Always Faithful – To the Bitter End

Once again he was amazed at how often Laura could surprise him. He wondered if he ever really knew her at all. "Laura, I didn't think there were any plans to make. I was going to tell my parents we wouldn't be visiting this year due to other commitments and assumed you would to something appropriate with your family."

She couldn't blame him for thinking this, but Dan was her husband and this was a long standing family tradition. "Don't be silly, Thanksgiving is a Dan & Laura tradition. It's part of our relationship." After a short pause she continued. "I thought we could fly out to my parents Thursday morning, rent a car and drive to your parents on

Sunday and fly back on Tuesday."

When he got home, Leanne was waiting for him as she had been every night since they first shared a bed. After dinner, he placed a cold drink in her hands and told her about Laura and his upcoming Thanksgiving trip. She asked him not to go. He told he that he didn't want to, but short of filing the divorce papers he couldn't find away to

say no. The discussion continued for quite a while. Towards the end, Leanne asked Dan the big question, the nuclear bomb question. "Dan, have you considered that now is the time to file for divorce? You know this trip will not end well for you. You know and I know it, so why go through with it?"

Dan honored her question by giving it serious thought. After a time, he looked at the woman he was falling in love with and said, "No, I don't think this is the time. I promised her until the end of year. I told her I would not intrude on her relationship with Greg. I think she would see divorce as a major intrusion, don't you?"

Leanne looked at this man and marveled at how he could be so hurt by that cunt and yet still risk more of her pain, just because he had told her he wouldn't interfere. In the end she could do nothing but grab him, hug him, kiss him and show him how special he was.

Life returned to normal until Thanksgiving morning. Greg woke Laura up earlier and made sure she was marked as his woman by the time he dropped her at the airport. Leanne woke Dan with a holiday blow job and told him that whatever happened she was there for him. As he exited the car, Leanne made sure he had his cell phone with him and reminded him that she would have her's on and with her until his return.

As it turned out Dan and Laura did not meet each other until Dan took his seat next to her. After closing the overhead compartment, Dan greeted her with a kiss on the cheek and gentle squeeze of the hand. A few minutes later they were at cruising altitude nursing two screwdrivers. At this point Dan pulled a velvet bag out of his pocket

and emptied the engagement and wedding rings he had retrieved from Leanne's box. She smiled at them and then at him. "Are you asking me to wear them my husband?"

Dan smiled back, "I brought them for that purpose."

The conversational thaw occurred as soon as the rings were back on Laura's fingers. Soon she was telling Dan everything that had been going on with Greg, work and her work for Business Lady. Typically, she omitted all of her sexcapades, except of course for when Dan asked a direct question about them. She already knew that she was going to cause him a great deal pain and had no desire to make it worse.

Eventually, Laura completed her tale and Dan was as caught up on her life as he could be. So she started to ask about his life starting with work.

Dan told her that work was going great. "Last August I formally received the promotions to Senior VP. That means I am now one of 4 corporate officers running a $17B business. Not too bad is it?"

"No that's great Dan, really, I am very proud of you. I always knew you would make it. Didn't you tell me that a new Senior VP is a really big event at your company?"

"Still is. They held a companywide party with all of our other locations participating by video. It was strictly black tie, great food and good music. They announced the retirement of my predecessor and introduced me. I have to admit it was a bit embarrassing but in a very good way."

"Sounds lovely, I wish I could have been there but I guess it was limited to employees only."

"Just the opposite, wives were encouraged to attend. It's one the milestone events the company uses to make everyone part of the corporate family."

"Dan, I'm confused if wives were expected why didn't I know about the party? Why didn't you take me?"

Dan stopped talking and looked at her for brief moment till he realized she was serious.

"Laura, this was your time with Greg, I promised you I would respect that and not interfere."

"Oh. Well thank you then. Did you go alone?"

"No, Leanne accompanied me to the dinner."

Laura's nostrils flared a bit as she asked, "Did you tell everyone she was your wife?"

Dan chuckled at that, "No I didn't tell them she is my wife. I wouldn't lie to those people especially not on a night like that one."

