Conference Conception

"Don't you want to put things right?" I asked, puzzled.

"That depends," she repeated to my frustration. "At my age I could cope with the world thinking I was foolish enough to let a man twenty years younger fuck me. It's a compliment in a way, especially if he thought I was good in bed too."

"What about Brian? Does he know?"

"Brian thinks Phil fucked me though he hasn't asked and I haven't confessed – at least, not yet. Brian thinks it's his own fault for neglecting me and in a way he's right; I would have let Phil fuck me that night if you hadn't got in the way. Brian's working so hard on our relationship now, in and out of bed that I feel like a new woman. I could live with that too – for now."

She paused.

"But I could only bear the shame long term if I was married to the Deputy Senior Partner."

"But William doesn't have a Deputy..." I began then stopped.

"William..." Maggie pondered aloud. "He's a lovely man, but I wonder how lovely he would be if he found out that not only has his wife been unfaithful, the baby he wanted for so many years is not actually his? That the father of the child in his wife's belly is actually the man he hates most in the whole business?"

"Maggie you wouldn't?"

"Why not? It's all true. A simple paternity test would show that within days. I hope you're good at explanations."

There was a long pause during which I wanted the earth to open up and swallow me whole.

"But maybe he never needs to find out. If I say nothing, the fuss will have died down in a few months," she eventually continued. "By the time your baby's born the scandal machine will have moved on. If I can stand the world believing I was bedded by Phil until then, I can stand it forever. That kind of shame passes."

She looked me straight in the eye.

"Bringing up another man's child takes a lot longer. Do you think William would be up for that?"

"Go on," I said, feeling trapped and dreading what she might demand.

"What if my husband was, say, promoted to Deputy Senior Partner within the year? What if his tenure in that role was known to be because of his personal affinity with your husband? That would give Brian and me a real incentive to make sure William's boat didn't get rocked by, let's say, some form of scandal involving his wife."

I nodded my understanding, my tummy hollow with anxiety as she continued.

"And if Phil Gibson had to be fired, how much easier would it be if it was done by the new Deputy, a man whose wife was believed to have been seduced by him?"

The logic was impeccable. I was trapped. Even if William did believe I had slept with Phil Gibson by mistake – and that was a very big if – the baby would still not be his.

Maggie was offering me a way out of the worst dilemma of my entire life.

I had no choice but to take it.

***

A year later, all was well in our household. I was a full-time mother of a healthy baby and a part time lecturer having given up all but a few hours a week at my job.

Will had no suspicions about his status as a father; I was as happy as I had ever been. We had even started trying for a second baby while we were both still relatively young - though so far without success.

With a small child in the house I had found I did indeed have much more in common with the WAGs. Freed from my job, I even started joining them for coffee during the week and watching some of the soaps and reality TV they enjoyed so much. Within a few months I had become addicted to several of these programmes and was almost as well connected to the company gossip as I had been before though Maggie.

It was surprisingly satisfying, unlike my sex life.

Having had so few lovers in my life, I had naturally assumed that sex with every man would be like sex with my husband had been. Phil Gibson had emphatically if unintentionally shown me otherwise. Now, every time my husband's cock entered my body, all I could think of was how poorly it compared to my one act of infidelity and the extraordinary pleasure that had brought me.

With one single copulation Phil had ruined me as far as sex was concerned.

And he hadn't even known he was doing it.

Though sometimes I could forget my night of extreme sexual pleasure, it wasn't easy with a constant reminder in the house. Phil's son grew more like his real father day by day. Fortunately the rumour mill was silent on the matter too so I had escaped the consequences – at least so far.

Maggie's plan was working. Given the amount on his plate, it had been surprisingly easy to persuade William to promote Brian to the newly created role of Deputy Senior Partner six months later. A loyal and trusted ally was just what was needed during the company's big expansion into the US.

It had been easier still to point out the advantages of having Brian take charge of the new US division Will was creating. Maggie and Brian moved across the Atlantic a matter of weeks later. I had lost my closest friend and main provider of gossip but I had also moved myself further out of the danger zone.

