The Vengeful Christmas Gift

Carly responded, "Good cause I have a lot to do at school tomorrow and need a good nights sleep. I don't need to be woken up by any noises." Sam and I just looked at each other with smirks on our faces.

"Ok well go get ready," Sam directed.

We dropped the kids off and headed to the restaurant. As expected Sam got a chocolate martini. We talked about the upcoming holidays. Her sister Claire and family wouldn't be in town until a few days after Christmas since they had plans with her husband's family. That was fine with us to spread out the activities.

It was a good conversation and Sam ended up getting a third martini. She was sitting there and out of nowhere said, "Oh I have an idea," with her eyes big and biting her lower lip.

She wasn't gone a minute and was back at the table. She then said, "Give me your hand".

"Huh?" I asked confused.

"Your hand, give me your hand." I reached across the table and looking around she put something in my hand. As soon as she did I knew what it was and she was biting her lip and had a mischievous smile on her face.

I could feel her silk thong panties in my hand and I opened my hand as I brought them back to me. Anyone looking over would have seen the red panties as plain as day.

"Ta da!" She said as she looked at me. I went from just sitting there to raging horny in two seconds. Then she made it even worse by whispering, "I'm uh, really wet from looking at you." She surveyed the tables around us to see if anyone was paying attention to us. She'd be lucky to get to the car in the parking lot without me jumping her and fucking her silly.

We got the check and paid it. The whole time she had this horny playful look on her face. She looked a little serious for a second, "You know you have a way about you sometimes that turns me on something fierce."

I smiled, "Well I need to figure out what that is and do it all the time."

Bill paid we headed for the parking lot. I held her hand. When we got into an area that wasn't very well lit I pulled her hand and spun her around. She had a shocked look on her face. I pulled her close and then lifted up her dress and grabbed her bare ass. I kissed her passionately and lifted the dress more. I held the back up and moved my right hand to her front. I put my fingers on her pussy lips and pressed in.

She was soaking wet and they went right inside her. She gasped and began to moan softly. I worked on her slowly and could tell she was already close to climaxing. I worked as fast as I could and then felt her shudder and peak. She moaned loudly. I then pulled her over to my car. I bent her over and had her lean against it. I pulled her dress up and unbuttoned my jeans and dropped them.

I put my cock at the entrance of her pussy and pushed it in her. She moaned softly I grabbed her hips and started thrusting in her. I was already so turned on I knew this wouldn't last long. I made it maybe two minutes and shot my load deep inside her. I got my breath and turned her around. I looked at her full of a range of feelings. But in this moment I felt optimistic and told her, "You know you're the sexiest woman on the planet to me. You're the only woman who can make me so excited just by looking at you."

She planted a killer kiss on me. Then she looked in my eyes, "You have no idea how attracted to you I am." I sensed tears in her eyes as she continued, "Always remember I love you more than anyone ever." We got our clothes straightened and headed home. When we got there we couldn't keep our hands off of each other. I'm certain Carly was better off being at her grandparents.

I got up early and got ready to head to work. Sam jumped me again before I got out the door. She told me that she was working from home and not going into the office. I wondered what I would see on the video cameras.

I was getting some work down when I got a text. It was from Matt Leone. I wondered if something was going on at home he wants me to see. I read the text, "Happened to be looking at all the papers we scanned. Saw something I thought you might want to see without waiting. Sending a picture now. Will drop off external hard drive with all at 5pm at your office." A minute later some images came though. I clicked the first one and expanded it.

A handwritten letter dated July 21st that started, "Dearest Luke, there is something I need to tell you. I felt a letter may be better since I'm not sure I can say these things in person without getting very emotional."

The letter went on to be a full blown confession of her affair. I was stunned. I read it several times. At one point I got another text from Matt, "Have you read it?"

I texted back, "Reading it again. Give me a few minutes."

