Chapter 1

"Dr. Waxman? My name is Will Crozier. I would like to set up an appointment with you for myself and two of my friends - as soon as possible."

"That's three appointments you need?" Julia asked.

"No, no. We would all like to meet with you together."

"Mr. Crozier, I am a therapist, not a counselor, and I don't do support groups. I run a very busy treatment organization, and I have limited time for my regular practice. I think you would be well advised to look for someone else."

"Please, Dr. Waxman. We have it from reliable sources that you are the best, and we have a desperate problem. My friends and I are..."

"Mr. Crozier, I don't need to get into specifics about your situation. You are not my patient, and that is confidential."

"The problem is, it may be very public if we handle this wrong. We three men are very close. Our wives are even closer - have been since childhood. We..."

"Please, Mr. Crozier. Do not tell me any more. As I said, what you are asking is just not something I do in my practice, especially in the limited time I have available."

"Dr. Waxman, I hate to beg, but that's where we are at right now. The fate of three families is very much in doubt. I don't think your run-of-the-mill marriage counselor will do it for us."

As head of Transformations, Julia Waxman had run into one unique situation after another. She knew better than to think she had seen it all, but even so, this was something else. The caring part of her felt instant sympathy for Will and his friends. She got so many patients after the fact, when the divorce was done. Here was a possible chance to keep some families from breaking up, apparently.

"I'll do this much, Mr. Crozier. Can you three come to my office tomorrow, Friday, right at noon. This will be just a discovery meeting to see if it makes sense to proceed farther. I may not be able to give you a full hour. Will that work for you?"

"We'll take what we can get. What can we bring you for lunch?"

"Before we talk about anything else, gentlemen, I need to make my position clear," Julia told the men Friday noon in her office. "Since I assume this has to do with marriages in jeopardy, I must tell you this. I am unashamedly and unalterably pro-marriage. I am also a realist, and I know that some marriages simply cannot survive. If you three are not willing, all of you, to go into this assuming that you will be reconciled with your wives, then we should just save ourselves the time and energy."

Will, clearly the spokesman, looked at each of the others, then responded to Julia. "The way we feel right now, I don't see how any of us can commit to reconciliation."

"That's not what I'm asking for. What I want you to believe is that over some amount of time, with a great deal of give and take on both parts, a seeming miracle will happen, and you will return to her. I guess the key is what you WANT to happen, not what you feel like right now. Do you understand the distinction? Can you work from that position? Since you insisted on meeting all together, I need to hear it strongly from each of you. "I want to be married to my wife and family, and I proceed with the assumption that that will happen.' How about it?"

Julia was a bit concerned that none of the three responded immediately. For the second time, though, she saw the looks and the silent communication between them. In her experience, that phenomenon was much more typical of women than of men. She decided that the three were close enough to have shared at a very deep, intimate level, and that was probably a good thing. Though not instantaneous, agreement did come from all of them. She made them say the words.

"I have appointments after lunch, so I can't give you enough time right now. I would rather wait until I can hear your full story in detail. I can clear tomorrow morning if you can come to my office at Transformations. There could be interruptions, but I will try to avoid them. Would that work for you? Plan on nine until noon. I will provide breakfast."

They all agreed, and she asked Will to stay for a moment and discuss the rate.

"I hope you gentleman realize how unprecedented it is for me to meet with multiple people who are not family members. Even with families, I work almost exclusively with individuals." Julia had just ushered Will, Trent, and Bud into her office for their initial meeting on Saturday morning. Transformations had a set of admin offices that opened onto a corridor to the outside and into the women's section. The door to the women's section was key locked, and two large windows were shuttered and locked.

"We really appreciate your willingness to meet with us," Will replied, acting as spokesman.

"I know you briefly mentioned why you wanted to meet together, but I would like to hear it in more detail. First of all, tell me what you discovered about your wives. Why don't you start from the beginning." Will nodded to Bud, who as the most experienced public speaker, began the story.

It was Trent who got the first small inkling that something might be amiss. It was after one of his regular dates with Sandy, this time at a dance club, that Trent mentioned to his pals something that puzzled him. On that night, Sandy had drunk much more than usual and the romp in bed was even more vigorous than usual. And make no mistake, usual was very, very good.

Going into more detail than he normally would, Trent told the others "Maybe I'm imagining it. I had a few drinks, too. But it was something we had never done - ever. And she just moved right into so smoothly! There was no hestitation, no fumbling. Her hands and... everything just went to the right places automatically. I just had this feeling that she had done it before."

Julia rapidly wrote a note after that. She had to find out why Trent was sharing information that intimate with his friends. That was unusual for men. How close were they? After she heard Will's next revelation, she just added two exclamation marks to her note.

