All Comments on 'Rich Man, Poor Man'

Here I go sticking my neck out again, being the first to comment, and knowing full well that many will hold that the story was too long to read, or that the hero was a wimp to not divorce her when she decided to dirty dance with that guy in the bar..... or from my personal position, when it became clear that she was lieing to him. Trust is essential to a marraige.

But the story was very well written and reflected very human possibilities. Personally I would have fled from Rebecca the moment that she showed up in the company. But there are people who fool themselves and some that even let love rule their behaviour (instead of lust)

Thanks Woody for all your excellent work.

Darn good read, well done, enjoyed it immensely

but she lied too often & hide something that was far too important to forgive.

Sometimes when you love someone you think things will get better and put up with more than you should, but there always comes a breaking point. I love happy endings, but thats just me. Thanks.

Ok,

First I think it was really worth 4 out of 5 stars. But let me say why before you get mad. I think it was good up to a point, but let me say why I say this. It's not a slam but a few things that seemed to unbalance the story for me at least:

1.) Your male lead has an alcohol problem.

If you don't live in France or a 3rd world country where the water is so dirty you need to drink something else, and you have a drink as a greeting, with every meal, or the bartenders know your drink of preference by the nod of your head you have a problem. The lead did all of this and more.

The wife's problem was obvious, but you really couldn't down play his. It wasn't as out of control, but it was there. You don't have to get sloppy drunk to have a problem.

For example I had a buddy who used to go to the casino every weekend on Friday afternoon and leave about 6am Monday morning. He didn't think he had a problem because he was winning all the time. I on the other hand tried to tell him it was a bad idea. No one agreed with me.

TWO YEARS later when he couldn't win to save his life, started stealing form his friends to get money, lost his house, his family to divorce, and disappeared one day, everyone started talking about how to find him and how to get him some help for his gambling addiction. Huh? Only when you lose its an addiction, but when you win its a hobby?

That's like here, only when she gets sloppy drunk she's an alcoholic, but he's only a social drinker when he has at least one drink all the time and almost always has one (or two) when he meets with his father in-law through out the day?

2.) Poor college students don't drink Premium liquor.

In the story Becky sent Jamie a bottle of "Gentleman Jack" over to his room and he couldn't get enough of it. Later that was all he drank. College students, especially the poor ones, don't do that.

When I was there they drank hooch, mad dog 20/20, rock gut, and god knows they would drink paint thinner if they could get it, but good old fashion BEER is the man staple. Not premium liquor. Jamie seemed to have fashioned a quick taste for something that he should have had a harder time getting a hold of if he was working 2 jobs, paying his way through school, and trying to study all the time. This didn't match his character.

I liked it for the most part, but those two things kept rearing their heads. Specially the references to "Gentleman Jack" a lot. Jamie was also an alcoholic but he was billed as a "social" drinker, yet he didn't really stop that.

Also with Becky's money I surprised they didn't try something like Intro or adoption. She could find a doctor to "quietly" get rid of her STD's but not any other procedure to work at making Jamie happy? The very thing that was causing her grief? That she couldn't give him something he really wanted? Also how long did she have the STD that it screwed with her system. Most of time it takes "months" to wreck havoc with one's system.

Those weren't "big" things, but seemed strange she would work so hard for one thing (get rid of her STD's) but skate on the other (finding another way to have a child with him).

-Risq

First, I really love some of the commentators on here. I agree: Trust is essential to a good marriage. However, what they ignore--and your story points out to very good effect--is that good people, well-intentioned people, make mistakes. Just as Rebecca did here by not sharing her inability to have children and relying on their love for each other to help her through a devastating time in her life. That makes their love that much better, that much stronger, and the story that much more compelling. The fact that he did gut it out for a year before finally leaving in exasperation. That's what you do for the person you love: You keep trying to make it work until you know there's simply no chance. And the point at which you finally admit to yourself that there's no chance of mending the fence is often long after other, more objective observers would have given up.

