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A tearful Glenda began, "Where in the world have you been, Hank? Do you have any idea how worried I've been? I've not had a moment's peace until you walked into the house just now. Don't you EVER scare me like that again, you hear?"

"I may have some idea of how worried you might have been. Were you as worried that I was out fucking another woman as I was about you fucking another man? I seriously doubt it. After all, that would be cheating, wouldn't it? I hope your friend, Teresa set you straight that I didn't even allow her inside the house, not for a moment."

Her unhappy expression confirmed her understanding of my crass remark. I was proud of myself for not raising my voice.

"Hank, I know you're upset, and that's why we need to talk this through and put it behind us. You have no idea, big boy, how anxious I am to get you between my legs tonight. I plan to milk you of every seed in your body."

"I've just come from having eaten, Glenda. I'm sure your lover filled you in, so now is not a good time for me. As a matter of fact, I can't imagine that there will ever be a good time for such a thing. Your body has been ruined for me by that piece of shit, ex-friend. There's no way I can touch you now that he's injected his disgusting slime in you. Just the thought of imagining you naked makes me nauseous. I'm tired. It's been a long day. I'm going to bed. Goodnight."

"Don't you dare walk away from me, Hank! I nearly lost my mind worried sick about you, and you come in here and just dismiss me out of hand? That's not going to fly, mister. I want you in my bed tonight, and I'm going to spend the rest of my life making it up to you!"

"Look, Glenda. I just walked in the door and I'm tired. Let me get a shower and change. I promise we'll talk later, after I've cleaned up, fair enough?"

Stunned that I was uncharacteristically expressing no interest in bedding her, she agreed to my request. I carried my bag to my bedroom and locked the door behind me. After stripping down to my boxers, I carried fresh clothes with me into the hall bath where I took a long hot shower. This was going to be a combative night. There's no other way around it. To her credit, she left me alone. I'm certain she had already seen the lock on the hall bath door, so she didn't even try to open it while I was showering. I dressed and took my dirty boxers, towel, and washcloth back to my room and locked it. I made a mental note to start doing all of my own clothes washing from now on. She was waiting for me in the den, seated on the couch dressed in a see-through negligee and nothing else, as if she was on an unfulfilled quest. I sat on the matching single chair adjacent to the couch. My choice of seating obviously peeved her.

"Come over here, big boy, and sit beside me. I have a lot to tell you and a lot to show you," she commanded in her sexiest voice.

"I can hear you just fine from here. What is it that you wish to tell me? I'm all ears."

Disappointed, yet undeterred, "I love you, you big lug, and I know you love me every bit as much. You and I are made for each other and belong together forever. I know I'll get to the other side before you do, but I'll wait for you patiently until you join me one day. Until then, I hope you have a long, fruitful, and enjoyable life. Yes, that means other women. We both know that will be the case. I don't want to waste a single moment without you in my arms. I want us to put this issue behind us right here and now, never to be revisited. I want you to let me love you as you've never been loved before until the day I die. That's what I want, Hank, plain and simple."

"I have some questions before we go any further."

"Of course, Hank. Go ahead."

"Did you have sex with Bob last weekend?"

She silently nodded.

"Did you suck him off and allow him to cum in your mouth as you swallowed his semen?"

"Bob said it would be for the best not to give you any details. He said it might inflame you too much."

"Oh, I see. So that piece of shit is now in charge of our marriage? You've told me all I need to know. Goodnight, Glenda." I stood up, prepared to leave the room.

"Okay, okay, okay. I'll answer your questions, I promise. Please sit back down," she pleaded.

She nervously regained her composure as I sat down. "To answer your question, yes, I performed oral sex on him. Yes, he came in my mouth and I swallowed. You know that's what I always do with you, so I was no different with him."

"Alright. Thank you for the truth. Question number two, did he fuck you bareback in your pussy and ejaculate his semen inside your body?"

She uttered the weak and timid word, 'Yes."

"Third question, "Did he fuck you bareback anally and ejaculate inside your ass?" Rather than answer, she merely nodded her head in affirmation.

"One more question. I need to know how many orgasms you had with him over the weekend, in total."

"I don't know, Hank. I swear. I didn't count them or cut notches on a stick for Pete's sake."

