The Unicorn Necklace

Disclaimer, while mentioned, there is no sex in this story. There are some mentions to the medical career, but as I am not aware of the details of the field, I've tried to be as vague as possible to avoid any major mistakes, as in the end, it is just an accessory to the story I wanted to tell.

As usual, I include some brief notes at the end, sharing my ideas, goals and motivations for the story. Hope you enjoy it.

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"Good morning, is this Allison Cartwright?"

"Yes, that is me. Who is asking?"

"I'm Thomas Dilwell. My wife Rebecca works in the hospital with your husband John, as a nurse. I'm sorry to say, but I have some information that you should know."

I had always known John. I cannot point out the moment I met him, because he had always been in my life. He lived just a couple streets away, and we went to the same daycare. We played together all the time, and his mom liked to embarrass us both by reminding us that his first word had been Allie. Even my earliest memory involved him. I remember crying because another boy had taken my plushie unicorn from me, and John pushed him, took it back and gave it to me with a big smile on his face.

We grew up together. We went to the same school, and played in one of our houses in the evenings. Our moms became friends, and they coordinated play dates and even our birthdays. John was a couple weeks older than me, so while both families had their own private celebration, we usually had a joint party for our friends.

While John and I were very close as kids, as we aged we became a bit more independent. We still met every other evening to do homework and hang out, but we went our own way in school, each having a different group of friends. Over the years, his friend group expanded to include a number of girls, and he started spending more time with some of them over me, which made me really jealous and upset. I knew I was one of the popular and pretty girls, which for my vain teen self was a big deal, and we got along very well, so the fact he did not ask me to date, and paid attention to other girls felt like the end of the world. I spent more than one evening crying over the situation, but I didn't muster the courage to ask John about it. He was quite popular too, and I feared he would drop me as a friend if I pressured him, for being too clingy and demanding.

Things changed in our sophomore year. Rumour was that one of the guys in the football team was interested in me, and John heard about it. That very day he asked me to meet him in the park near our houses after school. Once we both made it there, he asked me to be his girlfriend with a box of heart shaped chocolates. It was a bit embarrassing, butat that time it felt such a grand romantic gesture that all jealousy, and his past behaviour left my mind. He and I were finally together!

We were too young for our dates to involve more than going to the movies and sneak a kiss or two, but we were happy. Of course, I asked him why he took so long to ask me out. I must have been incredibly naïve, because he told me he always wanted me, but he feared not being a good boyfriend, so he practiced with other girls first to make sure we would be perfect together. I not only accepted his explanation, but felt proud over it. He cared so much about me that he went through all that trouble! It was a very nice feeling, but I cannot hep but flinch when I remember it now.

As our senior year approached, we discussed what we wanted to do with our lives. John wanted to be a doctor like his father, and looked into out of town options for his studies. He wanted to work in the local hospital, St. Michael's, but our town's local college did not have the best reputation in medicine.

On my end, I loved and had a good hand with children, and I made good money as a babysitter, so I was used to deal with them. As one of the best students in class, I was also used to help some of my friends (and John) study, so I started to look into teaching young children as a career. It was not the most profitable job, but it would give me a living while making me enjoy my work. As I told my dad, it gave compensation in other ways than money. The local college offered all I needed, so I planned to stay in town.

We did not come to these decisions in a day. We went over our goals all the time, and when we both decided on our future, we realized that our time together was coming to an end. We cried over it, but while I wanted to try a long distance relationship, John convinced me it was not a good idea. It might take a very long time for him to become a doctor, and by the time he achieved it he might have different plans about his life. It would not be fair to either of us to put our lives on hold for potentially a decade. We had a good cry about it, but I decided to be positive, and looked to make the most of our last few months together.