That's what love is: It's giving your spouse the benefit of the doubt and going the extra mile. Frankly, the wimpy thing to do here would have been to cut and run at the first sign of problems. And the wimpy thing for Rebecca to do would have been to say good riddance once he finally did leave rather than finally figure out that he was right, something was wrong with her and she needed help.

I read today a comment to another story that said people really don't change. I agree, they don't. However, what a boring task literature would be if we had to follow stagnant characters who don't change, who don't learn from their mistakes and grow as individuals. Woodman, though, has managed to make the changes in the characters believable, compelling, and spin a very good yarn in the process.

Finally, I agree with the introductory comments. There was simply no logical place at which this story could have been cut to be submitted into two or three installments. Thus, I can only hope he doesn't suffer the comments of the simpletons who prefer five-paragraph stories with a dead paramour and AIDS addled wife at the end.

Job Well Done!

I really liked the 2 main characters as portrayed and can understand the range of emotions attributed to both of them. As I was reading it the first time on SOL I noted the glaring omission half-way through that, although he knew his test results, he hadn't ascertained what hers were and the subject never cropped up again until she came to find him.

I thought this would have been foremost on his mind but obviously not.

A well-plotted story, believable and with a good ending.

Before the days of in-vitro, etc., a lot of women (and men) would turn to the kind of fulfillment they eventually found in the story.

Thanks again Woodman

Norman D

First I want to thank you for this gift!

It is among the best here! I was hesitant at it's length but I have read them this long before and always glad when I was finished.

This story does tell you that you don't cut and run when the shit storm is happening or pulling you to the edge. You leave when everything you have tried has failed and maybe failed a few more times. If your love is that strong for someone it will bend a hell of a lot as it did here for Jamie, and really the source of the problems Rebecca hers bent to, but in a different way.

The ending couldn't have been more perfect! I loved it! I guess I am still a a romantic. And I was glad after I invested myself in this story that it didn't end in abject failure. Because when Lamie had got the test back I knew then she could'nt have children from the STD's she got in Italy. But what did shock me was the way she started caring on.

With all that money I can bet there would be some way for her to have a child through some kind of invitro or fertilized egg implantation. If not then a surrogate. Jamie had all the love in the world for Rebecca this would have been accepted and planned with delight.

Thanks for writing! It was a well deserved 5 in my mind! I am still have a good feeing for reading this delightful story!

This was a very touching story. It wasn't erotic, at least not for me; but it had soul and that is far more rare. Great job. I know the usual crowd will be demanding blood or calling him a cuckold and one step removed from queer; but in this case, it worked. Thanks for writing.

Excellent and interesting character development. Logical plot and I think the ending and the husband's actions leading up to the ending make sense. Well done, WMO!

Good character development, good psychological development, well written. But... all your readers knew what was troubling Rebecca as soon as the story of her motorcycle accident unfolded. Why couldn't Jamie see that ? His character is not that dull.

Thanks for writing well. I enjoy reading your works.

Roger

Don't let all these well deserved comments go to thy head - just keep story telling as you do so well - and growing.

With Very High Regard

Fine story once again!

....in one year?.....This effort deserves huge thanks. Engineers like you build Pyramids. I'm not sure if it is even a matter of true love or not, but it is often infinitely rewarding to recognize that people change. Rehnquist, you are too clever to make a statement that you "agree people don't change." Thank God most people go through sea changes in their lives, most NEED to. The thing that made this tale deviate from the norm here was that it was written by an author who is not afraid of women. You imbue them with all the strengths and many of the same weaknesses as your male characters. And I appreciate that you cut a misfit some slack when they are their own harshest critic. And bootstrap puller.

but I am going to leave one less so. The main character, like so many others here, is a bright and intelligent star that makes his way in a new company, develops a well liked piece of software and has a high moral attitude; yet, cannot think to ask his wife what her fertility test results were or perhaps connect the dots where the odd behavior and fertility testing overlapped. I knew what was wrong with her from the moment of the accident. I could have easily skipped to the end of the story since Jamie didn't seem to have a clue as to the problem in her life. Either he is an intelligent and intuitive man or he isn't, you really can't have it both ways...even in fiction. I really felt like you let the characters down without even the contemplation that she might be depressed from the test report and that certain STD's can effect a person's sterility.

