Obsession

"I don't know, Mrs. Whitely," Mr. Macmillan said.

There was a ring of truth in his tone. He probably didn't know, Peggy decided, but he wasn't a bit upset about losing her from his section. She let her hand drop away from her mouth while she took a deep breath. When she was ready, she brought the phone back up.

"All right," she told her ex-supervisor. "I'll just have to wait until Monday then. Thank you for calling," she said. She touched the button to break the connection without waiting for his reply. She had that tiny satisfaction, that final bit of control over him.

********

Kyle's big pickup wasn't in the driveway when the taxi drew up at the curb. Peggy was irritated. Her husband should be here. He was her only solace now. He wouldn't care why she'd been discharged. He would comfort her and love her.

When she walked in the front door, she immediately knew something else was wrong with her day. The grandfather's clock that had stood against the long wall in the foyer since they'd bought the house was gone. The umbrella stand in the corner was missing too. When she walked into the living room, it was empty save for a few scraps of brown wrapping paper scattered here and there. The house was silent. A chill worked its way down her spine. The house felt abandoned...empty.

Her cell phone rang again. She looked at the display. It was Kyle.

"Kyle!" she said sharply. "Where are you? Where's all the furniture? What's going on, damn it?" Her voice rose the longer she spoke. She was angry, hurt...and a little scared. She didn't understand what was happening.

"I won't tell you where I am, Peggy," Kyle said calmly. He sounded tired, almost too fatigued to speak.

He was, in fact, laboring under a tremendous sense of weariness. It was partly physical. Getting a house full of furniture and personal possessions packed and loaded into a big U-Haul truck had been exhausting. Dealing with telling the kids had been accomplished surprisingly easy, but his own internal turmoil had been emotionally draining. He had been dreading this conversation, but he had it to do.

He'd hardly slept since Brad brought him the early pictures of Peggy's escapades the first night of her stay in Orlando. He hadn't been able to even close his eyes after viewing the DVD of her energetic fucking on the balcony. That had come in Friday, yesterday, morning. Brad's private investigator had access to a laptop that converted a digital camcorder's raw input into DVD-quality movies. The investigator had dumped the videos and a multitude of still photos into Brad's office server via a broadband connection. It was all in Kyle's briefcase now, locked away so Peggy's children wouldn't see it by accident.

Kyle and the kids had already been packed. The first pictures and video had been more than enough for Kyle. Thursday night's romp had just provided him and Brad with evidence that could be used in court. The night vision feature on the camcorder had captured the adulterous pair in a setting where they had no right to expect privacy. The other pictures and movies couldn't be used in any legal action since Peggy and Harold had been in Peggy's room. He had other uses for those photos and movies though.

When another of Brad's investigators had called to let him know Peggy had arrived at home, he simply dialed her cell number. He hadn't waited for procrastination to set in. He needed to get this over with. Maybe he could sleep tonight if he got everything off his chest.

"What? Why can't you tell me where you are?" Peggy demanded.

"I didn't say I couldn't, Peg," Kyle said patiently. "I said I wouldn't."

"Kyle Whitely...I don't know what you think you're doing...but you better start telling me what's going on or I'm going to..."

"Going to what, Peggy?" Kyle asked sharply. "Haven't you got it yet? Itold you...I've told you over and over if you fucked another man to get even with me because of that bullshit idea that I cheated on you...I told you I'd leave you Peggy. I told you, and I've done it."

Peggy was stunned. In an afternoon of surprises, this was the most catastrophic.

"Kyle..." she replied in a broken voice. "Honey, I haven't..."

"Save it, Peggy," Kyle said brusquely. "You can see why I've left. What more is there to say?"

"What? See what? I don't know what you're talking about," Peggy protested. She was confused.

"Have you been in the den?" Kyle asked.

"No."

"Go there," Kyle ordered. Resentfully, Peggy walked down the short corridor to the back of the house and into the extra bedroom they'd converted into a study. When she got there, she understood.

A huge, blown up photograph was propped up on the mantle over the fireplace. It had a greenish tinge to it, the colors were all washed out, but it clearly showed her and Harold out on the hotel balcony. They were naked, rutting like animals while she howled her ecstasy to the moon.

