All Comments on 'He Makes Her Laugh'

The author's not comfortable writing this and it shows. Talent in the service of another worthless cuckold plot...not worth the investment of time.

Tough subject, but as usual a very well written piece Best wishes on a speedy recovery and hope you will finish your other works as they are very relevant

Beautifully written. I loved that it actually might happen. The story was all the better for that. 5,

The story was boring, it looks to be that way because the author did not embrace the god awful theme (like most of the other writers who attempted it)

3*

I could not read past the 2nd page. What a stupid bunch of crap !

...that are virtually no more than financial arrangements, no matter how 'intimate' , are truly puke making; dump the tramp, put a real hurt on the vermin who's sneaking in through a hole in the wall. Make them fucking pay!

Consideration MIGHT be a thought, had they come, BEFOREHAND, and asked for it. After? Only scorched earth!

Few writers stir up emotions as well as RG. This was an interesting take on the little sharing is caring event we had a few weeks ago. It's always good to see a new story from this writer!

Great treatment of the age old story

I am sure it was tough writing this story but I thought you did a good job of it. I found it difficult to read as well, however, you are a wonderful writer and did a good job. She opened the door and you went through it. It would not be the first couple to have a marriage of convenience.

Well that was depressing.

He'd been with the wife for 20 years and never once made her laugh? Jesus... their home must have been as lively as a morgue. Then the slut starts fucking the new guy and is giggling like a schoolgirl. Aside from her simply screwing her lover, I think you managed to find a new way to show how much she isn't into her husband... at all.

This didn't really seem like a sharing story, more like an unwilling cuckold who was too spineless to confront and dump the whore. Her lover was loading her up with spunk twice a week and the husband just put up with that for several months? Grim...

This author is a very good author but I can't get past the fact that all of their stories attempt to normalize cuckoldry. This story is no different.

No matter how much the man fights it, no matter how potentially devastating the consequences to the woman for her actions, no matter the family's views on the matter... the protagonist eventually caves and allows each (every?) wife to have her paramours.

RAAC? Not really.

BTB? Definitely not.

Somewhere in between? I'll go with "ish"

It is almost as if there is a world weariness of the protagonist who eventually just says "Fine; screw it. I'll get my back up some other way" and then they learn to live with the situation.

I guess life is more complicated and has to take into account more than just who your partner is sleeping with. That doesn't mean we should roll over and take it.

Very nicely written story dealing with adult issues. Issues of middle aged couples. It was interesting to see the husband tentative steps trying to cope and adapt to a change in their lives (empty nest period) and their marriage (wife's infidelity). Then he even ventures into new experiences and was given a peak to a different kind of relationship, an open kind of marriage. He doesn't care much to understand the motivations of the Lennon's to embrace an open marriage, but he realizes that for them so far it seems to work. However, he has to find his own way, his own future. He's exploring an open relationship in order to try to find the right woman for another monogamous one. He can adapt to live in an open marriage, but that's no really what he wants. His wife doesn't know it yet, but she has already lost him. Maybe as he said in the story, his wife never knew him that well. I see a future for him with Marion, and Marion appreciates and admires him in ways his wife does not. I sense a better fit with Marion and the deserves the happiness and the excitement of a new romance too. It was another great story from RichardGerald. Thanks for sharing it with us.

A well thought out story with a lot of threads interwoven. Perhaps not the best story I've read on Literotica, but certainly on the list.

(and I would challenge other readers to keep that one factor PARAMOUNT in their evaluations of this story)

This was an AMAZING job, very well done! Sir, I sincerely thank you and commend you! With no hesitation, I gave 5 stars. The level of quality contained here in your effort demands nothing less. I really believe that - as a long time LW reader and anon commenter.

There may have been ways to improve this story, and there may have been a stronger voice given, than actually was, in proclaiming some ultimate lesson of life to be learned reflected in these characters. However true this (singularly just THIS one guy's opinion), I can't see any reason to down vote this story because of it. Especially when what we have here is a gift, something well crafted, and firing on all cylinders, well meeting and even exceeding expectations.

Again, Bravo!

I have long remarked that here, amongst these pages, the reader won't find stories of EXACTLY HOW it should be done (that is dealing with a complicated marital scenario, adultery); but merely, the reader shares personal accounts of how THIS (lest we forget) FICTIONAL character manages to deal with it (these betrayals, and complicated marital scenarios). What works for one, seldom or really never, will work for all. It is always solved on a case by case basis. How THIS guy deals, is not, and SHOULDN'T be how YOU would deal. Commenters saying what SHOULD be done, or what THEY would have done, have ignored that self-projection into other's fiction is only a sign that that the author has achieved their goals in creating an engaging narrative account. Add to this the gritty realism that is RG's hallmark, his professionalism in technical writing proficiency, again: the 5 stars is an easy no-brainer.

I had other things to do, but when I saw a story from you, I made the time to read immediately. After reading I had to comment. And this is before reading any others first. I always read all comments before adding my own. But, today, I just had to get it out with urgency. I say that is ALSO part of why I enjoyed this today so much. That engagement in this process has been lacking for me a lot here lately. So in addition, I also thank you sincerely for that.

I hope you stay as well as medical science can keep you. We need you here. Thanks again for this, and all your contributions here over the years. We appreciate you more than you know.

An enjoyable take on the caring and sharing theme, one that I would normally find outside my comfort zone. This was fun and funny in places, with a good sense of the feelings that Matt had to work through and I felt his actions were consistent with the moral dilemma within and the advice and experiences without. It all made sense and I liked the sufficient depth you went into with the secondary characters, the PI, the surrogate mother, the doctor, which enriched the story. Thank you, 5* from me and I hope all goes well with your pincushion experience.

