Slap from an unfaithful wife by other2other1
-Arthur
"Did you hear me Arthur, you just need to sign the papers, and it's all done!"
My wife, Annie, to whom I had been married for over 25 years, was talking to me. I was trying to listen, but her voice was getting further and further away the more her rant at me was going on.
It all started this afternoon when I came home from work. She was sitting at the table with a glass of wine and a determined look on her face. But, unfortunately, she only had one glass out for her, and she was drinking from that. For what was turning into a challenging conversation, she had not thought I might like or with how the conversation was going, that I might also need a drink.
I knew this would be bad as I sat down. She never asked about my day, just jumping right into letting me know that she was leaving me. Annie had found her 'soul mate', someone who made her heart sing like I never did, and I was no longer good enough for her. I was having a hard time hearing her. The problem was as she was getting louder, her voice increasing in volume. To me however, she was getting softer.
Our story was pretty typical. Annie and I had gotten together in high school and stayed together. Our daughter Sally was born about six months after we got married. She wasn't the main reason we got married, but it was on the agenda. Today, we both had good jobs; while not rich, I would say that we were upper-middle class. We had also paid the house off a few years ago and had a decent savings account.
We often said we loved each other, took regular family holidays, and while we didn't have as much sex as we did when we got together, we still averaged a couple of times a week. I had thought we loved each other profoundly and would have said we were going to grow old together, until this afternoon.
Annie was still ranting; her features were getting red as she continued to tell me what was happening. "Arthur, Arthur! Look at me! It was getting hard to concentrate, but I turned my head to her. "You need to sign these papers!" She kept pointing down at the documents in front of me. Her voice was demanding, but I was having a tough time focusing. It was like the room's light and colour faded away even though the lights were on in the kitchen.
In my head, I was upset, but my body was not responding, and the longer I didn't respond, the more furious Annie became. The last thing I can recall is Annie slapping me. I could not feel the blow. I imagined it would leave a big red mark. But again, I couldn't move, and the world kept going dark.
Sally
It had been a long day, the drive home from university was delayed as there was an accident slowing everyone down. I couldn't put my finger on it when I got home, but the house was eerily quiet. The lights were on, my dad's car was there, however, mum's was gone. When I walked into the kitchen, I threw my bag and books on the ground. Dad was sitting at the table, he wasn't moving, just staring into space. On the other side of the table sat an open bottle of mum's wine and a mostly empty wine glass. In front of dad sat a stack of papers with lots of those 'sign here' tabs.
I walked over to dad and touched his shoulder from the back, "Hey Dad!" I expected him to turn or jump, but he didn't respond. I walked around and looked him in the face, and I couldn't help but gasp. His eyes had glazed over, almost going a milky white, and it looked like there had been tears falling from his eyes earlier, but he wasn't blinking. From his mouth was a trail of drool that was starting to drip into his lap.
I felt panicked. "Dad! Dad! Come back to me dad!" I couldn't help but start crying.
After a minute, dad still wasn't responding. I knew I had to calm myself. I spoke to myself, 'Slow down, Sally, Dad needs help.' I pulled out my phone and called 000 emergency. I let them know that I couldn't get my father, Arthur Other, to respond, They asked me my details and address, and I gave them my name, Sally Other and our home address. They dispatched an ambulance, letting me know it would arrive in around ten minutes. For the next few minutes, I sat there and looked at dad and held his hand. I talked to him softly, letting him know it would be okay.
This man had given me everything growing up. He worked hard but was always at my school events, musicals and ballet. When I was first learning violin, he suffered through hour after hour of ear screeching practice, always encouraging me. Finally, he had put away enough to buy me a Hidersine violin for my sixteenth birthday, it was not the best out there, but it was better than the other practice ones I had. Five years later, I was at university studying music with a focus on strings and violin. I had two other better violins, but that one had a special place in my heart, as it was from dad.
I wasn't sure what to do while I waited. Why was dad like this? What had happened? And I had no idea where mum was. It was then that I looked down at the paperwork and the words 'Petition for Divorce' jumped out at me. What the fuck! I read the first page of the document for a couple of minutes, and my skin started crawling. For no reason that I could discern, mum wanted to divorce dad.
It seemed very likely that dad's state was due to these documents, and judging by how mum's wine was open, she had given dad the documents and walked out on him. People often wonder how emotions change so rapidly. I suppose they have never had this happen to them before. For me, I felt all compassion and desire to be in my mothers' presence die.