"Think back to the weekend, Glenda. I don't need a precise count. Give me your very best estimate. How many times, in general, do you think you orgasmed with him? Give me something."

She paused and turned her eyes up in her head as if she was recounting every experience before responding. "I'm not sure, somewhere between twelve and twenty? That's not to say that we had sex twenty times. You know I'm multi-orgasmic. That's the best number I can give you."

"I see. Thank you for your candid responses. Let's see, last weekend, you confess that another man ejaculated his semen inside your mouth, your ass, and your vagina. You enjoyed it so much that you orgasmed at least a dozen times with him. Those images will never leave my mind until the day I die. Because of what you allowed him to do with your body, the playground is ruined for me. I'll never kiss you again or let you suck me off because that would be repulsive to me. I can't fuck your pussy or ass either for the same reasons. You gave away to another man what I had believed was mine. I hope you created unforgettable memories with him, Glenda because you will go to your grave knowing that the last man you sucked and fucked wasn't your husband. Also, that piece of shit and his slut wife are no longer friends of mine. You can visit them all you want to, but I do not want to be in their presence ever again. I can't avoid seeing that piece of shit at work every now and then, but I can ignore his ass just as I did the other day. This is the life you have chosen for yourself, Glenda. I hope it was worth it."

"NO! No, no, no, no, no! This isn't how this is supposed to be. If you'll just let me love on you tonight, you'll see. You won't have to do a thing but lie there. I'll take you to Heaven and back, I swear!" She sobbed in broken phrases.

"Before you left for the weekend, I told you exactly what the consequences would be. But instead of believing me, your husband, you believed the words of that piece of shit. You put your trust in the wrong man. You've made your bed, as the saying goes. Now you must lie in it," I stated with emphasis.

"Stop calling him that horrid name. He's your best friend in the whole world. He was your best friend years before you even met me. They're OUR best friends now. You're just upset. I get that. Bob told me you might need some time to calm down."

"He's right about that. I figure I might calm down somewhere around... say, six months?

Her eyes grew wide open. "Six months? But I'll be long gone before then, Hank. You can't mean that. We need to get past this now. Just give me a chance to help you get past it, I'll drain every sperm from your body."

"I'm sorry, Glenda. I'm not in the mood to vomit up my supper. Intentional nausea is not on my agenda."

"Are you leaving me, Hank? Are you saying this is the end of us?" She meekly squeaked in high-pitch tones.

"I thought long and hard about that while you were screaming out in orgasmic bliss last weekend with another man between your spread legs. As you know, I'm not the kind of man who abandons his vows, even though you admit to doing just that. I'll keep and honor my vows 'until death do us part'. I will not cheat on you as you cheated on me. I'll continue living here in this house with you but in separate bedrooms. I'll see that all our bills are paid and I'll do the things around the house that I ordinarily do. I'm not going anywhere. I'll not abandon you. 'In sickness and in health', remember? But my vows do not mandate that I have sex with you, nor do they mandate that I kiss you ever again. All I ask is that you not invite that piece of shit and his slut wife over here ever again. If you do, be kind enough to let me know when they'll be here to visit, so I can make plans to be somewhere else until you text me that they're gone."

"What have I done? I have destroyed us. No, Hank. If what you say is true, it wasn't worth it. A thousand weekends with him or anyone else wouldn't be worth it. My only hope is that you can find it in your heart to forgive me before it's too late. I'm sorry, Hank. I'm sorry for what I've done to us. The heart doesn't always listen to what the brain says it should never do."

"One more thing I ask of you, Glenda. Since you will no longer be having sex with me, if you do ever get with that piece of shit again for more orgasms, or anyone else for that matter, please do me the courtesy of not doing it in this house. Meet your fuckbuddies somewhere else, but don't bring any of them home with you. Can you at least do that? I'll never ask you about your love life."

The hair on the back of her neck rose as she became indignant. "Now you listen to me, and you listen to me good. That was a one-time thing. Do you understand me? It will never be repeated. I want the last man I'm intimate with to be you. I swear on all that's Holy that I'll never be intimate with another man besides you."

"I heard you make that same vow before on our wedding day. You'll forgive me for having trouble taking you at your word."

