The Cuckold Diet Challenge Ch.08
FinishTheDamnStory ©
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Chapter 8: The End of the Story
My final chapter in the continuation of the The Cuckold Diet Challenge by RazorLyt, (2/2/09)
In the last chapter, Rick's journey toward health had taken a detour. He's lost and gets advice from friends and strangers. He decides to try to take back control over his life, in a more proactive fashion.
Rick starts working out again, if not quite so single-mindedly. He begins taking care of business in preparation for getting back to work, and receives advice on his relationship issues from a host of people. He's pressured from all sides to give her one more chance.
He decides to give it another try, and see if they can't work things out.
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I woke to Danielle holding me. It felt odd and familiar at the same time. I shifted within her arms, turning to see her gazing at me.
"I won't make you regret this," she said softly.
I gave her a tentative smile. "I missed you."
She snuggled in tight, and I wrapped my arm around her, holding her close. She started kissing my shoulder, and when she shifted to kiss lower, I gave her a squeeze. "Baby steps, Danielle."
She stopped wiggling lower, and cuddled up, her head on my shoulder. "This is a great first step," she whispered.
I peeked over at the clock, and saw we'd slept in. It was almost 9:20. "You're going to miss 9:30 mass," I said.
"I didn't have the heart to wake you. You looked at peace for the first time in a long time. I'm sorry I was the cause of your unhappiness."
"Shh," I said, giving her another squeeze. "No talk about that. We move forward, maybe later, when things are better, we can look back, but not yet, Ok?"
She nodded. "Baby, I..."
I'll never know what she was going to say next. The twin terrors chose that moment to burst into the room, jumping on the bed. For a moment I did a quick personal review and recalled I was wearing boxers. Danielle was wearing her old night-gown, which might have been a bit worse for wear and tear, but it was presentable.
"Surprise! We made breakfast!" Erin exclaimed. "Get up!"
Danielle and I looked at each other in abject fear. We both recalled the last time the kids tried that.
I felt her hand reach for mine, squeezing it nervously. I lifted my head, sniffing and tried to detect any smoke. What I smelled was coffee.
She climbed out of bed on her side, and I did the same, ducking into the closet long enough to grab a t-shirt, before getting dragged by Erin out to the dining area.
I'm sure Danielle was as stunned as I was. The table was set. Pancakes were piled high on a plate, along with a bowl of scrambled eggs, and another of sausage links. Chocolate milk and juice had been set out, and coffee was in front of both our places.
"This...it's amazing," Danielle gushed. "I can't believe what a wonderful breakfast you two prepared!"
"Francine's been helping us. She says everybody should be able to cook at least a few dishes well," Eric explained.
"I did the eggs," Erin boasted.
I sat down and started serving myself. "You guys outdid yourselves. We're going to have to give Francine a raise."
It was better than edible. The eggs weren't runny, the pancakes weren't overcooked. It's hard to mess up heat-and-serve sausages, and they hadn't. Even the few pieces of egg-shell in the scrambled weren't worth noting. The kids kept looking back and forth between us with every bite we took. I made appropriate 'yummy' noises that kept a smile on their faces.
It was good to have my family back. Better than I could have imagined. For a moment I recalled my wife's threat to take them from me, but Eric's laughter banished that thought.
Of course, the kids bailed out as we finished, and Danielle and I were left with the disaster of a kitchen. They
had
burned pancakes, some of which were laying on the floor, and apparently they had a hard time getting the cracked eggs into a bowl, since several failed attempts were on the counter, hardening. The electric griddle was still on, thankfully turned to low. My wife and I cleaned up patiently, comfortably, commenting on the incredible job they'd done with the food, and admiring the patience Francine must have to get them as far as she did.
By the time we were finished, it was too late for the 11:00 service. "I guess we'll skip church today."
She nodded. "I think it was worth it, don't you?"
"Absolutely."
She slid over next to me, looking for a hug. I took her in my arms.
"We're going to be Ok, aren't we?" she asked softly.
