The Signing Bonus. A way out of debt or a way out of marriage.
This is a work of fiction and any names used that are used similar or the same of persons alive or deceased is purely coincidental.
Since I have never been successful in obtaining any of the editors recommended by Literotica, Spell Check is my editor.
This is a rather long story and I had thought of publishing it in two parts but eventually decided against that
As another author often says, I write these stories for my own amusement and hope that some of you will enjoy my endeavors.
*****
When I met, my now wife, Gwen, I was 25 and she was 23 years old. We have been together for just over twenty years, nineteen of them as man and wife. For reasons that are irrelevant to this story we delayed having children for eight years but we are now the proud parents of Denise, our 10-year-old daughter.
The years had been good to us, health wise, marriage wise and financially. Gwen is the same size 8 that she was when we married...5'8", dark brown hair, deep blue eyes and perky 36 C breasts. At forty-five, I've added 15 pounds but wear them fairly well on my 6'1" frame. I've started to develop a little pate but the rest of my dirty blond hair is still thick. I had my nose broken twice while playing ice hockey in school and the same love of hockey left me with a three-inch scar next to my left eye, which has faded over time. In other words, I'm no GQ model but Gwen insists that I'm "ruggedly handsome."
Three years ago, my wife and I bought our dream home, a four-bedroom, three bath home with a formal dining and living room, plus a media room. A year ago, we added an 18' by 36' in-ground pool.
At the time that I met Gwen I had just ended a fairly short but intimate relationship with my, then girlfriend, Sarah. Thank god, we had not gotten to the point of living together because that would have made the parting more complicated, when she finally told me that our trains were on different tracks, heading in different directions.
At the time we met, Gwen was dating a guy at her work who was a couple of years younger than me. They hadn't become lovers but he was madly in love with her and he was trying to move the relationship further along. Although she wasn't a virgin, Gwen hadn't been ready move to the next step, much less accept his hints of marriage. She got away with it by telling him that marriage was a life-time commitment and she wanted to see how the relationship developed.
We met, coincidentally, at an engagement party for Billy Traubert, a longtime friend of mine, and Gwen happened to be a friend of the bride-to-be. I won't say it was love at first sight but we really did hit it off. She had mentioned during our conversation that she was seeing someone that she worked with but did hint that it hadn't moved to a 'committed relationship'. I took that as my invitation and asked her out for the following weekend. She seemed momentarily undecided but after a few - very long - seconds, lit up my world with her smile and acceptance.
By the end of our second date we were making out and she allowed me a little boob action outside of her blouse. By the third date my hand was under her bra and she was rubbing my erection through my pants. On our fourth date she had consumed a couple of extra glasses of wine and I think she knew where my mind was heading. Back at my apartment there was little pretense of why we were there and within a few minutes we were in my bed making love.
Gwen is like an open book, she is forthright and honest and after our second coupling, as we lay on our backs recovering, she said:
"Richie, I think I'm falling in love with you." That was it, just once sentence, uttered as she stared at the ceiling.
Leaning over her I kissed her lips and replied: 'thank god, I would hate to have my love unrequited." We didn't make love again to seal the deal, we were both too exhausted. We fell asleep in one another's arms, content in the knowledge that we had found our soul mates.
When we awoke Sunday morning we stayed in bed and did" seal the deal" several more times before our stomachs demanded that we find nourishment. After some coffee and frozen waffles, Gwen's elated demeanor morphed into a more serious expression and looking in my eyes, she said:
"Rich, I know what we did last night and this morning was beyond wonderful but I want you to know it wasn't just the sex. I'm sure you realize, by now, that I've had sex before but I don't want you to think that I am a loose woman. I've had a few relationships but they were physical - not emotional. What I feel now is so totally different that there is no comparison. I have never told anyone else that I love them and I need you to be perfectly honest with me: are we talking about a committed relationship here because I couldn't accept anything less..., not with you. If you want me to tell you about the other men..., and, there were only three...I will. Frankly, I don't want to hear about any past girlfriends, that was then and this is now."
I stood up and taking her by the arm, guided her back to my chair and sat her on my lap. We kissed, tenderly, and I said:
"I don't want to hear about old boyfriends and as for my past love-life I don't want to bore you to death, I laughed. As for commitment, it's only two o'clock and the mall is open till six. I'll bet Zales has an engagement ring to suit your fancy. I don't want to give you a chance to change your mind. Gwen, will you marry me?"
She did find a ring that she loved and although it was a little large she wanted to take it with her and have it resized at a later date. We couldn't stand being apart so on the way home from the mall we stopped at her place and she picked up enough stuff to last her a couple of days. She could stop every so often and gradually move in to my apartment.
