and I can come over and screw you in your marital bed. A few times a year there are conferences on new surgical techniques. I can get the hospital to spring the cost for you attending, too, and we can have two, three, four days of fun at the hospital's expense. There may be days that we get off early and you can come over to my place and we can have an hour or so of fun before you go home and your husband will be none the wiser. We don't have to be married to have fun. Those six weeks in South America taught us that."

I became more visibly calm, so he asked again, "Now, when can we get together?"

"Well if we're not going to get married," I replied, "I have to be more careful. If Rick finds out that we're doing things together behind his back, it is possible he will kick me to the curb in anger. I'm still trying to convince him that the six weeks was a one time thing that I needed to get out of my system and that it's all over. I can't risk destroying that story. I don't want to live alone. I don't want to die alone. So you're going to have to be patient with me," I said. Suddenly I stood up and grabbed my tray. "This isn't tasting good any more. I'm going home," I said. I got up and left.

Later that evening, after supper, I played the recording for Rick. If I ever had any romantic interest in Trey, I certainly didn't any more. My tunnel of love was not too loose, his cock was too small. And when it came to stamina, he was one and done, leaving me wishing that my husband was there to get me off. And in one breath he claims he has has all these girls lined up ready to fuck him and the next minute he's begging me to find a time when we can get together as though I am his one and only. This guy was a piece of work. I wanted him completely out of my life.

"Maybe I should quit my job just to get away from him," I said to Rick. "There are several other hospitals in the area. I'm sure that one of them has room for a well qualified and experienced surgical nurse.

"Maybe," said Rick, "but his one sentence in there causes me to believe that maybe he could be enticed to say things even more incriminating against himself. I'm sure you could get him in trouble with administration if you played that section where he talks about having the hospital pay for the two of you to go to a medical conference where his primary goal of the conference would be to sleep with you. But I'm wondering if you could get more.

"I'm thinking that if you continue to deny him, he will get more and more desperate to force you to comply with his wishes. At that point he might threaten you in such a way that he crosses the line into illegal behavior. Are you willing to push him a little bit more?"

"If it means that he will go away, I'll be happy to," I replied.

We went back to the spook shop. After looking around for ideas I found a combination camera and microphone built into a fastener that is used to hold down a lamp shade on a table lamp. Trey did a lot of his pressuring of Me in a small room that had a table lamp in it.. The room was only used infrequently for doctors to consult with one another on an immediate problem or to bring relatives of a patient in so the doctor could inform them that something had gone terribly wrong. I installed the camera/mike on the table lamp in the room. If Trey pulled me into that room I would turn on the table lamp -- or maybe Trey would turn on the table lamp -- but in so doing turn on the mike and camera as well. What happened in the room would be recorded -- both audio and visual.

Rick got the name of a good attorney who was successful in pressing civil suits. We talked to him about what would constitute good evidence against Trey in a sexual harassment or sexual assault case. He taught us what we should look for to build a good case. He told us that if we got good evidence we should bring it to him and he would deal with the Hospital Administrator and the District Attorney so that the full weight of the law would be brought down on Trey.

Sure enough. On Thursday, Trey invited me into the little room. He turned on the lamp. Then he asked me to come up with a time and place where we could get together. Using Rick as an excuse, I said that I could not give him a time right off the top of my head. I would have to talk with Rick about his schedule. Sometimes he consulted from home. Other times he would go into the office for a few hours or maybe a day. A few times he would have to go out of town and would not be back until late at night. But he seemed to keep his schedule mostly in his head, although he did consult his phone every now and then.