118 comments/ 202095 views/ 96 favorites How Does it Feel to be a Cuckold? By: OldHideki This is my second story on Literotica. I would like to thank KnightShado for reviewing this before I published it. I hope you enjoy it. I was very happy as we pulled into our driveway. I had enjoyed our daughter's high school graduation. Jennifer looked wonderful in her graduation robes. Stephanie was beaming as our daughter received her diploma. The only damper on the occasion was that I had later joined in on some off color jokes made at Stephanie's expense, and she had been stewing on them all the way home. When we got inside the house, Stephanie let me have it. Stephanie railed at me, "That's it! Apologize! Apologize right now!" I shrugged my shoulders and looked back at her, "Why! I haven't said anything that isn't true." She was livid as I stood my ground. "Get out you bastard! Get out of my house right now!" I looked back at her in shock. She was overreacting to the little jokes I made. "Stephanie, you're the one that needs to cool off. If you're upset, you need leave and calm down. Isn't supposed to be our home?" "No! You're a worthless grunt of a dockworker! You couldn't afford to pay the rent on this house! This is my parents house, and the thought of you staying in it another minute makes my skin crawl! Pack your bags, and go to that little cabin you're so proud of!" "Don't make fun of the cabin. That place was earned with sweat, and not a treasure some spoiled brat would luck into." "SPOILED BRAT! Y-Y-YOU TAKE THAT BACK!" I looked over at the kids, Jennifer and Shawn, and then back at Stephanie. It was the same confrontation. They had seen this before, and knew I was going to be worn down. I could win a minor victory today, but in the end, I would be out the door for the next few weeks. I knew exactly where this was headed, so I just walked past Stephanie without saying another word, and headed for the bedroom closet. I pulled my suitcase and overnight and went to the bathroom and cleared my stuff off the sink. Stephanie walked in and continued to glare as I raked all the remaining items off my dresser into the overnight. "That's it! Tuck your tail in and run! You are fucking wimp of a man! Get your shit out of my bedroom so it doesn't stink up the place!" I never even attempted to reply. I opened my drawers and dumped the contents into the suitcase, and left the room, with Stephanie walking close behind. If Stephanie would have watched carefully, she would have noticed that everything was gone. I had already removed everything from the house except my toiletries that were in my overnight, and a single suitcase worth of clothes. She followed me out of the bedroom, through the living room, and outside to the front driveway. She was gloating as she followed me. "What's the matter? Cat got your tongue? Can't handle a real woman? You can take that little prick of yours and hide in that little cabin and go fuck yourself silly!" I placed the suitcase and overnight in the back of the truck. I went back inside and grabbed Jennifer's gear that was sitting in the hallway. I placed Jennifer's gear in the truck bed, opened the passenger side door, and motioned to Jennifer to get in. Jennifer was getting furious. "Daddy, how could you do this to me? I'm supposed to get the cabin for my graduation sleepover! You're ruining everything!" Jennifer walked over to me with tears in her eyes, "Daddy, please! Apologize to mom! Please don't ruin my sleepover!" I looked back at Stephanie, and she was beaming that her daughter had taken her side. I continued to hold the door for Jennifer as my daughter lashed out at me. There was a steady stream of "I hate you!" as she got in the truck. After I closed the door, I turned and faced Stephanie, and glared at her. She returned the glare, and then gave the ultimatum, "See what you've done to our daughter. This is all your fault! Can't you see how much you are hurting your own family? Don't even think of coming back here until you're ready to get on your knees and apologize!" I smiled back and said, "OK". I was now very calm, and I simply got in the truck, turned on the ignition, and backed out of the driveway. This infuriated Stephanie even more. She was doing her best to get to me and wanted to see me break. She continued to scream things at me as I left, but I was not listening. I was now smiling and thinking about seeing Jennifer and her friends at the cabin. I knew what was going on. It didn't matter what set her off this time, because I knew the pattern. My best friend from high school was Jake O'Mally, and he was in the army. The knit-picking over petty items would start a few days before Jake arrived home on leave, and