The others did not ask what the exact move or position was, and Trent did not offer more detail. Will did respond, though. "Well, the night before, after our date, Val asked me about swinging. She was all giggly, like it was a joke, but it shook me up."

It was just two unrelated events involving two unusually inebriated wives, but none of the guys ridiculed the expressed concerns. They agreed to a higher level of vigilance - 'Defcon 3' as Bud jokingly referred to it. None of the men wanted to believe that anything was wrong, but some nagging doubts had been sown. Over the next month, they all became hyper-sensitive about their wives' behavior and comments, especially in bed.

Being careful not to let vigilance grow into paranoia, the group still came up with a number of little things that raised questions. By themselves, none was significant, but the sheer number of them made the men uneasy. Most of the signals were something like an unusual level of distraction, a couple of unexplained bruises, and one or two turn downs of sex because of unexplainable tenderness. All three men had noticed that some of the phone calls between the wives were more secretive than usual.

"What could be going on, anyway?" Bud asked. "I can't imagine they would actually cheat on us. If they're doing something we wouldn't like, it's probably going to a male strip club, or something."

Will, often the group's idea man, told the others "It goes without saying that if there is anything going on, they're all in it together. We need to follow them when they all go out in a group."

"Yeah, but the kids will know we're gone. They might tell. I don't want to make a problem out of nothing."

"We can arrange a fake call from work or something. What say we invest in a tracking device that we can put in whichever car they leave in?"

"Does anyone really think there is a real chance they are screwing around? I mean, come on, guys! We do our damndest to keep them happy. Speaking for myself, I just can't see Sandy cheating on me."

After some more fairly energetic discussion, it was agreed that one guy would be assigned to follow the girls each time they went out together. The designated spy would get a fake emergency call before the wives left, and be in position to shadow them. The tracking device was never purchased.

For three weeks, the spy job proved very boring, as five different group outings proved totally innocent. Trent and Bud wanted to forget the whole idea, but Will hung tough.

It was Will on the tail the next Tuesday night when the wives' group ended up at a house that he did not recognize. As he watched from a few houses down the street, several couples and a few singles entered the house. Will was probably the one most concerned that there really was a problem, and the situation he saw was just too strange.

"Get Trent and get over here right away," Will said on a curt call to Bud. He gave the address where he was parked. "Bring cameras and a full toolkit. See if you have a ladder that will fit inside the Suburban."

While waiting for the others, Will did a little exploring. The house was quite secluded, but the yard was not surrounded by a fence or a wall, except for the pool area. Apparently, there was no concern about discovery on the part of the owners. He found a way into the back yard, and made a mental note of all the windows that were lighted.

The walkout level had a patio door that was covered by drapes, as were several other windows on the lower level. The lot sloped downward from one side to the other, so the walkout exposure was on the end of the house nearest where they were parked. The pool deck opened off of either the kitchen or the family room on the main level. He could not see over the wall to tell for sure which it was. He could tell from music and laughter that there were a number of people already around the pool.

Once they were all together, they sat in the Suburban to strategize.

"Do we even know what we're looking for?" Trent asked.

"We know our wives are in the house. We want to find out what is going on in there," Will answered.

"I say we just walk in," Bud insisted. "We'll find out pretty quickly that way."

"And if it's a network marketing party or something, what will the women think?" Trent pointed out.

Ignoring the potential argument, Will said "Let's try the wall around the pool. Maybe there's a gap that will let us see into the house a little."

With at least that much of an objective, they headed back toward the house. Just as they reached the edge of the yard, the lower patio door opened and they all ducked behind some shrubs. Muttered oaths were mixed with groans as a naked man stepped into the side yard and lit a cigarette. It was a badly shaken trio that retreated to the Suburban once more.

It was two or three minutes before anyone said a word. Then, it was Will who once again took the lead. In a shaky voice he said "We need a plan. I think we should all act together, since the girls are together in this."

"Maybe it's not that bad," Trent said, the hope drowned out by the sadness in his voice.

"Don't kid yourself," Bud said angrily. "That's a swinging party going on in there. Do we bust in there and get them out, or what?"

"I think we need to know more," Will counseled. "I think Bud is right, but I would hate to jump to a wrong conclusion. Let's try the pool enclosure again."

This time, they were very careful, lest someone else come out the patio door and spot them. When they got to the pool area, they found that the redwood slats were old enough that there was some warping and there were some gaps. The gaps were easy to find because of the light coming through from the pool side. The gaps were all behind some very thick, prickly bushes.