You developed a good plot, fleshed out the characters and made the emotions real to the reader. Thank you for a truly great story.

Well constructed story which was interesting and true to life. I can see the frustration of trying to get help for someone that thinks they are alright. Thanks for sharing it with us.

There is a type of story in the genre where the husband is perfect and this is one of that type, a good example, but it doesn't rise above. If you asked this husband, so what are your faults what would he answer? Compare that to how many real people do you know who would have trouble with that question? So, I definitely saw it as a fantasy and would have liked him to have been a bit more three dimensional, but still it was fun and I was happy with the ending.

I enjoyed it, but must agree with Risq that our hero did seem to enjoy the hard stuff quite a bit. Is that bad? I guess that depends. The other comment I agreed with was about how the wife crashed the day of her going for her fertility test. It made the reason for her behavior obvious to anyone that hadn't consumed a bottle of "Jack". That the husband never questioned her about it, and apparently never considered having a child after that accident seemed odd, at best. As always, the male characters in your stories are pretty honest, hard working, and straight forward, and a lot of women in real life find that so rare as to be erotic in its own way. Thanks for the work!

I liked this story because, as I might have mentioned before, above and beyond its other virtues, of its length. I know a lot of readers obviously don't like longer pieces and I like short stories, but I am more of a novel or novella reader.I've read some very good short pieces on this site, but most of the time I feel you find much better reads in longer pieces. I think if you polled readers on the 'classic' stories on this site, particularly in romance or loving wives, you'd find that almost all of them are longer pieces.

But it was a great story in almost all areas. I didn't find the hero too 'perfect.' He's just a guy that knows what he wants in a relationship and loyalty and fidelity are paramount. There are a lot of men, and women, like that in real life.

The point about his drinking, to be honest, seems kind of irrelevant. There's nothing in the story that indicates that drinking poses a problem for him and the fact that he may drink a lot doesn't really say anything in and of itself. A lot of people in our culture drink a lot and as long as it doesn't present a problem, so what. By definition, alcoholism is a condition where drinking causes problems in some area of life.

As to the point that many readers knew or sensed what Rebecca's problems stemmed from, I don't think it was telegraphed too obviously. I also figured out that when the author didn't mention the results of her tests, it probably meant she was the source of the problem in having children. But to be honest, because this is the Loving Wives category, I had a suspicion that she might have wound up cheating on hubby after getting drunk and it was sexual guilt that prompted the problems in their marriage.

But like most readers, i liked both central characters and enjoyed the happy ending. Another good story by a good writer.

Very good. The only thing that distracted was the misspelled words.

<p>

I too realized immediately what was behind her behavior. But I’m a reader to whom none of this is happening. His first thought is not why did this happen, but will she live. Next he starts to worry about her behavior. Is it clear you would be able to step back and review all the information dispassionately?

<p>

I am pretty good at reading body language and verbal structure to figure out what’s really going on in a situation. But I regularly forget to use it with family and even friends. It’s far from clear that any of us in his situation would have figured out what was going on.

I agree with other readers that the infertility problem was pretty obvious, and after getting his own test results back and sharing those results with his wife, he would obviously have asked about her test results, not forgotten about them entirely, motorcycle accident or no accident. Becky did not hide it very well. Fertility is important to both men and women and they can feel like failures if they have infertility. That said, Becky was a strong, intelligent, beautiful woman who was supposed to have matured and gotten her shit together. She had a good job, a loving strong husband, she knew she was beautiful, etc. I have trouble believing her reaction to the fertility problem would have been to recklessly drive her motorcycle into an accident. The minor typos and other errors did not distract me, and I otherwise really enjoyed the story. Thanks for writing.