The letter ended with this. "Luke I know what I've done in unforgiveable, but I am asking for a second chance. I realize that I'm asking for a lot, but know that I've always loved you from when I first met you. I've grown to love you even more and I will do anything that I have to in order to regain your trust and be able to spend the rest of our lives together. You tell me what you need and I will do it. I know that I've put so much on you with this letter and you'll need some time to figure out what you want to do. I know that I may lose you because of what I did. I pray I don't but I can't continue to carry on the lie I started. I know the right thing for me to do is tell you the truth and let you decide what you want your life to be. I will love you forever no matter what you decide. Love with all my heart, Sam."

I felt the tears running down my cheeks. I texted Matt, "I need to see what all the data we have says about the affair and what is going on with it now."

He replied, "I understand. I think that's smart."

It wasn't that many minutes after that I got a text from Ziggy. "Got it all. Will drop off flash drive tomorrow morning when I'm there. Want to talk to you, I noticed something interesting."

I replied see you then. "Any hints on what you found?"

A second later, "I'm just a data guy, you're the analyst and you need to decide what it means." I was now very curious about what he found.

That night I went on the laptop and went through some of what Matt had given me. The videos were organized by date. I looked at a bunch of them. They were pretty similar and Matt had written summaries of what they showed. Just lots of fucking, sucking and cum. The thing that bothered me more than seeing him fucking her and the way she jumped all over him was that she was smiling. When she and I had sex she seemed to enjoy it, but there was rarely that big a smile on her face. Oh I brought her to orgasm and all of that, but the smile in these videos was different than what I saw when she and I were together most of the time. That was really crushing. But then it hit me, the times we've been together recently the look I saw on her face with Trent in the videos was in fact what I was seeing.

That night Sam and I snuggled in bed and just held each other. I wondered what she had done that day and decided I would look in the morning. I was nervous about what I might find.

I got to work and it wasn't long that Ziggy was in my office.

"Here's your flash drive. Also I did a stacked bar chart. This is what I was talking about," He said in an overly happy way. I looked at the chart and it had no legend, nothing on the X or Y axis. Nothing on the chart other than stacked bars.

I looked at Ziggy somewhat baffled and said, "What can I do with this? I have no idea what the X or Y axis even mean. How do I analyze this?"

He took a deep breath, "Tell me what you do see. What can you tell me about the chart." I knew he must have a reason for this crazy approach.

I looked at the chart and began, "OK for starters it's downward sloping. Assuming the X axis is some timeframe there is steadily less of whatever it is over time. And here you can see there is almost a step function decrease in whatever this is. The chart is more of less flat and then starts to decline, then boom boom a couple big drops."

Ziggy had a smile, "Anything else you notice?"

"Well there are four colored bars. Red declines the most and looks like blue is next."

Proud of himself he then said, "Very good. I agree with you."

"Ok so what are these things?" I asked still very confused.

He slide another chart in front of me and began, "It's from Sam's Outlook calendar. It's hours out of the office by month since she started at Crystal. Red bars are drinks with co-workers and blue are customer visits."

"So what is so special about those categories compared to the other ones?" I asked.

"I remember the day I saw Sam and that guy was May 21st."

I cut him off, "How can you remember what day you saw."

He put his hand up, "Cause it was my birthday."

That sounded like a hell of a reason to remember a specific day. "Ok, continue," I relented.

"The other thing was that I looked for emails from anyone named Trent. The few I read refer to days that are either red or blue bars. At least that's what it looked like in what they said in a few emails coming through work."

I got the implication of what this all meant. It wasn't Sam telling me the relationship with Trent was on the decline, it was showing up in how she was acting. "You know Ziggy this may be the best chart I've seen ever."

He nodded and added, "You still have to go through the other info, but this is better than the chart going the other direction that's for shit sure."

"Amen to that," I said in agreement.

After Ziggy left I closed my door and went on the website to look at the video from our house the day before. Most of it was Sam at the desk on her laptop or reading papers. At one point I saw her pick up her black cell phone and then toss it on to the couch and shake her head. I looked at the system time and then referred to data from the phone app to see what was on her phone. It was a text from Trent, "Are you ok? When can we talk?" Sam didn't respond to him.