Either you, or your characters, have no idea what a polyamorous relationship is. The situation you described is not "polyamory," it's an "open marriage."

Open marriages are those in which there is a central relationship between two people, who play around outside that relationshit, for sport.

Polyamorous relationships are entirely committed relationships between more than two people. There is no "taking extra lovers on the side." In the case of a MFF relationship, the three have sex with only the other two in the relationship, not random "side" men or women.

The failure to research doomed the story. It was well written, but that was just a crater in the middle of your story.

I find the beginning of the story the typical justification excuses for cheaters that fall flat. Polyamory, for most people, is a joke. The typical person has a big problem balancing ONE relationship. Yet, Allen and Ann, encourage multiple lovers as if all the nuances of human interaction can be balanced with just a little extra attention.

Here's a truthful spotlight: "The power had shifted. She was calling the shots. I could beg and plead, but she would do as she desired. That's the one thing they never tell you. When the wife is with another man, the situation is under her control.". Now I'm not saying that the man must be "in control" but in this description, the man is not in control and NOT CONSIDERED either. I don't think much of a relationship that says one partner feelings can be completely ignored. There is no "balance" here.

And that is the state of Matt's marriage. Louise is doing what she wants with no consideration for Matt. No matter how she "paints" the situation, she is cheating. Matt's decision is to respond in kind; he will meet HIS needs without consideration for his wife. At his point, the marriage is effectively dead. Louise killed it and Matt simply acknowledged it; kind of. Then it's a silly game to see if he can live with it, which he repeatedly says he can't and won't. Yet he does, drawing away from the relationship and getting more out of it as a game. Outwitting the cheating wife becomes the goal.

You have to ask, why bother?

The ending is a bit more rewarding. Exposed because of Louise's gallbladder attack, Matt is forced to stop playing games and dispose of the carcass of his dead marriage. He is effectively pushing Louise out of his life and making it easier for her lover to be with her. Meanwhile, Matt is interested in a little French cooking. It took a long time and silliness to get to this obvious solution.

Can't imagine you are going to wrap this up in one more page. At this point, he should be making defensive financial moves and figuring out how he is going to let his rival's children "accidentally" find out dad's behavior. And in the long run, fuck him up physically and or financially. As for his wife, I'm a fan of the Mexican whorehouse. ;)

Mutually agreed on open marriages are consenting adults. This is not that.

First , let me wish you a speedy recovery.

Now , no matter how much lipstick you put on a Pig , it's still a mud wallowing Swine .

No matter how well written , this whole subject makes my guts roil .

This is at the bottom of your works , right beside of Another Love .

** . One extra star only because your sick .

RG despite his hated "Another Love" story is a good writer. The only hope for him to regain any respect is if he continues to drive his wife and the lowlife Robert apart. Robert looks pathetic and she will lose all respect for him. When their relationship is over, then dump her and marry the doctor. Put the polyamory far behind and find a way to make the new wife laugh.

Cuck big time cuck

Good twist on an old storyline.

Nony is jealous and makes me laugh

Top 5 Foremost RIGHT and wrong Literary Features Employed To Multitudinous Effect by RichardGerald in the estimable and yet oh so HUMBLE opinion of LSD : the Lord of Literotica Exegesis. 

1) What RichardGerald did RIGHT. Another narrator with intellectual tendencies with a pronounced stoic bent methodically searches for dignity when hitherto now clear blue waters of true love gets murky.

Kudos.

2) What RichardGerald did WRONG : " Is That All There Is “ intoned Peggy Lee in an immortal cabaret song . The way the narrator reacts in relentless, graceful fashion to the slings and arrows of infidelity would put Leonard Nimoy's Spock to shame .

The closest he came to showing vulnerability was the title question ❔ Its a matter of taste but I wanted just one scene where he " lost it " for a short interval. Maybe next time .

3)What RichardGerald did RIGHT : Loved the multiple , articulate female characters of substance, heart and mind with widely varying degrees of integrity “.

Plaudits for p----y power that went unmuzzled and whose words were heard, if not always strictly heeded by the narrator who traveled his dark road with lamp of inquiry like Diogenes except in, this story he was looking for an honest woman 👩.

) What Richard Gerald did WRONG :  Did story try to have it both ways with main character starting out in terms of fidelity as a veritable naif ? Then after discovering betrayal he barely blinks as options are examined cooly, inherent but previously dormant power is discovered, collected and channeled faster then Bill Belachick can transmit via wireless headset " just use the force Luke err Tom ". Just saying.

5) What RichardGerald did RIGHT. I always enjoy in story after story by this author the main character unfolding from initial underdog intitially bested by marauding lothario and beset by loss of spirit/faith and transitioning to finally where stay or go in relationship - he will have options while maintaining at least a thin veneer of vulnerability .

Clint Eastwood didn't pick ⛏️ up on this multi-faceted way to drop the curtain arguably until " The Unforgiven ". Huzzah for tinge of shadows as backdrop as new dawn unfurls.

Bottom Line(s): Should REM return from retirement and do suite of bittersweet songs inspired from RichardGerald's collection of tales ? The truth is out there , but the way is Muldar murky and strewn with potholes bordered by graceful phrasing and poetic injustice.

Ergo the obvious score.

Full marks * * * * *

I enjoyed the story and ending epilogue too. Hope your health gets better and you can continue writing these amazing stories.

Well I wouldn't call it a positive wife sharing story but rather a cautionary wife is going to be sorry when the gravy train leaves the station story. Clearly you have given him no reason to stay with her and clearly he is going to marry Marion. I assume he has protected assets to the extent possible legally and illegally. Well written. Thanks.

I learned a new word-cicisbeo.

