Betrayed

This one is a little long. I wrote this some time ago but it is my habit on longer stories to write, then edit, then edit again, then edit again, then wait a while, then edit again...Anyway, you get the point.

The only editor I use is myself, and my mother by extension. She passed away several years ago but drilled in my mind the importance of proper language, spelling, and punctuation. I'm not perfect (who is?) but the only editor I trust is the one my mother trained, for better or worse.

I went back and forth on whether to put this in Loving Wives or Romance. In the end I decided that since the cheating wife instigated the split and that part of the story continues throughout that I would put it in LW.

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BETRAYED

What do you do when your life no longer wants you?

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HENRY

My name is Henry Weston. As this tale begins, I'm 36 years old and have been married for 16 years to my high school sweetheart, Jennie. Together we have a 14-year old daughter named Juliana. I'm right about 6'0" tall and weigh in at right about 200. It's mostly muscle, courtesy of 18 years working as a commercial and residential electrician.

School was never my thing. I did manage to graduate high school, but working with my hands was what I was really good at. I had trouble sitting still in class so I got in a lot of trouble for being 'disruptive'. I wanted to be doing things, not sitting still and listening. So right after graduation I signed on with a local contractor as an electrician's apprentice. Four years later I easily passed my journeyman's exam and two years after that, at the ripe old age of 24, I got my master's license. I'm a smart guy, in my opinion, but I'm just not into 'book learning'.

I wanted to start my own business after I got my master's but Jennie wasn't comfortable with the risk. We did have a young daughter and Jennie was a stay-at-home mom, and she really liked having a consistent check to rely on. And so I kept on working for Alpha Electrical Contractors. I made a good living at it. We were able to buy our house and we each had a car, all now paid for in full. We were able to take vacations, pay all the bills without worry, and have money left over for entertainment. We weren't loaded but we were comfortable, happy, and in love. Well, I was, anyway.

My best friend growing up was Tom. We met in Mrs. Collins' 3rd grade class when his family moved in down the street and were practically inseparable from that day forward. We played sports together, went on double dates, even got jobs at the same fast food restaurant in high school. Tom was much more of a book smart kind of guy. While I was pulling cable and bending conduit as an apprentice electrician, he was getting a degree in business from Stanford. While I was working toward my master's he was getting his MBA. He has a great job though he works a lot of hours, and makes a heck of a lot more money than I do. But he's single and lonely, so he spends a lot of time with Jennie and me. We've tried fixing him up but nothing has ever come of it.

He comes to dinner several nights a week and has frequently expressed how envious he is of my family. "Money can buy lots of things," he'd say, "but it can't buy the love of a family." I've agreed with him every time. I loved my wife, and my daughter was the apple of my eye. My daughter and I were very close. I taught her a lot about what I did, even as I had much higher hopes and dreams for her. But, I reasoned, it never hurts to know something about electrical repair.

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My world crashed down around my head in August. I came back from a job to find Tom's car in the driveway. This was not unusual because, as I said, he came over for dinner frequently and was occasionally at my house before I was. Normally upon entering the house Juliana was the first to greet me. She would hear my truck pull up outside and make sure she was waiting at the door for me. It didn't happen every day, but often enough so that when I walked in the door and she wasn't there I asked Jennie where she was, just so I'd know.

"She's at Danielle's house," Jennie answered.

I took note of the look on her face. Tom was sitting behind her on the couch, and his look was much the same. Something was most definitely wrong.

"What's going on," I asked.

Then Jennie spoke the 4 words that every man dreads to hear from his wife: "We need to talk."

Having just come home from an outdoor job site in the middle of August, I was pretty gross.

"Okay. Mind if I shower first?"

Jennie nodded so I continued on to my bedroom and took a long shower. I pondered the possibilities. Could she be pregnant again? We hadn't discussed kids in some time, and in fact had a number of discussions about things we might like to do once Jules was out of the house. We hadn't had sex in a few weeks (something was always getting in the way or she just didn't feel well when I tried to initiate) but it hadn't been more than 6-8 weeks so the math worked. So if she had accidentally gotten pregnant that would certainly be cause for concern, though I would hope she'd know I'd happily accept another child. But why would Tom be here for that? Maybe she told him first to see how he thought I'd react.

