The Story of Emma and John

Okay, a bit about me. I'm far from perfect but I'm no loser. I'm 5' 11" tall, weigh in at about 165 pounds and I run and cycle for exercise and recreation. I don't play golf, too boring and pointless, and I could care less about hitting a small white ball with an overpriced stick just to get it in a hole in the ground. I like to use my body to work up a sweat and get my frustrations out. I had been doing lots of both running and cycling lately since 'frustration' was my middle name. I had a number of reliable babysitters in the area that I could call upon to look after my girls so that I could get out and exercise. There were also a couple of neighbours that had figured out that Emma had all but left us and they had quietly offered their help with minding the girls if I needed to get out for a break.

My cycle group proved to be a god-send. I met a woman there, Andrea, and we struck up a friendship and then began to date. Initially she was wary of getting in the middle of a situation between me and Emma but when I explained what my plan was and then confided in her that Emma was pregnant and very much wanting to have another mans baby; well, she understood that the end of my marriage was not far off.

Andrea had even spent the night at my house a few times, met my girls, and gone on few outings with us together. She's a Grade 4 teacher, divorced, and doesn't have any children yet. My girls took to her right away and actually saw more of her in the last few months than they have of their mother.

When it came time to serve the divorce paperwork on Emma the documents were served at the love-nest. I had Evans served at his house. His wife was there when the server came to the door. She took the papers and immediately opened them. I heard that things were a bit tense in the Evans household for a few days. Evans was holed up in the love-nest with Emma and his new son while Mrs. Evans got her attack-dog lawyer to work putting the screws to her husband.

I was suing him for just over a 1.75 million dollars for lost family income and the increased costs that I would incur not having a wife, as well as the money that Emma might reasonably be considered to contribute to university costs for her daughters. I didn't make mention of the baby, that was pointless.

Emma called me repeatedly to tell me that she loved me and wanted to come home. She said that this was all just a big misunderstanding and that her time with Evans was never meant to be long term. It was just a phase for her and now it was over and we could get back to being a family again. I asked if Evans was keeping the baby that he fathered. No answer to that question.

I had changed all the locks on the house and programmed a new garage code so that there wouldn't be any 'surprises' with Emma and her child suddenly arriving.

My lawyer called and said that Evans' lawyer wanted a meeting to discuss a settlement. When we sat down at the table Evans was actually there. Seems that he was willing to offer me cash in the amount to $50,000 if I were to drop the suit and take Emma back. When asked if he was keeping the child that he fathered with her there was dead silence from his side of the table. His lawyer piped up, "It would be highly inappropriate to separate a mother from her child, and that is not our intent here." As if that was going to heal all wounds.

I responded before my lawyer could say anything. "You fail to realize that I am not prepared to act as father of a child that is not mine. Mr. Evans fathered the child, Mr. Evans can keep the child. If the child's mother is part of that package, then so be it."

My lawyer smirked at Evans lawyer - 'take that dipshit.'

And so we went back and forth over that next few months. Eventually Evans settled for $250,000 to make the whole nasty issue go away.

My divorce from Emma was finalized and I received full custody of my daughters. I agreed to liberal, even unsupervised, visitation from Emma. I knew that she loved the girls and they, in their own way loved her.

My daughters got even closer to Andrea over the months and we got engaged just about the time that we discovered that she was pregnant. I sold the house and we moved to a slightly bigger one. The money from the lawsuit was invested to guarantee a good education for all my children.

Emma and lover-boy eventually ended their affair, mostly at the urging of Mrs. Evans. She threatened to take him to the proverbial cleaners. Seems that she was well connected in the community through her family and could bring significant pressure to ensure the Gerald toed the line in the future.

Emma kept her job at the law firm. So did Evans. I bumped into Emma downtown a couple of months after the divorce was final. We actually had coffee and talked. I wanted to ask her a very simple question. Why? Why did she need to have sex with another man? Was I that bad a husband? Or was she that bad a wife?

She was a bit more honest in her answers than before. For her is was about having sex with a black man and she wanted him to dominate her. She admitted that she had a fetish for black men and had never acted on it before. Evans was highly attractive to her and easily got her to have sex. She was convinced that she was in love with him and that having his baby was the right thing to do.

Emma was living with her son in a two-bedroom apartment. She saw her daughters every few weeks and took them to do things with their half-brother. The girls thought he was a cute baby and they enjoyed their time with him.

Andrea and I bought a cottage on a lake and we began the renovation project and planned to spend our summers there. Our new daughter was born.

Evans came out of this mess largely intact but sufficiently burned by his wife that he is unlikely to have a wandering eye, at least for a while. I would like to think that he and Emma felt the full-force of my revenge but that would be overstating things a bit. I, and my daughters, came away from the disaster of Emma and lover-boy with a feeling that we were lucky to escape the shit-show without too much trouble. We were doubly lucky to find a great woman to start a new life and bigger family with.

Is this a happy ending? For me it was. For Emma, I don't know. For Evans, it was costly in terms of money, but he could afford it. That's the reality of life. There are no ultimate winners or ultimate losers, just survivors.