. . . and a fifth star for knowing the word "cicisbeo." One quarter star deduction for the stated approval of the far left of the Democratic Party, but 4¾ still rounds up to 5.

To have written, and written reasonably well, in a theme to which you are normally opposed is the sign of a good writer. That you have done your research is obvious.

One point you hit at, but only through implication, is the somewhat two-faced nature of the French. Men of power and wealth are simply expected to have mistresses, and no one batted an eyelash, even if it was a mascaraed eyelash, when both the wife and mistress of the late President François Mitterand attended his funeral together. But when a French woman takes a paramour, even if her husband has a lover of his own, the husband's reputation suffers. Explaining that Dr Massi is a Berber allows her to consider Mr Lancing as acceptable, where a true Frenchwoman would be disinclined due to his reduced status as the husband of a woman with a paramour. L'arrangement only works one way.

What was left unexplored was Mrs Lancing's reaction to Mr Lancing having had sex outside of the marriage as well. He enunciated their own new arrangement, as it were, to her, while she was still laid up, a fait accompli she was simply expected to accept. One of the alternate endings would be the one in which Mrs Lancing refuses to accept her husband having outside liaisons, despite her having had an affair of her own, but, as I have said before, women are more practical than men when it comes to sex.

You delivered, as promised. Your stories are always complicated and well-written. I wish you health and hope you're not confined over Christmas.Thanks again, Randi.

"People like you condone this fucked up lifestyle

Cuck big time cuck"

Others wrote comments telling us that Matt's and Louise's marriage was dead, and that he needed to start making the financial arrangements to divorce her, and screw her over. Yet the author wrote, at the beginning, "I tried to follow the theme as I understood it, but if you have read my other stories you will know this is not where I'm comfortable."

This was fiction, and I still don't get why commenters would excoriate an author trying to complete an 'assignment' of a different nature than his norm. If the readers are going to get so thoroughly pissed off over a story about adultery, why do they come to this section?

until it can't!! I nearly hit intensive care with pancreatitus, it's the only time I've thrown up due to pure pain. The months before with a bad back were tolerable but not to the extent that I would or did go on holiday. Still.... that aside, hope you're recovering from your hospital time.

As for these jokers in the story, sorry, couldn't like any of them, except perhaps Marion.

Matt was a walkover, despite his powerplay over Robert at the end. Simon pulled his strings like a puppet when it was him that was owed the favour. He succumbed to the Lennon's even though he said he wouldn't be convinced. And worst of all he enabled his wife's affair, to the extent she was allowed to go away for Xmas, where were his kids? I thought Marie was due back for new year, yet he didn't seem concerned that she was a no show.

Marie well just your usual silly empty nest mother and wife in these stories, bored and want's a bit of strange. She had the nerve to frown on Matt not shaking Robert's hand. Again I ask, where were her daughters over Xmas? It was always a thing to see parents and now to see our kids over the holiday, no matter how old.

Allen and Ann I felt manipulated him, his defences were down and put him in a position where he would succumb to their way of thinking, even though he had stated he wasn't interested.

Morgan, the PI was awful, looking down on Matt for having the temerity to investigate this poor man who's wife was terribly ill and was only screwing another man's wife on the 2 days he wasn't caring for his own, so noble of him. And the silly cunt only goes and uses her again for a future investigation.

Robert, the hero of the piece, long suffering losing his wife to illness (can't be arse to spell it out), so it's fine for him to start with someone else's and potentially ruin their marriage.

While in Paris Matt should have cleared their house of her stuff and secured himself financially, then when the phone call came, refused permission for the operation as it could not be his wife as she was with her sister in NC, it would have saved him the hassle of a divorce, meanwhile informing Robert's family of what a loving, devoted husband he was.

Sorry this wasn't a sharing is caring story, there were too many elements that touched on cuckolding, revenge, cheating.

Thanks for the definitional clarification. I might have gotten that right on a multiple choice test but I had not given it much thought.

This is the best line in the story.... I hope he soon does and Robert's wife loses her understanding attitude.

I like RG's writing style, I could certainly do without the 2-3 page asides delving into unnecessary political maneuvering. Sometimes I don't think he's sure whether he's writing a true crime drama, a police procedural drama, a political expose' or a loving wives tale.

Topic totally sucks, yet very well written by an excellent author. Lit needs to create another category especially for cuck lovers, so that I (and apparently others) won't waste time starting to read a work only to discover the title is misleading. Ok, 1 star. Sorry RG, but it is Randi's fault.

cuckold, This is a stupid story about Slutwife cheats and the husband is a moron and instead of dumping the whore he abides by her lifestyle

I understand completely when you said this was a difficult task. Yet you wrote a great story, as usual, with believable characters. I'm not sure very many caught the challenge laid down by Randi and HDK.

I hope you conquer your health challenges as easily as you did this writing challenge. You are a fine talent, and I will just have to wait patiently until your health is good enough that you can again write.

Hooked

Many years ago, Samuel Huntington. an academician and political scientist of considerable repute, wrote a classic book entitled: "The Clash of Civilizations". He tells us that there are some irrefutable truths that characterize different civilizations and no matter what we do we cannot reconcile them and these civilizations will never be compatible. The Western World will never be able to fully work with the Asian World because the basic morality of the two worlds is different. Similarly, on a much more trivial level, the minds of the people who read Literotica are in different moral universes and one group can read this story and find it a 5* experience (as I did) because of the novelty and the good writing and the "happy" ending, while others read the same story and talk about "cuck" and "lowlife" and "whore" and offer 1*. Both groups are right in their evaluation in their own universes, but Huntington would have told you (he's gone about 10 years) that this "clash of moral universes" is inevitable and cannot be reconciled. So RichardGerald will have to be satisfied with a mediocre rating because "you can't please everybody". I could only wish that both universes would be able to accept the other and acknowledge the truths of the others' viewpoints.

