All Comments on 'With Passion'

no whining, no bitchin',,, just sweet "revenge",,, what's that phrase? two can play the game? or perhaps it's more accurate to say, it takes two to play the same game? lol

this will show who's the "bigger" person, to see who'd crumble first,,,, or perhaps they both realize that, hey, after a life time together, with all the heartaches and struggle, together and apart, and with two teenage kids who still need their help --- and after each having had his/her "fun"/"romance" --- perhaps it is time to really focus on their marriage

good short li'l story about life and its many twists and turns, its comic and tragedy

Finally a story where the husband gets some revenge. This is a rarity in these stories. Well written too.

Hubby get even, I think now they can get their marriage back on track

I thoroughly enjoyed this story. The author had the husband focus on the real issue, not that she had sex with another man all those years ago but that she held the memory so close and used it to soar beyond her marriage. That was the real hurt.

And he didn't come out and say, or even really imply that he was having sex with the divorce across the street. He may have only been reminding her that there were opportunities for him too.

Great job Juan. Thank you. I think you handled the situation splendidly.

Supeb story, really superb. Makes me wish there was going to be a follow up....

I'm sorry others saw this as a revenge story. To me it wasn't. The husband finds his wife has given a major part of herself to another, and withheld anything like that part from her. He discovers she has stayed with him at least partly out of duty. You don't say that, but her actions showed she would have preferred to be elsewhere. To me her chouce wan't between the two men, but with keeping her children or tearing them apart. That isn't to say she doesn't love and care for her husband, especially after the subsequent years.

Then in the end the husband feels he must tell her that her actions led to a reaction from him. Finding how much she has denied him, how much she has been withholding of herself he sought, and found, surcease of sorrow. He also was telling her, did tell her, that that attempt to sink his despair wasn't successful. They need work on that together. Suddenly she sees herself as he found himself on reading her lovers letters.

Apparently, I'm the only one who thought this was not a very well written story in that the climax and the conclusion all occurred in the last 10% of the story and even that depended on the reader imagining what happened Too much of an O"Henry end twist and nothing erotic about it at all. Marriages in which one of the spouse is gone 90% of the time are not very realistic. 60 year old George

Now, come on you lot. Give me a break.

My good friend George put rather concisely what he saw as the problem with this story, as he often does when he comments - and he is right. Way too much here is left to the readers' imagination

What story did you rave reviewers read?

This is nothing more than another witless husband story with very little variation on the standard Literotica theme.

Even as a woman, these endless stories of husbands without a fucking clue annoy me almost to distraction. Are there no authors out there who can write about men? I don't mean merely about persons with dicks - they obviously are male, but most males in these stories are definitely not men. And very definitely not the sort of male I would want to have anything whatever to do with.

This story like so many of its clones even stoops so far as to have the author throw in (to keep the feminazis quiet) a quick allusion at the end to his having cheated also - so that makes it okay for the years of deception this so-called 'wife' practised on her loving husband. Sheesh!!!

This guy worked to pay her way through her course, raised the teenage kids and kept the house.

How did she repay him? She cheated with some arsehole at the university she was attending. She was so attached to this prick that she kept the letters they exchanged. The reason she gave for keeping them is way too weak - it is an excuse for keeping them - not the reason.

And all our fearless author had the husband do was smash the typewriter - one he had given her as a special gift, and one she obviously did not appreciate for the love it expressed.

No person in their right mind would fail to suspect something amiss when their partner wants a whole room or other area 'off limits' to them. Even the crap about:

"She freaked out when she saw me there. Snatching the pen from my hand, she demanded to know what I?d read. It took a while to calm her down. She explained that when she was journaling she was being completely vulnerable; open and honest. She asked that I never look at her writing, unless invited to."

Another load of utter bullshit for someone who has nothing to hide from a 'supposed' loved one.

The part of the story about the theme of her books was at least original and refreshing. But still, all that could do was reinforce with the husband the depth of his wife's feelings for her 'lost love'. That sort of betrayal is probably in reality not repairable. She has kept it going for 17 books, so she is still in love with the other guy, even if we can believe she has never seen him or physically cheated ever again after that year.

