All Comments on 'When One Door Closes...'

This.is one of the best that I have read in a good while. Perfect revenge by leading his best life and forgetting about the cheating bitch. He probably would never have spoken to Traci again if his children had not grown up and realized who he really was. He ends up with a second family and a much better life in all respects.

I loved your story!

Boyd Percy

This had a bit of everything. Karmic justice, romance, people in need finding each other and redemption.

And thank you for not naming the story after a Beatles song. Who does that sort of shit?

Just read your story, "A Promise Made, A Vow Broken". The setup was identical. The narrator of that story made a different choice (stay with the wife until the kids left). After reading both, I'm not sure which choice was the "right" one. I'm glad to see that this one worked out, through a combination of luck and doing the right things.

I will say that this story was more fun to read than the other. Thanks.

A beautifully developed story line that contained elements that just about any reader could identify with without ever having "been there" him- or herself. You also did a very good job at realistically sketching the long arc of family relationships. You made that even more vivid by including and sharply contrasting presumed blood family ties, ties formed by conquering serious adversity and those formed by serendipity. Nicely done in all respects. This merits a well-deserved "5" Many thanks.

You gave us a very good story. I appreciated the fact that you didn't indulge in some familiar tropes like "once a cheater, always a cheater" and the computer nerd/former SEAL,electronics genius that so many use as crutches to get through the tale. He did get the better end of the deal with his wife. I have noticed that when the kids are poisoned against the ex-spouse, they sooner or later start thinking for themselves and figure out who did what and how they should feel.

I also think that making the new family racially mixed was a sign of the times. There are a lot of women of various shades who are looking for a man who will treat them right. Also, beauty comes in all colors.

R.

And prefect last line. Well done.

YAWN!!! Big mistake having HDK help. This was far too wordy and repetitive, just like his stories. The first 2 paragraphs could have been done in one sentence. Almost the whole first page was about doing laundry, really? Also you went back and forth between present time and his memories it threw me out of the story. Neither you or HDK knows how to transition those and FFS, learn the difference between BREATH and BREATHE.

A really great, well written story. I'm glad it worked out for the husband and that Traci ended up divorced again, getting tossed aside for a younger woman. She'll either end up bitter and alone, or settle for someone she doesn't love and end up bitter and filled with regrets.

I don't know if I could have forgiven the kids. They behaved like a couple of assholes... but I guess by forgiving them, he gets to see the grandkids. Hopefully, now that Ethan and Haley realise their mother was an evil selfish cunt, they'll keep her away from their own children. The bitch deliberately ruined their relationship with their father out of spite... there should be consequences for that.

One thing I really wanted to know, was what happened to Maddie's mother? It sounded like she was hooking and got murdered... it seems unlikely she'd just abandon her daughter.

well written and very bslsnced. Not going too deep into the cheating night's details allowed the key scenes in the story--such as the Laundromat meetings--to take prominence. The "moving on and up" is the story and you developed it well. Thanks.

While I have never seen my ex and I'm totally estranged from my sons for essentially the same reason, them being taken out of my life and poisoned by their mother...two different women...and my ex did the same as Traci and she was horrible to me kids. It sure did bring me down and I was essentially worthless and lost everything I had...two businesses, my house, my family. Took me several yrs to feel pretty ok again. I don't speak to my sons or ex and don't know or haven't heard anything about them which suits me fine. Found a good lady and got married last summer. Somehow or other, it certainly wasn't careful planning on my party. The Fairy godmother touched me with her wand, I rose like the phoenix and came out all roses. I have lived my life my way, which wasn't always real good but it was my way, I am debt free, happy and have had a wonderful time. Look back? Not much or often but when I do, I give thanks for my ex's treachery. I would not have what I have now it it weren't for her. Funny how things work out.

Your right about a life well lived being the best revenge. Really enjoyed your story. Nicely paced and if there were any flaws, I didn't see them. I rarely look for flaws. Life is way too short to spend even one moment of my time looking for mistakes in others. Thanks for a very good read as well as effort. I know what that effort is. Writing take a lot and can be a very personal and, sometimes, lonely thing.

A very good story that held my interest until the end. No scorched earth needed. His happiness and now her fear of the future alone is good enough. The kids, now old enough to understand, see their father was right in what he did. I was curious about Maddie's mother but having her dead or whatever would just take away from the story flow. Don't need another path to go down.

. . . if still a bit predictable.

One question: alimony stops when the ex wife gets married again, so why didn’t he know about it? Traci’s new husband had money, so he wasn’t worried about her losing alimony, but if her ex husband was never notified and continued to pay, Traci committed a fraud. Over six years,that would have amounted to enough money to be a felony. — RR

Too many ridiculous stories in this genre. Your story was a wonderful read.

Very, very nice story line. The characters were well developed; the dialogue was outstanding. Thank you for taking the time to write this and post it for others to enjoy.

LH

Thank you for the story. 5

No real interaction between the protagonists.

