Chapter 6

During the weeks which followed Sarah and Michael became lovers. Although they could only see each other on Friday evenings, each looked forward to it all week. Michael would bring her flowers, sometime a fresh bouquet and sometimes a potted plant which Sarah would place in her kitchen window or transplant to her garden. They began going to dinner together at small out-of-the-way restaurants where they were not likely to encounter anyone that either knew. Although they often ended up in a hotel or motel, both knew the attraction was far more than physical. Some of their most enjoyable moments in bed were when, after being sensually sated, Sarah would snuggle on his shoulder and they would talk for hours of everything and of nothing, simply enjoying the company and companionship of the other.

Sarah had brought up her guilt on several occasions. Her conscience was still racked by the knowledge that she was cheating on Charlie. Michael assured her that she was taking nothing away from Charlie in order to be with her young paramour. Friday evenings were her own anyway, much needed time spent on her own. He also reminded her that she had needs as well as Charlie. She loved her husband and cared for him in every way possible. Was it so terrible to want what Charlie could no longer give her? She agreed in principle but still suffered pangs of conscience which despite the exhilaration she experienced with Michael would send her home more determined than ever to care for and love her husband. They discussed breaking off the relationship but both knew it would create a void which neither could endure. Once when Charlie's nurse could not make the Friday appointment and Sarah was unable to get a substitute, they both spent a lonely and miserable evening without the other. Despite the May/December nature of their relationship, they were in love and the following Friday when they were at last reunited it was as if they had been separated for months instead of only two weeks. Their lovemaking was insatiable, almost desperate as if they might again be torn apart or lose each other forever.

"Michael," she asked, her head on his shoulder after an extended round of lovemaking, "what's to become of us?"

"I'll wait for you Sarah — as long as it takes."

"That could be years. I can't ask you to put your life on hold. Besides, by that time I'll really be an old woman and you'll be in the prime of your life."

"Being with you makes this the prime of my life. I've never been happier. Do I want you for my very own? Of course. There's nothing I'd rather have than to wake up beside you every morning and know that you belong to me. But I also know that isn't possible now. I may not like it, but I accept it. I accept that you love Charlie and that most of your life is with him. But the time we spend together makes the wait each week worth it. I'm also willing to wait as long as it takes to have you all to myself."

"Are you sure, Michael? You say this right after we've made love while we're both basking in the glow. But the hard reality is..."

"The hard reality is," he laughed, "that I want you again — and again and again and again. Seriously, I want you close to me, I want to share your laughter and your heartaches. I want more than anything to share my life with you."

Sarah felt a sense of desperation. She knew Michael meant what he had said but she also knew it wasn't fair to have him make long range commitments to someone her age. He was blinded by his love for her. As much as she returned that love she new this was a tenuous relationship at best. What if he met someone, a beautiful coed who could give him a lifetime of love and devotion? Did she have the right to deny him that? Yet could she bear the thought of losing him? Charlie was her husband and would remain the center of her life and her dedication to his care, yet it was this young man who had captured her heart. Could she live without him?

"Hold me, Michael," she pleaded. She felt his arms close round her. "Make love to me. Make love to me as if this were the last moment of our existence. Hold back nothing! Take me, Michael! Take all of me!"

And once again they were lost in a frenzy of give and take in which Sarah's every orifice was filled, bringing them both total ecstasy time and again.

Of what neither of them was aware was that, by chance, they had been seen together three weeks earlier by one of Michael's fraternity brothers who had in turn shared what he had seen with David Bell. Bell had then given one of the brothers the task of following the new brother to see if Michael was indeed having an affair with the woman he had seduced as part of his initiation.

Indeed they had been seen together three straight Fridays. Twice they gone to dinner and then driven to a motel. The third time they had gone to a remote section of beach. The frat brother had followed them not daring to get too close but close enough to aim the camcorder at the darkening shadows and capture perfect audio of them in the throes of passion.