The husband, even now after all these years with her, would be far better off leaving and finding a real soul mate who will truly love him for what he is, not just as a poor replacement for a perceived 'true love'.

AND, as usual when an author tries to be too clever by half and leave out major parts of the story, we get varying interpretations, like Troubador's and Patricia's. Did he actually do anything with another woman? Here we have two highly intelligent writers and critics with completely opposing views. Who is correct? They can't both be right. If the author wanted us to know, why didn't he make his writing such that there was no confusion? Can he now complain if the readers' interpretation of his writing is not what he thought he wrote?

I would say NO, to that. Writers must be able to effectively transfer their thoughts to the reader, not write half a story and hope the reader will correctly interpret it.

Also, confusing the usage of 'then' and 'than' is a very annoying trait of may Lit authors. Likewise the wrong tenses of verbs as in " the house of recently divorce Diana Brown" instead of "recently divorced". Little things maybe, but when they are there, they are annoying and detract form what may otherwise be a good story. These things are easily fixed by having an editor read over your stuff, not just using a spell checker which will always pass any correctly spelled word no matter how stupidly used.

All that said the story is probably still a '4'.

First, my thanks to all of you who took the time to comment.

Second, I wouldn't characterize this as a revenge story. I think of it more as a "re-balancing" story. As an occassional viewer of daytime TV, I have always been amazed at the number of times that the cheated upon spouse wants to work things out with the cheater.

The inspiration for this story was from one I'd read many years ago. The wife, in a happy marriage(her description) with children, has a scorching hot fling with a younger man over a sunmmer. He leaves and she returns to being the good wife. That bugged me and i felt compelled to respond. I tried dozens of different scenarios in which the husband finds out and reacts; they all ended in hardcore revenge fucks that I couldn't see the relationship surviving.

With Passion is my current best answer. Do they stay together? Maybe, marriages have survived worse and foundered on less. In my mind, this was the wife's only affair (I know some of you will say that this is one too many and certainly too long - I understand.) Until he finds out about the affair, he thinks he's in a good marriage. Then BAM! Do you turn the other cheek? Ignore the evidence and act like nothing happened? Revenge? Walk away? Tough choices.

In an early draft, the story ended with him reporting to his wife that the typewriter was broken. That ending was not satisfying to me. I felt that the husband ended up being a wimp. He needed something, actually a couple of things, he needed to feel a sense of revenge and he needed to know his wife's true feelings about her affair. Was she trully remorseful or was this just something that happen and "get over it."

SPOILER ALERT - I'm going to tell you what he did.

He went next door and talked with the divorcee. They eventually hatched the Red Panty Test. They didn't have sex. The wife's reaction to the panties was not "How could you?" it was "That bitch!" The unwritten following conversation was along the lines of "I understand why you did what you did." Now the wife has to worry about her husband and the very willing woman next door. It's the reaction the husband wanted. He is willing to stay and work it out - time will tell.

Why couldn't you have left a good story alone?! LOL

Leave it to the imagination of the reader, as to how the red panty thing came about --- so we could have it both ways! That is, it could be as you (the author) said, or it could be that the husband really DID start the affair (the "re-balancing" act, as you call it),,,

But, seriously for a second, I agree with your take on the oft-theme about the cheated-on spouse wanting to discuss things, to work it out, while all the other spouse has to do is just cry a lot of tears and do some fake begging and their crimes are absolved, forgiven, with a lot of huggs and kisses (from the wronged spouse),,,

Your slightly different take on the issue is interesting.

That is, BEFORE you went ahead and ruined it by telling us how it "really happened" with the neighbor! lol

He (and you, the author) should simply show her that red panty and say a few puzzling things like he did and just shut his mouth!

Unfortunately, he willl eventually have to make a decision (to be or not to be!), because if he didn't, the whole story would fall back on to the oft-theme of the cheated on spouse (him) wanting to "work things out" with the cheating spouse,,, with the latter declaring undying love for him and shedding tons of tears and with him feeling guilty for her "suffering", ad nauseam! lol

Again, a good defense, sometimes, is really a good offense. And do it for the "right" reason, not, as you said, for "revenge",,, do it for what one thinks is right, a decision that is not contingent upon the exhibition of moving tears and declaration of undying love by the cheating spouse, etc.

