As I sat on the couch in the long shadows of afternoon I could hear the giggling and laughter. Then the moans and sounds of intercourse. I sat staring out the patio doors into the back yard, I wasn't going to burst in, when they were done I would inform her we were through and it was time for her to be gone.
Walking down the hall toward the front door I heard Helen say, "no, not here, usual spot again next week." He was a young man, looked to be last year of college maybe, he mumbled something to which she responded, "no, don't worry about it, Ernie has no idea what I do on Thursdays."
They had been lost in their small world of lust and cheating without seeing me sitting in the shadows of the room. I have a deep firm voice, so there was no mistake who was speaking.
"I know what you do on Thursdays Helen."
She shrieked, the kid ran out the door.
Helen stormed toward me, "How long have you been there and why are you home?"
"I've been here long enough, as to why am I home? I live here, or have you forgotten?"
To understand the following confrontation, you need to understand my nature. I seldom if ever raise my voice or yell, I've never found it to be constructive. I own and run one of the largest mitigation firms in the state, I've had to learn to curb my feelings and deal with facts.
"What I don't understand is why you would do this Helen. I've always provided for you, you lack for nothing, I make love to you at least 3 times a week. I make sure you climax before I do, sometimes several times. Yet you choose to have sex with young men every Thursday, as though your itch never gets scratched."
When I paused she started with the excuses, how it was a one off, how I was mistaken, how there was a misunderstanding that she could clear up. I kept putting my hand up in a gesture to stop talking, which she ignored. When I finally shouted "STOP", she closed her mouth.
I've never had to shout to get my point across to her before. I know how to be stern and stand my ground without it. I'm not a panty waist, Helen doesn't walk all over me, and until I discovered her infidelity I trusted her implicitly, there had never been any need to yell.
At 36 Helen still has a lovely figure, long natural blond hair, shapely legs and breasts sized to match the rest of her body. She's a professional tutor, working with mainly wealthy students who'd get themselves in trouble academically, mommy and daddy would find out, hire someone like Helen and gladly pay her fee for their kid to graduate. She often made as much as a middle level management position. When I got the results back from the investigator, along with the videos, it all fell into place.
Talking in my normal tone of voice, "You pick one student per semester to be with, and gender doesn't seem to be an issue. You always meet for lunch Thursday at Jo's Sports Bar just off campus. You have a corned beef on rye cut in half, no fries. The guy you're screwing now, has a double cheese burger with bacon and fries, then eats the remainder of your sandwich when he finishes his. You have a one bedroom flat a few blocks away and that's where the rendezvous take place."
"How do I know all this, even though I just hired the investigator 4 months ago. Jo's has had the same daytime bartender for the past 6 years, in fact he knows you by name Helen. They also archive their cctv for five years. It wasn't difficult to see who you'd been with. It would have been one thing if you kept it out of our home, but you just couldn't, could you? No, you had to humiliate me by having sex in OUR bed. You may ask how I know that?"
"I began to notice small things out of place, that's what I do Helen, I look for things out of place in peoples lives. I installed an audio/video camera in the kitchen, the family room and our bedroom. They were only in place a week when you had a 3-some with your current lover and your best friend Ann, that was when I decided to hire the investigator. The pictures were hurtful enough, but to hear you use the same phrases with them that you say to me, it crushed me. Anything to say?"
She was sorry, she knew she hurt me, she was ashamed, just not enough to quit. It had only been going on a year or so, she was addicted to the excitement of sex with young men and women, please forgive her, she'd go to counseling with me and all the rest of the crap I expected.
"Had you not just lied to me again Helen I may have considered counseling, but not anymore. Did you not hear me when I said their cctv footage goes back 5 years, Helen, you've been doing this four of those. Thank God you at least dressed well and didn't look like some skank slut. Even though that's what you are."
"Ernie, can't we work this out? I don't want to lose you after all these years."
"It's been 12 Helen, four of which you've been unfaithful. With the cctv footage, the results from the investigator and the videos I have of you, there isn't a judge in three states who would deny me a divorce. I have no desire to hurt you Helen, I simply want you out of my life, so with the advice of my lawyer here's how it's going to be. You can keep your 3 year old Beemer, it's paid for. You can have all your clothes, you can keep the jewelry I've given you, the stuff that was my mom's comes back to me."
"Ours is not a no fault sate, so I will not sell this house and give you half, with the economy of the Obama years we're still damn near under water. I have already moved all my retirement assets off shore, so you can't touch those, and I will fight any effort to pay you a penny of maintenance. You're on your own Helen."
She was furious, screaming at the top of her lungs, "You son of a bitch, you think you're the only one with lawyers? You're going to pay, and dearly."
"What you fail to realize dear is that I hold all the cards. You can scream and yell all you want, but I'm the one with all the incriminating evidence. Though it's against the law, that evidence can, and will be leaked to the student press, the university and the parents of every student you met in that bar. I'll happily pay the fines should it come to that. I will ruin you Helen, you'll never work in this area again. Or ... You can wisely accept the offer I've put forth, it's good until midnight, after that it becomes null and void. I'm going over to my mothers, I'll be home by 11, oh, and there better be nothing damaged when I get back. If there is, your face and this story will be all over the local paper. You know how they love gossip."
I had already told mom what I was going to do, when I showed up for supper she asked how it had gone.
"Oh, about as I figured, the shock of being caught, the feigned efforts at apologies, then the blow up about my proposal."
"Did she give you a reason for cheating?"
"Said she was addicted to the thrill of bedding younger people."