We've all become accustomed to the standard types of deceit, dishonesty and deception in our lives. Not trusting car salesman and politicians is pretty much a given. And no doubt everyone reading this has worked with a co-worker who is only interested in climbing the corporate ladder at all costs. People who will step on whoever they want to achieve their career goals. But what isn't something we expect or plan for is to have the person we love and trust the most in our lives turn out to be a deceitful selfish person who we begin to feel we don't even know.
That all ran through my head as I looked down at the necklace. Custom made to my exact design. As I looked at it the jeweler asked, "Are you sure that is what you want?"
"Yes it's perfect," I replied.
He shook his head. "You're the customer and it's your money. I hope it's worth it."
I took a deep breath, "Me to."
Let me start from the beginning. I'm Luke Somple. 36 years old, manager of a financial analysis department of a well known manufacturing company. I have a college degree and even an MBA. I grew up and have always lived in Ohio. In college I was lucky enough to see a cute girl sitting in a common area at Youngstown State University and decided I had to say hello. Her name was Samantha Carson and we connected instantly. She is two years younger than me and attractive in an unassuming sort of way. Any time we weren't in class we were talking or coming up with some new adventure for ourselves. I was crazy in love with her and knew I had found my soulmate and life partner. I couldn't envision life without Sam. We got engaged when I graduated with my undergraduate degree. We got married when I got my MBA and she got her undergraduate.
Our marriage was great. We enjoyed being together and were always on the go. Samantha, or Sam as most call her, got a job with a systems implementation company called Crystal Systems. I got a job with a manufacturing company as a plant accounting manager. Sam's job required her to travel from time to time. Usually just a few days here or there.
A little over a year after we married we had twins, Carly and Noah. Noah is a bit quiet and Carly was outgoing. She was self-confident and very much her own person from day one. Having a young family was a challenge and I pitched in a lot. Sam and I had a pretty good 50/50 split on things. But with her job there were times I had to do more than that. I didn't mind since Noah and Carly were such a joy.
Our sex life was good. Ups and downs like any married couple. A few years later Jon was born and we decided that three was a good family size and I got a vasectomy.
Around this time we hit a challenging period in our marriage. The kids were a little more time consuming and Sam was traveling more with a new role she took at Crystal Systems. We tried to carve out time to be together and that helped, but it was still stressful. Looking back on this time in our marriage I can now understand why.
Life continued and all seemed to be going well. Sam always seemed engaged in the marriage and was always affectionate to me. True there were times when our sex life tapered off, but at the least we had sex once a week. The times she had a long trip we would have sex the day before left and the day she got back. About three years ago her travel started to decline. I was happy about that and we had more time together. She started to make a point of us dedicating time alone with each other.
Then two things happened in our lives that were traumatic. First, her Dad was killed in a car accident. Sam was devastated. I was there every second for her and I could tell my support meant a lot to her. Then a year later, a year and a half ago, her Mom was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Sam's sister Claire lives on the West Coast so she didn't have much help with her Mom. That's where myself and my parents filled in.
My Mom Jane is a force to be reckoned with. Strong willed, a solid moral compass, big sense of humor, smart in a practical common sense way. She spent every day helping with Sam's Mom. My Dad Andy did what he could as well. Sam was extremely thankful to them and while my Mom and Sam had a very good relationship, they grew even closer.
Near the end Sam was a wreck and while I always made sure Sam knew that she was the number focus of my life, I tried even more to be supportive. Sam pulled me aside once and said some things to me that in hindsight were very interesting and telling.
The conversation went something like this. "Luke, I want to say something to you if we can spend a few minutes." I recall her looking at the ground and fidgeting a lot. She was clearly nervous but at the time I took it as being related to the overall stress with her Mom's health.
She went on, "I love you. I watch you and I see the most amazing man. I can't live without you next to me. In the morning when I wake up it's the most comforting thing in the world to have you next to me. I," Her voice broke up for a moment, "I feel that I haven't, I know that I haven't always been the wife you deserve. I haven't always been there for you with 100% of myself like you've always been there for me. I know I have some things about myself I have to make better. And I will for you. Believe that. I know I'm the luckiest woman for having you in my life. I mean that with all my heart. Please know that even when that doesn't look like it's the case, I love you. You're my soulmate. I know that absolutely and without question."
We hugged and she broke down sobbing for over five minutes. I just held her. I looked at her and said, "Sam, you're the most amazing woman I've ever met. I can't imagine life without you. I literally feel like I would die and disappear if you weren't in my life. Always know that I'll put 100% of myself into our relationship no matter what." She broke down again and hugged me harder than she ever had before.
