The Purse

"Fraid so. I heard that she married again. So you're the guy huh?"

"Yep, and I want to thank you for it."

"Thank me? Why would you thank me?"

"If you hadn't screwed up Ri would never have divorced you and I would never have met her."

"I screwed up? I don't know what kind of bullshit she fed you, but I didn't screw anything up and she didn't divorce me, I divorced her."

"She said that she caught you screwing her cousin."

"She doesn't have a cousin. Her only living relative is her Uncle Mark."

"She wouldn't lie to me. I can understand you not wanting to look bad, but I know her and she wouldn't lie to me."

"Have it your way. She wouldn't lie to you. I'm the bad guy. For all I know she hasn't seen Daniel since our divorce/"

"Daniel?"

"Never mind. You are happy with her so let it be."

Well of course I couldn't let it be. No way was I going to let the asshole cast aspersions on my wife so I said:

"No. Who is this Daniel and what does he have to do with this?"

He shrugged and said, "Okay. Daniel was her first love and for all I know he still is. They dated all through high school and he got her cherry and promised to marry her. Then his dad got a promotion that caused them to move out of state. She met me in our first year at college and we ended up getting married. Then Daniel came back to town, they hooked up and she cheated on me. It happened three more times over the course of the next five years only the third time she was seen going into a motel with him by my sister. My sister told me and I confronted Adrianna. She admitted it, but said that it didn't mean anything. She really loved me, but she had a special attachment to Daniel. Besides, it was only every couple of years or so and none of the previous times had hurt us any.

"If I was a different kind of guy I might have bought into it and let her have her once every couple of years or so, but I'm not that kind of a guy. She was either mine totally or she wasn't mine at all. Since she wasn't mine totally she was out."

"That just doesn't sound like Adrianna. It doesn't sound at all like something she would do."

"Maybe she learned her lesson with me or then again, maybe Daniel never came back to town."

"No, I'm sorry, but I can't believe you. That just isn't my Ri."

"Tell you what. Meet me here tomorrow and buy me a beer and I'll show you the divorce papers that say I divorced her cheating ass for infidelity."

He could see on my face that I thought he was a liar so he said, "Let me ask you something. It doesn't happen all that often, maybe once very couple of years, but does she suddenly get put on special projects and have to work late and on the weekends? If she does it means that Daniel is in town. If it hasn't happened then one of the two things I mentioned are what has happened. She learned a lesson, or Daniel has never come back to town."

I had a lot to think about as I drove home and the thoughts I was having were not good ones. If I hadn't pushed I could have disregarded Paul's assertion that he wasn't at fault in the divorce as male bluster against being put in a bad light, but I had pushed and he had dropped "the working late on special projects" bomb on me and then there was that one little item that I had never picked up on even though I should have. How could he have been caught fucking a cousin that she didn't have?

Now I had a head full of thoughts that I really didn't want to have. Chief among them was the fact that Adrianna had done the "special projects' thing to me three times over the past five years and the first time was just weeks before we married.

Ri and I averaged making love four times a week and we made love at the same frequency during the times she worked on her ;special projects' which led to a disturbing thought -- was I getting sloppy seconds during those periods? I hadn't noticed any change in her behavior during those times. I didn't see any lessening of love or affection during those periods nor did I see any increase that might have indicated some sort of guilty feelings on her part.

Yes indeed, I did have a lot of thoughts I wish I didn't have. The only thing that I knew for sure was that there wasn't anything I could do until it happened again.

++++++++++++++++

Sorry to say, but what Paul had said planted the bug in my brain and I started paying closer attention to what Ri was doing and what she said she was doing. Several times over the next year I followed her to see if she did anything that she shouldn't be doing. I told myself that if she was cheating with this Daniel when he came to town why wouldn't she cheat when he wasn't around. Once a cheater always a cheater, right?

Every couple of weeks she would stop after work for drinks with her co-workers and I followed her a few times and all she did was have one or two drinks and then go home. She never once danced with any of the men there or spent much time talking with anyone of them in particular. Maybe half a dozen times I was outside her work place around lunch time to see if she left work with anybody to catch a 'nooner' and she never did, at least not on the days I was watching.

I saw absolutely nothing to indicate that my wife was unfaithful and I had to conclude that either Ri was not cheating and Paul had been pulling my chain or Paul was telling the truth and she only cheated with this Daniel when he came to town,

+++++++++++++++++++++++

It was just a tad over a year from when I had met Paul that I got my chance to find out what the truth might be. One night over dinner Ri said:

"I've got another special project coming up next week so don't make any plans that will include me."

"Why don't they schedule those damned things far enough out so that people can plan around them?"

"It isn't my company that sets the deadlines honey. The client calls, tells us what they want or need and when they have to have it and we have to respond. Believe me honey, I really would like more notice about these things than I get."

Wednesday morning before I left for work Adrianna reminded me that she would probably be working late that night.

