All Comments on 'The Teacher's Husband'

Masterpiece

Awesome story. 5*****

Wow, the wife was a real FRUIT CAKE!

WOW that was an awesome read Thank you .

Good story I loved the ending.

5* Wish you posted more.

anon.1

It’s a great story. Glad it’s fiction. In real life the x would of finished her self off. His present wife would think he had no compassion and would wonder what he would do to her if she made a mistake. Thre daughters would blame their father for her demise.and break all ties from him. He would become a villain in a lot people he knows.

Would have been 5 stars if not for the Garrison Brothers mention. Love bourbon, not a fan of Texas bourbon. If you want A smooth high proof small batch try New Riff, distilled in Covington KY. Okay done picking on your bourbon choices...great story, maybe five stars in spite of your poor taste in bourbon.

"Kate requested I get a vasectomy, and I did". Not sure how his second wife was standing in the foyer with a baby bump. Otherwise, a good story

Just getting back into it?

5 star!

Loved the ending. Actually the whole story

My best friend in my twenties had a mother who took the side of his cheating wife because, "She never wanted a son in the first place." The sort of thing that no one would believe in a story unless they had seen a "truth is stranger than fiction" iterence of it.

I kept seeing the MC in this story with my old friend's face after getting to his mother's intro to the story.

5 stars!

Interesting story, but huge gaps that beg to be filled in. The actions of his mother are especially difficult to comprehend so there needed to be some background and then more information about the convoluted relationships that were never explained. The ending was abrupt and felt too contrived.

5* story. Sadly quite true to life. Because people do this kind of shit.

Wry enjoyable story that, agreed, happens so often in life. Looking forward to another story

oops, I forgot to leave praise for what I liked. The lover showing up to save her had a lot of interesting plot potential. Big thumbs up for that. Imagine how the story might proceed, if the wife isn't a nut case who completely loses her mind.

What if she's really smart. She had no real interest in divorce. She was just playing. It was fun and a real ego boost to have the hot, young guy fall in love with her. She didn't want him to cool off. So when he unexpectedly really escalates to propose marriage, she decides to say yes because she doesn't want to lose him. She doesn't really plan to go through with it. Just like the successful suit/cheating husband who keeps his mistress eager by promising he really does plan to divorce his wife and marry her.

Again, assume she isn't nuts. She's just a cheating wife who gets busted in an original way she couldn't even imagine. It's not fair. She was so careful. She'd learned from her earlier mistakes. She was the perfect cheater. How did it all go up in flames like this? Getting burned by these meaningless lies about her bad hubby. Now what? How can she possibly patch up her marriage? Of course, she enlists both sets of parents, but they aren't crazy. They're conflicted. She tries to enlist the daughters. She tries to use all the manipulative tactics that always worked to get her way with hubby in the past.....

These are the real life stories. This is where her narcissism is explored. This is where her ability to manipulate, lie and bullshit and coverup is stretched to the limit. This is where the scales fall from husband's eyes and he sees the real wife as she truly is. And the image he worshipped crashes off the pedestal he'd placed her on. And he eventually learns that life without the rose-tinted glasses sucks.

Excellent story. Sad and heartbreaking but really enjoyable. Thanks very much.

Thank God for for Good authors..... and tanks to your mon. 😂😂😂😂😂

Oh, boy. That's a zinger. I find myself sorry for Kate. She's lost everything, including her mental health, family, self respect, etc, etc. Of course, it's ll her own fault, but still,,,

Great story, sad, but very well told. Thank you

Mom.... sorry.

Excellent story, well written, 5 stars*****. Thanks for posting it.

Great story, thanks for sharing it with us. Most of my dissatisfaction with LW stories seem to be related to the ending of the story. This story, on the other hand, absolutely nailed it.

Great ending, the Princess did not get what she wanted this time. Dr. Dumb-ass better find dipshit2 for a new fairy-tale life, or NOT.

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Forget the pills just step off the curb in front of a bus.

