In order to follow this story you should read "Nighttime Confessions" by capecodmercury, who is one of my favorite authors and to whom I owe thanks for the challenge to write a conclusion to one of his stories.
Nightime Confessions – Sober Second Thought
I have cheated on my husband and I don't know what I'm going to do.
Bullshit! That's a cop out and I know it!
A sleepless night does not always totally cloud the mind.
I may not know
all
that I had to do at that moment but I sure as hell know what was NOT going to do.
I have screwed up! Big time!
I have been listening to advice on lifestyles from 7 people, 4 of whom are already divorced (Almost 60%. That's higher than the national average, I'm sure.) and a fifth whose behavior as a womanizer is all too obvious and who freely admits his marriage is "rocky" at best.
One of them, the one I allowed myself to be seduced by, is a self-admitted hypocrite. He "loves" his wife but sees nothing wrong with fucking his friends once a year, all the time admitting he didn't know what he would do if she did the same to him. The other married one has made a cuckold of her husband and has continued doing so year after year as these conferences were held but she says "she loves him"!
Their "rules" are as much to protect themselves and continue to provide the opportunity to cheat on their spouses as they are to do anything else.
What does it mean to "love" your spouse?
If you had asked me yesterday, I would have rambled on about comfort and intimacy and how it was more important than sexual excitement and reaching orgasm. I would have claimed that sex and love are separate things and that you could have one without the other and vice versa.
Today I know that at least a part of loving someone is feeling the pain you may be causing them and putting your heart and soul into protecting them from all the hurt you can. If Don feels even half the pain I'm feeling over my own horrible lack of reasonable judgment, I may never recover from the shame. Today I've come to realize that love is a combination of a great many things that includes trust.
Something I have broken badly!
Next morning, at breakfast, I did my best to act casually. Judy, Rachael and Wayne joined me at my table but before we could discuss anything Frank Morello joined us as he had a couple of times through that week. Shortly after that, Phil, Sam and Dee Dee arrived. After we exchanged "good mornings" there seemed little to say and we seemed to fall into an uncomfortable silence broken only briefly when Art joined us.
Later that morning, at the first conference session, Frank Morello asked me if someone had "died in our group" as we had been the "life of the party gang" up until then. I answered that we were just getting weary and perhaps more than a little homesick but I began to be a little fearful that the behavior of the rest of them over my refusal to become any further involved, was causing them to attract attention to themselves.
Just then I didn't want to talk with any of them about last night's events and during the conference sessions through that day and I found, ironically, that I was using Frank to avoid them whenever they were near. It began to be a rising concern that they were becoming rather noticeable in their repeated ad hoc conferences and whisperings. It looked like they were about to betray themselves . . . and me, hopefully not before I had a chance to confess on my own and rely on my husband's love for me to save the marriage I have put in danger over my dalliance with Phil.
The conference would end tomorrow afternoon and the final dinner and dance would be tonight
While we were between the last session of the day and dinner, Judy and Rachael came to my room. They asked if I was O.K. and, on hearing that I wasn't and that I had no intentions of rejoining Phil for sex, they appeared alarmed. I told them I would do the best I could to protect their secret but that I regarded my own behavior as shameful. In order to calm their obvious panic, I promised to join them for dinner.
When we all met that evening, it was clear there was tension. Phil and Rachael were the most concerned, as they were still apparently "happily" married. Although Sam's marriage was rocky, and probably would not survive, he was concerned about providing any more ammo to the proceedings when it came to a divorce hearing. The rest of them were, I think, only worried about continuing their fun time at future meetings.
The fact that someone, who had told them she would not join their group, and knew their secret, had upset the apple cart. Over the course of the evening each member of that group joined me to "talk", again making themselves somewhat visible to the rest of the conference.
I did my best to let them know that I really had no idea how to deal with what I had done, that I knew no one was to blame but me and finally that, although I had no idea how, I would deal with Don when I got home. I would do the best I could to protect their secret.
