Patience Pays Off

Love story

It was way more than just lust, but it was done so well, and kept so quiet, that it was hard to call it a passionate affair.

Upon reflection, though, it was definitely a deep love, the kind where two souls touch and wrap themselves around each other like grapevines on a fence.

It was the kind of love I've always wanted, and thought I had, with my wife of 32 years, Traci, until I discovered differently about 12 years ago. That revelation shook me to my core and nearly killed me ... but it wasn't my funeral we were attending now, was it?

Still beautiful at 55, Traci was in the seat next to me openly weeping for the loss of her long-time co-worker and friend, Gene, while the pastor droned on about Gene's great qualities as a human being, father, son, brother, and friend. I was there to support my wife in her grief. She had worked with Gene for 30 years, and in the course of this had become pretty good friends, the kind that go out for co-worker lunches and share family stories about the kids and so forth. I had been hearing those stories through Traci for this whole time, and at this point felt like he was my friend I knew so much about him and his family.

I had even met Gene and his wife, Laura, at several of Traci's work-related functions, and in fact, the four of us got along just great.

It was quite a shock, then, when Traci received a phone call on Saturday morning from another co-worker telling her that Gene was dead, apparently the victim of a robbery in a parking lot at a small motel in our city the previous night.

Crime in the city had been on the upswing recently, and in fact our home had been broken into recently, and the thieves got my 22 handgun and most of Traci's jewelry. But that was just a break-in, upsetting as it had been; this was a death.

Like Traci and I, Gene was 55 years old, in good shape, with a boyish face and thinning, gray-brown hair. He was a good-looking guy, but no Brad Pitt, just your average guy living an average life, with two grown children. From all the stories I have heard, he and Laura lived a lifestyle similar to mine and Traci's: nothing too crazy, solid financially, they puttered around their yard for fun.

Just a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, the police would later note.

I didn't feel one drop of remorse as they loaded the casket into the hearse for the ride to the cemetery.

I remained quiet for the entire 20-minute drive while Traci sobbed almost uncontrollably. The short service at the grave took only another five minutes, then we headed back to the car for the trip home. As we approached the car, we could see a man standing by the driver's side of the car, a legal-type envelope in his hand. When we got within a few yards of him, he moved toward us, extending the envelope to my wife as he asked if she was Traci Lyons. Wiping away tears from her eyes, she replied affirmatively, and as she took the envelope from him, he said, "You have been served."

Traci quickly pulled her hand back from the process server as if he had a communicable disease. Her damp eyes got wide with surprise. She looked at me, then the envelope, as if her brain was slowly making the connection. As the server moved quickly away, Traci unhooked the clasp on the envelope and pulled out the paperwork. She glanced at the first page before the tears started again, and with faltering steps she slowly made her way over to her side of the car, where I awaited, holding the door open for her.

The 15-minute drive home was mostly silent, except for Traci's low sobs and sniffles. While I expected the dam to break sometime, I wasn't going to be the one to initiate what would surely be a shitstorm.

When we got home, Traci went into the kitchen and sat down at the table. I followed her to the kitchen, got a beer out of the fridge and sat down as well.

"Why are you doing this, and why on this day of all days?" she asked quietly. "And at the cemetery?"

While I wasn't exactly proud of myself at that moment, I also wasn't of the mindset to back down.

"Because I felt it was only fitting that you should lose both of us together, if you will, the way you had both of us."

Traci's face came up to meet my gaze; she was absolutely shocked, to say the least. Apparently her dumbass husband had finally figured it out.

"I- I- I never meant to hurt you," Traci stammered. "You know I love you."

"Do I?" I challenged. "You've been doing this to me for at least 22 years! Yeah, I know that Hayley is his!"

She stared back at me in complete disbelief, her mouth wide open as if she couldn't figure out how to make sound come out.

I went back to the fridge for beer No. 2. Probably a good thing I had a 12-pack in there to start.

"How long have you known. How did you find out?" she questioned. "We were so careful, for both your sake and Laura's."

"Right. For my sake and Laura's. Got it.

"I've only known for the last 12 years. You guys were awful careful, I've got to give you that.

"You actually didn't give it away. It was something only a spouse would pick up on that tipped me off; then I went and hired a private investigator and he confirmed it.

"Remember that company Christmas party where we had different spouses team up and played Password. You and Gene were teamed up and were great together. And that's where you tipped me off. You two were giving clues like a married couple, with lots of body language and assumptions, exactly like we would do ... and that's when it hit me. You two had it going on, and it was more than just sex, more than just an affair.

"And you didn't even notice when I got quiet and stayed that way for a few weeks.

