When A Good Woman Goes Bad

"I don't want your mother to know that we know about her affair. As far as we're concerned Michelle was going after a rapist. Ok?"

He smiled, "Got it."

"You need to stay here and comfort her, I'm going to get Michelle and bring her home."

I was at the police station taking with the desk officer and waiting for the lawyer. Soon he showed up, looking all lawyerly in his suit and tie, we proceeded to get Michelle released. From what I was told Kevin wanted to press charges against Michelle for assault. I asked if my wife was pressing charges against Kevin for rape, I was told no. I knew I had her between a rock and a hard place.

If she didn't press charges then she would have to admit the affair and Michelle might go to jail. If she did press charges, Kevin most certainly would say they were having an affair and Michelle might very well go to jail anyway. I felt a mix of pride and sadness for Michelle. I was proud that she was trying to protect her mother from an alleged rapist and sad that she had to find out this way about the affair. I knew right then and there our marriage was over. It took several hours but Michelle was released to me with the promise to appear in court within the next few days. I hugged my daughter hard as she cried.

"I'm sorry daddy, but I had to stop him." She sobbed.

"It's ok baby. You did the right thing and I'm so proud of you." I was crying now.

"Can we go home now?"

"You bet sweetie, you bet."

As soon as we were home Jason gave Michelle a big hug when she came in the door. "How are you doing?"

She sniffed. "Better now that I'm home."

I looked around the living room. "Where is your mother?"

"She went to lie down."

"That bitch." Michelle spat. "When you divorce her sorry ass can I live with you?"

Both Jason and I looked at Michelle. "Un, honey, who said I was going to divorce your mother?"

"Well I just figured since she has been cheating on you for over a year you'd want to get a divorce."

Both Jason and I looked at her.

"What!?!? I heard them talking before I took batting practice on him. Oh and I don't think he'll be having sex any time soon, if ever again." She smiled.

I just had to laugh. "I need to talk with your mother first, so hold off on the divorce talk. Why don't you guys get to bed. It's been a busy day for all of us."

I went upstairs and found Stacy laying face down on our bed, fast asleep. I grabbed some clothes and went to sleep in the spare bedroom. It was late and I didn't see any point in waking her to hear her side of the story.

Sleep didn't come easy, but it did come. The next morning I woke up at about 10 am but I felt like shit. I got up and headed down to get some coffee. I found Jason and Michelle sitting at the kitchen table talking. They saw me walking in and they each got up and gave me a hug.

Jason looked at me. "You look terrible dad. Are you ok?"

I nodded, "Yeah, just tired. Is your mother up?" They both shook their heads and Michelle spoke, "Not yet. What will happen now? Will I go to jail? I'd rather go to jail than have to live with her," she spat.

"Michelle, you don't mean that. Look you two; your mother loves you, regardless of what she has done to our marriage. I'll talk with her and see what we can work out, I'm not holding out much hope." I wasn't holding ANY hope.

Suddenly Stacy appeared standing in the doorway, "Please please give me a chance." She cried. " I don't want to lose you or my family. Can't we talk? Can't we try and work things out?"

I looked at her and the kids glared at her. Stacy and I needed to talk but not in front of the kids. So I gave Jason a couple of twenties. "Why don't you and Michelle go take in a movie, then go for some pizza afterwards. Ok?"

They both nodded. As they left they said. "Love you dad." But they said nothing to Stacy, and she noticed.

Once they were out the door Stacy collapsed on to a chair, "They hate me, my own children hate me."

"Well, what did you expect? You were fucking another guy and they found out. So where do we go from here? I understand Kevin wants to press charges against Michelle. If that happens, I'll be sure all of this unpleasantness comes out in the press. You better have a talk with you ex-boyfriend. Oh and if he doesn't agree, you tell him you'll file rape charges against him. Do you understand?"

She nodded and started to cry again. "What about us, Chris? What about our marriage?"

"I'll be talking to a divorce lawyer next week. You can do the same, as far as our marriage is concerned, it ended years ago. I'll take full custody of the kids because they, well Michelle, will probably take a baseball bat to you while you sleep. Do you really want to live in fear of your own children?"