This is a good story with two main characters that are well-drawn and believable. There are, of course, a few lapses in grammar such as this: "I found out that she had went to Europe for two years after graduation and then came back and was now working at a subsidiary of father's company" -- But they don't really cause the reader to lose interest. Only criticism I have is the very long length of time it took for Becky's infertility to be revealed, even though every perspicacious reader knew it as soon as the motorcycle accident occurred.

Here we have this perfect, larger-than-life blue collar local hero being his immaculate self. He saves almost-raped damsels and is not even impressed by the millions of a spoilt girl or her power tripping father. Never a dent in his shining armour, our robot boy is undaunted by leering Disco Dans or even disease-ridden Euro-scum that robs him of the chance to multiply his breath taking genes. Okay, he is too full of himself to ask his wife what her doctor said after his little swimmers checked out to be strong enough to do an Iron Man. So he has to go through four pages to find out what every reader already knew, but I guess that is just more proof of his male perfection. And then...after all this hard work at obtaining fairytale amazingness here come these damn Loving Wives critics and tell him he has a drinking problem...

The story was interesting until the accident. After that it was like watching a bad horror movie. You hope the character in the movie would not fall into the obvious trap. I skimmed through hoping there would be some twist where the reason was not sterility or that Jamie would just connect the dots already.

Well, to begin with, the story was exceptional. However, its plot was a bit too much easy to grasp and just as another anonymous reader has said afetr the accident scene and yada yada yada. Dont mean to demean you. The scences were well executed but the plot didnt have much to carry in it. The gravy around it was definitely very interesting. So thats another feather in you cap.

Pen On Mate.

-SpawnKing

Slightly predictable, but otherwise excellent!

Angiquesophie is a bit nutty - in her mind the hero should be a wife-beating philandering pedophile mincing around and begging to be cuckolded while wearing a matching bra and panty set....

However, his failure to figure out the infertility issue does seem a bit obtuse, other than that it was a good story (don't knock predictability, successful writers understand that readers crave it and are often disappointed when things don't turn out how they hoped)

The best story I've ever red in literotica.com

this is THE BEST

The infertility was a very good twist. It was weird that she pushed him away subconciously so that he could have the life she wanted him to have.

I've read this story a few times and always enjoy it and the message.

Thanks for contributing to Lit!

C

then tanked at the end with worn out psycho-babble.

Oh well, worked out in the end - nice happy ending

Then told the security guard and went to pizza, I quit reading this garbage and gave it 1*.

And, it is totally false that a college campus is a dangerous place for girl. In fact college campuses are almost as safe as going to church. No doubt the author read that 1 in 4 college girls get raped during college. In reality it is in average college 1 rape every two years.

The 1 in 4 rape is based on a fallacious feminist study commissioned by Ms. magazine. The researcher, Mary Koss, hand-picked by hard-line feminist Gloria Steinem, acknowledges that 73 percent of the young women she counted as rape victims were not aware they had been raped. Forty-three percent of them were dating their “attacker” again.

Initially they could find very few college girls that said they were raped. That didn't fit there agenda so they intervied college girls and asked a series of question and a "Yes" answer to any of the questions was defined as rape. The questions were "Have you ever had sex when you didn't want to?" and "Have you ever has sex after a guy gave you alcohol or drug?" and similar type questions.

Naturally the media reported that 25% of college girls are raped without ever looking at the details of the study.

Come on! in vitro fertilization has been around and highly successful for quite some time now. Even if she did not think of this her doctor (a fertility specialist) would explain to her about her options for having a child.

So, the ENTIRE reason for her "breakdown" was flawed.

Other than that the story was well written and well done.

First she would have to have acknowledged the fertility issue to someone - anyone - which she was clearly not able to do - she had guilt it ruled her life - nothing even remotely unrealistic about that.

Second - the college stat - the study you cited is flawed yes but there are far more assaults on campus than anyone ever sees reported that too is a fact - the simple stat used in the story is totally immaterial to the story it was a STORY!! not a documentary. At a minimum allow the writer editorial privilege - it was never claimed this a a factual representation of anything - chill !!

