Ruined - A Marriage In Ruin

I found out that they had been married about ten years and had two daughters ages six and three. They showed me pictures and the two little ones were very pretty. They took after their mom too I could see. Both had beautiful smiles just like Sam.

I think that lunch did me a world of good. It made the relationship with my new attorney much easier to transition into. But, the negative to the lunch was that I realized that my life partner wasn't there with me anymore. David and Sam were so awesome together and reminded me so much of how it had been with Kelly before I found out about her cheating. It just made me sad and a couple of times I know my eyes misted up. David didn't notice a thing but I could see that Sam had noticed and got a concerned look on her face.

After lunch I stopped at the bank and made a few changes to protect my assets. I also picked up a $5,000 check payable to David Warner Law Offices. It would be a retainer for the work they would do for me in the near future. David hadn't asked for anything yet but I knew he would appreciate the effort.

I arrived back at the office at 1:30 pm to resume our meeting. Sam told me that David was on the phone and she took me to the small conference room we had been meeting in. She asked me if I wanted any coffee or anything else and I told her "no" that I was fine. She sat down beside me in one of the chairs and reached out her hand to me.

"David didn't tell me what's going on Jack but I can guess what this afternoon is going to be about based on your reactions at lunch. I see you are wearing a wedding ring so I am guessing it has to do with your wife. If you will allow me, I am going to ask David to let me sit in here with you this afternoon while we deal with whatever you have to tell us."

I was on the verge of breaking down again so I just nodded my agreement. My anger had tamed for the time being and I guess the emotions of the hurt were stronger now. It would be good to have a woman close by with the sensitivity they have. I realized I just might need the sympathetic presence of having Sam there.

In the afternoon meeting I told the entire story about discovering Kelly's cheating. I know broke down a couple of times and Sam stepped in to sympathize and comfort me. Once I regained control of my emotions I informed them of my intentions.

"Unless something comes out to change my mind I plan to file for divorce and to enforce the terms of the prenuptial agreement."

David and I reviewed the prenuptial agreement in detail. The terms are pretty much as follows:

I keep 100% of all farm assets, real estate and personal property

Kelly keeps 100% of grain business assets

Kelly gets 50% of our financial assets if there has been no infidelity.

If there has been infidelity:

Kelly only gets $25,000 for each year if she has been unfaithful, not 50%.

Jack only gets $25,000 for each year if he have been unfaithful, not 50%.

Household personal property 50% split regardless of the circumstances.

"Jack, I need you to show me the proof of infidelity," David asks.

"No David, I have the proof but I will not show it to you now or to anyone else for that matter unless we are forced to go to court over this. Then I will show it to the judge."

David insists, "Jack I need to see it to be sure we have a case of infidelity. I need to be sure."

"David, you need to trust me. I have the proof but I loved Kelly and I don't want anyone seeing what I have seen unless it is absolutely necessary."

Sam touched David on the arm and nods her head yes. David reluctantly agreed.

During the next couple of days Kelly called me several times and left me messages. I never took her calls and deleted the messages without listening to them.

David called me and said, "We have set a Thursday meeting with you & I and Kelly & Richard."

On Thursday at 10:30 am David and I drove over to Richard's office to meet with him and Kelly. When we arrived I saw that Kelly's car was already in the parking lot so we went on into the office. Richard's receptionist ushered us back to a small conference room where we waited only a couple of minutes before Richard and Kelly came in.

Kelly looked a lot better than she had when I saw her at Richard's office earlier in the week. Obviously she had fixed herself up for the meeting because she was in fact beautiful. I did everything I could do to keep my feelings hidden because I didn't want her to see how my heart ached for her. She smiled at me and said, "Jack, I hope we can finally talk and get this misunderstanding behind us. I miss you and want to come home."

I didn't respond to her because I felt my voice would crack if I said anything at the moment. I needed to get my emotions under control. It wouldn't be easy but I had to do it.

