John and Lyndsay Micheals were celebrating their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. Their marriage had been what many friends and relatives had termed the perfect "Storybook Marriage."

John never took Lyndsay for granted at any time. He always made certain that he took her out for a night on the town at least once a month. Many months, that number was greatly exceeded. John also made certain that he did all the little things that a wife could ask, before Lyndsay had the chance to ask. He would come home from work at the end of a long day to find dinner already on the table. During dinner, he always made time to find out how Lyndsay's, as well as the each child's day had gone. Once dinner was completed, he always went out in the kitchen to help Lyndsay with the dishes. That always seemed to spawn into a flirting session that on more than one occasion, found them screwing on the kitchen counter. It was always more fun knowing that at any time, one of the children might walk in on them, catching them in the act.

John also went out of his way to make time for the kids as well. John Jr. is 25 years old and married with 2 kids of his own. Lyndsay getting pregnant for him was the very reason for their getting married when they did. Jennifer is 23, and in the middle of a very messy divorce after catching her husband of only 2 years, doing a colleague. Their last two children were the twins, Olivia and Stephen. They had turned 20 a few months ago and were currently enjoying the fact that college was on break for the summer.

John and Lyn (as John always called her, ) met at a party that was being held in John's apartment. John and his three best friends shared a large house during college. It was the Saturday after Thanksgiving of John's senior year in school and three of them had decided to host a party. Tim missed the party since he had flown home and wouldn't be back until late Sunday evening.

They really met the following morning when they woke up in John's bed, naked as the day they were born. It had only taken them a few minutes to figure out that they had done more than just sleep. Lyndsay was scared, since she was not on birth control of any kind. John took some time that morning to find out about Lyn. She had just turned 18 and was a senior in high-school about 40 miles away. She had come to the party with her cousin Jenny who was a sophomore in college here. John told her that whatever happens, he would be there for her.

Since Jenny couldn't be found the next morning, John drove Lyn home. She was still nervous when they arrived.

"Lyn, if you miss your next cycle, give me a call. I will do what is needed and right."

"Ok. Thanks John."

It was about three weeks later when John received his first call from Lyn.

"Is John there?"

"Speaking."

"John, it's Lyndsay. We woke up together after the party."

"I know I'll never forget it."

"John, I'm a few days late. I'm scared."

"Listen, everything will be fine. Have you had a pregnancy test yet to verify that you indeed are pregnant?"

"Oh God no. My parents would kill me."

"Relax. I'm done with finals the day after tomorrow, which is Friday. I will pick you up Saturday morning and take you to the free clinic to get tested. Once we can verify the pregnancy, we will then decide what to do from there. Ok?"

"Ok."

They arranged where and when to meet before hanging up. It was two days later when Lyn was crying on John's shoulder. The test at the clinic verified her fears. They went back to his apartment to discuss what would happen next.

"Oh John. My parents are going to kill me."

"I don't think they would kill you. I know they'll want to kill me though."

"I wouldn't be surprised if they made us get married. They are very old fashioned."

"Would you want to marry me?"

"I don't know. We barely know each other."

"I agree. But like it or not, we are going to be parents. If it will make your parents happy, I will marry you."

They drove back to Lyn's house, both very nervous this time. John went inside with her this time. Lyn introduced her parents, David and Marilyn (Mary for short) Babcock. When Lyn told her parents about the impending birth, he was right there with her. As Lyn had expected, her parents wanted them to be married. They were happy when John told them that he was willing to do just that if it was what they wanted.

After talking with them for a while, they agreed that they would get married a few days after the Christmas holiday. Lyn's parents felt that would be best. They wanted her married before she started showing. They also agreed that he and Lyn would finish school since they were almost ready to graduate and should do so before the baby came.

John started commuting to Lyn's every weekend to be with her while he finished school. Once he graduated which was a month before she was scheduled to, he was able to set himself up with a very good job at one of the local banks in town. By the time she finished with school, he had saved enough that they were able to move out of her parents home and into their own place.

