On His Terms

"Thanks, Doc," Tom said. After the doctor left the room, Melinda broke down, sobbing on Tom's chest.

"No, no, no, please, God, no," she cried, soaking his blanket with her tears. He kissed her head and held her as best he could.

"It'll be alright," he said. "If anything happens, you'll be taken care of. I never took you off the insurance, so if the worst happens, the mortgage will be covered and you guys will have enough money to make it."

"I don't care about the money or the mortgage. All I care about is you. I don't want anything to happen to you," she cried. "I love you, Tom. Please don't leave me. Please don't die. I can't live without you. Promise me you won't die."

"I'll do my best," he said. "But it's not my decision." She smothered his face with kisses, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"I'm so sorry for everything," she said. "I've been such a horrible wife to you. I promise if you live I'll be the best wife you could ever want." He ran his hand through her hair, tears falling down his face.

"It's okay," he said. "We'll get through this just like we've gotten through everything else. Listen, don't tell the kids about the tumor. Let's see what the specialist says first, okay?"

"Okay," she said. Just then a nurse came into the room with a tray.

"I need to check your vitals and take some blood," she said. "Then we're going to run some tests."

"I'm a bit hungry," Tom said. "When can I get something to eat?"

"After we've run a couple tests," the nurse said, shooing Melinda out of the room. "You can come see him tomorrow," the nurse told her.

"I love you," Melinda said as the nurse closed the door.

The next few days went by fast. Tom was run through a battery of tests, and examined by specialists. All he was told is that they were working to see what could be done about the tumor. His parents came by nearly every day, as did Melinda. She brought the children in and they all got caught up on recent events.

"Are you gonna be okay?" his father asked one day.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Tom said. His father nodded his head.

"Melinda and your mother are having a real hard time with all this," he said. "We'll do everything we can, though."

"Thanks, Dad," Tom said.

His boss came by and spoke with him for a bit.

"So, Melinda tells me you have a tumor," he said. "Anything to get out of work, huh?" They had a good laugh over that.

"Listen, I just want you to know that your job is safe," he said. "You've got 300 days of sick time coming, so take what you need and get well. If Melinda or the kids need anything, have them contact me, okay?"

"Thanks, boss," Tom said.

Eventually, Tom was released and Melinda drove him home. It felt good to be back in his own bed in his own home. Melinda turned out to be a wonderful caretaker and waited on him practically hand and foot.

Over the next few weeks, Tom found that he could make his way around the house, but felt a constant pressure in his head and often had to steady himself before moving. Sometimes the headaches got so bad, he could hardly function, and he frequently had dizzy spells.

The specialists had run him through constant tests, and took several scans of his head to monitor the progress of the tumor. There still was no word on whether or not it could be removed.

One night, he sat down with Melinda.

"We need to talk," he told her.

"About what?" she asked.

"There's one thing we need to deal with," he told her.

"Jake?" she asked. He nodded his head.

"Yes," he said. "Is he still trying to contact you?"

"Yes, he is," she said.

"Okay," he said. "I have an idea and I need to do this now while I can still function, but I'll need your help. Are you up to it?"

"Of course. I'll do anything, Tom," she said.

"Here's my plan," he said...

...

Two weeks later, he was sitting in the bar just around the corner from the house, nursing his drink while watching the video feed on his tablet. The PI he had originally hired did an excellent job setting up cameras in the front room and the bedrooms. The system he used live-streamed everything to a cloud server, which Tom could access from anywhere provided he had internet.

If everything worked out, tonight would be the end of the whole fucked-up situation with Jake. The children were at his parents house and Melinda was at home by herself. But Tom knew she wouldn't be alone for very long.

Jake rang the doorbell right at 9:00 pm, just as they knew he would. Watching the video feed, Tom saw his wife take a deep breath, then answer the door. Jake barged into the room and leered at her.

"I knew you wouldn't be able to stay away from me forever," he said, eyeing her. As per their plan, she wore a short skirt and a thin t-shirt with no bra.

"This is the last time I intend to see you," she told him. "After tonight, I never ever want to see you again."

"Whatever," he said with a smirk. "Where's the wimp? Off sucking his thumb or licking his wounds?"

"He's out," she said.

"Too bad," Jake said. "I was kinda hoping he'd be around, so I could show him how a real man fucks his woman."

"I'm not your woman," Melinda said.

"You are if I say you are," he said. "Now, off with the skirt."

"Okay," she said, unzipping the skirt. She let it fall to the floor, revealing her locked chastity belt.

"What the fuck is this?" Jake asked.

"It's my chastity belt," she said. "And it's locked."

"Unlock it, goddammit," he said. She shook her head.

"Can't," she said. "Tom has the only key."

"What?" he asked. "You let your husband lock you up in one of those things? Why, that's abuse." She smiled.

"No," she said. "I locked myself up and happily gave him the key. And if you look closer, you'll see that my pussy is his property. Exclusively."

"Well, we'll see about that," he said, pulling out a knife. Tom was shocked -- it wasn't supposed to happen like this. They had hoped that the police would be monitoring the ankle bracelet and would have responded by now. The knife changed everything.

He had seen enough and shut down the tablet. It only took him a few minutes to pull up to his house. Opening the glove box, he pulled out his .45 caliber semiautomatic pistol, inserted a fully-loaded magazine and slammed a round in the chamber. He got out of the car, making sure he didn't slam the door shut and made his way to the front door.

