Mark - My story

I nodded my head.

"I need you to tell me 'Yes' or No' please."

"Ah, yes."

She stepped forward. "I need to see some photo ID please."

I looked around and found my purse and pulled out my driver's license. She took a photo of it with her cell phone. Then she handed me a big envelope. "You've been served."

She turned to Tommy and handed him an envelope and said, "Mr. Thomas Murray, you've been served,"

She stepped back and quickly took photos of the two of us and then turned and was gone.

What the fuck was that?

I looked at the envelope and I knew that my world had just imploded. I knew that Mark had found out about Tommy. His quietness for the last few weeks made sense now. Suddenly the room started spinning and I think I passed out.

The next thing I know was that I came around laying on the bed. Tommy was sitting in a chair looking at his cell phone. I got up and rushed to the bathroom and threw up, barely making it to the toilet in time.

I waited there until I could stand and then went back to the room and collected my things. "I have to go home!"

I left the room without even looking at Tommy.

**********

Karen

I somehow got home without causing a traffic accident and went inside. "Mark, Mark, Mark! Where are you dear?"

I went to every room in the house looking for him. I even looked in the kids' rooms. He wasn't there. I went back to the kitchen and it was then that I saw a white envelope propped up on the island with my name on it.

I opened it and it had a single sheet of paper and Marks wedding ring. Fuck!

I sat down and unfolded it:

Karen

By now you will know that I know all about your long-term affair with Thomas Murray. I know that you and he have been together from even before we were married.

If you haven't looked at the documents that you were given, you should do that soon. In there, you'll see that I know that I am not the father of Keith and Andrea. You gave that honor to Thomas Murray.

That's the part that hurts the most; not being the father of the children that I have worked to love and raise. Your deception was the thing that broke it all. For that I can never forgive you.

Where does that leave you and I?

Well, I have left. I haven't taken much with me so the house and everything else are yours to do with as you wish. Jordan has some paperwork for you later, but I have signed over my interests in the house, and all our other possessions.

Considering just how your deception of me was so good for so long, I suppose you want to know how I found out about you and Thomas Murray. It was quite by accident.

I was at a meeting at the same hotel that you and he used to meet for sex. I was out walking at one of the breaks and saw you and he getting in an elevator. You turned to kiss him. The look on your face was the same as the look that you used to give to me; when I thought you loved me. How stupid I was.

I will not contact you in any way ever again so that you may go on with your life, and I will get on with mine. I regret that Keith and Andrea are the ones that are going to suffer the most in all of this. Your secret life will have an impact on them. Maybe they can get to know their real father and he will be a good father for them. I will truly miss them.

Goodbye

Mark

I dropped the letter to the counter and went to the sofa in the family room and sat down. I pulled out my cell phone and called Mark. 'The number you have dialed is not in service. Please check the number and dial again.' Shit!

I called his office. The girl that answers the phones told me that Mark had left the company. She didn't know where he was going or what he was doing. Shit!

I called his mother. She had no idea what I was talking about. I thanked her and hung up. Shit!

Finally, I opened the envelope with all the documents and started to look at them.

There it was. All my stupidity for the last ten-plus years laid out in black and white along with a couple of full-color photos. The DNA lab results were there as well. I've never had the kids DNA tested but I knew that they were Tommy's when they started to get older and their features changed from being a toddler.

What have I done?

**********

Mark

Jordan e-mailed me and briefed me on how things went with exposing Karen's affair. It was a difficult time but I knew that my life with her was at an end. I couldn't ever look at her again and believe that she had ever truly loved me. I was her second choice. When I learned that Murray was the father of the kids; well, that did it. I had to leave and not look back.

I've been in the UAE for a month now and have pretty much gotten acclimatized. I called my mother and father and told them what had happened and while they were saddened by it all they understood that I couldn't tolerate the humiliation from Karen.

I'm still young. I'll find a new woman to share my life with.