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Only thing missing is what the twins thought of dad's new wife and step-baby and how their mother affected their romance expectations?

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5***** Hooyah, Salutes well done

I liked this story because at some point the author gives at least some insight into nearly all of the characters except Dipshit. I don’t consider the late reveal that he is only after her money as much character development. This had people to love , people to hate, and an appropriate ending. A 5 star rating even though it had some major flaws that were hammered in earlier comments.

The ending garnered you 5 stars. Many thanks for sharing.

Sorry, that ending just felt 'unfinished'. I'm not claiming to know what better way to have done it, but it just felt like you chopped off more of the story.

Wonderful.

I want just a LITTLE more from Kate. A conversation with our MC where she tells how it all got started, or something. But I don't know how to get it, narratively. And, it's possible I'll discover on re-read that it's not necessary: that everything is already there. Incipient empty-nest loneliness when the twins start their senior year of HS, an available co-worker, etc etc.

Great story – amazing page-one reveal! – very enjoyable main character. Well done.

I agree with des911, that I feel sorry for Kate. She's gone batshit crazy off her rocker into the deep end, and needs serious help. Not saying Peter has to stay for it – he needs to get away for self-preservation – but poor Kate lost her marbles and demolished her life.

@knoxhard I would read your version of this setup. Sounds very interesting. Love this story though.

Really good story. Kate clearly suffered severe depression. Pete wasn’t responsible for that, or her first affair. In hindsight his mistake was not making counseling - marital as a couple and individually for her. Rather than playing cheap man’s PI, he should have forced a separation until satisfied that she was all-in for the marriage.

Good story, until the end. And then it was too much like every other damn story. MC gets a younger better-looking woman and she's pregnant! How original.

Your story is about a seriously disturbed woman. So, where does she end up (besides his closing the door in her face).

I think AnotherChapter may have missed something I picked up on. The wife and husband grew up together. Their fathers and mothers were very close. It's just that simple. His mother grew up raising him and watching his wife grow up, clearly taking on a secondary-maternal role for his wife. The author clearly represented his mother as being too close to the wife's parents and, given decades of closeness, she simply identified with the daughter of her best friend more than her own son. It seems clear to me. If anything, you see a triad of two mothers and one daughter circling the wagons with one father being too weak to stand against it. The other father takes a stand and ends up divorced. The son (protagonist) is the one who threatened their desired network by refusing to reconcile with the cheater and his mother was more concerned about her support system than she was about him.

Did not see where he had a reverse vasectomy. This could only happen in Texas.

Great story

Very interesting story!

5

That was the best BTB, he just moved on and she kept burning herself. A well earned 5 on so many aspects. Collateral damage, clean break, no back sliding.

Excellent story, carrying the ring of verisimilitude.

Real people don’t act like that. You really doubled down on the nutty melodrama. Maybe write an erotic story next time, since this is an erotic story site?

Pretty good

Thanks for writing

Going to give my idea of the MC. His daughters at one point say he is the least abusive person around. NOT true at all. How did he respond to her first 'emotional' affair?

He destroyed her career. She was a Phd who wanted to write a novel and he totally destroyed her dreams. He told her to each high school if she wanted to teach. What a generous husband.

No mention of what other things he could have done, like report the affair to the guy's wife if he had one or to the dean of the college. What he did was tantamount to making her shave her head and not wear makeup so she would not be pretty to other men. He said she was resentful. NO SHIT! How were they working through that kind of thing? She had to be shutting down at that point. Then the cancer scare.

Was she bat shit crazy already? Later she was described as pampered. But what he did would have totally demolished her sense of self. But she learned and hid her next affair. Why did it start? Perhaps to act out a little revenge on how he treated her but that is not part of the story.

When he does find out because the dipshit shows up, he does not bother to confront them. He hops in tho the RV and drives away. Point of detail here. Dipshit screeches to halt behind the RV's bumper. What happened to the Highlander being towed?