Perhaps someone was seriously ill. I had no family: all my grandparents were gone, my father died when I was 11, and my mother passed about 10 years later. They had divorced when I was young due to my mother's infidelity and my father's inability to deal with it when she finally left. Dad died in a single car crash, having struck a tree head on. He was totally sober and there were no skid marks. I didn't realize until later what that meant. But perhaps one of Jennie's parents or her little sister, Liz, was having an issue. I supposed it could be Jennie or Tom themselves but assumed I would have heard something before now. Obviously this was nothing but speculation and there nothing to be done but go downstairs and find out what this was all about.

I dressed and joined them in the living room. In hindsight I should have taken a clue that they were sitting next to each other on the sofa while I sat alone on the love seat, but it didn't occur to me at the time.

"Henry, you are a wonderful man and have been a loyal husband and hardworking provider for so long," Jennie started. This was off to a bad start. "There's really no easy way to say this but...Henry, Tom and I have fallen in love. I'm sorry, but I'm asking for a divorce."

Had I ever imagined what it would be like to take a cinder block to the chest, what I felt at that moment would have been a pretty good approximation. I was stunned, to be sure, and the words would not come out. So Jennie kept talking.

"I hope that we can do this the easy way. We'd like to stay here so that Juliana can continue in her same school. I don't want to disrupt her life any more than absolutely necessary. But we just couldn't continue the way we have."

I managed to find a voice. "Have you slept with him," I managed to ask.

She gave me a wry smile, and her answer was a knife in my back. "Of course I have, Henry."

I was still trying to recover from the hits to the soul I had just taken. I had always thought we were happy together. Sure, we had issues like all couples but nothing that was a deal-breaker. My mind was reeling, thinking back in vain to try and find something I had done to turn her to the arms of another man. We had over 20 years together; more than half our lives. There had to be something but I thought of nothing. I couldn't believe this was happening to me.

It was Tom's effort to interject that finally got my voice back in full. "Henry, look..."

"No!" I roared, in a voice that surprised even me. "You are not to speak to me ever again, you backstabbing son of a bitch. Consider yourself warned, Tom: If another word ever comes out of your mouth directed toward me I will kill you and be glad to spend the rest of my life in prison for it! Nod if you understand." He nodded. Tom was a suit and not particularly muscular. I could snap him like a twig if I had a mind to and he knew it.

"It's not necessary to be like that," Jennie interjected. "Let's try to keep this as civil as possible, please Henry."

"It is necessary for me to be like that, and I am being as civil as possible. I'm the one being betrayed and stomped on so fuck you and whatever you think about how I should react." I spat out at her. "And I'm taking custody of my little girl, not you."

"Henry, I understand you're upset, but I'm not giving up custody of Juliana." Jennie said. "We can work out a fair visitation schedule so that you can spend plenty of time with her, but she will stay with us so that her life can be as normal as possible. You work long hours and I'll still be staying at home."

"Fuck that!" God, I was eloquent. "You don't understand a God damn thing. She's my kid, too. I haven't spent the last 18 years working my ass off to support my family to become a part-time dad because the whore I married decided to trade up for someone with a bigger...bank account. I guess that explains why none of the women ever worked out. He apparently had his sights set on you."

"This isn't about money, Henry," she countered. "The fact is we never should have gotten married. I thought I loved you like that but we were just kids. I married you because we had been together so long and everyone expected us to. And I've tried to be a loving wife to you but as I got older I realized there was more for me out there, and I found it with Tom. We didn't mean for it to be this way. He was just always here and we clicked. Frankly, we're surprised you never noticed how well he and I got along."

I realized they were now holding hands.

"I noticed," I said. "I just had trust in my wife and best friend, misplaced as it obviously was. It never occurred to me that two of the three people that meant the most to me would stab me in the back. It's bad enough you've done this to me. If you fight me on custody the gloves come off. Is that clear?"