after a day or two there would be a big fight. She would kick me out to the cabin while she welcomed Jake back home. She would let me stew at the cabin while she fucked Jake. A week after Jake left, she would come out to the cabin with a homemade pie and plead with me to come back home. This had gone on for 19 years, and I knew that Jake was finishing up his twenty years of service in a few months, so I wondered a little bit what they were up to. I had expected this little arrangement to continue until the end of the summer, but I was ready to break it off now. I never wanted to be welcomed back into that house, so I was off to the cabin for good this time. I only had to worry about where I would sleep tonight, because of Jennifer's sleepover party. I didn't want to put a damper on Jennifer's graduation sleepover at the cabin, so I would have to do something else for the night. As I drove, I tried to assure Jennifer that her sleepover was not ruined. "Angel, I'm sorry about this. I'll go to a hotel for the night." Jennifer's response surprised me. "Do you think she bought it?" I looked over at Jennifer as she calmly pulled out her compact and fixed her makeup. As I drove towards the cabin, I watched Jennifer get out her cell phone and look at me, "Should I tell Diane that we are on our way?" "Why you little Devil! You already knew she was planning to kick me out, didn't you?" "Yup!" "And you're backing me?" "Yup! I've emptied my room too! I say let the slut rot in hell!" "Jennifer, watch your mouth. That slut is still your mother, and that will never change." I couldn't help but smile. I had already planned on bringing Jennifer out to the cabin and seeing Diane later tonight, but I had no idea that Jennifer knew about it. Jennifer was a smart kid, and had probably seen that most of my stuff was already gone from the house. I was living on just enough clothes to get by. She figured out I was moving on, and she had decided to join me. I felt good about Jennifer being on board, but I felt bad about leaving Shawn, he didn't deserve what was about to happen. He was only 16, and I was really the only father figure that he had, but DNA tests would prove that I was not his biological father. He would have to deal with the mess that Jake and Stephanie had created. If Shawn wanted to join the exodus, I would let him. I just didn't know how Diane would feel about that. I expected it to be a clean break, and I was going to leave everyone and everything behind, and be with Diane. Jennifer had turned 18 and graduated from high school. My obligation to maintaining any sort of relationship with Stephanie was over. Jennifer would only be living with me for three months, and then she would leave for Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. She would be two hours away as Diane and I set up our lives together. Shawn was completely unexpected wrench in the works. I had planned carefully, and made sure that I didn't get Stephanie pregnant again, but this didn't stop Stephanie from taking on additional lovers. My name is Mark Whitefield. I'm 39 years old, and I made a big mistake during my sophomore year of college. I figured out that my girlfriend was pregnant, and I arranged for my best friend Jake to join us during spring break to marry her. I was taking her to Las Vegas, and I had an engagement ring and everything. We spent the break in Las Vegas in two adjoining rooms that I paid for. I found out that Stephanie was a slut and had been two-timing me with Jake since high school, but a little too late. The dice had been cast, and in all places, Las Vegas. It had come up snake eyes. On the forth day of the spring break, I woke up one morning to find out Stephanie in my bed, naked, with a ring on her finger. She told me that we were married, and hoped we would have a boy. The pregnancy test showed up positive, and I finished my sophomore year of college to set up house with a wife who was cuckolding her husband. We lived for free in her parent's garage apartment. It did have some perks, Stephanie was hot in bed, and Jake was only around about four weeks a year on leave. So, I tolerated it. I ended up as a factory worker at Sirius Pharmaceuticals. I hated being indoors on an assembly line, so I switched to shipping and worked on the dock. It took 4 years to finish my degree at night school. Since we were living in a free apartment, paying for my education was a lot less costly than living full time at a dorm. At the end of college, I had a sizable chunk of cash left over from my college fund. I put a down payment on 40 acres of land just 20 miles outside of town, which infuriated Stephanie. Even though she now had a 3 year old girl and a 1 year old boy