For my 18th birthday he gifted me a very nice necklace. It was made of silver, and it had a little unicorn inside the shape of a heart. He told me that it would give me something to remember him by, and I rarely took it off. While that was nice, our relationship started going downhill. Now that we were both adults, John started to pressure me for sex. I rejected him with the excuse that I wanted to wait until I was ready, but he brought it up every other day. I had the fairytale perfectly planned in my mind. My idea was to lose our virginity to each other on prom night, but I did not want him to expect and demand it. I wanted it to be romantic and beautiful, and almost improvised, so I never told him about it, answering that I was not ready whenever he brought it up. In my plan, we would still have a full summer together to explore before we had to break up, giving us plenty of time. If I had been more open and communicated properly, or had been less focused on achieving the perfect night, what happened next might have gone very differently.

Days went by, prom was approaching, and John had not asked me to go with him yet, so I started to get a little bit nervous. We still spent a lot of time together and were definitely dating, so I took it for granted that we would go together, but my plan involved hinting to him how the night might go when he asked me to be his date, and the clock was ticking and he was not asking me. We were in my house while my parents were out when I finally asked him about it, a week before the event.

"Hey John, I know you don't really need to ask me out for prom, but we are still going together, right? We... have not talked about it yet."

"Well, about that..." he had a guilty look on his face. "I'm sorry Allie... but I am taking Jenny Hopkins."

"What? You are joking right?"

"Look Allie, I love you, you know that. But I've been asking you for sex for months, and you are not budging. I have accepted that, and I will not ask you for sex until you are ready, but I am not going to be celibate. Jenny has agreed to have sex if I take her to prom, so I'm doing that."

"Are you breaking up with me?"

"No, I do not want that. This does not mean anything. Look, you do not want to have sex, but I still love you and want to date you. I will just have sex on the side and we can keep dating. That way everyone can be happy."

"I cannot believe you, John. Please tell me this is a joke!" I started to cry, while he remained silent. He awkwardly tried to comfort me, but I was not having it.

In between a lot of yelling, I broke up with him, told him I never wanted to see him again, tore my unicorn necklace, breaking it, and threw it at him. He tried to protest, but I was not in a mood to listen, and he left before long, to avoid the situation getting worse. I cried a river that night, and my mom had to convince my father to not go outside and kill my now ex-boyfriend.

John did take Jenny to prom, and I assume they spent the night together. I went with one of my friends, Rick, who had not managed to get a date, and I had to apologize to him at the end of the night. Even if we agreed to go as just friends, my jealousy and mood during the night did not make me very good company. He was understanding and comforted me, and I promised him a lunch on me to make up for it.

For the rest of the summer, I avoided John, and the places he was likely to be. He tried to contact me through friends, and he even visited my house once, but my father told him in very clear terms what he wanted to do to him, and he had the good sense to leave. Rick asked me out in our lunch, and I agreed to go out with him. We both knew we would go our own ways once school started, so we focused on having fun. He was a good guy, and he was gentle and patient when he took my virginity. John's betrayal made me realize I was missing out, and I became less inflexible and enjoyed the day a bit more. I did not become a slut, but I abandoned the idea that I needed "the one" to have sex.

Academically, I did follow my plans, and enrolled in the local college to get a degree in Education. I did date a bit, and had a couple relationships, but I never found someone I felt I could share my life with. I knew part of it was trauma from the John incident and part of it was that I still held a torch for him. He had been such a big presence in my life that I felt empty without him. How can you replace someone who has been in your life forever?

Once I graduated, I took an internship in the local school. I worked with a couple different grades, and confirmed that I enjoyed teaching younger kids the most, so after I got my license, I started working as a first grade teacher. II did not make a lot, but it was enough to leave my parent's house, rent an apartment with two of my friends (Leah and Christie), and still save a little bit of money. It was also very fulfilling to see my kids improve every day, and teach them all manner of things.

The next big change in my life came one Friday night, when I was out with my friends. I had been working for a few years now, and while I dated, I did not have any serious relationship. Leah had recently broken up with her boyfriend, and Christie and I were trying to cheer her up. We had a nice dinner at the local Italian place, and went to a bar afterwards to have some drinks and commiserate. I was on my second glass of wine, waiting for Leah and Christie to come back from smoking outside while keeping an eye on our things, when I heard a voice call out to me.