I enjoyed the story the story line and the writing - thank you -

There were a number of contextual errors - you for your or yours and the like - it will flow better if those are found during proofing.

In terms of defining 'reality' , I won't argue that very valid points were made c.c. Infertility red flags being the preeminent one the otherwise faultless lead character schould have picked up on once Becky started to spiral . This story is a romance and to some degree there has to be suspension if disbelief to fully enjoy the form.

Not only that you seekers of truth -wrestling is FAKE! fans of wrestling base their loyalties based on if they like the characters and secondly the storylines. They don't care a whit if their wrestler of choice can actually wrestle.

I like very much WM's characters and the storyline. Is it representative of how love "is". Well no, IRL 3 guys pretty much clean the clock of an opponent pitted against one man en masse. this is a story of how love "schould be. TY to the author for "uplifting read"! I enjoyed the ' break in reality the WM1 gave me.

obvious why rebecca was acting the way she did almost instantaneously so it was painful to have to watch o'connor wade through 3-4 pages of fights, confusion and, hurt feelings but all in all still a great read and i throughly enjoyed it

your worthless, snide comments are not needed nor welcomed here.

please fuck off and go back to strangling yourself while masturbating or what have you

changing into protector to fallen angels. TK U MLJ LV NV

If DW hates men or women, sorry DW but some of your comments make me think you need a nice slap to get some sense knocked into your head.... Back to the story, it was nice despite being obvious at times I was afraid to finish when she started to spiral down, didn't want to see a beautiful romance go down in flames. Thanks for sharing this with us

IT IS OK TO BE PREDICTABLE IN SOME PARTS OF THE STORY; BUT THE STORY ITSELF IS WHAT COUNTS AND THAT IS WHAT MAKES IT A WINNER.

THANKS AGAIN FOR WRITING

Strange, but I can't find a Hwy 101 along the coast near San Diego.

This story rocked.

There were errors, misused words and a few punctuation errors. They did not distract from the story, nor were they numerous. It flowed.

I cared about the characters. The wife was a real person. Too many times in this genre, the wife is unbelievable, shallow, or totally unsympathetic. This one wasn't and that is harder to write then you'd think.

A trifle long, but certainly not overly wordy.

i likedd it and had to read it all in one sitting. you did good, again. 5 u get.

a real story with real people.

Pure talent touches the page. Brilliant writing and story

I don't understand how such an excellent writer can use a character like Jamie as the lead. How can someone who is supposed to be so smart, be so DUMB or ignorant about females. The FIRST thing he should thought of was the fact that she never reported the result of her fertility test. Especially after learning of her bout with STDs.

Sorry, Woody. That, added to the lack of proofreading, I had to vote only 2 stars this time.

deJay

Excellent story I enjoyed it.

Had to agree with deJay on this one. The plot lost something by making Jamie so ignorant about the infertility. You didn't give any reason for him to throw the fertility to the wayside which made him seem way too stupid. He jumped from being excited about starting a family, doing the fertility tests, getting his results then completely ignoring Beccas results.

But the Becky's fertility test results before her bike crash never getting a mention totaly gave away what her problems were so the ending kinda suffered.

But I agree with the comments about the silence on the fertility test. That gives away the plot.

It is a good story up to the last page. No, I do not believe based on the story she would have gone to counseling voluntarily. No, I do not believe that 3 months of counseling would get her over her alcoholism and issues dealing with her self inflicted infertility. No, I don't believe her husband would not have instituted divorce proceedings. No, I don't believe he would take her back. I know it doesn't bring a tear to the eye and cause one to choke up but sometimes the story should end "I'm glad you resolved your issues - have a nice life without me."

he admits to being a man-whore when he was bec's age, but "matured" and grew out of it, but NEVER believed his wife was capable of doing the same thing even after having her spied on.

he was constantly disrespectful to jason, getting mad at his "meddling" when all he was doing was inquiring about his daughter's obvious depression.

he was too stupid to deduce her wreck/depression coincided with the reception of their fertility results.