Jordan said that things with Thomas Murray and his wife Brittany were tense. She had called Jordan and then visited his office and Jordan shared everything that he had learned about her husband's long-term affair with Karen. She hadn't made a decision, that he was aware of, to boot his ass to the curb; yet.

Karen went to see Jordan and demanded to know where I was. He, of course didn't know himself, so he wouldn't have to lie to her. Jordan had her sign some paperwork to file with the court. The divorce documents and one special request that I wanted to court to approve. I wanted the court to order that my name be removed from the birth certificates of Keith and Andrea. I wanted Thomas Murray's name put on them. After some haggling back and forth with the Judge, and the DNA records, the court approved my request. That meant that there would never be any legal issues about who was responsible for them.

It's a pretty good life here, so far, in the UAE.

**********

Karen

Being a single parent is not all it's cracked-up to be. I have a lot more to do to take care of the kids and the house. Without Mark being around I don't have anyone to share the work with. My father has been coming by to do some of the small repair jobs that Mark would have done. Dad comes in, does whatever he came to do, chats with the kids if they are there and then leaves. He barely talks to me.

My mother and father found out why Mark had left. They knew that I was in love with Tommy before Mark. But they figured that it was over when Tommy got married to Brittany. They had no idea that I had been seeing Tommy all along.

Tommy's on a very short leash, himself. I haven't been with him since that day at the hotel when it all went to hell. I don't know what to do about having the kids meet him. Is that a good idea at all?

The house and most of our savings are mine. I still have to work and pay the bills. The court deemed that Mark was not responsible financially for the kids, since they aren't his and I kept it a secret from him. As far as support for me, the money in the bank is mine to do with as I wish. Plus, I still have my secret bank account. Well, not so secret. Mark knew about it.

I guess I really shit the bed here. Now what do I do?

**********

Six months later

Mark

My life has carried on. I do miss Karen and especially the kids. But when I think of her, I just get mad at her and myself, for being deluded for our entire marriage. So, I'm doing my best to stay busy and not think about her.

My social life has been slow to restart, but it has. I've gotten to know many of the people that I work with and have discovered some very talented people that are all here working for various reasons. Many are here for the money; many are here to experience a different lifestyle and culture and some are here to recover from bad experiences. I'm here for all those reasons.

Last month I did a desert adventure trip to an oasis on the motorcycle that I bought. I got a used BMW F800 GS and outfitted it with some extras for touring. There is a motorcycle club here that organizes weekend trips and so I signed up and went for the fun, and to see more of the country; not just the overpriced city.

Amanda told me that she really wanted to do something like that so I invited her to come along. She's never ridden a motorcycle before. And it was my first time taking a passenger. Oh, what fun.

We had a great time. The organizer thought that we were a couple so when we got to the destination there was only one room, with one bed, for us, and the hotel was full. We had to share. It was a bit awkward at first but we managed. I offered to sleep on the floor but she told me that that was ridiculous and we should do fine being in the same bed.

I woke up in the morning with my arm around her waist. I hadn't intended that, but it's how we ended up. The big thing for me was I had a morning erection. A huge one. It wouldn't go away. I tried to think of anything I could to make it go away, but no luck.

Amanda was still asleep but moving about a bit and her ass was rubbing up against my dick. I almost shot my load right then and there. I slid back in the bed and went to the washroom before anything truly embarrassing happened.

When I came out, she was up and getting dressed. She wasn't wearing a bra under her t-shirt and her breasts were moving around as she moved. She looked at me looking at her and said, "what, never seen a semi-naked woman before?" Then she took off her t-shirt and headed to the bathroom. I heard the water go on and then, "are you coming in or not?"

That was the start of it. It was all different after that.

**********

Eighteen months later

Amanda

Mark and I are back in London to visit with my parents. They actually met him last Christmas when we came back for the holidays.

My father is a banker and my mother is a teacher. They are well off and they are approaching retirement. They were curious about the American man that I told them I was bringing home to meet them.

My father wanted to get to know Mark a bit better so they went round to the local pub for a pint, or two, and a chat. A couple of hours later they came back and my father was smiling and noticeably more comfortable around Mark. My father wanted to get to know him and find out more about him. Well, he did. I'm certain that he shared what he learned with my mother.

