Authors Note:
This story is Book1 of a tale that primarily concerns my relationship with my wife and her sister's family. Book 2 will be more about my own life as the fallout from Book 1 causes major changes. Book 3 is about the aftermath of divorce and lifestyle changes. Book 4 is the final stage of our adventures and moving on.
Chapter 1- James and Jill
This is a story about how a single decision changed my life. I had a wife that I loved to distraction and a job that I fulfilled my career ambitions, but the events leading up to this decision were responsible for everything that subsequently happened to us.
First, let me introduce myself. My name is Bill Cairns and I am married to my wife, Amanda and have been for more than twenty-four years. Amanda still has the figure she had when we first courted and we got married when we were both 22 years old. To me she is as beautiful now as she was way back then. Unfortunately we have not been blessed with children, Amanda had something wrong internally and the upshot was she would never be able to conceive. Naturally this had a profound effect on our lives and though she tried hard to conceal it, I know she has never really got over it. She loves children and it should be no surprise that she works as a schoolteacher, teaching Junior School. I also would have loved to have children, but it was not to be, so I devoted myself to trying to make her happy.
She loves all her charges and in return they love and respect her. Her young sister Jill married a friend of mine called James, in fact Amanda was Chief Bridesmaid and I was their Best Man. They were luckier than us and had two lovely girls in quick succession. Sharon was born first followed by Mandy a year later.
It was only natural that Amanda doted on her two nieces and we often acted as baby sitters when called upon. I felt that James and Jill spoiled their two girls as nothing was ever denied them. It seemed they only needed to ask and James would provide. James worked as an architect and had a successful practice. Jill was on the books as his receptionist and secretary, though she spent precious little time in the office. Her main activity seemed to be attending the Gym and shopping. James doted on her and was forever paying for the latest designer clothing she purchased on her excursions to the city.
We were all good friends, James and I played golf together regularly and I know Amanda regarded her sister as her best friend. Jill and I flirted outrageously every time we met, but it never went beyond the bounds of propriety.
The years passed quickly and soon the girls were leaving school and starting work. Neither Sharon or Mandy were gifted academically, but they both found jobs quickly on leaving school. Mandy settled into her lob in tele-sales and proved to be very successful at it. Sharon on the other hand moved from job to job, only lasting five or six months before moving on. We used to tease her about it and asking her why the rapid change, she said that her manager's were idiots and would not listen to her advice. Reading between the lines I deduced that she had no sooner managed to get herself established on her role, than she was trying to tell her boss that he was running his department all wrong. Not the way to gain advancement. Her parents, naturally enough were concerned about this and asked if I would have a chat with her and set her to rights. They had tried without success and thought that I as he favourite uncle may have a more success.
I work for IT Solutions Co. Ltd as their Human Resources Manager or what used to be called Personnel Manager before political correctness became the new fascism. I happened to know the HR Manager at one of the places Sharon had worked at and I sounded him out confidentially. It transpired that Sharon proved to be quite efficient at her job, but had a personality clash with her immediate supervisor. Not satisfied with the response she had had from him regarding a suggestion she had brought forward, she bypassed not only her immediate supervisor, but his boss as well and approached one of the senior managers directly. That, in itself was not a major issue, but she had made her approach at a social event. It appeared that Sharon was not shy about using her physical assets, mainly her very full breasts and pretty face to get her point across. Unfortunately, the senior manager's wife was also present at this function and did not take kindly to what she perceived as a young tart blatantly coming on to her husband. That was how Mandy's career at that particular firm came to an abrupt demise.
We had several long talks about her attitude to work and tried to impress upon her that even if her suggestions had merit, it was not prudent to go over her immediate supervisors head and approach another manager. She took the hint and seemed to settle down, her next job lasted all of fifteen months. She was lucky, in that she had her looks and figure coupled with a gift for speaking the correct language and using all the current buzz words in her conversations with prospective employers. Finding a new and better paid job just seemed to fall into her lap. By the time she was twenty-two, she was earning a good salary and had a supervisory position as Office Manager for a large building letting agency.
Sharon was courting an up and coming young man called Gary Forbes and oddly enough he also worked for the IT Solutions as a software specialist. It was me, in fact that had interviewed him when he had first applied to us. Sharon and Gary courted for about a year before getting engaged. By this time they were living together in a flat they shared and by all accounts were very happy.
I felt sorry for James as the wedding arrangements started to become clearer. Sharon demanded that her wedding just had to be held at a famous castle in Scotland. Weddings like that do not come cheap, but James never uttered a word of complaint, he just picked up the bills and later when we were chatting he admitted that Sharon's wedding had set him back nearly £25K. Still the happy couple soon settled into married life and it was no surprise when just over a year later, their first son was born. He was followed within eighteen months by a little sister and both parents and grandparents were delighted.
Mandy met the man who was to be her husband within a year and so again poor old James would have to find the money to pay for another wedding. He was a nice enough young guy, called Adam Sinclair but he seemed rather quiet. I wondered if he would be man enough to stand up to Mandy as she could be quite a little madam when she set her mind to something.
It was at her Hen Party that caused the real cracks to appear in all our marriages.
Chapter 2 –Some cracks appear in both marriages
Amanda and Jill started going to the same gym and soon had a small circle of friends that shared the ladies only time slots. They developed into close friends and soon they took it in turn to host social evenings where all the husbands could also attend. I suppose I got on reasonably well with most of the other husbands, but as usual, there were a few right arseholes as well. I'm sure some of them felt the same way about me.
At one of these get-togethers, Jill and Amanda announced that the ladies had been saving up each week to fund a ladies only week-end away to a health club and that all six of them had booked to go to the Hotel/Spa at the next Bank Holiday Weekend. This was only two weeks away and I for one was surprised for Amanda had not mentioned this savings plan to me and I was a bit put out about it.
Later when we were back home I tackled her about it and she apologised for not telling me, but she had simply set up a direct debit and forgot about it until Jill had reminded her that night.
"Anyway," she said, "You and James go off for golfing breaks every year, so we ladies thought we would treat ourselves to this spa thingy. Is this going to be a problem?"
