All Comments on 'Know Means Know'

Interesting twist & pretty powerful for such a short story. And a welcome change from the usual “cheating wife” stories.

Means wow!

Not a nice story, but very believable with realistic characters. The key to Father lusting over Sari was there in the beginning but unrecognized. Liked the play on the words of the title - "Know" as distinct from "No". Thank you. Marie.

5 Stars!!!

I thought that Scott was involved but didn't think he would rape in a drunken state. I even thought he might have asked Sari to act as a surrogate to replace the lost child.

Boyd Percy

I feel bad for the Child.....The Story is Good but Very Sad....I dont care what part of the world you come from 99% of the characters are related to the child...Why didn't she give the child to a relative? ????????...Thanks You for sharing this Brilliant story with us! 5 Stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ WOOF!

I like original. 5*

Glad to see that BTB meant burn the bastard in this case.

Good story and realistic. Need to develope charaters more to pull the readers in. The brother, scott, relationship with sari, more backgrounds and detail. Good story but could of been a great story. Good job.

Thanks for the story, I enjoyed it. Your characters were believable. The situation sucked and I'd hope that she would have trusted her husband enough to tell him when it occurred but people don't always make good choices.

...thinking about my discomfort. In the end, I didn’t like Mitch very much, even though he had righteousness on his side. The three most aggrieved characters of the story are Sari, Nita and the baby.

I just can’t imagine giving away my baby brother, and my wife’s child. I’d be heartsick for the rest of my life.

Poor Sari - she is raped, thrown out of her home, and then loses her child.

Nita loses loses her husband, grandchild, and for a while at least, her son and daughter-in-law.

And the innocent child - what justice is that - sentenced to banishment for the sins of its father when its remaining family should be embracing and nurturing it.

Ultimately, I think a man’s character is revealed more in how he reacts to adversity than when life is smooth and easy, and although I believe Mitch’s response was justified and even understandable, I don’t think it was compassionate and selfless.

Well written thoughtful and poignant story. Mitch’s character is particularly compelling and honestly, if not flatteringly painted. I couldn’t get him out of my mind. Touché m&m - and thank you.

But a very sad story to read. The destruction of what had been a close family is heartbreaking. Seems that alcohol was the main reason for Scott's betrayal. Sari should have immediately told her husband what had happened. She had to know that it would be impossible to hide a pregnancy from anyone. Scott got off pretty lightly for the rape, and the beating by a fellow prisoner was small physical justice. Losing three sons, a wife, and grandchildren probably destroyed him.

Penny, I get your point about the child being innocent, but giving him to a relative is not a reasonable solution. Imagine the pain , and toxic family dynamic of constantly seeing the evidence of a rape. The only possible solution would be a closed adoption with the child going to a ,hopefully, great family and never being aware of the circumstances of his birth. There was no other reasonable solution. Great story.

Unfortunately, that option is being eliminated in many states in the US. Women like the fictional Sari will soon have more limited choices.

not "Knewing' but having to live with any outcome. TK U MLJ LV NV

Good story telling.

Seems to me they should have had Scott charged with rape. Let him spend 10 or 15 years in jail as somebody's girl friend.

Isn't it amazing how GUYS know what a woman feels like and how she reacts to a rape and then a pregnancy. Give it up morons, you don't have a clue.

I would have liked it better if it would have included her thinking before her husband found out. I totally understand his thinking I wouldn't have stayed with her if she had an affair either. Obviously she would have been under tremendous pressure but she had to know that it was only time before her husband found out. It would have caused major problems in her relationship. I do like that she gave the baby up for adoption she gave another couple a child that they couldn't have had otherwise. Good story but it could have been a great story with some more background. Obviously rape is not an easy story line but I am sure that it happens I think all rapists should either get castrated or killed but that is only my opinion. I do wish they would have brought charges against the father though. But again to the author I think this was good work and a brave story line to write about.

