The Fifty Year Lie: Husband's Story

"Hello."

"Rick, thank God you answered the phone instead of Barb! I need your help, but Barb can't know. Please come down to the police station and bail me out. I'll explain everything when you get here. Rick, please! Please! Don't tell Barb!"

I told Barb I had to run an errand for my dad and I'd be back as soon as I could when she asked who was on the phone and I bent to kiss her before I left. I drove to the police station and posted Brenda's bail. Brenda started talking as soon as we were in the car.

"Rick, I'm not going to lie to you. I was arrested for assaulting a man. Rick, it was John Malone and it was over Barbara."

"What do you mean it was over Barbara? Why would you need to assault him?"

"Rick, you're not going to like what I'm about to tell you, but Barb is having an affair with John. I saw him tonight and told him that it had to end and he laughed at me which made me mad so I began hitting him. That only made him laugh harder until I picked up a beer bottle and hit him in the head with it. I was arrested because it broke the skin and he bled. Rick, I'm so sorry. Rick? Aren't you going to say anything?"

"I had my suspicions that something like that was happening, but didn't want to know. Why do you care if Barb is cheating on me?"

"Oh Rick, I love you! I've loved you since the day I met you! I know you think I'm crazy, but it's true! Rick, I'll do anything to prove to you I love you!"

"Let me take you home and we can talk more there."

"Yes, take me home and then we can talk."

I took Brenda to the small house she had bought. When I was seated on her couch, Brenda went into her bedroom to change. I didn't expect the sight I saw when she came out of her bedroom. Brenda had on a black knee length see-thru teddy and I could see she was naked underneath it. The resemblance to Barb was undeniable. 5'5" to Barb's 5'7", same blond hair only pixie cut instead of full and flowing, same large breasts that I assumed they both inherited from their mother, flat stomach, full hips, nice round ass, until the one exception; Brenda's snatch was completely bald, something common today, but practically unheard of back then. Hers was the first live one I'd seen. The only other ones I'd seen were in pornos. I couldn't have kept from getting an erection even with a ten pound bag of ice on my crotch.

"I see something is enjoying the view. Rick, I'm yours tonight to do anything you want to with!"

I stood before saying. "We can't do this Bren! Your my sister in-law for God's sake! I still love Barb and I can't cheat on her!"

"But she's cheating on you and has been for a long time! Please, Rick, make love to me tonight! I promise I'll never bother you again if you do!"

Brenda sashayed over to me then put her arms around my neck and pulled my head down so she could kiss me hard on the lips. That first kiss was different than any other kiss I'd gotten from any other woman. It felt like an electric current went from her lips to mine and then all the way down into my soul. All coherent thought left my head and the only thought left was how much I wanted the woman in front of me. I picked Brenda up and carried her to her bed. I had my head between her legs and was licking all over her hairless mound before beginning to lick her wet slit. She came moments later when I began lashing her clit with my tongue. When she started to calm, I stood, dropped my pants and briefs, and lay down on top of her placing my mushroom headed cock to her opening. I eased my turgid rod into her and began to pump in and out with slow gentle strokes.

"Fuck me...fuck me hard and fast!" She begged of me ten minutes into my fucking of her.

"No! You asked me to make love to you and that's what I'm going to do!" I answered her before plastering my mouth to hers. She didn't flinch or try to pull away like Barb did when I tried to kiss her with her own juices on my lips. Brenda was kissing me back and with as much passion as I was kissing her. I felt her second orgasm and her muffled squeals from my mouth on hers as she writhed underneath me. When she had begun to calm again, I rose up and began to pound her pussy, driving her back up the peak of pleasure she had been sliding down before. We came simultaneously five minutes later, an experience that had never occurred before. I didn't know why or how, but realized at that moment, I had found my true love and soul mate and also realized that it's possible to love two people at the same time. It would be several months later before I came to the next big revelation.

"Oh my God Rick, did you feel that! We came at the same time! That's never happened to me before! I love you! Thank you! If we never do this again, I'll always remember it!"

"Bren, don't freak out, but I love you too! If you want, we can do this again and again!"

"Divorce Barb and marry me! I promise to make you happy and I'll never ever cheat on you!"

