Brenda was humming and singing as she cleaned her body after and energetic session of sex with her lover, Jack. Her body still tingled from his fervent attentions. She always sang when she cleaned up after sex. She had to hurry now though, her husband, David, was due home in an hour from an overnight trip out of town.
She carefully dried herself off and then dusted herself with bath powder. She admired her body in the mirror. She saw a beautiful woman looking back at her, She had large breasts, at 35 they were still firm and still high on her chest. Her waist was narrow and flared nicely out to her generous hips. There wasn't a sag or wrinkle in her tight flat tummy. She spread her legs a little. Her pussy was still swollen a bit and a little red but that should disappear before David was ready for bed. She went to her dresser and got out panties and a bra. She slipped them on and leaned forward to settle her breasts in the cups of the bra. She got a pair of shorts and a T from the dresser and put them on.
She needed to hurry and strip and remake the bed before David got home. She looked over to his side of the bed to see the time on the alarm clock. She froze. What the hell was that on the bed? She walked closer; it was a box of Zip-Lock Baggies. The kitchen shears lay beside the large hole cut from the sheet. Her hands flew to her face. She ran to the front of the house. The large formal portrait of her lay on the floor in front of the living room fireplace slashed to ribbons. Their wedding picture from the mantle was smashed on the hearth. She saw smoke coming from the den. She ran and looked in the den. The smoke was from the pile of photo albums burning in the fireplace. She staggered to the window and opened it to let the smoke out. As she hurried through the dinning room she saw something on the table. It was a hammer, beside it was a smashed wedding band, and she could see part of the inscription on the inside of the ring. It read "To David, Lo---" The rest was covered by the smashed side of the ring that was partly driven deep into the polished top of the mahogany table.
Her legs seemed to give out on her as she fell to the floor weeping.
Later she sat staring into space. She walked in a trance, stopping to stare at the smashed ruminants of her marriage. She wandered into the den. The fire had burned out. She noticed the door to his gun cabinet was open. She quickly looked inside. There were two empty spaces. His old Colt .45 Automatic and his .44 Magnum were gone. She looked around quickly. She ran to the phone. Her hands trembled so badly she had to try three times before she got the number right.
"Jack, he knows, he was here and destroyed all my pictures, and he burned our wedding album and all the other picture we had. He smashed his wedding band. And Jack, he took two of his pistols. I'm scared. You had better hide. No, I won't run, I don't think he will hurt me. If he does I deserve it." She put the phone down and sat and stared at the slashed painting she once had been so proud of.
The next morning she forced herself to eat a piece of toast and drank some instant coffee. She heard nothing from anyone all day except when Jack had called to see if she was OK. She told him to never call there again. She sat and cried most of the time, what had she done? Why? She had everything she had ever dreamed of. A handsome sexy husband who adored her, a beautiful home. Beautiful clothes and a new luxury car. All the money she wanted. Why?
She heard nothing the next day either. He wouldn't kill himself would he? Dear God, no! Please don't let that happen! She needed to talk to someone but she was afraid to confess her infidelity to any of her friends.
The next day about noon the phone rang. She rushed to answer it. A woman's voice asked if she were Mrs. David Landon. She replied that she was. The voice said, "This is Memorial Hospital calling. Ma'am, if you have any influence over your husband please have him return to the hospital. He is not sufficiently recovered to be up and around so soon." "I was not aware he had been in the hospital, what was his problem?"
"He had a massive heart attack, he under went triple by-pass surgery two days ago. Oh! Wait I see a note that you were not to be notified. Ah! Please forgive me, I made a mistake, we were just concerned for him, he is still a very sick man."
Brenda slumped to the floor, her head between her knees. She had killed him. She was in shock. She heard nothing more that day and the following morning she was dressed to go out. She heard a knock on the door. A nice looking man stood there.
"Mrs. Brenda Landon?" he asked.
She said, "Yes, I am she."
"Thank you Mrs. Landon." He handed her a large Manila envelope. "Ma'am, you are served," He turned and walked away.
She went back in the house and sat at the kitchen table and opened the envelope. As she had expected they were the papers for a petition for the dissolution of the marriage between she and David. She examined the cover letter and found the phone number for the attorney handling the case for David. She punched in the number, identified herself and asked to speak to Mr. Adams, the attorney.
After a short wait he came on he line and said that there was nothing he could tell her that was not in the petition. Brenda said, "Mr. Adams I have read the documents and have no problem understanding them. However I refuse to sign them and will contest the divorce unless he speaks with me."
"Mrs. Landon, your husband anticipated your request and instructed me to tell you that he witnessed your obvious enjoyment of sexual intercourse with a male other than himself in the marital bed. He says he cannot conceive of anything that you can say that will change his mind."
"I see, give him this message. 'Joan Landon, June 3, 2005'. Tell him I have a photo and if he continues this silly business he knows what the repercussions will be. Tell him he has until this time tomorrow to contact me before the excellent picture will be e-mailed to all concerned, including our children, his brother and his mother and father. Do you have all that?"
"Yes, Ma'am, I have all that. I am not sure I can locate him that soon." "I don't want to be unreasonable, get back with me before the specified time if you haven't reached him by then. I may grant a short extension."
She hung up and slumped in her chair. She sobbed, she had hated doing that but she had no choice. She had a long night ahead of her. She knew she needed to eat but she didn't think she could keep anything down.
Brenda sat in the dark, half awake and half in a dream when she heard a key in the front door. The door opened and she saw David enter. He stopped and looked around in the faint light from the outside light through the open door. He reached and turned on the light in the foyer.
He saw her in the kitchen and slowly walked in and sat opposite her at the table. They stared at each other for several minutes.