Not too much later, the ambulance arrived, and with my direction, they got dad on a gurney and took off to the hospital. I was following behind after locking up the house, so I started making calls as I drove. I called my grandmother, dad's mum, his sister Rhonda, his best friend and then called his manager at work and gave them a quick run down to let them know dad would be off work for a while. I told them I came home and found him unresponsive, and he was on the way to the hospital.
Everyone asked me to keep them up to date on his condition, and his manager told me he would arrange emergency leave for dad and let their boss know. I knew I was putting off the next call as I was so mad at her, but I decided I needed to call mum. The phone rang, and she picked up after a couple of rings.
"Hi Sally my darling, how was your day?"
Wow, just wow, surely my mother was not that naive to think I wouldn't know what was going on. It had been almost an hour since I walked into the house and found dad. Mum also knew my schedule was reasonably consistent, and I would have found him.
"Where are you mum?"
"I'm out and about sweetie..." she trailed off, not wanting to say anything. I could sense her hesitation.
"So, in other words, you just destroyed my father, your husband, and walked out on him without a care then?"
"Oh no darling, I tried to explain to your father about Paul and what was happening, but he wasn't responding, so I thought it better to leave and let him process how we are not going to be living with him anymore."
She was trying to talk like it was a simple thing, however, finding dad as I had, it was more than likely that she just ripped his heart out and thrown it against the wall while he was watching; if my guess was correct.
"It looks to me like you walked out on him when he needed help. Are you that heartless? Do you know what's happening now, or don't you care?" There was anger beginning to leak into my voice.
"Sweetie, don't get angry now, I know this is a bit of a shock, but your father will be fine. I will only ask for what is mine as well as some support while Paul waits to marry me."
Yep, my mother was moving into Lala land.
"Angry, you haven't seen angry yet, mother! And just so you know, I am currently following dad to the hospital, he's in an ambulance, and when I got home, he looked like he had a stroke."
"Oh Sally my, sweetie, I'm sorry to hear that, but...."
"No fucking buts mother, let me ask you, is this Paul you're running off with the same Paul from your work that you keep talking about?"
She hesitated, "Of course, darling." Paul was a man at my mothers work that she never shut up about.
"So, as I understand, he's a dozen years younger than you, and you have been having an affair with for how long?"
Again she hesitated, "Six months."
"Right, so for the last six months, you have been fucking someone from your work behind dad's back. You have been lying to dad and me, hiding your whore's affair. I had no idea you were a slut, and obviously, neither did dad, judging by the state you just abandoned him in. How in the fucking world did you think either of us was going to be happy about it?"
"Well, I suppose not at first, but once we are living with Paul, you will see we are meant to be together!"
We! She had just referred in the plural for a second time. Did she think that I was going to leave dad to move in with her and her boyfriend? I could feel myself fuming. I knew I would say something stupid if I didn't stop.
"I'm going to hang up now before I say something to you that I may not be able to take back. However, let me be absolutely clear. I WILL NOT be moving away from dad, and there is fucking no way that I coming anywhere near Paul, let alone going near his place that you and he are whoring away in!"
"Sally Other!" my mother responded, "I am your mother, and I will not be spoken to like that regardless of you being upset!"
"Then I guess we are done talking." And I hung up before she could say anything else. If she thought I was going to condone what she was doing, she had another thing coming.
She tried to call me back multiple times; then she started calling dad's phone, which was silly because if he could, I doubt he would pick up a call from her. I had dad's phone with me, so I ignored any call from her.
By the time I got to the hospital, the ambulance crew had got dad admitted, and he was in a ward under observation. Aunt Rhonda had turned up and let me know she had also gotten a handful of calls from my mother but wasn't sure what was happening other than her brother was in the hospital. When I explained what had happened, Aunt Rhonda went a deep shade of scarlet, so much so that I could almost see steam coming out of her ears.
"Sally, do you have the documents that bitch left for my brother?"
"Sure, Aunt Rhonda, here."
Aside from Rhonda being my auntie, she was also our family attorney. So for the next hour, we sat there beside dad as Rhonda read the documents and made notes, now and again swearing under her breath. Doctors and nurses periodically came in and out of the room checking on dad.
"Well, the bad news is that your mother is going to get her divorce from your father. The schedule set out here shows that this has been in motion for over two months and had to be served this week, or it would cost her a whole lot more in fees from her legal team."
I shrugged; I had gotten all the justification I cared for from my mother. I was going to make sure that she and dad separated for what she had done.
It was weird. I was never a daddy's girl, I always looked up to my mum, but her move was plain stupid. This was Paul, her 'soul mate's' doing. Regardless mum and dad were not going to survive this if the man lying in bed beside me was any indication.
