Chapter 1

I'm George and my wife's name is Dorothy. We've been married going on thirty-two years; don't know if we will make it to thirty-three. I've just found out that my Dorothy has been cheating on me. Not one time, not even for six months, but for twenty-eight years.

My life is now turned totally upside down. Where do I go from here? I'm in my 50's, I've been married thirty-two years, have three grown children. Well, two are adults with children of their own. Dottie - we call her Dot - our youngest is eighteen and has just started college.

Let me regress and go back thirty-two years and give you some background. Dorothy is from Michigan, and moved down here to Ohio to go to college. I, on the other hand, went to a welding school. We met at a party. Dorothy had gotten a Dear Jane letter (don't know what they call a Dear John letter from a guy). She was really down in the dumps. This guy Paul who was supposedly the love of her life dumped her after she started school in Ohio. She was devastated, and just kept moping around until a friend of hers, Dixie, told her she needed to get out. They went to a party that I just happened to be at. When I first saw her I fell head over heels for her. She was a petite little gal, all of 5 feet tall, maybe 110 pounds. Dark brown hair and the prettiest dimples you could imagine.

I'm said to be somewhat of a happy guy, always joking and somewhat the life of a party. I started talking to Dorothy and within six months we were married. I guess I got her on the rebound.

Our life has been good. I don't really know what to compare it to. Our marriage seems pretty much run of the mill. No big surprises, no second or third husbands or wives. Just a standard run of the mill everyday marriage for the past thirty-two years. We took family vacations, bowled, golfed, went to the kids' sports and band events. We were just everyday parents who loved our children and pretty much lived for them.

Dorothy and I both work; she is a school teacher and I am a welder. Money was never a big problem but we had it tight at times. We own our home and our two vehicles; her car and my truck are paid for.

Our sex live was good. When we were younger we did it three or four times a week. After George Jr. was born we were lucky to do it twice a week. Five years later after Mike was born, I was lucky to get a hunk once a week.

I understood this - a working woman with two young kids; that kind of life would take it's toll on a woman. I helped out a lot but Dorothy probably didn't see it that way. Then Dot was born when Mike was five years old. She ended up being the love of my life. She always had daddy wrapped around her finger and knew it. With the kids there was always an abundance of love. There was very little that we wouldn't do for them. We taught with love; they were well mannered, smart, and honest. We couldn't ask for better kids.

Our sex life was probably the only thing that suffered during these child rearing years. By now our sex life was down to probably twice a month if we were lucky. We didn't try many new things sexually. We usually had missionary sex, sometimes doggie style; she wasn't big on oral so it was a rarity.

A few times she told me that sex was not a big thing in her life. That's kind of a turnoff for a guy so I didn't usually press it. Whenever I pushed the issue she would have sex with me. It wasn't exactly love, with very little kissing and hugging.

Don't get the idea that I am this wonderful guy that never cheated on his wife. I had sex outside my marriage. I went to bars often after work. If a woman hit on me I took advantage of it. I like strange pussy, especially if I'm not getting any at home. I didn't have affairs or flings but a lot of one-night-stands. It has been like this for at least the last fifteen years. If I didn't get it at home, I wasn't going to do without.

Looking back on our marriage, it wasn't built on much love between the two of us after the first couple of years. After George Jr. was born our marriage was more of a respect, go along, don't make waves kind of marriage. I don't recall Dorothy ever saying, "I love you" to me. I guess it was pretty much a marriage of convenience, except where the kids were concerned.

Back to the present time, I was out in the garage when the phone rang. Dorothy and I must have answered it at the same time. It was Dixie, so I thought I'd listen in for a few seconds and then say something like, "Watch what you say; I'm here too," when I heard her ask Dorothy if she was ready to go to the high school class reunion. I just hung up the phone and figured she would tell me about it later.

When I wenr in the house she was still talking to Dixie. After she hung up I asked her what she talked about and she said, "We were making plans to go our thirty-fifth high school reunion."

I looked at her and said, "You never even mentioned it to me or asked me if I wanted to go with you."

"George, in thirty-five years you have never gone with me. Why would I think you would want to go now?" she replied. "I'll call Dixie back and tell her you're taking me."