Perhaps if Ethan's wife had cheated on him the way his mum cheated, so he felt his dad's pain. Or if Haley's husband cheated on her while she was pregnant with her first child...

I know, its easy to come up with ideas, a lot harder to actually write stories.

We'll always be straight with yah...or trolling.

But this story, it's legit good. I had all the feels. Just what a story needs, the ability to take me someplace else for a short while. I really enjoyed it. The characters were more or less believable, the dialogue smooth, and the plot came together.

Some people may find it hard to believe that the kids wouldn't talk to the father for six years nor the reverse. But my life has taught me how likely that is. Even people I love dearly I almost never talk to. Once you move, you don't love someone less. You simply don't have the luxury of having them in your face to interact with. It's very easy, especially introverts, to be content with happy memories of people. Friends, cousins, brothers, and other acquaintances I'v barely talked to after moving from my home.

A lot of them don't reach out either. I found maybe two or three even bothered to reach out during my five years away. Even people I was very close to. It's a very strange but real phenomenon. People are just living their lives one day at a time. They rarely are living in the past.

As the old saying goes:"The best revenge is a life well lived". Thanks for a great read.

Hi,

I am a child of divorce, and my brothers and I were kept from and taught to hate our dad...mostly because our mom was insecure and scared we’d reject her otherwise. Let me tell you something:

1. When you realize that you lost years with your dad to lies, it destroys you. You feel foolish, humiliated, and like a terrible person. You don’t come out of it a normal, happy person who has healthy relationships. You may even end up so filled with distrust and bitterness that you routinely wander on to the internet to read amateur stories about marital betrayal. Wink.

2. You don’t abandon your dad because of mom’s lies and then, when you find out the truth, still love and spend time with your mom. You abandon her in turn, partially because of the justice of it and partially because the lesson you get from this is she is capable of taking things you value and need away from you in order to serve her own ends. You do not “hate what she did but oh well she’s my mom lol.”

3. The younger you are when it happens, the more it messes you up as a kid. I was th oldest, and made it through. My brothers were not so lucky, and my youngest brother in particular was packed full of hate. Consider that when you are a child, much of your self identity is based on your parents. When one parent says that the other parent....this person who is half of who you are...is hateful, that means half of you is hateful. Half of you is filled with trash. This is a message from your mother.

There are a number of stories like this one on the site, and I wish they treated the child characters as something other than free of the consequences of an event they are far less emotionally prepared for than any adult man.

I kept getting this weird feeling that I had read this before. Parts of it seem like exactly the same as another story... the little Hispanic girl, with the megawatt smile an mop of curly hair. Even the dialog seemed the same: momma said I should not talk to strangers, you should always listen to your mother... it reminds me of a story about a guy whose wife cheated on him and left him nearly broke and living on his own who meets a little Hispanic girl, then dates her mom. Didn't you write that story too?

I agree with another comment about how it was wordy and long-winded. How many times can you squeeze "laundry room" into 2 paragraphs?

But, i am clearly wrong. If HDK helped, it must be perfect, because we all know that HDK is perfect and never wrong.

I liked your story outline and the even way it flowed without any jerks and pulls. What could have been a sad story evolved into sad people finding each other and making a happy life together. Well done.

... was that this story was in the wrong category. It was warm and fuzzy, and damn good I might add, but misplaced. Then I got to page 2. Ah, now I get it. Still, you didn't ramp up the main character's actions or make him respond to his ex or his children's folly in anyway that would have him act outside of the personna you created for him. But, you allowed him to grow. Impressive. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Strangely, I have a few detractors whose animosity bleeds over to other writers associated with me. What have I ever done to deserve that? Great story! Well done!

. . . Maddie was with an unrelated man, even though they approved, Alex and Maddie would have been contacted when Maddie's mother -- or her body -- was found. Even though the story was written in first person, which omits information Alex didn't know, he'd have known that.

And you'd have thought that Traci would have given Alex her reason for wanting to spend the night with Bob, even if she wasn't bright enough to not do it, if she expected Bob to allow it. Perhaps it wasn't necessary to the story, but it felt to me like that was a plot hole.

There's another Martian Slut Ray problem: Traci (supposedly) hadn't slept with Bob at the point where she delivered her ultimatum to Alex, so how could she have known whether it would be worth it? This is a plot hole I see a lot in LW: wife announces to her husband that she's going to screw some other guy, claiming that it isn't cheating if he knows about it, and expecting her marriage to survive it, despite the risk to it, and she doesn't even know whether the other guy is any good.

The story was still a good one, but I'd have liked to have seen these plot holes addressed.

One anony noted that the switching of times back and forth was a bit of a problem. It does help when authors add some sort of break point, such as dashes, to indicate these things. The ASCII code for inserting an additional blank line is (without the spaces ) & n b s p ;

Well, except for the part of adopting a homeless girl. Other than that, this was a great story that had me laughing and crying. It does seem odd that it took marriage to wake up the two teenagers to the importance of fidelity. That up until then, they hated their dad....that doesn’t seem plausible.