"The good news is that she got a shyster of a lawyer to represent her. She's going to have to pay a lot to him just for the divorce and a lot more if it goes to court." She grinned, "While my dear brother has the best lawyer in town and is going to get the family discount!"
We smiled at each other for the first time that evening. "Also, some of the claims here where she wants 50% equity in the house and 60% of the financial assets, plus spousal maintenance and child maintenance are likely pretty much ludicrous. I am going to assume from your reaction that you're not going to live with your mother?" I shook my head in the negative.
"Good, okay. I have some initial thoughts; however, we need to see what happens with your dad over the next twenty-four hours. Your mother could already be in trouble for abandonment and mental cruelty."
The next few days flew by, the doctors were constantly checking on dad. Physically he was fine and healthy, however, he just wasn't responsive. I was able to do university study in the hospital chair by the bed, laptop and textbook in hand. Now and then, one of the family would come by to give me a break, and I would go home, sleep for a few hours, change and come back. I will admit I cried a bit at home, alone in the house.
One of the big surprises was the owner of the company that dad worked for came in to check on him. While I knew his manager, Tom, I had never met his actual boss. Tina Williams was a striking woman, voluptuous without being fat, tanned skin, dark raven hair, and with blue eyes that I could say would smoulder, causing any man alive and likely a few women to swoon.
It turns out my dad had been one of a group at his work that had been there for Tina a few years ago when she went through a messy divorce. Her cheating ex-husband tried to take her for most of their savings. And had almost gotten half her business before dad introduced her to Aunt Rhonda. Rhonda had turned the tables, saving Tina from giving any business away and ensuring that Tina got child support for their then six-year-old daughter.
Tina came by several times and was aghast when I told her the general summary of what had happened and why he was here in the hospital. She brought cards from everyone at dad's work and would sit and hold his hand and tell him stories from work while he was away. It turns out that my dad was a bit of a joker in the office, and everyone was missing his antics.
I should let you know, Dad is an accountant by trade and works for one of the financial clearing houses that help banks process payments to financial institutions. It can be tedious work, but apparently, my dad makes the workday just that little brighter for everyone.
One afternoon about two weeks later, I had just come back from a shower and a nap at home. When I walked into the ward, Rhonda and Tina were finishing a conversation. I could tell it had been a little heated; however, their ire was directed at my mother, not each other.
My mother had written a letter of demand to Tina to access all of dad's bonuses over the last few years. It didn't matter that the money had already been paid. The letter required that she receive 50% of them into a nominated bank account within thirty days, or she would be suing Tina.
"Aside from the stupidity of the claim for monies already paid. It sounds like her and her new beau are strapped for cash since I have frozen all of the joint assets while Arthur is checked out." Rhonda was saying a very predator grin on her face.
I laughed, announcing my presence. "Yes, this morning I got my first communication from mum in two weeks, a text message asking if I could give her a few thousand dollars. I have not responded as I am still pretty upset with her. I mean, she has never once enquired about dad since I told her what she did to him!"
Tina had become very defensive of my dad over the last couple of weeks. Whenever my mother was mentioned, her eyes would narrow, and her voice would jump down an octave denoting her profound dislike of Annie Other. It was almost like I could see flames appear around the edges of those smouldering eyes. I just hoped that she never had to sit in a room with my mother, I was afraid that she might burn her to a crisp. I might not like my mother much right now but she was still my mother.
"She has destroyed the most wonderful man. Sally, if it weren't for your father, I would not have my Clarice or business. So many of the office team helped me at one of the lowest times in my life, but your father spent time listening to me. He never judged my ex-husband or me; he just let me talk. No one has ever really done that without offering an opinion. He introduced me to your aunt here, making sure I was looked after. If he were a single man, I would have pursued him with everything I had after the divorce."
I shrugged and let a smile light my face. "He won't be married much longer!"
That brought about realisation, shown on their faces, Rhonda giggle and Tina smiled.
"Thanks, Sally. I needed that. I still can't believe what your mother has done to him or that she cast aside such a great guy. I need to get going to the office, but before I do."
Tina walked over to my dad and, while Rhonda and I watched, bent over and gave him a gentle but heartfelt kiss on the lips. She looked up at us and smiled. But her smiled disappeared into shock a moment later when my dad groaned.
Arthur
As I woke, I could feel soft lips on mine, just the right amount of pressure, and there was a gentle and tender intent behind them that conveyed affection that I had not felt in a long time. I could hear the beeping of a hospital room and groan as almost every muscle in my body hurt. I expected that Annie would be standing over my bed as I opened my eyes after such an affectionate kiss. But standing there was Tina, with a smile on her face.