The first year was tough. Neither of them knew the other when they were first married, so that first year was spent getting to know each other. At the same time, they also became parents as well. This meant that they also had to learn how to take care of the children as well as each other. It wasn't until Jennifer came along that they realized how they really felt about each other. Once that happened, everyone who knew them felt that they were living a fairytale.

John had planned on going all out for the anniversary. Since it was only two days after Christmas, he was able to schedule what he wanted. John planned for a 3 day trip to Niagara Falls, over looking the Horseshoe Falls. The beauty of the falls from their 20th floor window was simply breathtaking. The top floor of the Sheraton Fallsview hotel looked straight down at the falls.

Lyn enjoyed the entire trip. John as always, planned everything very well. The restaurant was very highly rated (5 Star, last he knew.) He also was able to score some tickets to a play showing in Toronto as well. They also spent one evening out dancing. Lyn had always loved going out dancing and John was not about to forget about that.

Sunday afternoon after they had arrived home, was spent trying to relax and decompress. John had Monday and Tuesday off, since Tuesday was New Years Day, so neither was in any hurry to do anything. They were relaxing in the kitchen at the small table that they used when they were alone. John looked across the table into Lyn's eyes and smiled.

"I love you Lyn."

"I love you too, John."

"It's hard to believe that it has been 25 years. Any regrets?"

Lyn suddenly seemed rather sullen and kept her eyes on her coffee cup.

"Only one."

John peaked up and eyebrow and looked at her before answering, "What was it honey?"

"I'm not proud of it. I hope you can forgive me for what I did."

"Try me."

"Ok. It was two and a half years ago. You were at your convention in New York City. I had just found out about Daddy's death. My cousin Jenny came over and I cried on her shoulder. I had called you and you were trying to get your flight changed to get home as soon as possible. That night, Jenny talked me into going out. She figured that you could 'drink the pain away' as she put it. Well, at the bar I found myself feeling pretty good. Good and drunk that is. I ended up sitting and talking with this guy that I still don't know his name. Once thing led to another and before I knew it, he had taken me upstairs to his room at the hotel. Oh God, I was so stupid."

"You and he?" She nodded her head in agreement as the tears started flowing.

"It was horrible. He just used me for his personal release. I was a piece of meat to him. Afterward, instead of the hurt from the loss of Daddy, I was also feeling guilty. I'm sorry John."

John felt hurt, but he knew that what he felt now was nothing compared to what he had to say. He took her hand and used his other hand to lift her face so that he was looking into her eyes.

"Lyn, I'll make you a deal."

"What kind of deal?"

"You forgive me and I will forgive you."

"What have you done that I need to forgive you for?"

"What I did has bothered me ever since it happened."

"You cheated on me didn't you," she asked between the tears.

"No. I have never found anyone that I could ever consider worth risking my marriage for. I think what I did was probably worse."

"Well? Are you going to tell me?"

"It happened before we were married. You remember the party that we met at?"

"Yeah well, I remember waking up with you the morning after."

"It happened at that party. I hadn't had a girlfriend all semester so I was hoping to meet someone that I might begin dating. I saw this lovely girl that I immediately fell for. I was never able to talk to her before she disappeared. I was real disappointed.

Once everyone had either left or passed out, I started cleaning the place up a little. As soon as I had the house suitable for the night, I went into Tim's room to turn off the stereo. After I had the music off, I turned to leave and noticed that girl laying there on his bed. I knew that I just had to have her. I tried to wake her up, but she was totally passed out.

I just couldn't help myself as I started taking her clothes off. Once I had her naked, I was going to start on myself. I decided that I would have a better chance of 'having her' if I didn't do this here. I picked her up and carried her to my room where I laid her down in my bed. I got undressed and crawled in next to her. I commenced to have my way with her passed out body."

"But I thought that... Oh no. That was me wasn't it?"