Don't listen to all the toxic male bullshit. This was a good story and if people can't enjoy a well-written wife sharing story they can go to another category or to a site for jealous men who hate women...or at least to control them/own them.

Perfect situation is Mattew and Louise had a good marriage, both felt fulfilled in the marriage, the passion and intimacy was still good in the marriage. Not great, just good. So I'm classifying the "perfect" or ideal scenario as not a great marriage, but a pretty good one.

But that's not where their marriage was. Louise was not happy in the relationship for many years, and towards the end before her affair started she was feeling depressed (at least partly due to the empty nest syndrom, and perhaps party due to mid-life crisis). We don't really know how Mattew was feeling with everything as the narrative talks about Louise state and not his.

So now Louise is cheating with another, but she is not trying to purposely hurt Mattew. In fact, if he doesn't find out their life together is actually better than it was before as she is much more attentive towards him than she has been for years and much more passionate. For whatever reason Robert brings that out in her and alleviates her depression and fills that hole that the empty nest has created. Obviously, one reason brought up is that Robert makes her laugh where Mattew never did.

My point to this comment is not about condoning Louise's infidelity or justifying polyamory. But it's the idea that Mattew has to contend between three choices and one of those choices was not "perfect" as stated above, because that no longer was available to him. So choice number one is divorce where he becomes a hateful, bitter person, and to try to alleviate some of that pain and satisfy the hate he tries to take revenge on both Louise and Robert. Choice number two is divorce, but he tries to move on without exacting revenge and let Louise go and be with her lover. Choice number three he doesn't take a final action (divorce), acts like a free agent himself, acts ignorant of the infidelity and tries to figure things out including what he wants in both the short and long term.

So the question is which of these is the best choice for him that will lead to the best possible outcome for him first of all, and a distant secondarily for the woman that he loved for more than 20 years, who he says was a very good wife for almost all that period, and who is the mother of his children (so there is the mental health of his daughters to consider as well), and finally for the other people his decision would affect.

Choice one where he gets completely angry, and unleashes his inner rage, tries to hide his money, and exact revenge on his wife of 20 years and her lover. First, let's talk about how this will affect everyone around him, and then lastly how it would affect him. Robert's wife needs him (alzheimer's), Robert's children need his father to be capable to be able to take care of his ill wife otherwise she was going to become a burden on them. So if he exacts revenge where Robert is no longer capable of caring for his wife then a multitude of innocent people suffer. He exacts revenge on Louise, obviously his kids suffer, but also the woman he says he loved so much suffers. Not to mention his in-laws (which were his family as well after all). Finally to Mattew. This option would have left him hateful and bitter for years and made it much more difficult for him to move on. As they say when you go out to seek revenge dig two graves. This would have made it much harder, if not almost impossible, for him to move on in the future in a healthy relationship, at least for a long time. Being in his early 40's he didn't have that many years to recover either.

Option two, divorce and move on, and let Louise and Robert do whatever they want. While I feel this is better than option one as he will recover quicker, and pass his pain on to much less people, still he will be fucked up for a long while.

Option three, what he actually did. This allowed him to sort of move on without having to confront the negative aspects immediately, but at the same time keeping all his options still open. He didn't just obssess over his wife's infidelity, constantly pondering where she is going, what she is doing with her lover (even though he was spying on them, he still took positive steps in his life both workwise and relationship wise, so not obssessed with tunnel focus on the lovers). Like he said he didn't want to be "the victim". He explored a sexy woman, he left himself the room to possibly date and pursue the surgeon. He was moving on emotionally. When I say move on emotionally that doesn't assume necessarily moving on from Louise. But moving on and not being stuck emotionally in a very negative place. This option allowed him to work things out for himself, start healing before he had to get confrontational and things got contentious with his wife where he was going to be in a very negative place for 6 months to a year (typical divorce), and then after that try to come to grips with his new life and the repurcussions of the divorce battle.

So in option three he starts to emotionally and physically see an alternative life to one with his wife which will help him move on much quicker if he decides to completely move on from his wife. It allows him to create a possible future now if he decides to divorce. It allows him to save some pride and put aside feelings of inadequancy that a cheating spouse could create. He does all that without killing any of his options. He could choose to stay with Louise and ask her to give up Robert to stay together. He could keep it where she can continue seeing Robert and he continues with his dalliances. Or he could divorce Louise and move on with a new love interest like he is considering with the surgeon.

His ideal option may have been the one option not available to him anymore. The option of having a spouse who was still very much into the marriage who had never cheated. But as far as the three options that were still available to him after finding out Louise's infidelity option three, I believe, was the one most likely to lead to success for him personally, and for everyone else around him.

Dr. Marion traded Paris for Albany ?? Must be a big cross-country skiing, snowmobile outdoorsy-kind of girl . Oh well, lose the Lourve , gain The Albany Pine Bush Preserve ( actual tourist site) .