"But they're my children. They love me." she sobbed.

"Mmmm, not so much after what they found out about you and Kevin. Look, this is going to be messy no matter how we handle it. I know I'm going to regret saying this but it would be in your best interest to get a lawyer and see what your options are at this point. I'll try and be fair but you hurt me and the kids and that I cannot forgive so easily."

She started crying again, "Chris, I don't want a divorce, I want my family back. Please help me."

"Why? You not only cheated on me, you cheated on our family. The kids don't want to have anything to do with you. You really screwed up, Stacy, and I'm not sure I want to stay married to you."

"Please tell me what I need to do to keep our family together. I'm so sorry." She was crying even harder.

"A good start would be for the two of us to see Kevin and get him to drop the charges against Michelle. Then we need to talk about why you did this and see if this marriage is even worth saving. I'm not promising you anything. If you are willing to be open and honest we may have a chance." I was just saying what she wanted to hear so I could get the charges dropped against Michelle. There was no way in hell I was staying married to the cheating bitch.

"I can talk to Kevin alone. There is no reason for you to be there." she said quietly.

"Oh no, we are doing this together. This involves OUR daughter and as HER father I am going with you. Do you understand?"

She nodded her bowed head as if defeated. Soon we were driving over to the hospital to talk with Kevin, I was expecting a pleasant conversation. As we walked into his room I saw both his legs were suspended up in the air by ropes. His knees were bandaged, and one arm was in a cast, probably from trying to defect the blows from Michelle. I smiled inwardly and thought about buying her a car for her next birthday, even though she was two years from getting her driver's license.

Kevin heard us walk in. He looked pretty out of it. His eyes were glazed over no doubt due to the pain medication they gave him. I hoped it would wear off soon.

"Hey, if it isn't the loving couple. Come on in and see what that bitch did to me." He said this calmly and as if he was drunk.

"Please Kevin, we just want to talk. It doesn't have to get nasty." Stacy said with a tremor in her voice. She was nervous but I wasn't sure why. Then it came out.

"I told you to get an abortion 14 years ago but no, you just had to have another child, even if it wasn't his." Kevin spat.

I turned to Stacy. "What is he talking about? What did he mean that Michelle isn't mine?" "Oh he's just talking nonsense because of the drugs. Don't pay any attention to what he is saying." She was visibly shaking now.

"Oh really. Well then I guess a DNA test will prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that she IS my daughter. Maybe I should get one done for Jason as well, just to be sure he is mine too. What do you think, DEAR?" I was angrier than I had ever been.

Stacy ran from the room crying, I just stood there. Then I looked back to Kevin and looked him in the eye.

"Ok, asshole this is what you're going to do. First you drop the charges against Michelle. Second you stay away from my family. As for Stacy you can continue your affair as she won't be my wife for much longer. You got that? The two of you can fuck all you want now."

He started to cry, "That little bitch made sure I wouldn't be fucking again."

Yeah I'm buying her a car for her next birthday. I asked him, "Is she your daughter?"

He nodded, unable to speak.

Then I asked, "So you and my wife have been having this affair for the last15 years now?" Again he nodded. It was such a blow to my ego that I was glad she wasn't in the room anymore because I would have killed her. I sat down and just stared in to space wondering how could I have been so blind. Then it occurred to me about the problems she had years ago, the ones she never explained to me.

I had a really bad thought, I looked at Kevin, "That medical problem she had a few years ago, was that another pregnancy that she had terminated?"

He nodded, "I told her that if she didn't get an abortion, I'd tell you that neither Michelle or the last one were yours."

I just put my head in my hands and cried. That stupid stupid bitch, I thought. After about ten minutes I composed myself and walked out of Kevin's room. Stacy was sitting in the waiting room staring out the window. As soon as she saw me she got up and walked with me out to our car. Once we were in the car we sat quietly until Stacy spoke up.

"I know you must really hate me but it's not what you think. It was just...."

I cut her off, "If you say it was just sex, you'll end up in the next room to Kevin. When did you start this affair? When were you going to tell me about the abortion? When were you going to tell me Michelle isn't my daughter?"