So, it's summer now, and we're back and we have big news for my parents. Mark and I are moving back to the UK. Well, it's not 'back' for Mark, since he's never lived here before.

He has a new job with the company; a major construction project in the Cotswold area. The money is great and we've decided to rent a house for now and then possibly buy a place in a couple of years, depending on where we are then. We need at least a three-bedroom place and I would like a house with two bathrooms, so that we don't have to share with visitors; I'm selfish that way.

The other big news is that I'm due in November. So, we want to be moved and settled-in and get medical things sorted out; oh, and get married. Yeah, that too.

**********

Karen

I've looked for Mark on the internet almost every day since he left. I still have the letter that he left in the kitchen for me. The kids were depressed that their father, the one that they knew, left without so much as a word to them. What could he have possibly have said to them to explain: 'sorry kids but I'm not really your father and your mother's a lying worthless whore and I'm leaving.' Yeah, that would go well.

I know that I made this mess. I've been seeing a therapist once a week and will likely continue as long as my health insurance will cover it. She says that I was lying to myself that I could have both men at the same time without consequences. She said that I set Mark up for failure as a husband and father and thus he was destined to leave. She encouraged me to apologize to Mark and my children. That would be nice if I could find him. I don't have the money to hire private investigators, so I ask his family from time-to-time if they would kindly tell me how to contact him. Marks father tells me to fuck-off. His mother won't speak to me at all.

We're in smaller house now; cheaper to operate. The kids hate the place but it's what we can afford. I'm driving Marks old Subaru. It's still reliable and works well.

**********

Mark

I've worked very hard to forget a period of my life where I thought I was the luckiest guy on earth. Right up until I wasn't. If it weren't for an accidental sighting of my ex-wife with her lover that day at the hotel, I probably wouldn't know, even now. But I did find out, and I had to do something about it.

Ten years of deceit is no small thing. How do you perpetrate that kind of thing and look someone else in the face, day after day and say you love them, all the while betraying them. All the while stealing their love and giving it to another. How do you lie to your own children.

I'm certainly not perfect and many will be critical of me for how I handled Karen and her betrayal. It was the only thing I could do and live with myself. I regret mostly the kids, Keith and Andrea. I hope that they have gotten to know their real father and that he can love them as much as I did. Karen killed my love. She poisoned that well. I couldn't look at Keith and Andrea knowing that the only reason they were alive was because of the deceit of their mother. They deserve better.

I will do my best, every day, to be a good father to my child.

**********

Jordan

I get the last words.

Mark's actions were drastic. I thought that he would regret leaving the kids, even though they weren't his. He was in the delivery room when they were born and he had raised them. He was the man they called 'Dad.' He changed the messy diapers, fed them, burped them and was there for the first words and first steps.

But I watched a friend that was deeply, deeply, hurt by the betrayal of the woman that promised and professed to love him. She betrayed him in the most fundamental of ways. Lying it him every day of their married life. Concealing that both of those children were not his. The only way that it could have been worse was if she took a gun and put a bullet in his head.

I understand why Mark left. As his friend and his lawyer, I supported him. I still get calls from Karen asking me where he is and to send him a message to please call her or come home. I sent a few of them until Mark told me to stop sending them. So, that's what I did.

Every three or four months I get a quick e-mail from Mark to tell me where he is and what's going on in his life. I know that he's leaving the UAE for the UK. I know that he has a new woman in his life and her name is Amanda. I have promised to reveal nothing to Karen.

I'm happy for Mark. He did set up an education account for Keith and Andrea to help pay for college or university when the time comes. I'm the trustee. I'll make sure that they get the money when the time comes.

On a personal note, I've gotten married. Yup, you guessed it -- to Wolfie. Well, my family and hers' call her Hannah. She's pregnant and we'll have a baby in December. I better forget her nickname by the time our child understands what it means -- don't want to scare the kid.