All Comments on 'The Husband's Story'

A slightly different perspective, but still felt like covering old ground again. Same impressions as before. Don is clearly more comfortable in his own skin than Lue is in hers, and it didn't really seem to me as if Lue ever really got to his level of comfort.

And if you're of a mind to try seeking "a bit of variety," the time to sit down and talk about seagulls is *before* you go out and do it.

In this story, Don was an effective communicator. He learned the value of this first professionally, and then put it - and a rather liberal "seagull" philosophy - into practice in his marriage. It is the communications factor that turned two potential relationship titanic + iceberg disasters into something more akin to "bumps in the road of life" for them.

As the narrator said, this is not the course of life to recommend for everyone, in terms of the fidelity questions, at least. However, in terms of learning to communicate effectively - and thoroughly - with tact and appreciation for proper timing, this story shows that anything remains possible.

4* for a good story - I would have given 5, but I'm really not a fan of infidelity, and no matter how this is wrapped, it is a bit of an advertisement for the pro-infidelity lobby.

I still don't get a couple wanting to let their partner have sex with with another partner after making a solemn promise to each other before god in church, it shows loss of respect for each other. better to either talk with one another or take councelling. If this doesn't work they should dissolve the marriage and goe their separate ways.

BY the way if it is still classed as adultery even with ones partner permission.

It works better when you apologise afterward rather than ask permission beforehand.

And while they did make solemn promises, they didn't do it before anybody's god. They didn't and still don't subscribe to that sort of thing. But as time goes on, sometimes what you thought was the right thing becomes less so. I tried to explain in this story how a person may radically change his or her beliefs over time in the light of experience.

Sdc97230

Likewise to my response to Anonymous. Apologising afterward worked OK here. It would have been interesting if Lue had told Don beforehand what she was about to do. She lucked in, I suspect. I doubt that he would have been OK with what she was doing before he met the seagulls.

GrandPaM

'Lack of communication' is, I feel, such a common diagnosis of marital problems as to be not very helpful. And maybe sometimes lack of communication is better than communicating about things that would be better left unsaid? But I agree that the few examples of when this couple did communicate well showed how effective it can be in resolving marital differences.

Thanks to the three of you for your comments.

Lue

Normally, I never venture outside of the LW category. I was searching for a story earlier today and just happened across this one. I'm so glad I did! Although I've read this story before, from Lue's perspective, this is by far your best effort to date, as it provided a complete picture of a married couple's journey over many years. It really is a shame you didn't place this in LW, as you would've had a much larger audience and far more comments.

This version of the story is extremely thought-provoking on many levels. The fact that it takes place during a time when a massive cultural paradigm shift occurred is appropriate, as this couple experienced their own paradigm shift as well. Age-old traditions, definitions, roles, and beliefs were questioned for the first time, and replaced with a new and better understanding.

At the center of it all is the question of what a marriage really represents, and what it means to both spouses. There exists a romantic notion that marriage is an intertwining of two souls becoming one. As romantic as that seems, it belies the fact that a marriage truly consists of two individual souls.

People change over time. Our personalities change as they are shaped by the events that happen to us. Our tastes and distastes change over time. Our life's goals change. If one spouse changes in one direction, and the other spouse is either unwilling or unable to change in that same direction, that is when they drift apart.

In this story, Don is so keenly aware of what is happening that he acknowledges that he either has to change in the same direction as Lue or risk losing her forever. Now...I've been here long enough to know that some will interpret what I just wrote to mean, "Oh, so if your wife wants to fuck some other guy, you should just let her." No. That's not what I mean. I mean that for a marriage to work over a long period of time you have to acknowledge the changes in your spouse, prioritize what is truly important to you, and perhaps adjust your own expectations.

Thanks for writing this, luedon. I wish you would write more often.

I deliberately had this story posted in Non-erotic so that only thoughtful readers would bother reading it rather than the usual Loving Wives commentariat who run through the New Stories list each day to find LW stories they can bellyache about.

I also wrote it with a totally different mindset from when I wrote the first Lue to Lucy. I wrote that episode with descriptive sex scenes because I thought that something highly erotic was what a LW story should be and what the readers were wanting.

I ended up in commentary debates with people who wished to impose their concept of morality on the world and I found that fascinating. (I still do; far more fascinating than most LW stories which, as you frequently point out, are quite formulaic.)

As you say in your comment, the 70s was the tail end of a time of remarkable social experimentation and change. A lot of things closed down in the 80s as 'greed is good' took over economically and HIV-AIDS terrorised everybody socially.

So again, thanks for your comment.