Peggy sank to the floor. Her legs wouldn't support her any longer. She sat there, her legs tucked under her. The picture mesmerized her...it held her as completely enthralled as a rattlesnake about to strike would have. Something deep inside her told her the photo represented the end of everything.

"Kyle," she said thickly. Her mouth wasn't working right.

"Don't bother, Peggy," Kyle said. "Now you see? Now you know why the house is empty. Now you know why the kids and I aren't there, don't you?"

"Where are my babies?" she demanded. "You can't take my babies away from me," she screamed. Kyle heard the nearly hysterical tone in her voice.

"Calm down, Peggy," he advised. "I alreadyhave taken them away from you...though it would be more correct to say you took them away from yourself. It's already happened. You're going to have to live with it, so get a grip on yourself and I'll tell you how things are going to be." He'd mentioned the kids, expecting to get this reaction from his soon-to-be ex-wife, so he could tell her what he had to say next.

"Mandy and Todd are fine, Peggy," he told her. "Actually, they're in better shape than I am," he admitted. "They didn't have too much trouble accepting the fact that they were going to live with me and that you weren't going to be there anymore. You've done such a fine job of pushing them away for the past year that they weren't troubled by the thought of not seeing you, Peggy. You didn't see it coming, but I did."

"NO!" Peggy wailed. "You can't do that."

"I already did," Kyle said simply. "You already did," he added. "Now settle down and listen to what I'm going to tell you." He waited for a long moment.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

"Don't I have anything to say about this?" Peggy said in a hurt tone.

"No, you don't," Kyle replied. "For the first time in your life Peggy, all you can do is deal with the consequences of what you've done...what you've done to yourself, to your husband and children, and to your marriage." Kyle took a deep breath.

"It's too bad, Peggy," he said softly. "If you hadn't been so obsessed with getting even with me, we could have worked out almost anything. I was sure as hell willing. But you wouldn't have this any other way. You just had to have your revenge...and for what?

"Ann took my penis in her mouth on a dark night with most of my body hidden by their deck railing. She thought it was her husband's. When she discovered different, she spit me out faster than I can say it.

"But you...you had to work for a year and a half,deliberately scheming to find a way to sneak around and find some guy you could fuck. And boy did you! I've got pictures and video of you fucking your buddy, Harold, every way there is to fuck, Peggy.

"You let him take you naked out on the balcony, Peggy? What in hell were you thinking of you were doing letting him bend you over on the rail and fuck you like that right out in front of anyone who happened to looking out their window? You know I've got a video of the whole thing? From start to finish, Peg.Jesus H. Christ! My wife, the cum slut!"

Kyle stopped. He'd promised himself he wouldn't get angry, but the anger was too close to the surface. He'd have to control himself a little better.

"Did you think I wouldn't know what you were going to do, Peggy?" he said softly. "My God...you were practically bubbling over with anticipation the past few weeks. I knew there was only one thing that would get you that excited. Everything you did, every smile you smiled into space told me you were finally going to have your revenge on me. It was so obvious, Peggy.

"And, Peggy, did you not know credit card companies send out advertisements and "special offers" every few weeks to their customers? You had the bills sent to the Post Office box you thought I didn't know about...but sometimes they send things to the residence on the account too. Hell, I knew about that new credit card you got just about as soon as you got it, woman." He was quiet for a moment.

"Kyle," Peggy said tentatively. "Honey, I...I was wrong. It's all come crashing down on me...I got fired this afternoon...I don't know why...I know I've hurt you, baby. I'm so...I feel so stupid. I..."

"Peggy, quit calling me "baby" and "honey" and all those other things. You have no right to say those words to me...not after what you've done," Kyle told her. He didn't say anything more for a few seconds.

"I will agree with you though, youhave been stupid," he added. "I tried to tell you that you needed to let go of this fixation on revenge. I tried a hundred times to tell you...but you wouldn't listen," he said bitterly. "You had to have it your way...and the reason you got fired is up on the mantle, Peggy," he added. "I sent Mr. Bruckmeister an 8x10 of that photo. It turns out he has the same opinion I do about employees who deceive their husbands and use a company trip to have sex with strangers. Oh...the termination slip will say something different, but you got canned because they don't trust you anymore...no more than I do."

