I Chose You Sweetheart

This is part of my 'You can love more than one person' series. I had affections for two women at the same time. I chose, it was a difficult choice and years later it turned out to be the wrong one. You make your decisions on the information you have at the time. I used to wonder what my life would have been like if I had chosen the other one. Later on, I had to make that choice again. I got it right the second time and 40 odd years later I still think it was the correct one.

I like happy endings as most of you know and I can be a bit soft on my characters. I do not think so this time, I am sure you will let me know if I was too harsh or not harsh enough.

The Oxford English dictionaries define fiction as "something that is invented or untrue." So please do not tell me 'It would not happen like that'. Because you are correct It probably would not.

Dictionaries also tell me there are several meanings for the word fantasy. This is the one I have used. 'The faculty or activity of imagining, impossible or improbable things.'

This is fiction, with an element of fantasy.

It will be plainly obvious I know very little about commercial banking.

I have tried to make it entertaining and I hope you are entertained by this little tale.

Normally in my tales a woman called Dee is a despicable character. I thought that would give the name a reprieve this time, well some of the time.

The warning signs may have been there at her company function in September for winning some account or something like that, I do not understand commercial banking. Actually, in hindsight I don't think there was anything to see back then, it was all innocent, it was later things started to change and that made me think back to that party. I was introduced to Gerald, the new chap she was mentoring at the bank. He seemed okay, a bit younger than us and a little bit arrogant, but I expect that comes with youth. I may have been similar before I met Cheryl.

I was brought up on a farm, and it was great fun as a kid, running around, shooting pests, then when a bit older driving and operating all sorts of farming machinery, I loved that. Driving tractors and operating machinery gave me a confidence other kids of my age did not have. But I recognised farming was hard work as an adult. So I went into engineering. I was working as an Engineering Project manager for a farm machinery manufacturer, with my farming and engineering background.

I met Cheryl at a mutual friend's party and we hit it off. We married eighteen months after we met. She was in commercial banking. Life was good, Cheryl was twenty-eight, I was twenty-nine and we had been muting about starting a family, we had been married for six years, it was time. All of our parents thought so as well.

We had bought a 'do up' three-bedroom house about six years ago just after we got married with a little help from both sets of parents, plus an employee's discount on a mortgage. The work was pretty much finished. One of the two spare bedrooms was already starting to look like a nursery, that was always the plan. We had done most of the work ourselves. It had taken a while but we had made this house everything we wanted. We absolutely loved it.

At the party I thought Cheryl and Gerald were dancing together too much and I felt like I was being slightly ignored, not too much, but enough that other people noticed. I mentioned this to Cheryl. She instantly apologised saying she hadn't realised what she was doing, but Gerald was new and had only been with the company a couple of weeks and he didn't know many people, to which I replied. "Well, he won't get to meet many people if he spends all his time dancing with you."

She looked at me, smiled and said. "You're absolutely correct. I'm sorry, I'll tell him that."

We were standing around drinking and chatting with her friend Dee, they both worked at the same bank, they were both mentors for new starters in the bank. Dee was between boyfriends at the moment, I found it hard to keep track of Dee's love life, she was more of Cheryl's friend than mine.

I had to pop to the little boy's room, and I told the girls on the way back I would pick up some more drinks. When I left the bathroom Dee was standing alone and Cheryl was again dancing with Gerald, it was a slow one and they were getting too close for me to be comfortable. I headed towards them because I was getting fed up with this.

Dee stepped in front of me and asked me to dance, she could see I was angry. She said to me. "It's just a dance, don't worry."

I looked at her and said. "He is dancing with a married woman, you're single, why is he not dancing with you, or any of the other women here to get to know them?" She spluttered something, but at that moment Cheryl looked across and saw me.

She disengaged herself from Gerald and came towards me with a smile holding her hands out to me. "Come on sweetie, it's your turn."

I took her in my arms and whispered into her ear. "I didn't realise I was taking turns here, I thought we came here to enjoy the celebration together."