Nothing else showed up in the video until later in the day. She was sitting at the desk and looked over at a picture of her and I. She picked it up and held it to her chest and began to cry. She was sobbing and saying something to herself. I turned up the audio and listened to it.

She said over and over, "He'll hate me oh God he'll hate me. What did I do? God help me prove to him I love him." This whole episode was around 20 minutes of video. She cried again later as well.

As I got data over the weeks from Matt, Lori and Ziggy a pretty consistent view began to form. Interestingly nothing came of the surveillance equipment Matt Leone had set up. I wasn't getting reports from him that I expected about her riding his cock or sticking his cock in her mouth and her swallowing. The video I was getting showed Sam alone crying and sometimes talking to herself.

I was also able to create a pretty reasonable timeline of the relationship from the start until today. I showed everything I had to Jill Cushman. When I got done she looked at me with an inquisitive look on her face, "So you have all this data. What does it tell you?" I asked her what she thought and she said, "Nope, you need to commit to what you believe and then I'll tell you what I think as a comparison."

I thought for a second, "I'll cut to the chase, I see a person who is honestly very remorseful for what they've done but has no idea how to completely end her affair or how to come forward which she feels she must do for her own peace of mind and to meet the vows she pledged to me."

Jill smiled, "I think you summed it up pretty good. Sam is obviously tormented by the affair with Trent and the children."

She thought for a moment and then asked, "Is there a chance you could set up a meeting for us and Lori Canfield? I have some questions I'd like to ask her." I said I didn't think that would be a problem and I called Lori right then. Lori said that if she could help she would. We set a time for the following day.

The other thing I wanted to ask Jill about was an idea I had on how to bring this all to a closure and resolution. Jill asked what I wanted regarding the relationship. My answer was simple, I wanted to feel sure in my heart that Sam loved me deeply, that Trent was no longer in her heart, and that she was willing to do whatever it took to regain my trust. If those were in place then we could reconcile the marriage and continue to be together. If not then I needed to divorce her.

"Those are fair goals," Jill responded. I then described an idea I had been bouncing around. She thought for a minute before reacting to my idea, "There are pieces of this I like and parts that are risky. If this will give you answers to your questions on what you need, then I'm supportive of the plan you have."

The weekend came and it was busy since Thanksgiving was this coming week. We planned out the coming week. Overall it was a good weekend and I noticed that I was way more attentive to how Sam acted and what she said. I felt strange about it but it was my way of dealing with everything.

On Monday Jill, Lori and I got together for Jill to ask her questions. The answers Lori gave reinforced Jill's assessment of Sam. She said some of the things Sam was exhibiting at work were clearing resulting from the stress of her double life as I was now referring to it.

Lori also had an answer to the question I wanted her to ask Sam if she had an opportunity. The question was simply, why didn't she totally break from Trent? The answer sounded a little strange to me but Jill said it's not a surprise. Two things drove Sam's behavior. First, she was concerned that Trent would tell me about the affair before she could talk to me. Second, Sam was afraid that I would leave her and so she thought she would try to hold Trent at a distance in case he wanted to leave his wife for her if Sam and I broke up.

After work on Monday I told Sam I had an errand to run. I went to her favorite jewelry store who I knew did custom work. I had sketched out what I wanted. I showed the guy and he looked at me a few times.

"You're sure about this being just this way?" He asked with a disapproving tone. I said that it was what I wanted. He shook his head and promised it would be done the week before Christmas.

The next two days flew and here it was, Thanksgiving morning. We worked on the food and the kids watched the Macy's Parade. I looked at Sam and wondered why she seemed so close to coming forward but kept holding back. My plan from this point forward was simple. Try to push her the little extra bit to admit her affair to me and then see if her actions were enough to keep me from filing for divorce. I was still torn on what to do.

Thanksgiving Dinner was ready and I called the kids and my parents to the table. This moment would be the start of the chance I would give Sam to redeem herself.