Very carefully, working hard not to curse at the pokes and scratches from the thorns, they all got in position to look through a gap. What they saw made Trent turn violently away, ignoring the cuts and scratches he got. Only the moderately loud music piped out to the pool hid the sound of his vomiting. Sandy could be clearly seen, sitting naked on a lounge chair on the lap of a naked man. That was bad enough, but after a few seconds, she raised herself slightly and moved in a way that could only mean that she was impaled on his cock. Her facial expression verified that fact.

Val was standing just outside the patio door, talking to a man and a woman. All three were naked. In fact, not a single item of clothing was visible on the dozen or so people gathered around the pool and hot tub. As Will and Bud watched, Val reached out and took hold of the man's limp penis and led him to the pool. Once in the pool, the man sat up on the edge while Val moved in front of him and began a blowjob.

Around the edge of the pool away from the house, there were several pads scattered. On two of those pads were scenes of obvious intercourse. There was no chance that this was just a friendly skinny dip.

Cece was not in the pool area, nor could she be seen in the family room that was visible through the patio door. Trent did not return to his peep hole, but wandered unsteadily back toward the cars. Will and Bud watched for several more minutes, but Cece still did not appear.

Bud was the one to break away, but he did not go back to the car. Instead, he headed for the downstairs patio door, and Will followed. The door was draped, but Bud very carefully pulled on it and found it unlatched. Taking many seconds, he very slowly opened it enough to look into the room. There, on one of two leather sofas, he saw his wife. She was stretched out on the sofa with her head in one man's lap and her legs over another man's. Her hand was reaching back to fondle the cock that stuck up right by her cheek while that man teased her nipple. The other man's hand was busy with her pussy. It was apparent that they were watching a porn flick as they played. Will also came to the viewing crack and they both watched as Cece reached a small orgasm.

Bud had been transfixed by the sight until Cece came. Then, he stiffened, and Will knew that he was about to charge into the house and commit mayhem. He quickly squeezed himself between the larger, stronger Bud and the door, risking discovery as he pushed it shut. "Think, Bud! You know how much trouble you could be in if you go in there and start busting heads. Please! Back to the car!"

Will thought at first that Bud was going to punch him out to get into the house, but he suddenly went slack, and Will was able to lead him away without resistance.

Back at the Suburban, no one said anything for a long time, and Trent cried openly. Bud was panting, obviously struggling to control the anger that was returning full force. Will just sat, his unfocused eyes pointed out the windshield. Bud was the first to speak.

"Let's go and drag their cheating asses out of there!"

That jarred Will from his stupor, and he replied softly. "No, I don't think that would be a good idea."

"Why not?" Bud demanded.

"You're so angry right now, you might do something to land you in jail. We all might," Will explained.

"But we can't just leave them in there to... to... God damn it!!" Bud was nearly at the breaking point.

"Whatever they might do, I'm sure they have already done before, sad to say," Will told Bud. "I really think the best thing is to just leave, pack a bag, and go somewhere for the night."

"Why do you think that?" Trent asked.

"Well, it will give us time to settle down a little and think before we act."

"Thinking won't change what they've done," Bud spat out.

"No, but it could keep us out of trouble. Also, when the women realize they've been found out, what's the first thing they will want to do?"

"Explain it away, probably apologize. Maybe try to lie their way out of it. Try to talk us out of leaving them," Trent ventured.

"Right," Will agreed. "They'll want to talk. What better way to punish them then not allowing them to talk to us. I don't know about you guys, but I want to punish Val." The others agreed.

"So, do we send a message to them or something? Call this house? What?" Bud asked.

"Nope. We just disappear," was Will's answer.

"Do we tell the kids anything?" Trent wanted to know.

"I don't think so," Will responded. "First of all, I don't want to put the kids in the middle of this. Second, I want Val to have to explain. That will be a really good punishment."

When Will got agreement from the other two, he instructed them "Let's get back and pack bags quickly. Take enough for a few days. We'll go to the Concourse for the night? Oh. Cell phones off. We'll get some prepaids tomorrow so we can call each other." The other two just looked at Will in amazement, but went along with his plan.

As Will was getting out to go back to his car, Bud said "We don't have pictures or any other evidence of adultery. Is that OK with you two?"

"I can't live with Sandy and pretend nothing is wrong while we get evidence. We'll have to go with just knowing for ourselves."

"Um," Trent continued, "we shouldn't just leave the kids with no contact if something goes wrong. Leave the phones on. "I'll park so I can see when the girls come home. I'll call and let you know to turn them off."

"Good thinking, Trent," Will said as they parted.