I gave you the spoiler alert! And still - you couldn't control yourself. You just had to keep reading. tch, tch, tch. Oh the delicious irony,

It certainly looks like a real live case of civil disobedience.

Despite the other comments, I found a different take on the story. As in most of O'Henry's stories, the ending is left to the reader's imagination. I know how I would react as the other readers showed how they would. Perfect O'Henryesque (if there is such a word). Write on McDuff.

P.S. I found the rest of 'your' litergy subpar to this one. Once you have cleared the high bar, you've got to maintain that standard. Tough isn't it?

I really enjoyed this story, in part because of the gentle touch you gave to the anger felt by the husband and his very deft response.

There's no shouting and no violence (except to that precious typewriter). The idea that the wife went through such efforts to maintain that office as a separate world. Then used the affair as the basis for her books and shut out her husband from the entire process. It made the affair a living memorial.

The husband's response was perfect. I don't care whether he did or did not have sex with the neighbor...she understod HIS message. In the end, he was the better communicator.

It's OK everyone I have been in and mopped up all the blood!

Kanga you really should stop beating about the bush and say what you REALLY mean lol.

George I am surprised at you. The story was beautifully written irrespective of what one might want to read into it.

Great Stuff Juan, thank you.

Susan England

I really hope you are not getting your views of life by watching the garbage on daytime TV. These people go through a long selection process and only the most controversial are picked to be on the show. If you want an idea of what most likely would happen, go to a courtroom and watch the divorce procedings. That is a shot of what happens most of the time when a spouse is caught cheating. Better yet, talk to a divorce lawyer, I bet you could get a lot of true stories in a very short time.

A good tight story. Well written. Good impact.

My take:

The children were 14 and 15 when she took the course. Now they are grown and on their own. It took her 3 years to get published. She has written 17 novels. Even at one every 6 months this story has to have taken place at least 10 years later.

So the husband finds proof of his wife's infidelity years later. A one time thing as she claims (she wouldn't lie would she?) or merely the first? When did her lover write the letters? As has been pointed out her keeping the letters as "a reminder" of the mistake she made was the excuse not the reason. She mades it a point to keep her husband out of her 'love nest' so he would not intrude on the memories of her lover. All her stories followed the exact same theme - boring husband, exciting lover, lover leaves. She wouldn't keep writing the same thing if she were over him.

Her lover left her. She did not leave him - thus her lament: "Why did you go?" She settled for her husband after her lover dumped her only because she had no choice. Had he wanted her she was his. And she never forgot him. She did things for her lover she never did for her husband. It is obvious who she preferred, and who she would go to if he called her today.

Why do I think that is so? Exactly where do you think "Reddy Freddy" came from? And why is she never separated from "Reddy Freddy" - even today? She can profess her love, lie, and dissemble all she wants to but her husband will always be a poor second place in her heart.

Go with the divorcee.

You say in your comment:

"She did things for her lover she never did for her husband. It is obvious who she preferred, and who she would go to if he called her today."

BUT, in the story Juan told us:

"Letters detailing activities that Jan had long denied me."

Where does that say she did things she NEVER did for her husband? All it says to me is she did things for/with Jake she hasn't done for the husband in a long while.

Not quite the same as you said at all.

Between what you told the reader and what you left for the reader to conclude on their own, it spoke volumes. Lives become intertwined and lovers are not always as we would have them be, but can we stop loving them? This was a good story, on several levels.

Your story and the ending was great. It was revenge with the neighbor. I read your "spoiler alert" and was sorry there was no sex. His wife gave herself to someone for so long a time and I would think that would have killed the marriage. With the "red painties" she has to wonder if he'll leave.

you made it so easy to envision them. So great to have a lying secret revealed and so encapsulated with such a staggering truth. That old saying comes to mind “your trash is someone else’s treasure”. Those red panties spoke untold volumes. They had to crush the false illusion of loving grandeur that her memories so fondly held for her. Now she was just a lying cheating slut like the neighbor, except the neighbor now had her treasure that she had considered and treated like trash, I loved it. a fan always.

