The Other Betrayed Spouse

The story is written in British English

A short story of how Vicki discovers her husband's infidelity. It is a work of fiction so don't take it too seriously

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Vicki sipped her coffee nervously. She received a message through Facebook from a guy saying he had some information about her husband, Michael, that he was having an affair with his wife. Normally, Vicki wouldn't have put too much credence on what strangers had to say, she was in no doubt Michael was faithful, they were happy, and had three children. She was only here to give this guy a piece of her mind and he was already twenty minutes late.

Saying that his behaviour had been odd in the past months though. Although their sex life hadn't changed, it wasn't spectacular but still good, he did seem less enthusiastic and he had been working late and was having more business dinners lately. Also, the message had some "evidence" attached to it, text messages between Michael and someone called Amber.

As bad as all this was, there was a guy who was staring at her from the other side of the coffee shop. Her nerves didn't get any better when she saw him walk over to her table carrying an A4-sized envelope.

"Excuse me, are you Vicki Masterson?" he asked politely. Vicki looked at him, he was fairly young, much younger than her, fashionably dressed, and had the good looks of youth, not someone who would normally approach a middle-aged mother of three.

"Yes," Vicki answered cautiously.

"I'm Zack Gallagher, I DM'd you the message about your husband on Facebook."

"DM'd?"

"Direct message, I sent you the message on Tuesday," Zack wasn't looking too sure about himself now. "May I sit down?"

Vicki waved indifferently at the chair opposite her as an invitation for him to sit down.

"What is this all about Mr Gallagher? I don't appreciate unfounded accusations of infidelity being made against my husband," she said tersely.

"Please call me Zack. Please believe me when I say that I wouldn't have contacted you if I didn't have proof and I take no pleasure in telling you. I just thought that you should know what your husband was getting up to with my wife, Amber."

Vicki took a better look at Zack. Despite his good looks, his face was pale, and he looked like he hadn't slept well. There was a sadness in his eyes. Vicki started to feel queasy, she was beginning to feel like he was he might well be telling the truth.

"You say you have proof," Vicki said blandly.

"Yes," Zack said and he pulled out some papers from the envelope. "Here are some text messages between your husband and Amber."

Vicki took the papers and took her glasses out of her handbag to read. The messages were highly explicit in nature and the queasy feeling became one of nauseous. It looked genuine.

"This could be faked," Vicki told Zack dismissively, handing back the papers.

Zack looked disappointed but he reached back into the envelope and brought out some photos and gave them to Vicki. This time Vicki went pale and put her hand over her mouth in shock. The photos showed her husband arm in arm with a much younger woman who looked around Zack's age. The last photos showed them kissing and heading into a hotel. The time and date stamp on the photos was a date when Michael was supposed to be at a business dinner with a client.

"There are more," Zack said somberly.

The next photos were from another date Michael was supposed to have been at another business dinner and showed them entering the same hotel. Zack handed Vicki several more photos.

Vicki took a serviette and began dabbing her eyes dry as her tears began to flow, "How long have you known?" Vicki asked Zack.

"About a month. Amber doesn't know that I know yet. I'm going to confront her today with the divorce papers. I didn't say anything before because I was gathering evidence. I went on Reddit for advice and they all said I should contact you. My divorce lawyer agreed and he said that you should give him a call," Zack reached back into his envelope, took out a business card, and gave it to Vicki. "He said that if he represented both of us then he would be able to get better divorce outcomes for both of us but he could well be just touting for more business," Zack gave a small laugh that earned him a stern look from Vicki, but she gave a small laugh too.

"How long have you been married, Zack?" Vicki asked sympathetically.

"Two years. We've been together about eight years though."

"Only two? I'm so sorry, Zack. You had your whole life ahead of you."

Zack wiped away a tear, "What about you, Mrs Masterson?"

"Call me Vicki, I feel like we are connected now," she said kindly putting her hand on Zack's. Twenty-three years married and we have three children too.

"I think that is worse. We at least don't have children," Zack said wistfully.

"But you wanted them with Amber?"

Zack nodded sadly.

"May I keep these?" Vicki asked Zack, showing him the photos and text messages.

"Of course, I have digital copies if you would like me to email them to you and my lawyer has copies too."

"Yes, please. I would also very much like to stay in touch with you, to talk. I think we could help each other through this."

"I would like that, Vicki," Zack replied and he wrote down his number and email address on the back of the business card. "It was very nice to meet you," Zack said as he stood up to leave. "I will look forward to hearing from you."

Vicki sat alone, her tears streaming down her face, awash with conflicting emotions. Sadness, anger, regret, guilt. She had no idea why she felt guilty. Twenty-three years of marriage and Michael treats her like this, the bastard. He told her he only wanted sons and she gave him three. When she told him she wanted a fourth child, a daughter, he refused and now he cheats on her with a woman at least fifteen years younger than him.

Vicki took the business card and sent a message to Zack with her phone number then sent him an email asking for copies of the text messages and photos.

Vicki then called Zack's lawyer,

"May I speak to Mr Trent, my name is Vicki Masterson, his client Zack Gallagher approached me with evidence of an affair between his wife and my husband."

"Yes, one moment and I'll put you through."

"Mrs Masterson, thank you for calling," a friendly voice from the other end said. "How can I help you?"

"I would like to arrange an appointment to discuss divorcing my husband,"

"Of course, I could fit you in this afternoon if you can make it?"

"That would be ideal. If I would retain your services, what could I realistically gain from the divorce? I have three children and a house."

"Well, with the evidence we have on file, I would expect for you to keep your house with your husband continuing to pay the mortgage, custody of your children, and child support at the very least. I would also try and get him to pay your legal fees. It depends on what you want to achieve."

"I want to make him suffer, could you do that?"

Mr Trent gave a small laugh, "I very much think so."