This fine man does nothing to talk to his or her parents either. He and the two daughters turn off their phones after deleting all messages, and ignore the rest of the family for a month. While they calmly and happily travel the country. Can you say sociopaths?

And there is no explanation for Kate's changing her attitude for the trip. She did not want to go and over a few weeks suddenly gets enthusiastic. A nugget dropped and never picked up.

Just the way the MC disassociates from things shows he is a nutbag himself. Kate confesses to having slept with her lover the day of their first meeting with the counselor. Does that elicit a conversation? Court appointed counseling is dropped when he just walks out.

I'm not going into the financial crap the guy did which would have got him in hot water legally. I'll just say it was impulsive, even self destructive, BUT consistent with his prior behavior.

I don't think the author considered the MC an asshole. of course in the first person , you consider yourself the sane one. But his daughter's attitudes tried to paint a different light. Although they were similarly pathetic.

The details of how the two families were intertwined so that MC's mother would relate to kate was reasonable if explained a little better. Perhaps she should have said more or the MC's father could have explained it better even if he did not agree. Instead he divorced his own wife and called her irrational.

Loved the homage to Just Plain Bob… Pauline Pickett, Bravo.

Now back to finish reading your story…

Guess the vasectomy was reversible! Great story! Thanks for writing!

Best moment? When her f Buddy arrived and announced their engagement. Loved it.

Wow…..Gamblinluck! I didnt realize that everything that she did was his fault. Probably because it wasn’t. She didnt have to teach high school, and she could have written her novel and continued to teach at the college….just not as his wife. She chose to stay with him and that was the conditions. She could have left the marriage whenever she wanted to. (Which ultimately is what she did). Everything gets prioritized, her top priority was staying married to him so she chose to teach high school. She then chose to accept a proposal from another man. She is responsible for her decisions.

Great story BTW

Enjoyed the story. Thought it was well put together. Thanks for your writing.

@Kilty 11 That was my point. She stayed and conformed to what HE demanded. Why? The whole premise of any story is that the one telling it (In the first person) is never guilty. He or she is always the hero of their story. But look at these characters objectively. Do you even know a Phd? A doctorate is NOT given out like a candy bar. YOu do not earn one by taking a few extra classes. It is far more than a 'job'. A woman who would give up her life's pursuit and teach high school because her husband demanded it must have some mighty powerful incentive. I am not condoning her cheating behavior. I just think the original idea the husband is not at all abusive and controlling is wrong. Of course he does not agree. and the story is from his viewpoint.

Blaming the betrayed hubby for his wife's crazy actions is ridiculous. May I suggest that for any observer to arrive at such an ill-founded conclusion, that person has fundamental issues with the concept of infidelity and personal responsibility themselves...rather like the MIL in this tale. I thought it was well told and hit the mark.

I agree with Kitty11 and disagree with Gamblinluck. Yes he gave her an ultimatum to keep her marriage, but as an educated woman she could have just quit that job and found one she liked.

She became a high school teacher and felt unfulfilled, but that was on her.

She started an affair and lied to AP. Lied to her family and tried to live a double life. She got caught because she painted her husband as bad and her white knight decided to step in and destroyed her worlds.

Wanting your cheating wife away from the environment she was in, isn't abusive or controlling.

3* for the effort but the author was correct, there was nothing original in it. It could have been cut and pasted from a thousand others. Also the extensive detailing of travel itineraries and family trees was simply filler and detracted from the flow of the story. This probably happened because authors sometimes imagine a story of a certain length, but when they finish it is is shorter than anticipated. So the go back and add things. It’s kind of like putting shredded lettuce in tacos to make them seem fuller!

That was good. Very good. 5 stars.

Kate's "self destruction" was so complete, the collateral damage took out the grand parents marriages and her relationship with her daughters.

BTW, a married woman’s family doesn’t get to make decisions about her care or what happens next. The husband does even if she tried to kill herself on her wedding nite.