Richard writes same story over and over. I read first page and last. Smart women jn need in need of extra men for whatever reason, and willing men who have an affair with a women who explains all to him. Horrendous

OK - you made me look it up:

This arrangement, called the cicisbeatura or cicisbeismo, was widely practiced, with knowledge and consent of the husband, especially among the nobility of the cities of Genoa, Nice, Venice, Florence and Rome.[6] While many contemporary references to cicisbei and descriptions of their social standing exist,[7] scholars diverge on the exact nature of the phenomenon.[8] Some maintain that this institution was defined by marriage contracts,[9] others question this claim and see it as a peculiarity of 18th-century customs that is not well defined or easily explained.[10] Other scholars see it as a sign of the increasing emancipation of aristocratic women in the 18th century.[11]

The cicisbeo was better tolerated if he was known to be homosexual. Louise d'Épinay wrote from Paris to her friend Ferdinando Galiani about the impending departure of marchese Alvise Mocenigo, the Venetian ambassador, whose tastes the ambassador had displayed in Paris:

(wikipedia)

One of the strange twists of "romantic chivalry" - which died out in France big time starting in the 14th century at the start of the hundred years war with the "Tour de Nesle Affair". This affair was charges of adultery against 3 of King Philip IV's daughters (by his 4th daughter Isabella - wife of the King of England at that time when England was merely a province of France) had many consequences - including the outlawing of Royal succession to female descendants and growing enmity between France and England that ended in basically the civil war - which is what the 100 years war was.

justbobkc

I just have time for a short comment. It is totally good to see such a nuanced, and balanced handling of a complex issue. Anyone that says BTB is the only answer is not really in the game.

knee jerk divorce,more so mid life or 'golden years' works fine if your rich lol he made lemon-aid outa lemons !! take care Richard,get well pls. stlcris

Not a fan of the topic or most of the stories that were birthed by this challenge, but a talented writer is a talented writer. I'm looking forward to a more enjoyable theme from some of the site's best whenever it comes. Get well soon, RG.

Thanks for sharing.

Cog

Heh, I am certainly happy to shoulder any "blame." I have been given many a one vote, but never in effigy, in my memory.

Fear not, we have seen the error of our ways. We promise to reform and return to the ways of right and purity. We will write no more sharing stories. Instead, we will write Gothic Horror stories. You may expect to see hordes of them crossing these pages in, say, about 85 days (86 for those in the US). Stories from the likes of BurntRedstone, Angiequesophie, Girlinthemoon, Eclare, Todd172, Markelly, Laptopwriter, GoldenIAngel, HDK, Lovecraft68, and health permitting, yes, RG and dozens more. Well, maybe not these pages, but pages on Literotica, at any rate. Randi

Thank you.

You are a really top notch writer, so glad you could get this submitted. The sophistic argument for open marriage is welll done but never going to ring credible with moi. But the tale that argument was contained in was top notch, and he burned the bitch and the bastard in a very smart, very political way. Full marks.

"Lit needs to create another category especially for cuck lovers, so that I (and apparently others) won't waste time starting to read a work only to discover the title is misleading."

The author's introduction warned readers that this was part of the 'sharing is caring' series; wasn't that warning enough?

What is the point of staying married ?he gets slopps now n then .

...and I had to go with three stars. I wasn't a fan of the original concept for this event. I'm neither in the BTB or RAAC camps, but rather what are the circumstances of the story and do I feel good about it. The circumstances for this event left me feeling rather "icky" after reading the various stories. I would have taken a pass, but the majority of the authors are ones that I've always enjoyed.

In this case, I was rather appalled by the story, but the writing was so good I was in a pushmi-pullyu situation. So I wussed out and went with three stars. I will continue to enjoy the author but take a pass on this story.

BTW, sorry to hear about your recent medical issues. I hope they're resolved successfully and you'll be able to get out more stories in the future.

Commenters seem to think that Matthew is a wimp and a cuckold by the way that he handled his wife's affair. I am of just the opposite opinion. By doing what he did he gained the upper hand. He keeps his wife of 20+ years while being able to conduct his own extramarital liaisons. Very good writing. Very good story telling. I give is a 4 Star Rating.

So what is going to happen? Is he dumping his wife or has he already dumped her? He is now seeing Marion and talking about marriage so what is happening it’s to ambigious. He says she is seeing her lover even more and the guys wife is in hospice care so are they living together? Are they divorced?

But what if they did, Old Timer? That would remove the excuse so many commenters use for reading these stories so that they can complain about them.

Would you deprive them of the joy they get from complaining? And what if they stopped? Would you deprive me of the joy I get from complaining about the complainers?

Lue

Ps: Everybody who hasn't already done so should read Kimi's comment. A genuinely informative addition to the conversation.

... for polyamory. Don’t fully get it yet, but now have an inkling. Most stories just have the guy (or girl) accepting it like a wimp. I’m always asking, “But why?”

The story is well written and amusing. It take a different track from many of the LW genre. The game plays itself out instead of the unusual "finding her out and then extracting either an raged revenge or a sinister payback" it develop as a conflicted tale which them lets the main character explore in thoughts and activities. Yes there are some niggles as to aspects of reality but as many note, this is exploratory fiction....FICTION. It confounds those who read with a certain concept in mind. Often some of the best fiction does not conform and exposes the readers to other considerations and ways of thinking and being.

I consider this story to be more a long slow burn...... And the closure leaves lots to the "what's next" imagination. Just as much of the best fiction often does mostly closed but a door slightly left open for more.

Nicely done is title to closure line.....kept waiting for it and there it was....though still unanswered.

And the protagonist is not a cuckold. He is a Wittol, a very different kettle of fish.

I am not the sort of person who could ever condone a wife or partner who decided to spread her love around, and I have a very hard time believing that a wife who did this would, or even could, still profess to love her husband (and I believe I'm in the vast majority when thinking this). So despite being a very good story with all the usual small details and intricacies of a Richard Gerald plot that add so much, I still felt a bit depressed at what he discovered.

And although the author didn't leave him weeping into his beer, and in fact had him enjoying a bit of a quid pro quo with Ann, I still felt that Matt had been left bereft of the wife he loved and knew.

But then came the epilogue, which changed everything.

Matt already has his sights on the future by moving on to a new life without his wife, and the bit that satisfies my sense of justice is that I don't think she even realizes it. The piece about making Marion laugh was a very nice touch too. Five stars from me.