he abandoned his wife when he knew she was sick, and continued to be a giant dick to her right up to the end.

narcissistic, hypocritical, paranoid, controlling, self-righteous/unforgiving; he shows the signs of being an abusive spouse. when my youngest daughter was a senior in high school, she began to act really strange - depressed, withdrawn, skittish - after a couple days, it was bad enough for me to try to find out what was wrong. the last phone call i made was to her new "boyfriend". i asked him if he knew what happened over the weekend, and just like james, he was tremendously disrespectful and essentially told me to butt out. i IMMEDIATELY realized that whatever had happened, he was the source of it, and 20 minutes later i was in his living room beating his face in with a framing hammer. i've never regretted it. only bad guys try to isolate a girl from her parents like that. i would rather have had jason come to the same conclusion (abusive relationship), since it the only conclusion a rational father could come to.

Blaming Jamie would take an idiot of epic proportions.

go through the litany and find yourself, TK U MLJ LV NV

Simply catching an STD or even three of them is not enough to cause infertility, it takes leaving them untreated for a while to do that.

Over 60% of so-called "alcoholics" or "problem drinkers" stop drinking when treated for depression. They are not addicted to alcohol, they are self-medicating.

Well written, but it all fell apart when the smart lead character suddenly becomes dumber than a sack of hammers. They both decide to take fertility tests to see if they have a problem, but he never asks to see hers or even mentions it. Then when she immediately acts out and continues to do so, it never even occurs to him that that might be the problem, even though he spends countless hours agonizing over what the problem might be. Sorry One Star.

was a very annoying character. I would have made my daughters hubby sign a prenup too if i worked to get the business successful. idk why he was so upset about signing it. Then the hubbygot made when the father tried to help out concerning HIS daughter but then when the hubby did went to the father for help, he threw tantrum over a joke. The ending to me was too abrupt.. so he tries to get her for years to talk about her probems and she wont. The she finaly does after he leaves and tells him this and they immediately reconcile? im not saying reconciliation wasnt in order here just that it happened really quickly

Just appreciate the damn story. Yes, some parts weren't realistic, but so what? It was entertainment, heart warming, and they all lived fucking happily ever after!

I put in a theme in the search for stories. This one was first on the list. I went to bed at 1AM. I couldn't stop reading. How I missed it before amazes me.

MCPOJim

I have now read a substantial number of this author's stories. They are good and enjoyable. They also prove that a good and entertaining story does not have to have frequent and graphic sex throughout the story. This author has not posted any new stories since 2013. I hope they will again start writing again.

I can't believe that any man who has all the knowledge he had couldn't put 2 and 2 together and realize all of the problems were because she couldn't have a baby, it was so obvious. I wouldn't want him doing any consulting for me.

But it was a good story with a good pace so 5*

Honorable and straightforward doesn't have to mean dumb.

But agree that Becky's problem was obvious; which naturally makes Jamie look like an idiot. This doesn't jive with everything we know about him and detracts from an otherwise excellent story. Still a solid four stars.

The improvement in writing style and editing is huge in comparison with your early work. Don't know how you did it but well done indeed!

Great story but as others have pointed pointed out you really needed to hide the reason for her actions. No mention of wanting children, no mention of the tests would have left the readers wondering as much as her husband. Maybe even suspecting infidelity which would have added to the angst for the LW readers. The frustration of him not realising what was obviously wrong really did spoil the story. A pity as otherwise it was wonderful.

He broke his wedding vows and likely will again. She probably should run from him. I enjoyed the story well written. Hubby is kind of a jerk. No room for ultimatums in any relationship especially a marriage.

Thanks for a great story with a happy ending. But the 909/Elsinore over coastal 619? Never! OldBearSwitch

... I'm sure that I read this story many years ago because I'm such a fan of your work. It was definitely worth the re-read.

Great Love Story!

Just that Great

Your best work , IMO.