She began sobbing uncontrollably. I went up to my bedroom, shut and locked the door, and left her grieving our intimacy on the couch.

I was able to leave for work and avoided her the next morning. It was mid-morning when the piece of shit stormed into my office.

"I'm not leaving here, Hank until you talk to me. What you're doing to that wonderful woman is unforgivable. I'm going to talk to you as long as it takes to get you to change your mind." I picked up the phone and called my boss.

"Hi, Dennis. I have a problem I hope you can help me with. Bob is in my office right now wanting to take up my time with matters not involving work. He's interfering with my ability to do my job. Is there someone you can call or something you can do to stop him from harassing me? I want nothing to do with him. (Pregnant pause). Thanks, Dennis, I appreciate it."

"Are you serious? You're not man enough to talk to me man-to-man, so you call in the cavalry?"

"Something like that," I flatly stated as my office phone rang.

"Yes sir, I'll put him on. It's for you," I glibly stated as I handed Bob the phone.

"Hello? Yes sir. That's right, but... I understand, sir. It won't happen again." Defeated, he handed me the receiver. "This isn't over, Hank. I won't put my job in jeopardy by approaching you here at work anymore. But this isn't over by a long shot. We have too much history for things to end this way."

I kept looking at the papers on my desk, wordlessly ignoring his rant until he turned and walked out the door. I was glad it happened. He would be on a short leash now. He knew I'd report any further incidents of harassment at work, and he needed this job as much as I did. I took solace in that. If he contacts me outside of work, I'll deal with it at the time. Time is on my side. According to the doctors, Glenda has less than two good months left before she starts her downward spiral. Although it will be difficult, I can manage two months of hell if I have to.

I showed up that evening after work after having visited a family restaurant. One reason was to limit my exposure to Glenda by not allowing her to cook for me. Another reason is that she'll be out of the picture altogether in a few months, and I'll have to fend for myself at mealtimes anyway. I might as well scope out decent places to catch a meal at fair prices, which is difficult to do in this economy. As expected, she'd cooked for us.

"Hi, honey. I fixed your favorite. I hope you're hungry. I noticed you're a bit late coming home from work but I kept it warm for us. Sit down and I'll fix you a plate," she said sweetly.

"I'm sorry but I've already eaten. That's why I'm late. As you've said, you won't be around much longer, so I am familiarizing myself with dining venues around town to prepare me for after you're gone. I apologize. I don't mean for you to waste your time, energy, and food on me. I should have told you that I'll be eating all meals out from now on. That should lighten your burdens some, not having to look after me anymore."

"You asshole! You're going to take that away from me too? You've made it clear that I'm off-limits as far as sex goes, but I was hoping you'd be reasonable and let me continue to cook for you. Am I nothing to you now? Is that it?"

"I can't say the words you want to hear, Glenda. You say you're sorry you fucked another man. I'm sorry there are consequences for your actions. Neither of us is happy with the circumstances but they are what they are. I'm going up to my room now."

She began crying again. "Hank, you don't need to hide up in your room all the time. Can't you at least watch TV down here or something? I don't have the plague and I can't infect you with my cancer. Please don't shut me out completely."

I stopped in my tracks. "I'll consider it under two conditions," I offered.

"Name them," she responded.

"Number one, no mention whatsoever of that weekend or what it has cost us. I don't want to be besieged by attempts to make me listen to your idea of reason."

"And the other?"

"Don't EVER mention that piece of shit or his slut wife to me ever again. If you decide to go out with them at some point, don't ever tell me about it, neither beforehand nor afterward. Agreed?"

She looked sad that I was taking such a hard stance against the two people she loved nearly as much as me. "Agreed."

To her credit, she never asked for the remote. Whatever I wanted to watch was what we watched. Perhaps she felt that she was at least giving me the tiniest bit that I would allow her to do. Our conversation was limited to work, politics, family, or mundane home issues. She honored her word about not bringing up contentious topics, though I knew they were boiling just beneath the surface. If she ever talked to my ex-friends on the phone, she did it out of earshot. She knew them to be one of my most sensitive triggers and we at least had a détente of sorts. Late at night, every night, I could hear her crying herself to sleep alone in her bedroom. To be honest, I don't believe that she regretted her time with him. Her only regret, IMHO, is enduring the consequences and aftermath. Then she pulled a fast one on me.