First one to get 5 stars from me.

Clearly this is neither BTB or reconciliation with the ex-wife. This story is more of moving forward and reconnecting with the children. The question is why are they (the children) so inconsistent.

While some cheer on the fate that befell on he exwife. I’m pissed of on how the children acted and continue to act AFTER they “realize” their mistake.

Heck, why even bother invite the dad when the honor of wlaking the bride would be given to the interloper?

I would understand if the children were really young. But they were old enough to know that their mother was the one stepping out. And even if I accept the story that they somehow had a change of heart and realized who was on the wrong, why on earth were they still in contact with the mom (who they now acknowledge as the one who was wrong)?

They had no qualms cutting their father on a perceived wrong, yet the mother gets a pass when she’s actually at fault.

And why is the father threatening the groom? Shouldn’t he warn him instead? If his daughter is willing to tolerate her mother’s infidelity (to the point that she has still an active role in influencing her son (Mark)), shouldn’t that be a red flag for the groom instead?

This may not have been an RAAC between exwife and exhusband but this is just as much as forced reconciliation between the father and children.

-chuck2

I like a story where the cheaters lose and the non-cheaters win. It doesn't have to be BTB but this story had the non-cheater Living a 'life well lived ...and loved'. Thank you for a wonderful story.

Nothing objectionable and many good things. A reasoned, well-balanced and well-written story. Randi admires!

Good story, although a little depressing at first. Given he lost his wife and his kids turned against him I guess it's understandable.

I like how he was focused on Maddie and then included Cherry. It was very real that upon seeing Cherry with her brother that he would react as he did. What happened to him makes permanent changes. I also like how it was handled between him and Cherry. She understood why he felt as he did but refused to play the part of his ex wife.

The only thing I would question is that at the second wedding he describes his "pretty good new life". I think his life is fabulous. He has Maddie and Cherry. His other two kids are back together with him. He is well off. He is well rid of his ex bitch wife. It doesn't get much better. I absolutely LOVE the "Not my circus. Not my monkeys" phrase he brushes off his ex with. I think I am going to get a T shirt saying that, in Polish. It seems to have originated in Poland and I am Polish. It's a nice all around phrase to repel some of the insanity in the world.

What could she have told the kids to turn them against him? Surely she didn't say that Daddy wouldn't let me screw around on him?

"Don't throw away 18 years of marriage over one night." - They always say that, when even an idiot can see that THEY'RE the ones throwing away the marriage.

"another vulture swooped in and asked me for permission to dance with Cherry" - That's always been a big thing for me. I was always taught that when a woman was with an escort, you asked HIM if you could ask her, and if the woman was asked without her escort's permission, the answer was no, even if she wanted to say yes!

Didn't the alimony stop when she got married? As RR said, if she didn't have the alimony stopped, that's fraud, she should at least have to pay it back with interest.

I'd tell her to go fuck herself! Oh, she wants to be so noble and invite the father that she rejected to the wedding, but won't even let him sit up front with family, and forget about walking her down the aisle!

Ethan didn't come around when Haley did? It wasn't until he "had some skin in the game" that he came around?

"I just didn't want to hate Mom." - But it's okay to hate Dad, who's the injured party?

@Anonymous Re: One wish - I agree. If I lost years of my relationship with one parent due to the lies of the other, it wouldn't be enough to just reconcile with the estranged parent, but the other parent would feel my wrath.

@Anonymous Re: "1 star. why?" - "They had no qualms cutting their father on a perceived wrong, yet the mother gets a pass when she’s actually at fault." - Exactly! It's not exactly made clear, but I don't believe that he was ever actually accused of doing anything "wrong," just that he was too "selfish" to let her have her "fling."

the high score. The cute little girl trope always tugs at readers' heartstrings, but it isn't a substitute for creative plotting. Not bad, but not that good. Hooked1957 has written far better stories than this. Today's KingBandor story is far better.

5 stars for me. Well written and enjoyed the story. Everyone has opinions so I will give you my one change. Instead of Alex saying I am an asshole I would have preferred his last words were “Traci, can I interest you in a dance”.

You can’t lose with a storyline that includes rescuing a homeless seven year old waif. Brings to mind blackrandl1958’s classic “Vagabonds”. Very sweet. The good guys win. I could use a daily dose of this. Thanks *****

No offense, chuck2... but you really are speaking like someone who's childless.

As a parent, you forgive your children almost any transgression they may have done to you. If you want to be a good parent, anyway. Not saying that what Ethan and Hailey was the least bit OK, but it was forgivable. And Alex chose to do just that.

You also sound like a man who never have been divorced and had to deal with a bitter ex-wife who brainwash the kids against you. That shit happens way more often than people would like to admit, and is one of the major reasons why I wish more men would fight tooth-and-nails for custody of the children. As it stands, the biggest mistake Alex made here is not making a bigger fuss about his kids' attitude toward him - that basically gave those teens ammunition to disrespect him even more. He should have put his foot down and demand, in front of the family court, that they spend more time together, so to salvage their relationships. He didn't, and, because of it, they ended up estranged for six years.