She pushed me gently back so she could look me in the eyes. "I'm sorry darling." She said. "He asked me to dance, I couldn't refuse."

"Yes, you could, I told you how I feel. Dee is single, why is he not dancing with her or any of the other women? Or even just circulating with other people from the bank."

She pulled herself back into my arms and kissed me on the cheek. "You're right, again, no more dances for anyone but you tonight, but you have got to promise me to have at least one with Dee."

"Okay, if I must."

She giggled, the next dance was a faster one, we separated and threw ourselves around a bit. She dragged me off the floor after that.

I had the obligatory dance with Dee, but I kept an eye on Cheryl. It was not long before Gerald turned up beside her. He held his hand out; she shook her head. They stood next to each other. Gerald leaned into her and talked. Cheryl did not seem to reply.

Dee and I finished dancing and left the floor, as soon as he saw us coming Gerald walked away. I did notice Cheryl followed him with her eyes until we got close, then she smiled at me. That piqued my interest.

Later I noticed Gerald head towards the bar. He was at the front waiting to be served. I excused myself as I pushed past the crowd explaining I just wanted a word and wasn't buying a drink. That met with some grumbles, which I ignored.

I stood next to Gerald and said. "Be careful around my wife."

He looked at me and said "Surely, she's a grown woman, she can make her own choices of who she dances with. Sorry, that came out a bit wrong, she has helped me a lot and I was only thanking her for her help, however, I hear you, I apologise. Would you like a drink?"

"No thank you." His comments threw me.

He nodded and turned back to the bar.

I returned to Cheryl and Dee.

Ten minutes later Gerald walked across to us. He looked at me and said. "Do you mind?" As he held his hand out to Cheryl.

Before I could reply Cheryl said. "I think I have danced enough with you. You need to meet other people. All my dances are with my husband for the rest of the evening."

Gerald smiled and gently nodded, then he looked at Dee, almost as if he was seeing her for the first time. He held his hand out to her and they disappeared onto the dance floor.

Cheryl slipped her arm through mine, leaned into me and whispered. "I'm sorry if I upset dear, I didn't realise I was paying him so much attention. If I've upset you, d'you want to go home so I can make it up to you?" She kissed my cheek.

"That is a very good idea." I said. She took my hand and led me towards the exit; she caught Dee's eye and waved goodbye to her as we left.

As we were leaving Cheryl popped into the little girl's room, she was very quick and was smiling like a Cheshire cat when she came back. She hung onto me whilst we waited for a taxi. As she slid across the seat her dress rode up a bit. I was expecting her to pull it down, she didn't. As the taxi set off, she took hold of my hand and placed it on her bare thigh. She must have taken her tights and knickers off when she went to the toilet. "I thought we could get a head start. This is my apology for not paying you the attention you deserve my love." She whispered to me as she placed her hand on my cock, it got all confused with all the hands, arms and seat belts. I managed to get my hand between her legs, but she was not yet moist.

I offered my fingers to her mouth, she moistened them, simulating what she would do later on in the evening, I hope. There was a sparkle in her eyes.

When I put my fingers back between her legs, I had enough moisture to ease her lips apart and start paying gentle attention to her clitoris. We had played this game before, it was fun. I kept my eyes steadily ahead to see how much attention the taxi driver was paying to what we were doing, fortunately not much. She gave a little gasp and her hands came off of my cock and grabbed hold of my wrist. Now she was wet. It was only a twenty-minute ride home.

She whispered to me. "I'll pay, I don't want the driver to smell your fingers." She was giggling. We were quickly indoors, she turned and grabbed hold of me and said. "I love you, please, I can't wait."

I turned her around so she was facing the wall. She placed her hands up on the wall, I took a pace back, so she could stick her backside out. It did not take me long to unzip my trousers, get my hard cock out and impale her. She kept on thrusting back at me. I moved my hand around the front and whilst buried deep inside her, I used my still moist fingers to play with her clitoris. I know that is one of her favourites. I have to hold her around the waist because when she comes, when the orgasm hits her, her legs tend to collapse. She came hard and fast. She stood upright; my hard cock sliding out of her pussy.

