When I read
Whiteone_Redone
's story "Suspicions", I was unhappy at the way that life turned out hunky-dory for everyone except the husband, Paul. W_R graciously invited others to complete the story with different endings, if they wanted to. This is my ending, in which Paul is not quite so dogmatic about Kathy's situation and believes that she is more emotionally confused than committed to Karl Gerring, her old high-school boyfriend. This story begins after he receives Kathy's letter in which she expresses her desire to remain married to him. My Paul takes matters in hand.
I would suggest that you read "Suspicions"
Chapter 1
, and
Chapter 2
, up to Kathy's letter, although I think that if you don't, you will get a good idea of the original story as you read my story in any case. I have eliminated at least one character from W_R's version, the housekeeper, from my story for simplicity. Plus, if Paul wasn't boffing her, there was no real need to keep her. The entire story is complete with 9 parts, made up of 15 Chapters, starting with Ch. 2, Alternative.
Chapter 2. Alternative
I read Kathy's letter telling me that she still wanted to be my wife, except that she loved Karl as well. She wanted me to stop the divorce proceedings, and reconcile. Of course, there was this small detail: she made it clear that not only was she still in love with her old flame, but that she would continue to find ways to be with him. In other words, she wanted me to accept being cuckolded.
I thought about it long and hard for a couple of days. It's easy for some outsider to suggest that the only appropriate response to a spouse's affair is to completely sever relations with the offending party, but years of a happy marriage, with all of the emotional ties, children, family and friends, as well as the mutual obligations, shouldn't be thrown away without some serious consideration. That Kathy seemed desperate to stay married, and insisted that she truly loved me added weight to my consideration. She seemed to be a very emotionally confused and conflicted person.
Then there was the question of my own happiness: did I want to give up what had been, until recently, a very happy marriage, or if possible reclaim it. Did I want to grow old, alone and bitter? Could I count on finding a new love to replace the old? Regardless, I had to make a decision and act, because the way things had been going, I would just push Kathy into Karl's arms permanently.
The final factor in favor of my finding a means of reconciling with Kathy was a session that I had with a certified marriage counselor named Bill Wattler. I described the situation to him and he explained what he perceived had happened to Kathy. He also told that in his opinion, the circumstances were so unusual, that if the old emotional bonds between Kathy and Karl were broken, that it would be very unlikely that she would ever stray again. He saw her dalliance as an aberration — one of those classic 'one time' situations. He also told me that if I could persuade her to start marriage counseling sessions, that he thought he could help her understand the 'why' of her infatuation, and to see that her real, solid bond remained with me and our family.
At the end of two days of thinking and researching, I had developed "The Plan", as I thought of it — in quotation marks and capital letters.
The Plan included knocking Karl out of the picture by destroying the emotional ties that he and Kathy had developed as teenagers. It included destroying his business, and very likely driving him out of the area. It would very likely cost my wife her job and her reputation as a business person. Too bad. And, at the end of it all, if I wasn't satisfied then, I could still toss her out on her ear.
Best of all, executed correctly, no one would see my finger prints on the outcome. I was a patient man, and I expected The Plan to come to fruition over a period of two to three months. Maybe as long as four months. Time to savor the situation, no need to rush. I would, from now on, control the scenario.
An immediate goal was to buy myself the time that I needed. Keep Kathy as emotionally close and tied to me and our children as I could, and let her juvenile fantasy about Karl play itself out.
I was going to use Kathy's love for me to sandbag her, so I needed to convince her of my desire to reconcile. It was Friday afternoon. That afternoon and the following weekend would be the crucial first step to for my scheme to be successful.
"Kathy Matthews," she answered the phone.
"It's me, Kathy. Paul." I replied, in a flat sort of tone.
"Oh Paul! You don't need to tell me who it is, silly, I recognized your voice. I hoped you would call." came her excited voice.
"Kathy, I read your letter, and I think that we need to talk about what you said, and see if we can work out a way for us to stay together. I know Jason and Christi need both a loving father and mother, and frankly, I miss you terribly. I love you too, more than you can know or understand." I got through my little speech without sounding sarcastic, indeed sounding surprisingly sincere. "Could you come over to the house and see me?"
"Of course, Paul. When?" she asked, breathlessly.
"This afternoon, if you could. I could get us some lunch to eat here. I know its short notice..." I teased her to see how much she really wanted this meeting.
"Oh, this afternoon would be great!" Kathy sounded so hopeful.