"My god! You horrible, slutty bitch! What are you doing with that girl?" Ted shouted.
I had been sleeping, and was startled awake to hear him yelling these terrible things, then opened my eyes to see him standing at the foot of our bed, with an extremely angry expression on his face. I briefly noticed movement in the hall outside the bedroom, but my attention was quickly drawn back to my husband, Ted.
"I said, what are you doing with that girl? Good lord, you're completely naked!" Ted continued.
It was true, as I had fallen asleep in the arms of Karen, my 18 year old lover, after we had made frantic love both in the kitchen and in Ted's and my bed. It had been the most satisfying sex of my life, and we had both worn each other out. It was also true that both Karen and I (my name is Lisa) were naked. As a matter of fact, Karen had her hand on my dark blonde pussy, and I had a hand between her ass cheeks. Since I was married to Ted at the time, I could see where he'd be upset, even angry, but there was something else, too that I couldn't see at the time.
"I can't believe how you've betrayed me, you whore! I'm filing for divorce, right now, and you can kiss custody of our kids goodbye!" he shouted. When I heard this, I burst into tears. To lose custody of my 3 sweet children would be the worst thing that could ever happen to me. Better to be killed on the spot. I knew I had to try to work things out.
"Ted, wait, please, can't we talk about this? Please!" I cried. Tears were running down my face at the thought of the kids.
"Shut up you bitch, we're done!" With that, he stomped out, and again I briefly saw movement in the hall from another person joining up with Ted as he raced out the door.
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry Lisa," said Karen, next to me. "I'm totally responsible for this whole mess. I'll do anything I can to fix things-".
"Oh, Karen, the best thing you could do for me, would be to just hold me, please? I need to be held." Karen embraced me in her warm arms, and I gathered some comfort from her. I was in a terrible bind, one that I had let my body and heart lead me into, and it looked like I was going to pay a horrible price. My children!
I heard Karen murmuring as I wept, and felt her patting my head and back, and it did do something to restore my spirits, though at that point it looked dismal.
"What am I going to do," I whispered, finally, after I cried what felt like a lake full of tears. "And why was Ted so angry? He's never been that way before, ever."
"Could it be him finding me in bed with you? I'd guess that WOULD be upsetting, all things considered," Karen mused.
"With most men, I'd say yes," I replied. "But you don't know Ted. He's always hid his feelings. I guess he's one of those 'masculine men' who never ever reveal how they feel about something. Goodness knows, I always had to work hard to coax an "I love you" out of him. Even when his parents died, he acted as though it didn't matter. In some respects, he was kind of a cold fish."
"He sure didn't look like a 'cold fish' today," Karen gulped. "I was afraid he was going to tear you limb from limb!"
"He did, didn't he?" I mused. "You know, Ted and I hadn't made love in 6 months before I met you. I thought that it was just the pressures of raising our kids, and work, and I know I was partially to blame, just not being much attracted to him as before…" I continued, "but that was so out of character for him."
"Who was that girl in the hall?" Karen asked.
"Girl?" I replied.
"There was a girl with dark brown hair, very good looking, about 21 or so, waiting out in the hall while Ted went on his rampage. She left with him when he went out." I knew I'd seen something then, but I was so distracted that I didn't assign any importance to it.
"I don't know," I said. "Ted doesn't have any female co-workers that I know of at the print shop we own. But I can't worry about that now, I've got to think about my children, and family. Karen, you're the most wonderful thing that's ever happened to me, but I'm not sure how to handle this, and you…"
"Lisa, I understand. I've never met anyone like you either. Goodness knows, I've never leapt into sex like that with anyone else, though I've had my share. But you're special to me. I want to do anything and everything I can to make you happy, and to help you with this problem," Karen said.
"Thank you, Karen, my love. Maybe you should give me a little time to work this out. Please, just a little time to think," I asked her. I saw a tear in her eye, and I so wanted to kiss it away and make her feel better, but I knew I had some work ahead of me. No matter what it cost, I had to save my children. Karen dragged herself from the bed. I couldn't help but look at her beautiful form, but had the cost of touching it been too high for me? She dressed, and I put on a robe. I saw her to the door, and kissing briefly, we parted. She drove off and I sat to think about things.
Life continued, minus Ted, for the next few days. The kids got back from school, and the usual activities went on. They asked where "Daddy" was, and I said that he had to work late, but he'd be home as soon as he could. It was all I could think to say until I knew more. I remained perplexed at Ted's behavior, which might be perfectly normal for most husbands, but not what I would have expected from Ted.
It was a few days later that I received a notice that a "Writ of Divorce" had been filed against me, alleging adultery. When I saw that, I burst into tears, reliving the whole horrible experience all over again. Fortunately, the children were at school so they didn't witness my breakdown. I received a phone call once or twice every day from Karen, which was the high spot of most days, except for the times when the kids were home. When she called about an hour after the legal notice, I sobbed out the news into the phone, and she replied, "I'll be right over."
She showed up about 15 minutes later, and after knocking on the door, I let her in. She looked as beautiful as ever, but tired, as though she hadn't been getting a lot of sleep. We sat down on the sofa and she looked at the notice. "Well, obviously I'm no lawyer," she said. "But it looks like Ted is serious. Have you heard from him at all?"
"No, not a word," I said. "He shouted that he was going to do this, and he's done it. Oh Karen, what am I going to do?"
"Have you had a chance to think about things, like what happened here, and what's going to happen? Karen asked. "Have you seen a lawyer yet?"
"A lawyer?" I said.
"You can bet that Ted didn't produce this himself, Lisa. He probably went right out and hired a lawyer. Is this your family lawyer, this 'John Gearhardt' listed on the papers as 'Counsel'?"
"No, we didn't have one," I said.
"That's kind of funny," Karen remarked.
"What is?" I replied.
"My aunt's a lawyer, and from watching her work, it usually takes a couple of weeks for something like this to go through the system. But you have it just 3 days later. Not much time for him to find a lawyer, and have this written up, and go through the system to you."
"I didn't know that," I said. "You must have paid pretty close attention to your aunt."
"Yep, she's raised me almost since birth, as my parents died in a car accident, and I'm thinking that I'll become a lawyer, too. Specializing in GLB issues, naturally."
"Naturally?" I said.
"Lisa, I never came out and told you, but I AM a lesbian. I'm active in our local GLB Youth association, and I'm really grateful for the help we've received in fighting discrimination. My aunt's very proud of me, but I'm very proud of her for supporting me and, well, just being there. I want to pay back something to others who may be in the same position I've found myself."
"Wow, Karen, getting to know you is an adventure," I said.
"Well, hopefully this is the worst part of it. Got to get better…" she replied, with a smile. Her smile really warmed my heart, and we hugged. Her touch gave me strength I thought I'd never regain, and immediately made me feel immensely better.
"Now, can we put our heads together on this?" I said. "you're a sharp cookie, Karen, and I could use some help laying this out."
"Sure thing, shoot," Karen replied. We sat and recounted all that we knew from the time we were in bed together, until the present. There were a couple of things that didn't fit in. Like, who was the girl or woman with Ted in the hall? And how did Ted arrange to serve me with a notice that he was divorcing me, so quickly? Karen promised that she'd ask her aunt to look into the divorce notice to see if there was anything there that could be contested. She also promised that she'd ask her if she'd represent me, pro bono, explaining that translated as "for good", but meant, "for free."
She left then, but called back about a half hour later and said, "She's in!"
"She agreed to represent me?" I said.