It became very clear to Bell that Michael was having a full blown affair with the older woman. With Michael's father's ties to the fraternity it would not do to challenge the new brother directly. No, thought Bell, something else, something that would send the upstart freshman a clear message that he was getting away with nothing. Something that would hurt and definitely end the relationship. After all the Alpha Delts couldn't let it get around campus that they could only score with lonely old women. Slowly a plan began to emerge.

"Oh, Michael I was so looking forward to this Friday. I was hoping we could drive up the coast and..."

"I know. I'm sorry, Sarah. I tried everything to get out of this. I tried trading with one of the other brothers. I even offered to work the next three projects, but David would have none of it. I guess I'm stuck. The frat fair won't close until midnight. By that time..."

"Yes, you're right of course. Maybe it's just as well. Mrs. Connell has been wanting a Friday off for some time. I'll give her a call and give her the night off this week. But, I just wanted so badly to see you."

"No more than I wanted to see you."

"Next week?" she asked.

"Absolutely," he replied. "Sarah, I love you."

"I love you too. I'm going to miss you so much."

"Next Friday, I promise."

"Next Friday," she sighed and hung up. How could she get through another week without him? In just a few weeks he had become the love of her life. Oh, she still loved Charlie and would never dream of leaving him, but this warm, witty and charming young man had managed, despite Sarah's reservations and even her overt attempts to keep their relationship physical, to become a part of her. She had felt herself falling in love and could do nothing to stop it, realized, too late, she didn't want to stop it. She also knew that, despite his youth, Michael's feelings were real and sincere. She couldn't fathom where this romance would take them. Deep within she knew they had no future, yet she couldn't imagine her world without Michael. She ached to be with him. Her existence was rapidly shrinking to Friday evenings and the young man who made her feel so alive again.

She chided herself often for her unfaithfulness to Charlie, yet knew she cared for him with every ounce of her being. Michael had asked what more she could do for Charlie if they should stop seeing each other. She knew the answer was nothing. She was doing everything possible to make him comfortable and to feel loved. No longer could she be sure how much of that love and care was getting through, but it didn't matter. She had long ago vowed to love Charlie in sickness and in health and she would never betray that vow. But was it really so bad to take a few hours for herself on that one day a week? Did her feelings for Michael in any way detract from her dedication to Charlie? Despite her pangs of conscience, Sarah could honestly feel no diminution of her affection for Charlie. She had not been resentful that Charlie could no longer respond, no longer laugh with her, return her kisses or sensual ministrations, but now with Michael at her side she felt her longings met, her yearnings satisfied with no lessening of affection for her husband. She knew that had this terrible disease not afflicted him, her relationship with Michael would never have been. But the Alzheimer's had taken her husband away from her and fate, a fraternity initiation, to whatever you wanted to attribute their meeting, had brought Michael into her life. Perhaps she would burn in hell for loving a man behind her husband's back and perhaps, no, for certain, the time she spent with Michael, even if it ended tomorrow, would have been worth it.

Friday came and Sarah puttered around the house. Mrs. Connell had been thankful for the time off so she and Charlie would spend the evening together. She fixed him some dinner and fed him, recounting her uneventful day in a manner she hoped he would find interesting. She helped him to the bathroom and then back into bed, a trip which seemed to exhaust him. She read to him from the newspaper, something he had always enjoyed in the past and when he nodded off to sleep she stayed for several minutes just watching the rising and falling of his chest and the slight wheezing of his slumber. Assured he was resting peacefully, she tucked his covers lovingly about him. changed into some pajamas and housecoat and tiptoed out of his room and downstairs.

She fixed herself a sandwich and some tea and sat down with a new novel she had just started. An hour later she looked up to see that darkness had overtaken the neighborhood. Sarah had just started a new chapter when the doorbell rang.

Puzzled because she and Charlie had few callers and certainly not this late in the evening, she opened to door to a good looking young college age student. She felt uncomfortable even before he said anything for his eyes roved up and down her body, undressing her as the slightest sneer crossed his face. Sarah unconsciously wrapped the housecoat a bit tighter about her and pulled the collar closer about her neck.