to take care of, she wanted to blow the money and party. I wanted to get out of a garage apartment and live on my own. Stephanie's parents were clearly on my side on this one, and chewed Stephanie out for being so near sighted. I placed a small cabin on the 40 acres as a getaway, and I took the kids with me every time Stephanie kicked me out. Even during the first four years, Stephanie had set up this pattern of creating a drama that would allow her to go out on the town with 'her girlfriends'. She would ignore my sexual needs, and I had known from the Vegas spring break what was going to happen. I was happy to stay away from her, because Jake usually brought a STD with him from whatever base he was stationed at. So I went along and took the extra time to bond with the kids. I wanted to shield the children from Stephanie's behavior as much as possible. When I finished my degree at night school, I felt I was ready to break it off, but then two things happened. The economy hit a downturn, and Stephanie's parents were killed in a car crash. When her parents died, Stephanie inherited the house and a quarter million dollars. The downturn in the economy made it impossible to sell the house, as well as find a better job. So I was stuck at Sirius Pharmaceuticals, waiting for this hell to be over. It had taken 19 years, but I was about to get out from under this. I was grateful that it was about to end, and I would be able to draw this part of my life to a close. I was looking forward to being at the cabin, and now, I knew that at least one bright spot in this dreary existence, Jennifer, would still be there with me. I was somewhat melancholy as I drove away from the house. The further I drove away from the house, the more I could smile. As I pulled into the gravel road that led to the cabin, I felt as if a load had been lifted off of me. As we pulled past the tree break, I could see a Blue Taurus parked by the cabin, and that meant Diane was waiting for us. We pulled up and got out. Jennifer ran over before I could and hugged Diane. I froze as Jennifer spoke, "When Daddy and you get married, may I call you mom?" Diane was as shocked as I was, I don't think she was ready at 30 years old to adopt an 18 year old daughter. "Let's just start with Diane, OK? Just Diane". We all went inside, and chatted away at the table. An hour later, two of Jennifer's friends showed up and Diane and I left, but not before laying down some stern rules, and promising to make a second visit around 11PM for a no-boyfriend check. As we drove away in her Taurus, Diane turned to me an asked, "Is it over? Have you separated for good?" I nodded. "Good! You've been holding out on me for three years now, and I am not taking no for an answer tonight!" We never made it to the 11PM check at the cabin, or the 7AM check. Diane made sure that I knew that she was mine, and only mine. We finally showed back up at the cabin at noon, and found that Shawn had been dumped off by Stephanie. Jennifer and Shawn were sitting at the table, finishing lunch. As we came in, Shawn looked up from his lunch and smiled, "Hello Diane". Jennifer waved her hand, and then pointed to her mouth, as she continued to chew. Shawn turned to me and said "That dickhead showed up this morning. I didn't want to stick around, so I had mom bring me here. Can I stay up here with you and Jenny"? "You can stay for now, but I'm not sure about for the long term, Shawn." Shawn lowered his head. "So it's true, you're not coming back." Jennifer finished her sandwich and got up and made two more sandwiches as Shawn sat at the table with a drink in his hand and said nothing. Diane went over and sat at the table and looked back at me. Shawn stared off into space as I went and retrieved my stuff from Diane's car, and threw it into my room. I came over and sat down at the table as Jennifer placed plates in front of Diane and me. Diane turned to me, "Mark, we can take him in too." I responded back to Diane, "It's not that easy, he's still a minor." Shawn asked, "Is this because I'm not your biological son"? I nodded. Shawn shook his head, "Look, you're the only dad I've known. I don't care if Jake is my biological father; I want to stay with you!" I looked down at my sandwich and whispered, "He isn't your father either Shawn." The room was dead silent. No one moved. After two minutes of silence, I looked over at Diane, and she gazed sternly back at me. "Are you going to fight for him?" "I will try, but I don't know if..." Diane cut me off. "Don't give me that bullshit! Are you going to fight for him?" I looked back at her. Diane lifted her hand and slowly took off the ring I gave her and placed it on the table. "Mark Anthony Whitefield, the