David spoke up. "We are here to discuss the divorce proceedings for dissolution of Jack and Kelly's marriage. I believe we should open up the discussion giving each party time to express their thoughts and opinions about how this young couple goes forward in their lives."

Richard was nodding and interjected, "My client feels this is a total misunderstanding and welcomes the opportunity to clear the air and talk to her husband."

I had been having a hard time controlling my emotions but Richard did me a big favor. He ignited the anger in me again and right now it was at the boiling point. I knew I could control the anger and that made it simple to also control my emotions, my hurt and disappointment in Kelly. I would be okay.

I said, "That is fine with me Richard. Your client can talk to her husband." I looked across the table at Kelly and said, "Kelly, here are some facts. When we married we signed a prenuptial agreement and we modified it two years ago when you bought into your father's business. I have brought along copies of the modified agreement for all parties to have."

Kelly looked on in a bit of a shock. She quietly said, "But Jack, I don't want a divorce. I want to be your wife. Why can't we just get past this misunderstanding and go home and be happy again?"

I pretty much glazed over that comment and continued, "Our intention was to protect individual interests while still reaping the benefits of our marriage. Originally the prenuptial agreement was to protect assets held in my family over several generations. Then when you bought into your father's business it was to also protect the same assets long held in your family."

"In the event of a divorce our agreement clearly spells out that I will retain 100% the assets from my family and you will retain 100% the assets from your family. All debt pertaining to those business assets will accrue to the business and the other party will have no responsibility. Because we jointly worked to provide our marital assets our agreement calls for certain monetary and property splits depending on the circumstances of our divorce."

"As this document clearly shows you are entitled to all of your personal items including clothing, jewelry, your car and other items that a man would have no interest in. Likewise I have the same entitlement on my side. All other non-farm personal property such as furniture, artwork, electronics, etc. is to be split 50/50. Farm personal property such as grain bins and machinery & equipment, etc. is to remain 100% mine as it is an integral part of the farming operation."

"The monetary distribution to you in the event of a divorce is 50% of financial assets if there has been no infidelity. There are two exceptions to that distribution in the event of infidelity as you can see in the document. In the event that you divorce me for infidelity the distribution would be that I get only $25,000 per year or $200,000, not 50%. In the event that I divorce you for infidelity the distribution would be $25,000 per year or $200,000 total, not 50%."

"I am going to ask you some questions Kelly. How you answer the questions will determine whether I pursue the divorce and on what grounds. Obviously that will also then determine the outcome of any monetary distributions."

"If our marriage is going to have any chance to survive Kelly, you must answer each question with perfect honesty. If you refuse to answer or I catch you in any lie it is over. Is that understood? Are you willing to do that to have a chance to save our marriage?"

Kelly had been sitting there looking totally stunned by my recitation of our prenuptial agreement. She quickly snapped out of it and responded, "Yes Jack, I will answer your questions and I will answer them honestly. I love you and I want our marriage to survive. I will do anything to get you to stop this and allow me to come back home."

"Kelly, I would like to tape record these questions. Is that acceptable to you?"

This time she hesitated a bit and turned to Richard who had pretty much remained silent up until this point. Richard being a typical lawyer said, "Kelly, I would advise against that but you do what you feel is important to you."

With that my lawyer, David piped up, "Well Kelly, I agree with Richard and would advise you or my client to not tape this, but it is Jack that has to be convinced here not Richard or I, so do what you feel is right."

Kelly said, "I will do anything to get past this misunderstanding so yes, go ahead and tape this. I am okay with taping any conversation between Jack and me."

David and I had brought along a tape recorder so we put it on the table where all voices would be picked up by the microphones.

Kelly asked, "Jack, what are your questions?"

"Kelly, I want to ask you if you have been faithful to me. But I want to ask it in three different time periods. The first time period is from the day we pledged to be exclusive with one another up until the day we were engaged. Were you faithful to me during that time period?"

Kelly smiled and said, "Yes Jack, I was faithful to you during that time period."