"Allie, is that you?"

"John?" It took me a moment to register him. It had been a decade since we last saw each other, and starting to get tipsy, my first reaction was a big smile. My initial enthusiasm subsided as the memories of our break up came back. After ten years, the pain had dulled quite a bit, but it was not entirely gone. I did not want to make a scene in public, but I felt no desire to speak with him, so I quickly turned cold. "It has been a while I guess."

John was far more happy to see me, and did not pick up on my mood. "Come on Allie, it has been so long! What are you doing here? Hey, let's find a table and catch up!"

"I'm sorry, John, but tonight is not the best time. I'm here with a friend, and I do not want to leave her alone."

My negative did not discourage him, and he was insistent. "Ok, not tonight, but what about lunch tomorrow? My treat."

I want to say I only agreed to get him off my back, but a part of me was very happy he wanted to see me again, so I did not put up much of a fight. We did meet the next day, and he did all the right things. As soon as we were seated, and before we talked about anything else, he apologized. He admitted he was immature, and while he was not wrong for wanting sex, he was sorry he had not been more honest with me and broke up, since we were not compatible. I let him know that had he taken me instead of Jenny, he would have also gotten laid. I was partly to blame for my failure to communicate, and had both been more open we might have ended our relationship in good terms.

Once we reached that point, he surprised me once more. He took a package from his pocket, and showed it to me. It was my old unicorn necklace. He took it when I threw it at him and broke it, and repaired it. He had kept it all this years as a reminder of me, and always hoped I would accept it back one day. "Allie," he told me, "I do not expect you to accept it right away, but I want to see more of you, and I hope we can get back to the point where you can accept it back."

I tried. I really tried. There was a part of me who was firmly convinced he was not good news, and I tried to listen to it, but it did not matter. This was John, my John, and he was back. All the feelings I once had for him came back in a rush, and we started meeting often. I put walls around me, and he took them down with his charm and affection. It took him a couple months, but he convinced me he had truly matured, and I agreed to become exclusive.

John had done quite well for himself. He had achieved his goal, and was now working as a doctor in St. Michael's. His schedule was a point of contention. The hospital was understaffed, and he frequently took extra shifts on top of that. His reasoning was that he should build a nest egg while he was still young and unattached, and once he had a family or got to a more important position he could cut down his hours and spend more time with me. I was not happy about it, but it was a sound plan for the long run, so I tried my best to accommodate.

After a couple years of dating, I felt very secure in our relationship. We had a vigorous sex life, we got along very well, and there were no real tensions between us, other than his work hours. In one of the few occasions he got vacation time, we travelled for a weekend to the nearby beach, and he proposed to me at sunset. It was the happiest moment of my life, and I could not even agree before hugging him and crying. We were married a few months later, and I gave birth to the twins, Eric and Laura, not long after my 32nd birthday.

Our married life followed the trend we had set. We kept separate finances, with each contributing to the common account according to their salary (which meant he contributed more than me). I took a leave from the school after the birth, and settled as a homemaker for a few years, while John continued to work. I did not get much help from him, as he was rarely home (and even less after we lost my income, as he said he needed to compensate for that), but both sets of grandparents lived nearby, so I always had someone willing to lend a hand.

Once the twins were old enough to go to school, I took my old job back. Since I was the one with the more flexible and predictable schedule, I was doing most of the housework, and was the primary caregiver for the children. We went out as a family every weekend, and when John was home he spent time with the kids, and was an involved parent, but it happened so rarely. I did not keep track of his shifts, but it seemed to me they were increasing as years went by, instead of the opposite. It had always been a sore spot in our relationship and it got worse. We had a couple of big fights, in which I accused him of avoiding to be at home on purpose, while he swore that the hospital was extremely understaffed and they needed more people until the new hirings could come through, but once it was over he would be able demand a regular schedule.