"The good news is that we should be done by Friday night so I shouldn't have to work any this weekend."

"Well at least that's something. Maybe we can go to the lake this weekend."

"That sounds lake a marvelous idea."

She gave me a big kiss and said, "There, that should hold you until I get home. If you are still up your might get more."

I was up when she got home. Not because I was horny and wanted to get laid, but because I wanted to make love to her and see if I could tell whether or not she might have already been laid. If she had I couldn't tell. She didn't feel any different or act any different. The only thing I noticed was a faint scent that I didn't recognize. I wondered what it could be and then it occurred to me that it might be the scent of the soap used by the hotel or motel. But then maybe it could be the smell of some one she brushed up against in a crowded elevator. After all, she did work on the tenth floor of a tall building.

What is it that they say? That denial is not a river in Egypt?

Well, any denial on my part that my wife would cheat on me was dispelled at the two-fifteen meeting I had with David Sloan of the Morresy Security and Investigative Agency.

"Subject left her place of employment at 4:32 pm and proceeded to walk two blocks to the Starburst Lounge. Subject entered the lounge and proceeded to a booth in the rear of the room. Subject was greeted by a male later ascertained to be one Daniel Martin. The subject and Mr. Martin hugged and kissed each other, sat down in the booth and had one drink before getting up to leave. They left the Starburst and proceeded across the street to the Hilton hotel where they took the elevator to the fourth floor where Mr. Martin had a room. Subject entered room 412 at 5:10 pm and remained in the room until 10:20 pm. When subject left the room she was followed until she reached her residence at which time the surveillance was discontinued for the night."

Well there it was. Paul hadn't lied. I made some arrangements with the detectives and then returned to work. I didn't get much done. I sat there and contemplated my marriage. It had been an extremely good one. I had been very happy with Ri and she had given every indication of being happy with me. Lord knows she did spoil me rotten. I was at a complete loss to understand how she could show me so much love and affection and then do what she was doing. I didn't know if the marriage could survive, but I did know that I was going to do whatever I could to try and save it.

+++++++++++++++

I left work at three forty-five and went to the Hilton. I checked out the layout and saw which rooms would give me the best shot at what I planned on doing and then went down to the desk and asked if room 415 was available. I told the clerk that I tried to stay in that room every time I was in town since that was the room where I spent the first night when I married my wife. Luckily it was open so I signed in and went up to the room and settled in.

At four forty-five the detective called me on my cell and told me that the happy couple were on the way. I cracked the door a hair and when I heard the elevator 'ding' I looked through the crack to see Adrianna and Martin coming down the hall hand in hand. I closed the door and moved to the bed and turned on the TV.

Figuring that the time line for the night would be the same as the previous I shut off the TV at five after ten and then cracked my door and took a seat next to it. At ten-fifteen I heard the door to 412 open and through the crack I saw Adrianna heading down the hall to the elevator. When I heard the 'ping' of the elevator door opening I left the room and crossed the hall to 412. I knocked on the door gambling that he would open the door thinking that it was Adrianna coming back because she forgot something or remembered something she had to tell him or ask him.

The door started to open and I rammed it hard with my shoulder. The door slammed into him and sent him stumbling backwards and I entered the room and was on him before he could catch his balance. I was wearing a pair of leather work gloves to protect my hands and I proceeded to beat the living shit out of him. I worked on him until he was on the floor groaning and then I kicked him hard ten or twelve times. I think I broke a rib or two and I know that his stones were going to take a long time to recover.

He was in a bathrobe and his clothes were folded and lying on a chair. I went over and got his wallet out of his pants. I dumped the contents on the table and went through them. I copied down all of the information on his driver's license. As I was doing that I noticed him struggling trying to get up so I went over and kicked him in the head and he went back down. I went back to going through his wallet and I found a picture of a very beautiful woman with two kids. I put the picture in my pocket.

I went back over to him and drug him over to the bathtub and horsed him into it and then turned on the shower full cold. I ran cold water on him until he was aware enough to hear me.

"Are you right or left handed?"

"What?" he mumbled.

"Easy enough question. Are you right or left handed?"

"Why? What are you doing?"

"I want to know which arm to break."

"Go away" he whined, "I hurt. I need a doctor."

"You aren't hurting enough as far as I'm concerned. I'm giving my hands a rest before I start pounding on you some more. After which I'm going to break your arm and then you can go see a doctor."

He started to push himself up and I backhanded him and his head went back and banged into the wall. He slid back down into the tub and I said:

"You aren't going anywhere Daniel; at least not until I am through with you."

He sniffed and whined "Why are you doing this to me? I don't even know you."

"No, but you know my wife and in fact you know her a lot better than I'm happy with."

"Your wife?"

"Oh come on Daniel; you can't have forgotten her already. She's only been gone from here for about twenty minutes."

I saw the understanding take place across his face and then a trace of fear in his eyes.

