A Mother's Prayers

A Mother's Prayers

A long time ago, I read a story that talked about an unfaithful wife. I've been fascinated by the topic since my divorce, reading countless stories on Literotica and other places. A paragraph from that long ago story becomes the opening scene for another Jack and Jesse story.

The Company Party

Tonight, I was at another one of Jesse's company parties. Jesse liked to mingle with the company executives and had done well in her career. In social engagements like this I always did well but at Jesse's company parties I always felt like I was being shunned. There's only so many times you can try and start up a conversation with somebody and have it fall flat. So, here I was a watcher, I liked to watch how people interacted.

I was watching my wife talking to a well-dressed gentleman, Jesse used to work for him until about a year ago when she got another promotion. I watched as she picked a piece of lint or something off his lapel. She turned to look at where I was standing about 50 feet away. Jesse had that "I just fucked up" look on her face.

There was a woman standing next to me. She whispered, "The universal sign of ownership to all the other woman in the room, that this man was hers. Picking an imaginary piece of lint off his lapel. And the way he lets it happens tells everyone that she is right."

"Excuse me, do I know you?" I asked.

"Well Jack, we have met before when your wife used to work for my husband Tim. My name is Liz Fleming, the wife of the man Jesse just signaled ownership of. Perhaps we can find a seat and chat."

We found a table in the corner. My wife was watching me as I sat down with Liz. Jesse still had the 'oh shit' look on her face.

"This is the second time in the last two years that I suspected my husband was having an affair. I didn't have proof the last time but threatened to divorce him if it didn't stop. A month later, Jesse was promoted to a different department. I had the sense that he ended his affair. Since Jesse was moved right after my ultimatum, I assumed she was his lover. There was no proof, things had ended so I decided not to tell you. I apologize, that was a mistake."

"Are you saying my wife has been having an affair with your husband, how long, do you have any proof?"

"I believe the affair has been going on for two years, not counting the little break they took. This time I hired a PI and have all the proof I need. I will share it with you after tonight's fireworks."

Fuck, she cuckolded me for the last two years and I didn't have a clue.

Just then, several men walked into the room. One walked over to Tim Fleming handed him a manila envelope and loudly said, "you have been served." Someone else took a picture of Tim holding the envelope.

"That's my divorce petition," said Liz.

The same man walked over to Jesse. She was staring at me with tears in her eyes. The man handed her an envelope and said, you have been served. The whole room had quieted down, the band stopped, and he did not have to speak loudly for everyone to hear him. Somebody took a picture of Jesse holding the envelope.

"I am suing your wife for alienation of affection. I don't expect to get a lot of money, but I wanted to burn her."

Jesse was still staring at me crying. Tim was heading over to our table.

The same man walked over to the CEO and repeated the same process, handing him the envelope.

"That's my lawsuit against the company for not enforcing their ethics code. I'm going to get a lot of money since they were previously notified the last time he was cheating. Here's my lawyer's card, you could probably save some money."

I was in shock; I mumbled thanks and went to stand up. I didn't realize Tim was standing next to me. I barely saw the blur as he suckered punch me. I was unconscious and when I came to, there was a crowd of people around me. My jaw was killing me. Jesse was hugging me; I was nauseated by her presence or the concussion. Either way I shoved her away, just as the paramedics were arriving.

Liz whispered in my ear, "you want to play this up."

I started moaning, where am I, what happened, who hit me, just a continuous stream of questioning.

As the medics were examining me, one of the officers approached me.

"Do you know what happened to me officer?"

"From our preliminary interviews, that man over there, Tim Fleming, sucker punched you. You never saw it coming."

"Why would he do that, I don't think I met him more than a few times."

"We don't know, but do you want to press charges?"

"Oh certainly," I said.

The medics tried to get me to stand, and I immediately collapsed. Everyone gasped. I was wheeled into the ambulance; Jesse was at my side.

I asked the medics to stop for a minute and pulled Jesse close, "Keep your hands off me you cheating slut, and get your shit out of my house. Don't contact me in anyway until you have a lawyer."

The emergency room was a shit show like you would expect on a Friday night. I wasn't bleeding so I wasn't a priority. X-rays showed a hairline fracture in my jaw. One of the other pieces of equipment showed some swelling on my brain from when I hit the floor. They were going to keep me for observation to see if the swelling would go down. If not, they were going to drill into my brain to release the pressure. They were going to let the jaw heal itself, but I would be eating breakfast, lunch and dinner through a straw. I don't understand why he hit me.

They had wheeled me into my room at some ungodly hour in the morning. When I woke up Jesse was there.

"Jesse, get the fuck away from me before I call security and have you removed."

"I just want to explain Jack."

"Nurse," I shouted and began hitting the panic button on my bed.

Several nurses came running into the room.

"This cheating slut is harassing me, and I want her removed from my room."