Lue

Normally this type of story is not what I'm looking forward to reading. You guys have done a marvelous job of allowing me to enjoy your work! The stories I'm use to reading has one mate cheating on the other then some kind of showdown. Your stories seem to be about people who have been together a long time and understand one another. Cheating can happen but,the out come doesn't get the attention many anonymous people want. (revenge, BTB's) Because one mate forgives the other doesn't make them a wimp or stupid. Yes, Its a very difficult concept for most to understand but, true love and trust is deeper grace is also involved.

Thank you

Having read the series and loved studying the comments

A difference exists between confessing after the fact and admitting to something when you know you've been found out.

Must have missed the part where Julie expresses her gratitude to Lou for attending to her husband's needs while she was enduring the discomfort of bearing his child. Something to look forward to during subsequent pregnancies

If LUCYwould have been as wounded as LOU

One person's enlightenment is another person's immorality and the LW Comment section is where they meet up to cast stones into the chasm

No way around it. It doesn't matter what state her marriage was in or whether she and Don ultimately benefited from the experience. She had no right to put someone else's in danger. Especially someone with a small child. That's really vile. And she most certainly wasn't that womans friend.

You say she had no right to put someone else's marriage in danger. Did she do that, or was it Ray?

Lue

Neither one of you gave as much thought/respect to the other marriage as you did to your own. Open communication is important to your marriage, why wouldn't it be important for theirs too?

Nice to see some thought and deliberation into the nature of marriage as an interpersonal contract, as it seems most authors and commentators are really reacting to marriage as a social contract or social convention.

Thanks for sharing it! OldBearSwitch

First of all I'm going to put it out front that I have an inherently jaundiced view of much of ' feminist ' modernthink ' in terms of those who espouse it actually walking their talk IRL. My mother ( subscriber to Ms. Magazine in my formative years) was just full of this blather , but when the rubber hit the road - she worked both sides of the Traditional / Liberated ( Seagull) street depending on what served best her personal and highly individual agenda.

That being said , a well told story is a well told story and this tale has a lot of craftsmanship and does a good job of anticipating and deflecting the inherent qualms a person of my mindset would have as the paragraphs roll by and the author's agenda looms ever larger on horizon.

Luedon ( the author ) is like a talented lawyer skillfully advocating her character's ( Lue) dicey ( from my personal perspective ) case. I " get " that women were abused appalling fashion in society ( and still today on down low ) on both vocational and family fronts. Yet it is truly a craw in my throat when a mother AND wife plays around and hubby is 3rd wheel and relegated to nanny and housekeeper.

This fictional couple navigated the shallow shoals of multiple and hidden rocks and came out stronger for it. Luedon ( the author ) took pains to show how they were the exception to the rule where so many real life couples' unions would have foundered and sank.

One quote from Jack Lalanne ( fitness zealot ) that stuck in my mind is that " exercise/ personal maintainence is like a savings account , if you have 5000 dollars saved, a 1500 crisis occurs , it's a blow - but you're still solvent. If you only had 500 dollars in account - you're bankrupt and massive pain is soon enroute.

Props to Luedon for making a credible case that Don and Lue's had sufficient capitol to withstand very substantial withdrawals made by Lue's deception and high handedness during her marriage sabbatical . Don only got to knockabout one time before Lue guilted him up by opening up tear spigot.

One final nitpick is Don and Lue the characters were harnessed in the author's agenda a bit long for my liking. I wanted them BOTH to flash the charisma , wry and self deprecating , inside ( from years accrued together ) humor that both forward thinking individuals would likely have.

A quick hit of Bridget Jones for Lue ( just a bit flighty but funny ) , maybe the inner Hans Solo for Don ( who is something of a buccaneer in terms of entrepreneurship ) would have been welcome quick comic contrast to heavy issues. The comic / charisma edge is definitely part of " The Tie That Binds" equation as Hillary Clinton can attest.

*** on my unofficial, wordsmith personal posh New Yorker Magazine that angiquesophie and Girlinthemoon set the standard on.

Full marks * * * * * (on official Literotica scale )

They both did it. The greater transgression (from Julie's perspective at least) was Ray's, but she not only knew *about* Julie, but met Julie, pretended to be a friend, and fucked her husband while she was taking care of their baby in the hospital. Despicable.

This chapter is sub-par and hollow. It recycles the other stories, not giving much more of Don's perspective than the others except for citing a few books. The dialog was recycled wholesale. It seems the only new bits were a whitewashing of her blatant lies and disrespect as "fibs". The attempted justification falls flat. She was selfish, risked her marriage and great harm to Julie for a bit of strange. There are other ways to spice up your marriage where all parties are informed and consent. She chose the low road, and only Don's "enlightened" attitude kept it from blowing up--an attitude she was too selfish to repay when the time came.

I don't know whether to blame my impatience with all the philosophical justification(s) of extra-marital sexual relations on my lack of sophistication (I'm just a simple country boy, never lived in a city) or my superannuation (I'm near-terminal septuagenarian--nearly 80, not nearly dead).

