Orgasms

"Oh my God Rob, I never thought any such thing. I thought I could talk you into letting me do that little something for myself. I thought we loved each other enough that I could show you that letting me do it wouldn't hurt us any. I wasn't talking long term affair or anything like that. Just one time to see what it was like, but you got up and stormed out before I could make my case."

"Get serious Adelaide. My reaction to what you told me told you everything you needed to know about how I felt about the idea and you went anyway. And what if Kevin hadn't given you an orgasm? Who would you try next? How many more would you have wanted to try out to get that orgasm?"

"It wouldn't have been that way Rob; I swear that it wouldn't have been that way."

"You say that now Adelaide, but it is after the fact and I'm not believing it. If you were willing to risk your marriage to try on Kevin and on the remote chance I would have gone along with it and he hadn't gotten it done you would have thought that I'd let you get away with it once so I'd probably let you try again. And even if I would have said no to a second try you would have done what you did with Kevin and just go. Another "Meat loaf in the oven, don't wait up" night."

"What can I do to convince you that you are wrong about that? How can I convince you that nothing happened between me and Kevin?"

"You can't Adelaide. What you could have done- what you should have done – is come to me with your concerns when you started having them so we could have worked together to see if we could have done something to solve the problem, but you didn't do that. You ambushed me. Let me ask you this Adelaide. Have any of the men you have been to bed with since I left given you an orgasm?"

"That's a rotten thing to say. I haven't slept with anyone since my last time with you."

"As much as you liked sex? Oh yeah, I'm believing that."

"God damn it Rob, its true! I came home and found you gone and it killed me. I went to pieces and I was a basket case for months. When I finally got myself together I knew without a doubt that if you came back and found that I'd been to bed with another man there would be no chance of me ever getting you back. There has been no one Rob; I swear to God there has been no one. I love you Rob. I need you. I need to be with you."

"It is just too bad that you didn't feel like that or think like that the day you left the house to meet Kevin."

I slid off the stool and left the tavern.

+++++++++++++++++

Of course it didn't end there. All three kids flew in for the funeral and my sister's place became the place where the family got together. I saw my granddaughter for the first time and met Marcia's fiancée. The conversations were general in nature and carefully skirted the kid's mom.

Adelaide was at the funeral home every time I went there, but as soon as she headed for me I moved in the other direction. It wasn't easy avoiding her. For over twenty-five years we had been a part of each other's lives. I had loved her completely and there was no kidding myself – I still did. Seeing her and knowing that we were over tore at my very soul.

Following the funeral there was a wake at Bev's place and of course Addie came to it. It was harder to avoid Addie there than it had been at the funeral home and cemetery because every time she approached me she had one of our children with her. If I was smart I would have left the wake and gone to a bar until it was over, but unfortunately with my parents gone I was now the head of the family and I was obligated to stay until the end.

When the last of the well-wishers had departed Barry, Ralph and Marcia cornered me and said:

"We need to talk dad."

"Okay, go ahead."

"Not here. We need a place that is a little more private."

"Why? There is no one here except for family or about to be family."

"The rest of the family doesn't need to hear this."

Bev, who was standing behind me, told us that we could use her sewing room so the four of us went into it and closed the door.

"Okay" I said, "Let's have it."

"You need to put and end to this bullshit with mom. You are still married to each other and she needs you. You need to get back home with her."

I started to speak. But he held up his hand and said, "Let me finish. Mom told us what she did and all three of us think she had to have been brain dead to think she could hit you with it and not expect some form of fall-out and what's more we told her so. But she didn't go through with it. She got her head out of her ass in time to pull back and go home to you."

"That is what she says, but if she didn't go through with it what was she doing from when she was supposed to meet her new bed buddy at six until whenever she got home? I wasn't packed, loaded and ready to go until almost eleven. That is over four hours that I was still in the house and she wasn't home yet when I finally left. No way can I be convinced that nothing happened during those hours. But it doesn't matter. Like I told her the last time we talked our marriage was over when she told me what she was going to do. That's the key to remember – she told me what she was going to do! Forget about the blow to my ego, my male pride; our marriage died when she told me how low an opinion she actually had of me."