"I sincerely hope so. You understand there's no room for error. We're going to have to be careful with each other."
She hugged me tightly. "I know. No more mistakes, and we talk everything out before doing anything stupid."
I think she meant it. I know I did.
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Things weren't easy, but we were making progress. Danielle was still working long hours, and I was splitting time between slowly working my way back into the office action, and exercising. The weight lifting was trimmed way back, to only about 40 minutes each day. Jenny made a simple regimen for me, arms and chest Mondays and Thursdays, legs Tuesdays and Fridays, back and shoulders Wednesday and Saturdays. Abs every day. I was running every morning after getting the kids off to school, and spending a couple of hours under her torture every evening.
I'd moved back into the bedroom, and was sleeping with Danielle, but that's all we were doing. Sleeping and a little cuddling.
Monday, I saw the doctor. For all the grief I'd given Danielle about using a condom and getting tested, I'd been as bad as her. I trusted the girls, neither had been in any relationship, but hell, I'd had sex with Shelly. That was like sticking your dick in a Petri dish. By Thursday, I had the all clear. I didn't flaunt the results in front of Danielle, but I put it in a bedside drawer, in case it ever came up.
Word got out that things were better. It was still quiet for a few days, but by the end of the week, Danielle was on the phone for hours at a time, filling in her friends. She caught me watching her one time, and abruptly cut off whoever she was talking to. She came over and sat by me. "I'm an idiot," she said. "Do you mind that I'm talking about us being on the mend?"
"Is that all you're talking about?"
She nodded. "Nothing but good, I swear. If it bothers you, I won't."
I sighed. "I guess I'm still gun shy, afraid of hearing you talk about what we went through."
She scooted closer, leaning against me. "Never. Not a word. Not to anybody. I'm just talking about how things are now."
"Nothing to nobody? Not even Shelly or Anna?"
She blushed. "Anna's been grilling me. She and Angela are the worst. Shelly's backed way off. I think she knows she almost killed our friendship, as badly as she messed up our marriage. I'm not blaming her, but she didn't help. Anna and Angela sometimes want to talk about what happened, to make sure nothing like it happens again. I just tell 'em I don't want to talk about anything that happened in the last few months."
"Anna," I said.
"Anna what?"
"You can talk to her about anything. I don't mind."
"Really?"
"Yeah. You need someone to open up to. I understand that. If Anna's not enough, I guess Angela and even Shelly would be Ok. They already know pretty much everything. I'd prefer Anna."
"Then it will be only Anna," she said. She leaned up and kissed my cheek. "I love you, Rick."
I grabbed her chin, tilted her head up and kissed her lightly on the lips. "I love you too, baby."
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Friday I was surprised when Danielle got home early for once. Not actually
early
but by 6:30. Early for her. She came down the stairs where the twins and I were working out with Jenny.
She smiled as she took in the view. I was trudging away on an 8% incline, 20 minutes into my run, while Jenny had the kids lifting 10 lb dumbbells, correcting their form.
Jenny left the kids with directions to do 3 sets of 10 reps, alternating with each other, and intercepted Danielle only a couple of steps in front of me. She looked over at me nervously. "I'm only training him," she said softly.
Danielle nodded, smiling. "I know, he's all out of chips, and there's no way in hell he's earning any more."
Jenny blushed a deep red.
"You've done a great job with him. I'd be lying if I didn't admit that having you and Francine both here haven't helped a lot." I saw her take Jenny by the hand, and walk to the other side of the basement away from curious ears. They talked for a couple of minutes, hugged, and ambled back, both of them smiling. I returned their smile.
Jenny glared at me. "If you're having it that easy, why don't we crank up that treadmill another half. You've really been slacking."
Danielle smirked. "When everyone's finished, I thought we could hit Rosie's New York Diner." She moved close to me, her voice dropping. "I know you love cheesecake, and the only one you're going to be getting comes on a plate. I figure you've earned a treat."
She was joking, teasing. I guess I could have taken offense, but I grinned back. "I have missed dessert."