Glimmer

There was a glimmer on the carpet in the ensuite as I entered. A reflection of light from the sun, just starting to make its way through the blinds. It didn't blind, it just attracted my attention. I looked down to see what was there. I was barefoot and didn't want to step on glass or anything. Caroline hadn't mentioned that she had dropped anything in the bathroom, but who knew?

I didn't see it at first, as without the light shining on it, it was almost the same color as the carpet, but finally I found it. A tiny circle of foil had fallen on the floor, and had reflected the light into my eyes as I had come into the bathroom. I picked it up.

It was the backing of a strip of pills, the little circle of foil that gets pressed out when you pop a pill out of the strip. Most times it stays attached to the strip, but occasionally, as in this case, it separates and falls to the floor.

I examined it. On one side it was blank, but on the other side it had a marking. 'Tue'

Since it was Wednesday, I presumed that had meant Tuesday, yesterday's pill. That meant that the pills had to be taken daily. I knew I wasn't taking any medication, I was thirty-five and fit as a flea, and so was my wife, Caroline. We had both recently undergone our yearly medicals and were both pronounced fit and healthy so why was there a pill cover in my bathroom.

I knew there were a number of pills that you had to take daily, but the one that sprang immediately to mind, was the contraceptive pill. Caroline was not on the contraceptive pill, or at least I thought she wasn't, since I had had a vasectomy two years ago following the birth of our second, and last child. She had had no trouble with cramps or period pain, being one of the lucky women that sailed through her monthly with no trouble whatsoever. So why the pills?

I had to admit that my first thought was that she might have some kind of illness that she didn't want to tell me about. My thoughts went to very dark places for a few minutes, but once again I remembered the physicals, and the fact we had shown each other the reports. We were both clear.

If the little circle of foil was in here, then it was likely that the tablets were in here too. I closed and locked the door, Caroline was still in bed, and I began to search.

It took me some time to find them, but I did eventually. They were buried at the bottom of a box of tampons, in an aspirin box. When I pulled the strip of pills out, I recognised them immediately as the ones she used to take before I had my 'snip' and even before that, between our kids while we were not trying.

Why was she back on the pill? I had only one answer available to that question, she was having sex with someone who could possibly make her pregnant. She was cheating on me.

Caroline and I had been together for nine years. I had just finished university, training as an engineer, and she worked as a PA. We had met in a bar, and although we hadn't exactly hit it off immediately there had been enough of an interest for her to accept my invitation to dinner.

Caroline was tall, just about an inch short of my five feet ten. She was a former athlete, and maintained an athletic physique, with a lean frame and a small chest. Her ass, by far my favourite part of her, was to die for.

We had 'courted' for about a year, and then we got married when I was twenty-six. Our two children were five and two, and I had had the operation to prevent any further accidents. Two was our limit, we had the perfect set James came first and then Sonia later on. I had the perfect family -- or so I thought.

Caroline had returned to work, having taken maternity leave for each of the children, loth to leave a job she loved. We had an au-pair, who came in to look after the children during the day, and then went home at night. She was costing almost as much as Caroline was earning, but Caroline didn't care about that. She just wanted to be out of the house and working at the job she loved. I worked with a couple of buddies, having set up an engineering firm between us. We would never be rich, but we were all very comfortable.

I tidied the bathroom, put her pills back where I had found them and decided I needed to think. There was no point in confronting her now. I needed a plan, I needed proof. What would happen after that? I had no idea. Let's get all the facts first and then see where that leads us.

I went to work as usual and considered my options. Firstly, I wanted to know who, and when. Also, how long. Was it someone at work, heaven forbid the cliché, her boss? Is it the person she has been PA'ing for since we met? That led me to the next horrible question. Were the kids even mine?

All this time, I had not allowed emotion to get involved. I knew it would come, that I would feel the loss, the betrayal, the hurt and anger. First though, I needed to know if it was real. I was working a problem and I didn't yet have enough facts to draw any kinds of conclusion.