Irony of ironies, after a while, that evening, I found myself using Frank Morello even more to avoid them. I had asked him to dance saying I wanted at least one with my boss before going home and he asked me a couple of times. Fortunately, it was rather obvious to most conference attendees that he had hooked up with a woman from one of the northern districts and he didn't pursue me at all.
Meanwhile, the seven of them were darting back and forth talking excitedly and gesticulating as if they were trying to attract the attention of everyone in the room. The situation was deteriorating into some sort of teeny bopper "she said. . . he said" silliness and their "rules" were being broken all over the place.
It got so bad that, claiming I was tired, I left the dance about 10:15 and went to my room.
On the spur of the moment I called Don and immediately realized how much more calm and settled I felt just talking to him and in spite of my severely agitated conscience, I was delighted when he said how much he missed me, that he was glad I was having fun and how happy he was that I called. We talked for an hour, something like I had done back in my teens and when we finally called it a night, I knew I had made the best decision in not rejoining the group. I still, however, had to deal with the fact that I had cheated on Don.
It seems obvious that, as I felt some bond with the group, I would keep their secret. It would be logical, to some, for me to put it all behind me and not say anything to anyone, BUT when Don cheated on me, perhaps twice that I know of, it was the breach of trust and the fact that he didn't take responsibility for what he had done and apologize, that bothered me most. That is, once I was assured he had not connected emotionally with someone else, I expected him to come clean and apologize and tell me what he would do to preserve and strengthen our marriage.
Surely, I can expect no less of myself!
When I did confess to Don, would I be putting other people's lives in jeopardy? Especially Phil and Rachel who may be hypocrites but who are protecting their respective spouses lives too.
Friday, as the conference drew to a close, things were even worse. Again, each member of the group approached me asking for my assurance that I would not "spill the beans". It seemed to me that they had drawn far more attention to themselves over me than they had in all the years they had been keeping their secret.
By this time I was anxious just to get it over with and was barely paying attention at the last session when committee appointments were being finalized. It took me a moment to realize that my appointment to the Competition Committee had been announced. Phil had been so sure I would join their group, he had nominated me and given that there were too few volunteers to cover everything, no one else was named and the job was now mine.
I decided to deal with that later.
On the way home Frank mentioned how little he had seen of me and I reminded him I had hooked up with some old friends. He said he had noticed the group wasn't as "up and at em" the last couple of days. I turned to respond to him but he seemed deep in thought and I decided it was best to drop it and I paid no more attention to him.
Don and the kids were at the airport to meet me and the excitement of seeing them and their obvious joy to see me gave me a momentary relief from my task of conscience.
We grabbed a late snack at the take out on the way home and as we sat around the kitchen that night listening to the kids excitedly relate their week at school and with Dad as "chief cook and bottle washer", I began to once again feel fear creeping into my chest.
How could I have been so stupid as to risk losing this. Two wonderful kids and a husband whom, I have just discovered from the kids, is even more wonderful than I realized.
I didn't want the evening to end, first because it was as wonderful as it was, and second, because it brought me closer to the task of telling Don what I had done and the even harder task of convincing him it was a stupid mistake, one I'll never make again and that I love him more than he could ever know.
All good things come to an end and, finally, our impromptu family gathering did too as both kids had tournaments the next day. Sarah had a preparatory competition to get ready for the up coming district meet and Brad's soccer team was playing in an invitational tournament about a one hour drive away. Don, of course, was driving him there and, as a bonus, would be able to drop in and see his parents who lived nearby.
My anxieties increased as we headed to our bedroom, me knowing I was about to shatter his world, but when I got there I managed to convince myself that we both were entitled to one more night of intimacy before all hell broke loose.
Don showered first while I unpacked and as soon as he finished, I took my turn. I had laid out a nice negligee that I was sure he would like. There were so many signals from him through the evening that I knew he was feeling amorous and heaven knows, I needed to be close to him at least once more.