So Sari learns first hand that her husband's father is actually a monster. Why would she want to hide that from him? How does she expect to eliminate her father in law from her life while staying close in her husband's life? And more immediately, . . .

Sari knows her husband is now sterile. How and when does she plan to explain her pregnancy? Once she knows her husband knows she refuses to reveal the father of her child. So how was she planning to explain being pregnant if her husband didn't find out in advance? Is she just stupid, or think her husband is stupid? The counseling should have explored Sari's plan for revelation and coping, and what that says about her character, and her intelligence. If she had claimed rape immediately, she wouldn't have to worry about her husband believing her. The rape examine revealing Sari's vagina full of her father in law's semen would have be fairly conclusive. Unless Sari was afraid her husband might think the sex was consensual. Then what does that say about their marriage?

If Sari really wanted to protect her father in law, for some fucked up reason, why didn't she claim she was raped by a stranger? She could claim fear or embarrassment or one of the other reasons some women don't report being raped. Put the baby up for adoption and no one is the wiser.

A decent effort in an original presentation. Would have been improved by more logical and common sense actions and reactions.

I don't understand the questions about putting the child up for adoption. The story states that the adoptive family took him when he was three days old. Nothing indicates that they were not fully vetted,.qualified parents who wanted a child. Keeping the baby means his stepfather is his half brother. His father is his mother's father in law. If Sari and Mitch should have a son, for example, the child would be his half brother as well as his uncle. It gives one a headache thinking about it. Mitch would probably have a difficult time being a father to his brother and the resentment would end the marriage anyway. Scott would know he had another son and would cause more problems until Mitch finally has to kill him. Adoption is the only same option.

Reed Richards! Damn you sir, for the nightmare scenario you put forth. President Octavio-Cortez is as bad, if not worse, than the spectre of President Hilary Clinton. You paint a realistic picture of our Socialist future of that , God forbid, we're to happen. I believe that California Representative Chris Pratt, in his Gadsden Flag tee shirt, will run as a Republican and defeat OAC handily.

The story is well written. Two things jump out at me in one being that Sari didn't tell her husband that she'd been raped from the start, and not enough background on Scott. Continuing to withhold who the father is just creates a great deal of suspicion.

This would be an emotion packed reality, with every single character having a completely different reason to feel what they feel. Only Sari’s parents share the same motivation. Thanks for writing!

Erm, nooooo.

He IS a problem and needs castrating with a spoon.

Really realistic, enjoyed it. The only thing that made me shake my head was how he dealt with his father. NO ONE, gets off raping a women. I don't care what his relationship is to you. Scott would have been charged with rape. Now I know that our justice system is moronic at best. And that he probably would have got off with a minor charge after 9 months of letting it go. Well, there are ways around that. One meeting with him and I feel he would have done the right thing. Either you plead guilty and serve your time and move on never to contact us again, or you fight the charges and when our justice system lets you off with a slap on the wrist and you feel exonerated. Well you will wish for a prison term and the ability to move on once I get done with you. Your choice, neither is negotiable.

See, one meeting and you take our weak justice system out of the equation.

Funny line. I'm trying to picture it.

Interesting story and not the usual fare. I liked it.

good catch Words. That's not the word I remember typing in. Oh well, more fuel for the get an editor crowd. Thanks for reading. Reno

...had scott arrested. What was her gameplan knowing her husband had a vasectomy and here she is pregnant. They could have all gone on the steve wilcos show for lie detector and paternity tests. Lol.... anyways...enjoyed the story, 5 stars thanx!

Loklie

Sadly, it’s not only realistic, but likely to have happened more thuan anyone wants to admit. It’s not very different from the drunk dad who rapes his own daughter. It’s too bad that they couldn’t file a rape complaint, since they had no way to prove Sari didn’t consent.

They could probably have sued Scott for their medical costs. He might not have had much after his divorce, but if nothing else that would go to Nita, or their other children’s education funds.