She smiled at me and took hold of my hard cock and pulled me gently towards the stairs. We were no sooner in the bedroom than she pushed me back onto the bed and took me into her mouth. I love it when she looks up at me with my cock in her mouth, her eyes sparkling with love. She could feel me starting to twitch, perhaps through the gentle caressing of my balls she could feel I was starting to come.

She pulled off, standing up she said. "I think we should both get naked." It did not take long.

She lay on her back as I entered her. I know what she likes, long, deep and slow. I rested on my elbows and kissed her neck and nibbled her ear, she loves that. I felt her starting to come, she wrapped her legs and arms around me holding me deep inside her. Her body shuddered; the pulsing of her pussy brought me off. I lay there just kissing her.

It was not too late, Cheryl went down and collected two glasses of wine, we lay there in that comfortable postnuptial glow sipping wine. "I'm a bit sorry we left the party early" I said to her.

Cheryl looked up at me and said. "I'm not, I liked playing around in the taxi. The risk of getting caught was good, and if you keep having me just inside the front door like that, I'm going to have to get you to put a couple of handles there."

It was not the first time we had done that. We finished the glass of wine, cuddled each other and went to sleep.

I was up first in the morning; I made tea and took a cup up to Cheryl. As I passed her handbag her phone made a noise, an incoming text message, I recognised it as being from Dee. I took it up to her, she accepted the tea and gave me a kiss, she looked at her phone and said to me. "Bloody hell. Dee spent the night with Gerald, that's a turn up for the books. I didn't think he was interested in her."

"No, he seemed more interested in you than Dee." I said.

"I just helped him. He's more used to personal, not commercial banking and he's changed banks as well, we have completely different systems. I think he's got the hang of most of it but he is struggling with one aspect. He was saying how grateful he was."

"He seems alright, just be careful." I did not add there was something about him I did not like, I just could not put my finger on, nothing wrong, just a feeling.

We had a pleasant weekend, the following week was normal. Friday when Cheryl got home she asked if we could go out with Dee and Gerald Saturday evening. I could not see a problem. We had a good time with them. I did not change my mind about Gerald, he was okay. He could be funny at times, laughed in all the right places, got his round in and paid his way. He mainly paid attention to Dee, she was all over him. I suppose you could say he was a good looking chap. Not that I was a judge of what women thought of how men looked.

We settled into a comfortable foursome going out every two or three weekends or so. Gerald was alright, but I had reservations. He was not a mate, not someone I would play golf with, if I played golf that is, but someone I would be happy to ask for a hand to do something or give him a hand if he needed it.

It had been about two months of us going out as a group when I started to notice how Gerald would look at Cheryl, his look would linger and a small smile would creep across his face. Cheryl did not seem to notice. But it had me a little concerned. I started to watch Cheryl and after a few weeks, I noticed Cheryl's lingering looks at Gerald.

I thought back and tried to remember if anything else was amiss, but there wasn't. No change of clothes, no working late unexpectedly, no sneaking around with her phone, the passcode had not changed, no strange unexpected happenings at all. I was just being paranoid, I thought to myself.

I didn't think anything had happened between them. They would not have the opportunity to do it at work, not with Dee and Gerald being a couple. But I was going to stop this before anything could start.

We had got back from an evening out with Gerald and Dee and a couple of other people from the bank. I had noticed a couple of lingering looks from both of them, but not much. I did not think anybody else noticed. They did seem to get on well together, at times it was like they were sharing a personal joke.

It wasn't a late night and I was making a cup of cocoa. We were sat in the lounge and I said to Cheryl. "You seemed to be getting on well with Gerald, how is his training going?"

"Oh, it's mostly done, there are one or two things he's having problems with, getting his head around but the rest of it he's got wrapped up. He's having a bit of a problem getting variable interest rates for different loans for different purposes and different amounts, it's the risk calculations he gets wrong."

"How about on a personal level? You were laughing and joking. Quite often to the exclusion of everybody else, like you had personal secrets between the two of you."