Good story. I was waiting for dad to explain to his daughters what a Tijuana Donkey Show was (I googled it).

Great sort, great ending. Not sure what the Anon from four hours ago point was ‘it’s a great story, glad it’s not real life blah blah’

She made a mistake?

Had an emotional affair and got forgiven for it. Started another one years later but this time a nine month full affair, she got engaged to another guy and made her husband out to be mentally and physically abusive.

Destroyed his relationship with his mother, destroyed his parents marriage, continued to see the guy after he left her, carried on seeing him through the whole divorce period including ducking him before the first counselling session.

With the help of her lateral people she strung out the divorce (while still screwing the other guy) got the house, half his business and his parents despite her having a job of her own.

Mistake?? WTF???

I think she needed someone around her with some common sense. No way would they reconcile except in her head.

I liked it, but, in the beginning of the story you told us about after her miscarriage she asked you to get a vasectomy. So did you have it reversed to get your new wife pregnant?

Sound like oldguy1’s found a friend in ahboom, so pleased, they can hot lick up cream pies together :)

Loved it...except for all the drinking and smoking. So cliche. Not everyone drinks and fewer smoke these days. 4*

I hate these "hardass" stories where the guy acts like a total douchebag while the LW crew applauds as if it's some grand act of courage. But courage is finding a way to help someone you supposedly love. The author sets up a situation where it's clear that the wife is having a mental breakdown. Then calls her a princess and acts like he's justified in running away from her and treating her like shit. The second act of cowardice was letting the other guy take advantage of his messed up wife. The main character is a failure of a man. Sure, he could have divorced her in the end, he didn't have to stay in the situation if it was causing him pain. But he should have dragged her ass to therapy, and gotten the whole family to intervene before making his exit. All the characters are jerks in this story, every last one.

Hey, Tralan69er actually made a comment on a story. Figures that he'd be a Trumpy.

The wife suffers from extreme depression, probably due to a chemical imbalance or another serious physical reason. Both adulterous episodes were triggered by terrible events - a miscarriage and cancer.

I'm not suggesting that the husband shouldn't divorce her, but to treat her with such cruelty when she's clearly sick (mental illness is a sickness) shows what an asshole he is. (If you need further proof, he sold his employees the business which became worthless when the patents became obsolete.)

That so many readers scored this high and praised the husband in the comments shows how sick LW has become.

@Gamblinluck. Two of my sons have doctorates. I know how much time and effort they put into getting them. This woman was married for what, twenty years? She put much more time into her marriage than getting her doctorate. Unfortunately she didnt put in as much effort. It’s on her. Ultimatums are just that, someone being forced to make a decision. He didnt lock her in a basement, he told her to make a decision. After having an affair with a co-worker, it should have been HER idea for her to quit her job just to give him peace of mind…or get divorced. S

I agree that most people will make themselves look much better than they are (I’ve never done anything bad in my life), but NO ONE accused him of being a bad guy except his own mother. (Yeah, the boyfriend as well…but only because of what he was told…and he was trying to get a piece of ass).

Great story. Should not have taken her back the first time. Just learn to hide it better.

The story was pretty good. The last paragraph was a disaster. His ex wife showing up at his door,so over the top.

WTF???

An enjoyable 5* story.

My only criticism is that the ending felt rushed.

This needed some kind of explanation from Kate on why she'd been so determined to destroy her marriage.

I really liked that he ended up with a beautiful younger wife, but fleshing out their relationship would've been nice, as well as Elizabet's interactions with the twin daughters.

I got the feeling that this author thinks that all of lifes problems can be fixed by putting a bottle of bourbon on the table.

Simply put, Kate has some major mental health issues. There are all kinds of red flags in this story indicating that Kate is both delusional and depressed. Running away from one’s wife who clearly has major issues may support personal survival, but not any kind of love, charity or kindness on Peter’s part. You just want to cry at the last chapter. This isn’t a BTB scenario. It is a portrait of a person who has completely lost touch with reality. Kate has lost her mind and the story doesn’t address it in any meaningful way.