Julia was moved by the shock the men had gone through. There was a lot of additional information she needed to have, and since their first appointment was for at least three hours, there would be time to cover some of it. Right away, though, she wanted to find out who the men were, what they were like, what their wives were like, and what their marriages were like. 'Had been like', she thought morosely.

Just from the way their actions Tuesday night had been described, she was getting a pretty good picture of their personalities, but she needed to be sure. Over the next forty-five minutes, she put it together quite well.

Will Crozier was a Human Resources Director for a medium sized local company. A very good athlete, he had not been good enough for the large university he attended, but he was still playing in some league most of the year. He loved to compete.

A psychology major, Will was the prototypical people person, perceptive, intuitive, and empathetic. Except in sports, he was non-confrontational. As a former quarterback and point guard, he thought well on his feet. He had dabbled in local politics, and was intrigued with the possibilities.

Emmett (Bud) Verbeek embodied some interesting contrasts. As a corporate lawyer, he was comfortable with the dry intricacies of the law. He had been on the debate team as an undergrad. Perhaps surprising, given his cerebral occupation, Bud had quite a temper, and a generally volatile, expressive personality. On top of that, he had a quick wit and natural comic timing. He was big and strong, and loved outdoor sports. To reduce the impact on his family, he went fishing very early in the morning whenever he could. He also took an extended Canadian outing every year.

Trent O'Connell was an engineering manager, and in many ways fit the common perception. Rather reserved socially, he could easily get lost working on or thinking about a project or a problem. He was a very good musician, playing drums and keyboard. Once his two boys got into the sports scene, he quit playing any gigs to avoid the time away from the family.

Trent had a self-confidence problem. Probably because of it, he was fanatical about conditioning and self-improvement. Each spring, he ran in a half-marathon, and had aspirations for the whole twenty-six miles.

Sandy O'Connell and Valerie (Val) Crozier were cousins, daughters of twins, who grew up next door to each other. Celia (Cece) Verbeek had lived a few houses away, and the three were about as close as any three women could be.

Sandy and Val had similar temperments. They were vivacious, gregarious, and bright, but with an underlying reserve that was recognizable to those close to them. There was always something that seemed to be held back or hidden.

Cece was as vivacious and gregarious as her friends, but without the reserve. With her, nothing was held back. She was at least as volatile as her husband, which made for some very interesting clashes. Those clashes, however, were always more cathartic than destructive, and the makeup sessions were off the scale. Cece and Bud did not need the battles to get great sex, but it invariably happened after they fought.

Will's approach to marital disputes was to absorb, deflect, and redirect. Sometimes, his 'bobbing and weaving' infuriated Val. When she wanted something to pound against, he just wasn't there. Instead, he was coming at her from a different direction, trying to defuse her anger with kindness and occasional humor.

In some ways, Sandy was just as infuriated with Trent when it came to controversy. He just gave in and would not fight. He had never really believed his great fortune in winning Sandy. There was always a lurking fear that if he did anything to displease her, he would lose her.

Despite what she discovered about personality and the handling of disputes, Julia found that controversy was not common in any of the households. She had always found that discussing how they fought was the most effective 'quick' way to characterize a relationship. From the men's standpoint, at least, they were three happy marriages with lots of genuine friendship, shared interests, mutual respect, and fulfilling sex.

The men had a strict 'date-a-week' rule that they enforced on each other. That had started several years back when the marriages of a number of mutual acquaintances began to crumble. Will was an avid student of psychology and relationships, and he encouraged the others to focus on specific activities to keep romance and excitement in their marriages.

All three men were achievers, and all had some travel demands on them. In part, the date nights were compensation for some very long hours at work during the week, and frequent nights away from home. They all thought they were striking the best balance they could, and the consensus was that the wives were all happy.

Variety was enforced, as well. None of the three had any financial problems, so premium events such as concerts, ballets, gallery openings, etc. were regular dates. Trips to vacation hotspots and exotic destinations happened less frequently, but all three wives had plenty to brag about. The awesome wardrobes needed to support so many events took a definite bite, but there were few complaints from the guys.

The most revealing part of Julia's investigation was about the sex in the marriages. Of course, she was only hearing one side of it, but it sounded awfully good. All three men told of vigorous, extended sessions, lots of variety, never being turned down, the wives initiating often, and loving, contented snuggling afterwards.

What Julia wanted to focus on next was what the men had done after the discovery. Trent described their week since.

Julia looked at Will, understanding that he was the spokesman, and asked "What is your reasoning for completely cutting off communication?"

"The first night, we didn't know how to react to them, or what to say. We thought it would be better to get away until we had time to think. But from the first, we wanted to punish them. We think that not being able to talk to us is the best punishment we can come up with right now."