"Mom told us what you said to her at Murphy's, but meaning no disrespect dad, you are full of shit. Mom didn't say any such thing to you. That was just the way you chose to interpret what she said. You were pissed at her to begin with when she told you that she had never had an orgasm. You took that as a slam at your manhood and you went from there. Why in the hell didn't you look her in the eye and say that maybe the fault wasn't yours? Why did you just accept that you were the one? Why didn't you fight back instead of running away in a snit? Why in the hell did you let five minutes destroy a twenty-five year marriage? It was a great marriage. We all knew it. You knew it. So mom listened to a bunch of girlfriends and let what they told her make her stupid."

Marcia jumped in. "You were a little brain dead yourself dad. The father I grew up with would have looked mom in the eye and said, "The fuck you will! It will be over my dead body" and then he would have attacked the problem."

I looked over at my youngest. "You going to jump on me too Ralph?"

"No need. All I would do is say what Barry and Marcia have already said except that I might have put a little more emphasis on what Marcia said. The dad that raised me wouldn't have crept off; he would have fought back."

"Well I am sorry to be such a big disappointment to all of you, but nothing has changed. You were not there when your mother looked me right in the eye and told me she was going to go out on a date with another man to see if he could give her an orgasm. She wasn't nervous, didn't stammer or look away from me. She calmly and deliberately informed me that she was going to fuck another man. To answer the question as to why I didn't fight back I will simply say that at that point I did not want to. If she could do that to me after twenty-five years as far as I was concerned I had nothing to fight over. Quite frankly, at that point I no longer wanted to look at your mother anymore.

"I did not, as you so elegantly put it, run off in a snit. Your mother had killed our marriage and there was no sense staying around any more. And there could be no "working things out" or "attacking the problem" because once your mother went on that date in my mind she was an unfaithful whore! She claims that she came to her senses and did not go through with it, but I do not believe it. Not for one minute. She was gone from the house when I got home from work. She met her lover at six and she was still gone when I left shortly before eleven.

"Get it firmly implanted in your heads. Your mother killed the marriage. I had nothing to do with it. I have moved on with my life and I am happy where that life is right now and I see no reason to change it. I'm sorry that your mother is miserable with her situation, but she did it to herself. As far as I'm concerned the matter is closed and I do not intend to revisit it again. Are we clear on this?"

"I'm sorry dad" Barry said, "but I have to side with mother on this."

"Me too" Marcia said.

I looked over at Ralph and he just looked at me and shrugged. "So be it" I said and I walked out of the room. I told Bev goodnight and went to the room I was using. I packed, got everything ready to leave in the morning and then I went to bed.

++++++++++++++++++

"How was the trip?" Jolene asked me on my first day back to work."

"Stressful. Burying my parents was bad enough, but my wife was always around and that added to it. Then my kids ganged up on me trying to get me to get back together with her and when I said no they told me that they were siding with her. All in all not a good trip at all."

"Well sweetie, you need to look on the bright side."

"Oh? There is a bright side?"

"You are back and your 'stress reliever' is standing here ready to relieve that stress."

That night after work she did relieve my stress several times and then did her best to relieve that stress for the rest of the week and I was pleased to be able to say that she got the job done.

++++++++++++++++++

The two months slid by. The job was going well. My relationship with Jolene was humming along and then life got complicated again. I was having dinner with Jolene at Angelina's when Adelaide walked up to our table and poured a glass of water on Jolene's head.

"That's my husband you are sitting with you tramp and if you don't get away from him I'll scratch your eyes out."

Jolene had her margarita in her hand and she threw the drink in Adelaide's face and then was off her seat in a flash. She delivered a hard open handed slap to the side of Adelaide's face that staggered Adelaide and then Adelaide put her head down and charged into Jolene. There was a lot of hair pulling, slapping. shouting and screaming. It took three of us to separate the two and when it was done Andre, the maitre de asked us politely, but firmly to leave.