You are a delightful storyteller. Here's hoping you're health issues are resolved successfully.

Rather, wrote a story that accepted it as a fait accompli. Not really seeing the author stretching here. He should stay in his lane. 3 stars for the writing.

Five stars because while it upset me it was written so well and had no logical disconnects. No language faux pas helped too.

In real life economics and inertia keep marriages together. It used to be social pressure.

In my case if my wife went on a date with an other and then came back hot and bothered I'd probably tell her to go pound sand. Screwing immediately after is called condonation and relieves her feelings of guilt.

But nobody ever said stories have to make us feel good.

R.

This reads like a propagandist parable for cuck recruitment, full of unsympathetic characters sharing a shallow kind love and making a weak case for "the nobility" of swinging. Total horse shit. No marriage here, just another slut who wants to have her cake and eat it.

Great story that left me, like some others, unsettled and unsatisfied. Maybe I'm a bit too thick-headed for RG's stories. However, he saved this one with an epilogue that actually improved the story. Thanks for sharing!

A very good addition to the “Sharing is Caring” list, and more in line with the goals of the assignment. But, in some way, it still turned into a BTB story. Her lover is belittled, the wife is more beholden to her husband, and now he has an option for bailing from the marriage.

I think what I was really looking for is a more convincing “For the Greater Good.” Since we are commenting on a RG story, something like “Another Love” in an alternate universe where the husband finds out about the affair early; we are convinced that, at least to the practicality of his engineering brain she was as good a wife as was professed, and he understood her weakness and need when he wasn’t around.

Maybe I have expected too much from the exercise.

I usually like your stories but couldn't get behind this one.

Damn fine. No wimp, but a man with a sense of self and a plan. No guns, just self determination. Nicely done.

The theme is intriguing; the style is good; the story captivates. Cleary worthy of a #5. Author needs a little help (just occasionally) with commas.

People in my life are confused and always getting hurt or hurting someone else. The true meaning of "life is hell" its not my style and I dont try to judge, but it is cruel. Usually dont rate things lower than a 5. Skirted the edge of the real feelings of the character, they were hinted at but not really told. Nice try....2. Poly people are on the dramatic side and on the edge of suicide from my experience.

I agree with a couple of commentators that the political crap is a useless distraction. In terms of plot, I agree with Pencarrow completely - he is very likely to marry the French speaking doctor, which would most likely be an upgrade. Of course the perp's wife will likely die freeing up him to marry wifey.

Polyamory is the sophist's term for wanting to have all the favors and benefits, but none of the responsibilities or commitments.

When the wife was having fun and great fucking, she wanted her lover. When the wife got sick she wanted her husband. She spent all the time with her husband that she Had to. She spent all the time with her lover that she could get away with, and she never got as much as she wanted. She accepted her role as a wife. She relished and celebrated her role as a another man's amazing lover and sex partner.

Yes, it was just sex. But it was just sex with her husband. With Robert it was love and romance and excitement and tenderness and caring and compassion. She was sorry she hurt her husband, but she was not sorry she had replaced him as her true lover and main romantic interest. Her husband was her leftovers from a marriage she had abandoned. She gave him sex not out of enthusiasm but out of guilt and obligation.

Robert was there when she needed him because she no longer needed, nor wanted, her husband as her romantic partner. Her husband was demoted from the man in her life, to the man who paid her bills and took care of her household and family. Her husband became her steward.

All of this will of course float to the surface of the cesspool that is now their marriage. When the divorce finally happens everyone involved will be relieved, probably even their children. But remember, men age like wine, women age like cheese. This self-serving shallow bitch will one day look at an ugly used up hag in the mirror and wonder why she is now alone and treated with contempt, or pity. She will deserve all the regret and remorse of her final years.

As to the vapid psychobabble you had your characters spew about polyamory and understanding and jealousy as a contrived emotion. It would take a person with the humanity of a robot, or no humanity at all, to believe adultery, betrayal, abandonment, should mean nothing to the victim. As long as the wife comes back to you you have lost nothing. That's only true because at that point in a marriage you no longer have a wife to lose.

Well written, but very poorly thought out. A painful story about shallow self-deceiving people trying to make a silk purse out of a slut's vagina.

No sale.

The would-be cuckholds won't get it, but this was something very good and different.

The connection is two ways rout. The spouse, girlfried or boyfriend who cheat lost any right to wait for his or her spouse stays faithful! The problem is their connection may become totally dead in the future. RG's mistake is as the most LW author, that he did not write the future of his crachters!

Well conceived and well told. It's not easy being original in the LW category, and this was something different. Best of health, RG.

5☆. Thank you. I suppose all the right punctuation, spelling, grammar et al is kinda important...but I get the story and liked it. I believe language is a fluid thing. Shoot me.

How very Susan DeVoe Singleton.

What a sad story! It's exceptionally well written, and deserving of 5 stars; however, when I was finished reading it, I felt quite depressed.

The relatively low ranking, this is actually a very well written story. I can’ t understand people who say that the leading character should have done this or that or something else. The choice of action is the prerogative of the author. Otherwise those complaining should write their own stories.

Matt maintained control of his circumstance, however untenable it was, by keeping his knowledge of it secret, forcing Lou to live a lie. Conversely Allen was force fed his wife’s infidelity, and with the choice of swallowing or expectorating, he swallowed, thus conceding control to Ann. Subtle but important distinction. Who’s wearing the collar and who’s holding the leash.

Ohio’s story “Visiting Richard Groner”, though an entirely different plot, had a similar circumstance, wherein a husband kept secret his knowledge of his wife’s affair, thereby preserving his “happy home” for his children. And ultimately, holding the proverbial sword over his wife’s head.