I hit the internet.

First job, I needed some DNA testing kits. Testing the children would be - ahem -- childs play. I often put them to bed before Caroline got home so that could be done easily. I also ordered some surveillance equipment. A couple of small voice recorders that I could secrete in her car and her bag, and a few tiny cameras that I would hide around the house. I doubted she was doing it there, given the au-paire and the fact she was rarely there when I wasn't, at least I didn't think she was.

I needed access to her phone. I knew of a cloning tool that I could basically get a copy of her phone, receive all her messages and emails, and even listen in on her calls. I needed to buy another phone for that purpose.

It took a few days for everything to arrive. During that time, I watched carefully. Caroline did nothing out of the ordinary. Our sex life was pretty standard, once or twice a week, usually at the weekend when we were both lay in bed late. I never smelled anything suspect on her nor did she ever dive into the shower as soon as she got home. Nothing had changed. So, either she wasn't having an affair, or she was exceptionally careful, or she had been having an affair for so long that it had become second nature.

Friday morning the packages arrived. I had had them sent to my office, so there would be no questions. I had the DNA kits, the voice recorders, several cameras and the mobile phone and cloning kit. I was ready to go.

That afternoon, I left the office early. When I got home the au-pair was just feeding the kids their dinner, prior to getting them ready for bed. I left her to that task while I went and hid the cameras. One in the bathroom, one in the living room, and one in the bedroom with a good view of the bed.

I heard the children splashing in the bath and went to help get them ready for bed. I took Sonia, and left the au-pair with James. I swabbed Sonia's cheek and pocketed the swab. Then I laid her down and read to her until she dozed off.

James was still awake when I looked in, the au-pair still reading to him. I offered to take over and let her go home, and she gratefully accepted. His swab took no time at all, and less than twenty minutes later he too was fast asleep.

I packaged the swabs up, along with a swab taken from my own cheek, and placed them in the mailbox. The postman would take them in the morning. The service promised that the results would be available online within 48 business hours. So, Wednesday latest.

Caroline came home exactly on time, and we went through our usual routine. She told me about her day, and I told her about mine, neither really listening to the other. We ate dinner and then she went for a shower.

I took that opportunity to plant the recorders in her car and bag and clone her cell phone. I checked the clone to see if there were any incriminating texts or emails, but there were none. Either she was extremely careful, or she was not cheating. I couldn't make my mind up.

The weekend passed as it usually did. We had sex on both mornings, before the kids woke. It had become almost a ritual, almost even a chore. I went down on her, until she came, then we fucked until I came. If we managed it all the way to the 'money shot' before one or other of the kids woke up -- we counted that a win. It was about a fifty percent hit rate. Since she always went first, she nearly always won.

She had no calls or texts over the weekend, and since we spent all our time together, I had no opportunity to see if she was taking the tablets, although I did check the strip, and the relevant days were going missing. Since there was only her and I in the house over the weekend, and I wasn't taking them, it was a fair conclusion that she was.

Monday, I told her I would be working from home. She went off to the office, and I took the opportunity to take out the flash drive from all the camera's and check them. The bathroom Camera confirmed that she was, indeed, taking the tablets, but the real surprise was on the bedroom camera.

On Saturday evening, while I was cooking dinner, she had gone for a shower. I saw her in the bedroom using a phone to text someone. There had been nothing on the phone I cloned, so she must have a second phone. It certainly hadn't been in her bag, so where was it?

I watched what she did with it when she finished texting. She went over to the aircon duct and releasing the catch, opened it, stashing the phone inside. Immediately I went and checked the duct and found that there was no phone there. She must hide it there when she is at home. But take it with her when she leaves. I needed access to that phone.

That was the first piece of concrete evidence that she was up to something, although I still didn't know what. Indications were that she was cheating, but it was not certain. I watched the footage of her getting dressed that morning and saw her remove the phone from the aircon unit and slip it into her bag, before leaving for the day. I needed that phone.