I was curious the next morning when she was getting ready for work and wasn't wearing her ring, so I casually asked her about it. She put her arms around me and kissed me softly, before saying:
"Honey, today is going to be a little tough for me. I'm going to have to tell Rollie about us and I thought..., well, I thought, wearing my ring might just add salt to the wound."
She had told me about Roland and even though he wasn't a boyfriend in the true since of the word, he had told her that he loved her and had hinted about marriage, someday. I had never met him but from how Gwen described him, he seemed like a nice enough guy, so I didn't envy her the task. I remembered how when my ex-girlfriend gave me her "trains and tracks" analogy, I was still hurt and my ego had taken awhile to bounce back. Sarah and I didn't live together and had never professed out love for one another but I had thought we were exclusive and heading in that direction.
Gwen and I were married in a small ceremony four months later. Her parents were divorced but they both attended, along with my mom and dad and a few friends and acquaintances. We hadn't had much time to acquire any mutual friends but everyone at the small reception we had at a local restaurant seemed to meld and enjoy themselves.
Gwen only quit her job as an assistant store manager just before Denise was born, wanting to be a stay at home mom. My career was a stock analyst was moving along smoothly and I earned enough in salary and bonuses to fund a comfortable life style. The problem was that neither Gwen or I were particularly frugal. Instead of diversifying our savings I put a good deal of our disposable income into the market. The house that we had bought was about fifteen percent more than we had originally budgeted for but we fell in love with it and figured that my increasing income would make up for it in the short-haul. The pool that we had installed, along with both of our cars were financed, so we lived on the edge of fiscal responsibility.
Then, out of the blue, the market crashed along with my job and the reality of our financial situation hit us like a freight train. There were no jobs for stock analysts in a depressed economy and what little was left of our portfolio had to be liquidated in order to keep us afloat. We were drowning in a sea of debt and four months after losing my job the first foreclosure notice arrived in the mail.
The only business experience that my wife had was in retail and the rapidly growing unemployment numbers afforded her little opportunity for employment. My unemployment check barely covered our food, utilities and one car payment. Late notices flooded our mail box and by selling one of our vehicles we were just able to pay off the balance of the note.
One night after putting Denise to bed we sat over coffee and discussed our options. There weren't many. Gwen's parents were divorced and her father lived month-to-month on disability. Her mom was a part-time waitress so neither of them could be of any help. My parents were retired and lived a modest life style but at the end of our discussion I promised that I would contact them to see if they could help, at least a little. Both Gwen and I were "only children" so there were no siblings to reach out to. My wife told me that she would go to the bank the following morning and speak to a loan officer about delaying the foreclosure or possibly reducing the monthly payment.
The next morning, after dropping our daughter off at school, Gwen headed downtown to the bank. I spent every day on the computer either researching job opportunities or submitting resumes. At about two o'clock my wife came home and by the look on her face I could tell that her quest had been unsuccessful, she had tears running down her cheeks and, unable to speak, just shook her head and went into the kitchen. I finished what I had been doing and gloomily, joining her at the table. For a few minutes neither of us spoke as Gwen stared at her hands. Finally, she looked up and said"
"The guy at the bank was sympathetic and kind but there doesn't seem to be any option for us.
I wasn't surprised but I was still depressed. We were out of options and, frankly, I had no idea of what to do. Our house would soon be gone and when my unemployment ran out we'd lose the car. For the first time in my adult life I just wanted to cry.
Gwen put her had on top of mine and in a soft voice, said:
"There may be a way for us to get out from under but I know you're not going to like it."
I looked at her inquisitively but said nothing, so she, hesitantly continued:
"The reason that I took so long was that as I was leaving the bank I heard someone call my name and when I turned around it was Rolllie."
"Whose Rollie?" I asked, genuinely confused.
"Roland Dursten, she said like I should remember, "he was the guy I was sort of dating when I met you. Well, he was in the next office at the bank and overheard me pouring my heart out to the loan officer. After we exchanged some pleasantries he asked me if I would have lunch with him. When I told him that I had to get home he mentioned that he might have a business proposition that I might want to consider. I was curious, along with being desperate, so I agreed and we went to the cafe across the street."
She stopped there seemingly to formulate her words. I extended my hands, palms up, in a gesture for her to continue. She sighed, heavily and looking away, continued:
"Rollie is in commercial real estate and is now a millionaire several times over. He even owns a few high-rise office buildings in the downtown area. Well..., know it sounds crazy but, she stammered out, he said he never married because he never got over me. He said you stole me away from him."
"Me, I exclaimed, I never even met this guy. That was 20 years ago, for god's sake."