"Tina?"
From the other side of the bed, Sally and Rhonda approached.
"It's okay daddy. You are going to be okay, you hear!"
My memories caught up to me a moment later, and I realized that Annie was leaving me or, more likely, had left me.
"What happened?"
For the next few minutes, the three of them brought me up to speed on how Sally had found me unresponsive and called an ambulance; how she found the divorce papers finding out that Annie had been cheating on me for months. I found out how Annie had threatened Tina once Rhonda locked our finances until they knew what was happening to me.
"How long?"
"Two weeks, Arthur," Rhonda replied
I looked at Tina, "Um, you kissed me?"
Tina blushed, "Yeah, sorry, I was about to head back to the office and was saying goodbye."
I smiled, "No, it is okay. I guess I'm on the market, so I think it okay!"
Over the next few hours, a litany of doctors came through checking on me. Physical checkups, blood tests, the works. Tina cancelled her visit to the office and stuck around, as did Rhonda and Sally. Among the doctors that came through to see me was a psychologist. As he prodded me, I told him how I came home and found Annie drinking alone, and she told me she was leaving me. Then, as she got more forceful, I told him how the world started to lose colour. Light and sound lost their adhesion, and I found it hard to move my body even though I was getting upset. I had the final memory of Annie slapping and yelling at me, but I couldn't understand her words.
The girls all collectively gasped at the revelation of Annie beating me while I could not respond.
"Daddy, what time do you think it was when you stopped being able to respond?"
"I would say it was around five-thirty baby. Why?"
"Because it was after seven-thirty when I got home and found you, and there was no red mark on your cheek, so I am assuming that mum must have left you there alone for quite some time.
The psychologist chimed in. "It's not unusual for someone in your situation to be abused while you're unresponsive. And in your case, I would say that you went into some type of shock upon hearing your wife's declaration of leaving you. Granted, this is a much more extreme case than we usually hear about, but it does make sense."
Rhonda spoke up, "When Arthur was young, there was a bully a few years older than him. He teased Arthur quite a bit, and one day one of the neighbourhood parents found Arthur lying on the ground in one of the local parks. From what our parents told me, they put him to bed, and he woke up the next morning. No one ever overthought it as he woke up regular as clockwork the next day. But it did happen."
I nodded, "I remember that Billy had been pushing me around and teasing me in the park. After a while, I didn't know what happened, but when I woke up, mum and dad told me I had passed out, and someone brought me home. When I told them about Billy, they went and spoke to his parents. The next day Billy came up to me at school and said sorry." I chucked at the memory. "I don't think he was, but he never bothered me again after that day."
"Well, I think we perhaps have some precedence here." The psychologist mentioned. "In a lot of ways, the mind is still poorly understood. However, if something like this has happened before, it does make sense it could happen again." I frowned. He smiled, "I wouldn't worry too much, with the love and attention of these three lovely ladies, even if something was to happen again, I think you will be well looked after." We spoke for a few more minutes before he excused himself.
I also found myself tired, that might sound strange for someone who had just slept for the past two weeks, but I was. So I sent all three girls home for some rest and told them they could come to visit me tomorrow and make sure I was okay.
The following two days got me back into life, Tina brought me a work laptop and a few simple issues to solve with instructions, only to do them if I was bored. Rhonda dropped in primarily to run through her amended divorce documents and to get me to sign a few documents so she could get to work on ending my marriage to Annie. Rhonda also brought a young detective, Karen Hill.
Detective Hill interviewed me for over an hour about my experience that night with Annie. She thanked me and let Rhonda and me know that we would receive her report in a few days. I wasn't sure if we were filing a complaint against Annie. Finally, however, Rhonda told me to leave it all to her, kissed me on the forehead and left.
On the afternoon of the second day, following my wake up from what Sally was calling my 'check-out', I was released to go back home. Sally escorted me out, and I was surprised when Tina met us at the door and helped Sally escort me to her big suburban SUV. Tina stayed that night for dinner. We ordered take out, she helped to clean up then stayed around to watch TV with us for a couple of hours. When she went to leave, Sally hugged her then made sure that I walked her to her car.
"Tina, thank you so much for everything you have done these past few weeks. I don't know how I can repay you."
"Well, in a few weeks, when you're feeling back on your game, you can take me out for dinner and dancing!"