To everyone's surprise, instead of firing him, Brian offered Phil Gibson the position of Head of Sales in the US branch. The rumour machine worked overtime, believing the new Deputy had deliberately brought his wife's lover to be closer to her. Phil had of course accepted; with his undoubted charm, irresistible eyes and nearly two hundred million American girls to go for, he must have thought he had been invited into heaven.

Leaving many tearful eyes behind him, Phil left the country a matter of days before I gave birth to his son, still oblivious to his status as a father and my only lover. It felt very strange the day we all bid him goodbye and wished him luck. Though within days of giving birth, I couldn't let the father of my unborn child him leave the country without seeing him once again so found an excuse to be in my husband's office at the end of the day.

Phil kissed all the girls before he left, me included. Part of me wanted him to do something to acknowledge the special thing we had created but apart from his usual attempt at flirtation and a kiss on the lips rather than the cheek, there was nothing to suggest he knew it had been me in his bed nine months before.

It was crazy but in the confusion, I sneaked the picture frame containing the line of playing cards out of the office as a memento and hid it under the insulation in our loft when I got home.

My baby was born shortly afterwards. It was a truly amazing if painful experience that changed my life again. If I had felt like a real woman while getting pregnant and being pregnant, actually giving birth to a child cemented my place in womankind. There was no way I could possibly play the cold professional after all that.

William and I named our son Alex. From the moment I set eyes on my baby's penetrating green eyes any remaining doubt about his parentage disappeared. Alex is unquestionably Phil's child. I thanked God there were three thousand miles between father and son so wagging tongues might not notice the resemblance.

But I knew and Maggie knew.

A month after the birth I received an envelope in the post bearing an American stamp. The address was written in Maggie's handwriting but it contained only a playing card; the King of Diamonds. On the back of the card was a post-it note with a few words also in Maggie's handwriting.

'To the real Queen of Diamonds. Please put this card where it belongs alongside the others. Yes, Phil has finally completed his set. It was well worth it, as you know yourself. I should have given in a long time ago. Now you and I have another secret to share. Love from your very happy and very satisfied friend. M xx'

So Maggie had succumbed at last. Although he didn't know it, Phil had now fucked the wife of every Partner. From the tone of her note it sounded as if my friend had become more than just a one-night stand too.

It worried me how much I envied her the pleasure of that surrender.

Later that day I retrieved the picture frame from its hiding place in the attic. I unhooked the back and fixed the last card into place. The King of Diamonds lay proudly alongside the Queen; Maggie's card lay contentedly alongside mine; one well-fucked blonde lay alongside another.

As I looked at the neat row of red-printed cards the memories of my impregnation flooded back. It had been without doubt the most important sexual experience of my life; a completeness of surrender, a profoundness of joy and an intensity of arousal that had transformed me into the real woman I now was.

Sadly, however much I loved William and despite trying for a baby once again, it looked unlikely ever to be matched by any copulation with my husband.

A wave of sadness and dissatisfaction washed over me. Tears began to roll down my cheeks.

I had been lucky; I had cheated on my husband – albeit unintentionally – but had escaped the consequences. If I hadn't got drunk; if I hadn't gone into the wrong room; if I hadn't been so jealous of Monica I might not have let the man in my bed fuck me. In that event I might have gone through my entire life content with the sex my husband supplied, not knowing what extraordinary pleasures could be enjoyed with the right man.

But I had got drunk; I had gone into the wrong room and Phil had given me the fucking of my life, leaving me both pregnant and permanently dissatisfied. It was the worst possible combination, like being shown a feast or banquet but allowed only to taste the starter.

I had never intended to cheat on William but having done so and tasted sexual heaven, could I really turn my back on paradise forever?

I had been asking myself this question ever since.

On a completely unrelated subject, we're going on a family holiday in the summer. There's a conference for the new US team and as Senior Partner, William's presenting the strategy so we're all going, including Alex.

Afterwards we're renting a Winnebago and travelling around the US for two weeks. On the way we're going to call in on Maggie and Brian in their new home. I'll get to see the new US offices for the first time.

I might even see Phil at the conference; Maggie says he still asks about me. Maybe I'll have a few drinks with him too while William's working.

You never know, maybe I'll be lucky and there'll be another Conference Conception.

After all, as far as he knows, Phil still has one last card left to play!