But, once again, you forgive your kids for stuffs like this.

I get your frustration on this, but understand that it is coming from a place ignorance. Bottom line: there's no such thing as RAAC when it comes to your children. Not if you're worth a damn as a parent, anyway.

And isn't that what it's all about?

It was a romance about the formation of the new families and not about the Loving

Wife, He is a great asshole and not worried by the perception of others.

Nicely done. I especially like use of The Rolling Stones lyrics

It’s been said that the best revenge is a life well lived. He said that he went on with his life appreciate it but yet as well as other unfortunately too many times in life takes bad things to make us appreciate it . some of your comments said that it was in our BTB but actually it was because she had to face the reality that she had that she was wanting something better when she got the better they wanted something better so she still ended up is the loser of the batch was no reason for you to be sad he didn’t do anything wrong and revisit the better man

Very unexpected and original retelling of the basic premise of "A Promise Made, A Vow Broken." It shows how much of a great writer Hooked1957 that he can now so easily reused the same plotline of one of his previous stories to come up with something completely novel and refreshing. It certainly was as realistic a take on divorce as you're likely to see around here, and I applaud him for keeping it 100.

That being said, though... there's still some legalities here that doesn't seem to compute at all. Whether the author forgot to mention them or was just not interested to even mention them, it's up for debate.... 'Things is, their omission is still bothersome. Let me explain:

At the time of their divorce, Alex and Traci's kids were 13 and 15 respectively. The poor bastard was on the hook for alimony, child support and the house's mortgage, as it is always the case when a would-be divorced man has to deal with the one-sided, bias 'family' court system. However, three years later, around the time Ethan and Haley made their mutual exist from their father's life (for the great transgression of him having a spine), some major changes should have happened in Alex's financial: for one, he should have been, by then, off the hook on his 18-years-old daughter's child support payment (he probably should/would pay for some of Haley's college bills, but that's not enforceable by law - if he didn't want to pay, he wouldn't have to); secondly, and way more importantly, would be Traci getting hitched to sleaveball Bob, which would automatically stop any alimony payment he was expected to fork over, especially since his ex's new asshole was richer than he was; furthermore, their marriage would also make Alex way richer after the sale of his former house... 'Memba the house? The one he didn't live in anymore, but was still making payment on? Well, given that his ex was now married to someone in a higher financial bracket than he was, Alex should not only demand for his alimony to go the way of the dodo, but that their former home should be sold asap, so that he could get half of its worth. Traci and Ethan could go find a new place with Bob or, if she preferred to stick around, buy out her ex's half of the property. Evidently, or so the story makes us believe, Alex wasn't made aware of any of this at the time it happened... which is exactly why he should have sue Traci for overpaid alimony, his fair share of the house, and, why not, lawyer and court's costs for her trying to hide that her financial situation had drastically improved. At most, he should have paid the two years remaining on Ethan's child support and be done with the whole thing. So, at the end of the day, there's no way in hell Alex would still be living in an apartment with his new family, years after all Ethan's speak, unless it was a condo him and Cherry owned upright.

For Hooked1957 to have Alex still bitch to Haley about Bob 'half-(ruining him) financially', yet never have him mentioned that the jackass actually did him a real solid by marrying his slut-of-a-ex-wife and saving him tons of money, when the bitch could have kept being single and drain him out for a while longer... That's weird.

Except for that, everything else work. Every conversation Alex had with Traci, in the last part, were golden. And, no doubt about it, Maddie is definitely his favorite kids - the two others can joke all they want about it, but, while they immaturely turned their back on him, she chose him as her father... No way can you compete with that. Kinda wish Alex and Cherry had one more kid, though (nowadays, 42 isn't too old at all to get pregnant or even to get a surrogate), but it's obviously not something the author was interested in.

All and all... another gem from this writer.

Husband mans up, life is hard, he chooses to live well and has a good life. The story didn't center around plots of revenge, angst or lingering unhappiness. I enjoyed it. Life is what you make of it. Sweet and realistic. Thank you.

You may have some of the legalities wrong, but this was an entertaining read. Karma is a bitch. I do think that his original kids should have been more understanding, given the fact that they weren't babies. But when you have one spouse continually poisoning the well, anything is possible. I could have done without the white, black and Latino stereotypes, but, overall, this was fun. Thanks for the effort.

This is definitely a BTB in a classy sense.

He didn't go low & spiteful; he just led a more respectful life and his ex just happened to see it. Unfortunately, his ex's sake hindsight is 20/20. And, he really didn't need to kick her while she's down.

With these stories & judging by comments; I guess some are just looking for the victim to come back really low & vengeful. But, after everything the best revenge in these stories is a better life lived.

What a terrific read!

This story had feeling, and it was easy to care about the protagonist and the little girl who so quickly became the center of his new family. I don't come here to read the most realistic stories (although sometimes the truly ridiculous ones make me lose interest), but the ones with emotion, where it's possible to care about the characters--and by those criteria this is a great success!