That night when she came home, I watched her carefully. She carelessly dropped her bag in the hallway and continued with her usual night-time routine. After dinner she went for a shower and I looked in her bag. The phone was not there. She must have taken it with her, and hidden it in the aircon unit when she went up. What she didn't realise, or didn't care, was that the other side of that vent, opened into Sonia's room.

Quietly, listening for the shower, I crept into my daughter's bedroom and opened the vent from her side. There was the phone. I grabbed it and took it to my office, cloning it to the new phone in a matter of a couple of minutes. I returned it and had just about closed the vent when I heard my wife come out of the shower. I went and sat by Sonia's bed and was stroking her hair when my wife came in.

"Something the matter?" she asked quietly. I shook my head.

"I like to come and sit with one or other of them from time to time," I whispered. "Just to remind myself how lucky I am to have two such wonderful kids."

She smiled. "You old softie," she said. "Come on, let's go before you wake her."

I didn't get to look at the clone of the phone, until the next day. That was when my world collapsed.

The sound of the intercom from my secretary failed to penetrate as I sat in my office chair staring at the cloned phone, tears streaming down my face. Eventually she must have gotten tired of trying and she knocked briefly before entering my office. She poked her head around the door and saw me.

Michelle, my secretary was a no-nonsense woman who dressed far older than she was. I would put her at somewhere between thirty and forty, she was slim with red hair and green eyes. She always dressed conservatively in clothes that wouldn't have been out of place on someone much older. Our relationship had always been one hundred percent professional. I had never even so much as raised an eyebrow in her direction, although I had seen the result when someone did. It wasn't pretty. I had had to have words with one of my business partners, who was known as a bit of an office lothario. He had been flirting with her, since he couldn't stand the thought of a woman that wouldn't fall for his charms. She had told me in no uncertain terms that if he didn't quit, she would, and would sue the company not only for constructive dismissal but sexual harassment. She told me that the only reason she hadn't already done so, was that I had always treated her with respect and had never done anything I shouldn't.

My business partner was incensed and wanted to sack her immediately. He gave us an ultimatum. Either she went - or he did. And that was how I ended up owning sixty percent of the company instead of the forty percent I had started with. I was one partner down.

On seeing me, Michelle immediately withdrew, obviously to deal with whatever it was she had been trying to call me about. I heard voices in my outer office, and then it went quiet. Michelle returned to my office, closed and locked the door. Then she came over, and pulling the chair from around the other side of my desk, sat facing me a couple of feet away.

She pulled some tissues out of that place where women always seem to have a supply, and handed them to me. I took them blindly and began to wipe at my eyes.

"Tell me." Was all she said.

I showed her the phone.

There were text messages to and from Caroline. The other party wasn't identified, no names were used, but they told a tale of clandestine meetings, and sex that seemed to have been going on forever. Whoever it was knew her well, spoke about things that only I should have known about, the little mole on the inside of her thigh, the cute little squeak she made when she came, there were other details that only a lover would know and not just a casual lover. A long-term lover. I was never mentioned in any of the texts, it was as if I didn't exist. There was no 'is he out of the way?' or 'he said or did this or that.' I was just absent. Not even an afterthought.

"Do you know who?" she asked still all business. I shook my head.

"How did you find out?" she queried. I told her about finding the little silver tab on the bathroom floor, then the pills. The tale just poured out. All the time I spoke she just sat and looked at me. I realised after a while that she was holding my hand. That was the first time, I thought, that we had ever actually touched.

"You need more information," she said. "The DNA for the children will be back on Wednesday. Can you hold it together until then?"

"I don't know," I said. She nodded.

"Our manufacturers in Portland need to see you urgently," she said. "I have you booked on the next flight. You'll be back on Thursday."

"I can't think about that just now," I said.

"That's what you are going to tell Caroline," she said.

She took my phone and tapped out a text message and sent it to Caroline.

