Anita's Affair

For almost a full year Char had stayed out of the impasse between Tom and Anita. Her suicide attempt to get out of Tom's life hadn't worked, so Anita had decided to remove herself – that albatross from around his neck – in a different way. Char had firmly believed that Tom and Anita's would find a way to break through the wall holding them apart, but it hadn't happened. Reluctantly, she recognized that this new threat to their relationship required direct intervention to avert a total disaster.

Tom was sitting in his office one morning in the middle of August, concentrating on comparing current store figures with those from last year. His phone rang and he happily left that dull job to answer. To his real surprise, it was Char. "Hi Char, I haven't seen or heard from you for a long times. I've missed our lunches. I hope that your schedule has changed back!"

"No Tom, my schedule is the same as always, but I think that we have to talk. Could you take off this afternoon?"

"Is this serious?"

"Very."

"Ok, if you say it's serious, it's serious. I can be free by 1:30."

"Wonderful! Why don't you come to my apartment when you can get away? Don't say anything to Nita."

A little before 2:00, Char answered a knock on the door, greeting Tom with, "Thanks for coming Tom. Here, sit down on the couch. I think that it is time to quit avoiding the great big elephant in the room. As you discovered somehow, Nita had an affair last year. I know that you discovered it and that you and she have been in avoiding the issue, both afraid of what it will mean when the facts are on the table. She should be telling you this, not I, but she just can't do it any more than you seem able to bring it up. Someone has to break this stalemate, and I guess it has to be me. Before I go on, I need to hear exactly what you know and what you are thinking about it."

"You're right, of course. I found out almost a year ago, just after our anniversary. I don't know who it was with or how it started. I've made no effort to find out and I won't. You're right in that I am avoiding the issue because I'm afraid of what I would find out – does she love him, what caused it and...and ...what does she want in the future? I love her more that life itself and I don't think that I could live without her. I know that I should confront her and get it out in the open but I'm a coward. I guess I just am marking time hoping it all will just go away. I know that that is stupid, but I'm scared to death that I've lost her." There were tears in his eyes as he made that confession."

"Well, I can relieve you of some of your fears for she never loved him and she loves only you. You two ae unreal! She has used exactly the same words, 'I love him more that life itself and I don't think that I could live without him.' I know that she meant every word, and I have proof of that, and I'm sure that you mean it too. I think that it is time to tell you the entire truth and, I'm certain, you are going to be hurt. Of course, you've been hurting for the last year, so that is nothing new. It may be hard to believe, but she is hurting more than you are because she is carrying a massive burden of guilt.

"First, before I go on with that, I owe you a heart-felt apology. When I found out two years ago that my ex-husband was fucking one of my so-called friends, I went ballistic when I discovered that two other friends knew and didn't even give me a hint. I dropped them completely for being false friends. Now I feel like the biggest hypocrite in the world because I did the same to you.

"Nita told me late last June a year ago and now it's August, a year later. You may hate me for not letting you know that something was going on but I didn't because I hoped it would go away without you ever hearing about it. She was coming to her senses and I thought it would end and no one would be hurt because this man had no real meaning to her – just an adventure.

"I was distraught about this whole mess, but, frankly, I thought blissful ignorance on your part was preferable to what I feared would happen. Actually, I still think that I was right, but you probably don't agree. I thought that there was no way you would find out and be hurt, but obviously, I was wrong. How did you find out?"

"Nita asked me to check and find out if our built-in security system worked because she was concerned about break-ins in the area. I checked, set it up and the next night saw a recording of a man getting out of our bed at four o'clock in the morning and then get back in with her."

"Oh, my god, Tom, that had to have been awful!"

"It was! I threw up, or tried to, in the bathroom for over twenty minutes. I couldn't even talk to her that night. I still can picture that scene! I literally was sick the next day. That night I looked at the security recording, but the only motion detected was Nita moving around so it appeared that she was alone. I tried to convince myself that nothing was going on, but I knew better. I hardly could look at her when I got home. I had to know so I changed the security setting and started the recording time at 6:00 PM instead of 2:00 AM as I had it before. That way I could see what was happening during the evening, not when break-ins were likely.