"Well, he is funny, and we have been working a lot together, what's this all about all of a sudden?"

I exaggerated a bit. "Well at times you were chatting to each other ignoring everybody else, it's as if we weren't there, in fact I wouldn't be surprised if some of your work colleagues think you're having an affair with Gerald."

She put the cocoa she was holding down and looked at me deadly serious. "I would never do that to you, you don't think that do you?"

"Well, you do seem very attracted to him and I've seen the way you look at each other. Answer me this honestly, do you find him attractive?"

"Yes, he's a good looking man, he's funny, courteous and pleasant to be around. But he's just a friend, just like Dee. Anyway, why would he chase after me, he's got Dee?"

"Okay, perhaps I am worrying too much. You know my feelings on infidelity, you cheat you're out that door."

She slid across the floor to me and hugged my knees and looked up into my face. "My darling, my sweetheart, my soulmate. I love you. I would never cheat on you. Yes, I will admit I find him attractive and to be honest if I wasn't with you and he wasn't with Dee I might see if there was something. But I'm spoken for and so is he." She paused, held my hands and squeezed them. And said quietly. "I know one of your earlier girlfriends cheated on you, I know your feelings. I could not put you through that pain and I think the retribution you would give me would be beyond anything I could dream up."

Standing up she held her hands out and said. "Come on, let me show you how much I love you." She tilted her head to one side and gave me that smile, that cute smile I loved so much. I took her hands and followed her upstairs. It was a passionate night. I woke up at the usual three o'clock having to empty my bladder, when I got back into bed I thought about the conversation over the Cocoa. I believed her, but had I warned her and they would hide it better if there was an affair, well I would have just have to look deeper, just to put my mind at rest.

I kept an eye out, but like before the conversation about her and Gerald, there was nothing I could see that was wrong.

Things went well for the next four weeks, but in the fourth week Cheryl got very quiet. I kept asking her what was wrong. She told me it was nothing, just a few little problems at work. We hadn't been very intimate this last week, there was the usual love making, but not the little touches, the little smiles, the little strokes as she walked past me. She seemed distracted.

I was a little concerned about her and as she told me it was a problem at work I gave Dee a phone call to see if she noticed anything wrong there. All she said was that Cheryl seemed a bit quiet but apart from not being her usual bubbly self, nothing. As a bit of toe in the water, I asked her how she and Gerald were getting on? She laughed and told me he was just his usual annoying self. I asked her if he was the 'one', she giggled and told me she didn't think so, but he is fun, but he's slightly distracted most of the time. She wished he was the 'one' as she was getting very attached to him.

She was just going to have fun with him whilst he was here, although, she was hoping he would stay so she could work on him, otherwise she will just cry on my and Cheryl's shoulder and get over it.

There was nothing wrong that I could find, no affair with Gerald. I pondered on it for a few days and decided to try to cheer her up and show my love for her. I arranged to finish work midday Friday, planning to surprise her at work and take her to lunch. Over breakfast in the morning, I asked if she had anything planned for lunch, she told me she had nothing. In the back of my mind, I would also be sort of showing my affection for her in front of her work colleagues. Including Gerald and Dee. I picked some flowers, they were only supermarket flowers, but they were the colour she liked.

Just as I got to the bank, I saw Gerald and Cheryl leave together. They walked down the road to a pub. I followed them after dropping the flowers in a bin. I managed to find a corner of the pub after getting myself a drink, I got my phone out so it looked like I was doing something. The pub was full of Friday afternoon drinkers, people who knocked off at midday and went for a drink. Cheryl and Gerald were just talking whilst they had their dinner, but two things struck me, I decided to save them up for later when I talk to her and show her the video I took and then see what she has to say.

As I had my phone out an idea came to me and I sent Cheryl a text asking her what did she want for dinner or shall we go out. She picked up her phone, looked at it and I saw her typing something, the message appeared on my phone. 'No, stay in, I'm out at the moment in the Bell having lunch with Gerald, will explain later'. Well, she was not keeping any secrets. Either that or she had seen me.