"Bren, I know you won't understand this, but I can't divorce Barb. I want to be the next CEO of my father's company and I have to stay married to Barb for that to happen. I promise I'll support you and love you from now on, but unless Barb dies in the foreseeable future, I can't marry you or live with you as man and wife. Please try to understand. We'll be together as often as we can, I promise."

"You're right I don't understand, but I said I'd do anything to prove I love you and I meant it. If you need me to be the "other woman", I'll do it. Can we make love again?"

"No Bren, it's late and I need to get home. We'll do this again soon, I promise." I stood up from the bed, pulled my pants back up, and left Bren with a tender kiss before leaving for home.

I began the double life I would lead for the next forty six years. I managed to meet Bren twice a week for the best sex I ever had because it was with my true love. Even though we couldn't be seen together in public, we managed to have romantic picnics on several occasions. I was excited and happy when Bren told me she was pregnant with a child I knew without a doubt was mine. I bought a camera that could be set to take a picture in a certain number of seconds and a tripod to mount it on so Bren and I could take pictures with both of us in them. It took a picture of the three of us together a couple of days after the birth of our daughter, Elizabeth. I used the camera and tripod to take photos that would document our relationship and the happiness it brought to us both.

I continued to be the same loving husband and father that I had always been in the home I had with Barb and her children. I did do some research on my own at the public library and found that there was a paternity test available that used white blood cell matching from the child and father, but it was only 75% to 80% reliable so I didn't pursue it. I ignored Barb's secret stash on purpose for the next forty years. When Rick Jr. entered high school and began talking about his higher education, I pushed him towards math and science and hinted how proud I'd be with a medical doctor as my son. I pushed Jessica toward literature and logic and hinted at how proud I'd be with a lawyer as a daughter. I didn't have to push Mark toward a career not related to one that might lead into an interest in my company because he was the natural athlete in the family and became a jock who only studied hard enough to keep his grades above the cut off line for no extracurricular activities in the school system Barb's children attended. My decision that the public school system was good enough for the children caused the only true major fight Barb and I ever had. I stood firm and didn't back down and Barb's children went to public school. Mark got an athletic college scholarship for football and ran track in the spring and made enough money playing in the NFL to retire young when the knee injury he suffered in his ninth season ended his career. He was smart enough to let Jessica handle his money.

Bren and my son, Robert, was born a year and a half after Lizzie. I had begun giving Bren nine thousand dollars a month from my salary to support her and my children. I provided health insurance for them, bought Bren a new car every four years, and paid for all the unexpected things that come up in every day life. She didn't have to work and was the talk of the town for being a single mother with two children and no one knew who their father was and how she was supporting herself. We didn't care about what other people thought and continued to be happy in our relationship with each other. When mine and Bren's children reached school age, Bren enrolled them in one of the best private schools in town. The letter of recommendation from my father and the guarantee from him that the school need not worry about the tuition assured their acceptance. Lizzie became a nurse with no pushing from me or Bren. Robert became an engineer again with no prompting from his parents. Bren and I waited until both our children were teenagers and when we knew without a shadow of a doubt that they could keep the secret before we told them that I was their father and not their uncle as we had been telling them for all those years. My two families never mingle, not even during family reunions. Bren always came up with a plausible excuse as to why she and her children couldn't attend.

My father retired and I became the CEO of his company eight years after my discovery and our talk that day. He planned to travel the world, but was diagnosed with lung cancer nine months after retiring and was gone three months later after refusing surgery, chemo, and radiation. Rob and I worked closely together to maintain what our father had started and to expand it. I began to exercise, watch what I ate, and cut back on my drinking of alcohol after my father's death. Having never started smoking which I considered a filthy habit, I didn't have to worry about trying to quit. Thankfully neither of the women in my life had started that habit either.

I had my biggest revelation between the births of Lizzie and Bert. Even though I loved them both, I could honestly say I loved Bren more and the same went for the children in my life. I never stopped loving Barb's kids, but I always had more love for the two I definitely knew were mine.

Rob's son, Robert III and the same age as Barb's son Mark, was groomed from high school on to become the next CEO for our company much like both I and Rob had been. He had been working for the company for eleven years when I began thinking about my own retirement at the age of fifty five. I began sending him material to read and having him sit in on meetings much like my father had done me. He was ready to take over when I turned sixty and I retired in 2000.