"That Wednesday I pretended to need an overnight troubleshooting trip, planning to come home on Thursday morning and leave again with Nita on Friday to go to Bermuda to relive our honeymoon for a week. What I was doing, of course, was giving her an opportunity to cheat – and she did!

"That evening I forced myself to look at the recording on my computer using my laptop and I saw something horrible. She had some clothes placed on the bed including the lovely, sexy nightgown she had worn on our honeymoon. She stripped naked and put it on and looked at herself in the mirror. She was absolutely beautiful! Suddenly, a man, her lover of course, came into the room and, embracing her, holding her by her tits, kissed her neck! I heard him say 'gorgeous' as I fell over, dropping the laptop.

"I don't know exactly what happened next – I actually may have fainted – but when I sat up, I saw that the laptop was off. I was tempted to turn it back on but I just couldn't do it. I knew that he would be fucking her, possibly in that nightgown, and I just couldn't watch. Seeing her committing adultery in that cherished nightgown, disrespecting it, our marriage and me would be more than I could accept no matter how much I loved her. It would be too much of a symbol of a failed marriage! I've never looked since. I can't risk it!

"The security camera in the bedroom is still recording, six to midnight, and I keep intending to check it every now and then, but I'm afraid to. I have a Seagate three terabyte external hard drive connected to my computer so it will record practicably forever. One of these days I'll get up the nerve to fast forward through the recordings. Or, more likely, I'll delete them without looking. I'm terrified that if I check I'll see something I can't stand and it will destroy everything!"

"Are there dates on those recordings?"

"I'm sure there are – let's see... oh my god, look at this! I have over 360 six-hour videos there! That's ridiculous! Even three terabytes will be used up and I'll never look at all that anyway!"

"Can you figure the date when she was wearing that night gown?"

"I suppose. Let's see...oh yeah, it was one week after our anniversary...that would make it August 30th."

"Ok, you have your laptop there. Can you bring up that recording?"

"Yes, but why? I damn sure don't want to see that again! I'd be sick all over again!"

"Come on, bring it up. I have a reason. Trust me."

"You'd better have a damn good reason!"

The recording came up and it was exactly as Tom had described. Despite cringing as he watched, he couldn't take his eyes off of it. "Oh my god, here it is!" Bill stepped into the picture as Anita, unaware of his presence, admired herself in the mirror. She jumped a she heard him and felt his hands on her arms. He dropped his hands down to her waist and started to push them under the arms onto her tits, but she jerked away before he could do so. Tom watched intently and then blurted out, "He didn't feel her tits! She pulled away before he could get to them!"

On the recording, Anita said, angrily, "Bill, what are you doing here? I told you that it was over! I wasn't going to see you again!"

"I know that Nita, but I wanted to see you one last time and return this to you!"

"Well, that was thoughtful, but I don't want you here. I finally got the courage to end this and I'm not going to start again. Please go and don't contact me again."

"Ok, I guess you really mean it. I was hoping that you would change your mind. Ok, Nita, I'll say goodbye, but I want you to know that I loved every minute with you." With that, he moved close, gave her a light kiss on the cheek and left. Anita waited till she was sure that his car had left and used the garage door remote control he had returned to shut it behind him, signaling the final end of the affair. Without any sign of regret for that ending, she simple removed her nightgown and folded it for the trip she thought was coming.

"See Tom, if you had watched for three more minutes you would have seen her send her past lover away without hesitation. This whole year you bedeviled yourself, wondering if the affair was alive when it was long dead and gone!" She looked over at Tom who was sitting there, clearly relieved, but with a frustrated look on his face.

"I'm thrilled, of course, but tormented at the same time. Three more minutes and my reaction would have been very different. I would have come home and tried to work things out. Damn it, this whole situation is just too much for me." He paused for several minutes, trying to put this new information into context. "Ok, it was over at the end of August last year. When and how did it start?"

