"CURLING STORY" part 7 of 7
(a liberally creative and adulterous piece that could be true)
I couldn’t have been more surprised.
I understand how passions can get the best of us. That one prior relationship with her boss, the principal, began innocently enough as she observed through the hot summer days his interest in her. And she, being the careful person she is, wanted to make sure he actually was involved in the fantasy too before she made her own possibly embarrassing advances. She described that prior situation as all happening very fast. Before she knew it she had a full head of steam. There was no question he wanted her and their dance quickly became something with a life of its own. Because my wife and I hadn’t yet begun our ongoing photography project in which she would pose nude for my camera, she had no sexy pictures to show him for what was in store except old pictures of her breastfeeding our new baby in her hospital bed. But she innocently figured her boss could get some kind of an idea by seeing those lactating breasts. Looking back it was actually quite adorable to think of her attempting to seduce this man with photographs of her nursing our baby. And I have so regretted after all these years my unfair outburst of anger over what she did. And I have always wished we could go back in time and do it over, but her principal died of a heart attack not long after their unrequited affair. So here I was again, facing another scenario I had no prior knowledge of, and wishing to not make the same mistake again. And was I going to react with anger or poise? Or would I patiently listen to their explanations and consider every possible outcome in which to resolve a situation of my own making?
Her new fellow first told me that neither of them expected the adulterous results when they had first met. He had only been in town for that one day when he ran into my wife on the school playground. He was there to investigate a claim made due to an injury to a child on a piece of equipment his company had manufactured. She was outside eating her lunch on a nearby picnic table and he had stopped to visit with her. He couldn’t help himself, which I understood completely. I never faulted anyone for taking an interest in my wife and is something I have never made any issues over. She is quite alluring. But he was also eager to defend my wife’s honor by explaining how she first expressed and maintained to him her great love for me. Recognizing the immediate chemistry between them she disclosed how I had opened her up to ideas she never would have previously considered had I not helped her overcome her terribly puritan and restrictive upbringing. The two of them hit it off so well and fast that one thing led to another. He was only in our town for that one day and did not know when or if he would ever return. But he simply had to have her. She told him about our prior and current fantasies and adventures, and through this interchange both knew they had to move quickly to induce something that had to be. He said he was sorry that I was never involved in the affair. He also went on to explain the reason my wife never informed me. She knew she had broken our rule, something she had promised to never do again. She asked him to explain it, to somehow connect with me and show me how it actually was okay and what I had wanted all along. The possibility that they would never see each other again was also cause for postponing informing me. But he was back in town now, and had to be with her again, if I would only approve. He said there was no way she would proceed further without my blessing. And this man was bent on convincing me that he was worthy of her attention. His career required him to travel. His only marriage did not survive his failure for being present and involved wholly in their relationship. They fortunately did not have any children together and had amicably divorced. He said there was no chance at all, no threat, that he would be taking my wife from me. He simply wanted to be with her when he could.
I looked across the room at my wife sitting in that arm chair waiting for the other shoe to drop. I knew she loved me even though there were several periods in our life together in which our marriage seemed to be on the ropes. But through the years I have courageously opened her to considering new and different ideas regarding sexuality. And I always shared with her my sexual fantasies. In a way I was witnessing a blossoming in her even though old fears for my previous violent eruptions were present. Her face did show concern. I knew she was only trying to please me back when the affair with her boss occurred. And I knew now the same thing had likely happened. When my wife gets something in her head she goes about it impulsively. She must have thought this guy was worth having sex with, and after all we’d been through, the thought of the right one getting away was too much for her to resist. And that was definitely the case. She said she was only trying to please me. And she knew she shouldn’t have done this on her own and not included me, but she was including me now.
It is so difficult to reconcile my wife’s actions as being both about love and betrayal. Looking at her, sitting across from me, waiting for my response, was actually quite beautiful. It is hard for me to believe I was feeling this way. Of course I wished for her to be happy, to live a fulfilling life, and to overcome her restrictive and suppressive upbringing. The man sitting next to me was a humble man, willing to accept my wrath as well as my forgiveness. And I must admit I did not feel as though I had been cuckolded. It was actually quite remarkable that in some strange way I was feeling pleased that we finally had come full circle, and though we hadn’t achieved this event through conventional means or the way we had carefully planned, I was happy for her. I decided that as long as they kept me abreast of any further developments she could continue fucking him when he came to town. I expressed to him my fears of losing her, but I also wanted this arrangement to be between good friends as well as a relationship from which I might learn something meaningful about myself. Unexpectedly, all my prior dreadful thoughts seemed to fall from my consciousness. I realized that all the mental, physical, and environmental input from an accumulated lifetime of experience had brought me here to this moment, that I had actually survived, and might actually thrive within this new arrangement. Where we might go from here was certainly full of exciting possibilities, and in due time perhaps their affair would incite and further heighten something not only fruitful, but also fertilize my rather lavish imagination. And I couldn’t have been more surprised.
Parts 1 through 7 of “Curling Story” can be found and read in chronological order beginning here.