man I fell in love with, was a man who I thought would crawl naked through broken glass for his children, biological or not! Now, I need to know if you really are that man! Are you going to fight for him?" I stiffened up, and met her gaze. "A man is only as good as the woman who stands beside him. You give me strength, Diane. Of course I'll fight for him." Shawn breathed a sigh of relief as Diane put her ring back on. With that settled, Diane turned to Jennifer, "I've had a change of heart, Jenny. If you still need a mother, then you can call me mom if you would like to. Talk about a teachable moment! Diane in one question had solidified the entire family. Diane had said with absolute certainty that she would be there for Jennifer and Shawn, and they knew it. It was clear that Stephanie had been replaced, and I also knew that I would do my very best to rescue Shawn. The rest of the lunch went well, and the four of us behaved just like the family we were about to become. When Jennifer went to get the brownies, Shawn took the opportunity to air some bad news. "Jake's been here all week, and he's been checking up on you, Dad." "Oh?" "Yeah. Mom now knows that you're not just a dock worker, that you're actually the vice president of shipping." "That changes nothing." "He also checked the bank accounts. He knows she's broke and you're loaded." I pondered that point for a moment. "Well, that might be true from their point of view. That's interesting, anything else?" "They were planning on serving you something this afternoon, it didn't sound good. Jake kept talking about taking you to the cleaners. I think they have a lawyer." "Well, well. I should have thought about that. They would want to start the divorce proceedings just before Jake finished his twenty years of service. It all makes sense." I thought for a little bit, and turned to Diane. "Do you think your dad would be up for some backgammon this afternoon?" Shawn flustered a bit, "Dad! Didn't you just hear me? They got a lawyer with them, and your thinking about playing games?" "Shawn, Diane's father is my attorney, and this whole thing is about playing games. Why don't you stick around and find out how this ends." Diane smiled, "I'll call Papa. I don't think he'll want to miss this for the world." With Diane and I being so confident, we returned to the brownies, and talked about our new lives together as a family. When the idea of a family vacation came up, the kids fell silent in awe as Diane and I discussed the merits of a tour of either Europe or Asia. It was decided that a European trip would be more useful for the kids, and that the trip to China and the great wall would make a better honeymoon. Stephanie never had more dreams than getting loaded at the local bars in town. The kids were drinking up the possibilities of their new life style. The talk gave Jennifer and Shawn hope that this will all work out, but I was still not sure. I still worried about Shawn, because he was the wild card in this mess that I never saw coming. I had expected Stephanie to continue to have sex with Jake, but I didn't plan on Stephanie taking on additional lovers. I tried my best to prevent this, but in the end, Stephanie is Stephanie. She seems to be looking for someone that she'll never find. I did feel horrible when it came to Stephanie's running around. It hurt for the first couple of years. The feeling of inadequacy was oppressive. It took a long time to realize that it was not me that was the problem. In fact, in her time of feeling the lowest, she turned to me for comfort. Even in Stephanie's wild life, I was the rock that she clung to. Stephanie was addicted to control, and would never get enough. She would always get tired of what was offered, or push her lover away with her demands. She would then look for a new toy to play with, and the cycle would repeat again. I let her play her games, and this helped her feel that she had value. Mostly, I tried to protect the children, who had become a burden to her having fun. Her sexual gratification allowed her to feel alive, and her control games allowed her to feel desired and needed. But in the end, she valued the game more than the person being controlled, and her prey would eventually tire and walk away. I was always there to pick up the pieces. It could be that Jake's limited exposure gave him immunity to this struggle. Jake would come in and stir things up for two weeks and then leave. The process that Stephanie went through with her lovers usually took two months to run its course, and Jake never stayed around for that long. Jake's real test of longevity would be tested in a few months, and I didn't want to be around if it went to pieces this