Thanks, ohio

PS to Bebop 3: What you mean, "not named after a Beatles song?" WTF? Don't you know "When One Door Closes," off their 1968 "Never More Serious" album?

Couldn't get through the first page. Once again a failed me me me me whine.

No offense but I'm still an a**hole I would never let the kids back into my life, They made a choice, they chose their mom and it took them getting married to understand mom was a lying slut. The thing that gets me is even after they found that the truth they still didn't want mom mad at them, No one gives a fuck about dad. if dad files a divorce it's his pride but its moms vanity that destroyed the marriage and no one complains about that.

well what can I say, a great story, a great read, no revenge just a normal bloke doing what a normal bloke should do, just get on with your life, accept where it goes and make it better, and he did, thanks for sharing,

Having seen how a vengeful ex-wife can turn a child against their father, luckily not me but a close relative, I thought you handled this exceptionally well. And I loved the ending, no big scene, no embarrassing the kids, but letting the ex know she just didn’t matter any more and she had no one but herself to blame, quietly. That was heartwarming.

Character and plot development is sometimes difficult, especially when there is a predetermined outcome that must be adhered to. It takes a certain knack to get it just right, so a story doesn't read like a history book.

Character development through the perspective of another person, in this story's case, through the eyes of the ex-husband, is hardly a definitive view, but since the story is laid out in that manner one can't expect the perspective to be totally without a certain bias. All that is for the anons. Stoopid critters.

Overall, it was a rather good story. I enjoyed reading it. Keep up the good work.

of the issues following the wife's foolish declaration of lust. I've obviously lived a sheltered life because I've never come across such a thing either directly or as something someone else has done which I've then heard about through normal gossip channels. For me, it's something that only happens on the pages of Literotica, that wife suddenly announces she wants to fuck someone else, but hey, it'll all be the same in the morning. It's probably a contrived bit of Karma however that she ends up on her own after being dumped herself in the final paragraphs; she would have got someone else whether short or long term maybe wouldn't matter. I think the protagonist was a bit too emotionless in the final brief exchange and a bit too smartarse, frankly. Definitely worth a good mark and a favourite story however as it certainly gripped me through to the end. Issues with the children well covered.

Lots of good storytelling here, great job, fantastic read and SO much better than the standard offerings in this category that depress and annoy the reader. This is how a story SHOULD be written, Thank You 5***** and a heart. As much as I love kids, mine, my grandkids and most others I encounter these two nasty kids of Traci's would forever be dead to me. I doubt I could have done the wedding and generating a relationship with either of them would have been fraught with concern that their poor morals would pollute the decent and loving people I now have in my life. Great characters and marvelous descriptions of their joys and challenges

He didn't know his ex-wife had re-married? He didn't notice he was no longer making mortgage, alimony and child support payments? Or... did he continue making all those payments because no one, including his attorney, told him he was off the hook, and he never bothered to look into it himself?

Good story and well told but should it be in the Loving Wives section? Maybe it should be in the non erotic section? Yes, there was the obligatory sex description, but there was nothing to make me hard. That's why I come to to

Literotica.

My first question would be, "Is your mother going to be there?"

My second would be, "Is Bob going to walk you down the aisle?"

If the answer to either question is yes, then my answer would be no thank you.

I CERTAINLY wouldn't go only to be treated like the poor relation! I would expect an open apology for the unconscionable way she and her brother had treated me since the divorce!

No sane person picks a child up at random and essentially rebuilds their life around them. Next stop, candy and ice cream vans then grooming rings. Shows how fucked up and blue pilled and white knighted the author is. Latent paedo tendencies when describing the looks of a child akin to how a woman would be described. Sicko.

Shitty story, shitty characters, beyond unbelievable, and utterly contemptuous main character.

Minus 3 stars. Plus a call to FBi and CPS to save the kids from Hooked's Neverland theme park.

I loved the Maddie/Alex part of the story. Both were lonely and Alex showed great sensitivity. I was hoping that he would learn that her mother had a medical problem that his insurance could fix and they would be a complete family. I also loved the Cherry character. First major problem is Alex was wronged by his wife and wanted to have a relationship with his kids. Why would he hide Maddie from them? She is proof that he's not a selfish guy.

Hooked always makes the ex-wife a crazy stupid person and he passes her character to her kids. It shouldn't have been a surprise that she remarried because that would have ended his alimony. The remarriage should have opened the eyes of the hating kids.

I don't get the HDK hate. He is an excellent writer and is very concise. I suspect that this story would have been much longer without his help. It was a fun read so I gave it a 5. Thanks for your work.

reasonable man

5*. Got me a bit emotional when he took Maddie in. Great job.

Not because it was poorly written.

Not because I didn’t like it.

No it sucked because it made me cry like a baby on an airplane.

Wow. This was an emotionally charged story. Just wow.