He nodded his head in agreement.

"But I thought that you told me that you couldn't remember anything about what we did?"

"I was sober..."

"That's right. You don't drink. I have never in 25 years seen you take a single drink of anything with alcohol. You raped me that night."

"Yes," He replied very quietly.

"How could you do that? All this time that we have been together only to find out that you landed me because you raped me." He could tell that she was getting very angry now.

"I'm sorry honey."

"Yeah right." She jumped up and ran out the front door. John heard her car start as she took off. He knew where she was going. Her mother still lived about ten miles away. He just put his head in his hands and cried.

Lyndsay did end up at her mother's home. For the next 2 days, she just cried. Her mother tried to talk to her, but Lyn wouldn't give her any information on what was going on. On Wednesday, Lyn decided to talk to an attorney.

John just moped around the house. On one hand he felt better having gotten that weight off his shoulders. At the same time, he felt bad having hurt Lyndsay. It was a very lonely week for him. He didn't hear anything from Lyn until Friday. When he finally did hear something, he wished he didn't.

It was Friday evening. John had just gotten home from work. He was headed for the front door when a young gentlemen called out his name.

"Mr. John Micheals?"

"Yes"

The young man handed John some papers before stating, "You have been served" and left.

John walked inside and sat down to read the paperwork. Lyn had already filed for divorce. John couldn't read anymore. He went to be early and cried himself to sleep.

Lyndsay had called all four of their children to let them know that she had filed for divorce. She felt that she needed to be the one to let them know, since she was the one who was filing. All of the kids were quite upset upon hearing it. Lyn would not tell her children why, only that she was. This bothered them greatly. The four of them found themselves on Dad's doorstep at 10 am Saturday morning.

John was shocked to answer the door and find all 4 kids outside. They were invited in and asked what they needed. Everyone relaxed in the living room before the questions started. John Jr. started the questions off.

"Dad, what the hell is going on?"

"I take it that your mother told you about the divorce."

"Yes she did. She told us that she didn't want us to hear about it later. She would not tell us why. What happened Dad?"

John was looking down very sadly. He looked like he was about to cry.

"Daddy, please tell us what's going on" Olivia responded.

"Ok. This may be quite difficult for you guys to handle. I want you to know that this has bothered me for 25 years. Are you really certain that you want to hear this?"

All four of his children replied that they would. He commenced to explain everything that Lyn and he had discussed the week before. Both of the events that happened shocked them. When he was done rehashing the two ugly events in his marriage, all four of the children were in tears. Finally, Jennifer was able to speak.

"Daddy, if you could change anything, would you?"

"Jen, I don't think that I would. I have lived with this for 25 years. They were the best 25 year that I could have ever hoped for. I would not have had any of you if I did. I don't think your mother would have ever dated me any other way. The only change I would want to make would be the fact that I told her. I just that she deserved to know the truth."

"What about her adultery," John Jr. asked.

"With what she told me, I could probably forgive her. It may take some time. I don't really know how to feel right now."

"Thanks for your honesty Dad. I know how much you love Mom. It must have been killing you to hide that all these years. I expect that current things are not pleasant either. Hang in there. I expect Mom to wake up soon enough."

"Thanks guys. I love you."

"We love you too Daddy," Jen and Olivia responded.

They all stated their goodbyes and left. John sat down and was feeling a bit better. The kids at least had not condemned him. That gave him some hope.

After they left their father, they headed to John Jr.'s home, since it was the closest. They sat and discussed things with John's wife as well. That evening, they headed over to see Lyn. This time Brooke, John's wife, came along with as well as the children, four year old Stacy and two year old Mark. John and Brooke figured that the children could occupy themselves with their great-grandmother while they talked with Lyn.

A very surprised Mary opened the door to find her grandchildren staring at her. Stacy and Mark ran up to give her a hug before being led inside.

"Is Mom here Gram?"

"She's in the kitchen working on dinner. What's bothering you?"