@ Bigtim99 and Kilty11. I agree she should have changed where she worked OR got rid of the guy who was sending her dick pics etc. The author did not mention her trying to get a position at one of the other colleges in the Dallas Fort Worth area. He specifically said he TOLD his wife if she wanted to teach, she'd do it at a high school or middle school. That is a total slap in the face. Like taking the CEO and making him the janitor.

Bigtim said she was educated so she could 'get another job'. Yeah? Doing what? She'd been a literature professor and had been teaching that for 13 or 14 years at that point. Not many jobs out there. Perhaps a job in publishing or editing. Still nothing like that was mentioned.

A college professor teaching one level of student and then going to teach kids who can barely read a book? Much less discuss the nuances of works of literature? I took an English literature class once and it fed me my shorts. It was called Intro to Greek Classics. We read or were expected to read the Iliad and the Odyessy in like the first three weeks. I was a science major totally out of my element. (And I had done honors English in high school.)

Yet she did it.. resentfully. Why? The million dollar question. She wanted to stay married a stay with her daughters so apparently that was enough. But her resentment was stated a few times as was her refusal for counseling.

I have some ideas for a sister story but will only start to work on it with the author's permission.

A little too much travelogue, but otherwise well written story. It grabbed and held my attention.

I've resigned myself to seeing so many wives in this category act batshit crazy, it's not worth commenting on every time it happens. However, Peter's mother exhibiting irrational behavior is a new addition to the "bitches be crazy" trope that is so prevalent here.

... There's very little chance Kate doesn't tried to cancel herself yet again after such an ending.

But, to quote Drago: if she does, she dies.

The biggest lesson out of this story seems, to me, to be always mindful as to whether or not you can live without someone in your life and, if you can, take the necessary steps to prevent ANYTHING and ANYONE, including yourself, to take that person always from you.

MC could clearly survived all by himself... but his wife? Just as clearly NOT! Which make her putting the raison d'être in such danger all the more troubling... but hey, crazy broads, amirite???

Got to protect your castle at all time.

Thanks for sharing your work, author.

@Gamblnluck: if, as you claimed, the MC of this story was indeed abusive, then, ONCE AGAIN, the main culprit of his actions is his wife.

Do anyone need to point out that he only demanded she quitted her college job AFTER she started to cheat on him? I mean, you spent so much time writing this whole rant without once mentioning that he is most definitely that way because she cheated on him! Doesn't that make everything you wrote egregiously pointless and nonsensical!?

Newsflash: most people who are face with adultery from their partners... they become meaner. Crueler. Angrier. And definitely less trusting.

What the MC demanded of his wife here may not be the actions of a 'loving husband', but that's definitely how most men would dealt with a 'loving wife.'

.... Quite honestly, though, he should have divorced her on her first betrayal. But ah well, he learned.

THIS IS A FANTASY STORY COLLECTION! I do not understand some people why they want the authors should write unhappy exhusbands who would not find newer woman mates after a cheater wife?????? READERS THIS IS A FANTASY COLLECTION HERE THE EXHUSBANDS CAN BE HAPPY AND THE AUTHORS ARE FREE TO WRITE HAPPY EXHUSBANDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is a good story, badly, badly over-written. The most difficult thing to do is let an aggressive editor inside your carefully crafted morsel, but in the end, it reads much better. There was so much over-written, extraneous, irrelevant wording that the story faded in and out.

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In the opening scene concerning the ground beef. Katy suggests more beef. Two paragraphs later, MC responds. Later, the long explanation of all the Reddit "cheat codes" (not original) could've been summed up as acknowledging that MC, "...spent time online examining the world of cheating spouses. I even learned the associated unique acronyms and abbreviations....". This kind of fluff is the stuff of footnotes, except LW doesn't have that. I actually did a facepalm when reading this.