No matter what, it had to be hard to trust Sari again. Her massive mistake was not immediately trusting, and confiding in, her husband. That’s almost as much a breach of trust, as willingly cheating. His confidence that she’d trust him had to be very low; how do you live like that?

and fuck her parents, it was like this family of a guy I served with. His wife was assaulted, he almost killed the guy. But the guy got visitation after serving 10 years. The thing I never understood is why raise the kid. Their divorced now and she wanted her husband to pay child support for that kid. NO FUCKING WAY!

And the results say that...Scott...You ARE the father!

And the nice officers are here to arrest you...

Rape is the most unreported crime in the U.S. and unreported rapes can range from 75% to 90%. The true number is unknown because it unreported. Unless the victim comes forward and files a complaint, no one but the victim and the perp knows about it. The scenario in this story is not at all uncommon. The most common reason a rape goes unreported is because no one believed them.

This happens more the you can know.

My mother was raped when she was very young by my dad's older brother in the basement of the uncle's house while my patents visited on a holiday back in 1970. My father doesn't know until this day, and we knew only once we grew up because mom had a talk with her three daughters. She waited all those years to get it out of her chest because she felt no one would have believed her since the in laws didn't accepted her for they considered her below their social status. My mother got pregnant right after the assault and does not know until this day who of the two brothers impregnated her. My sister doesn't care for a DNA test (she's still daddy's girl and that's never gonna change) Among the daughters, we think that making it public will only hurt my father (which probably would't have believed it back then) and would only hurt my family.

The SOB died many years ago and for me he can very well be simmering now in low burner for what I care.

My mother married at 17 and was 20 when they went to my father's brother home for the holidays. As my mother recounts, she felt the leery looks of the pervert for all the their staying and had to stand the innuendos when there was nobody close enough to hear. The extended family was playing cards in the dining room and she was sent to the cellar to get a wine bottle. He followed her downstairs and quickly sexually assaulted her there while she couldn't do much to fight back. It took less than fifteen minutes to that lecherous bastard to set my mom for years of suffering in silence.

Back then she was a young, timid and insecure women who was doing all she could to be liked by my father's family. Due to her personality I know she didn't have the strength nor the courage to raise a scandal and denounce the aggressor. She revealed her secret and made peace with her conscience for having covered a lie for all this years. If anything, that tragedy has made me strong and capable when necessary to stand for myself.

Very true and very well written. How could she tell Mitch, especially if she didn't fall pregnant and there was no way to prove her accusation?! She knew how close father and son were. After all, when she did tell him in the Counselor's presence, what was his immediate reaction? "YOU'RE LYING", says he! How could she lose her husband's trust after this, when she gives him absolutely valid reasons for keeping quiet and not telling him his father raped her?! No, Sari was caught in a terrible dilemma and still managed to hold it together. 5*s.

Very difficult subject.The sexual experience is a wonderful thing be through love or purely lust. Rape the complete opposite. Of course the problem is what it has always been, proof.Convincing a jury beyond reasonable doubt, because you have the she said he said situation. How does a jury decide, as in this story Sari a woman of good character and Scott again a man who could be described as of good character. One is a liar, one is not.Yes DNA proves that sex took place but nothing more. i'm glad i have never been called for jury service for such a case. the difficulty of proof is probably why so much goes unreported. We have seen where one person has come forward thus prompting others to do the same, i think it very unlikely that a rapist stops at just one attack.The Crown Prosecution Service is reluctant to prosecute a case unless they think there is a good chance of success.Someone wrongly accused and this does happen by someone who has shall we say mentally disturbed issues is a problem.Of all crimes being found not guilty of rape is very different to other crimes because remains doubt in the general public, mud sticks.

A very well written and believable story, but still extremely sad. 5*

I'd like to ask women if it is easier to give a child up for adoption, or keep it and raise it with her husband? A child is innocent and I would hope the husband could get past any grievance with the child, although pushing the rapist out of their life is a given. Either way, lots of pain here and a well-told story.