Been married 56 years, my wife confessed to me that she had been unfaithful with my best friend, other friends and co-workers to the tune of 11 men over a 12-year span starting in the 8th year of our marriage. The occasion of her confession was the eve of my cancer surgery 25 years ago and she was afraid I might die before she had a chance to get it off her conscience. She finally quit when our oldest son was terribly injured (near death for 4 days) and she promised God that if our son lived she would quit.

He lived and she quit (or at least claims so). But she had much earlier promised God (and me, for what that's worth) to forsake all others, but that promise didn't take, so I'm not sure why she thought this new one would mean anything to the big guy. I did The Manly Thing as soon as I recovered from surgery: got drunk and stayed drunk for the next 15 years. Haven't dealt with it well since sobering up, but at this stage of my life what the hell are my options?

So I hope you can at least understand, if not forgive my archaic, absolutist notions about infidelity: Four stars for fairly well written, but negative three stars for content, final score one star.

After all that, it's a tribute to the human spirit that you can stay 'romantic' as you grow 'old'.

Yours was a different experience to Don's. He didn't have to cope with an admission of serial affairs sprung on him some time after the event. He had the opportunity to realise what Lue was doing as her one and only affair developed and it happened at the same time that his own beliefs were changing. Lue was a very lucky lady.

Add your wife's admission to your own illness and the situation of your son and it's astonishing that you survived. (It's also astonishing that your liver survived 15 years on the booze.)

Thanks for your comment,

Lue

OK it was quite well written but the philosophy by the weird husband that you can cure the ails of a marriage by infidelity is just plain stupid. The husband showed not a drop of angst throughout just to enable the author to justify his warped philosophy. She cheated on him, betraying both her husband and Ray's pregnant wife. The husband rationalised this despicable act by his wimp philosophy.

Content is a vital ingredient of a story. 1*

In the "real world" I believe that Don would have thought about Lue's long term affair with Ray that only ended with Ray bringing his baby and wife home from the hospital where it seemed to Lue that the "Romance and possible long term relationship" was over. I think that Don would have wanted to continue to fly free exploring a beautiful 22 year old lady that desires him to the fullest extent possible with a few snuggles thrown Lue way every now and then. After all - "Fair is Fair" as I noted after the "One Wounded Seagull" story.

I accept that perhaps most husbands would have reacted differently to Don. But I did try to explain in this story some of the background learnings that led both Don and Lue to adopt the motives and attitudes they had to the situations they found themselves in and that they created for themselves.

With Don, there was also the matter of timing.

Lue's infidelity came as no surprise. He had gradually realised and accepted its inevitability and didn't stop it. His failing came later when he assumed that she also believed what he believed and would be equally accepting of his infidelity.

On other stories I have commented quoting the great anthropologist, Clyde Kluckhohn.

Every man is, to some extent:

Like every other man.

Like some other men.

Like no other man.

I find the most interesting stories to be the ones where the main character is like no other 'man' (person). Maybe Don and Lue were like few others.

Lue

I understand your thinking of the "like no other man" with Don being the exception to the norm (whatever that is). I still think that once he sampled the lovely 22 year old at his "advanced age" (I'm at least double that age myself) that he would have continued to take pleasure as long as Kylie was interested (like no other doesn't preclude him from enjoying pleasures of a young energetic woman). Lulue would have to get used to it and remember her long time affair with Ray and "learn" to accept Don's happiness in this situation. I guess I myself can't understand the "like no other man's" thinking as you write this story. You write very well and like yourself I feel compelled to comment as I see the situation. Thanks for the story!

"His failing came later when he assumed that she also believed what he believed and would be equally accepting of his infidelity." - I find it interesting that you consider his assumption that Lue would be as accepting of his infidelity as he was of hers, is a "failing"! I consider it a quite logical assumption, and it is HER failing that she can't grant him the same consideration that he gave her.

One might think that after the length of time they had been married they might have had a better idea of how each other thought about things. But people change, and even those close to them aren't always fully aware of how much they have changed. (Or perhaps haven't changed when they might be expected to have done so.)

I wrote Lue as an insecure character. She was open to her affair because she found it confirming of her being attractive and beyond being "just a wife and mother".

But then she didn't become secure enough in herself to see that her husband's affair was no threat or rejection of her. She says "how can I compete with a 22 year-old", and even her husband's statement "it's not a competition" doesn't reassure her.

Very complex animals, people.

Sure, logic would say "he let me do it and it's hypocritical for me to complain when he does it too". But who expects people to behave logically?