"Well what did you tell them? They do know you are married."

"Laura is that really important?"

"Yes, Baby I think it is."

With an inaudible sigh, "Knowing you couldn't be at my side I was worried for few days as to how I was going to handle your absence. I was worried until I realized you had already given me an example of what to do. So I used the same approach you used the night of your red dress date with Greg. I just told them the truth. In your case,

you acknowledged to everyone that Greg was your lover and I was aware of it. In my case, I told them that you had left me 2-months earlier to live with your lover as his wife. Of course, there were a lot of follow-up questions and offers to help but I told them nothing was decided and that I was still in the processing of adjusting to the

new situation. Off course having Leanne there to provide support helped immensely."

Listening to this story Laura's emotions went on a roller coaster ride. She knew she should have been there for him. It was his time, she was proud of him. She had supported him all those years and encouraged his success. Not to be there when he finally achieved his prize hurt her deeply. But she couldn't really say anything because he did exactly what she had asked of him. He had let her have her time with Greg, just as she had asked. She wondered what will happen when Dan and I are together again, how will I face his peers and their wives when they know I missed the most important event in his career. And they know I missed it because I was with my lover. "Dam," she thought to herself,"this shouldn't be that hard, why is it always so hard. I love Greg but I love Dan more. I would have happily been at his side." Pushing the thoughts away she turned her attention back to Dan who was watching her intently.

"So how has work been after the promotion?"

Laura watching Dan, thought she saw a slight blush. "Why would he blush?" she thought.

"Laura, we don't have to talk anymore about work, I can see it makes you uncomfortable."

"Nonsense, tell me more. Tell me everything you've done."

"Okay. Well I've told you before that after a new company officer is appointed, the executive team goes on a ten day retreat." Actually, Laura had forgotten. "Well this time was no different. A week after the party I was in Maui. Monday through Friday we reviewed the company's strategy and 5-year plans from 10 am -- 2pm. The rest of the

weekday was spent socializing with the other officers and their wives. The weekends before and after were for husbands and wives to enjoy and relax. It was a great time."

As Dan spoke, Laura's thoughts did not match her calm exterior, "Shit another wife inclusive event and I wasn't even aware of it. Dan and I have talked about going to Maui for years and when he finally goes there he doesn't even invite me." Just then, another thought came to Laura.

"Dan, did Leanne go to Maui with you."

"Yes."

"Any other travel you would like to share with me?"

Dan recognized the edge to Laura's question but figured, she asked and she always preferred the direct approach.

"Yes, Baby a lot. My new job greatly increased my travel time. Since the Maui trip I've had two major trips. One was a 3-week visit to Japan and China. It was all business but I did get to stand on the Great Wall and shop the Ginza. The second 3-week trip was to New Zealand and Australia. I have also spent some time in London, Berlin and Rome. God I loved Rome, the art was spectacular."

"Can I assume no wives were invited on these trips?"

Dan actually sounded sad when he said, "No, wives were expected to come. The nature of the trips was relationship building and that meant a lot of social events and mixing of the spouses. And yes, before you asked, I took Leanne on all of them except to Australia. I took Patron to that one."

Laura was trying hard not to get angry at Dan, in fact she was trying not to get angry at herself. As Dan talked about traveling the world with another woman she had been washing and ironing Greg's clothes. While she had been cramped under Greg's desk giving him a blow job, Dan's other woman has been in first class drinking champagne and

living large.

"Well with all that travel I hope they paid for first class seats."

Laura saw Dan wince again. "They did pay for first class didn't they? You are one of their executives now aren't you?"

"Yes Laura I really am one of the key executives now. But no they didn't pay for first class tickets." Dan paused before continuing, he sensed that she would not like what came next. "As an executive they no longer buy tickets for me. I have been assigned one of the company's jets for my personal use. I told you I travel a lot more these

days."

Laura literally didn't know what to say, after a couple of breaths she knew a change of subject was in order.

"How is your art collection going? Any new acquisitions or events?"

Dan smiled. "The collecting is going great. In mid September Leanne threw a party at my house. The invitees were a local who's who of artist and critics. The surprise attendee was the New York Times art critic."

