There's no sex in this story and no BTB
The house seemed quieter when I came home from work, there was no reason it should be noisier since my wife wouldn't be home for another hour. The bedroom seemed different when I went up to change, nothing in particular was apparent. My wife Anna had been throwing up when I left, half my staff had been out sick making it seem like Covid all over again except people weren't dying.
After getting changed, I headed into the kitchen to start dinner. Anna and I had been taking turns cooking dinner since are youngest joined the military five months ago. Taking turns wasn't really working out since I was cooking most nights, especially for the last month.
I noticed the note on the table when I walked into the kitchen. In large letters in said, "sorry." On top of the note were two positive pregnancy test strips. Since I had a vasectomy ten years ago, it could only mean Anna had been cheating on me. She was in her early fifties, a little old to be carrying a baby to term I thought.
In my fucked up mind, that's where my head was running.
Trying to focus on something else, I headed upstairs. The bedroom had seamed different because all of her stuff was gone, dresser, closet, bathroom all empty. There must be some truth to the statement that men are stupid, she was cheating on me, got pregnant and moved all her stuff out and I never noticed.
Anna had been easy to anger over the last couple of months, maybe it was longer. I had tried to give her space and hide from her random outburst. I think the first true emotion I felt was relief, the war was over, no more skirmishes, no more cold shoulders, no more sleeping in the guest room.
The thought of sleeping made me wonder if he fucked her in our bed. I stripped the sheets and tossed them in the washer and I sprayed the pillows down with disinfectant and tossed them in the dryer. Tomorrow it was time for shopping, tonight I had to flip the king size mattress.
There are no other memories from that night. I refused to cry, what would I be crying for? She cheated on me, good riddance.
Lots of other shit creeped in the next morning after I called out sick for the rest of the week. Would she have told me if she didn't get pregnant? How long was her affair going on? Was I ever served sloppy seconds? Those thoughts were pointless.
My cell was ringing, my lawyer was calling me. Bill had been my parents' lawyer and our family lawyer for wills and all that shit.
"Good morning Jack, Anna called me yesterday saying you guys were getting divorced. Is that your understanding?"
"Anna left two positive pregnancy tests on the kitchen table yesterday with a note that said sorry. I had a vasectomy years ago so there's only one thing to conclude. To be honest, I'm having trouble processing shit since that, and her empty closets greeted me when I came home from work last night."
"I understand Jack, she never mentioned the pregnancy or the whys, just outlined her terms for the divorce, very generous terms for you by the way. I'm not committed to represent either of you although I've been your family's lawyer for three generations now. Do this for me Jack, let it sink in, maybe get drunk for one night and come in the office on Friday so we can go over her proposal. And Jack, you should protect yourself financially, close the joint credit cards and start splitting the checking accounts and whatever else you have. Also, bring a list of your financials when you come in.
Anna's settlement offer was very generous. My retirement and 401k would be left intact. She wanted half the value of the house when it sold or I could buy her out. Anna would keep her car which was leased in her name and the jewelry she accumulated over the years. If I agreed, Bill said he could represent us both and file the papers, we would be divorced in three months or so. I agreed.
My daughter Jenny was sitting on the front steps when I got home, it was a three hour drive from her school. She had been crying and was crying as I walked up the sidewalk. Jenny ran up and hugged me burying her face in my shoulder.
"You could have gone in hon, the keycode is the same."
"Mom called me last night and gave me the news, I'm so sorry Dad. I had my hand on that doorknob a dozen times in the last hour but I couldn't go in." We sat down on the steps again.
"Did you know dad?"
"Not a clue hon, I am the classic clueless husband." That started another round of tears and I began to wonder if she was my ally or her mother's.
"Did you know Jenny?"
"Not until she called me, and then a bunch of little things seemed to mesh together, little things she would say during our weekly phone calls that fell into place after I hung up on her. I was so angry at her. What the fuck was she thinking."
"Did she offer any why's."
"None, she said she had an affair and ended up pregnant. She added that she started divorce proceedings."
"Did she say who?"
"Nope and I asked. She said knowing who wasn't going to help anything or anybody."
We both had to pee, so Jenny finally entered the house she lived all her life in. I put on coffee.
"Why couldn't you come in Jenny?"
"This was our home dad and she shit all over it. There's something physically different about it."
"It took me awhile to figure out what was different. There are several pictures missing, all of our wedding photos are gone. There's a lot of our little knickknacks missing and little things from vacations and such. Also, the lithograph we bought on our honeymoon in Bermuda. I'm assuming your mother took them with her."
"That's odd, why take mementos of a marriage you destroyed? Do you know where she went."
"Nope, we use to have the cell phone tracker turned on but I haven't looked. What would be the point?"
"Can I look on your phone dad, I want to see her face when I ask her why she destroyed our family?"
Anna had turned the permission off on her phone and refused to respond to any of Jenny's calls or texts. On Sunday she had to head back to school. The house was too quiet after she left.