I blushed. Here I was an afternoon out of the hospital, and the woman whose kiss had woken me up was asking me out. But she was good looking, and I was, according to Annie, to be a single man again.
"Okay, next Friday night after work, that gives me almost two weeks to get myself back to normal?"
She nodded and came and gave me a big hug. It lingered a little longer, and I sensed more of a hidden meaning. As she got into her car, I found it funny that I wondered for a moment the name of the woman I had been married to for almost twenty-five years.
For the next few days again, I had Sally, Rhonda and Tina buzzing around me making sure I was ok. It was nice to be looked after like that. However, the news that Rhonda brought me caught all of us a little off guard that Friday afternoon.
"So this afternoon, Annie was arrested!" she stated.
"What happened?" I asked
"Well, following your statement to the police in hospital, an arrest warrant was put out for Annie based on mental cruelty to a person with a disability. This is based on the fact that you were mentally disabled and unable to defend yourself at the time. Add to the fact that she left you unattended for an unknown period, and she's in quite a bit of trouble."
"What does this mean for the divorce?" asked Tina, who had again joined us for dinner.
That evening she had her eight-year-old daughter Clarice with her. Clarice was watching a Disney movie in the lounge room while we talked. On Monday, I was heading back to work, so Tina would see me then, but I was starting to understand that she was after a little more than an efficient number cruncher in the office. I found myself not minding the thought of Tina and imagining her and what was underneath those nice form-fitting clothes she was wearing each time she came to visit.
Rhonda smiled, "It's likely going to mean a few things go in Arthur's favour. From the status of the bank accounts and house, I'm pushing for a 50/50 split. I know we could go for more after everything. However, I figure that Arthur will want to be fair?" I nodded. "Annie will not be able to touch any of the bonus money that she tried to get from you Tina, I've put a case against her for extortion attached to the mental cruelty charge. It won't do much except stop her touching what is not hers. She will likely be out in a couple of days. None the worse for wear and likely back with the pig of a 'soul mate'."
"What I want to do is get the divorce settled quickly using Arthur's hospital visit and recovery as a pre-text. Then I have plans depending on how she reacts. I will make sure that Arthur does not get anything taken from him that shouldn't be" she smiled.
"So, how long will the divorce take aunt Rhonda?" Sally asked.
"I believe all going well; it should take about three months. After that, if Annie wants to fight anything, I bring in the big guns, and it will take longer but hurt her a lot more."
That night, as I walked Tina out to the car, Sally helped Clarice into the back seat of the big suburban. Tina again hugged me and surprised me with a brief kiss reminding me how I woke up the other day.
"Arthur, I know you are married, and you're an honourable man, so I'm not going to push too much too soon. But I want to stake a claim to you now and let you know that I want you. Of course, I've wanted you for a long time. But I would never chase a married man or dishonour someone's marriage vows. I had it happen to me, and I don't want to cause that to someone else, even if their marriage is on the rocks."
For a moment, I stared down into her deep blue eyes, brushed a lock of her dark raven hair off her face before leaning in to kiss her. But in place of a soft and gentle kiss, I let this be a kiss of passion for perhaps thirty seconds. I knew we both felt the connection. Tina's eyes were closed when I pulled back, and her tongue ran over her lips, savouring our kiss.
I grinned. "That is to let you know I accept your claim."
We turned to look at the girls, both of them giggling as they watched our kiss. Clarice was clapping, and Sally had a massive shit-eating grin on her face. As Tina and Clarice backed out of the drive, Sally hugged me, and we waved them away.
The next few months became somewhat of a rollercoaster. On the one hand, Annie wanted the divorce to move quick. On the other, she wasn't happy with the settlement. It looked like Paul was in the driving seat telling her that she should get the lion's share of the assets. He was feeding her bullshit, and at some level, she had to know it after so many years of marriage. As the settlement demands got more ludicrous, Rhonda had a single call with Annie's lawyer, and while I don't know what was said, all the objections to the settlement ceased overnight.
Tina and I dated each Friday night while Sally started babysitting Clarice, picking her up at school and looking after her giving Tina and me time for dinner, coffee and seeing a show or going dancing. Of course, we never did more than hold hands and kiss, but I had a feeling that the evening my divorce came through was going to be something else.
Now I was back at work, and we were doing well. As a financial organization, we turned a tidy profit, but we weren't in the big leagues; we all did our jobs, got paid well for it and generally had a good time together as a group. I think the staff figured out that Tina and I were becoming an item at some point. Although everyone was happy for both of us, I had to tone down my usual antics. My direct manager, who reported to Tina, made sure to chat around appropriate workplace behaviour as I was practically dating his boss.