"Again, Nita should be answering these questions instead of me! I absolutely hate this! She and I have trusted each other since we were little kids, able to tell each other our most intimate secrets without fear that those secrets would be divulged to anyone else. Now, I find myself in the excruciating position of betraying her trust and breaking promises I made to her. I have to do it to save her from herself, but I feel guilty as hell.

"Anyway, it started in April a year ago at our class reunion. I was in Toledo with my sick mother so, obviously, I didn't go. Another friend from the class picked up Nita and expected to drive her home. Everything was normal at the reunion except that a man, Bill Wissinger, who had been her high school boyfriend her senior year, was there.

"They had a very pleasant conversation but nothing more and it might have ended there because she had no lingering feeling for him. Then the woman who Nita driven with had to leave early because her daughter at home had gotten sick. When Nita was ready to leave, she started to call for a taxi, but Bill said that he drove right past her house so he would drop her off.

"However, it turned out that he lived in the opposite direction and he had offered to drive her because he had something from school that he wanted to show her. She was touched that he would go so far out of his way and, of course, she was curious. She invited him in and they sat on the couch, side by side, as he turned on his iPad. Suddenly on the screen was a picture of her as she got out of his car at their senior prom.

"She was wearing a long, tight gown and memories, long forgotten, reemerged. She loved her dress – you've seen it – and she loved the way she looked. Then, he brought up another picture and more memories flooded into her head. There she was, standing there with that tight skirt worked up almost to her waist, showing her panties, garter belt and hose! The next picture was taken after Bill shocked her by reaching in and pulling her panties down and off!

"She had stood there stunned, frozen as he took the pictures. She had never even shown her panties to anyone before and here she was, her skirt up above her bare pussy. Nita told me that as she looked at those pictures, things she had forgotten about Bill and that night came back to her and excited her. Bill had her panties and wouldn't give them back, so for the whole evening she was naked under her skirt. It was long and tight, so no one could tell, but the entire time she was both embarrassed and excited!

"She was very conservative and had never gone beyond mild petting, but when they got back to the car, she really was hot. He got her dress unzipped and had her tits out and really worked them over. They managed to get her skirt up and he finger-fucked her to orgasm, the first she ever had had. Who knows how far it would have gone, but they were in a little MG! A front seat with a console and no back seat at all! Her virginity was saved for you!

"He did get something out of it himself. He had his cock out and he put her hand on it – a first for her – and then he got out, came around, undid her door and, as she opened her mouth to ask what he was doing, he put his cock in it and went off! She didn't suck him, it just shot in. She swallowed some and the rest dribbled over her exposed bra and tits. She went home really messed up, as you can imagine, but, fortunately, her father didn't come out of his room as she came in. It was a night of firsts for Nita, but that was it with Bill. He had a medical problem and they never were together again till that night in your house.

"While they were looking at those pictures and reminiscing, Bill had put his arm around her and kissing followed. He finally brought out another small package which he gave her, and when she opened it, she found the pair of panties he had taken from her that night years ago. That he had kept them all that time really touched her and was the final step in her seduction. Not long afterwards they were in bed and the affair began!"

"My god, that is unbelievable! She never told me about that prom night!"

"Actually, I think that she repressed that memory, deliberately or not. She hadn't even told me about it and it certainly was not an episode she would have discussed with a new boyfriend. She never had seen those pictures and honestly had forgotten about having them taken. Bill did download them to her computer and she showed them to me. Really, they are innocently sexy. She looks so young and vulnerable. Just eighteen and totally inexperienced. If we can just get past this, I'm sure that you would enjoy seeing them.

"Regardless of that, I gave you more detail than you probably expected, but I wanted there to be no question about the background and what happened. The question very simply is, can you get past it?"

