After talking to the kids the night after I'd received the DVDs, Jocelyn asked to speak with me. She wanted to meet, face-to-face, to present her case for staying married. I acquiesced asking her to come by the house the next evening at 7:30PM, telling her the kids and I would be ready for her visit.
"The children will be there?" She asked with a somewhat surprised voice.
"Of course! There can no longer be any secretes in this family. They have as much right to know what has happened. Besides, I will be talking to them after we talk, to make the determination as a family." No one said it would be easy did they? Family issues this dark and deep get sticky, very sticky, especially when children are involved. I did not want the kids to believe they were at fault in any way, even if the truth hurt them.
"OK Bobby, I can understand. There is nothing like coming clean is there?" I did not immediately respond as I debated whether or not to ask about the location of the webcam/computer she'd been using. Then, in the spirit of coming clean, decided there should be no more surprises.
"Are you still there Bobby?" I had a way of getting quiet as I debated how to say what I needed to say.
"Yes Jocelyn. There is one other thing I will be asking you to explain. I'll want you to explain where you have been using your webcam, whose is it, that sort of thing." I could hear the intake and exhale of air on the other end of the line.
"Would it be OK if I explain that to you, now?" I was curious why she would want to keep this from the kids and wanted to make sure nothing was shared that would be especially hurtful for them. Then I reasoned that if it would be hurtful for them it would also be hurtful for me and we might not have to meet after all. Besides the topic of adult webcam sites was probably not something I wanted to explain to my children.
"OK, go ahead and explain." There was another audible intake of air followed by an exhale. Keep in mind I have not asked where she has even been these last several weeks so everything was news to me.
"The computer and webcam belongs to Harold Carpenter." Harold Carpenter was my old boss, the man who let me go when the healthcare company I worked for reduced its workforce by 50%. I'd always considered Harold to be an upfront person who treated me well. He was well respected by everyone and the community. So why was he involved with Jocelyn and seedy webcam chat rooms?
"Explain, and this better be good." I was already imagining the worst.
"OK, Harold has put to work close to fifteen women, mostly women married to your colleagues who were laid off. Harold has provided the location, security and webcam access in an old warehouse that has been remodeled with separate rooms for viewing. He has seen this as a business and a way to help keep families financially solvent, like ours. And before you ask, he never came on to me or touched me. He was never even present in the room where the computer was!" I was speechless and still did not believe she had never succumbed to Harold's, or anyone else's, lustful advances. I am, after all, a skeptical husband who was beginning to feel like a chump who had been duped and asked to accept one big suppository. The suppository was being jammed up my rectum and would soon produce a ration of pure shit.
"Bobby, are you still there? Bobby, talk to me, please."
"Jocelyn, let's just say, at least for the sake of discussion you are telling me the truth. I would be an absolute idiot to believe such a story if I could not verify it."
"So what do you need me to do to convince you I am telling you the truth? Name it?"
"By noon tomorrow I need the names, email addressed and phone numbers of each woman who is or has worked for Harold. I need to know who has exposed themselves to the public, to our friends and possibly our children." I could hear Jocelyn groan with the thought that one of our children might have seen her on the now infamous wicked webcam.
"Then I will need time to speak with each woman to confirm your story." I really did not expect Jocelyn to produce such a list because I did not believe her story. Aside from her four DVDs, which could easily have been staged, she had given me no other way to verify her story.