About three and a half months later, we got a notification that the divorce would be granted one week from the coming Thursday. There were no courts; however, Annie had requested a meeting to talk before the final decree. I agreed the day before, and we arranged that she would come to the house to see both Sally and myself.
I'd taken the afternoon off work and prepared lamb chops and gnocchi in a burnt butter sauce for the three of us. It was a favourite of all three of us, and I hoped it would make the evening's conversations a little less awkward. Sally got home around five-thirty and went to shower and change, then a little before six, the doorbell rang, and Annie was standing at the front door.
Now, I haven't described Annie in all this time, but perhaps I will now but with somewhat of a now and then look. Before everything went down a few months ago, Annie was an attractive mid-forties housewife. She had cropped shoulder-length brown hair, a curvy mum figure, and while carrying a few pounds more than she liked, she was still very attractive. With an excellent 34-C bust and an ass to match, she was a great looking wife. But, unfortunately, the woman standing before me was almost unrecognisable. Annie had put on a massive amount of weight, she had jowls under her chin and big puffy cheeks, her stomach that always had a bit of a mum tum, now drooped down over her pants, and that curvy mum ass that I used to love and hold had ballooned out.
Moreover, she was wearing baggy clothes that hid more. Now I am not against more significant people, but that wasn't Annie. I think my shock at her body showed on my face. Annie grimaced but said nothing.
"Um, hello Annie, please come in." We walked into the kitchen, and I offered her a glass of wine, which she accepted. We made small talk for a few minutes. She asked about work and if I was taking care of myself. I asked her about work and didn't bother with the looking after herself comment.
"It's what Paul wants. He didn't like how thin I was, so we've been working on bulking me up." She mentioned the unspoken question. I frowned; For over twenty-five years, I had loved this woman. Yet, despite what she had done to me, I still had a lingering concern for her health, even if it was greatly diminished. "You don't approve, do you?" She looked at me.
"No, Annie, I don't. When we were together, you were a good size, healthy. But, I'll be honest, I am shocked at your appearance. You're not looking well, and if I weren't so hurt by what you did, I would be more concerned about your health and try to help you."
"But you don't care, do you," her face dropped. "You and Sally, you're happy and healthy without me here."
"Well, there is a part of me that cares, but when you walked out of here and pretty much left me for dead...." I shrugged, she sighed.
"I deserve that. I did a terrible thing, didn't I?"
"No, mother," Sally had appeared fresh from the shower. "You did a FUCKING horrible thing. You single-handedly ripped a happy family apart, then walked out the door without a care in the world and I, for one, can't understand why dad agreed to let you come here tonight."
"Sally, settle down; your mother knows the situation we are in and how unhappy we all are. Coming here has got to be hard for her. She has asked for this meeting tonight, so I thought the least we could do is be grown up and hear her out. "
Sally wasn't happy; from what I understood, just like me, she had not spoken to her mother since that fateful day. The way my daughter was looking at her mother, this would not end well for anyone--time to change the topic.
I tried to sound happy, "Difficult conversations are not good right before dinner, so let's eat first."
So I served dinner, no one spoke; however, there were many glances at each other across the table. Sally just plain glared at her mother the entire time. After dinner, I cleaned up the table, and Annie asked to speak to Sally alone first.
"No fucking way, you can say what you want to me in front of both of us!"
I was split, but I could see that Sally was determined not to be left alone with her mother. I think Annie could see that too. The look in her eyes was exactly what her mother did to me that fateful night. She nodded.
Annie took a deep breath, she didn't want to do this in front of me, but she looked at Sally. "Well Sally, I wanted to ask you to forgive me for what I did that night. I didn't think things through correctly, and despite everything, I don't want to alienate my daughter forever."
Annie looked at me, "There is more, but I would prefer to say it in private, not with your father present."
"Sorry, mother, but if you can't say it to both of us, then I don't want to hear it."
With that, before Annie could do anything more, Sally got up and walked away. A moment later, we heard her bedroom door slam.
"I wanted that to go better," Annie said softly, more to herself than me.
"I think it went rather well, all things considered," I replied to her, letting her know I heard her.
"Really?"
"Yes, really," I sighed, "Annie, you need to understand that right now, no one living in this house likes you very much." She went to reply, and I held up my hand, "Let me finish and lay it out for you.
"First, you have a long term sexual affair with someone, then hide it from both Sally and I. Next, you serve me with divorce papers without warning, and when I go into 'Check-out' mode as Sally is calling it, you yell, scream, then slap me." Annie looked like a deer caught in headlights.
