Part 3
Explanations & Realisations
Tentatively I knocked on the door to our master suite and waited for my estranged wife to answer.
"Come in Bob!" her voice soft, muffled by the closed door.
I opened the door and walked slowly into what had been, up until my infidelity, our haven of peace and tranquillity, our place for relaxing away from the pressures of our lives. Recently it had just been Claire's sanctuary, somewhere for her to go and not have to face me or the grief I had caused her.
It was much warmer than I remembered, much warmer than when I had been responsible for setting the heating temperature.
"Claire?.... May I come in?" I asked her quietly, conceding that I now needed her permission to enter what had once been 'our' space.
"Of course Bob, I asked you to come to me didn't I?" My wife replied, her voice not at all harsh as I had expected, but soft, and even tired sounding. "Why don't you sit on the sofa and I'll get us a drink and join you." she carried on as she rose from the king-size bed, closing the magazine she had been reading and placing it on her bedside table.
"Scotch?" she asked.
"Yes please my love," I replied, immediately noticing a flash of anger cross her face at my endearment.
Thankfully she didn't mention her annoyance and brought my drink over, together with the gin and tonic she had already been drinking.
"We have to talk!"
There it was. Her agreement for us to try and sort out what had happened to us in the weeks since I had first betrayed our love. The relief I felt was overwhelming. I loved my wife with all my being and wanted nothing more than for us to get back to where we had been before my infidelity.
"Yes!... Yes we do need to talk! I love you so much, I just want to put all this crap behind us and get back to our loving family." I replied, my voice firm with the determination I felt to get everything back on track.
"That may take us quite a while, we have both done some things we shouldn't have and we may never be able to forgive each other."
I was secretly surprised at her words. -
'We'
– That was the first time since the whole sordid betrayal and retribution had started that she had even hinted that she had done something wrong herself.
Cautiously I answered her, "We certainly have my darling, do you really think we have a chance?"
This time there was no expression of annoyance, instead perhaps the trace of a tear forming in the corner of her eye. "Oh my god Bob!... I certainly hope so, I don't want us to lose what we have. We have both done some terrible things to each other and I hope with all of my heart we can both forgive."
She came over to me then, hugging herself into my chest, crying softly for the first time in my presence since the whole sordid episode began. "Let's just get in bed and cuddle, I've missed that more than anything."
Shyly (we were both nervous and more than a little tense) I undressed. Claire had on a white t-shirt and a pair of sleep shorts which she kept on, so I just undressed to my boxers and t-shirt, not wishing to go further than she was comfortable with. She smiled slightly as I slipped into bed beside her, then turned her back to me so I could 'spoon' with her. Putting my arms around her, I softly pulled her upper body back towards mine, being careful not to make any contact between us below the waist, nervous as to what her reaction would be to such intimacy. Thankfully she wriggled back into my embrace, her bottom feeling wonderful against my groin.
I could feel her gently sobbing, her body shaking slightly in my arms, "Oh Bob!....What on earth have we done?....Why did it get so far?"
"I'm so sorry Claire my darling, can you forgive me?" I asked quietly, gently kissing the side of her neck as I whispered in her ear, "I hope with all my heart I haven't lost you."
She turned towards me then, kissing me chastely on the lips before sliding down slightly and snuggling her tear-stained face into my chest and pulling me tightly to her.
"We must be totally honest with each other, tell each other everything." She demanded, her voice slightly muffled by my chest.
"Of course my darling, I will tell you everything you want to know," I assured her, "but are you really sure you want
all
the details?.... Can you really accept everything I did?"
Pulling her head away from me, she looked me directly in the eye, "I have to know Bob, I really have to know everything!....Why you felt the need for someone else? What did I do to make you betray our love?"
She pounded my chest with her clenched fists, shaking her side from side to side, "Was our sex-life really so bad?" she sobbed again, pulling me close and crying on my shoulder.
"Oh my god Claire!... It was absolutely nothing to do with you....With us...I was just so fucking weak!... You have absolutely nothing to feel guilty about or responsible for. I was to blame; me and that bitch from across the road!...."
She pulled away from me, her eyes flashing angrily at the mere mention of the
'other'
woman, "Tell me everything.... I want to know what you did, when you did it, and especially why you did it.... Can you understand?... I
NEED
to know fucking everything!"