Background: Please read the first installment titled Faith, Friendship, and Passion before reading Chapter 2. Chapter 2 will have a lot more meaning if you do!
Courtesy Notice: After some rather strong reactions to Chapter 1, I feel compelled to advise everyone that this story is about two married people being unfaithful. If you have a strong aversion to this topic, please consider not reading any of the chapters in this story. Thank you.
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Rather than continue her thought and explain what she meant by "a few ideas," Rebecca just let the statement hang out there. I'm not sure if it was her intent or not but for the next week my mind was consumed with what her ideas might be. It had been 3 weeks since our first and only intimate time together and I desperately wanted more. The euphoria of being so emotionally and physically entwined was something I had never experienced before. I loved my wife, Trisha, but due to her intimacy issues, we never had the kind of connection and passion that I found with Rebecca.
I knew the relationship with Rebecca was wrong on many levels. I was betraying God, my wife, and myself. However, I couldn't control my desire to be with Rebecca. Although the sex we experienced was beyond incredible during our weekend together, I was really addicted to Rebecca emotionally. She filled an ever-widening void that had opened in my life as Trisha and I began growing apart several years ago.
By now, it was early October. Leaves were beginning to turn colors, cornstalks and colorful mums were beginning to appear on porches, and the neighborhood was beginning to get into the spirit of fall. My two daughters and I had just returned home from a Saturday morning trip to the local apple orchard while Trisha slept after her Friday evening shift at the hospital. When we pulled into our driveway, I saw Rebecca was outside pulling out remains of her summer flowers and raking up the few leaves that had begun to fall. Although still terribly dreadful, her long frumpy blue jean dress seemed more appropriate now than it did in the heat of summer. At the same time, I also noticed that Jonathan's well-worn Chevy Cavalier was not in the driveway.
As soon as I stopped the car, the girls hopped out and ran into the backyard to play. I took the ½ bushel of apples we picked and carried them into the house. I grabbed a couple apples and headed over to chat with Rebecca for a few minutes while the girls played outside. She was kneeling with her back to me while she pulled old flowers from pots on her porch.
"Is it time for a break?" I said as I crossed the lawn toward her.
Rebecca stood up when she heard my voice and displayed a huge smile when she turned her head to look at me.
"Care for a freshly picked apple?"
"Sure!" she responded in her usual bubbly tone of voice.
I tossed her the apple as we walked into her garage and eased into the two lawn chairs that had been home to so many of our talks together. I took a bite of my apple and sarcastically said, "Where's Jonathan? You should put him to work raking leaves."
We both knew there is no way Jonathan would ever rake leaves. In all the years Trish and I had lived next door to Rebecca and Jonathan, I had never witnessed Jonathan do any kind of household chore. Rebecca did all the yard work, cooking, laundry, child taxi service, etc. In fact, on many occasions, I saw Jonathan go out of his way to avoid helping her out. After a family shopping trip, it was not uncommon to see him and the kids go in the house empty handed while Rebecca struggled to carry in armloads of shopping bags.
Rebecca rolled her eyes and chuckled before explaining, "He is at church preparing for the service tonight. We will meet him there later."
"Can I ask you a question?" I said before I took another bite of apple.
Rebecca was mid-bite when I asked the question and she answered, "Sure" with a full mouth and apple juice running down her chin. She giggled in response to her messy answer as she wiped her chin with her hand.
I said, "It's not right how Jonathan treats you. Have you talked to him about it?"
Rebecca had told me on several occasions that she feels more like a servant than a wife.
"I've tried but it's like talking to a brick wall. He just quotes Ephesians 5 and says it is my responsibility to submit myself to him."
She continued, "That's what he says but it's more complicated than that."
Rebecca looked at the floor of the garage with a forlorn expression as she spoke.
I made a weak play on words in an attempt to lighter her mood and said, "An apple for your thoughts."
Rebecca was not fazed and slowly started talking, "Jonathan is blinded by religion...blinded by our church. I was too. I never liked how he treated me but I always accepted it as the way things were supposed to be. Our church teaches that the man is the head of the household and is responsible for the spiritual teaching of the family. The woman is responsible to support her husband and submit to him. In other words, the wife is supposed to do all the work while her husband studies the Bible and is involved in the church. Beyond that, a family's status in the church is largely defined by how well the husband and wife fulfill those roles. A large, picture perfect family is a big influence in status because it shows that the man can spiritually lead his family and the woman can submit to her husband by bearing children and caring for the household."