Peggy tried to digest what Kyle was telling her. It was too much to take in all at once. She let the problem with her job go for the moment. Her marriage was far more important.

"Hon...Kyle," she said hesitantly. "You wanted me to forgive you when you and Ann...when the mistake happened. Can't you...can't we work this out? I don't care what I have to do to make it up to you...can't you forgiveme? I'm so, so sorry for what I've done to you." Tears were streaking down her cheeks.

"Forgive? I don't have anything to forgive you with, Peggy," Kyle forthrightly. "You've worn me down...worn away all the love I had for you right down to the quick. There's nothing left."

Peggy started crying harder. There was such finality in Kyle's weary voice. She was suddenly cold and afraid sitting in the den where she and Kyle had shared many an evening.

"Don't you love me anymore?" she sobbed.

"Yeah, I do...a little bit, Peggy," Kyle said truthfully. "Love isn't something you quit doing on the spur of the moment.

"But I'll learn," he said defiantly. "It's hard, but I'll learn not to love you, Peggy. What the hell? This has been coming for a long time anyway. I'm so tired of the ways you kept trying to manipulate me and the kids...and everyone else around you...just so you would never have to give anything of yourself beyond a certain limit you set up.

"I think I see your mother in that," Kyle said thoughtfully. "From the time Mandy was born...and even more when we had Todd...I've sensed something...a...oh, I don't know." He tried again. "Maybe it's something like...well, it's like you were convinced all you owed me was a child or two and when that was done, any love or respect for me as your husband...and a man...had to be pulled out of you. I don't know why, but you sure seemed to be rationing your affections awfully tightly the past few years."

"Kyle...that wasn't the way I feel at all," Peggy moaned. "I've loved you since the day I saw you on campus that day. I can't live without you."

"Well, you're going to have to," Kyle responded briskly. "I don't know how you got the way you are, but ever since that dress thing, Peggy...ever since that damned dress, you've acted like our marriage was a war you had to win at all costs. Even the dress was a contest. Youhad to have it, and to get it you lied to me. Hell, you've been lying ever since about one thing or another.

"Like I said, I think your mother has had some influence there, Peggy," he said. "I know she thought I was unreasonable when I got mad about the dress but it wasn't the only thing we disagreed about. She's taken every opportunity to stick another little barb in my hide whenever she had the chance. To her, you had to win every disagreement we had because you were the woman and I was the man." Kyle was silent for a while.

"Well...anyway," he said, "I'm really tired. I'm sorry for rambling on about things that don't matter anymore," he told her.

"Let me get back to the kids, Peggy," he said firmly. "First of all, I'm not in Texas anymore. I'm going to be working out of state for a while and I won't tell you where for now...maybe later. The TV stations can get along on their own for a while. I've got things set up pretty good with them. Brad has my power of attorney to do what needs to be done with them. Oh--and don't bother asking down at my office because they don't know where I'll be either.

"The kids are fine. They've been having a ball sitting way up high in the cab of this big rental truck I'm driving and playing travel games. Wherever we stop, they think having a swimming pool and a room where they don't have to make their beds and pick up after themselves is, as they said this evening, "awesome." So don't worry about them, Peggy."

"I miss them," Peggy sobbed.

"And they'll miss you too," Kyle said smoothly, "in spite of the coldness you've shown them over the past year...but some things just have to be."

"I'll fight you for them," Peggy said defiantly. "You can't keep my children away from me!"

"Well, that brings us to the next thing on the list," Kyle said in a hard tone. He took a deep breath. Peggy could hear it over the phone.

"I'm going to tell you this one time, Peggy...and one time only. I'm filing for a no-fault divorce. I'm proposing you get half of what we've accumulated together except that you get nothing that derives from the trust fund my father left to me. Essentially that means the house, the cars, our checking and savings accounts...and the debts too...all that we split 50-50. That's a pretty good deal Peggy. I could probably ask for more. Now here's the thing.

"If you contest the divorce action in any way, I...will...personally...see that every picture taken by the private investigator down there in Orlando gets delivered to your parents, to your brothers and sisters, to every single person we know, and to every business where you apply for a new job. Do you understand, Peggy?"