"Then I guess the gloves come off," Jennie said. "I'm sorry you feel it has to be this way. It could have been done much easier."

"Whatever. I'm sorry that I'm making your complete betrayal more difficult than you want it to be, you bitch. You two get the hell out of here. I'm not leaving the house that I worked every day to pay for because you've decided I'm not good enough for you anymore. I'm sure moneybags there can put you up in that bachelor pad of his."

"Fine," Jennie said. "I already have a number of things at his place anyway." That hurt. "I'll just grab a few more things and then we'll go. For what it's worth, Henry, I'm sorry."

They were already out of range when I mumbled, "Nothing you say is worth a shit, obviously."

I sat in silence on the couch, staring into space. I heard them rummaging around in the bedroom for about 30 minutes then Tom lugged a suitcase out the front door and loaded it into his car. Jennie came out of the bedroom moments later. She paused and turned toward me before heading out the door. She started to say something, then changed her mind and walked out without another word.

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When Juliana came home later that day I explained what had happened, trying not to use any derogatory language about her mother or 'Uncle Tom'. I didn't want to come off as trying to poison her relationship with her mother. In retrospect perhaps I should have, but I was trying to make this as easy as possible for her, and I had complete faith in my relationship with my daughter. It probably wouldn't have mattered anyway.

In this state, a child that is 14 or older gets significant input as to which parent she wants to live with, assuming that both parents are considered fit. Unfortunately, being a lying, cheating slut does not, in and of itself, make you an unfit parent, but I was confident in Juliana's love for me and that she would choose to stay with old dad.

I got a lawyer on Monday and made it very clear I wanted to go for the jugular. He said he would do his best but state law was working against me. I'd likely be on the hook for alimony, at least until the whore married the asshole, which I expected to happen in short order so that probably wouldn't be too bad. Child support would, of course, depend on where Juliana ended up, so I was confident I'd skate on that as well.

All the papers were filed and in 3 weeks we had our hearing. Jennie waived any claims to alimony since Tom already had the higher income and they intended to marry shortly after the divorce was final. Perhaps she hoped that would pave the way for some level of civility. She was wrong. I sat with my lawyer and glared straight ahead, not glancing at her even once. I have no idea if she looked my way, obviously. We sat quietly while the judge spoke to Juliana in his chambers for nearly an hour. I watched her come out and pass through a back hallway, escorted out a side door by a female sheriff. She was obviously crying. Probably feeling bad for how her mother would feel when she chose me. I warmed a bit at that thought.

Finally the judge returned and delivered his ruling. "The divorce motion is granted and will become final 120 days from today, as established by state law. As previously mentioned, Mrs. Weston has waived any claim to alimony as well as any of the marital financial assets, in terms of cash resources, so alimony shall not be ordered and all cash assets are awarded to Mr. Weston."

All in all this was going pretty well, I thought to myself. Our cash reserve wasn't enormous but it would be nice to have. She certainly didn't need it; Tom had much more money than we...than I did.

The judge continued. "And so, to the final issue before the court: custody of the minor child, Juliana Olivia Weston. I have spent the last hour speaking with Miss Weston. Let me stress that this is a very difficult situation for a child to be in, to essentially have to choose between her parents, and her choice was made only after thoughtful consideration of all of the potential ramifications. At her request I make the following ruling: Mrs. Jennifer Weston is awarded custody of the minor, Juliana, as well as possession of the home so that Juliana may continue her education within the same school district and environment."

What the hell? She had chosen the whore over me. I guess she didn't love me like I thought she did. Apparently I had completely misread my entire family, Tom included. I had been naive and foolish, thinking they actually loved and cared about me. It was just like my parents all over again. I was someone to be dealt with, to use to get what you wanted, a meal ticket, and nothing more. And now they had a better one.