"Sarah McKinney?" he asked.

"Yes, what may I do for you?" she asked.

"It's really more a matter of what I can do for you."

"Look, young man, whatever you're selling, I'm not..."

"No, no, I'm not selling anything," he smirked. "But i have something you seem to want pretty badly."

"What in the world are you talking about?"

"Let's just say that I know all about the trysts you and Michael Wynton have been having."

She gasped audibly. "How... how could you... ?"

"I'll explain everything. In the meantime I suggest you invite me in."

She wanted to slam the door in the impertinent young man's face, but Sarah was flabbergasted by his audacity and the fact that he was aware of something she and Michael had thought they had kept secret. So, reluctantly, she ushered him into the living room where the young man sat on the couch while Sarah took a seat in one of the chairs.

"My name is David Bell. I'm president of Michael's fraternity."

Sarah recognized the name. Michael had been rather tight lipped about their exact relationship but it was obvious Michael did not like him and that the feeling was mutual.

"I repeat, Mr. Bell, what is it you want?"

"Oh, I just thought that since Michael couldn't make it this evening that I'd drop by and take his place."

"What are you talking about?"

"Please Mrs. McKinney, or should i call you Sarah because before the evening is out you and I are going to be on rather intimate terms."

"No, all that's going to happen is that you're going to leave my house, immediately!"

"Ah, ah. Before you kick me out I think you'd better listen to what I have to say. You see, I know all about your relationship with Michael. I know you not only go to dinner every Friday night, I also know that you wind up at a motel. I even know that you and Michael did the down and dirty on the beach last week."

Sarah was suddenly on the defensive but trying to act as if she were not.

"What Michael and I do is our..."

"Not exactly," smiled Bell self confidently. "You see I can have him laughed out of the fraternity for boffing an older woman — even if she is kind of hot."

Again his eyes roamed over her body and again Sarah pulled the housecoat even tighter about her.

"From what Michael has told me, that would be no great loss."

"Oh, there's more. How about you, Sarah? Would you like it to get out that you've been shacking up with a college kid while your husband lies helpless in bed?"

The question struck home like a dagger. Sarah's conscience had wrestled with her infidelity, at times making it hard for her to live with herself. But for others to know as well. What would her friends think? The members of her church? Would she lose the last few friends she and Charlie had?

"Then, of course, there's your husband — Charlie, is it? I know he has Alzheimer's but what if I were go show him right now that his loving wife has been screwing her brains out with a college kid?"

"You wouldn't!"

"Wouldn't I? Oh, he might forget it by tomorrow, but I'll be glad to keep coming back until he..."

"Stop it! Please, stop it!" cried Sarah, her eyes dropping in shame, her heart breaking at the thoughts of Charlie learning she had been unfaithful.

"Then there's MIchael. Old straight-laced Michael. What he doesn't know is that I have three frat brothers who will testify to the Dean that Michael cheated on several examinations."

"Michael wouldn't do that," she insisted.

"Of course he wouldn't, but when we get through testifying before the Dean, he'll be out of college so quick it'll make your head swim."

"But... but, why?" she managed, tears misting her eyes and a deep fear permeating her.

"Oh, how about because he's a prick? His old man practically bought his way into the fraternity and..."

"That's not true."

"Well, true or not, he's an asshole and I want him to know what it's like to lose for a change."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, like I said, since Michael isn't here this evening, I'll just step in and..."

"No, I won't!"

"I think you will," said Bell, reaching into his pocket and handing her a two page document.

"What's this?"

"A deposition from three fraternity brothers, attesting to Michael's cheating on tests."

"You... got them to lie?"

"The Dean won't think it's a lie. I've already been to him to reassure him that Alpha Delta is cleaning up its act, weeding out the undesirables. The Dean has been aching to take some revenge on Alpha Delta. He won't hesitate to crucify Michael especially when we offer him up as a sacrifice."