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Going on, as cool as it is to share Wichita Falls, Quanah, and all the rest of the (hardly boring) jaunt up 287, it overloads the story. It's like fragments on a hard drive. You've got a master-level frisson burn going inside your reader, so they don't give a hoot about where Hud was filmed, that Palo Duro is second only to Grand Canyon, or that Wichita Falls is boring. I could've included the fact that Waimea Canyon on Kauai is the third largest or that the narrowest skyscraper in the world is in Wichita Falls, but it wasn't germane to the point I was making.

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The rambling explanation about the Fort Worth oil man and his Deh-deh (hearing George W pronounce 'Daddy') with the bullet hole in his belt. It adds nothing to the story! The reader either skips ahead or screams, "Who cares?"

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The "triangle of victimhood" reference is brilliant. You wrote it into the story in exactly the right place and used perfect imagery. If you trim away some of the other preceding extraneous information, this stands out much better and becomes more significant to the plot. As someone else pointed out, MC is declared early on as the least abusive man anywhere, but then he becomes just that. In the end, he's an angry, bitter, and petulant man without an ounce of compassion for a seriously mentally ill woman who tried to kill herself. The ending was dumb.

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This is a three-star effort because, under the layers of suspended disbelief and amateur travelogue, there's a good story.

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Also, under Texas law, Dipshit had every right to oversee his wife's hospital care. Finally, if MC sued for divorce under Texas law, her infidelity, the circumstances (e.g., prior affair, engaged to her current affair partner) of her infidelity, and the results of relentless and aggressive discovery, she'd likely not have been able to touch his company. Texas is "no-fault" only if both parties agree. Otherwise, he sues on the grounds of infidelity, which can be considered regarding asset distribution. In Tarrant County, he does okay.

Another awfully written story to please the Burner crowd. Too many snobby booze references. Unless you getting paid! LOL

I think that is the craziest wife to ever be painted in this category. That would be one hell of a ride if you were married to her. Been there done that.

And I disagree with Knoxhard with his opinion that the MC should stay and see to the well being of his wife. In sickness and in health implies that the sick address their illness, not compound it to the detriment of all others. Kate threw her affair in the face of her family, belittles her husband to the simp with whom she had engaged in the affair, and expected everyone to welcome her lover into the bosom of her family. That is about as sociopathic as it gets!! The only thing you left out was Kate trying to get Pete arrested for one thing or another.

Thanks for an Offkilter story. Very good work.

Doc

Nice story.

Nice ending!

Great story 5 stars

@ Mightyhorny. I fully agree. The wife's actions caused the husband's reactions. He got meaner. I gave this story 5 stars at the very beginning despite a few inconsistencies.

Like the MC's father stating he heard about the wife, Kate's first affair. Hell, the MC dropped her off in front of her father. She confessed to both sets of parents. They were close. THEN the father says he heard it in passing?

My point is this is a crazy ass woman. Why? And the husband claiming he was NOT abusive? Nope. He was. Justifiably perhaps. But he made a bad situation worse. Like I said, I have a story in mind but will pursue it ONLY if i hear back from the author and getting his permission. This is like a few other stories that garner a big emotional response. I praise the author for eliciting that.

If you read my stories, I am a BTB fan. I like to see justice served.

I actually love the characterizations offkilter devised here. I think subliminally or in the limitations of space, he curtailed exploring that.

Let's look at who is on his side. His daughters. They were only 13 or 14 when they caught their mother kissing a guy. But they knew what was going on. They knew their mother was hurting their father. They stayed on his side when she cheated again.

The MC's father was on his side as well. Although part of his support was how his wife, the MC's mother reacted to the situation. Of course his explanation was simplified. Kate was a pampered princess etc. And his wife liked the other family more. But why?

That goes to why would the mother take Kate's side so quickly. She started out asking the MC to step up and talk. Then she went out on a total bender, condemning him, her own son. Again why?