The only thing that detracted to me was that he was such an asshole. He could have been a little more forgiving and ended up in the same place without giving up any of his manhood.

told the daughter there was nothing she could do to apologize, and congratulated her husband on marrying a woman who wouldnt care if he had affairs

This is a very good story, but has a weak point: his children....1st - his daughter: as soon as she told him he wouldn't be the one taking her to the altar, why did he go to the wedding? To show off his new family? 2nd - his son: being an adult didn't he understood what fidelity was? 3rd - not even one of the children became an asshole, growing up with that kind of mother and step-father? However a solid 4*

Sometimes the best burn is that you simply don't get what you want. His ex is now a two time loser who has to grow old knowing she failed on all counts, she didn't ruin his life, she couldn't poison his kids against him permanently, she doesn't get to spend her life with him, and she is utterly alone.

His parting comments were just sweet icing on the cake, because she obviously thinks about him non stop.

Both the story and the story telling is the finest story on the entire Literotica site! I loved the use of flashbacks. The character development was perfection. Thank you. I enjoyed that tremendously!

People assume that Maddie's mom was a prostitute, but what if she was just a hard working woman trying to do right by her daughter. Maybe she was just hit by a car on the way home to her daughter. Maybe she became a Jane Doe whose spirit guided her daughter to the one person who was in need of her love as well. Just a thought.

Perfect response to a cold hearted bitch that thought she could have it all. This is a great story with enough human interest to keep ones attention and enough drama to entertain.

Thank you for the 5* story

We are living in dark times.

Not the 10 soul crushing years of prison rapes, and another decade living in penury on skid row MM’s protagonists suffer.

This was eminently believable, well told, and eventually happy. Hmmm... if Dickens wrote LW stories it’d probably be very much like this... except told in a west London accent.

Hooked1957 - you’re getting good at this. 5-stars & Favorite

I liked this one very much. Being a parent I know the unconditional love one has for a child. His children while young and still under the influence of their mother turned on him but when they matured they came back and as any parent would do he forgave them and now he has them solidly in his life. He found a new life which turned out great with a new devoted child and a wife who given a second chance is also truly devoted. What's not to love about this one, the good guy wins big time and the villain lives to wallow in misery. 5*s only because there is no higher score.

I am hoping for more stories may be in the non-erotic section

5*s

except perhaps the key character in the plot, the ex wife Traci. Unless we fall back on Martian Slut Ray, she apparently was unchanged as the woman he married: selfish, no ethics or honor, manipulative, cruel, and heartless. And such a perverted twisted personality would in fact help raise children just as heartless and self-centered. So how did this guy end up loving and marrying this succubus? How did they ever make it 18 years before she finally acted so outrageous and malicious that he got the gonads to divorce her? And she was never sorry, never guilty, no remorse and no regrets, other than that her husband refused to eat her shit coated with another man's cum. Other than that contrived and puzzling aspect of the story, it was really well done.

Ok, the mixed races was contrived as well, like race matters. To whom? Not to anyone with a brain, a heart, and common sense. So who were you trying to appeal to with that contrivance? You crafted lovely characters with intelligence, integrity, self respect, loving caring souls. It was great. Very clever evolution of Maddie coming into his life. It does seem odd they never expended any great effort trying to learn what happened to her mother. Seemed kind of cold and out of character.

Cherry was also very interesting, but her previous adultery didn't seem to give him much pause, which belies his experience. Traci was supposedly a good wife for 18 years before the Martians had their way with her, apparently without any cause from him or clue to him. So what made him think Cherry would be any better considering she essentially did the same crime as his wife, for the same reason?

Yeah, the more I think about it the more your characters, while warm and fuzzy on cue, really don't make logical consistent sense. Why would rich womanizer Bob tie himself down to some stupid aging disrespectful whore who fell onto his cock so easily? We're supposed to think this selfish harpy is somehow a great fuck, or beauty? Bob buys pussy and beauty like he buys suits. And he changes to new ones with some frequency. Why would he drop $50,000 to $100,000 for a wedding for the stupid bitches daughter, who he didn't adopt? Do you know what kind of pussy you can buy with that kind of money?

And Cherry is fashion model beautiful, but stays single for 9 years after her divorce, and accepts a date proposal from a guy she meets in a grocery store. Yeah, that makes perfect sense.

This story really has good bones, but the fleshing out was a bit too contrived and contradictory. You kind of forced your characters to fit your plot, instead of letting your characters reveal their lives, motivations, and consequences. Box cake versus scratch cake. Easier versus more difficult and time consuming. I get it.

Thanks for a good read. Hope you develop your skills to advance to creating from scratch.

Loved it, from beginning to end. Well done. Thanks for posting.

Hi, done lots of reading and stories like this just feel good. Could be a man or a woman wronged, but had enough pride in themselves to trudge forward, don't look back. Well done.

His children weren't THAT young, 15 and 12/13, old enough to know better. While it wasn't stated explicitly, since I believe they called him "selfish" I'm assuming they knew what their mother did and approved!

Even when they got older, they STILL didn't see his side until they had SOs and could understand how it would feel if it happened to them.

