Thanks to all who gave your favorable responses to The Questionnaire. I am going to try to continue this in the only way I know how.
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I spent the next three days riding through the countryside and trying to collect my thoughts about what had happened to Janet and myself. I felt sorry for Josh and Betty because of the kids. I didn't know how that situation would turn out. But I had problems of my own that I had to determine how I was going to handle. Before this happened I had a friend that I could go to and talk over my problems but my friend was part of the problem this time as well as being my wife.
I dreaded going back to the house that was once my home. The love that made it a home had left and I could never live there after I had seen the tape of Janet and Brad in my bed. I had told Janet to have her things and be gone by Friday when I came back. I walked into an almost bare house. I had my recliner and a chair side table, the TV and my bookshelf with my books in the living room. In the kitchen there was a few mis-matched dishes, two coffee mugs (no coffee pot), one pot and one frying pan with various utensils. I still had a stove (it was built in) and a refrigerator. The guest bedroom was still intact but the master bedroom was bare. All my clothes were piled on the floor and the hanging clothes was still on hangers. She had left me two towels and two bath cloths in the bathroom. I guess she must have got pissed when she realized that I was not going to be a cuckold to her. I could live with what she left me because I was getting a furnished apartment the next week. The two cameras were lying on the table and the recorder was still in the guest bedroom closet. She had found them while packing, I guess.
Over the weekend I started going through the newspaper looking for apartments. Saturday night the phone started ringing and scared me because I had forgot about even having a phone. She had moved the phone I had put the recorder on to the master bedroom and it was behind a pile of my clothes. By the time I found it, it has stopped ringing. I dug it out and rewound the recorder. I had forgot about it when I had picked up the tape on Monday morning. The recordings started on Saturday of last week.
Janet said, "Hello."
This male voice said, "Baby, are you by yourself? Is the old bastard gone?"
She whispered, "No. Please don't call here again, Brad. He is going find out about us and I don't know what he might do."
Brad said, "I don't care what he does. You are my woman now and I will call when I get ready. I will be over tomorrow at ten. You be in your sexy short gown with the see through panties. I am going to fuck you silly in his bed. You better be ready when I get there. Ten o'clock."
She said, "Please don't come over here. I will meet you.... But she was talking to a dead phone.
My phone message was recorded on Saturday evening and the next call was when Janet called her sister. They talked about the family and what was going on in their lives but Janet didn't mention anything about me being gone. The next call was when I called her on Sunday and she had seemed out of breath. Just before she hung up the phone she said, "Damn it Brad you want me to get caught don't..."
I heard the sounds of her calling a number three times. It had to be a cell phone because after ringing a voice would come on and announce, "That number is unavailable. Please leave a text message after the tone."
The next call was to her sister who answered the phone and Janet said, "Helen, I need your help. Dillard has kicked me out and I need your help moving my things."
Helen said, "What do you mean he kicked you out?"
Janet said, "Don't ask me any questions. Just come over here and we can talk when you get here. I have to be out by Friday. Please come over now."
Helen said, "I am on the way."
She called work on Thursday morning and told them she was sick and needed the next two days off.
The call I had missed was Helen and she left the message, "Dillard, This is Helen and I need to talk to you. Janet has been crying since Wednesday. I want you to call me and tell me why you kicked her out. She won't tell me anything. Call me."
I called Helen on Sunday. She said, "Hello."
I said, "Helen, This is Dillard and before you go off on me, I want to tell you I won't listen to any of your shit. I kicked your sister out because she has been running around on me and I have given her six months to get her act together or I will file for divorce. Anything else is none of your business."
Helen said, "Who told you she was cheating on you? Do you have any proof? I am going to make sure she takes you for everything you own. You won't get by with this, you bastard."
I said, "I have a tape of your sister and her lover in my bed that says otherwise. If you try any shit with me the tape will be brought out at the divorce proceedings. Don't call me again."