Jesse was crying as an orderly pulled her away. The machines behind me started acting up, a look of panic appeared on their faces, and I passed out.

"You gave us a scare there Jack," said the doctor standing over me.

"What happened?"

"The excitement you experienced sent your blood pressure sky rocketing causing the swelling on your brain to increase. We gave you some sedatives and things are looking pretty good. Actually, the swelling has decreased dramatically."

"When do I get pardoned?"

"He laughed, "After last night's event, I am a little worried. I'm glad it happened here surrounded by medical professionals who knew what to do. The short answer to your question is we don't know. Is there anyone else that we need to worry about?"

"Besides my cheating slut wife, just Tim Fleming, they guy she's been fucking and who's sucker punch put me here."

The next couple of days were pretty boring, my parents came to see me. They didn't mention Jesse. Some of our friends came to see me, they were sorry for what happened between Jesse and myself.

Then I was visited by an attorney from Jesse's company. I told him that as soon as I was able, I would be represented by counsel, and it was inappropriate to speak to me before then. He got up and left without saying goodbye.

Liz came to see me with some guy who turned out to be her lawyer. Liz said she had no idea why her husband reacted the way he did.

The lawyer opened his briefcase and started his sales pitch, "Jack, you have at least three lawsuits besides suing your wife for divorce. You can sue Tim Fleming for alienation of affection, you may not get a lot of money, but it will support the other lawsuits I recommend bringing. You can sue Jesse's company for alienation of affection. That will be the most lucrative of the lawsuits. You can sue Tim for assault and battery. He's also being criminally charged. We should wait on that one until the criminal charges run their course. As soon as people saw him marching over to you, people had their cell phones out. There are well over a dozen videos of him striking you. And then I recommend suing Jesse's company because the assault occurred at a company event.

"I'm good on all of those but talk to me about the divorce, what grounds are you recommending. And to be clear, I want to burn the bitch."

"Most divorces now are irreconcilable difference since this is a no-fault divorce state. But if you want to burn her, I recommend suing her on grounds of adultery. I've seen the evidence and I'm sure the company, Jesse or Tim don't want that to enter into the public records. We can suggest stepping back from that if she readily agrees to all your other demands.

"Make it so," I said. He caught the star trek reference and laughed.

My jaw was healing nicely, and I was moved to mash potatoes, rice and soup. The swelling had decreased to the point that I could start walking around. I no longer needed a bed pan. Please kill me if I ever need one of those again.

My parents came to see me every day. My mother said Jesse wanted to talk to me. I gave her a look and she said she'll never bring it up again. I was getting ready to be released when the lawyer came to see me, he said Jesse agreed to everything I wanted in the divorce papers including the $2,000 per month support payments she was required to make. But since she was fired, I shouldn't get my hopes up. I asked him to strike the support payments from the agreement.

Tim was found guilty of assault and got six months, three years of probation and mandatory anger management classes. All the other lawsuits were down to discussing the financial penalties and he'll set up an appointment to go over all the numbers and his recommendations.

My parents drove me home. My mother insisted on staying with me for at least a few days. Sometimes you could argue with her and win, but if it affected what she considered her responsibilities as my mother, forget it. I did ask them for a few hours of privacy. Reluctantly she agreed.

Walking into my house was weird. My first instinct was to yell out, "Jesse, I'm home." It hurt when I realized I would never say that again. She had cleaned out all her stuff. The empty bedroom closets and her other incidentals really kicked my teeth in. Then I saw her wedding rings on what would have been her dresser. I had a vision of Tim fucking Jesse on my bed and I had to leave my room. I headed back downstairs thinking about getting a drink even though the doctors had firmly warned me not to.

I sat down on the couch and saw a letter from Jesse.

"Jack, I am not going to make excuses for the hurt I caused you. As I prepare to leave our home for the last time, all I can say is I am sorry. I lost focus on what was important to me. There are some things I took that are probably more 'ours' than mine. I didn't think you would want them anyway. To me, they'll be a reminder that I deserve all the pain I feel. Love always Jesse."

I looked around and saw all the pictures of us were missing, including our wedding pictures and the album. She was right, I didn't want them.

It took a long time before I could go back to work and longer for the lawsuits to go through. The lawsuit against the company did pay off well, I would still have to work but it moved my retirement date up a decade.

Dating was a nightmare; I went out with Liz twice but had no interest in being intimate with her, so we ended it there. I slowly realized I had no interest in being intimate with any woman. I even lost interest in porn. My dick was retired. There were a lot of lady friends and dinner dates, but I never dated the same woman twice.

The house haunted me with memories of Jesse, so I tried new furniture, professional decorators and sold it five years later. I eventually bought a one-bedroom flat in the city. I had a 10-minute walk to my new job, a hot music scene and there was Whole Foods and a gym on the first floor. I thought it was perfect until I saw Jesse in Whole Foods. I think it was her perfume I recognized first. Her hair was much shorter, no makeup and her clothes were much more casual. I ran back to my apartment.