Kate's mother and father were of course on her team but later her father kind of softened his stance. He still was protective of his daughter as he should.

Who is the dipshit? Portrayed as an opportunist. More?

And Kate. An obviously disturbed woman. She had some catastrophic things happen. A brilliant woman who went off the rails. Why? How did it snowball?

This is not a simple story of a cruel, self absorbed woman who goes out and cheats, her husband catches her and burns her to the ground.

Perfect ending.

I think the ending was just mean and petty.

Despite everything that happened, before him in the doorway was a delusional woman known to be suicidal. Basic human decency would have him at least ensure she would not be a danger to herself.

If the ex weren't mentally unbalanced, I'd be cheering the end. Since she obviously is? Not so much...

Fairly well written (if you ignore the travelogue padding) but at its heart its just another rather nasty BTB tale. Once again we have a smug, self righteous MC who professes undying love for a wife who has a clear history of mental illness and then turns his back on her as soon as her mental illness manifests itself in the form of a completely irrational affair.

I can appreciate that he doesn't want to stay married to an unstable and suicidal woman but how thick, callous and insensitive must he be not to even recognise and acknowledge that she is a very sick woman in need of help. Maybe he can't provide the help she needs but to just slam the door in her face is the act of a grade A arsehole.

The author has pandered to the BTB brigade by twisting this story into an 'evil woman' getting her just deserts at the hands of a 'righteous man' whereas the content of the story points far more towards a 'weak and selfish' man renaging on the 'in sickness and in health' portion of his wedding vows and abandoning his 'mentally ill and desperate' wife in her hour of need.

LA

This’s one story that I’d love another page on. I personally think it was outrageous that he just closed the door on his ex wife without any explanation or other words. She doesn’t deserve much, but that’d be just plain human decency.

She, her parents & his mother were just hideous beings. Well written, & except for the ending, well done. 5 stars. Bob

Totally five stars. This is one of the best LW stories I have ever seen. Thanks for taking the time and the effort to write the story. Now, about your limited appreciation of fine bourbon, which as everyone knows, comes from Kentucky. Texas ain't got good water to make even a decent beer.

Well written, but a terrible story

If she were not mentally unbalanced, she wouldn't be cheating. Good story, entertaining and full of angst.

Decent story, 3 stars. As others have mentioned, too many inconsistencies such as the vasectomy. He must have gotten those new patents approved in record time.....

I think where this story goes wrong is portraying the wife as genuinely and seriously mentally ill. If not for that we could feel good about the husband leaving, moving on and remarrying. But making her so ill gives the sympathy to her, and while I don't dislike the husband, it's hard to be happy for him.

Not that I can really blame him for his actions either. I mean he is human and his wife broke her vows. She cruelly betrayed him. I HATE that. Indeed, it seems whenever she is hit with tragedy and/or extreme fear/pain she betrays her husband and family.

BUT if she truly needs mental help, then was she really responsible for her actions? Very hard to say.

I would like to see a version of this from the wife's perspective. I understand the affair (sort of), but the engagement? And then continuing to cheat even while fighting for the marriage?! Even on the day of their marital counseling! That's too much.

I'm also interested in his mother's betrayal. What was she thinking? To automatically side with her daughter-in-law (who was the one in the wrong). Did she not love her son and husband?

I understand loving her best friend as well, but come on. Her behavior almost reads as if she was romantically involved with her in-laws. Or at least desired to be. Because no mother that loved and was committed to her OWN family would side against them like this, when they did nothing wrong. Especially in such a cruel and complete fashion.

It's not fair to try to make the MC the bad guy because he placed restrictions on his wife following her first affair. That's what he needed in order to feel secure enough to remain married. If she was resentful of that and didn't want to comply, they could have divorced. She is the one who began all of this by cheating. Ultimately, the buck stops with her on that.