Lue

I went back and read the story again "The Husband's Story" and from what I can read Lue started on her trail to independent pleasure seeking working with Bruce. You didn't indicate that she had sex with him but she did establish a relationship much like husband and wife with Bruce. Lue got frustrated when Don's business suffered a bad down turn and she pulled away from him emotionally (causing the marriage for the kids sake mentally). Lue went to work looking for an emotional contact (one that she gave up with her husband) and found Ray. Lue became emotionally bonded to Ray and would have left with him but for the children. Don was depressed by losing his business and the emotional support of his wife. You speak of Lue cheating with the usual excuses a woman gives about not feeling attractive, etc. when in fact it was Don that was being devastated emotionally and then he finds Lue cheating on the marriage. Like I have said before "fair is fair" and the excuse you give for Lue not accepting Don's affair just doesn't hold water. Look, I have been married for over 51 years so I have seen a thing or two about relationships and your story seems to be written from the femdom point of view. Your comments on other stories reflect this view so no I can't accept that a "real life Don" would not want equality after all Lue denied him the emotional part of their marriage for years. Lue needs to suck it up and let Don "find himself" and let him regain HIS confidence. LOL - But then again it is your story! ;-)

I tried to write this story to give a bit of background to the previous two LW stories about Lue and Don. The Bruce part of the story was to show that a workplace relationship can become very close without threatening the marriage relationship. The Ray part of the story was intended to show that even a sexual relationship at work can occur without threatening the marital relationship, given the attitude of a man like Don.

I don't see how you could have concluded that Don was "emotionally devastated" by Lue's infidelity. I tried to write him as somewhat unemotional and driven by rational and logical beliefs. He had developed strong beliefs about personal freedoms and he practiced those beliefs. When they were tested by Lue's relationship with Ray, he had time to come to terms with what was happening. He recognised the inevitability of sex occurring and was accepting of her relationship with Ray as he had been of her relationship with Bruce.

I wrote Lue as coming to understand the theory of Don's beliefs, but as unable to follow through to practical acceptance when Don's behaviour put them to the test. She also was more confused, unsure of whether she was 'in love' with Ray. When the affair was over, she recognised it for what it really was.

To me, Don was the strong character who was basically in control all the way through.

So thanks for your interest in the story.

'Lue'

Lue, When you comment that; "I don't see how you could have concluded that Don was "emotionally devastated" by Lue's infidelity"

Perhaps my writing skills suck too badly but I commented;

"Lue got frustrated when Don's business suffered a bad down turn and she pulled away from him emotionally (causing the marriage for the kids sake mentally)"

and then indicated;

"Don was depressed by losing his business and the emotional support of his wife."

and then;

"when in fact it was Don that was being devastated emotionally AND THEN he finds Lue cheating on the marriage"

I realize that my comments are often runoff sentences (I failed high school english because I was too bored with the subject). But, the comment is that Lue abandoned the marriage when Don's business failed and then she abandoned the marriage which she had already started doing when she had her "affair" with Bruce (and would probably had sex with him until she found out that he had a beautiful wife that wanted Don in a swinging exchange - and she didn't want that). Don was emotionally devastated because his wife had abandoned him on multiple levels with cheating with Ray being the worst. I read that he just "gave up on a bad marriage" and decided that he would stick around for the kids sake and find himself.

Bottom line is that everybody has emotions (unlike our current president) but some like Don just keep them inside and keep the emotional pain hidden. Yes there are some low percentage of people that are wired to like the cuck stuff but thats a different situation than the one you describe with Lue and Don. Yes they may live together until death but, the emotional wound in Don's heart will never heal IMO. I like reading your stories because they challenge the reader to think about the situation. Thanks for the comment exchange and feel free to email me if you want to have a discussion in another format.

that, regardless of how little or how much a story goes close to an actual situation, once the words are put onto paper and the story is published it takes on an independent life of its own.

Every reader interprets it according to their own beliefs about human behaviour (and is perfectly entitled to do so). People are still interpreting and re-interpreting Shakespeare's dramas after all these years and it doesn't really matter what the Bard himself thought.

I just have to accept that once I have written a story, my interpretation of the characters' motivations carries no more weight than the view taken by any other reader.

Lue

I agree with you that these stories take on a life of their own on this site where you allow readers to comment. My comments are actually a means to communicate with the author to see if I can get a perspective of their own thoughts on the topic and I really appreciate your replies to my comments. Sometimes the author writes themselves into a corner to get the story to flow but to actually be able to communicate and get feedback from the author enhances the reading experience. Thanks for taking the time to respond to my feeble comments and thanks for publishing the stories, they are though provoking to say the least. I hope you can see where my logic train comes from and the fact that I comment is to help you see another's point of view on real life matters.

In my ideal world, the commentaries would be conversations. Unfortunately, a lot of commenters and authors won't engage. Too many are drop-and-run comments, but occasionally an interesting thread can happen. Even the ferocious ones can be interesting, but the best (to me) are the ones that explore points of view (as you say).

Again, thanks,

Lue

I won't rate it because I really sort of hated your characters.

