Chapter 2

"Will it make any difference, Jen? What is lost is lost and that is my trust in you and my trust in my ability to keep you happy. Do you really want to have a husband who will be checking on you every single moment of you life? I know you will say right now that you will not mind it, but in a few years when your guilt will be lesser you will feel caged and my mistrust would make you run away. Let's break it clean so that I can move on." Jason Said.

Jenny and Ana stood speechless as we walked out. Ana must have been wondering what hit her. If she had actually not cheated, the price she was about to pay for a character flaw was enormous.

This is where our first instalment ended ... Now, for the rest...

Ana:

I sat wondering what just happened? I had done nothing wrong. I was not the one who was cheating. How could this happen to her? All that I am guilty of was supporting my friend at a time when I should not have.

As I packed my overnight bag my heart was breaking. Never in a thousand nights did this dream come to me that I would be in a situation as hopeless as this. There was no doubt in my mind that the marriage would survive if Matt gave me a chance to explain things. However, survival of the trust and ease in the marriage was under severe doubt.

Jenny was no help in the state that she was. I had to decide where to go and I decided on a small motel not too far from my house. It was a nice comfortable motel but sleep was far from my eyes. I just kept crying thinking about how stupid I had been. While I was not very enthusiastic about Jenny cheating on Jason, I had gone along after Jenny convinced me that she was still in love with Jason and was doing it just for a little thrill. The rationale did not go well with me but I strung along because I would not dare to let Jenny meet Simon at a motel where the chances of her getting caught and hurting Jason were more.

I could of course think of a million reasons why Matt would not trust me. I had, after all, been hiding such a big secret from him. I was an accessory to the adultery and would be tried such in the court of life. I had no clue what would happen to me. We have no children and Matt has no reason to stick with me if his faith is shaken. I know Matt better than anyone in this whole wide world. For him words like Loyalty, Honour, Love, Promise are not just words, they are the basics on which a man's dignity rides. He would never give you a false word and he would never deceive anyone. My straight as an arrow Matt would look at this incident as a betrayal of his belief in me and also that of Jason.

In the morning I tried calling Matt but he never picked up the phone. For me, it was imperative that I got hold of him. I called up his office only to be told that he had taken a weeks leave and was away from the town. I tried calling up Jason to explain matters to him but it was futile as well, although Jason did pick up the phone once but he hung up as soon he realized that it was I.

Meanwhile Jenny was inconsolable. Her marriage had ended without any ray of hope left. Jenny never did study beyond high school because of of the death of her parents. Being all alone in the world after their death she was taken care of by Jason's parents, who were not too rich to begin with. They did take good care of her, but could not afford to send her to collage or arrange for any higher education for her. Since Jason was an extremely good provider she never did need to work but I worked all my life despite the fact that Matt was a very successful guy. Now, Jenny had no where to turn to. All that she would have to live on would be the money from settlement after divorce. She had no skills apart from cooking that could get her a job.

I tried to be positive for the first two days and still hoped that once Matt felt he had punished me enough he would come back. That positive attitude vanished as soon as I was served with divorce papers. The reason listed was incorrigible difference.

For more than eight years I've invested my heart and soul into my marriage and have tried to be a good wife to him. I was not just his wife I was also his best friend. Of course there have been highs and lows as in any relationship but we fought with and for each other to stay together and were planning to do that forever. Matt is a loving and caring husband and an EXTREMELY good lover. So why did I lie to him? Well, technically I did not lie to him. All I did was not tell the truth. I can understand how his relationship with Jason was put under test here. If our marriage survived his friendship would not. Jason could never bear to look at my face again. Not just Jason, all of Matts friends would look at me as an individual who condoned adultry. My social life was going to change drastically no matter what the outcome.

I called up Matt after receiving the divorce papers and surprisingly he picked up the phone.