Saturday morning, she asked if she could go with me out to eat breakfast and lunch since I was no longer allowing her to prepare my meals. I stunted that by fixing myself a bowl of milk and cereal for breakfast before retreating outdoors to mow and trim the yard. I was thoughtful enough to wash and dry my dishes afterward. Outdoor work was usually my domain, so I kept it up. I called a local Pizza place that also served subs, and had them deliver my sub sandwich to the house for lunch, so I could keep working on vehicle maintenance. She was washing clothes and asked me to toss my dirty clothes in with hers so she could wash them all. I politely declined stating that I didn't have much and would take care of it myself. She teared up once again and sadly walked away. Who knew a woman would cry at the thought of her husband washing his own clothes? Of course, since my bedroom was locked, she couldn't change my sheets or make my bed either. I was glad to have such tasks to occupy my time, affording me less time to feel my own painful loss.

At 3 pm that afternoon, I heard some commotion in the house. Our children, Allen and our daughter-in-law, Brenda, along with Elise and our son-in-law, Edward, were in the kitchen happily chatting with their Mom. I went in to greet them and asked what the occasion was. This was an unexpected visit.

Allen spoke for the group, "Hey Dad. It's great to see you too," he affirmed as he gave me a man-hug. "We've all been staying in closer touch with Mom since her diagnosis. She says she doesn't have a ton of good days left, so we thought we'd bring over some burgers and hotdogs today and have ourselves a good old-fashioned cookout. Don't worry, you and Mom don't need to lift a finger. We know our way around and the four of us will take care of everything, including cleanup if you can believe that after our childhood," he joked.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE having the kids over. But this was no happenstance event. I'm certain that Glenda was behind this purported altruistic occasion. What's the saying? 'All's fair in love and war'? We weren't exactly at war, but close enough to warrant her using the kids against me, I surmised.

After an hour, I'd been advised that the grill had been meticulously cleaned and was ready for use. The girls had the salad makings cut up and mixed. The meat was in the refrigerator and everything seemed ready to go. Then Glenda came to me.

"Hank, honey. The kids have requested homemade ice cream. As you know, the recipe I use is cooked, and I don't have all the ingredients. I'm just going to pop over to the supermarket and pick up the missing items. I'll be back in a jiffy," she happily chirped.

As soon as her car left the garage, I felt as if I was surrounded by four interrogators from the Spanish Inquisition. This time, my daughter, Elise, took the lead.

"Daddy, is it okay if we talk with you for a few minutes?" She asked ever so politely.

"Of course, sweetheart. My door is always open to all of you." She smiled sweetly, then began.

"Daddy, as you know, Mom and I talk quite often. She's more likely to share girl talk with me than she might be with Allen. First and foremost, the four of us want to make sure that you know that we all love you. We love Mom too, and that's why we want to speak to you to get your side of things. Everyone in this room wants what's best for Mom until she passes. You know better than we do that she doesn't have a lot of time left, so we want her to be able to make the best of what time she has left. Daddy, we know what Mom did with Uncle Bob that weekend. She confessed it to me while you were gone for those couple of days. Like you, we were surprised at first, but after having some time to reflect on it, we've come to better understand and appreciate her position. We get why it was hard for you to deal with at first, but you've had some time to make your peace with it. She swears that it will never be repeated and we believe her. This was just a bucket list item for her that she wanted to experience before she died. Is that so hard to understand and forgive? She says that you haven't touched her since that weekend. She also says you've cut Uncle Bob and Aunt Teresa out of your life as well. Dad, they've ALWAYS been your best friends, forever. Can't you see that all Uncle Bob was doing was granting the wish of a dying woman? You could have had Aunt Teresa that weekend in return. But you just blew up like a stick of dynamite."

"So you four believe that I should simply forgive and forget, huh? Is that right?" All four of them nodded.

I took inventory of my sad thoughts as I stood before the only ones left in the world that I loved more than my own life. I had to be careful. I did not want to get argumentative and alienate the four of them. Then an idea was fostered in the back of my mind.