"So I hired a PI, and he followed you for three months, and documented your lunches, your trysts, two business trips in which you both shared the same room, although the company paid for two. He noted how you made sure to move your tryst days around so there wouldn't be a pattern and it would fit into the normal routine of errands, doctor visits, what-have-you.

"He especially noted that you two seemed to be in love, as opposed to the usual lust-crazed lovers just rutting like animals ..."

By this time, I was choking up, and tears were running down my face.

"I loved you, Babe. How could you do this to me?" I cried.

"I still love you, Lee. I always have. Always will. It's just that I had another place in my heart for Gene, too. I didn't plan it that way. It just happened, and I couldn't give up either of you. And Gene felt the same way with Laura. So we just carved out a little space for each other, and did our best to cherish both of our loves," Traci said softly.

"Then explain Hayley!" I shot back, rejuvenated in my efforts. She looked surprised again, but I jumped back in before she could continue.

"Not knowing how long you two had been together, but knowing how long you had worked together, I decided I needed to have the kids DNA tested, and I made sure to grab off a plastic cup Gene drank out of at the last company get-together so they could have that to compare to. And, son a gun, but Hayley was a perfect match to husband No. 2. Well, if that's not the mark of love, having husband No. 1 unknowingly raise husband No. 2's child, than I don't know what is."

Traci blushed deeply and dropped her head.

I sat there quietly staring daggers at my wife while she sat there looking increasingly uncomfortable.

"I'm waiting!" I demanded. "Let's hear it, from the beginning. You owe me that much."

Apparently it's not easy to tell your husband of 32 years that you've been cheating on him for 24 of those years. Traci stammered, cleared her throat, stammered some more and then finally started talking.

The affair started innocently enough as workplace flirting among good friends, she said, and it was six months before the first sexual encounter. Gene's dick wasn't any bigger than mine nor was he any better at using it than me, but she had to admit the thrill of illicit sex was huge, and remained a big component of their coupling for at least the first two years. What with each of them having a strong home life, squirreling away a few hours each week together was a challenge, and with big challenges came big rewards, Traci said.

But as they spent more time together and worked very hard on the logistics of making this work, the pair slowly realized they were falling in love - although they weren't falling out of love with their respective spouses, Traci continued.

Hayley truly was an accident, Traci said. While the pair had been having bareback sex all along because Traci had started to take birth control pills without my knowledge, when she had to go off the pill for a little while for a medical procedure, she forgot to inform Gene, and for two weeks Traci was an accident waiting to happen. And when a home pregnancy test after 12 weeks confirmed what Traci had suspected, she decided not to tell me and to let me think the baby was mine, since we always have bareback sex and I didn't know Traci was on the pill. Traci knew I'd be thrilled with a third child, and I didn't disappoint. (Even now, long after I knew she wasn't mine, I still love Hayley no less, and no one is going to tell me she isn't my child.)

"So how exciting was it for you to be carrying another man's child?" I interrupted. "Don't tell me you didn't think about. And you certainly had to think about how much you were disrespecting me doing that."

I was right on both counts, and all Traci could do was blink back more tears in response. After a pause of at least 30 seconds, she finally answered, almost in a whisper.

"I felt incredibly sexy the whole time knowing I was knocked up by another man," she admitted. "And it was always a great comfort to me to watch my three children playing together, knowing I was the mother to all three - and two good men were the fathers.

"And now I'll always have a piece of him because of Hayley."

She made the last statement a little too proudly for my comfort.

"Just keep that knowledge to yourself, because as far as I'm concerned, Hayley is my daughter, and if she ever finds out differently I will burn you down. I've got photos and videos that I wasn't planning on using, but I will if I have to," I spat at Traci.

That exchange apparently brought Traci completely back to reality, and her tone changed from mostly soft and shook to argumentative and nasty. That was fine with me, because I didn't expect this to be easy.

"So why did you wait so long to act on the divorce if you knew for so long?" she hissed at me. "Did I miss the chapter where my big strong hubby found out that he likes to be a cuckold?"

She got me with that one. Not that I wanted to be a cuckold, but I was surprised that she even knew the term.

"You can thank the state for that. When I went to the attorney with plans to file, he explained to me that you'd get the house and the kids, and alimony on top. If I stayed until the kids were out of college, losing the kids and the house wouldn't be an option anymore. We'd split proceeds on the house, and your alimony would be smaller as well.

"He told me that since you were fucking just one guy, the chances of a disease were small, and continuing on with a beautiful woman like you until the last of the kids was out of college certainly had to be better than what lay ahead if I continued with the divorce. So if I was smart, I'd swallow my pride and let you have your "second husband," at least until you wanted the divorce. Neither of us knew at the time that you'd both prefer to keep things exactly the way they were for as long as you did.