time. I just wanted to get on with my life. I was looking forward to having a woman who cared about the man in her life. With Diane, it was never about taming her insecurities, but what she could do for me. She had seen that I placed my children's needs above mine, and she knew I would do the same for her. I used her as a babysitter, after Stephanie's parents died. She had spent many an evening working with them, and had become more of a mother to them than Stephanie. She didn't seem to mind that the children were part of the package. When lunch was over, the kids did the dishes. Diane and I hugged for a while and then all four of us cleaned up the place from the sleepover. The girls had pushed the furniture against the wall, and moved some out onto the porch to make room for the sleeping bags. Cleaning helped take our minds off the confrontation that was about to happen. All of us were tense, so we all tried to find things to do. I went to the table and set up the backgammon game. Shawn also went to the table with some homework, but found he couldn't study. We ended up playing some backgammon while waiting for Diane's father to arrive. Diane and Jennifer went over to the couch and went through the travel brochures, and started making a list of things we might want to do. I had won two games and lost one when Peter Hershbaum, Diane's father, arrived. How Does it Feel to be a Cuckold? Shawn joined Jenny and Diane looking at the travel brochures, and Peter and I squared off for battle. We weren't even through the first game when Stephanie opened the door, and Jake and two men entered the cabin. Stephanie sneered, "Didn't think I'd catch you humping the babysitter, did you?" Diane quipped back, "It's far better than getting genital herpes from a whore wife!" Diane was about to get up and face off with Stephanie, when I waved her off and got up from the table and walked over towards our new guests. I motioned my arm towards Peter at the table. "This is my attorney, Peter Hershbaum, from the firm of Traub, Hershbaum, and Kensington, and this is his daughter, Diane, a child psychologist, specializing in child placement after divorce. I have been using her as a baby sitter to gain evidence of child neglect for the last fourteen years. If you would like to serve me papers, would you please wait until after I disclose some important history and financial information to you?" Stephanie and the lawyers stiffened up. Jake stayed his cocky self. The lawyers looked at each other, and then at Peter. Peter made a hand motion to the lawyers to back down. The paperwork that one of the lawyers was carrying was quickly placed into a briefcase. Once their gyrations stopped, I looked over at Peter and he nodded for me to continue. "Stephanie, I've left you for good. This cabin is my home, and the house is yours. Take Jake and your lawyers, and go home. There is nothing for you here. "Mark, I'm not leaving without getting what I deserve. I want a divorce." I looked puzzled at her, "Why would you want that?" "I am in love with Jake, not you. You have not come to my bedside in over three years now. I have not been able to find physical comfort in my own home, so I have had to look elsewhere. I am suing you for alienation of affection, so that I can marry Jake." The sheer mechanical nature of her statement made me grin. The lawyers must have drafted the statement, and had her practice it over and over. It didn't mention the fact that three years ago, she became infected with genital herpes just after one of Jakes visits. I smiled back at her and simply repeated my stand. "Stephanie, you don't need to get a divorce, just go back home and live with Jake. There is nothing for you to gain financially here, so just leave. Jake couldn't just stand by and watch, he moved forward. "Just sign the fucking divorce papers, you wimp. You know that you can't handle a woman like Stephanie, it takes a real man like me." "Oh, then just leave. You have your woman, Jake, and I have mine. Take yours and go." "Maybe not Mark, maybe I'll take both of them from you. I've already taken your wife from you, and I'll take your new one too. Tell me Mark, how does it feel to be a cuckold?" "I wouldn't know Jake, how does it feel?" Jake grinned, "You feel pretty worthless, don't you?" "Not really, since you, Jake, are the cuckold." The shock on Jake, Stephanie, and her lawyers faces, was priceless. I picked up the remote control and turned on the TV. I then turned to Stephanie, "You may not remember much about your wedding night, because I was buying all the drinks. I bought screwdrivers for you two and plain orange juice for myself. I turned on the DVD player and pressed "play". A drunk Jake, and a