"Yes, I was aware, and I have memories of most of that time until a little after you hit me the first time. Now let's continue. You then at some point walk out on me when I am unresponsive and leave me there until Sally comes home and finds me in the same state."
Annie was now looking panicked.
"When Sally calls you, you show absolutely no concern for me when your daughter is in obvious distress about her father. You never once inquired about my health until tonight, make unreasonable demands of my workplace, and when you walk in here, it's still all about you. You ask Sally to forgive you, yet at no point have you said you are sorry to her." I paused just a moment to see if it would sink in. "Yes, Annie, I think with all of that said it went really well!"
Annie was now looking at the floor, and there were tears in her eyes. They weren't yet hitting the floor, but they were threatening. I didn't know if they were for Sally, myself or just still all about herself.
I continued, "Now, our divorce will be final tomorrow, and unless you have anything else to say, then I think we have fulfilled your request for a final meeting." I walked to the door and opened it. Annie looked and me and walked out. Once over the threshold, she turned to look at me.
"Arthur, we did have some good years, didn't we?"
"Yes Annie, most of our time together was amazing. You were a great lover, a caring wife and an adoring mother. I don't know what this Paul character has done to you, but I don't see any of the woman I fell in love with within the person standing in front of me. All I see is a lost being who has been manipulated by someone to become overweight, selfish and care nothing more for the people around them than what they can give you next."
She was again looking at her feet.
"You really mean that don't you Arthur."
"Yes, I do."
She turned to leave, then turned back one last time. This time she looked broken.
"Arthur, about the house, Paul told me I needed to ask?"
So that's what this visit was all about. It was nothing about reconnecting with her family. It was just about money. I laughed; Annie looked at me, perplexed as to why I was laughing.
"Go tell your 'soul mate' that you will have your part of the savings and the equity that was in this house in the bank account that your lawyer gave to Rhonda, this time tomorrow. And Annie!"
She looked at me
"Guard that money against Paul, or you're not going to have it long!"
The following morning brought the final decree, Annie and I were no longer husband and wife. There was a small part of me that was sad. But it was a very small part, mostly I was happy. The last few months had not been easy for anyone. Now I was free, and at forty-eight years old, I still had a lot of life in me to give.
Rhonda gave me the call and told me pizza was on her tonight at my place. Sally dropped by for lunch at the office. We talked about happier times with her mother when we were a family. I know she didn't like her mother very much, but I know she missed the woman she used to be. Honestly, I did too, we did have a lot of good years together.
Tina, well, I think there was a signal between Sally and Tina when Sally headed off because not five minutes later, I was called to Tina's office, and she slammed the door shut then proceeded to kiss me like the sun would never rise in the morning again. Although, I must admit that I may have kissed her back the same way.
"Can I claim you as mine now Arthur?"
I felt a sore spot on my neck where there may or may not be a bruise rising as she kissed my neck not a moment ago. "I think you may have already done that."
Dinner that night was great, I had Sally, Rhonda, Tina and Clarice around, and we celebrated my freedom from Annie. That same Friday night, when the girls were in bed, Tina and I consummated our relationship. I must have done everything right because for the rest of the weekend, every time she sat down, she squeaked a little like she was a little sore, but her smouldering eyes were burning with a flame that I knew was for me alone.
Six months later, we were married in a beautiful little ceremony on a local lake with many people from work in attendance. We would have liked to get married later. However, we wanted to be married when Sally and Clarice's little brother was born.
It was five years later, Sally, her boyfriend, Tina and I had just sat down for dinner at one of our local restaurants, when five-year-old Keegan asked. "Daddy, who is that lady that keeps staring at us?"
We all turned around, and sitting across the way was Annie. She had lost a lot of weight, was staring at us, and she didn't look happy with herself. We hadn't seen or heard from her since after the divorce. She had never even tried to get in contact with Sally. I excused myself from the family and went over to her.
"Hi Annie."
"Hi Arthur,"
"How are you?"
She looked down at the chicken salad she was eating, "You were right Arthur, you were right about him. Paul convinced me I was his 'soul mate', and you were nothing. But when I didn't get the money upfront, he convinced me to become overweight because he loved me and liked overweight women. When I got the money from the divorce, you told me not to give it to him, but I didn't listen. He blew through it in six months and then left me."
I was still upset at her, but her story didn't have a happy ending as mine did.
"I spent every moment since then trying to regain the confidence he shattered and get back to something like the person I used to be."