"Hold on," I replied. "I don't want to go to some dumb old high school reunion, I've never even been to my own. I just thought it would have been nice if you told me about it, that's all."

Something just didn't feel right, although I didn't know what it was. Something just wasn't right. I didn't have any reason not to trust Dorothy. None at all, but I went ahead and put my bug on the telephone. I used it to get people's remarks when taking welding jobs. I always told them they were being taped but it would save a lot of problems if we had disagreements about a job, always good to have it on tape. It was voice activated so when a call ended the tape stopped.

The next day I listened to the tape. Dorothy had called back Dixie and apologized for hanging up so abruptly the day before. She said she was worried that I might have wanted to go to the reunion. That would sure mess up everything, after all the planning she made.

"What plans? With who?" I wondered.

When she came home I told her I wanted to talk with her.

She looked at me puzzled and said, "About what?"

"I want to talk to you about your reunion. Maybe I'll go with you this year. Who all goes to these things since there's been thirty-five years worth?

She looked a bit nervous but just began talking.

"Well, let's see. We're down to about only forty classmates who show up. Some take their spouses, others come alone. Some bring their families to the buffet dinner and then take their kids home and come back to dance later. The single and divorced people bring friends, but they are only allowed one friend. Sometimes we average up to a hundred people for the affair.

'What a bad choice of words, ' I thought. "When is this reunion?" I asked.

"October eighth, first Saturday in October," she replied. "Let me know if you're going so I can change my reservation."

"I'll let you know for sure by the end of next week. Would I know anyone there other than Dixie and her husband, Joe?" I asked

Dorothy thought and said, "I don't think you ever met anyone from my high school class. So I don't think you would know anyone."

"Didn't your old boyfriend, Paul, attend that school the same time as you?"

She got nervous and said, "Yeah, he's married with a family just like us. Why are you badgering me with a bunch of stupid questions about an old reunion and old friends? What's gotten into you lately? Do you want me to stay home so you can be happy?"

"I'm sorry, honey. Just an old guy being inquisitive. I'll let you know as soon as I can about the reunion," I responded.

I contacted a private investigator who has done work for me in the past. He checks out any corporate welding sites for me so we know what we're dealing with. This time it was a little different.

"Jim Jones Investigations, may I help you?" the receptionist spoke.

"Jim, please," I said. "This is George Manning."

"One minute please," as she paged Jim.

"Hey, George, long time no see. What can I do for you?"

"Well, Jim, I have a suspicion that's eating at me. I need a P.I. to check out a few things to ease my mind. It has to be done soon, very quietly, and definitely no suspicions raised. Are you up for it?" I asked.

"Give me a few facts to work with George and I'll know if I can be of service to you," Jim replied.

"Well, I'm trying to find out if my wife has been cheating on me. I have no proof but a gut feeling. She is going to her class reunion and doesn't want me to go. She has gone every five years for the last thirty years. I've never gone, or ever suspected anything before. Hopefully, your investigation will turn up dry. It's in Michigan and almost always at the same place. Might have been changed a few times. What do you think, Jim?" I asked again.

"Well, George, it's going to cost you some big bucks due to travel. But I can find out everything there is to know by Friday. This is mostly record checking. Going back on the dates and see if anything pops up. Hope we will be able to ease your mind," Jim replied.

"Thanks. Jim, I'll talk with you Friday," I responded. I gave him all the information I had that might help him with his investigation and then went back to work.

I have no idea why I was so worried. I've been living a decent life, no real problems to speak of. It was just one of those gut reactions and I had to dispel any questions I had. Maybe I was becoming insecure in my old age of fifty plus. Hopefully nothing would show up, but for some reason I knew better.

On Friday I got a call from Jim.

"George, I had a few people running on this case and came across some stuff that doesn't jive. To begin with, I talked with the reunion committee and acted as a government employee explaining I needed to look at their reunion books back as far as their records show. I explained that it was an investigation for security clearance and would not be able to divulge any information to them, but that it was highly classified and they were to tell no one. They could be prosecuted if found gossiping classified information.