Donna's Dilemma

After about thirty seconds of incoherent babbling mixed with sobbing, she finally blurted out. "I think I made a mistake coming here. I was hoping for closure, but not like this. I think I should go." She started to get up, but I insisted on sitting her back down.

"No, you don't! You opened this can of worms, now finish what you started. You felt that by coming here, open-handed, you were taking the high road. It was intended to make me feel like a shit for leaving and deserting my wife and daughter. Sorry, that dog don't hunt. Why don't you tell me all about it, including why you had the medical report covered up."

Just then Lina came back and noticed what was going on. "Oh crap John. What the hell did you do?"

"Nothing. We were just talking about old times and she went to pieces."

Lina took Donna inside the house and laid her on the sofa. She got a wet compress and some kind of pills which she gave her. I stayed out of the way. I was the bad guy. How the hell did that happen? I went to the kitchen and got a Super Bock. The wine wasn't hacking it.

"John, why don't I talk to her? Maybe she won't get so upset. You must have come on pretty heavy. Is there anything specific that you want me to ask her?"

"Yeah! A couple of things. Some of them, I already know the answers, but I would like to see if she verifies them. The others I just don't know. Ask her the names of the three guys she had sex with that night. Did she see them again? See if you can find out if there were any other guys and any other times. Just curious. Ask her why she had the medical report of my seizure covered up. Ask her why we didn't have any more kids."

'Stop! Too much information. That's a bit of an overload. I'll do the best that I can. Why don't you go out on the patio and relax? Grab a couple more beers."

[]---[]

I fell asleep and two hours later Lina was shaking me awake. "I gave her a sedative. She is in the guest bedroom for the rest of the night."

"Did anything productive come out of it?"

"Once I got her started, I couldn't shut her up. The only thing she remembers about the three guys is that one of them was named Freddy. He was trying to get her to take some kind of drug, but she remembers that she kept refusing. She did not admit to telling him to drug you. I don't think she will ever admit that."

"So, how was the sex?"

"She didn't say, but from how she described it, it must have been pretty good. It looks like it was a one-off. I don't know why she did it. I couldn't get any hints about any other escapades. She never saw or heard from the guys again. She suspected that one of them was Shelly's father, but she never looked into it any further. She was afraid when Shelly got the DNA test kit at Christmas but didn't know how to handle it. She assumed that you figured it out and that is why you left."

"Wow! Good recap. That covers a lot of it.

"She also asked why you no longer had the eye tic or the twitch. I explained to her that it was an easy fix and should have been done years ago, except the diagnosis had been covered up for some reason. That triggered another sobbing episode; so I just left her alone. She should sleep until morning."

"It is hard to believe, but I used to love that woman. I always thought that love like that lived forever, but that is not true. I struggled for fifteen years that I shouldn't have. All the attention and love that she shared with me, over the years, was just a way to cover up for her treachery. It wasn't love."

"John, you sound bitter."

"Lina, I have to leave for a few days. When Donna wakes up in the morning, can you see to it that she gets to the airport? Tell her that I will not attend Shelly's wedding. Also let her know that the checks that she got came from Shelly's father, not me."

"Where will you go?"

"I don't know. It will just be for a week or so. You will be here when I get back, right?"

"Of course, I will. Promise that you won't drink too much. Call me."

[]---[]

And so ends that part of my life. I never did see or hear from Donna or Shelly again. Lina and I did not marry, but we did buy a nice little villa together, just outside of Porto. I decided to take up oil painting after watching some Michael James Smith videos. I am actually getting pretty good. The villa did come with a nice little studio.

Lina got me a DNA kit for Christmas. That's not funny.