Your characters are always multifaceted, emotionally complex and sympathetic. I’ve reread many of your stories and have several favorites. Very enjoyable read. Thank you. *****

.. because they piss me off. Richard has a real talent for creating worlds where choices are ambiguous. The characters are alive. I care about the choices they make. I keep finding places in the story where I ask what if things had been different? What would I have done if ...

Would my choices be better than Matt's, and why is that? An example, what if HMHL did not have Ann and Allan? Matt is on a very different trajectory when Ann swoops in. What if she never does? Does Matt, on his own, have what it takes to save his marriage? What would that look like? Would it last and why? Many of the comments make similar points in their own way.

Look at the thought and feeling in the comments and you see what Richard a great gift gave us. Richard, thank you for soldiering on to get this story to us and get well soon.

I read this and found it well written and an enjoyable story. I had one recurring issue with it that kept me from giving it 5 stars. It was a story about sharing and caring, yes, bu just not between the husband and wife.

What she did was not sharing, nor was it caring for her husband. She was cheating 100% and it only came to light because of her illness. She lied. She deceived. She fell in love with another man. She contrived a trip to Paris for Christmas. She placed her relationship with her lover above her marriage and family. From her perspective, she was a cheater, leaving the country for a romantic holiday and abandoning her family.

The husband was no better. He cheated on his wife and broke his marriage vows. He lied and deceived as well. A sharing and caring marriage is the opposite of this, where ther is honesty and trust.

Ann, with all of the great lifestyle advice, was more concerned about bedding a new liver than his relationship. If she were truly into polyamory, she should have encouraged, if not demanded, that he talk to his wife and face her affair. Instead, she beds him. This was a goose and gander thing; your wife cheats, so you should too.

One thing turned me off totally and that was turning Ann from a smart, strong female character into a submissive slut. When Allen mistreated her and she yelled out I am Allen's whore, it did not fit at all with the story and the way in which the characters had been presented. I lost all respect. Now the truth was revealed. They were not about polyamory. They were about D/s.

So, for me, this ended up not being a story about sharing is caring. It became a tale of two affairs joined together by deception, mistrust and ego. The main character says it near the end... "I stopped being faithful to you in MY HEART." That is the crux of it. In a sharing is caring relationship, he would not have felt that way, because nobody would have been unfaithful.

They destroyed their vows. They were cheaters, liars and deceivers and were happy doing it. She is getting hers. I'll get mine. They should have talked. They should have stopped the lies and deception.

So, I felt this was a noble attempt at painting a picture of sharing is caring, but I feel it failed in that regard. In the end it was just about cheaters trying to justify lying to their spouses.

KB

"He needed me and I needed him..."?

Why did she need him? To make her laugh (and fulfill her sexual needs...)?

Obviously Robby needed her because he had lost his own wife to dementia.

Also obviously she needed Robby to be "in love" with.

Some of your stories have this same kind of protagonist - a more intellectual type than emotional (romantic?) - kind of cold hearted fish, overall. They are "good husbands and fathers and providers of material things" but lack - something - sooner or later their wives need. Enough to self-justify cheating. But it seems these wives fear their husbands more than they actually love them - as in "in love" with them. This fear maybe drives their not wanting a divorce or "to hurt" their husbands. A divorce can be a scary thing - a definite life changing thing - for older "settled" women (except for that sexual cheating thing!) Those who want their cake and eat it too.

I get this as it seems to match my own personality type - except I have ALWAYS wanted/needed almost daily sex. A lukewarm sexual marriage life would never have worked for me, personally.

All together maybe why I have ended up a "serial monogamist" myself - 4 wives total and 3 divorces. And I have nicely manuveured my ex's into divorcing ME with minimal pain for all. I really wanted them to be happy without incurring economic misery myself.

But then, I was never the kind of "catch" Richardgerald's protagonists mostly are, either. As far as wealth and looks and providing a good easy materially comfortable life. (Though my 3rd wife lasted longest when I was at peak earnings potential - 12 years. And my 4th marriage is going on 18 years now. :-)

Back to this story - I think a divorce is probably in the future here and wifey will "stick with her new man" who is lesser man economically as well as being older. Will Karma eventually strike in 10 years or so? Will Robby have his own health issues? Perhaps just physically, rather than mentally? And will she then cheat on him because she "needed it"? In the end faithlessness is it's own reward...

I was depressed half way through but when Marion laughed perked up. I dislike the break in respect that cheating brings but if the offended party comes out on top, it is a victory.

ET. I hope that everything is working smoothly now RG your operations and cyst removal from the eye seems to be part of the ritual of passing 70.

Thoughtful and great flow.

Loved it. Although, I was concerned at first and has visions of a Matt Moreauvian mushmash. But dude, you pulled it off, and by the end (the epilogue was nice but unnecessary) I was laughing. Call it poly this or that, goose/gander whatever, or the ever handy “you did it first!” A ***** story, well told, well done.

Even better you managed to enflame all the Slobbering Alt-Right “Don’t Cuck On Me” Trolls of Trumpistan - or, as long as you’re paying for it (prior to or after the fact having no meaningful impact.) Perhaps they missed the Sharing Is Caring, or did they read it and misinterpret it looking for a cute, charming story about a coworker who forgot their lunch?

I must admit I was waiting for the btb. It never appeared. I don't normally give five stars to cheating stories usually one star. But you wrote it so damned well that it didn't cross my mind. A part 2 where you get Marie and get divorced and remarried....now that is true revenge. Living a life well.

I agree with @KingBandor...The weak point of this story are the characters...they are all bad...Not even the PIwas a good person...She liked the worst of them all: The lover...Just because he stayed with his sick wife all his bad actions should be excused? Really? 3*

Thanks for writing RG.

