"Leave that with me. Text me when you get home."
Sandy looked at me and said. "You are an evil bastard, she may have had the best experience of her life, and she cannot share it. Women share, not always intimate details but feelings. We don't care how big your dick is, or how good you are, well we do, but we care more about how it makes us feel.
"She cannot do that now, she will have to keep it to herself. That will eat away at her until it becomes overwhelming, she will burst. And when she does that, you're going to have to fuck her with an inch of her life, all of a sudden Marcus Vale will be inconsequential." She laughed. "I fucking love it you bastard. Remind me never to cross you." That was when Brian came in with the tea. He asked what was happening and Sandy explained it all, he looked at me and said "She's right, women love to share."
Time to go home and start what my life had become. We gathered the children together and I took them back to the house.
After I pulled up to the house I sent Sandy a text. When I got in I could hear Linda and Sandy on the phone. It was on speaker. I heard Sandy say. "I wouldn't put it past Jim to start building a new identity, a new life and just leave after what you did."
Linda saw me out of the corner of her eye and turned to look at me.
I just nodded and went to sort out the children.
I was going to finish it there but I realise many people will want to know what happened afterwards to the players in this story so, if you are part of the 'Finish The Damn Story' cadre, please carry on, those of you that are happy with the outcome so far, just stop here.
Dinner was waiting for the children, we had food on our plate but neither of us touched it, we just pushed it around a bit.
Two weeks later. We had two hand delivered letters through our door. They were handwritten from our former friends. Not David and Dee. Both letters were very similar. They had probably collaborated. They professed they knew nothing about if anything was planned and just followed Dee's lead. They know that was wrong. They were amazed and disgusted at what Linda had done. They never thought she would go through with it. They both wished that in time we could become friends again, but they fully understood where I was coming from. Nobody would ever hear what happened from either of them. The letters seemed heartfelt, I just threw them in the bin.
David and Dee got divorced. Three months later Vale chose Dee. David just sucked it up until one day they were out with friends and Dee went on how it was probably the best sexual, if not the best experience she had ever had. David stood up and threw his pint of Guinness over Dee and walked out. When she got home David was gone. His clothes, laptop, passport, and he had taken every penny out of their bank accounts. He cashed in the shares they had, maxed out their credit cards and he left. Two weeks later they found his car on an Internet we buy your car website. He just disappeared.
Marcus Vale was leaving the club with another wife, as they got outside a man in dark clothes and a balaclava struck Vale in the chest with the flat of a shovel. Then his knee and then his face. He was unconscious by now. He would never play football or look as pretty again. His two mates came running out of the club to be met by another two balaclava wearing shovel wielding men, they got similar treatment but not the face. They would never play football again either. It wasn't me and the men were never caught, the very thing of not having CCTV cameras working in that area did for them.
We settled into an uneasy truce. But the house had an icy atmosphere. It wasn't good. The incubation period for STDs was over a month, she showed me she had booked a test. She took the morning after pill in front of me. After two weeks I allowed her back into my bed but that was it. The atmosphere was starting to affect the children. It got better when Shaun moved into his own room. But that was all. It was some weeks later when a functional, uneasy sex life returned after she got the all clear.
One evening about five months after the incident we were sitting watching the television. You could have cut the icy atmosphere with a knife. Unfortunately, that was normal. Linda slid off the settee and knelt in front of me. She took my hands in hers and kissed the back of them. Looking at me she said. "I love you and I believe you still love me, but this atmosphere cannot go on. It's hurting the children, and we are not getting any better. it's tearing me apart. I fully know the risk I am taking with what I am about to say. But I am trusting in your love for me and the children and it will be just the once, I promise." She took a deep breath.
I guessed what was coming.
"I am sorry I hurt you, I am sorry I did it, I was wrong. I am sorry for all the pain I have caused our family. This is the one and only time I will say it, I will never mention it again. I love you but I understand if you leave." She sat back on her haunches to give me room to get out.
I realised then that I needed to hear her say it, as much as she needed to say it.