She thought she was winning points now but her smile was quickly turned to shock when I said, "Well, that is lie number 1. You couldn't even answer the very first question honestly. I should get up and walk out right now but I won't yet."

"Are you telling me you didn't fuck Larry Evendale two days after we pledged exclusivity? Is that what you are telling me? Larry was that kind of guy Kelly, he had to brag and he in fact bragged to me that you invited him over to your house on a Tuesday night when your parents were going to be gone and he fucked you silly on your own bed. He told me that when he blew his load into your hot pussy you had your legs spread and up on his shoulders. He told me that after that you sucked him back to hardness and then you rode him cowgirl until he blew up into you again. And as a parting shot he said you begged him to fuck you doggie style and he blew his final load of the night while pounding your pussy from behind and slapping your hot butt. Oh and Kelly, he told me he didn't use a condom either. He grinned at me and said bareback is a lot more fun when you are fucking a slut."

"His parting shot at me before he walked away was, 'Jack, she really loved it and I am certain that I will get lots of repeat performances in the future, probably even after you marry the slut.' Now you probably could say he made it all up but strange as it seems, Amber was nearby and happened to overhear it all. She walked over to me after Larry left and said, 'Jack, Kelly loves you and she won't cheat on you again. She was just giving him a farewell fuck. Please don't do anything stupid. And by the way, he lied, he did use condoms. I saw the packages in the trash the next morning.' So you see Kelly, you have already lied to me but I can understand what you did even if I hated it. I am going to give you a pass on this lie but there will be no more passes. From here on tell me the truth or suffer the consequences."

"After that event I didn't trust you so I watched you like a hawk for the next six months. For that entire six months you did nothing to arouse suspicions in me so I asked you to marry me and gave you the ring you have on your finger for the time being. I knew you were probably hoping that would come quicker but I wasn't ready to trust you yet so you had to wait."

"Question # 2: During our engagement, from that day you got the ring until our wedding day did you cheat on me Kelly?"

She never hesitated a second as she said, "No absolutely not."

I knew what that answer was going to be because I said, "Well I know that is true because you see I still didn't trust you totally so I continued to observe you for that entire year until I felt I could trust you. I was almost certain you were faithful to me during that time."

Richard to his credit asked if we could take a break. He wanted to confer with his client and give her time to regroup. He had noticed like me that during my tirade about Larry Evendale Kelly had gotten very emotional and was on the verge of breaking down. He wanted to give her a chance to compose herself before we continued.

We in fact took a break for lunch and David and I drove by his office and picked up Sam and went to the local diner for the blue plate special. Sam asked how it was going and David said, "I think Jack is doing fine. There hasn't been much come out yet but he laid the groundwork for an honest answer for the marital period. If she admits all of it he may still want to pursue the divorce but he also may see that she truly wants to preserve her marriage. It will be a tough call but I think he will be able to make it. Of course if she lies then Jack has to decide where to go from there."

Sam looked over at me and her woman's intuition kicked in and I knew she saw my pain. I gave a weak smile and said, "This is not an easy thing at all. Why on earth do people do such stupid things and cause so much pain in their own lives and in the lives of those who they love?"

She reached her hand over on top of mine and said, "If we only knew Jack we could bitch slap them before they could be so stupid."

Of course that got me to laugh as did David. Even in this difficult time I could laugh. I guess that is a testament to the resiliency of humanity. People grieve at funerals but they also laugh. I guess people grieve at divorces but can also laugh too.

I smiled at Sam and said, "Thanks Sam, I really needed that." She just nodded.

Shortly after 1:00 pm we returned to Richard's office and the meeting with Kelly.

Before I asked the next question I reminded Kelly, "You need to answer these questions with total honesty. If you lie in any way it will be the end of this meeting and no hope at all for our marriage. Do you understand this?"

Kelly said, "Yes I understand and I will tell you the truth."

"Kelly," I asked, "From the day we were married until this very moment did you ever cheat on me?"

