Just Once

It didn't take long for me to pick up a phone conversation between my wife and Trey.

"Marcie, honey, when are we going to get together? We haven't done anything together since we got back."

"Maybe, next Wednesday," Marcie answered after a long pause. "I know that Rick has to go out of town for the day. I'll have to think about it."

"I still don't understand why you don't just go along with the divorce?"

"Are you going to marry me if he does?"

"Hell, no," the doctor said with a chuckle. "I just like screwing your brains out. You are one awesome fuck."

"The feelings the same. You're fun to fuck, but you're for shit as husband material. Rick is an awesome husband, and I still love him. To tell you the truth, Trey, I wish I had never gotten involved with you. Rick is twice the man you are, but now he won't even touch me. So, if he won't have sex with me, I guess I will have to get it somewhere else. I'll let you know."

Armed with this new information, my attorney and I set up a meeting with Marcie's attorney and her. It was a fairly short meeting that ended when I played the conversation with the good doctor. At that point, Marcie still pleaded with me to reconcile. She still maintained that I had cheated with Deidre, and she had cheated with Trey. We should put that all behind us and start fresh. I decided to finally tell her about Deidre and me.

I told her that what Deidre and I did had happened in Afghanistan. We were on an intelligence mission to one of the Northern provinces where we were supposed to meet a spy that we had embedded with the Taliban. However, we didn't realize that he had been outed and killed. However, before he died, he told them when and where we going to meet. The Taliban had set up an ambush, but it had been a clumsy attempt, and I spotted it before we were in too deep. Still, we had to fight and only made it out when air support came to our rescue. Two of the men with us died, and two others were wounded. If we had fully committed ourselves, we all would have been slaughtered.

Both Diedre and I were pretty much in shock when we realized how close we had come to being killed. You can't explain to someone what it's like to be in a situation like that. I still, occasionally, had nightmares about that one mission. Anyway, Diedre was pretty much a mess when we got back to the base camp. When I got her to her quarters, she was crying uncontrollably. I held her and tried to calm her. Then Deidre kissed me, and I kissed her back. At that point, I let my guard slip. We had oral sex with each other. However, when Deidre tried to pull me into her bunk, I came to my senses and stopped. I just couldn't do that to my wife. Still, there was no way around it, I had cheated, and the guilt never left me.

When I finished the story, I could see Marcie shifting around in her chair. Whatever Justification she had built up in her head had just come crashing down. Still, Marcie wasn't willing to concede. However, she threw one more wrinkle into the mix. Her attorney petitioned the court, and the judge ordered counseling. I went, but after several sessions, it became obvious to the counselor that the marriage was over. After that, Marcie signed the papers and accepted the house in exchange for leaving my pension alone.

During all this, the baseball season had continued on. We won the last two regular-season games. Then the league had a playoff system with the first-place team playing the eighth-place team and the second-place team playing the seventh-place team, and so on.

We won our first two playoff games, which put us in the finals against the Otters. I finally learned why the team was named the Otters. It was because Gus' son loved Otters, and he was on that team. Anyway, this final game proved to be considerably different from our first matchup. It wasn't close at all as we cruised to an 8 -- 3 win. I brought Jacob in from centerfield to pitch when the Otters began to rally in the bottom of the fourth. They had already scored three runs with nobody out. Jacob shut them down, allowing the Otters only one hit the rest of the game. They never got anyone past first base.

The victory was bitter-sweet for me. I was thrilled that our boys had won the championship, but I was sad that it was my last game. We had an end-of-season party that Sunday at my house. I told Marcie that she was welcome to join in, but she chose to stay in her room.

I had gotten twelve official Little League baseballs and gave one to each of my players. Then I passed out pens and told them to put their signature on each ball. It was funny watching them trying to fit all the signatures on the balls. Somehow, they managed to do it. The parents then presented me with a framed twelve by twenty-four-inch blow-up of our team picture, which each player had signed. However, at the end of the party, I was even more depressed because the season was now completely over.

During the party, I had to tell Kimberly I was moving because Marcie would get the house. I could see the fear in her eyes, and I that made me feel worse. I had no idea how I would explain to Jacob that I wouldn't be living in the neighborhood anymore.

However, what happened that evening and that night lifted my spirits all the way up. First, about seven that evening, I got a call from Gus, and he wanted to know if I would coach next season. The way it worked was that the coaches would get together before the season and draft a new team. The coach could keep his son on his team, or in my case, I'd be permitted to keep Jacob. But the rest of the teams would be made up with whatever players the coaches drafted. It took me a millisecond to tell him I was in.