The only thing (and it's a big one), where I feel she should have received more grace, is that she was seriously mentally ill. Seemingly undiagnosed and untreated. Hopefully, she finally received medical help after her suicide attempt. But either way, given her mental health issues, the ending with her realizing her husband has completely moved on is somewhat depressing and comes across as too harsh.

The MC had a right to move on and is not a villain. But with her obvious health issues, I wish he could have worked things out with her somehow. Even though I like his new wife as well, which further complicates the situation. A throuple maybe? lol. I don't know that that would work here.

But, if it could... :)

This Anon wants to applaud and thank Kilty11 and Gamblnluck for their multiple exchanges about this story. They were respectful, insightful, and informative. Frankly, I wish the author had joined in with these 2 excellent authors —- might have been even more enriching.

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I think Offkilter’s posting are getting better and better. It is obvious that he takes seriously any serious critiques. His last 2 most recent offerings were very solid 4 **** efforts IMHO. Many have given 5’s. I look forward to more.

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As well, it is always interesting to read comments by other authors. They make thinking about any story a better experience. I especially like demander’s comments —- almost always very pithy and almost always highlighting a seminal aspect of any tale.

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5 ***** to all authors’ serious commentary!

The husband’s emotional reactions to his wife’s treachery were understandable. But, he failed to react to her mental instability in ways which might have helped her, a sad story all around. Good writing. You know there are actually many such situations which are actually based in brain chemistry, not that it helps much to know that..

@sbrooks103x

Hey, Tralan69er actually made a comment on a story. Figures that he'd be a Trumpy.

If that is what you think, then you are stupider than I thought.

In this story, in general, nothing is clear about Kate's behavior... Well, let's say that in her first depression after a miscarriage, she could, subconsciously, consider her husband guilty, move away from him and therefore seek solace with an "understanding and gentle" friend. But, the second time, what happened to her? With such a hereditary predisposition to breast cancer, she certainly could not blame her husband for this. So why was there all this estrangement from her husband, from her family? Why did Kate, knowing the attitude of her husband and daughters to her previous failed adultery, she again decided to overcome her mental crisis by means of even closer communication with another man for such a long time, while resorting to such lies about her husband and the state of their marriage? It is possible that her lover really fell in love with her or was motivated by her material and financial assets after her "alleged divorce". But what motivated Kate and how did she imagine the end of this whole epic with a fictitious engagement, being married and not even thinking about divorce?

To be honest, I was waiting until the last that the inappropriate behavior of the mother of the main character would be explained by the unexpected and sudden exposure of her long-term sexual relations, either with Kate's parents or with some long-standing permanent lover...

5 stars Bg Blazing Stars for an interesting story. I find it amusing that so many folks comments sound like they think this fictional story is a "docu-drama". I was shocked when the hubby and daughters jumped in the RV and left their cheating ass Mother/wife kneeling on the street crying as they drove away. I suppose that if I was the hubby I would be tempted to do the same thing. What would be the point of standing around saying "how could you?" "You cheating ass!" or fighting her fiancée'? Which would have certainly happened if Hubby hadn't left. The wife is a serial cheater, she couldn't stay true, would never be a faithful spouse. LOL She was mentally challenged.

Thanks for all the hard work to put this story together. Buster2U

You rushed the ending, by that i mean the point at which you stopped writing. I say that because you need to FTDS.

5 star potential, 1 star work (would of been 3 but you didn't finish the story, and left plot points unfinished, so lose a star for each)

Also, what special kind of idiot are you? Why delete messages and voicemails? Those are evidence that can be used in court, you gigantic idiot.

"I just made a mistake, I desperately want to stay married to you" Kate stridently declared.

"Oh lover, fuck me again, yes! I have time, the counseling appointment with my husband is later," said Kate, earlier that morning.

Completely delusional. To have a chance at saving your marriage, YOU HAVE TO STOP FUCKING THE BASTARD YOU ARE CHEATING WITH.

Enjoyed the story.

Well written story. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

@TraLaLa, not many people outside of MAGA mock gender identity.