Chapter 5

The sounds I was hearing gradually penetrated my sleep-sodden brain. I stretched and smiled to myself. Greg was already hard at work. I rolled over as I listened to the sound of the lawn mower coming from the back yard and the sound of... voices... coming from the living room.

My eyes snapped open. Oh, shit! Joan and the kids were home a day early. I mentally went over the "honey-do" list as I pulled on my shorts (with briefs this time!) and a clean T-shirt. Actually, they were more than a day early if they got home this early on Sunday. I wondered what had happened as I opened the bedroom door and stumbled down the hall into the living room.

The three of them were sprawled on the furniture, Joan on the couch and Brad and Shelly each in a chair. They all looked exhausted. Joan looked at me through bleary eyes and gave me a little smile. "Hi, honey," she said through a yawn. "The garage looks great!"

I hadn't even heard the garage door open. "What happened? Why are you home so early?" I hoped I didn't sound like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "Are your parents OK?" I really was concerned. It wasn't like Joan to cut a visit home short like this.

"Mom and Dad both had some sort of stomach virus," Joan explained. "They complained that they couldn't keep anything down, complained about being hungry, then complained when I tried to feed them. When they weren't complaining, they just wanted to sleep." She stretched, working her head back and forth to get the stiffness out from the long drive. Then she continued, "Last night, I suddenly realized that I'd had enough of them. I told them I didn't want the kids catching what they had, what with the end of the school year, final exams... you know... bla, bla, bla." She grinned up at me. "So, at eleven o' clock last night, we packed up and left." Another yawn. "It's been awhile since I've pulled an all-niter, but Brad stayed awake and kept me company. Besides, I missed you"

Huh? Where did that come from? "I missed you, too, sweetie," I replied automatically, "but you could have stopped for the night somewhere instead of driving all the way through." I grinned. "A four-star hotel might have strained the budget a little, but one of those little places out on the by-pass wouldn't have been too much. Why don't you go on to bed and get some sleep. I'll unload the car," I finished as I started for the kitchen.

"It's all piled inside the kitchen door," Joan replied as she stretched her arms out along the back of the couch. "You have no idea of the thrill I felt when I puled in the driveway this morning, pressed the button on that garage door opener, and then pulled right into my clean garage. It just seemed to wash away all of the stress of driving all night." Her breasts strained against the front of her shirt as she reached out along the back of the couch. She arched her back up and ran her fingers up through her hair. Then she got serious.

"I really wasn't worried about the kids catching anything," she continued. "But when Mom and Dad started in about you again, I just didn't want to hear it any more. Something just told me to get out of there and come back home." She yawned again as she rubbed her eyes, then she smiled at me. "Besides, I don't think I could sleep through that lawn mower racket, anyway. Why is Greg out so early on a Sunday?" Joan got a puzzled look on her face. "And why is he cutting the grass in our back yard?"

"Well... uh... I had a little talk with him," I stammered. "Greg's been getting a little... er... soft. He... uh... he needs the exercise. So... aahh... I had a little... er... talk with him," I finished up lamely.

"Was that before or after you had a little talk with Peg?" Joan countered.

"Huh?" Shit, I was a regular Einstein this morning.

Joan looked at me with a neutral expression on her face. Then, wordlessly, she leaned over and pulled Peg's discarded bra out of the waste basket and held it up between us.

Brad and Shelly, who had been slumped like zombies in the living room chairs, suddenly sat up and took an interest. Brad muttered something that sounded like, "Busted!"

Joan draped the bra across the arm of the couch, then patted the seat beside her. "Tell me about it," she said softly, her eyes never leaving mine.

So I did. I stumbled to the couch and sat, taking Joan's hands in mine. My world shrank to just her face. It never occurred to me to ask Brad and Shelly to give us some privacy. I didn't even realize they were still there.

I told her everything--absolutely everything. Everything I thought... everything I wondered... everything I felt... everything I did. I left nothing out. I may have even repeated myself to make sure I didn't leave anything out.