Later that evening, Kimberly informed me that if I was moving anywhere, it would be into her house, and nowhere else. Since Marcie had signed the divorce papers the day before, she wanted me to sleep with her that night. Let me just say that it was really hard waiting for Jacob to go to bed as I wanted Kimberly so bad.

When I realized that I would have to move, I didn't want to risk losing Kimberly, so I had intended to ask her to marry me. I thought this would be the perfect time to propose. Of course, she said yes and smothered me in kisses. Then she dragged me to bed where we made love for a couple of hours, and then we fell asleep in each other's arms. It was truly wonderful to wake up with Kimberly snuggled next to me in bed.

I was a little nervous the next day when Kimberly decided to tell Jacob that we were getting married. I shouldn't have been, as he screamed with joy and raced to hug me. He kept asking me when I was going to become his dad. All I could tell him was, "Soon." I didn't think his grin could get any wider, but it did.

Epilogue

It was funny how one of the worst times of my life turned into a whole new chapter that made me happier than I thought possible. Of course, Kimberly and I have our disputes, but we resolve them, and the makeup sex is beyond great.

After getting the approval of his mother and my kids, I asked Jacob if he would like me to adopt him. He was so excited about the idea that he kept asking every few days when I would be his official dad. I, in turn, bugged the lawyers each day to get the paperwork done.

Jacob is as loving a son as anyone could hope for. And I am thrilled that my kids not only accepted Kimberly as my new wife, but they think the world of Jacob. And Jacob loves Kyle, wanting to play ball with him every time he comes to visit. Jacob is the little brother that Kyle always wanted.

I know that Marcie was not too happy about the adoption because of comments she made to our two kids. But I could care less what she thinks.

Kimberly and I talked about having a child together, but I was less than enthusiastic. At forty-nine, I was eleven years older than Kimberly. I pointed out that I'd be sixty-five when our child was fifteen. I didn't think that was fair to the kid, Kimberly, or me. Still, I know that if I had agreed, Kimberly would have immediately begun the baby-making process with zeal. There are times when that thought would float through my mind, and I wonder if maybe I should have. Of course, that thought only lasts for a few seconds before reality returns.

As I predicted, the Nielsens divorced about three and a half years after the incident. It seems that Leslie fell in love with one of her husband's selected lovers. However, six months later, I learned that she had left her new lover for someone else. It seems that Leslie just likes having a variety of men.

I ran into Leslie in a store one day, which was really awkward. I mean, how do you talk about the weather with a woman who offered to fuck your brains out. She told me that Vincent had remarried, and he wasn't sharing anymore. However, Leslie did make a point of telling me that she still considered Marcie's deal as being on the table. I politely declined.

Marcie still lives across the street, and we get along, sort of. It wasn't like that at the beginning because she was royally pissed that I had divorced her. Marcie had even told our kids that the divorce was all my fault. This angered me because it caused some hard feelings between my kids and me. That stopped when I sent each a copy of the letter that their mother had left for me. Then there was a period of hard feelings between the kids and Marcie. Now, things are fairly peaceful.

Holidays started out as a problem. Marcie insisted that the kids come to her house for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Kimberly and I had invited them to be with us, and we even invited Marcie. The first couple of years, my kids split the days between both houses. However, by the third year, they had had enough. They told their mother to put on her big girl pants and accept the invitation to Kimberly's house, so we could all enjoy the holidays together.

I would catch sight, from time to time, of Marcie's dates when they came to pick her up or when they came back to spend the night. Doctor Trey was a frequent visitor for a short period until he got caught doing the dirty with the hospital administrator's wife and was fired. Yes, it was me who let the Administrator know about the Doctor's activities. I don't know where he went or what he's doing now, and I could care less. He was a sleazebag who deserved a lot worse. Marcie went through a constantly changing set of new boyfriends. I never knew who any of them were, and I didn't care to.

About three months ago, I learned that Marcie had gotten engaged. Of course, it was to a doctor. I met him a few times, and he seems like a nice guy. I not sure whether Marcie really loves the guy or not. Regardless, I hope she will treat him better than she treated me.

We still have cookouts in our Cul-de-Sac, and Marcie usually will come with her fiancé. However, I often find her eyes latched onto me, and there seems to be a certain sadness there. I can't help but wonder if Marcie regrets telling me that she had decided to have her fling just that one time.