Sophia Pt. 04

After perhaps as much as an hour later, Kathy woke up to use the bathroom. I kept my eyes closed, pretending that I was sleeping. When she got in bed she leaned over and whispered in my ear, "I know you're awake, you sneak!" She softly chuckled and settled back down to try to sleep some more.

Finally Don woke up and tried to struggle his way into a sitting position with his damaged hands. As soon as I felt signs of his waking I withdrew my arm and pretended to be asleep, but with his difficulty sitting up I "woke up" to assist him.

"Don, can I help you?"

"Oh! Uh, I, uhhh, I appreciate you staying with me through the night, Maria, but I only have my boxers on....." Typical Don, he completely misunderstood the situation and tried to put us in the best possible light, and then he got nicely flustered about me seeing him in his boxer shorts, which I've already done. I interrupted him because he was apparently a bit tongue tied.I would really like to tie our tongues together soon!

"Don, don't forget I've seen you in your boxers before. You stay there and I'll get your bathrobe, then I'll help you sit up and you can put on the bathrobe while you're sitting. You can keep the sheet over your lap if you want to; and I'll close my eyes when you stand up and close your bathrobe. It'll be easy."

"Maria, ..."

"Don, don't make me get Roscoe, or worse yet, Megan and Robin," I said with a weary tone of voice. "You need help and I'm going to help you whether you want it or not." I got his robe and we did things my way, and maybe I didn't keep my eyes closed as tightly as I should have, so sue me. I had to make sure that Don was stable on his feet, didn't I? Especially after last night's dizziness, right? I must say that Don was sporting a fairly impressive morning woody and it was blasting off right through the fly in his boxer shorts.It was huge!I just had to hope that Kathy had her eyes closed better than mine and missed it. As for me, I wanted to take it home and play with it and him all night long.

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I haven't had an erection so hard that it hurt enough to wake me up since I was a teenager. I had to hit the bathroom and at least piss; I hoped that would begin to soften things up. I tried to push myself up with my hands.Shit! They hurt!I had forgotten about last night's nightmare. Now I wasn't certain which hurt more, my hands or my dick. I was in an awkward position to do a sit up on my bed, too. Then suddenly I heard, "Don, can I help you?"

Holy shit! Maria is in my bed! What the hell is going on? Get real; she probably just stayed in the room taking care of me; that must be it.But, it was still a hell of an embarrassing situation; I had an erection that wanted to become an independent life form and find a nice cave to live in, and I had a drop-dead gorgeous woman who was "just a friend" who just happened to be lying next to me in my bed. I hurriedly shifted over onto my side and scrunched up the blankets down there to hide my embarrassment. Things went smoothly after that and Maria came up with a system that let me hide my embarrassment without her ever realizing what was really going on. I was able to safely stumble into the bathroom with my dignity intact.Now if I can just figure out how to wipe my ass with these bandaged hands, I'll be all set.

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Kathy hurriedly got up from the other side of the bed when Don got into the bathroom. I think that because Don was so distracted by his situation, plus the fact that Kathy held herself so still, he never even noticed she was there. Just before she left the room she turned to me grinning and held up her hands over a foot apart.Well, there goes my hope that she didn't see it. It was nowhere near that big, but it was still plenty big enough for me.

I chased after her in surprise, "Kathy you seem to be doing pretty damn well this morning, considering what happened to you last night. I hate to be blunt, but what gives?"

"I do seem to be doing remarkably well and I've been wondering about it myself; there are four reasons that occur to me. First, Don rescued me. Second, Don hurt them; it might not be civilized but he physically hurt those would-be rapists and that makes me feelgood. Third, they didn't have much time to do anything to me but see my tits. Fourth, I was being honest about last night. I needed to be close to Don and sleeping near him reallydidcalm me down, letting me get to sleep, and gave me time to think intelligently about what happened and deal with my emotional upset. I'm not saying I'm over it entirely, but I'm in pretty good shape right now, and I'm both very relieved as well as proud of myself for it."