I couldn't relate to Don at all and he seemed very hard to sympathize with or work up any interest in.

I simply felt he was a bit lame and disgusting. Lue, of course was ridiculous. Maybe she started figuring out that she had become pathetic so good on her for character development.

These folks seemed bland, passionless and had a kind of faded decay about them.

Definitely not my cup of tea or characters I find interesting but thanks for a slightly different perspective.

Everbody has emotions unlike our current President.

Lue is aussie think your californian

Both lefties, nope liberals, oops ruined that good word, now progressives....Best world leader that Teddy R. Original progressive...strange your party now indentifies with staunch Republican

Anyway...thought all you guys were so worried Trump could not control his emotions. Thought world was supposed to have been blown up by now if he defeated hilly.

Strange how Lucy did not mention to Don goodbyes were said as she lay next to him. Tougher still with her spooning him the movement of her rotating hips didn't wake him up.

Wonder how long the memory of Kylie will keep lewdy from starting third affair.

Quote: 'That which doesn't kill us makes us stronger'.

I doubt that applies for somebody who has only just survived a massive heart attack, but maybe it does with marriage. End quote.

I was pleased to read these two sentences. Sixties pop psychology is often misunderstood and easy to crack jokes about. Back then we had posters. Today we have Facebook memes. The seagull philosophy has been a convenient rationalization for self indulgence or hedonism. But none of the above critical sentiments are fair to either your story or your characters.

As I expected it to be, the story is well constructed and well written. It's honest, too. It feels honest. However Don's reaction strikes the reader it's undeniable that it saved their marriage. As I mentioned in a previous comment, he was clear in stating that Lue was worth that reaction.

I do love a happy ending. It was attitude that provided it here. I'm certain from reading this that the couple were able to go on loving and trusting, having grown wiser from the experience. (There I go predicting, and you expressly forbade that! Well, rules were made to be broken, weren't they, Lue?) It takes a strong commitment to weather such incidents in a marriage. I'm pleased that you managed it and shared it with us.

Luedon, I’ve now read the 3 stories related to Lue, Don, Ray and Kylie. I do find them very believable and enjoyed them. Yes, there were Hot and Erotic parts to them but also the feelings and emotions that was present in the characters. It did feel like it was an autobiography of a marriage with its ups and downs and thankfully a happy ending. Thank you and looking forward to reading more of your stories.

To my mind I can only see Lue as the ultimate betrayer in these tales. It's one thing if both spouses agree to "a little variety" in their lives. Lue however betrayed her husband IMPHO in the most vile of manners. To have gone with her lover elsewhere is one thing. He set her free and she supposedly came back to him. I say supposedly because of a number of factors. He even called her on it by telling her that she was thinking of Ray while she had sex with her husband. I didn't say made love with him simply because she didn't make love with him, he was just a human dildo for her. She also had the audacity to bring her paramour into her marriage bed, and his comments to that fact showed a chasm in the relationship! Being together for the sake of the kids is one thing, that however doesn't give her leave to completely and utterly trash the marriage. Their kids were home, so just what would've happened had one had a bad dream and walked into the bedroom to find mommy with someone else? I'm not talking about when he had already capitulated, I'm talking about beforehand. Instead of turning to her husband in times of worse, she abandoned him for this new and exciting relationship. That's the equivalent of setting off a nuke just to hear the bang. The disrespect from her to him is beyond anything I can even fathom.

A great deal of married couples survive infidelity with a great deal of hard work. Had she put a tenth of the effort into working with her husband instead of cheating (once again I am speaking about before he gives her her wings) they could have survived without the cheating. By bringing him into their bed dishonors him in the most vile of manners. But he took the long view and made his rationalization if for no reason other than keep himself sane.

When she couldn't abide his infidelity I agreed with him about not wanting to hurt her. However he should have said something along the lines of "I am sorry that I hurt you, as that was never my intention. So from now onwards we'll be more discreet and do this away from home so that you won't be offended. I am sure that you will find the strength and resolve just as I had to. I don't say this from malace but from love". That would be my take on this. She wanted strange, she agreed to the terms, and now she'll have to set him free and patiently wait with baited breath to see if he comes back to her. That would be my take on a real life Don reaction. Not to get even per say, but to allow him to explore just as he let her. Maybe not a years worth but more than just once. Also, he left that just as you don't own me comment just a bit ambiguous. If it were me I would have asked her if she could picture him doing the same and would she be ok with him being with someone other than her, reminding her that he doesn't own her just as she didn't own him!

All that having been said, I thank you for the stories as they did feel like real people with real emotions and in that you managed to bring them partially to life in your tales. So, thank you for the stories....