"No problem Andre, just hold onto her" I said pointing to Adelaide, "Until we get clear. I don't want to continue this in the parking lot."

I took Jolene by the arm and we left. As we got in the car Jolene said:

"You didn't tell me that you brought your wife back with you when you returned from the funeral."

"I have no idea of how she came to be here. I certainly didn't bring her. I can't even imagine why she is here."

"Don't be dense Rob; even I know why she is here."

"You do? Then please enlighten me."

"She's here to fight for you. She told you that much when she gave me the bath."

"What do you mean?"

"I believe her exact words were "That is my husband you are with" and she put plenty of emphasis on the "my husband" part. She staked her claim in no uncertain terms."

"I don't believe that. I let her know more than once and in no uncertain terms that she and I were through."

"She has obviously decided that you aren't."

We were silent the rest of the way to her place. As I walked her to the door I said:

"I'm sorry the evening was ruined and that you had to go through that."

"I'm not. It was the most fun I've had in years." She pulled me toward the bedroom as she said, "All we have to do now is give the night the perfect ending."

She was wild and insatiable. Having water poured on her and getting into a hair pulling fight must have fired something up in her and she kept at me until I couldn't answer the call anymore. The ironic part when I thought of it was that her fight had been with the woman who had told me I couldn't give her orgasms, but that night Jolene had more than I could remember. I fell asleep in Jolene's arms.

In the morning Jolene woke me by fondling my cock and then when I was hard she mounted me and rode me cowgirl. When she had milked me dry she rolled over on an elbow and kissed me.

"Thank you lover. That was the perfect ending."

"Thank you baby; the pleasure was all mine. I'll be out of the office today seeing customers so I won't see you until tonight,"

"No lover. When I said it was the perfect ending I meant to our personal relationship."

"Why? What did I do?"

"You did nothing lover, but when I looked into your wife's eyes tonight I saw that she was determined to get you back. I won't be the one to stand in her way."

"That doesn't make sense Jo. I told you – we are done, finished, over with."

"As far as you are concerned maybe, but not as far as she is concerned. She has apparently decided she is going to get you back in spite of what you told her. I'm not getting in the way of a love that strong. I've never made any secret about where we stand Rob. Good friends and bed buddies and that it all it was ever going to be. If your wife is going to fight for you it won't be me that she is fighting."

++++++++++++++++

When I got back to my place I found Adelaide sitting on my front steps.

"What the hell are you doing here Adelaide?"

"You are my husband Rob. Whither thou goest and all that stuff."

"How did you find me?"

"While you were at Bev's Marcia snuck into your room while you were taking a shower and got the information off of your driver's license and by the way you should really call your kids. They need to hear from you now and then."

"They made their choice at the funeral and they can live with it, but why did you bother coming here? I told you exactly how I feel about what happened."

"I notice that regardless of what you said you didn't divorce me."

"Why waste the money? I don't need to be single since I don't ever intend to get married again."

"Just as well because I would have fought it and all we would have accomplished is to help two lawyers maintain their standard of living."

"Why would you fight to try and keep someone in your life who doesn't want you?"

"How about because I want you? I've loved you for over twenty-five years and I haven't stopped loving you. Okay, maybe I got stupid and thought with twenty-five great years tying us together you would cut me a little leeway over what I wanted to try. After all, it was only going to be sex. There wasn't going to be any romance and it would only have been the one time. If I didn't experience an orgasm with him either I would have figured that the problem was with me."

"That's the same thing as saying that if you did orgasm with him that the problem was with me and in your mind I'd become less of a man because I couldn't get the job done. And what if the orgasm had been so wonderful that you just had to experience more of them? What then?"

"I thought of those things Rob and those are some of the reasons I never went through with it. Call me naive or just plain dumb, but I honestly thought that I could convince you to let me try it once and that it wouldn't hurt us. When I met Kevin he was nice enough, but I got the feeling that he was thinking I was just some married tramp out having a good time and cheating on her husband.