She starting crying again but this time I didn't care, "Ok, this is how it's going to play out and if you don't agree to all of it there will be a shit storm that will burry you alive. Are we clear?"

She nodded.

"First our marriage is over and you WILL move out of the house tonight. You are never, and I mean NEVER to set foot inside that house again. Second, I will get complete custody of the kids. You will get visitation rights but only if the kids agree to it. If they don't want to see you again then so be it. Third, if you ever say anything to Michelle about me not being her father I will make your life a living hell. Your family, friends, and co-workers will know you had a child with lover boy in there and that you also had an abortion to try and keep it secret. Oh wait, you quit your job to spend more time with Kevin."

She had her head in her hands as if trying to hide from the ugly truth.

"Stacy, I never want to see you again and I don't want you near my children. Do you hear me? Are we clear on that?"

She looked over and sobbed, "They're my children too."

"No, not any more. You can visit them if THEY agree to it, but it's not likely. Now when we get home you need to pack up your crap and GET OUT." She was still crying, "Where will I go?"

"Call you parents, call a friend, see if you can stay at Kevin's place, get a tent and camp in the fucking park. For all I care you can go to hell." We drove back to my house. I pulled in the driveway we sat there for several minutes not talking.

Finally I broke the silence. "Why Stacy? Was it not enough for you, the family we started, the nice home, was it the sex?"

She just sat there, "It meant nothing to me. He was great at sex and then he began to blackmail me when Michelle was born. I do love you, can we at least try and....."

I shouted, "15 YEARS STACY. YOU CHEATED ON ME FOR 15 YEARS AND YOU WANT TO WORK IT OUT? GET YOUR SHIT OUT OF MY HOUSE, NOW."

I got out of the car and stormed into the house. A few minutes later she came in and began to pack. An hour later she had her bags packed and several cardboard boxes filled with her stuff. She went out the front door and loaded her car, then she came back in.

"I'll need to come back to get the rest of it. I'll be staying at my parents. Can I call you and arrange a time pick it up?"

I nodded. "You ruined a good thing Stacy, I hope you know that."

She just looked at me then left. About 2 hours later the kids returned and looked around.

Jason asked. "Where is mom?"

"She doesn't live her any more. I told her that I'd get custody of you two and that she could have visitation if you agreed to see her. Sorry guys, but our marriage was beyond saving."

Michelle came over and gave me a hug. "Thanks dad. We love you."

"Are you ok?" Jason asked.

"No, but I will be with the help of you two." I held them closer to me.

8 years later

As time moved on we, meaning Michelle, Jason and I, were able to move past what Stacy had done to our family. The kids wanted nothing more to do with her and would only allow her an hour or two visit every other weekend if they didn't have any game or other activity scheduled, and they almost always seemed to have something scheduled for those weekends. I tried to smooth thing over and get them to see her more but as soon as Jason turned 18 he flat out told her she was no longer his mother and that she could go to hell. Michelle pretty much did the same thing and this crushed Stacy. It was the first time in a long time I felt sorry for her.

Kevin was release from the hospital and dropped all charges after I had another chat with him that if he perused having Michelle charged with assault I would have Stacy file rape charges against him. He walks with a cane now and it's rumored he can't get it up any more, even with Viagra. The last I heard he had seen a number of specialist that must of cost him a small fortune but with no luck. To fucking bad.

At Michelle's request we had a DNA test done and it turned out she is my daughter. When we found out we held each other and cried, we were both so relieved. Now my question is was the child that Stacy had terminated mine as well? That thought will be with me until the day I die.

Stacy lived with her parents for a couple of years and found a full time job. Then later she moved out of state and we lost touch. She does send the kids birthday and Christmas cards but the kids always send them back unopened.

Jason got a Baseball scholarship and went to a major university and Michelle went to college to become a nurse. Both are doing well in school and are dating. Jason has a steady girl friend but Michelle said she wants a guy just like me. I think she can do better then that.

It took several years before I could date again but I did meet a very nice woman and we see each other on a regular basis. I'm in no hurry to get married again and probably won't. The hurt is still there but life goes on and I feel the pain a little less each day. Thank God for MY kids.