"Sounds good, do you think it successful event?"

Dan looked at her, realizing that she truly hadn't made any attempt to keep up with his life. "It was pretty successful. The local paper had a full page article with 2 photos in its Living & Arts section, "Paper City" ran a 4 page spread calling it "The Artistic Event of the Year" and the critic from the Times gave it a favorable review

in his Sunday column."

As Laura listened to Dan's summary of his art collecting activities, she was struck by how changed he seemed. Last time she had seen him, he was sad almost in tears because she was leaving to be with Greg for a few months. Then she smiled.

"Dan, did everyone like my two portraits?"

Caught off guard, Dan answered the only way he could, truthfully. "No one saw them. I didn't include them in the show. With you gone, well they were just too hard for me to look at every day."

The smile vanished with the words, "Yes, I can understand that and I'm sorry I hurt you so much you couldn't look at those pictures. One day, we can put them both up together okay, Baby?"

Dan hugged her and whispered "Yes Baby, I would like that. I would like that very much." As he spoke those words he knew they were true. After all the pain and hurt he still loved her. He didn't know how he could possibly get past all that she had put him through, but he knew at that moment, if she came back to him he would try. He would

buy a new house and they could make it into a new home. If she ever came back to him. He smiled then, thinking about the surprise that he had for her.

---------------------------------------------------

The drive to Laura's parents was uneventful and peaceful and Thanksgiving dinner was the same except for lots of turkey and stuffing. The next day, Laura along her mother and sisters did their Black Friday shopping while Dan and the other men folk drank beer and watched football. Altogether, the two days had passed without incident and Dan

was surprisingly happy with it all. Of course, Dan was blissfully unaware that Laura had spent several hours with her family telling them of her trial marriage with Greg and that she was flying out the next day to go skiing with her other husband.

It was a little after 9:30 pm on Friday night when Laura opened up her suitcase and started packing. After a few minutes of silent observation Dan finally asked why she was packing. It was then that she told him of her plans to spend the rest of her holiday with Greg skiing at Stowe. Hoping to cut off an angry fight in her parent's house, she firmly told him that it was still part of her "until-the-end-of-the year" time and he had promised to support her.

Laura's hopes were met as there was no angry fight. In fact there was nothing. Dan just stared at her for a long time, it felt like hours to her. Just before she was going to ask if him he had something to say, he burst out laughing. This disturbed her more than anything else since meeting him on the plane.

When Dan's laughter finally stopped, he wiped his eyes and walked into the bathroom and closed the door. As soon as the door was closed he pulled out his cell phone and sent the follow text to Leanne:

You were right. Needed earliest departure. Call back soonest. No reason to delay. Dan

After sending the text, Dan returned to the bedroom where Laura was continuing to pack.

"My sister will drive me to the airport tomorrow morning, so will have to drive to your parents alone."

Looking at her, Dan said in a very conversational voice. "Laura I did promise you this time with Greg and I want to wish a very enjoyable vacation with your current husband. I was going to make this much harder for you, but thankfully you have reminded me of my commitment to your current marriage."

Laura was now very confused. She had prepared for all of the expected responses to her announcement: anger, outrage, sarcasm and even whining. What she had not anticipated was laughter followed by heartfelt good wishes.

"What were you going to do to make it harder on me? Yell? You know that wouldn't work. Once I have made my decision I don't change my mind."

"No Laura, I wasn't going to yell. You are going off on vacation with Greg and like I said, I hope you have fun. Just out of curiosity, can you tell me where you went on your last vacation?"

"I went to St. Marteen."

"And the vacation before that?"

"The Outer Banks."

"Where was the last vacation you and I took?" Watching Laura hesitate when she had so readily answered about her vacations with Greg, Dan pushed forward, "Let me make it easy for you. For the last 3-years we haven't been on vacation together. I haven't taken one. I haven't taken one, because I never wanted to go without you and you consumed all of your vacation time with Greg."