We were at an impasse, with me becoming more and more irritated by the day that my husband seemed to avoid being home with his family, and him spending even more time away because of the tension between us whenever we were alone. This was the situation when I received the phone call from Thomas.

Thomas, or Tom as he asked me to call him, asked to meet with me, as he had some things I should see. With a knot in my stomach, I agreed to meet him the next day, as I had no classes and could slip away for coffee unnoticed. We met at a little café near the centre of the town, and after a few empty pleasantries, he gave me the news that broke my heart.

His wife Rebecca, Becky, had been acting suspiciously for a while. She had started picking extra shifts, but did not pick up the phone when Tom called her during them. While this was not strange on its own, calling the hospital he learned she wasn't scheduled to work those shifts at all. He thought carefully about what to do, and chose the cheapest reliable option. He put a tracker on her phone, and at her next extra shift, it showed her to be at a motel near St. Michael's. He did not give specifics, but upon visiting, he learned from the guy at the reception desk that his wife was a regular there, always sharing a room with Mr. John Cartwright. I suspected he bribed the guy, because Tom also managed to get video and audio recordings of the two. The reason Tom wanted to meet, other than breaking the news in person, is that felt he had to show me the videos, particularly some of the recorded audio.

They did not expose their whole affair in their post sex conversation, but we could infer enough from it. They did not intend to leave us, and both were happy with just having a lover on the side. Apparently, Becky was angry at my husband because he had been eyeing another nurse. It was evident from their talk that Becky was not the first nurse John had bedded, and it looked he did not plan on her being the last either. They made a vague mention of a luxury hotel John had stayed in for a conference last month, and Tom confirmed his wife also went there. We decided to check if it was real, but there were no mentions of it anywhere, and neither Tom or I saw a brochure of it, we just took them at their word at the time. The bastard did not have enough time to put his kids to bed, and he was taking vacations with his mistress!

As our meeting came to an end, I asked Tom for copies of the recordings. He sent all he had to my email, but let me know they would not be admissible in court if I decided to file for divorce. I thanked him, but it did not matter to me. I wanted proof so that he could not gaslight me, or deny my accusations, and as a guarantee I would not be painted as the bad guy.

I went back to work, and I was glad I did not have any classes the rest of the day. My entire life had been thrown upside down, and I felt an intense déjà vu. I should have seen this coming! Our sex life was as busy as ever. John wanted sex every day, and I felt bad if I rejected him too much, so we ended up making love far more often than I would have wanted. Based on our history together, a part of me was terrified that he would leave me and the kids if I did not give him what he wanted, so I forced myself to agree as much as I felt comfortable with, and then some more, lest I drive him to the arms of another woman. Silly me, he was already doing that, and who knows for how long.

I felt really stupid now. I had gone beyond to make his life as easy as possible. I kept a spotless house, raised our two children, gave him a sex life a teenager would be exhausted with and this was how he repaid my efforts. I was furious, but mostly disappointed. I felt how my image of him shattered in real time. John had been my hero as kids, the popular guy and my crush as teenagers, and even our breakup was not only his fault. There had always been a voice inside of me telling me that had I been more open, John would not have gone to Jenny Hopkins. Once we reconnected, he became a brave doctor and the father of my children in my eyes. During most of my life, he could do no wrong, but no longer. I went from adoring him to seeing him for what he was, a weak man who repeatedly valued sex over his own family and loved ones. I had wasted most of my life pinning after him, but he would not pull the wool over my eyes any longer.

I knew Leah, my old roommate, had gone through a tough divorce, but also knew that she came out ahead. I asked her for the contact info of her lawyer, and taking the next morning off, I went to visit him to learn about my options. While I did not want to ruin John's life, I wanted him to suffer a bit. Considering our jobs and our routine, I was extremely likely to obtain sole custody of our kids, and that would mean child support. John's salary was also noticeably higher than mine, so I spitefully wanted a hefty amount of alimony to be included in the papers. The combined amount with the child support would impact him enough that he would be able to get by, but taking his floozies to luxury hotels would not be in the cards anymore.