Just as Kathy finished her explanation, Megan, Robin, Vanessa and Freddie all walked in through the front door. Freddie explained that she hadn't wanted to disturb us so, instead of making a racket in the kitchen; everyone had gone out for breakfast. Megan and Robin then forced Kathy to retell her story; she edited it making it a more PG version. They were suitably impressed with the heroics of their father.

Don finally came out dressed in sweat pants and a t-shirt; it was probably the only clothes he could put on with his hands. I made pancakes and bacon for the three of us. Because it was difficult for him to use a knife and fork, Megan and Robin insisted on feeding their father. They were very serious about it, too, there was no clowning around, and they were careful to give him bite size pieces of food.My girls were good kids.Vanessa, Freddie and Kathy left early that afternoon. Kathy didn't want to go, but she had school work to finish. My girls and I took care of Don for the rest of the day by feeding him, making him take his medicine and supplying him with ice packs to bring the swelling down. Don would have to stay home tomorrow from work, there was no way that he could function with his hands still so badly swollen.

I, of course, planned on spending Monday night taking care of Don. Megan and Robin also insisted on spending the night, too, instead of going back to their mother's. I felt a quick jab of frustration because it was a perfect excuse to spend the night alone with Don, but my girls had quashed that hope. It was entirely understandable, though. Megan called Barbara to say that they wouldn't be home after school on Monday and explained that they had to take care of their dad, who had been hurt. I was surprised when Megan handed the phone to Don explaining that her mom insisted on speaking to him. He took the phone into his bedroom to talk to her alone.

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Megan and Robin scared the crap out of me. They called me up Sunday night explaining that they would not be home Monday, and might not be home until Thursday night. When I asked why, they said that their father had been hurt and they needed to take care of him.

Well, I went through the roof. How badly was he hurt? Did it involve the situation with the cheater that he called me about a few weeks ago? How was he hurt? My girls kept to their promise made with their father and refused to tell me anything! I had to insist on speaking with Don.

He reluctantly explained to me that he had hurt his hands, and that they were just swollen and cut up enough to need a few stitches, and that it didnotinvolve the cheater that he had mentioned before.

What hurt the most was that, when I hinted that I would be more than happy to come by and nurse him, with no strings attached, he just shut me down. The man who had been my rock and comfort for so many years wouldn't even allow me to help him the tiniest bit. I collapsed crying after that phone call because the opposite was also true; he would never again be there for me when I needed him. What I had done had destroyed all the bonds between the two of us. It reaffirmed my decision to keep an upcoming appointment to see a new therapist.

I ended up seeing a therapist team, and Tuesday night was my first appointment with them. They were a unique and special couple that worked as a unit when counseling their patients. I had heard quiet talk about them and checked them out as best as I could using my own resources, but I had found out very little. They behaved quite secretly, but supposedly they had successfully brought results when nobody else could.

"Hello, Ms. Hendricks, I'm Gail Pone and this is my husband Paul Pone. How can we assist you?"

"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Pone, please call me Barbara. To be absolutely blunt, I destroyed my marriage, my family and my life by having a series of affairs. I've heard about your reputation and I want to get back as much as I can of my old life." They exchanged looks that, while professional, seemed to convey the message "Oh, another one of those!"

Paul spoke first, "Barbara, we're not miracle workers. However, we will do our best to help you if you can afford us. You must understand that we are not cheap. The most important questions after that are how many children do you have with your husband, what is the legal status of your marriage, for how long did you cheat on your husband and with how many sexual partners?"

I began crying and said, "I've been divorced from Don for almost three years. We have two wonderful daughters. I committed adultery for over three years, and it was with twenty four different partners."

Gail and Paul exchanged another of those looks. Gail spoke this time, "Barbara, you probably came to us because we have a bit of a reputation for fixing broken marriages like yours. Part of the reason for our success is that Paul and I were both victims of cheating spouses in our first marriages. We use techniques that are not accepted by any other therapists, as far as we know; also we are not accepted by the rest of our profession because of it. Quite frankly, we are always wondering if today is the day that we will lose our licenses to practice. Other therapists work on the theory that adultery is the fault of both spouses, and they counsel forgiveness and understanding."