I found an apartment and moved into it the next week and put the house on the market. It took two months before it sold. After I got settled into the apartment and my life started to smooth out, I joined a gym and started to exercise three times a week. I began to put in long hours at work, go to the park and to museums around town. I tried to stay busy and keep my mind occupied without giving in to the bar scene. I was still married and I was not going into the dating either although I had a couple of opportunities. I did receive a letter at work, through my lawyer, from Janet three weeks after the split-up. I let it lay on my desk for three or four days before I opened it. I tried to throw it away but couldn't bring myself to do that. I opened the letter one day and it started:
Dear Dillard,
I know you told me not to contact you for six months but I must tell you about the house and how it came about that everything was taken. I called Helen to help me and she talked me into taking it. She took over and I could not bring myself to tell her that all this was my fault and that I didn't want to do you that way. All I can say is I am sorry. I miss you so much but I know now why you did what you did.
I do love you very much,
Janet
The six months went by before I realized it. I got a call from lawyer one day and he told me that Janet had got in touch with him and requested a date and time that we could meet. I told him I would call him the next day to set a time and place. I knew a restaurant that had a few enclosed tables that was private but expensive. I called and reserved a table for the next Saturday at seven P.M. I called my lawyer and gave him the details and asked him to contact Janet.
Janet met me at the restaurant on time and we hugged and went in and were shown to our table. When we were seated we made small talk about how each had been doing. We decide that we would not have drinks but have a good meal and try to enjoy just being together. She had let her hair grow out and her dress was the same as it had been. I told her, "I like your hair and the dress looks really good on you. You are a beautiful woman, Janet."
She blushed and said, "Thank you. I was hoping you would like it. I let it grow back for you but I did it for myself also."
After the meal we both sat in silence until I said, "What have you decided about what you want to do with our lives and marriage?"
She said, "I want us to get back together. I have been lost these last six months. I know that I hurt you very deeply and I don't know how to get your forgiveness but I am willing to do whatever it takes, whatever you want me to do. I miss all the things we did as husband and wife. I miss the friendship that we had since we were small. Tell me what you want me to do and I will do it. I have the questionnaire and other papers for you."
She reached into her purse and unfolded the papers and laid them in front of me. On top was a medical report where she had tests run for STDs the week after we separated. The entire tests were clear. The next item was a copy of the letter about the movement of the household goods. She looked at me and said, "I didn't know if you read the letter or not. When Helen came to help me move, she was blaming you for our troubles and I couldn't tell her the truth. She was mad at you and insisted we take everything. I was in such a shape that I didn't argue with her. I am sorry. She confronted me after you told her about the tape and I finally confessed the truth to her. She wanted to call you and to bring whatever you wanted back to you but I convinced her to let it be. What I am not using is in storage. I did give the bed away. I couldn't use it. I gave the bed and all the sheets plus the covers to a couple in the apartment complex where I live. The next paper is the questionnaire. It is a copy. The one you let on the table I wrote my answers on but I went back read it again and again and erased and changed until it was unreadable. I pray that you will accept this copy I did on my computer at work. I know it said to answer yes or no but I added brief notes.
This is a questionnaire for my wife. The answers are to be yes or no only. This is to be returned to your husband when completed. If not returned or is not completed then there is no more marriage. This is your choice. I choose to answer.
Do you know I loved you with all my heart and soul? Yes
Do you know that you have been my friend nearly all my life and my wife for many years? Yes You have been my best friend nearly all my life.
Do you remember the vows we made to each other on our wedding day? Yes I am sorry that I forgot those vows for a time and dishonored them.
Do you remember the vows we made as teenagers to never hurt or let someone else hurt the other? Yes I did hurt you and I let someone else hurt us both. I am sorry.
Do you remember the times that I held your hand and wiped your fevered brow and told you I loved you and would care for you? Yes I love you for those little things.
Do you remember how I would cuddle with you and we would whisper our love for each other when we sat on your parents couch? Yes You were always so sweet to me.
Do you remember the first time we made love and how you cried and I cried because I thought I had hurt you? Yes You were always so gentle with me and I loved you for being that way.
Do you remember the times I took you dancing and dining and held you so tight and told you how pretty you were and how lucky I felt to be a part of your life? Yes Those times were very special to me also.
Do you remember the back rubs and foot massages I gave you because I didn't like to see you hurt? Yes They were special to me because you gave them.