Don't understand Sari's parents regretting the adoption. The child would only have lead to a troubled relationship among the couple.

No excuse for rape...EVER!!! I would kill my father. I would probably need much time to get over Sari wanting to even finish the pregnancy.

I get Sari's choice. I also understand her parents. It is their grandchild too.

Excellent story.

As a Rape victim I don’t know why she wouldn’t abort. Even if she puts the child up for adoption she risks her health going through with her 4th pregnancy. If she keeps the baby she is reminded of the rape constantly. The husband is effectively raising his own brother.

Grant

Again. Tough, but very good story with no easy answers. Except for Scott that is, kill the bastard.

Well written perplexing story. You are a very good writer.

Még nem írtam megjegyzést,de most megtettem ,hiszen rendkívül jó történeteket írsz,nagyon jó fantáziával megáldva...!Gondolkodtam ,hogy tudnék e valami hasonlóakat írni ,de rájöttem ,hogy erre születni kell egy írónak!Köszönöm, mindegyik szép munka,bár a 750 szavasakat nem szeretem, de azokban is sok fantázia van!Gratulálok!

köszönöm

When I was a young boy I was raped by my fucking family. All rapists should have their Cocks & their balls cut off without anesthesia.

I've read about 15 of your LW stories so far. Mitch appears to share the characteristics of most of your protagonists as far as temperament, fidelity and cleverness are concerned. Also, RAAC doesn't seem your forte.

It just makes me wonder what your emotional process was in writing this with sensitivity. Writing Scott as a sympathetic character early in the story must have been difficult to maintain, given where the story was going.

The Walter character was handled well. Allowed you to get to the climax rather rapidly.

BTW! Terribly clever and believable idea for the urine sample.

Granted, this is a story by there are too many women out there having to deal with the issues raised here. Everyone has to deal with their situation as best they can (hopefully with counseling) and they are the ones to chose how. Anonymous Grant, when YOU PERSONALLY have that problem - your input will carry some weight! Rather than judge or thrust our opinions on victims, we can offer our support. Thank you for your story, perhaps it can more than entertain.

Nope! If you don’t immediately report the rape to both the police and your husband, then it wasn’t rape, you committed adultery!

Women make choices, then regret them, and then lie to avoid the consequences.

ZK

What a terrible position to be in for Sari. The only possible way to keep multiple lives from being destroyed is to remain silent and then that shitty option is taken away by the pregnancy. This is the one time in one hundred that I would say keep, love and raise another man's child.

I’m generally in favour of btb stories, but this ends as it should.

My only pick is that he hadn't broken Scott into two by himself, also why no rape charges in the first place, getting into the joint with a shitty restraining order when he is a de facto criminal is nonsense.

You always seem to come up with a great new slant on an old trope. 5 stars.

Hell of a story! From what I have read, of your writings, you write about some very powerful subject matters!

VERY POWERFUL!

Finally a male family counselor in a LW story! Thank you. Great account of an innocent wife willing to take the hit for the sake of the ones she loves.

But I noticed that while describing all the things he does with his father, he only refers to him as Scott, not dad. I'm betting that, if his wife cheats on him, (of course she will, it's Lit.), that it will be with the father.

Even if it never went anywhere, why didn't they report the rape? At the very least, he would be on a police file.

The counseling was all wrong. Reconciliation without total honesty is practically impossible if the marital difficulties have reached counseling. Healing trauma from rape also requires honesty. Secrets damage relationships and the most important relationship is between husband and wife. Hiding one's trauma erodes mental health.

There is no qualified and professional marriage counselor on the planet that would recommend what Walt did. People don't seem to realize that the "patient" in couples counseling is the relationship itself, not either spouse.

Heart-wrenching story. Very well-written. Believable. Thank you for writing it.

Ed

Honesty in marriage is imperative. There can be no secrets. Rape also cannot be a secret or the rapist will strike again. But, this is the authors story, so be it! Another good one. I think rapist should be shot myself. But I.m not the one making the laws.