Once everyone was seated I said that I wanted to say a few words. I stood up and began. I prayed I could get through what I had written without breaking down into tears.

I began, "I was thinking about today and what to say to start our meal and it hit me. We have a day to give thanks but we should be thankful everyday. And I am. I look around me and have so much. I have felt blessed. My parents, seeing what it takes to raise a family I see you in a different light. As a kid you don't have all that great an idea how good or bad your parents are. You give them grief for some things and sometimes say things you later regret. I know I've said things to both of you that I now think about and see what a dumb ass I was! But now all these years later I can see clearly that I hit the lottery in terms of parents. I only hope that I'm half as good a parent as you were to me."

My Mom had tears in her eyes and my Dad was smiling.

"Then there's Sam. Where do I start? I remember the first time I saw you sitting in the breezeway at Youngstown State. I sat down near you and actually said to myself, "I've got to say hello to her." It wasn't long before we had lunches at the pizza place on Lincoln Avenue. Me calling you dork and you calling me 'loser'."

For an instant the smile left her face, perhaps realizing that over the years she had actually referred to me a few times as a loser to Trent in a demeaning way. "When I talked to you I saw the most amazing person. I felt that you were the one. my soulmate, the one person I could trust with my heart and my life."

I had written these words with such intention to make her think deeply about our marriage and Trent and what she had done. If this speech didn't get her to take steps to save our marriage, I felt nothing would. She had to come to the realization on her own. She needed to redeem herself.

I continued, "And that is what I did when I married you. So many years of happiness followed. Some ups and downs, and no doubt hard challenges to face, but I've never given up hope. Never have and never will. I hate to imagine life without you. I love you."

"I read a poem recently that says it all, 'I do not love with my heart, I do not love you with my mind. A heart can change, a mind forget. I love you with my soul, because a soul never changes and never forgets.'"

Her eyes were full of tears. I thought that said a lot. I felt I had hit home. I now prayed for the best.

I finished about our children, " Noah, Carly, Jon. You have no idea what a joy you've been. I couldn't love you more. Even when you are pains in the ass, I adore you. Your happiness is my happiness, your sadness in my sadness. It is as if you are part of me. And you always will be no matter what happens in life and where the roads of our lives take us. You will always be part of me. And I hope that you feel I am part of you. I love you guys."

I sat down and looked around. Tears were running down Sam's face and she looked at me with the most loving eyes. I truly felt she loved me. No doubt there were many times recently I didn't feel that way at all, but this moment wasn't one of them. At this moment I certainly believed she loved me.

There was a short silent pause and I got back up and said I'd start serving the food. Sam got up as well and said, "I've got to get something upstairs for a minute. Be right back." She ran up the steps and I heard her go into our bedroom.

My Mom had a look on her face and looked up as if towards the bedroom. I looked at my Mom and shruggled my shoulders. She kind of looked and shook her head. Knowing my Mom as well I could tell she wasn't sure but thought something was wrong.

I was getting the food and not paying attention and my Mom left the table. A few minutes later she came back into the dining room with little flustered looking. When I got done getting Dad and the kids their food she motioned with her head to go into the kitchen.

When I walked in she was leaning back against the sink with a concerned look on her face. She whispered, "What's wrong with Sam?"

"Why are you asking?" I asked trying to play dumb.

"She's upstairs sobbing. I mean really crying her eyes out. What's going on? Is she sick?" I just looked at her. "Give it up Luke. What the hell is going on?"

A mother can read her child and there is no getting passed that. No way I could bullshit her. She would see that a mile away. I folded and gave her the best answer I could come up in the moment, "Mom, I can't say. Sam isn't sick though. There is just something going on."

She looked at me sternly and didn't let it drop coming back with, "You didn't cheat on her did you? So help me God I'll kick your ass. That woman is a treasure." I shook my head no. "Then what the." She stopped and had a look of horror on her face.

"I told you Mom, I can't say. Just let me work this ok? I have a plan. Keep this to yourself and just be yourself around her ok?" She nodded with tears in her eyes.