Chapter 2: The Best Plans Of Mice And Men

I don't know how long I sat there staring at that hotel. My mind was in a kind of daze. I had just followed my loving wife to a hotel where I had been informed she was going to meet her lover; the guy who apparently claimed to be the father of my children.

Then I saw the light come on in one of the rooms on the first floor. Now I had on occasions been into the Royal in the past. Sometimes we have used it for seminars and things at work. The rooms on the first floor are numbered in the 200's so I assumed that was room 204, the one my informant had said they usually used. Unfortunately there was a balcony on all the rooms on this side of the hotel that obscured my view. I moved the car up and down the road but I couldn't see anything inside the room even though the curtains were not drawn.

For the next hour or so my mind was in turmoil. Should I go dashing in there like an avenging tiger? It sounds like the obvious thing to do. But on reflection I thought, I was only going on what someone else had told me. I had no proof that Maggie was in that room and if she was I had no idea who she was with or what she was doing. Supposing she was on some innocent errand, which seemed unlikely to me but it was a possibility. Supposing she was meeting some lover, but in a different room. I'd look a complete idiot, prove nothing and more likely tip Maggie and her so called lover off that I was suspicious.

Let's face it: whilst I'd been sitting there a dozen couples had gone in and out. If I went to the wrong room I'd most likely get my teeth kicked in for my trouble. No, it was better if I waited to see with whom Maggie comes out. I was sure I would be able to get all the evidence I needed at their next rendezvous. In the end I settled on parking in the hotel car park to wait and see what happened.

Look, what was the point in rushing things, if this has been going on long enough for this creep to be telling people that my kids are his, what difference is a bloody month going to make now?

It would also give me time to move some finances around as well. These divorces can be very expensive. I'd be far better off if I quietly moved some of my money to where the lawyers can't find it and that was going to take some time.

You'd honestly be surprised at what goes through your mind when you are sitting waiting for your so-called loving wife to finish her little tryst.

About ten thirty the light went out in the room and a few minutes later Maggie came out the front door alone. She turned right into the car park and actually walked right past my car. But she was looking up and down the road and not at the parked cars.

When there was no traffic about, she all but ran over the road into the shadows by the houses on the other side and then quickly made off down the side turning towards where her own car was parked.

I sat around watching the door of the hotel but only groups and couples came out. I was expecting a single man to appear. But I was out of luck.

At midnight I made my way home. I really didn't know how I was going to handle things at home. Whilst I had been sitting outside the hotel that was the one thing I hadn't thought about. I must have sat in the drive for a long time before I got up the nerve to go inside. When I got in I was met by Abigail and Ashley (my second eldest). They told me their mother had gone to bed and they were wondering where I had been as I was so late getting home. I told them I had been at the sports club where I had been playing snooker.

I went up to bed and as I got in Maggie cuddled up to me. Now this was my big test, I didn't want her to know I was suspicious of her so I had to play the loving husband. Well, I was the loving husband; it was Maggie who was doing the betraying.

Maggie's hands started roaming. I knew that she was intending that we have a session, but she was unlucky. For some reason my old Pecker decided that it wasn't going to stand up and play ball. Well, I think I knew the reason but Maggie was surprised. In all the years we had been together it was the first time she hadn't been able to turn me on.

I acted just as surprised as she was and told her I was going to have to see the doctor about it as I was much too young to have the equipment failing. We fell asleep in each other's arms. Well, that's a bloody lie; Maggie fell asleep and I lay there wondering what had gone wrong between us and when.

The following day and the days that followed nothing appeared to have changed. Maggie acted as she always had and I had to act my socks off pretending that nothing was wrong.

The only thing I can remember that was any different about that time was Abigail and Ashley. They both seemed to have suddenly grown up; Ashley announced that she was moving in with Abigail and Mike. Basically they said it was to help with the rent. But I had my suspicions that she figured she would have more freedom with her fiancé Roger. If you know what I mean?

Hey, I was a teenager in the sixties. Besides advising them to use extreme caution, my girls were free to make their own choices.

As a matter of fact I suddenly realised how much all my girls had grown up. I may have been mistaken but over the few months before I found out about Maggie, all my daughters had grown much closer to me. I found I didn't have to lay down the law as much and the younger two would never be late home anymore.

I gave the Royal a good check out. Being the director in charge of servicing and maintenance at Punchall I visited the Royal on the pretence that I was going to hold another seminar. They were too happy to help and laid out the red carpet. Whilst I was there, I gave room 204 the once over. It was the bridal suite, very nicely done if you ask me.

I'd done my homework and asked if it was available for the third Wednesday of the next month. Guess what? It was booked for the third Wednesday of every month. I stood behind the guy as he typed the date into the computer; I nearly had another heart attack when I saw it was booked in Maggie's maiden name. I booked the room next door under my secretary Steff's name. I'd had to bounce all this off someone and besides my brother there was no one else I could trust.

When I got back to the office I quickly told my secretary what I had done and that night I went round to her house and told her husband about my problems. I didn't want him getting any wrong ideas. He was very sympathetic and offered to come with me on the night. Apparently he had caught his first wife on the lam. Gary and Stephanie turned into good friends who I have relied on a lot over the last few years.

Maggie and my sex life almost died out completely although it did recover a little as the years went on. Once I knew whom she was going with, I got my act together. I will admit I was using her for sex and sex alone. But I was acting the part of the loving husband. I was so hurt by her actions that when the time came to end it I wanted it to take her completely by surprise.