She choked back tears and looked at me. After all these years, that look was the Annie I used to know.
"Arthur, I am so sorry. I treated you like dirt. I did it because I was convinced Paul knew everything that you didn't. I left the only man who ever truly loved me unresponsive, and." She stopped and grasped the edge of the table, "You could have died because of what I did! I know you can never forgive me. But I want to say I am sorry."
She was openly crying now. Surprisingly, Sally had come over standing beside me. She was also hearing her mothers apology. I looked at her, and she gave me a weary smile and grabbed my hand. I don't know if it was time, or perhaps she saw that her mother was genuinely sorry for the first time. But her eyes softened, and she reached a hand out to her mother.
Seeing Sally standing there and then holding out her hand, Annie panicked and tried to get up and leave. But Sally was having none of it and blocked her way.
"Mum, stop. You don't need to go anywhere!"
Sally slid into the booth next to Annie while I slid in on the other side. I looked over to Tina and saw her nod. So for the next hour, mother and daughter talked. There was a lot of reconciliation going on, there were quite a few tears, but for once, they were helpful, not hurtful. Once the girls had caught up, Sally and I took Annie over the table and introduced her to everyone else. I could tell Annie was a little upset being introduced to Keegan as 'Auntie Annie'.
After that day, we sort of let Annie back into our lives. Sally reconnected with her mother slowly. Every week or two, they would have coffee. Trust grew slowly between the two but did happen. When Sally got married, Annie did get to play mother of the bride.
Tina invited Annie over to the house now and then for dinner, and at first, I think it was to spite Annie for everything she'd given up, and Tina had gained marrying me. However, while never BFF close, Tina and Annie did have some weird friendship that I never understood.
Rhonda never forgave Annie for what she did to me, though she would be polite to her when they came in contact.
And me, well, with Tina's blessing Annie and I did a little post-marriage counselling. We talked through a lot of our troubles from that time over five years ago. The counsellor thought that Annie might have been having a hormonal issue. However, Annie would have none of it.
"No, I threw away the most important thing to me that day. I had a husband who loved me and a daughter who wanted to be with me. No hormonal imbalance can justify how I systematically dismantled everything good in my life for some asshole whispering sweet nothings in my ear that was shit in the sack and had a dick so small you never knew it was in." She smiled sweetly at me with that statement.
"Arthur and Sally deserved a lot better from me." She cried then used a tissue to wipe away her tears. "Five years it took before I could reconnect, five years I lost with them. I thank God every day that Arthur has let me back in his life. And Tina too." She blushed at the admission. "She had every right to hate me, yet has treated me warmly every time we meet. No, she got lucky getting everything I threw away, and I will pay for that for a long time."
Annie got a lot more out of those sessions than I did. It was valuable to validate that neither Sally nor I did anything to cause Annie to leave us. And she was right. Tina had picked us up and made us a much stronger family.
They say that people pay for their mistakes if they make them long enough, well Paul did. He moved to the next state over and again tried to steal a married woman and her money. Though this time, the husband caught Paul with his wife and turned him into a eunuch. The husband got ten years, but it sounded like he would be out soon if the rumours from Rhonda were true who was now representing him.
Tina and I are still very much in love. I never thought I could ever love as much or as deeply as I had Annie. But Tina proved that wrong. Tina not only gave me her love but gave her very soul without reservation. We still work in her company, and I am still in the same job. We have our ups and downs but never let anything get in the way of communicating when it matters. Her body is still outstanding, and we make love often. We have even made love in some exotic places while on holiday. Usually, it just takes one look, and I'm locking the bedroom door and ravishing her!
One time we had just finished making love, we had showered and dressed, and when we came into the kitchen, we found Sally and Annie talking. We had found out last month that Sally was expecting, so there was a buzz in the room as the girls were planning the arrival of my first grandchild.
"My goodness, Sally, you would think these two were teenagers that way they act. Tina, you need to tell me what you are feeding Arthur. Maybe I can get some of it to feed Fred!"
The girls all laughed, and I blushed. Annie had been dating a little lately, but nothing serious until Fred came along.
"Mum, leave them alone. We all know that daddy has been a man on a mission since that time."
"Since what time, sweetie?" Annie asked.
"You know," Her eyes sparkled with a bit of mischief. "I think that dad's libido kicked up three notches ever since he came round after being 'checked out'!"
Annie baulked, Sally laughed, Tina blushed. Me, I just sat back, smirked at my girls and felt myself harden again looking at Tina. I then got up, wandered back to the bedroom. Tina following a moment later, locking the bedroom door behind her.