A great story writen with style.

we find so many comments at the end complaining of this or that; in reality men get off much easier and even in most of juans stories the guy gets off better than the gal. maybe men write stories like this as a way to relieve guilt or punish ourselves for past indiscretions? (or maybe it just gets us h**d)...to put our women on equal footing so to speak. by the way great story!

I just re-read your story and enjoyed it again. Naturally there's the revenge factor; I always enjoy it when the punishment fits the crime. That is hammered home even more eloquently for me in your follow up story. But for me the crux of the story is a lack of communication between the wife and her husband. The following quote is most telling for me.

"She explained that when she was journaling she was being completely vulnerable; open and honest."

It would have been nice if she had been that forthcoming with her husband.

Regards, Boyd

in part because the husband's actions show restraint, even elegance. In so many ways he doesn't act like the typical betrayed husband--though the circumstances would certainly justify his going totally wild: destroying her cottage, her manuscripts, or just walking out on her.

And unlike some of your other readers, I think the ambiguous elements of the ending are wonderful--they leave the reader tantalized, and thinking about the story for far longer than if it simply wrapped up in an ordinary way.

Thanks for your great work!

ohio

Quite a few stories were fashioned after this one and it's follow up by this author but this one with it's concise wording and restraint style is the winner. The fine twist at the end lives a lot of room for variety of interpretations.

Great story, concise, subtle and a great twist - keep up the great writing.

i've seen this one before and liked it but haven't been making responses until recently. this was a little different from most cheating wives stories and i liked the way you ended it. sometimes you write with a cleaver and other times with a hypodermic needle. this one delivered the poison with a needle. i loved it.

Yeah she stopped her affair. After a year. A selfish awful wife. She justified it with it being about her passion, her need. I'm glad she got to feel the hurt from his passion and need. Maybe it will teach her some humility and care for others and what betraying them does to them.

With a suprise ending!

With Passion is the same story as Burning Passion. Both are good but do not tell enough about what happens to the wife after the letters are found. I can only hope the husband is not stupid enough to just forgive her.

when the bell tolls who listens. TK U MLJ LV NV

"i love you." it is their mantra. well if you fucken loved me so much you whore why did you let someone else use my pussy?

want sex, use a whore, they go home.

want a companion buy a fucking dog.

this is not done. please finish.

You have no body, sorry 1,,,,,bill

They render her "a reminder of how selfish I was" line a complete lie.

Passion is about love, hate, wonder, excitement, i guess destruction. Its an emotion that over rides sense. I am sorry, you described situations that passion could arise, but alas, never felt any passion in the story. This story like the couple you described was wasted. I like where the story could have gone, with passion, but it went no where, lack of passion

It was well written and passionate , and leaves much of the future in doubt. The other version of this story fills in the blanks , and comes to a more definitive conclusion. The other is More satisfying in the sense of stability , and maybe reconciliation.But this story leaves much in doubt , and is more unsettling. I fear for their future.

Is this version a re-write of a prior one which went into detail about the wife's relationship with the man she spent a year cheating with?

anon.1

I don't quite understand this story

This was not this writers best work . The Ending gave no Closure

Missed the mark by a wide margin. Could have been a good BTB, but it became dumb.

Life isn't a dream where everything is always sorted out, solved & neatly put away.

I liked the awkwardness & anger, as well as the uncertainty of what was to follow.

Nicely written imho.

I don't understand how this is an "erotic coupling" story, there is no erotic or coupling. It is merely a vignette of two people who cheat and don't resolve the cheating. It would be best in Non-Erotic or Loving Wives. Although the lack of a BTB or RAAC may upset a lot of people who lurk over in the LW areas. This was disappointing as I wanted a much longer story.

not a happy story, a wife cheats and husband get even. Wife finds out and is mad that she had a passionate AH rescue her while her husband had passionate revenge sex. Only good thing is wife is mad about the revenge sex. cunt, rk