For a man who is supposed to be smart - he wasn't. Both going to see their doctors about having children. A m/c accident and suddenly their must be a problem and no one asks about the doctor results. Way too many pages written dancing around the issue. Finally skipped a bunch and found I was correct. Shorter would have been a much better story.

Since he'd just been tested, why did he never ask her about her results.

Nice story, but much ado about nothing.

hmm i find the white knight lacking first of all he should have demanded to be let in what was going on with her this situation would have been resolved alot sooner if he would have pressed her months ealier and like last comment says for such a smart guy sure is stopid you both take fertiliti test when she is about to reseave her results she goes bonkers whe he aks about a familie she goes sad ohw dude you are so clueless and selfobsorbed that you dont deserve a wife

Oe of the main is that she is an alcoholic. She should have given him a chip showing how many days without drinking. Sounds a bit like RAAC to me, not as forced as some others I read, but even so what she did was not enough. In 9 pages you took too much room to describe their problems and too little to explain the reconciliation.

I enjoyed some parts but the end looked forced for me.

Adoption?

Lets see, plot summary, "Hi, I'm a slut and a whore but you have to forgive me because I made myself sterile with STD's and I spout some psycho-babble and I'm sorry." Brilliant and incisive exposition of male female relationships.

Loved it when husband offered alcoholic wife more booze...twice.

Husband never asked about fertility results?

A-D-O-P-T-I-O-N...author probably never heard of it.

You do not understand what an alcoholic really is, I do cause I am one. A person can be a very heavy drinker .like Becky. or one like me. I have not had a drink had a drink in 26 years.

From the moment of the first bike wreck I knew she could not have kids. Figured it was a genetic problem. Never crossed my mind that it was STD related. Rebecca was loaded with guilt, not being able to have children, caused by her life style. She felt that she dishonored her "White Knight". SOOO before you go running your pie holes about a subject you don't know shit about, think again and keep it closed

Interesting one Woodie

This is a fairly good analysis of two people who come from significantly different social and economic backgrounds. Who initially have a different take on personal relationships, and which continues to create problems for them after they get married.

Your best story. I truly enjoyed it.

It was obvious that the reason for the accident was that she couldn't have children and I thought she felt guilty because it was from an STD. The story should have cut to that sooner and then made the story about something else. This was too obvious, as well as, that he will end up staying in SD and Becky would join him there. The thing that sucked about the story is how he couldn't come to that realisation straight away. After all he knew that she had gone in to get that tested and why wouldn't the topic come up, if not straight away because the focus would have been on her injury but eventually when they'd make love and if she was on the pill, etc.

Now about motorcycles. The odds of fatality from a motorcyles is 5.5 times that of automobiles. And in a 40 year span of riding the odds of fatality are 3%. Why would anyone buy their wife a motorcyle if he loved her? And that's the odd of fatality. The odds of serious injury or paralysis are significantly higher.

Because he loves her. Those of us who ride motorcycles get a joy from riding that we don't get from driving a car. If your wife enjoys riding motorcycles and you love your wife, you buy her a motorcycle. You also buy her a good helmet and set of leathers just in case (and I know from experience just how important they are) but you don't actually think about the odds of an accident. Like anyone engaged in a dangerous activity you don't think something bad will happen to you - if you did you wouldn't do it.

Fantastic story, thank you for posting.

I really enjoy the longer stories, especially if they can hold my interest for the long haul. This one met all expectations. Really interesting from start to finish. Thank you.

Good story. People are screwed up and that is just human. She grew up and was the loving wife she was supposed to be. Well written. Thank you

This guy/protag is just too tepid and a bit too wise for his years. Who at that age has that type of insight and control? Maybe a guy raised like him, but it doesn't necessarily make for an interesting read.

Four/five pages in and would probably have kept going but when he finally confesses that he wants to give a real relationship a shot her response is perfunctory to the point of being robotic. Really, given what you then learn of the rape in Europe she should have been bawling her eyes out to have this guy finally want to give himself to her. This is where the author fell quite short of the mark.