A number of things have been said in recent times in the popular press about the social mores that developed in western cultures in the 1960s & 70s. The story was set in the tail end of the hippie era and a lot of people had been exploring ideas that went against the moralities of the 1940s and 50s. Bruce and Anneke were products of that time and in their own way left an impact on both Lue and Don.

To me, Lue behaved as a flawed human who selfishly opened herself up to Ray's exploitation. He knew what he was doing and took what was on offer; she thought she was doing something beyond "getting a bit of variety". It was only later that she recognised what she had done for what it really was.

Don knew what it was, and intellectualised the situation. He knew it wouldn't last and his 'seagull' would come back. I doubt that many husbands would have behaved as he did, even back in the 1970s, and would have told the seagull to get lost permanently.

To me, the big difference between this story and most other LW stories is that Lue believed that what she was doing was wrong, but it was so attractive that she did it anyhow. She knew she was cheating. Don didn't believe it was wrong, so there was nothing to criticise or forgive.

The problems with this emerge when Don exercised his freedom with Kylie. Lue is remorseful for what she did that was wrong, and believes that what Don is doing now is wrong. Don sees that as hypocrisy.

Thanks for your thoughtful comment, Seeker.

Lue

Evident in the entire incident is the lack of feeling by all parties, save selfishness by one party and of self delulsion by other. I read JLS at school. The meaning was in it abundantly clear but as a book, it was boring as hell and I've never read anything near as patronising since. I am pretty certain that the freedom granted the Seagull was not intended to include the joy of being shat on. The analogy made here seems to be an exercise in stretching a concept beyond its breaking point.

Likewise the Gestalt Prayer seems nothing more than an aspiration to ambivalence. And finally, the point, I think overlooked in Nietzsche's quote is that while one might grow in fortitude there is no implication that it is without cost or that a person will be otherwise unchanged. There is pain and struggle in growth and the attainment of gnosis, at least for anyone else.

but I dont see anything wrong with that. There are tons of selfish people in the world who have found love and a partner who willing accepts that quality in them.

No doubt that on that occasion Lue behaved in a self-centred manner, not thinking of the consequences of her actions. She lucked in, in that her husband understood the reasons for her behaviour and didn't think that what she had done was a capital offence.

Whether behaving selfishly on occasion makes one a 'selfish person' takes a bit of thinking through. The story only showed that one occasion, not a pattern of behaviour.

Lue

Seagulls are rats with wings. Lue wanted her cake and to eat it.

Maybe they are in real life, Iainmoore, but as expressions of a philosophy of life they represent something different. The question you raise is important, though, which is 'When does my freedom come at somebody else's expense and is that fair?'

As I have said in response to other comments, Lue lucked in. Her husband didn't see what she was doing as being at a cost to him. Many (most?) other husbands would have followed a different philosophy.

When a seagull steals your fish and chips, how do you respond? Some swear and throw stones, others say 'that's OK, it's a seagull'.

Lue

After 1st chapter lost a lot of the heart and felt more preachy.

Why is so much erotic fiction not erotic.

Indeed it was, Anonymous. More so than most stories and that is why I submitted it in the Non-erotic category.

Whether it's commenters from the Moral Brigade putting forward their view of the world, or others like me defending opposing views, a fair bit of what is published here is preachy.

So long as it's just defending a viewpoint I'm happy with a bit of preachiness. I do dislike comments that go further than just defending a viewpoint and say "It's not only what I believe, but everybody else must believe it too."

Lue

Lue seems to live by the ethos "What is good for me to do is not good for you to do." She goes out screws Ray multiple times. Don does it once and she's hurt.

Why? Were her husband's feelings less important than hers? And just because her husband handled her deplorable behavior well, does that mean her actions were correct and his were wrong because her little pride was hurt?

And what's up with Don? Lue: I want to have sex with other men. Don: OK. Have a good time.

Is Don some kind of unfeeling android? Does he have Low-T? Was he hoping to get lucky with Ray too?

Inquiring minds want know. :D

Thanks for the comment, Anonymous. I appreciate all comments, and especially those that query my characters' behaviour. It's human motivation that interests me more than anything else.

Of course Lue's behaviour could be seen as hypocritical, but it should not have been unexpected. She was 'normal' to the extent that she was tempted by a situation that offered her a return to feeling as she did in her younger days as a sexual being rather than 'just a wife and mother'. Being a person ruled more by emotion than logic, she succumbed.

When Don took the opportunity of a sexual liaison with Kylie, her emotions went the other way and she couldn't cope. Hypocrisy if you prefer, but not unexpected and very human.

Don was a very different character at that stage of their lives. He was ruled by rationality and logic rather than emotion. He could have been be described as a cold fish in some ways. He enjoyed sex and was good at it, but his rational mind didn't see it in the same way that society does. If his wife had sex with another man, he didn't see it as 'cheating' so long as 'it was only sex'.