"We do that as well, when appropriate. However, when that is not appropriate, we use two other techniques, balance and punishment. In our sessions with some of our patients (who are almost always the cheating spouse) we try to help them to find something that will balance their sins with their spouses or ex-spouses. For example, we might have a forty year old man cheating with a thirty year old woman for two months. If his spouse is agreeable to it, and frequently she is not, he will find her a thirty year old man that she can have an affair with for six months. You will notice that the amount of time to achieve balance is three times the length of the man's affair. We tend to use that ratio a lot; we've found that a one to one ratio doesn't balance things for the victimized partner. That is one way to balance things. Financially is another, and sometimes we have to really rack our brains to come up with a method that satisfies the wronged spouse, yet doesn't offend their honor."

"Then there is revenge or punishment, the cheating spouse must suffer some form of punishment beyond the balancing, beyond the pain inflicted by knowing that they've hurt their spouse and marriage. Sometimes this pain is self inflicted. For example, we had one man that refused to have his own affair while still married to his cheating wife; he thought that it would dishonor himself. It was quite difficult coming up with a way to balance the situation for that couple, but we did it and he chose to consider reconciliation, but again he refused to punish his wife. The wife inflicted the punishment on herself, and chose a method that is becoming so popular with our patients that it is almost the traditional way now. This 'popular' method consists of three parts. First, the guilty party must never refuse any sexual requests by their spouse; second, they choose a permanent marking to proclaim themselves to be devoted to their spouse - sometimes they even go so far as to have themselves marked as their spouse's property; third, there must be a complete lack of personal privacy for a very long period of time. This can be done quite easily nowadays with GPS locators and modern listening devices. Their marriage is still rocky, but at least they still have a marriage. These additional techniques don't work all the time."

"What the wronged spouse has to deal with is often overwhelming. They have to deal with the betrayal, the humiliation, the sense that they are sexually inadequate, and the firm belief that they will never be able to give as much sexual pleasure to the cheating spouse as their lover or lovers did. As well, they suffer from the conviction that their spouse has defiled the marriage and themselves by their adultery. That is just to name a few things."

"Barbara, your marriage has been over for a long time and your adultery was absolutely egregious. We don't have much hope of helping you in your goals. So, given that, what do you want us to do?"

I can't say I wasn't crushed at her statement. I had been holding out hope that they had a miracle up their sleeves, and I cursed myself for coming to them too late. It was actually my divorce lawyer that had mentioned them to me long ago. What Gail had said, however, was pretty much what I had expected at this late date.

"Gail, I would like three things that you might be able to help with. Your help in repairing my relationship with my daughters, as much as humanly possible, your aid in helping to cure me of the self loathing that I feel, and the biggest thing, and it's probably impossible, would be to reduce the hate that my ex-husband feels towards me." This was the first time that I have ever referred to Don as my ex-husband, and it hurt so much that I wanted to wail at the pain.

"We can probably do that, Barbara, but you will have to tell us absolutely everything, and it is going to take months. We charge six hundred dollars a session and you will need two sessions per week for as long as it takes. So do the math, we are very expensive. Do you still want our help?"

"That's fine, I can afford it. Can we start now?"

They both nodded their heads yes, and I started the sordid story of my married life. I would have paid them a million dollars to get Don back in my life in any fashion!

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The medicine and ice packs were doing a wonderful job of reducing the swelling in Don's hands. At this rate he should be able to take care of himself by Tuesday evening, damn it! I wouldn't have any excuse to stay over again, now. The stitches should be coming out in another week or so, too.

We had no plans this weekend for my home in the mountains because this time of year is the in-between, muddy season in the mountains. My horses should be back in their mountain stables by the last week of May or the first week of June, though. So, to make things even worse, I'm not going to have an excuse this weekend to visit at all with Don and my babies.

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"Maria, I had a thought."

"What is it, Don?"

"Megan and Robin really enjoy their time with you. I was thinking that, since we're not going to the mountains this weekend, I could maybe cook THE TURKEY here on Saturday."Again with the scream of eagles, am I the only one that hears these sounds?