And previously, how long was the interim before he confesses to her his feelings? Was it a couple few months? What guy, with her thirst for manmeat is gonna let her sit there for however long it was and give her no sex...? Whatever, I couldn't quite buy it. I realize he was being careful, but come on this gal was irresistible.

There isn't too much wrong with this story. It's just the wrong temperature tonight.

Thanks to the author for his effort.

But I can never understand why an author spends so much time planning and then writing a long story like this, then doesn't give it to a friend to proof read it. This one had countless wrong words and typos.

Often the author will, at the beginning, thank so-and-so for editing, then claim any errors were his fault because of late changes he made. Damn it, if you make changes, have someone proof it again. You owe it to your readers. Without them there is no reason for you to post a story here. For shame!!

This was a good read. 5 stars

However, I agree with several recent comments, the many serious typos and errors show you didn't do enough proofing or editing, to catch most of them. Hardly any of them, as many as there are on each page!

I agree with others here also, even if you have a story editor help you edit; if you then later revise or make changes afterwards, go back and carefully check and recheck your whole story, until all the typos and mistakes you've made, are gone!

Four or five typos in a piece this long, are one thing. No big thing to me, at least. I think all of us make those mistakes, the automatic spell check, or word replacement feature, anticipates wrong and changes it for you, after you correct an error, and one or two word typos or errors get past you, before you post the story here. That sort of couple small errors, doesn't bother me much.

But, this story has hundreds of spelling errors, typos, double or triple extra words, grammar errors and flagrant mistakes, there is really no excuse for, if you simply reread the story enough time carefully, to correct them, before you post a new story here!

Other than that, by the time you got the story to her in the ER for the big bike wreck; I knew why, and by the ending page of the story, was not surprised I was right! The STD's from screwing around in Italy and getting raped there, had sterilized her. She wanted to give her husband children and couldn't ever do so, and that was more than she could handle emotionally! So she spun out of control, went nuts over that, and canned her bike up.

The way I see it, the problem with this story is, I could easily tell after the Docs tests for what was causing them not to get pregnant, and husband was clear and fine, I knew why wife was infertile, because you gave that away, at that same basic time, that early, in the story.

That might of been your intent, maybe I am wrong, but somehow, I just don't think so. Not by the way you tired to hold that fact back, until the very last page of the story...why she went bonkers for the next year, after the bike wreck.

As you plot a story this long out, you might give some serious thought, how you hold the real reasons why a major event happens, until the very last page of the story, and how you build suspense reading the story, until the very end revelation that becomes story problem resolution!

Still, this was a good story and a unique plot and I liked it! Thank you author!

Well worth the 4 stars I gave it! Would've been five, if you had carefully proofed it and taken care of most all the typos and mistakes, before posting it here!

another wimp story!!!

Generally I like your stories but this may be your best. The story arc and dialogue were excellent. Character development could have used some bolstering. Just an opinion; not a writer. Thanks for sharing your work!

The story really develops the characters to a tangible view. I enjoyed the flow and the story had color and bounce and tempo. The ending was a happy one which is a feel good element that makes a story more uplifting. Thank you for your efforts and sharing this wonderful story.

I had forgotten how good this story is. Characters, development, plot ...its a damn-near perfect piece.

Thank you for sharing your talents.

But a fantastic read nonetheless. Kept me glued to the screen all the way through. I loved it. Thank you for taking the time to write it.

Thank you for sharing your talent with us plebians. It was refreshing to read a loving wives themed story that had the two protagonists in love.

Thank you again

given there is no cheating?

Reading again, so much better than the garbage posted recently.

This was well-written with interesting characters. I will say that you can stretch out a plot point longer than almost anyone. We all knew what the problem was, as soon as you said he passed his reproduction physical - and why. The thousands and thousands of words which followed lost much of their impact because of the reader waiting FOR IT TO BE SAID! Either 1) don't be so obvious, or 2) get to the [obvious] point sooner! You have written a tale with smart characters, who seem too stupid to SEE THE OBVIOUS PROBLEM!