It was also 'only sex' with one other man, not putting it about everywhere which would probably have been much more of a challenge to his rational way of thinking.

Don was also very self confident. He didn't feel threatened by what Lue and Ray were doing. As he said "I don't need to win, but I don't intend to lose either." That's very different from the usual husband who feels that he has been rejected and can't cope with the threat to his self confidence.

Over the years since, Lue has become more like Don. You can't live with a bloke for sixty years unless you both adapt and grow together. As I said elsewhere, the relationship was never tested again and it's a bit late now to try. It would have been interesting to see if she would have reacted differently if another Kylie had come along a few years later.

Lue

What a pretentious egomaniac this Luedon is:

Lue was (and is) a true romantic. Nothing makes her happier than to see two people expressing their love for each other. She cries at weddings. She is over the moon when I remember our wedding anniversary. (I have about 75% success rate and she forgives me when I don't.)

Wow, amazing depth. She cries at weddings. Anniversary. I think you mean cliche and unavailing.

Please, get over yourself, you pretentious moron.

Unlike you, I don't delete the negative comments on my stories.

Do you feel better now that you have retaliated? Did any of the other critical commenters on your story also have stories providing an opportunity like this for retaliation?

Lue

Luedon wrote ..." I don't see how you could have concluded that Don was "emotionally devastated" by Lue's infidelity. I tried to write him as somewhat unemotional and driven by rational and logical beliefs...

LOL anyone who views the dumbest most shallow idiotic book EVER Whittier Jonathan Livingston Seagull as REAL philosophy... is NOT a person or rational logical beliefs

I mean do you EVER consider the shit you are shoveling

You interpret words the way you want them to be rather than what the author actually wrote. I did it myself with amischeifmaker's story 'A Tree Falls in a Forest' and made a bit of a fool of myself in a comment, as I think you have done here.

What Don said in this story about 'Jonathan Livingston Seagull' was:

"I bought Jonathan Livingston Seagull and read it the following night. It's not a big book. It's about a bird who flies for the sake of flying. All the other seagulls fly so that they can find food, but Jonathan works day and night to achieve perfection in flight technique.

Now, nobody in their right mind does something for the sake of doing it. The only reason for doing something is to achieve a result. There is no other reason. None. For a goal-oriented person like me, this book was interesting and I read it several times. But it was irrelevant to my situation."

I hope that clears it up for you.

Lue

....but I cannot accept this as anything more than a thinly disguised cuke story, although very well written.

No need to be sorry, Anonymous

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It is by definition a cuckold story. A cuckold is the husband of an adulteress, and Lue committed adultery. Almost all Loving Wife stories are about cuckold husbands.

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Cuck stories (and the extreme version Cuck-shit stories) within the LW commentariat definition have submissive and subservient behaviour by the husband. So this isn't one of those. Don stayed very much in control. But I now realise that it was a mistake on my part to not submit this in the LW category where the commenters are a more involved and critical community.

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I'm not sure about a cuke story or where that fits into the general scheme of things, but it sounds like it could be fun.

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Lue

Cukes have their benefits. A wide choice of lengths and widths ... from bite size to hippo-chokers. Some have a neat curve, others are just plain straight. Even softness, if you can wait long enough. And they never get jealous or demand to know “Who’s your cuke NOW?”

Only caution is to wipe the cuke-de-jour with a towel to knock off the little prickly things. They might provide some variety of sensation, but you don’t want organic stuff that might hang around too long ‘down there!’ But do NOT peel them, you might lose that puppy ... wash thoroughly with tequila if germ-phobic.

And, when you are completely satiated, there is a refreshing treat for your eyes, skin and tummy!

Cucks cannot claim superiority in many of those attributes!

Very creative, Mr LdeS

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I'll leave that for others of a more experimental bent. But I am sure that those who are that way inclined enjoy the experience. My horizons have been broadened as to what turns people on after a few years reading and commenting on Literotica.

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Lue

The author is certainly allowed to take this story wherever he wants to. His imagination is his universe. That being said, the wife crossed the line when she asked to spend the night with her lover in their marital bed. That is pure humiliation and demeaning your husband. No "loving wife" would ever consider that. And, for the husband agreeing to it...too far. Well written but I had to give it a -2* at that point.

Samson

The interesting question, Samson:

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Is how important does a husband think that another penis entering his wife's vagina really is. 'Don' was sure that 'Lue' was just getting a "bit of variety" as their earlier friends had described it, and it was no more than that. It was no more a threat to him than he thought his later romp with Kylie (in the same marital bed) should be to Lue.

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The difference was that Don not only believed it, he was able to live it. Lue understood it and recognised that Don had lived the philosophy, but when it came to the test, she didn't cope with the reality of it.

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It's a bit late now to try again, but it would have been interesting if a similar opportunity had arisen before ancience overtook them both. (22 year-old ladies aren't generally interested in bedtime romps with 80+ year old blokes.)