Barb had not taken care of herself through the years like I had and gained weight which caused her to develop type 2 diabetes. I had planned on divorcing her when I retired, but couldn't bring myself to do it because of her health. On her sixty second birthday, I gave her a big party and invited all her friends including John Malone and his third wife. I used plastic cups and sneaked ones that Barb's children and John had used into separate plastic bags so I could have DNA testing done on them. I was going to verify that Barb's children were his and not mine. Barb's health continue to decline and I began to hope for her death so I could marry Bren and live whatever time we had left together, but that hope was never answered. When our children began planning our fiftieth wedding anniversary a year ahead of time, I decided that that would be the day I ended the farce of a marriage I was in with Barb. I was able to get all of her secret stash out of the house and had slides made from the pictures when her children mentioned they were going to be using a slide projector to run pictures on a big screen that showed the progression of our marriage and family. They were happy to let me have a canister of slides of my own and understood that the pictures were not to be shown until I was ready for them to be. They readily agreed to let me have control of the remote for the projector.

Bren had followed my lead and taken care of herself and we were both trim and fit on the big day. Lizzie and her husband and Robert and his wife along with Bren made the first and only appearance to a family gathering that day. No one questioned me when I arranged the chairs at the head table so that there were three chairs and room for the wheelchair Barb was in due to the amputation of her right foot from complications caused by her diabetes. She was a frail woman with a weak heart, but I never in my wildest dreams thought what I planned to do would kill her. My lawyer had the papers for the divorce ready that day and I had been able to get a slide made from them. The "Alienation of Affection" lawsuit against John Malone was prepared and given the same treatment as the divorce papers. I asked Robert III and his brother, Michael, not to let John Malone leave under any circumstances and I paid extra for the process server to deliver the hard copies to Barb and John that day.

After an hour of mingling, I decided to bring the afternoon to its ultimate end. Bren was in the seat to my left with an empty chair between us. Barb was to my right in her wheelchair. I stopped the slide show Barb's children had been running and started my own. I folded the chair I had been sitting in and placed it beside Barb then went and sat beside Bren. I heard gasps and murmurs of protest after the second picture appeared. I watched as Robert III and Michael physically restrained John and placed him back in his seat. I stopped Rick Jr. when he strode toward the projector and ordered him to return to his seat. I sat unemotionally when Barb began convulsing when the word divorce appeared on the screen. Lizzie ran to her aunt when her wheel chair went over onto its side, but it was too late, Barb was dead. John stood and grabbed his chest when the ten and a half million dollar amount appeared on the screen. I had arranged for an ambulance to be at the party and two EMT's to be with it due to the health of Barb and some of her elderly friends so it only took them ten minutes to get John to the hospital but he died in the back of the ambulance.

Bren and I with my real family walked out of the banquet hall together with our heads held high as pandemonium broke out around us. Our children were our witnesses to our marriage the next day. Lizzie and her husband and Robert and his wife re-located to Tempe, Arizona the city Bren and I had decided we were going to move to when all the legal actions were done. I sold Barb's house, the one my father had bought me, but didn't consider mine after my discovery. The alienation lawsuit was thrown out, but the paternity portion was allowed to proceed when the DNA tests I had done ten years earlier were introduced and proved without any doubt that John Malone had been the father of all three of Barb's children. I received a two million dollar settlement from John's estate and used the money to buy my children their first house just like my father had done for me and Rob.

With my retirement funds and the income from my wise investments over the years, Bren and I lived together as man and wife comfortably another twenty years before she died on me unexpectedly in her sleep at the age of ninety. I didn't know what I would do with myself after she was gone. We had no contact with Barb's children after we move to Tempe. My father was the only other person who knew the whole truth about my marriage to Barb and only he knew the reasons for the choices I made. He took them to his grave and as I write this I'm the only one still alive who knows the whole story.

P.S. I found this story in my father's last effects and thought I'd complete it. My father died two months after my mother did and I'm sure it was from a heavy heart. I'm Lizzie and even though I could never do what my father did, I'm more proud of him now than I ever had been in the past. My father's story proves that people will do strange things for love or money and no one knows what choice they'll make when those two things are involved until the choice is right in front of them to be made.

The End