The judge kept talking, something about equity, child support, visitation and whatnot, but I heard none of it and it really didn't matter anyway. I could hear nothing but the sound of my own heart beating in my ears. I could hear my attorney trying to whisper reassuring words in my ear but it all sounded like blah-blah-blah. I finally came back to reality with the smack of the gavel. I wandered into the hallway in a daze. I was vaguely aware of Juliana's arms around me and whispers of 'daddy, daddy, daddy' coming from her mouth, but I lacked the ability to do anything but stand there. My betrayal by the only 3 people that mattered to me – heck, really the only 3 people in my life – was complete. I had no one.

Jennie came up behind Juliana, a look of pity on her face, while Tom wisely kept his distance. "As I promised, Henry, we'll make sure you get to see her as much as possible, but I do think this is in her best interest."

"I guess you won, and I lost," I said. "I'll be gone by the end of the week."

Assuming I meant out of the house, she said, "There's no hurry, Henry. Take your time. We can stay in the condo as long as needed. I really hope that we can get past this and learn to get along. You still mean a great deal to me."

I turned and looked at her. This time my voice carried an edge to it. "Don't feed me your bullshit. If I meant anything to you this wouldn't have happened. As I said, I'll be gone by the end of the week. Take your daughter and leave me alone."

"She's our daughter, Henry," Jennie said. "She'll see you next weekend."

It came out almost like a growl. "No, she made her choice. She chose you. Goodbye Jennifer." I walked out without looking back.

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JENNIE

Tom had put his two-bedroom condo on the market right after the hearing, and he expected to sell it relatively quickly. It was a high demand location and he had priced it to move. Most of the place was packed up, ready to be moved to the home Henry and I used to share as soon as Henry notified the court that he had completely vacated. Keeping Juliana's life as much the same as we could was our priority and Tom's condo was in a different school district. We never meant for this to happen, of course. We had fallen for each other despite our efforts to stop it. We didn't want to hurt Henry but we simply couldn't deny our feelings.

Fate had seemingly intervened to allow us to be intimate for the first time. Henry had been called out of town for an emergency job that would be an overnighter, which rarely happened, and Juliana asked for a sleepover at Danielle's house for the same night. I spent the night with Tom in his condo and it was everything we had hoped for. I knew in my heart that we were meant to be. We got together twice more over the next two weeks before we finally broke the news to Henry, and all 3 times I felt more than I ever had for Henry.

It had been very difficult for me to refuse Henry's advances during those 2 weeks, but my loyalty was to Tom now. We knew Henry would be hurt and upset, but believed eventually he would recover. We never would have expected what actually happened.

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We hadn't spoken to Henry since the hearing; he had told us that all communication should be through his attorney. We had sent his lawyer a message for him to pick up Juliana from the condo on Friday at 4:00pm. It was now 4:30 and there was no sign of him. Finally, I tried his cell phone but found it had been disconnected, and I couldn't reach his attorney but I did leave another message.

"Maybe he lost track of the day and time," I said to Tom. "I'll just run her over there."

Normally Henry wouldn't have lost track of that sort of thing; his job required him to be very organized. But with all that was going on it would be understandable if it had slipped his mind this once.

Juliana and I pulled up to the house and it looked like no one had been here in several days. We went inside and found the place mostly empty. All of Henry's things were gone as was everything in the main part of the house. Juliana's room was still full, and there were a few things of mine still here that I had never retrieved.

I noticed a piece of paper on the counter. I picked it up and found it was a cashier's check. There was a note with it that explained this was the full amount of Henry's required child support up until Juliana's graduation from high school, as required under the terms of the divorce.

There was a tap on the door and my head whipped around and I was sure Henry would be standing there, but it was Mrs. Perrine from next door.

"He hasn't been here in days. He emptied the whole house out on to the lawn and a Salvation Army truck came the next day to pick everything up. I think that was the day after your divorce hearing."

"Did he give you any forwarding information, Mrs. Perrine?" I asked. "His phone has been disconnected and we have no way to reach him."

"Juliana, dear, would you excuse us for just a moment, please?" Mrs. Perrine asked as she walked further into the kitchen to stand next to me. We waited for her to step outside. "I didn't want to say this in front of her, Jennie, but he did give me a message for you."