You see, years ago, Joan and I came to an agreement. We knew there would be ups and downs in our married life, and we decided we could work through anything except a lie. Now to us, a lie just isn't an untruth; a false answer to a question. A lie is any avoidance of the complete and total truth. To us, a lie just isn't an act of commission, it's also an act of omission as well.

So, with fear in my heart, I told her everything from looking up at Meg's boobs from under the picnic table to walking home naked last night. Joan chuckled a little at the picture of my bare dick leading the way across the yard for a second time that day. When I heard her little laugh, I began to think that maybe there was light at the end of the tunnel after all.

"Wow!" That was almost a whisper from Shelly. With a start, I realized that I had just spilled my guts to my two teen-aged children as well. Brad was sitting with his legs tightly crossed and his mouth hanging open, trying to hide the bulge in his lap. Shelly was staring at me with a funny look on her face. I don't think she realized she had spoken aloud. Her fists were clenched in her lap and she was rocking back and forth on the chair in a rhythmic motion.

I looked back at Joan. She must have seen the anxious questions in my eyes. She raised her hand to my face and stroked my cheek gently as she spoke, "John, I thought something like this would happen. That's why I tried to load you down with so many chores this weekend. I was hoping you would be too busy to even talk to anyone else this weekend. That's also why I was rushing around so much to get out of here Friday afternoon. We've had this trip planned for a month and I didn't want to disappoint the kids, but if I had stopped to give you so much as a good-bye hug and kiss, I never would have left." Her hand was still gently stroking my face. "I think that's why I jumped at the chance to come home early, even though it meant driving all night to get back to you." She smiled. "Even the kids were ready to leave. With Mom and Dad sick, they certainly weren't spending any money on them, "Joan sighed as she put her arms around my neck and squeezed me tight. "God, it's good to be back home," she murmured into my neck. Her whole body seemed to melt up against me.

What the hell is going on here? My mind whirled in confusion. I had just confessed my infidelity to my wife, and she says she expected it to happen? She jumped at an excuse to leave her parents and rush back home? To me? I almost expected Rod Serling to step out of the closet and start his monologue. Or maybe Alan Funt with his camera...

I tried to make some sense out of all this. "Joan... ah... what do you mean... you thought this would happen?" I stammered out. Then I thought about Brad and Shelly. "Kids, could you give us a few minutes..."

Joan cut me off. "They deserve to hear this too, dear," she said as she sat back up and took my hands. "This will change the whole family."

My heart started to sink again at her words, but her smile took away the sting as she continued, "John, you've changed," She paused, trying to choose her words carefully. "I've been trying to find words to explain... how you've changed... how I feel..." She stopped again, and I wondered whether there was any hope left for our marriage. "John, our marriage... our life together... well... I don't think it will ever be the same again."

I must have turned pale, because she got a worried look on her face, and her hands gripped mine even tighter. "No, no! I didn't mean it like that! Shit! How can I say this?"

Huh? Profanity from Joan's lips? Joan sat up straighter and continued, "John, when we were watching TV the other night, do you remember the nature program about Africa? About lions? The guy talked about one of the lions in the group being the main lion... how did he put it? The alpha male? that's it! He called him the alpha male! All the other male lions deferred to him. He always got his way. He got to eat first. He got the best food... He even got any of the female lions that he wanted... any time he wanted. He was the alpha male."

"Darling, I don't know how... I don't know why... but somehow, you've become an alpha male," she shrugged. "I don't know any better way to explain it. I felt it before I left. I... I feel it now. You're just... Hell, I don't know! I sat here and listened to you tell me how Margaret sucked you off in the shower and how you fu..." she got a determined look in her eye. "How you fucked Peg right here on this couch. How you stripped them down in front of Greg and then fucked his daughter right in front of him... When you were telling me all this, I... I felt... proud! I was proud of your conquests and proud to be your..." She stopped, and stared me right in the eye as she threw her shoulders back and thrust her boobs forward. "I'm proud to be one of your women!" she finished.