Thanks for the comment,

Lue

wow the way u portray Don...he is the perfecttttt wife! So happy to allow his spouse to get fucked by another guy...no feeling of doubt ..no loss of confidence... just a perfect woman....

He knows what is important in life and what is not. He's anything but the subservient "wife" type character that you depict.

Lue

Every thing about this writer is all about Female Cliches!! What they wish their husbands/lovers should be…this stupid writer has absolutely no clue what men want or feel…( could be she is married to a person who is not a man on any basic level …hence all the fairy tale ideas!!

Her reasoning( as Don) are laughable…in one sentence he justifies her behaviour by saying ‘ I don’t own her’….of course u dimwit female…you don’t own her…at the same time no one put a gun on her head to get married and take the vows of fidelity ? Did the vows hve an expiry date that she selfishly feels she needs more? The writer ( as this is a life story) is one selfish female to boot and maybe Donald Duck the cUck deserves to be her husband! They make a real shitty pair of pathetic individuals ..a self absorbed selfish bitch masquerading as a wife and a cuck husband trying to act like a man!LOL

ALSO the saying ‘ If you love something, set it free. If it's yours, it will come back to you. If it doesn't, it never was‘ atleast for this writer need to be modified to

‘ If you love ur delusional wife , set her free. If she is yours she’ll never fuck someone else…, If she does fuck someone else let him have the cunt…she never was urs

How can one know whether he likes the content without reading the story? Unless there is something in the title or blurb to warn off the cuck-tale / BTB / RAAC haters they have to read the story to find out what is in it. Sometimes elements become obvious early on and the reader can bail out without investing much, but it's not unusual to get a couple pages in or even near the end before realizing where the writer is going. Readers who feel tricked will drop retaliatory one bombs. Deal with it.

And no, you cannot separate the plot elements from the technical aspects of "the writing." That's foolish. They don't give cinematography awards to snuff films because of how clearly you can see the blood spray, nor do they put pedophilic paintings in museums (at least not yet, some of the pieces in Tony Podesta's "art" collection give me pause) because of the "artist's" impeccable brushstrokes or brilliant use of color . Reductio ad absurdum, but it makes the point. If "you" are writing for the shock value, don't be shocked when people don't like it.

E o r

I can't get around the fact that Lue could dish it out but couldn't take it. Did she think she was the only one feeling the marriage had gone stale? I'd be wary of living with a partner who thinks her feelings are the only ones that matter. And of course Don deserved to Have Kylie as well. Why is that even a discussion?

It seems that no one, and particularly author, considers that our MCs caused Ray to cheat on his pregnant wife, Julie. Lucy and Ray are predators. I wish Julie found out so that she could divorce Ray and humiliate Lucy.

Don had a brief sexual relationship with a young woman, Kylie!

You basically meant poor cuck got one fuck in..compared to the slut wife’s long time affair! Luedon..u seem to subscibe to a philosophy that seems to come straight from kids raised in broken homes or where females lead the household…where from a young age a boy is taught to be a wimp and allow the woman liberties in marriage..while continuing to be a responsible man!,, you’d stories seem soo pathetic that I can’t actually say they were great… more like they were simply wimpy!

Over the course of the three chapters…one thing that seems to shine through was that this was not a normal loving marriage… it was a sham!No wife who loves her spouse goes and fucks on him… no husband who loves his wife will be able to love her after seeing her affair…. Sorry Luedon..u live in a make believe world where I guess it’s a woman’s fantasy world…! Have my cake and eat it too…and no real consequences!wake up u libertine moron….U r a abomination in the real world. Stop peddling George Soros and his wokeism!

I think the seagull cliche was modified to

If you love someone…set her free… if she comes back..set her free again..as it seems her lover too did not want her!

Authors have the freedom to create whatever relationship they want and present it as credible. Readers require at least credibility in order to continue to read about the relationship. Reactions to fictional situations is , of course, personal. Credibility is not: a piece of fiction either is or is not credible. This one is not.

This narrative is well crafted, providing an interesting look at how marriage is handled outside of mainstream mores.

Finding a sympathetic character here was difficult. Kylie and Julia were my choices. I was glad Julia remained clueless to the affair. Ray was a butt-nugget, straight up. Don and Lue were both flawed, but well suited to each other. Right or wrong seemed irrelevant to them as their relationship progressed. Their concern for Ray’s sensibilities when they refrained from having sex in the next room baffled me. It was like they were looking at life through a prism. Lue definitely had ‘the hand’ in the relationship. It seemed to work for them.

You could credit their success to their enlightened philosophies, but in my view they dodged more bullets than

Neo in the Matrix.

I refrain comment on the seagull other than I feel it should have been fed an Alka-Seltzer long ago.