Sari was really in a no win situation. What son is going to believe his father would do something like that?

What didn't she report Scott? Why didn't she tell her husband?

I was beginning to think you didn't accept reconciliation under ANY circumstances. You have been adamant with several others that I viewed as 'possibly'.

Here, you created a scenario that's completely justifiable.

Nobody mentions the shame component common with rape victims.

Not many men can put themselves in the woman's shoes.

I'm not absolving sluts for bad behavior, but no one is perfect.

We all make mistakes. The price paid is tuition for being human.

The only mistake here, was Dad's. He paid accordingly.

Well done, easily 5 ⭐

Very good story. Hard to be put in that predicament. LP

Had she reported as soon as it happened the father could have been put away or at least convicted.

They should given the baby to Sari's parents.

Why didn’t she go get a morning after pill? Why didn’t she abort? Living 9 months with a show of her pregnancy by his dad wasn’t a nice thing to endure.

I would have take the kid as mine. Would have to have some counselling but I would not discard a child with so many blood related strings with all the others members of my family

5stars até the same

This was quite the turn of the typical cheating wife trope. Well done. But I have some comments that need replies.

SunnyU2: Why give to her parents? Would be a life long, in her face reminder of being raped.

Fseries: To be clear, I’m pro-choice on the abortion question, and so that means both options are always on the table. For many women, there is no choice, and I respect that. For them, no matter what stage, it is a life, no matter the difficulties.

Yeah...Walter would have lost his license for his complete hack job of "counseling".

Tough story to rate (for me). Gave you 4 stars, but I still feel it should have been 2 stars, only because the son should have had some retribution towards his father. Can this shit happen in real life? Damn straight.

Walter got away with his bullshit counseling

Difficult issues--drinking and rape. Good twist on the LW trope.

Sry. Took a serious subject and gave it a wishy washy treatment..needed more

y Scott esta bien? eso yo creo que es la duda aqui....

Families? They can be worse than any pain.

I found it odd that you referred to your parents by their first names and not mom and dad. Other than my nitpicking, the story, although disturbing and sad, was very well done and it definitely keeps one's interest. It's strange, parts of this scenario reminded me of plots in Japanese porn, some of which are quite erotic. But reading about it as fiction, wasn't erotic. Maybe it is the power of the written word versus the plot of pornography. Or maybe it is just seeing naked people makes everything hotter. :)

Brutal.

this is the second time i have read this I like the story. I have to agree with @Sarahwithlove It bugs me that even in narration you have the MC calling his parents by name. His POS dad fine but not the mom. its just not right.

I can't understand how anyone can accept being told their dad is a rapist without wanting to confirm it or confront him. Yes it turns out that he was. But the son accepted the situation without apparently verifying it. Didn't work for me. BardnotBard

Giving the baby up for adoption. The child was blameless and it was hard to believe how easy it was for her to give it up without the least bit of remorse.

So dark and brutal. Have to give it 5 stars but wow definitely cannot say "love it". Humans do such nasty sh$t to each other. Scott is inhuman. Can totally understand Sari's reasoning. So sad.

Tough one... questions abound for me. But I can live without knowing each and every answer. The story was well written, but once the source of Sari's pregnancy was exposed (I had a hunch it was Scott) the story took a turn towards darkness. I commend Mitch's self control. It had to be extremely difficult not to pound his Dad into a bloody mess. Others have commented about the innocent baby being given up for adoption. There was no other way to salvage the family unit. Keep the baby, and everything would eventually turn to shit. Each family member would be negatively affected at some point in the future had the baby not been given up for adoption. The family would have eventually been destroyed - there's no question in my mind about that. I'm strict on the grading scale as Lit has given us. Did I like the story? Not really. But was it courageous to tackle such a topic? Definitely. 4/5 BRB

Sorry. Not that the telling was bad, but the subject was simply horrific and not something I ever want to read again.