I saw the tears well up in her eyes and I felt so badly for her because I knew how painful it must be for her but I couldn't comfort her or let her off the hook. I needed so badly for her to care enough about our marriage that she would confess everything. I didn't know if I could stop this divorce or not if she told me the total truth. I would know however that if she told the total truth she cared enough to try to save our marriage.

"Yes Jack I did cheat on you," she responded. She dropped her head down onto her crossed arms on the table and just sobbed. "I am so sorry Jack. Can you ever forgive me?"

I asked that Richard and David leave the room because I had a few more questions for Kelly and I didn't want to embarrass her in front of those other men. They both objected but I insisted that David leave and Kelly nodded to Richard that she wanted him to leave also.

I had her confession that she had cheated on me on tape. It would be all I needed in a divorce hearing and I didn't want the rest of my questions and her answers on tape so I turned it off.

"Kelly, answer these questions. When, Where, Who and Why?"

She sniffled a few times, "Oh Jack, I am so sorry, it happened this weekend at 'Princess Spa'. One of the masseurs named Mario is who I cheated with. I don't know exactly why it happened Jack, I guess just passions of the moment would be the best way to describe the why. Amber and I had been enjoying the day so much and after a wonderful dinner we each decided on getting a massage before we went to bed."

"My masseuse was Mario. I was on the massage table in the room lying on my stomach. Mario started the massage and it felt so good. His hands were soft and yet strong. He worked the muscles in my arms in my shoulders and back. He worked from my feet up my legs. He even worked my inner thighs but stopped short of becoming too intimate if you know what I mean."

"Then he started working on my back and shoulders again as I was still tense in those areas. I felt him untie my bikini top and pull the sides down. I was still on my stomach so I didn't worry about it until I felt his fingers caress the sides of my breasts. I have to confess it felt great and I did nothing to stop him. At that moment I had no idea I would get in over my head."

With that she started to cry again, "Oh Jack, if I could go back I never would have allowed it and we wouldn't be where we are now. You have to believe me."

Even though it was killing me to hear all of this I wanted to hear the story she was telling. Not out of lust or a desire to get turned on but because I wanted to know what she would tell me.

"Go on Kelly, tell me the rest."

"After he caressed the sides of my breasts I felt his lips on my back and it was starting to ignite a fire in me. Then he ran his hand right up to my pussy and I don't know what got into me but I just spread my legs a little and let him do it. Oh God Jack, I am so sorry and I don't know what to say but please forgive me. Please. "

I know what a sexual person Kelly is and I knew when he had touched her pussy she was probably toast but there was no excuse for her to have let it go that far, none.

I sat there for a moment hoping she would go on but she didn't say another word and just sat there with her head down sniffling. Finally she raised her head up and looked at me with a questioning look.

"Jack, is there any hope that you will forgive me?"

I didn't want to make it sound like we were in court but in fact we kind of were so I asked her, "Kelly, is this the truth?, The whole truth?, And, nothing but the truth?"

She looked at me with what I would describe as a weird look. It was look of wonderment. It was a look that had a question but no way to ask it. It was kind of an 'I wonder how much he knows' look. Finally she said, "Yes Jack that is what happened. I am so sorry."

At that moment my heart was breaking and against all odds I was able to hide both the pain of her betrayal and the anger at her lies and keep my cool. I got up from the table and walked over to the door and summoned David and Richard back into the room.

I looked at both men and said, "This meeting is over."

With that I walked over to the door and turned around. "Kelly, I am divorcing you on the grounds of infidelity. The terms of the prenuptial agreement will be enforced."

She was shocked and asked, "But why Jack? I confessed my cheating and I am begging you to forgive me and go on with our marriage. Please Jack, Please. I love you so much, please forgive me."

"Kelly, you lied to me. You didn't care enough about our marriage to lay it all on the line. If you had I am not sure I could still have stayed married to you but you never even gave it a chance. You had it all in your own hands and lied. I know you cheated more than the one time with Mario and I have the proof. I warned you that you had to tell the truth and you don't care enough about me and our marriage to have done that. It is over."