Could have done without the RAAC with the kids. But I'm not a parent, so WTF do I know.

Disowned a sister for crapping on my dad like that. Teen is old enough to know better.

Damn that was good. I got part way through and cried for the mom, probably a prostitute killed by a John. Last thought never seeing her kid again.

A few quibbles and niggles but nothing big enough to mention

I'm sure it didn't hurt

to have help from an experienced writer like HDK.

Kudos to HDK for helping another writer.

Hooked1957 is a rising star here.

This wonderful story shows why.

Thanks for a most entertaining read.

Top ratings from me.

I read it two days in a row. Loved it the second time just as much, if not more.

Sure, it's plot's more than a little contrived, but this is a story, it's fiction and is an enjoyable escape for readers, containing pride, love and justice. Great 5* story, thank you for make my face smile broadly and my heart feel warmer, and that's a rare result in LW!

But..... alimony ends when she remarries so either you forgot to mention that or ex wifey is gonna owe some back pay and i would hope robert has committed ethics violations with the state bar.

Any man, or woman for that matter, that has been disrespected and cheated on by their significant other can really relate and get into the main characters. Thankfully I've never faced the pain that Alex or Cherry had and after over 40 years with my wife I don't expect I ever will. But the reader can feel the hurt pain and regret of the main characters.

Well done and thank you for the hard work. I will have to sample some of your other works now.

Woodmanone

I enjoy your writing style. It's intelligent in the your capacity for describing difficult human emotions which vividly paint the picture in words that you intend while drawing the reader into your characters minds, lives, and hearts. Well done.

Wonderfully done. This had everything I've always believed about what a thoughtful LW story should entail. The idea of potential redemption (in this case for Cherry who had cheated). The idea of the importance of minimizing the damage for the kids in a divorce (he had done that, while Tracy didn't). The idea that the best thing you can do is focus on the positive, move on with your life, and not look at how you can get back at the one that wronged you.

My favorite part was Maddie. I have such a soft spot for kids, and especially for kids growing up with less. I would have liked to find out what happened to Maddie's biological mother. She was likely another tragic story that needed saving, but then you cannot save them all.

In the midst of the Great Recession I was driving back home from Vegas and stopped off in one of the midway towns for some gas. At the entrance to get back on the freeway there was this teenage girl, maybe 15 or 16 years old looking completely traumatized, staring completely straight ahead at nothing, slightly shaking. Where she was standing was a really bad spot as there was a great deal of traffic to get on the freeway. I didn't enter the freeway and circled several times deciding what to do. Should I go talk to her and see what her story was and see how I could help. Should I just give her money. In the past there had been several times where I might see a child alone without a parent and I had always recruited a female to approach the child with me to see if they're lost. I felt very self-conscious being a male going up to an unescorted child.

I was concerned about this man in his 30's (me) getting this teenage girl in my car, so on the last turn I stopped next to her and put all the cash in my pocket in her hand. She never once looked down to see how much it was, thanked me or even acknowledged me. I'm not even sure she realized someone had even stopped next to her. She was so traumatized looking, like she was holding her breath in, holding in sobs, her teeth were completely yellow, as she just stared ahead of her at nothing.

I thought about that girl often, and have kicked myself several times for not doing more. If my wife had been with me we would have parked the car and walked up to her. I know I'm extra paranoid and self-conscious about approaching kids alone. Reading this story about this man being there for Maddie was really heartwarming. I'd hate to think of what happened to that teenager on the side of the street, and what her life had been like that she looked so traumatized.

But wouldn't he have had to know about his ex getting married, because he would no longer have been required to make alimony payments? I've never been divorced, but I believe that's how it works. Presumably, the ex wouldn't continue to accept the payments under false pretenses. Still, very well written. Enjoyed it!

Hayley understands now, what kind of man bob is , but not so bad that he can pay for the whole wedding . As for shaking hands with him , not in a lifetime

Solid 5 star effort. Well done.

Only thing missing is finding out what happen to Maddie's Mom. Yet unfortantely, way too many never come home and the reason why is never uncovered or takes decades to be revealed.

You Get My Vote!....Thanks..WOOF! ★★★★★

Just outstanding

my point with my first comment was NOT about the idea of parents forgiving their children. My issue is the children (as a character) were inconsistent. I would understand if they were very young when their father divorce their mom. Even the cringiest lovey dovey childhood love would make teens aware of how painful cheating is. Are you really going to swallow the idea that they didn’t know how wrong infidelity is until the had to make their wedding vows (as ethan said, the “big talk”).

I fully understand the tendency of parents to forgive, heck even cover for, their children’s wrong doing. It the father’s prerogative to forgive (or not) his children, and he did. I see nothing with dad. My point was the children were written to be unbelievable and reconciliation was forced.

also in the story, ethan (son) was fully aware of what the law affords his dad and was more than eager to cut of relationship with his dad KNOWING full well the courts cannot force him to see his dad. REALLY? Are you suggesting from the moment he knew his mom cheated on his dad up to the point he had talked about fidelity to his fiance, he didn’t know how bad infidelity is?