Looking in the front window, he could see Melinda on the couch, begging for her life as Jake swung the knife around haphazardly as he threatened her. He took a deep breath and opened the door, the pistol behind his back.

As he opened the door, Jake looked at him, his eyes filled with hatred.

"Well, well, look what the cat dragged in," he said, pointing the knife at Tom.

"Get out of my house," Tom said.

"Or what, wimp?" Jake asked, waving the knife. "Maybe I'll cut your heart out and feed it to your wife. Yeah, that's what I'll do." He lunged at Tom, but only got a couple feet before Tom pulled the pistol from his back and aimed it. He had a hard time, as his vision got blurry and he saw two Jakes. He hoped he was aiming at the right Jake and pulled the trigger, twice.

The two rounds hit Jake in the center of his chest and knocked him across the room, where he laid in his own blood, lifeless. Tom's head felt like it was splitting and his vision went fuzzy. The last thing he remembered was the floor coming up to meet him.

...

For the second time in two months, Tom woke up in a hospital bed. This time, it was quite different. He could hear a ventilator and monitoring devices beeping. The room was completely dark and he was unable to move. He also felt the pressure from bandages on his head. A nurse came into the room and adjusted something next to his bed and he fell back to sleep.

The next time he woke up, it wasn't quite as dark and the room was full of nurses and other medical types. An older man dressed in a medical smock examined him briefly, then smiled. The ventilator was gone, but his throat felt sore and his lips were dry.

"How are you feeling, Mr. Wheeler?" the doctor asked. Tom tried to talk but couldn't. A nurse gave him an ice chip and he sucked on it so he could talk.

"Like hell," Tom croaked. The doctor laughed.

"That's normal," he said. "You'll be happy to know we were able to remove your tumor. All that's left is for you to rest and heal up. Your family will be notified, and I'm sure they'll want to come see you. In the meantime, I want you to rest, okay?"

"Okay," Tom managed to say. A nurse put something in his IV and he fell back to sleep.

The next time he opened his eyes, he saw Melinda and the doctor. Melinda was smiling as the doctor examined him.

"What happened?" Tom asked.

"Well, the paramedics brought you in a few days ago, and we decided that it was time to see what we could do about that tumor," the doctor said.

"I thought it was inoperable," Tom said.

"Well, it might have been if we had waited another month or so," the doctor said. "Still, it wasn't easy. You'll be with us for a bit, so just rest for now, okay? I'll be back after a while." Tom watched the doctor leave and turned his attention to Melinda.

"How are you doing?" he asked. She kissed him on the cheek and ran her hand over his face.

"Better now that you're awake," she said.

"What happened?" he asked.

"The police came a couple minutes after you shot Jake," she said. "He's dead, by the way. The ambulance came and brought you here while the police processed everything at the house. I told them what happened, and showed them the video. They ruled it a justifiable homicide and said it was in self defense, so you're in the clear. The kids are with your parents, by the way. I didn't want them to see the house until it was all cleaned up."

"Good idea," Tom said.

"I hope you don't mind, but when I got here, the doctor said they needed to get you into surgery right away," she said. "I took care of all the paperwork."

"Thank you for that," he said. Just then, there was a knock at the door.

"Come in," Tom said. The door opened and an older man in an expensive suit came into the room.

"Tom Wheeler?" the man asked.

"Yes," Tom said.

"I'm sorry to intrude on you like this," the man said. "My name is Malcolm Winthrop. I'm Jake Winthrop's father."

"Judge Winthrop?" Tom asked.

"Yes," the older man said. "Please, call me Malcolm. I just wanted to stop by and apologize for what my son did to you and your wife. I've seen the reports and I know what you did was in self defense. I want you to know that I don't blame you for what you did. I would've done the same thing myself. I wanted to personally give you something." He reached inside his jacket, pulled out an envelope and handed it to Melinda.

She opened it and saw a check for five million dollars. She showed it to Tom, who was shocked.

"This really isn't necessary," Tom said.

"Actually, it is," Malcolm said. "What my son did to you two was completely unforgivable. I've bailed him out so many times over the years it isn't even funny. If I had known half the crap he did, I would've put him in jail myself. Besides, it's from his trust, so yes, it's necessary. I want you to please accept this along with my personal apology."

"Thank you," Tom said. "We accept. I'd shake your hand, but I'm a bit restrained at the moment. Is there something you want from us in exchange for this?" Malcolm smiled.

"No, Mr. Wheeler," he said. "Just get well."

"I will," Tom said.

"Good day," Malcolm said before leaving the room. Tom looked at Melinda, shocked.

"Well, I guess we don't have to worry about sending the kids to college," he said.

"No, we don't," she said.

"Maybe after I recover from this, you and I can take a nice cruise and enjoy a second honeymoon," he said.

"Really?" Melinda asked, tears falling down her cheeks.

"Really," he said. "That is, if you want to."

"Oh, yes," she said. "I want to so much. Can I have my rings back?"

"I don't know," Tom said. "Maybe a fresh start would be better with a new set of rings." She squealed and hugged Tom. "And of course, a fresh start means a new set of rules."

"Like what?" she asked.

"Like, no more secrets, ever," he said. "No matter what it is, no matter how bad, no more secrets. I won't be so nice the next time around."

"No more secrets," she said, kissing her husband.

...

I considered several possible endings for this story, but decided to go with this. Perhaps over the next few weeks, I'll submit some alternate endings...