Chapter 1

There are labels for men that find out their wives are cheating and then accept it by taking them back into their lives. I did and this is how it all happened. So label me if you must.

God must have a plan, but I don't know what it could be. Anyway, right at the present my world has been torn apart. I honestly don't know if there is any fix to it either. You see, I just found out that my wife of twenty-two years has apparently been screwing around on me. I know, because the evidence is right here before me. I have her damp semen-stained panties in my hand and we haven't had sex in more than a week.

Why would I have her panties in my hand you ask? Well it goes back to earlier today. I work in a factory and my wife, Heidi, works as a buyer for a clothing store. She had been away on a two-day buying trip and returned today. Shortly after lunch, my daughter Glenna called, anxious, but not too concerned. "Daddy, Mom has had an auto accident. She has been shaken up, but I don't think seriously injured. We are at the hospital and she is going to stay overnight for observation. Her car is damaged and was towed. Would you go down to the Ford dealership and get her personal stuff out of the car? Her overnight bag and briefcase are in it."

"You sure your mother is okay? Can I talk to her?"

"The doctor said you can come in later to see her. They gave her a sedative and she is sleeping. I never saw Mom so upset about something like this before. I'm going to stay until she is awake. Make sure you empty her car. I was supposed to do it, but I want to stay here with her."

"Okay, I'll get her stuff and see her this evening. Tell her I love her if she wakes up before I get there."

I thought it strange that Heidi called Glenna instead of me. I left the factory where I was a systems manager and went down to where they had towed her car. It was a mess. Another car had hit it a glancing blow and took off the right front fender, the wheel and the spindle. I think she was going to need a new vehicle as this one was four years old. I walked around it again and I could see that the grill had been crumpled and the bumper was torn partly loose.

Heidi's briefcase was on the floor in front and her overnight case was half open on the back seat. When I picked the bag up to close it, the smell of sex was overpowering in the hot and shut up vehicle. I felt like I had been kicked in the belly and thought I was going to barf.

I opened it fully to find the teal-colored teddy that I had given Heidi for Christmas seven months ago. The matching panties were still wet when I picked them up. The thought flashed through my mind that it was always the unexpected that brought a crime out into the open. This time the crime happened to be the unfaithfulness of my wife.

How was I going to handle this? I loved my wife and I thought she loved me. I had been faithful for twenty-two years. I had never even flirted with others when she was around, for to me that was being disrespectful. Heidi was more outgoing and sometimes it did bother me when she flirted so outrageously. Up until now, though, I would have bet money that she had never cheated on me. I knew differently for the panties I held in my hand told me she had.

I cleaned out the car and headed home. When I got there I stored my wife's briefcase where she always kept it and took the now closed overnight bag upstairs and put it down inside the door. I went back down and got a brew from the bottom of the refrigerator, cracking it open as I sat down in the living room. I sat thinking of all kinds of ways to get revenge. I then thought of Glenna. She and her mother were close. If I attacked one, I would be attacking the other and I didn't want to do that to my daughter.

Could I still be the faithful appearing and loving husband when I faced her in the hospital tonight? I thought I could. I could carry on until I decided what my best course of action was going to be. In one way this was a license to steal if I wanted to. There was the widow down at the end of the street who was always friendly at the neighborhood gatherings. And of course there was Mitzy who lived across the street. She was a divorcée. Maybe I could just walk across and right into her bed. I had never been invited, but she was very friendly.

Maybe I should find out who my wife was screwing and maybe the reason why. Could it be she didn't love me anymore? Did he have a bigger cock than me? Maybe he spent more money on her than I did. I thought I gave her everything she needed. I couldn't think of once when I denied her anything. The phone rang.

"Hi Daddy, Mom is awake. She wants to know if you got her briefcase and things. She says she has some important orders in there."

"I have them and brought them home okay. I put her briefcase where it goes and left her overnight bag upstairs. She is going to have a new car out of this. I think the car has been totaled. How is she feeling?"

I could hear Glenna telling her mother everything I had said. "Mom is feeling fine after her nap. She wants to come home, but will settle for staying here if you come in and tell her you love her."

"I'll be there in a couple of hours. That will give her a chance to eat. In the meantime, tell her I love her and I'm glad she wasn't hurt." Why wasn't I having this conversation with my wife instead of with Glenna? Was Heidi trying to suppress her guilt by not talking to me before she had to? We would see. The thought gave me confidence I could face her without revealing what I knew.

I called a private investigator. Patrick Sears and I had gone to school together. After college I went into the factory and he went onto the police force. Taking a bullet in one knee, he took the next best thing when he was terminated and went on disability. The injury had made him unfit for more service on the force.

I explained what I knew and what I wanted from him. We settled on a plan. I knew that Heidi would not be going out on a buying trip again for two weeks. I did want to know if she was calling anyone, so Patrick was going to bug our phones. That done and with a cold meat sandwich under my belt, I headed for the hospital to face my wife.

It was easier than I thought. I kissed her when I came in and kissed my daughter too. I could feel Heidi watching me to see if I was acting differently. I inquired for her condition, and told her how much I missed her for the two days she had been away. I hinted that now I had almost lost her through the auto accident, I was going to be all over her like bees on honey. She relaxed after I said this. Maybe I should have gone into the theater.