I don't understand all the praise. The male characters are always "fake alpha", powerful and respected on their professional life, while being at the same time completely scared little kids in their personal lives, accepting all kinds of humiliation in exchange for some unlikely scraps of affection. The female are all sociopaths, who have an husband (and sometimes children) whom they treat with complete disregard for their feelings or worth as human beings, and apparently are there only because they are expected to be, while these creatures have lovers, usually the romantic heroes out of a bodice ripper, with whom they make love and do all the life and world saving they won't do with their husbands or children.

Here it is slightly more tamed than usual, maybe that was the effort, in that the lover of the psychopath wife isn't such a character as a charming young doctor in a war zone or a famous artist with a "tolerant" family, and the alpha wimp takes a small measure of control back, but still these characters aren't credible, and just a small deviation from RG's usual rate. And that is the worst part and what seems to upset so many with his stories, and at the same time get overlooked by many others as he can indeed write - he just can't do believable, human, with human feelings, characters; his males are either alpha wimps or cardboard depth lovers, and his females are all entitled sociopaths, with no empathy and no respect for their supposed husbands and families.

Well written as usual. The sex scene with the Lennon's was somehow very disturbing and 'wicked' in the original sense of unpleasant and disconcerting. Their actions were all wrong but made perfect sense at the time.

Paris was a pure joy!

Well done.

I read the story looking for something that wasn't there. After reading the comments, I discovered what I missed. Maybe this is the reaction you wanted, but Kingbandor nailed it. Still enjoyed though.

The idea that RG is 'uncomfortable' with cheating. How does he come up with these gems?

Ha De Ha Ha HA!

Another Love: Japanese French Bitch and entire Franco Canadian family try to brow beat husband into accepting his wife LIVING WITH another man when he is in the military.

Jail breaking and On the Lam: Every one of his female AND cuckold MALE relatives excoriated husband for not accepting his wife's infidelity. Visciously! And when he went to Europe, everyone else told him he was a wimp for not just taking it. Maybe getting his own lover. Including his own lover.

Unfaithful and Faithful in Her Fashion: EVERYONE and I mean EVERYONE in that story except the husband feels the strong smart female doctor has every right to go Mandingo as much as she wants because 'stress'. His wife. His counselor. His wife's lover's fiancé, the husband of his wife's friend who is ALSO being cheated on.

Even his own sister: who sees her brother work himself to death; who is losing 20 lbs from stress, who sleeps 4 hours a day working 90 hour weeks AND taking care of the kids, who is near fiscal bankruptcy. Even this woman says some rot like 'he is starting to understand the realities of being married to a strong woman' as he is slaloming to an early grave (because strength = cheating, boys and girls) Yeah, even that cunt is against her brother.

So how was this an uncomfortable place for you again, Richard? This is all you write: justifying adultery!

RG did deal with the idea of dealing w infidelity in a mature-ish way IF you refuse to divorce.

Allen and Ann, though, did not persuade. Two people who are 'meh' should just divorce, not prop up their brand new and failed marriage with other people. Cuck Al is still Cuck Al. For unknowable reasons, Ann is humoring him sexually.

But this is the shame of it all: women choose who they love and who they fuck.

But at the core, coping with infidelity is like dealing with an amputation. When struck with losing a limb, it is certainly possible and even healthy to find a way to be happy inside one's reduced circumstances. But two things remain true

1). The amputee and the cheated upon both wish that this had never happened to them.

and

2). An amputation was a random force of nature or enemy action. Infidelity always involves your loved one looking you in the eye and smiling as she slowly starts to saw...watching you the whole time and having orgasms while doing it..

Whee!

Well written and I enjoyed it.

I appreciate the NY politics and law aspects as much as the interpersonal drama. It makes your stories 3 dimensional.

The husband is always the villain of the situation.

He wasn't

Good enough

Virile enough

Treating her well enough

Exciting enough

Etc.

The PI fought this characterization but she clearly WANTED him to be bad because Orgasm Lass...sob...just looks so happy now.

It was a nice addition to the story.

I don’t know what to think. My monogamy lives strong inside me. And maybe there is a strong love inside me that would want the person I love to be happy even if it’s not with me, but I hope that person would have some honesty with me. Never mind. I do know. I would have left. I just felt this was too much work for your main character. You write great and seem to have real behind the scenes knowledge. Great story.

I used to look forward to another RichardGerald story as I thought that The Bridge was one of the best stories, plot wise and writing style, on this LW site and really enjoyed all parts of Crime and Punishment and its related stories. RichaedGerald has always spun a good plot and his writing has, up to this point, always been enjoyable but my opinion has now changed. I avoid this topic but tried to read it anyway because of the author as I was expecting the same good plot lines and writing but this story totally failed on both levels. I forced myself to read past page one but did just skim over parts of it until the end. In my opinion, which matters no no-one but myself, RichardGerald crashed and burned and the remains are not worth preserving. Too bad I read this story as my opinion has now been permanently changed. *1

KB nearly nailed it for me, I dido KB...... 4*

But Matt is a lawyer so he is (by ego) 'privileged' to bend the rules in any way he wants. To him it appears all he wanted was IOU points, now even the Dr owes him. The definition of marriage in this story is so bastardized, my conservative nature finds an unwanted morality to this story other then in its writing. Everyone was a user.

Willing cuck story. Two stars.

But RG writes so we'll, clearly a five there, so three.

Ask for the change, or get divorced first. Own it.

What kinda of people would taunt their cheated upon spouse? How does dude pound fucking his wife solve anything? ICK

Really, really well written. Too many priveledged and presumptuous people.