"So for me it became a marriage of convenience. I'd get to have my beautiful wife for five or six days each week, and Gene would get her the remaining one or two days. Even though I no longer loved you with the same passion I had before I knew about the affair, I still loved you, and I loved our kids and our life, so discretion truly was the better part of valor."

Traci looked at me with mild surprise, probably because she never figured me for devious. I guess she always figured she had the upper hand, and if need be she would be the one pulling the strings.

"And then Hayley graduated two months ago," I added.

"My plans for both of you were made years ago. You're looking at my plan for you," I said as I nodded toward the paperwork.

"My plan for Gene had to be done first, however, and that took just the right opportunity for me to pull this off."

"What plan for Gene? What are you talking about? Traci asked quizzically, her voice rising in panic.

"You more than anyone else should know my abilities and my thought processes, but maybe after cheating on me for so long you just figured I was a non-entity, a complete moron who didn't even have the ability to know his wife was stepping out, so why worry about retribution.

"You do realize, of course, that since you were the last person to see Gene alive in public, at The Rusty Clam, where you two dined, the police will naturally want a statement from you. And, if they do any kind of DNA testing, they are going to find out you were the other person in the room he rented at The Horizon, under an assumed name, of course.

"At the very least, you're going to need to come up with one hell of a good story for Laura. You sleep with her husband and then he winds up dead. Not good. Talk about a bad coincidence."

Traci's face was a jumble of emotions. I had said just enough, but not too much. Was there any truth to my hints? Would the police think she killed Gene? They'd surely have to tell Laura about Traci having sex with Gene at The Horizon, and if they investigated further, they might uncover a lot more to tell the widow.

I went to the fridge for beer No. 6. I just sat at the table and watched Traci's tortured face, tears cascading down her cheeks while she sobbed.

I had actually been waiting for Traci and Gene to use The Rusty Clam-Horizon combination for several weeks. I knew it was one of their spots, but because they were so careful, they had several combinations they used. The Horizon was my best opportunity, though, because they didn't have any security cameras in the parking lot.

When Traci told me the work gang was going out to blow off some steam on a Friday night about two months after Hayley had graduated, and told me they were going to hit a bar on the north side of the city, I knew it was a sham and that I had my chance. Thanks to my PI's work years earlier, and some personal investigation on my part through the years, I knew that they often dined at The Clam, a kind of out of the way place for seafood, and then went to The Horizon for a conjugal visit and then some husband and wife cuddle time. It might have been cute, if it wasn't for the fact that they were both already married.

I told Traci that her plans were fine with me. I'd just go over to my favorite sports bar and be obnoxious for the evening. And on Friday night I was, making sure that everyone knew I was there and drinking too much, except that when they weren't looking, I was pouring out most of my beer in a corner of the bar's outdoor beer garden.

Then knowing my wife's timing, I waited until I was sure they'd be just about done to get over to The Horizon via a quicker backroads route I had found. As was their pattern, Traci left a few minutes before Gene, heading for the gym for a quick shower and drydown so I would never know a thing, while Gene showered in the motel so Laura would be none the wiser either.

Fifteen minutes after I watched Traci leave, Gene, who always signed in at The Horizon as Mr. and Mrs. Gary Washington, left the room. I waited until he was almost to his car in the parking lot before showing myself from the shadow of the building. I called his name, and he froze in his tracks when he realized it was me. Even before he saw the gun in my hand he showed fear because he thought I had finally found out about the affair and was going to kick the shit out of him. He should have been so lucky. I put a pair of 22 hollowpoints in his chest, from the gun that had supposedly been stolen from the house, and watched his fear turn to anguish and then death. While Traci was showering his cum out of her pussy at the gym, husband No. 2 was dying in a parking lot, courtesy of husband No. 1.

I suppose I should have felt bad for taking a human life, but after all those years of being cheated on, I guess I just didn't have any compassion left. I took the gun apart, for disposal at several incinerators throughout the city at a later date, and went back to my alibi. I slipped in the back door at the sports bar and hit the bathroom, where I punched myself in the stomach to elicit a good puke that was heard by several people standing just outside of the room. Several of my cronies came in at that point and drove my supposedly wobbly ass home.

When Traci arrived home at about 11:30, I was passed out in bed, snoring like a freight train - or so she thought. Keeping the light in the room off, she quietly got undressed, softly kissed my forehead, and whispered, "Goodnight, my clueless husband. I love you."

I sat at the table for another three beers not saying a word while Traci sobbed like a baby. It had been a rough few days for her. On Friday, she had two loving husbands and a great life. By Monday afternoon, she had no loving husbands and was the mistress to a dead man in a murder investigation.

Twelve years was a long wait, I'll admit, but every now and then patience pays off.