I stayed until visiting hours were over, sitting on the edge of the bed holding Heidi's hand, and every once in awhile leaning down to kiss her. I even copped a feel when my daughter wasn't looking. Glenna, twenty, had her own apartment which she shared with another girl her own age. Leaving so very reluctantly, I said I was going home and go to bed. "Is there anything you want me to do? Unpack or anything?"

"No!" That exploded from Heidi. "Miles Compton, I'll take care of that tomorrow." I hoped my wife would have an uneasy night wondering if I had opened her bag.

I picked Heidi up in the morning. The neighbors had heard about the accident and the house was full of well-wishers when I brought Heidi home. She excused herself finally, and said she just had to get her travel clothes in the washer.

It was hot on this July day. Thank God it was a Saturday. There was going to be a barbecue in the evening at one of the neighbors and we had agreed to go when it was proposed earlier in the week. Heidi was in rare form, flitting and flirting around the men. Not enough to make the women jealous, but enough to make the men wish they could see her alone sometime.

I watched her. I don't know what my face showed, but Audrey, the widow from down the street, picked up on the fact that I was different somehow. I was sitting in the shadows over on the edge of the patio when she sat down beside me. "You want to tell me about it?"

Sadly, I answered her. "No, but I will. Heidi is having an affair. I found out about it yesterday. I feel as if I have been kicked in the stomach."

Audrey was older than me by five years. You know that there is always someone you feel comfortable with and can bare your soul to. That is the way I felt about Audrey. She had lost her husband way too soon. I knew they must have had a wonderful life together as long as it lasted. I wish I could have met him. I think we would have been friends.

She was silent after I told her the information about Heidi. Then, "It hurts I know. Harold had an affair and it just about crushed me. He was so contrite and apologetic, I forgave him. It paid off for me for we went on to have a wonderful life together. Don't blame Heidi altogether, for it takes two. What are you going to do?"

"I don't know yet. I'm going to find out who he is if I can. Why?"

"Does she know that you know?"

"No she doesn't. I also have found out that I can act. I feel as if I would like to slap her or at the most go out and do the same thing as she has done to me. Neither one is an option, for that is not me. You can see I am trying to act just the same as always. You are the only one that noticed something different about me."

"You are saying you still love her, aren't you?"

"I suppose. How do you turn away from someone that you have loved and cherished for more than twenty years? Apparently she has turned away, but I can't. Look at her out there with the guys. Everyone of them would like to get into her panties and she acts as if she would let them. Up until now I thought it was just me, but what about the others? At least one has, and that is what hurts."

"I think you are wise to act as normal as possible until you find out more. Sometimes there are extenuating circumstances. I'm glad you haven't tossed her out, or worse yet, beat on her. As you say, that isn't you. Also remember, if things don't work out for you, you will find that there are women that would love to take her place."

"Would you be one of them?"

"I don't want to answer that. It wouldn't be right. I do like talking to you. You are a lot like my Harold and I loved him."

I reached across and held her hand just for a moment and received a pensive smile in return as she withdrew her fingers from mine. I jumped when from behind me I heard, "You two over here in the semi-dark holding hands. You aren't trying to steal my husband are you Audrey?"

"No, Heidi, I'm not trying to steal him from you. Just be careful you don't give him away though. He is someone who has a lot of value." She turned back to me. "Miles, it was so nice talking to you. As I said, you remind me of Harold so much. Now I think I will go home and dream of how things used to be. Goodnight Heidi." I watched Audrey walk away. I wondered what tonight would be like if I was going with her.

"What was that all about?"

"I think Audrey is lonely. I was sitting here alone, so she just stopped by to talk. I was commiserating with her in her loneliness. You shouldn't mind. I can see you have the usual bunch of horny neighbors paying court to you."

"Jealous?"

"Not ever. You find someone better than I have been to you, he can have you."

"You mean you wouldn't fight for me? You are my husband and you are supposed to fight to keep me."

"It would depend when it came time to fight if I felt you were worth it. You were at one time, but watching you tonight, I wonder if I could be wrong."

"Miles, lighten up, this is a party. Everyone but you is flirting. I'm just getting my batteries charged to go home and fuck your brains out. You'll see." With that Heidi whirled away and rejoined the men. One neighbor dared to put his hand on her butt. She removed the hand, but only after she wiggled her ass a few times.

My ego was given another boost an hour later. Mitzy, the divorcée from across the street, came over and sat next to me in the corner I had staked out and held all night. "Hi Miles, care to talk to a lonely girl?"

"I would love to. You are looking beautiful tonight."

"Miles, thank you. That is the nicest thing said to me tonight. Other people have said the same thing, but coming from you, I know it is meant as a compliment and not just to flirt with me. It is funny, I know I have a reputation, but I'm no worse than most of the people here that are so upright. Believe it or not, I have been seriously propositioned by all but two of the men here and two women have hinted they would not be adverse to jumping into bed with me either. What was the name of that book that was so popular fifty years ago? It was about some little place where all the people were screwing each other."