She was there the next three times I went shopping, did she fucking live there?

The next time I was there she came up behind me, "You don't have to keep running away every time you see me, Jack. You're going to run out of food soon. Why don't we grab a cup of coffee and catch up."

The word 'sure' escaped my mouth.

We exchanged pleasantries and she said, "To be honest, I talk to your mom at least once a month. She's always so proud of you and happy to talk about her son Jack."

"And what about you Jess, what have you been doing?"

"I'm a preschool teacher down the street."

"No more corporate law?"

Jesse looked down at her coffee, "corporate law has cost me everything that was important to me. They fired me anyway, but I needed a different career path. It's much calmer, no big cases and I enjoy playing with the little ones. It took me awhile to adjust to some of the parents. The hardest part is knowing that I'll only have them for a little while and then they move onto kindergarten."

"Your mom said you moved to the city."

"Yes, two floors up actually."

"She never gave me your address and I never asked but I live right across the street from you on the third floor."

"No wonder why I keep running into you here."

Jesse looked down at her hands, "Jack, your mom told me you never seriously dated anyone after our divorce. That always made me feel worse about what I did to you. I rushed to sign the divorce papers so you could move on and find someone who deserves you."

"I dated, but never found anyone I wanted to commit to. What about you Jesse, there's no ring on your finger. You are a beautiful woman. I thought men would be beating down your door."

"No, I never dated. Tim tried calling me after he got out of prison, but I never returned his phone calls. That night while getting ready for the party, I looked into the mirror and hated what I had become, and I wanted to cancel the party and tell you, but I chickened out. I wanted to get caught. The way you and Liz looked at me, I knew I was done, and I felt a great weight lifted off me. I tried talking to you only to tell you to divorce me and take everything."

We sat there in an awkward silence, and she invited me over for dinner. I could not say no to those pleading eyes. As we entered her apartment, I realized our bedroom windows faced each other.

The biggest surprise In Jesse's apartment is it looked like a shrine for me. Over the couch was a crazy large picture of us at our wedding. Jesse insisted on it when we had the photos taken. All the pictures of us that she took from the house were prominently displayed. There were even some current ones my mother must have sent her. I glanced into her bedroom and there were at least five pictures of me in there. I was afraid to look in her bathroom.

"Sorry if it looks excessive. There's just a lot less wall space in here than in our house. I hope it doesn't look like I some obsessive fan or stalker."

"Well as long as none of them look like they were taken from a long distance with telephoto lens... "

"Well, now that I know your bedroom is across the street from mine, I may have to invest in one," she said with a smile.

Dinner was pleasant but as the evening rounded down, there seemed no comfortable way to end. So, I announced it was time to go. Jesse walked me to the door and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

As I walked out the door, she said thank you for not hating me. Oh, but I did, I hated her so much for so long. Anytime I talked to a woman since that night I thought of Jesse and hated them.

As I crossed the street, I realized I was happy and that I could not remember feeling that way for a long time. I looked back and Jesse was in her window waving at me, and I waved back. As soon as I was back in my apartment, I called my mom.

"Mom, did you know I live right across the street from Jesse and our bedroom windows look into each other's."

"A mother's prayers were answered."

"What? Did you know I was buying across the street from her?"

"I knew you were in the same area, but you know I'm not good with maps and that kind of stuff."

"Bullshit mom, you've been the family navigator since I was born."

"Enough of that Jack, did you guys talk? I want all the details even the ones you wouldn't be comfortable discussing with your mother?"

"Mom, that will never happen. We bumped into each other in Whole Foods, had a coffee and she invited me over to dinner. The place looks like a shrine to me."

"Yes, I told her I thought she was going overboard. Fortunately, she took down the one in the bathroom."

"Mom, you've been there and never told me."

"Jack, Jesse fucked up and no one knows that better than Jesse. We've talked about it a lot and she spent hours crying on my shoulders. I also saw how you never got over her. Did I pray you guys would get back together? Most certainly. But I wasn't going to interfere. You don't know how depressed she was, or that she was suicidal for a long time. Did holding her while she cried help her, I hope so. I didn't give birth to her, but some woman did."

"So, are you going to see her again."

"It seems likely since we live across the street from each other."

"You know that's not what I asked."

"I don't know mom. I hated her for so long, I hated anybody who looked like her. I hated anybody who was female. But as I crossed the street, I realized I was happier than I've been in a long time. I don't know where that leads."

"Just remember Jack, there are few forces in this world that are stronger than a mother's prayers."

"Thanks mom, I think."

It was raining when I looked out my bedroom window and saw Jesse looking back at me. We waved at each other and stood staring at each other.

I left my flat and ran across the street to Jesse's building. Who am I to try and fight a mother's prayers.