"As the evening went on that thought stayed with me and I finally came to realize that cheating on you is just what I would be doing if I went through with it. If you would have said okay when I brought it up it wouldn't have been cheating, but you didn't say okay you just stormed out of the house. I couldn't go through with it. When the dining, drinking and dancing were over Sally suggested we all go over to her place and I told them I'd meet them there, but I got in the car and drove straight home.

"I got there at ten forty-five, but you weren't there. I saw the gravy on the wall and the dinner I left for you on the floor. I had thought you probably had gone to a bar so I sat down and waited for you to come home. When you weren't home by two-thirty I went up to go to bed and that's when I noticed that your things were gone. I went to pieces. I didn't do anything that night but drink and dance Rob and I've not been with a man since the last time you and I made love."

"The problem is that I don't believe you Adelaide."

"I'm willing to take a lie detector test Rob. If you can find some one to do it I will even take a shot of that truth serum in my arm. And that only leaves two things. The utter nonsense of my thinking that you were a wimp and that you were less of a man because you never gave me an orgasm. There is no way I could have spent twenty-five years with you if you were a spineless wimp. If that is what I thought of you you would have seen plenty of evidence of it long before that night. Think Rob; could we have had twenty-five great years if I didn't love and respect you as a man, a husband and a father?

"The same thing applies to the orgasm business. Did you ever stop to think that maybe instead of you not being able to give me one it was me who was unable to have one? I wanted to see what one was like, to experience one and I was asking you to let me try. I never once said that you weren't man enough or that you were lacking. I just said that I'd never had one. I can see now that it was an idiotic thing to do, but I thought for sure with twenty-five years behind us you would know that I loved you and wasn't demeaning you. I love you Rob; I need you. Please Rob; please let me back into your life."

"My life is here now Adelaide."

"So is mine Rob. I quit my job; put the house up for sale and I moved here. There was no way I could get you back from nine hundred miles away."

I looked at her for several seconds and then said, "I'm making no promises Adelaide, but maybe we can date for a while and see how it works out."

She threw herself at me and started sobbing. "You won't be sorry Rob; I promise you that you won't be sorry."

++++++++++++++++++++

And I wasn't. We dated once or twice a week for about a month and then it was three or four times a week. After four months Addie moved in with me and after five months it was like nothing had ever happened.

She seemed to have made it her life's work to spoil me. We made love four and five times a week and while I never did give her an orgasm it was never mentioned.

My relationship with my children is still a little strained. I'm not at all happy that they took their mother's side. I didn't expect that they should have taken mine, but I had at least expected that they would remain neutral.

Jolene and I are still good friends and at our company picnic she went up to Addie and told her that she was glad we had gotten back together. The two of them hit it off and have started having lunch together a couple of times a month. We even go out dancing from time to time with Jolene and whoever happens to be her current bed buddy. It was on one of those nights when I was dancing with Jolene that she said:

"Are you glad that I kicked you out of my bed?"

"Very."

"I knew it was the right thing to do. She is obviously good for you. You have been a lot more easy going since you got back with her."

+++++++++++++++

I watched Rob dance with Jolene and thanked God for the thousandth time that my gamble had paid off. I had prayed that Rob wouldn't take me up on my offer to take a lie detector test. No way in hell I could have passed it because I had gone to bed with Kevin that night and we had screwed three times before I went home at two-thirty in the morning to find Rob gone.

Kevin had not given me an orgasm and neither had most of the dozen or so others who had followed him. Two of them had and while I had enjoyed them they were no substitute for the cuddling, snuggling and loving that I had received from Rob on a regular basis. A year and a half wasted on a search for something that once found proved not to be worth the cost of the search.

As the music ended I saw Jolene lean forward and kiss Rob on the cheek and as they headed back to the table I thought how fortunate I was that she was the kind of woman she was. If she had been the marrying kind I probably wouldn't have gotten Rob back. But I did get him back and it would be a cold day in hell before I ever let him get away again.