Joan held up my left hand and ran her fingers around my wedding ring as she continued, "When I said our life--our marriage-- had changed, I didn't mean that I was going to leave you. I just meant that I'm no longer... I mean... I'm not your..." she looked back into my eyes as she slid my ring off my finger. "I'm not your only woman. I'm... I'm one of your women. As an alpha male, you can have whomever... have as many women as you want."

Joan lifted a gold necklace over her head and unsnapped it. She took the gold and pearl flower off the chain and replaced it with my wedding ring, then placed the necklace back over her head. "I'd like to think that I'm still your main woman," she said as she looked down at my ring resting in her cleavage. She looked back into my eyes. "But you're the boss," she said simply. "I'll do whatever you say." She grinned, remembering my earlier confessions. "Just like Margaret and Peggy, I belong to you, dear."

All I could do was sit and hold her hand while I tried to make sense of all this. How does a guy suddenly become an "Alpha Male?" I had a flashback to the after-shave commercial where the guy had to fight the women off after splashing on the gunk. I was still using Old Spice, so that wasn't it. Besides, I hadn't used any before Joan left on Friday. I was still wearing my normal after-work stench. My flashback metamorphosed to me splashing on a fragrant ketone out of a 55 gallon drum of toxic waste. Hell, if that was it, I'd be saying "yessir" just like Greg to some of the knuckle-draggers I worked with. Hmmm. Maybe the toxic waste mixed with the Old Spice... Oh, well. Maybe I'd figure it out later.

"This... this is just too wild! I just can't believe... Is this a joke? Did you and Peg and Meg plan... , " I stopped because my thoughts just kept getting wilder and wilder. I looked at Joan and said softly, "How do you know all this?"

Joan chose her words carefully, "It... it's not what I know. It's what I feel. Something has changed. I feel... different... about you. I still love you, but there's more to it now." She shrugged, "It's possible that I've changed, but the fact that Margaret and Peg threw themselves at you is evidence that you're the one that changed, not me." Joan thought for a moment, then said, "When you were telling me everything that happened, when did you absolutely know, beyond a doubt, that Margaret and Peg would do everything that you told them to do?"

I thought back carefully. "When I told Meg and Peg to strip naked in front of Greg and me, and they did it, willingly, without any embarrassment or hesitation, I felt... it felt like a... power, or something... welling up inside of me. I knew they would do everything I asked them to do. I even knew that Greg wouldn't object." I jerked my thumb at the mower noise, now coming from the front yard. "I somehow knew, deep down inside, that even Greg would do everything I told him." I shrugged. "I guess I 'felt' it, just like you say you 'felt' it with me Friday."

"I felt it, and still feel it, dear," Joan replied.

"And this isn't some sort of elaborate hoax or gag?" I still couldn't believe it.

"I'll prove it, dear," she took a deep breath. "Tell me."

"Tell you what?" I was confused.

"Tell me what you told Margaret and Peggy."

"Huh?" I guess my lack of coffee was showing.

Joan stood up in front of me. "I'm yours," she said simply. "Tell me to strip," she motioned to Brad and Shelly, "in front of them." She was fiddling with the button between her boobs. "Tell me to do anything. I'll do it." She stood waiting, biting her lower lip as she stared into my eyes.

Brad and Shelly were frozen in place, eyes wide.

"Okayyy," I said slowly, choosing my words, "you're my main woman." I pointed between her breasts. "You're wearing my 'main woman' ring right there between your boobs. The trouble is, my 'main woman' ring is hidden by your blouse. I want every one who comes in this house to know you're my main woman. I want that ring visible and proudly displayed between your lovely bare tits." A happy smile lit her face and she started on the buttons before I finished. I continued, "For that matter, I want my main woman available to me whenever I want her. So... strip, woman! In this house, your uniform of the day is skin!"