"Here's the thing Daniel. I have this ingrained thing about violence toward women. It is just something that I can't do, but I have all of this pent up rage inside of me over what the two of you have been doing to me and it has to come out. Since I just can't hit a woman I can't touch Adrianna therefore you have to take the full brunt of my anger. Surely you can understand that. Now, back to my question. Are you right or left handed? Because even though I'm extremely pissed at you right now I still want you to be able to feed yourself and brush your teeth. That will make you appreciate your arms that much more which will in turn make you to not ever want to have both of them broken at the same time and that is what will happen to you if you ever speak to Adrianna again. Now -- which arm?"

"Please man no. Don't hurt me any more. I won't ever see her or talk to her again. I swear it."

"I don't know Daniel. You have caused me a lot of hurt and I feel the crying need to get back at you."

I took the picture of the women with the two kids out of my pocket and showed it to him.

"How about instead of breaking an arm I get on an airplane and fly to Akron? While I'm there I can stop by 543 Meyers Court and pay this lady and the two kids a visit and share with them the anger I have over what you have been doing with my wife."

"Oh man God no. Please don't do that. It would kill her."

"Yes, but then she would have a whole lot of anger and she would take it out on you and really Daniel that is what this is all about. Making you suffer."

"No man, come on, please. Please leave her out of this. Go ahead and break my arm, but please leave her out of this."

"You would take a broken arm to keep your wife from suffering? Maybe you do have a redeeming quality or two. Tell you what I'll do Daniel. I'll settle for what I've already done to you, but there is a price. You agree to it and I'll get up and leave, your wife will never know and you won't suffer any more physical damage."

"I'll pay it. I'll do it. Whatever it is I'll do it just please leave my wife out of it"

"Okay, but you need to understand that if you backslide on the deal your wife finds out everything and in addition I'll put you in a wheel chair. You understand?"

"I told you I'll do it. I promise. I'll do it."

"Okay Daniel, here is the deal. You will never see Adrianna again. You will never speak to her again. You will not email her; send her a letter or a post card or a smoke signal. There will be absolutely no contact between the two of you ever again. Are we clear on that?"

"Yes. I understand."

"One more time. No contact in any way, shape, matter or form. If she calls you you will immediately hang up without speaking a word to her. If she sends you an email you will instantly delete it without reading it. If you get a letter you will toss it in the wastebasket without opening it. If she approaches you on the street you will turn and run -- not walk Daniel, but run -- in the opposite direction. And lastly, she will never know we had this little talk. Are we clear on all of this?"

"Yes sir. Perfectly clear."

"You need to know that I will be watching and if I catch even a hint that you are not living up to your end I will know. Just like I knew about last night and tonight. I'll know and I promise you that if you ever see me again it will not be in the least pleasant."

I got up and left his room. I knew that he could call the cops, but then his wife would find out and it seemed that he did not want that.

+++++++++++++++++++

When I got home Ri was waiting up for me. "Where have you been? I was worried when I got home and you weren't here and I couldn't reach you on your cell."

"Something came up at work and I had to work late. I drove over to your office to meet you so we could stop somewhere for a drink before we came home, but all the lights were off so I guessed that you had already headed home."

I saw something in her eyes when I said that and I'm guessing it was something like "Oh shit!" but then the look changed to something that was probably relief as she realized she had just dodged a bullet.

That night she was as passionate as always and I wondered at it. It didn't matter if Daniel was in town or not the level of her passion was always the same. She always behaved as if she couldn't get enough. I fell asleep wondering if I had solved the problem.

The next night Ri was home by seven and when I told her I hadn't expected her for hours she told me that things had all come together and they finished quicker than they expected. The others wanted to go out and have a drink or two to celebrate, but she begged off.

"I'd much rather be at home with you."

I got the story the next day when the detective called with his report. Daniel had checked out at eight, caught the hotel shuttle to the airport where he boarded to 10:10 flight to Akron. He was walking with a limp and seemed to be favoring his right side.

Adrianna got off work at her regular time and walked over to the lounge. Daniel wasn't there so she sat down and ordered a drink while she waited for him. After twenty minutes she took out her cell and made a call, but apparently got no answer. Fifteen minutes later she tried the phone again, but still didn't talk to anyone. She waited another ten minutes and then she walked over to the hotel. She used the house phone to make a call and didn't get an answer so she walked over the desk and spoke to the clerk and found out that Mr. Martin had checked out. She went back to the lounge, had one more drink and tried her cell twice more and then she had come home.

+++++++++++++++

It has been a little over eight years now and during that time Ri has not had to work any special projects that cause her to work late or on the weekends. I keep a pretty close eye on her and she has done nothing to make me even slightly suspicious. She still spoils me rotten and tries to fuck me to death three or four times a week.

Maybe some day when we are old and gray I might ask her about Daniel and her relationship with him and depending on my mood and the situation I might even tell her how I ended it.