She released her hug and kissed me. "I love you. Make love to me tonight when we get home and hold me all night."
I brushed her hair back from her face and kissed her, "I would love that."
The next day we visited her Mom and it was obvious that she wasn't going to be with us much longer. She looked at me and said, "Luke can I have a few minutes alone with Sam?"
I said, "Sure," and left and closed the door.
I sat and waited and it felt like forever. Sam came out of the room absolutely bawling her eyes out. "Oh God is she ok?" I said thinking she had passed away. Sam nodded and practically fell into my arms.
She held on to me sobbing. She didn't say anything and then took a deep breath and said, "she wants to talk to you now." Sam had a concerned look on her face along with the deep grief. I nodded and went in.
I decided to make light of the situation. I adored Sam's Mom. Josephine and I got along great. In some ways she reminded me of my own Mom. I sat down, "So it's my turn for you to give me shit huh?" I gave her a big smile and held her hand.
"Now you deserve to be given shit," she said with the best smile she could muster.
"Jo can I say something first?" She nodded. I said "I sort of hit the mother-in-law lottery with you. I've pretty much enjoyed every minute we've ever spent together. You're an absolute angel and God did it right when he created you. I love you. I feel blessed having had you in my life."
She teared up for a minute. "I love you to. Obviously I've been around a few years and have met lots of people. You're a wonderful man. No secret that a mother watches her daughter's husband like a hawk whenever she's around him. Your demeanor with Sam, the way you look at her and talk to her. I couldn't be more happy that you two are together. I know Sam loves you deeply. I know that and have never questioned that. And I see that you love her with all your heart. I know that no man could love a woman more than you do. Just always remember how she feels about you as you're faced with challenges in life. There may be times when you have to remind yourself about that. Don't forget that even if you need her to prove that she's 100% committed to you and your marriage to get through challenges. Promise me that?"
I was a little confused by what she just said. "Absolutely Jo, I promise."
"You promise what?" she asked wanting me to say back to her what she just said to me. She wanted to be perfectly certain that I heard her and had a very serious look on her face. I restated what she had said and she smiled and had a relieved look on her face, "Good".
She sighed and said she was tired and wanted some rest. I said ok and left the room. Sam came over to me and could see I was a little bit in shock. Sam asked, "What did she say?"
I said, "Just that she sees how much I love you and that no man could love a woman more. And that I need to always remember that you love me even when it looks like you don't."
Sam didn't say anything and just hugged me. "I do love you and I promise that I'll do what it takes so that you never question my commitment to us."
The next day Sam's mom was in rougher shape and that night she passed away.
The weeks after that were a stressful time to say the least. Sam looked distant at times. I would ask her what she was thinking and always got, "Nothing really." I didn't believe that but couldn't put a finger on what it was. I did notice something though a few months later that I put down to her Mom passing away. Sam was traveling even less than she had before and she was more interested in scheduling time with me to do things. That brings us up to the current day.
It was a normal day at work. At least that's how it started. The phone rang and I saw it indicated that the call was coming from Crystal Systems. I thought it must be Sam calling because her cell phone must be dead. I picked up the phone, "Sam?"
"No," a woman's voice said, "But I wanted to call you about her. She's been having an affair with a man named Trent Brewer. It's been going on for years. I thought you should know. Also know that she loves you deeply and is really in turmoil over this. I believe she wants to make things right." Click the phone hung up.
I sat there stunned for a minute thinking what the hell was that. Who was that? My heart raced and I felt like I was going to faint.
There were no indications of Sam cheating that I could quickly point to. In fact if anything it felt like she was more attentive to our relationship. I was in shock. Then I realized something, I had heard that woman's voice before. I'm pretty good with voices and things like that. I was certain I'd talked to her before. I just had to figure out where. Things like this will pop up in the middle of the night or days later. I hoped that would happen this time.
I felt I needed to take this seriously but where to start. I had nothing except a name. A name that was vaguely familiar. That was enough for now. I jotted some ideas on a piece of paper of what to do. The first thing was to call a friend of mine who seemed to know everyone everywhere.
"Stephen, it's Luke," I said with a somewhat frantic tone.
"Hey what's up? I was thinking about you I saw a story about car racing that was interesting," He replied.
I cut him off, "That's great I need some help."
He didn't say anything for a few second and then sounding serious as a heart attack, "What do you need? Are you ok?"