"Would you like to come by this Saturday? I know the girls would love to see you."

"Don, I would absolutely love to spend the weekend with you!"I didn't know I could smile that widely or brightly! I know he didn't ask me to spend the entire weekend, but knowing Don, he is just going to assume that I misunderstood and thusMaria scores again!"I can even bring THE CHEESECAKE if you would like."Ah, the sound of cows in the morning, beautiful! Much better than the smell of cows in the morning. Hold it; Don is looking very strange, is he going to correct my deliberate "mistake"? Maybe I pushed things too far?

"Maria, this is a really strange question, but did you just hear the sound of cows mooing a minute a go?"Yes, yes, yes, I'm not the only crazy one; we're going to be a perfect match! Much, much better than he and Barbara ever were! Mooria, Mooria, Mooria, suddenly a vision of dancing cows filled my head.I looked back at him and decidednotto answerthatquestion!

"Anyway, I'd love for you to bring THE CHEESECAKE." Again he got that same puzzled expression. I'll have to make a mental note of that and ask himafterwe're safely married,Don, do you hear cows when THE CHEESECAKE is mentioned?

"I'm still working on my new lemon meringue pie recipe, but it has a long way to go." Now I couldn't help but wonder what sound would become associated with THE LEMON MERINGUE PIE when Don succeeded, because I had faith that he would. I guess I would just have to wait to find out.Funny, though, I never hear turkeys when THE TURKEY is mentioned!

On Tuesday evening after dinner I left Don by himself. He just didn't catch any of the hints I had been dropping that I wanted to stay. On the other hand, he had flat out told me that I could stay whenever I wanted. Maybe he just assumed that if I wanted to stay, I would just do so?Hmmmm.

I made a gross blunder and tactical error on Thursday. I mentioned to Freddie that Don was making THE TURKEY, blithely assuming that, since she's a vegetarian, she wouldn't care. WRONG! Freddie loves eating any meal that she doesn't have to cook, so she told both Kathy and Vanessa and they both immediately called Don to ask if they could come. After agreeing to their blatant begging, Don then had to call Freddie to invite her, since everyone else was coming, and he promised her Dungeness crab for dinner, probably just like Freddie had planned all a long.

Secretly, I was relieved that Freddie had contacted Kathy about THE TURKEY. She had been avoiding us since her attempted kidnapping and I was quite worried about her. She came for dinner but still managed to avoid any conversations regarding that terrible night, and I wasn't sure that I should pressure her to talk about it either.

Other than that, it was another perfect weekend. Don's hands were much better already and we played games, watched movies, danced on the new dance floor, went out to watch a couple new movies and generally pigged out. Here I was urging my friends to resume their own private social lives, and Don's cooking just drew them back in, like chumming the water for sharks.

On Saturday evening Don talked a lot about how he was in the final planning and financing stages for a new apartment building that he is going to start constructing in a couple of months.

Then, early on Sunday afternoon, disaster struck and Don's cell phone rang.

"Hello, Don Hendricks speaking........... Why, hello, Eva, of course I remember you, how have you been doing lately?................ I'm flattered by your compliments........... No, as I told you, Vanessa is just a good friend........ Thursday night this week? Yes, Thursday is normally an available night for me." My friends were exchanging panicky looks and my hands were white, I was clenching them so fiercely. "What kind of club is it?...........Jazz, I'd be happy to go.......Okay, I'll meet you at your club at seven and we will drive together from there. Thank you for inviting me, Eva, see you Thursday. Goodbye."Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, damn it, damn it, damn it, DAMN IT!Don turned back to us, with a big smile on his face.

"It looks like you won't have to set me up on my first 'real date'. Eva, the owner of that ballroom dance club, just invited me out." It was so FUCKING HARD keeping a smile on my face. "It is kind of a relief to find out that someone might actually be interested in me, especially romantically, but it is also a bit scary, too. Anyone want any more of THE TURKEY? We've got a lot left." Hell just froze over; none of us had any appetite any more.