He didn't say anything for a long time. Thiswas blackmail. He knew it because Brad had spelled it out for him and then withdrawn from a discussion on what Kyle would do with the inadmissible evidence of Peggy's adultery. That Kyle was doing it for his children wouldn't make any difference if he was hauled into court on the charge.

Yeah, Kyle knew it was blackmail, but he no longer had any respect for his wife...she certainly had none for him...and he didn't feel he owed her even the smallest of courtesies or consideration. He would use the pornographic images to get what he wanted and needed from her. He would live with what he was doing, legal or not.

Peggy cried until the corners of her eyes were raw from dabbing at them with a tissue.

"God, you're a cruel man," she hissed at last. "I never knew you could do such a thing."

"I didn't knowyou could do such a thing as fuck another man for such a petty reason, Peggy," he shot back. "Cruel? Well, I learned that from the master...or I guess I should say themistress. That's just one more thing I have to thank you for huh?" He waited for a reply but there was only the sound of crying.

"Anyway...listen," he said. "As far as visitation goes, here's what it's going to be, Peggy. I have no intention of keeping the kids apart from you any longer than absolutely necessary. I won't do that tothem. What Iwill do is demand that you get to the doctor as fast as you can and get tested for every sexually transmitted disease in the books, Peggy.

"I couldn'tbelieve it when I saw the photos of you fucking that son of a bitch without a condom. What the hell were you thinking about, Peggy? Were you going to bring HIV or something home to me and the kids as some kind of gruesome present?"

"He said he didn't have anything," Peggy said faintly. Beyond a momentary consideration of the risks at the time, she hadn't thought of the possible consequences.

"Yeah, I bet he did say that," Kyle said sarcastically. "Exactly what else was he going to say? But you know what? He also told his wife he was escorting big wigs around. She thought he was working so hard he was completely exhausted every night when he finally got home. She didn't complain though...she didn't like having sex with him, I hear." Kyle laughed hollowly. There was no humor in the laughter.

"How does it feel to have wrecked two marriages, Peggy?" he asked.

"Oh, God...what did youdo?"

"What do you think I did, Peggy? Did you think I'd let him get off scot-free? You were wearing your wedding band the whole week long. It shows up in just about every picture I have of you and Dipshit. He knew damned well you were a married woman and that you were off limits. Do you really think I would let an SOB like that get away with dishonoring our marriage? Huh-uh. Sorry, dear. He's going to get what's coming to him.

"His wife was actually pretty appreciative, Peggy. From what I've heard through the private investigators, she was grateful for us bringing to her attention just what he was doing while he was away from her. Get this...it seems she caught him doing a young woman from off the streets a few months ago. The girl was into some pretty heavy drugs from what Mrs. Lowery said."

Kyle chuckled again. There was no more amusement in his voice than there had been the last time.

"Actually," he said in a confiding tone, "she is the one who's been making Shithead use condoms. She's been afraid he might have picked up something."

Peggy could say nothing. The tears stopped flowing while she contemplated what her husband was telling her about Harold. She felt an icy hole in the pit of her stomach begin to grow. She was suddenly nauseous. She mightdie because she had wanted to have sex with that man.

"She isn't going to wait for her dear husband to go out and fuck someone else on her time," Kyle added. "She's dumping his ass and she's going to take him for every dime he's got," Kyle said in a satisfied tone. Peggy couldn't respond. There was nothing to say and the lump in her throat wouldn't let her speak anyway.

"Well, anyway," he said after a while, "I'm not willing to let you around the kids when you might have been exposed to HIV. I don't care about that politically correct bullshit when we're talking about my children. Plain and simple, Peggy...you arenot going to be around them until I see a clearance from the doctor, is that clear?"

She nodded, then realized she had to say something.

"Yes," she croaked. It was getting progressively harder to speak.

"Good," he said, "that's good. Well...then if you don't fight the divorce, and when I have the lab reports in my hand, Peggy, I'll make sure you get to see the kids as often as you want," he told her.

"No, wait, I forgot. Let me be a little clearer. HIV can show up months after exposure to it. Doc Miles says six months maybe...so in six months, if I have a lab report that says you're clean, then things can happen."