Laura took a step back in shock. "Dan, I am so sorry. I didn't realize, truly I didn't. I promise when this is all over I'll make it up to you. I promise I'll let you wisk me off on that company jet of yours to any place you would like to go I promise."

With a slightly sadder tone, "Laura, I had hoped to wisk you off Sunday. You see, I never planned to see my parents this year. I told them I wasn't coming because you had been living with your lover the last 6-months and I was hoping to reconcile with you. The company plane was scheduled to pick us up Sunday morning and take us somewhere very tropical and romantic."

Before she could gather her thoughts and reply, Dan continued.

"You may have wondered why I started laughing a while ago. The reason is, as you shared your vacation plans with me, I realized that this was exactly why I never date married woman. Their availability is always determined by the needs of another."

For the second time this evening, Laura didn't know what to say. Her whipsawing emotions had her paralyzed. Just as she said, "Dan..." his cell phone went off.

Dan extracted phone, looked at the display and smiling answered the call. "It's me. Really, " a quick check of his watch, "Great that's very doable, but I gotta get moving. See you soon and with a little bit of luck mimosa's at sunrise." Hanging up, Dan looked around for his suitcase. Finding it, he placed it on the bed and started a

frantic effort to pack."

After watching him moving like a maniac, tossing his clothes into the suitcase, Laura couldn't help but ask, "What's going on, what's the big rush all of a sudden."

Not looking up from his packing, Dan replied in that same calm voice he used ever since he had stopped laughing. "Well, it turns out if I hustle I can catch a ride on one of the other corporate jets tonight and since my jet doesn't have to fly out here on Sunday, I can leave tonight for my vacation. If everything works out right, I'm told I could arrive in time to see the sunrise and I'm told it's worth watching."

Laura remained silent as Dan finished his packing. When he was done he looked at her.

"Laura I will always love you, I hope you know that. I can't seem to stop you from hurting me, but you need to understand that there are always consequences. For example, because of the way you have humiliated me in front of your family, I promise you, that when I walk through the front door of this house, I will never return. I will never return here for another holiday so you have destroyed one of Laura & Dan's traditions.. Also understand that if any member of your family ever comes to visit, I will stay away from home until they leave. Think about that and then ask yourself if you could have handled this in a better way."

Picking up his bag, he turned toward her one more time and said, "Enjoy your vacation."

Laura sat there in disbelief. She heard him walk down the steps. Heard him talking to her father. Heard the door open and close. She heard the rental car start and heard its engine change from a something very close to something far away. Then she heard nothing and started to cry.

As she cried, she wondered what had happened to the Dan that loved her. The Dan that hurt by her revelation would have argued with her to stay but in the end would have given his permission so she would be happy. Her happiness was important to the Dan she knew and loved. His pain when she left to be with Greg had always been the source of

her confidence. As long as she could hurt him when she went to her lover, she always knew he would wait for her return. Waiting to love her and be loved by her.

But tonight Dan was different. He gave her the permission she desired, but he seemed to do it without any internal struggle. Tonight's Dan seemed stronger, more confident, much calmer and maybe even a bit colder. Maybe it was all of his recent success at work? Maybe his success in collecting art was the source. She shuddered when she

thought it might be Artsy. "Could she be turning Dan against her?"

After an hour of deep thought, Laura finally concluded that Artsy was no threat. Dan still loved her and she had hurt him a great deal. The evidence was in his quick retreat. He's probably staying at a local hotel wondering what he is going to tell his parents tomorrow.

The next day, Laura was on the ski slopes and as described elsewhere enjoyed a wonderful holiday full of hard sex with her Greg.

Dan dig catch that plane, in fact he needn't have worried as it would have waited for him all night. The next sunrise Dan saw was on a perfectly white beach with a mimosa in one and Leanne in his other. Like Laura he had a wonderful time.

---------------------------------------------------

After the holidays things returned to normal. Well as normal as they were before the holidays. That is Laura continued her successful ways for Business Lady and pursued domestic bliss with Greg. Dan returned to a job he loved and to a woman that mended and filled more of his heart each day. Truth is by Christmas Dan's heart was healed and totally owned by Leanne. He just hadn't admitted it to himself yet.