And what pisses me off about the children, they cut of relations with their dad because of a perceived wrong (that’s given in the story). They also realized, later, that what they did was wrong and realized it’s their mom who was at fault (another given). So, for someone who realized (albeit too late for many milestones missed) their mistake, why are they still bloody chumy with their mom. WHO’S ACTUALLY IN THE WRONG (even the children said agree with this). You belive they were brainwashed by their mom, so why in the devils name are they allowing the cheating mother around the grandson.

the children seems to be written as if they have split personality because they are internally inconsistent. Punish (by breaking relations) dad for a misplaced fault but forgive mom for doing the real damage to their family. How can you even square that circle.

-chuck2

Your comment is as far out as an out of space submarine driver.

What is it with “Shows how fucked up and blue pilled and white knighted the author is. Latent paedo tendencies…”?

Now, referring to “blue pilled” above with the accent on ‘pill’, there is a cure for you Anon, as well as those others with similar "latent paedo" fetishes out there. And that is to swallow a lead pill.

Hooked1957 had not worded, insinuated or remotely suggested at any inappropriate thoughts regarding Maddie throughout this submission. Jeez Anon, perhaps you have latent racist tendencies?

FWW

He should know about Traci's wedding so his alimony payments would stop.

Even if one parent is 100% wrong and the other 100% right, expecting children to support the 100% right parent is foolish; children will always be at least 50% on their mother’s side. That’s just the way things are. And if the mother has custody, which is the case the vast majority of the time, the children will naturally move more to her side, because she’s the one they’re with. Naturally there are always exceptions, but that’s it: they’re exceptions, not the norm.

And yes, children will expect parents to forgive and forget, because kids want both of their parents to be at home, together. They want their parents to work things out, and resent it when they don’t. To the kids, Alex abandoned them. That might not be fair, but that’s the way things are in this world.

To those who say Alex should never have gone to his daughter’s wedding: that would mean that Alex hated Traci more than he loved his daughter, even though he had moved on by then. To me, the mistake was to continue on to the reception. Even with that mistake, he should have simply said, to Traci, let’s not spoil the party, let’s just leave each other alone, and walked away. But Hooked wanted Alex to rub Traci’s nose in it, that he’d replaced her with a younger (looking) model.

This story illustrates a point I have when people criticize reconciliation stories with the "once a cheater, always a cheater" line.

Obviously wifey doesn't deserve it HERE, but in a different story, how would reconciling with the cheater wife that he has history with, who he knows, be any riskier than a relationship with Cherry, also someone who cheated, just not on him?

I have no problem with Alex going to his daughter's wedding. But being seated in the back away from the bridal family should have caused him to walk out immediately. He was too good of a man for his first family.

When Ethan had that talk with his girlfriend if he really thought it through he would have realized that no matter what she said now, later on she could give him the choice of being divorced and estranged from his children if any or being a cuckold.

He saw that in his own childhood.

Would he have married after that?

did you even read the story? the children went 100% for 1 parent, and that’s the mother (whi was on the wrong). And even after the divorce, the father (alex) wanted to maintain relationship with them. It’s the children who decided to break off relations. And even at that point they knew their music mother was cheating. Your argument about the children’s POV is acceptable when they are very young. The children on the story were on their mid teens. Are you suggesting those children are mentally retarded to not know cheating is bad.

for the sake of argument, let’s assume that the children learn their lesson (ignoring the fact that they should have learned it years ago) and made amends with their father. Why are they still chumy with their mom who has active influence on the grandson. may i remind you the mom was never sorry for what she did. even to the end she still think she’s entitled to a hall pass. They managed to commit 100% to the bad parent (including the 3rd party (robert)). but somehow commiting was 100% to right parent is out of the question?

like i said the children are bloody inconsistent beyond being caricatures. their action is so mishmashed that i think they were slapdashed written to move the plot.

Lovely timely remark. And a wonderful story that easily slides into the top shelf here. To anon 17/05 (one wish)... thanks for sharing your feelings on your own experience. Special stuff.

This was a very good read and I enjoyed it very much. Thanks for the story and please keep writing.

"Buckeye Fan"

Excellent feel good story of a man wronged who lived life the best he could and ended up the better for it. 5 stars.

Would have liked to know what happed to Maggie's mother, not that it would have made any difference in the story. Presumably she died in some fashion.

The only exposure the readers' have of Traci is of her being a cheater, bitch and a shrew. Even years later, she still blames Alex for the marriage ending and feels like she did nothing wrong. How could the previous 18 years of their marriage have been so blissful if this is how she was at the end?

Despite Maggie having been told what not to do with strangers, especially men, she ended up doing all those things anyway. If Alex had been a predator instead of the kind and concerned person he was, this story could have ended up very badly, even if Maggie's mother had lived. Maggie could have been the one who never returned instead of Maggie's mother. Just something that occurred to me as I was reading this story.