"Everything you told me is shocking, but I have no problem knowing what happened at her senior prom. Compared to what many high school seniors do, that was relatively tame. What happened when they got to our house is different, needless to say. Knowing that she was seduced and fucked and that she slept with him that night really bothers me and makes me angry. However, it certainly is not a marriage breaking sin as far as I'm concerned.

"I believe in being faithful and trustworthy, but I also believe that there are very few people, men or women, who cannot be seduced in the right circumstances. Given her background with this man and reliving that night with the pictures you describe, I'm not surprised that she gave way. Frankly, she probably was so lost in the romance of the moment that she never even thought of me or our marriage. That doesn't make it right but, for me at least, it in understandable and forgivable. I don't like it, but I accept it with no problem.

"However, overlooking and forgiving – more significantly, forgetting – the next several months is something else. Damn it, that was close to six months before she broke it off! Did she fall for him? Did she love him? Wasn't our love making good enough or frequent enough? Yes, I was away two or three nights a month. That was hardly enough time for her to need sex! And, I hate the idea that she went behind my back, planning when and how to see her lover! It hurts, god it hurts!"

"Tom, dear, I don't understand it and, truthfully, Nita doesn't either. It was almost as if she were another person. I found out about her affair that June when right in the middle of a conversation on the phone I lost my temper. I drove over to your house and marched in, demanding to know what was going on, why she was avoiding me when you were out of town. She calmly announced that she was having an affair! It was unbelievable! She was giggling like a schoolgirl!"

"Giggling?"

"Yeah, giggling, not her usual laugh! I was sitting there with my mouth hanging open, thinking, 'Who is this person?' She rattled off all the reasons that you would never find out – him never calling, waiting to call him herself after she was sure that you were in your hotel, having him drive right into the garage so no one would see his car. She made it clear that she loved you more than anyone in the world and she was very careful to make sure you weren't hurt by her affair.

"She was almost manic as she talked about her scheduling and planning. Boy, I laid into her, pointing out how stupid she was being. I told her that cheaters are always found out. That, of course is not true – we only hear about those who are caught, but I wanted to scare her. That all just rolled off of her, so sure was she of her careful planning. As I was leaving, stomping out, I said the one thing that got through her defenses. I said, Tom may never find out, but you will know that you cheated and it will eat at you. More important, think what it will do to Tom if you slip up somehow. It will kill him. Is the fun you're having worth risking ruining his love for you?

"The next time I talked to her she said that I was right and that she would end it the next time you were on a trip. I told her to just not call Bill to come over again or call him and end it on the phone, but she wanted to do it face-to-face. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. You don't know this, but she went to a psychologist twice a week for months trying to understand why she indulged in such self-destroying behavior. They even used a hypnotherapist.

"I'm not going to try to explain what they found but it seems that from the age of thirteen she had gotten fun from keeping little things from her father. She really loved him and it was nothing malicious or mean, but doing those little things behind his back was fun. One of the things she remembered under hypnosis was that she would lie in her room giggling. When she left home, that whole process vanished and she forgot – it was just something she had done with her father.

"Somehow it reappeared when she started with Bill and the psychologist referred to it as an addiction. She would be all ready to end it with Bill, face-to-face, but she would go right back again. It ended when you came home looking sick and haggard. It turned out that you had seen the recording of Bill getting into bed. She didn't know about that, of course, but seeing you that way made her conscious of how awful she would feel if she caused you to be hurt. So, when you made that phony trip, she called Bill and ended it.

"He came in anyway but she finally had the strength to end it to her face. She said afterwards that it was the Bermuda trip and standing there in that nightgown that gave her the courage to send him away. And then that night you brought the hammer down on her because, in part, the nightgown that gave her that courage caused you to misinterpret what you were seeing!

"Look, she was acting completely out of character, not the person we both have loved for years. It may have been some psychological quirk or that may merely be a sidetracking excuse for misbehavior. It may have been some other motivation that we don't know about. However, we do know that she committed adultery, off and on, for over five months. To be crude and blunt, she slept with Bill Wissinger and she was fucked by him numerous times.