I smiled at her and held my hand out. She got back on the settee and sat next to me. I slid my arm through hers. I whispered to her. "You are not forgiven."
"I know."
It was as if someone turned the central heating on. We made love that night.
Over time our marriage grew into a partnership again.
I had one more thing to do, it was Sandy that mentioned it the day I collected the children. A couple of weeks later I did something we never done before. I used some old ties and tied her spread eagle on the bed. I then used every trick I knew, every switch to flick that turned her on and I teased her. She was trying to scream through the tape I put across her mouth. When I entered her she came so hard I am sure she would have thrown me off if she was not tied down. Then she fainted.
I had untied her by the time she came round and she rested her head on my shoulder. "We have got to do that again. That was the best..." She stopped herself, I could tell that what she was about to say might have broken my one rule.
I said nothing, but I had to agree that it was more fun than I expected. It will have to become a regular game. Every time we went away after that she always seemed to pack more ties than I would ever wear.
Life got better. The years passed; Carrie had moved in with her boyfriend a few years ago and now Linda and I were standing on the Hotel steps waving goodbye to Sean and his new bride, Anne, as they left on their honeymoon. He would not be returning to our house. Linda looked stunning as mother of the groom, but as the day went on, she got more and more nervous. She took my hand without looking at me, she said. "Jim, I know what you said that Saturday morning all those years ago. I have tried to be a good wife, a good mother in the hope that I can convince you not to leave me." She turned, looked at me and said. "I love you, please do not leave me."
As I turned to look at Linda, I saw Sandy and Brian out of the corner of my eye. They wanted to know my decision; they were here to support Linda.
Earlier I was standing alone watching the newly married couple have their first dance as husband and wife. Sandy came and stood beside me. I carried on watching the happy couple. I remembered that conversation. "They remind me of you and Linda." She took a breath. "Linda has been in purgatory this last sixteen years, looking forward but dreading this day, she has feared this day every day for the last sixteen years. She hides it well to not upset the children. But this last year since Sean let it be known he was moving out it has been worse for her knowing this day was coming. Brian and I can see it.
"That first 18 months or so was absolute hell for her. Every time you were late home from work, or you went out for a beer with your mates she dreaded she had said something wrong, and you wouldn't come home. She was a mess."
Still watching the newlyweds, I said. "I know, that's why I stopped it and I let her know where I was, well most of the time. I have you to thank for that. I didn't realise how much weight she had lost and how depressed she was getting so when you warned me, I was more careful, it was affecting the children. I wanted to punish her not destroy her."
Sandy touched my arm gently. "I think you were a bit cruel not letting her go to marriage guidance counselling. But I can understand your reasoning."
"Oh I told her she could have gone, but the same rules applied. I would have left if I had found out that she had told the counsellor about that night. There were two levels of punishment. She could not share what she had done and the threat of me leaving if she did. I'm still here because I'm pretty convinced she has not shared. It was her choice not to risk it."
"She has shared. No, not about that, not a word about that, but about how you are the best person she has ever known. You have rocked her world, and she has tried to rock yours. She has tried to be the best wife she knows how to convince you to stay. Please do not keep her in suspense anymore, please put her out of her misery."
I continued watching the dancing couple. "Since that day I know she has tried to be the best wife she could be, and yes I have rocked her world. I tried to be better than him. It would make the punishment even more complete when I left." I looked at Sandy, there were tears in her eyes. "But; Yes, she has rocked my world a lot. But as you say, the punishment ends today. She will find out when Sean and Anne leave."
I smiled at her, leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek. She could see tears in my eyes. Her body was tense. She knew I had made my mind up and she had guessed what it was.
"If you will excuse me, I need to go and dance with my wife."
Back on the hotel steps I looked at Linda. I had decided years ago that I was going to stay but I had not got round to telling her. I suppose that a little bit more punishment for her. I took her in my arms and kissed her. "I am staying but the same rules apply."
She kissed me back and said. "Let's go and have a final chat with our guests then we see what we can get up to in that four-poster bed we've got in our room."
As we walked back into the Hotel past Sandy and Brian, Sandy whispered to me. "Bastard."