_There's been a mess up in Portland, have to go and sort it out. Be back Thursday -- Love you.

There was an almost instant reply.

¬_Ok -- let me know you get there ok, see you when you get back.

She looked at the phone for a second her lip curling, then gave me back my phone and took out her own.

"Lorraine," she said "Michelle. Yes thanks. You free this afternoon anytime? Perfect. See you then."

"Go get yourself cleaned up," she said to me all business.

The tone of voice and the fact I was almost trained by her to do as she told me, in the office, meant I did exactly that. It was actually good not to have to think. To defer decisions and plans to someone else.

When I came out of the bathroom, she was holding my jacket.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"You have an appointment with an old friend of mine," she said.

I just went along.

Lorraine, it turned out, was Michelle's best friend, and also a divorce lawyer. She had apparently handled Michelle's divorce when she had found her husband dallying with one of his co-workers.

Michelle explained the situation to Lorraine while I looked on, almost in a fugue state. It wasn't happening to me. Lorraine had obviously seen this many times in her career. Once she had as many of the facts as we had, she brought her attention to me.

"Gary," she said. That wasn't me, she was talking to someone else. I felt a sting in my cheek. Michelle had slapped me. I was shocked into wakefulness. I saw shock and amusement in Lorraine's eyes, but it faded quickly when she looked at me.

"Gary?" she asked. I nodded.

"Have you any idea what you want to do about this?"

My engineers brain woke up at that. Plans -- that was what it was good for.

"Kill them both," I said.

I had expected shocked exclamations from Michelle at least but surprisingly she actually grinned.

"Okay," said Lorraine. "I understand that. But sadly, that is not an option. You see it happens to be against the law. However, we do have some legal options. Shall we run through those?"

"Before I begin," she said. "I am just laying out your options. I am not advocating for any, just yet. That may come later. Your first option is to do nothing. She doesn't know you know, from what I understand you seemed to have a perfectly happy life before and that doesn't have to change. Keep on keeping on -- play ignorant.

"Second, amicable divorce. File for irreconcilable differences, split your company, house, 401k. She earns less than you so you will probably have to pay support for her for a few years at least, and for the children until they graduate high school.

"Third -- go nuclear. File for adultery. If the kids are not yours, file for false completion of birth certificate. Go after whoever the other party is sue for alienation of affection if he is the father sue to get all the money you spent on the kids back, if it's a co-worker sue for non-enforcement of fraternization policy. Pretty much every company has one these days. If the other party is married, give their partner all the information about the affair. If they knew we might have a case against them for something too -- if they didn't then maybe I can represent them in their divorce. Go public, tell everyone, their friends, family co-workers. If she is a member of any societies or church groups tell them too. Take her down as hard as you can. We need to protect your assets, sell your share of the company to an offshore trust re-mortgage the house, take all the equity you can out of it, take the cash along with the money you got from the company, cash out your 401k and have a blow out in Vegas."

My mind was whirring. I saw instantly what she was saying. Option one was not an option. I was nobody's willing cuckold. I had been an unwilling, unknowing one for too long. Option two? Not a chance. I had spent too much time building the business and building us the lifestyle we had. She could forget taking half of everything I had, and then continue to let me support her while she was fucking someone else.

"Option three," I said. "Nuclear."

Lorraine smiled. "Okay. I'll start to draw up some paperwork. I would suggest that we start some covert surveillance on your wife and see if we can find out who and when and where. We really need more evidence. Can I keep that phone? You seeing it does you no good."

I nodded and handed her the phone.

Michelle and I left Lorraine's office, and she took me to a small, family run hotel. She got me booked in.

"Go take a shower and get some room service," she said. She had completely taken charge.

I'll be back with some things for you later.

I acted mechanically. My whole world was falling apart, and I was sat in a hotel room and ordering room service as if I was on a jaunt. It was the only way I could cope with the stress of what was going on. Nine years down the toilet. What really hurt was that I had been totally oblivious to it all. How had I not noticed what she was doing?