very drunk Stephanie were in front of the Chapel of Love. An Elvis clone was in the process of marring them, with me waving to the camera. I chimed in after everyone had time to understand that Elvis was marring Stephanie to Jake. "I had noticed that Stephanie was late on her period, and I was planning to propose and marry Stephanie, but the way you two were acting made me think something was up. I was so suspicious of you two that I set up my lecture recorder in our room, and excused myself to go to UNLV to work on a term paper. When I played back the tape, I heard you two go at it like crazed rabbits. Stephanie confessed she was pregnant, and you two concocted your plan to 'marry me to Stephanie' and "have me take care of the kids" while Jake finished his tour of service." "I didn't want to go through with your stupid plan. I had always used a condom, and from the tape, and I found out that Jake didn't always use protection. I figured that Jake was the father of the child, just like you two did." Your idea of getting me drunk, and marrying me to Stephanie was what gave me the idea to do the same to you two." I walked over to Peter, and he handed me some papers. I handed these papers to one of the lawyers. "These are copies of the real marriage certificate, and the marriage license. I took both of you back to the hotel, and put both of you in Stephanie's room for your honeymoon. The fake marriage certificate you found in my room with Stephanie's and my name on it, was supposed to be my memento how I almost fucked up my life. I want you to understand that I knew that I had lost her to you, Jake. I didn't want to get into this cuckolding scheme of yours." I paused, and shook my head. "Jake, I was awake and crying when you opened my room door and pushed Stephanie in at 3AM in the morning. Did you really feel the need to cuckold yourself on your wedding night?" Jake was red faced and shuffling from one foot to another. I had taken a lot of grief from Jake over the last 19 years, and I could see he was about to blow. I decided to back off from chastising him, even though I knew I had three lawyers watching as witnesses. I chose to back down. I decided to switch gears and talk about the timing of the paperwork. I paused and paced the room, to allow what I said to set in, and to allow Jake to calm down. "I will admit that making a fake certificate was a bonehead mistake. Even worst, I had left the fake one out in the open, and the real one was carefully put away and preserved. I did have the actual marriage certificate, but the actual marriage license from the state of Nevada took three weeks to arrive at my dorm room. I could have argued about who was married to whom, but you seemed perfectly happy to have me fucking your wife, so who was I to complain. You had planned to fuck me over, so I decided to screw Stephanie until Jenny was born and use the DNA tests to get out of this mess." I walked over to Peter and received another set of papers, and handed these to the lawyers. "Jake, I got a sample of your DNA off of one of Stephanie's Panties 3 months after Jenny was born. I had the DNA lab run tests to determine who Jennifer's father was. I am Jenny's sperm donor. I always used condoms, so my guess is that one of them leaked. By the way Jake, your sperm lack mobility, you are sterile. Stephanie, you had your tubes tied after Shawn was born, so both of you are sterile". "I could have walked away at any time, but I had a daughter with Stephanie. I was told that If I would have left, my Jennifer would have be given to Stephanie and Jake to rear. I would get nothing but child support payments. I made a choice to stay and raise her, and document the money given to your marriage as child support. The money I made above paying for support is my own. I also documented that I made a cabin getaway out of my own money to allow Stephanie and Jake to make conjugal visits while he was serving our country. Even though I portrayed myself as a wimp, I want to stress that I was not being cuckolded. I KNEW who was married to whom, and I never felt right about denying a husband's right to make love to his wife." "The paperwork will show that I paid two and a half the average amount child support. One payment was for Jennifer and one for me as a live-in caregiver, the half payment was for Jennifer's college fund. When Shawn entered the picture, I went after the sperm donor, and he made one payment for child support and a half payment towards a college fund for Shawn. Stephanie contributed the same amount from her trust account, a share for herself and each child, and a half share for each child's college fund." I went over to Peter and retrieved a third set of papers. "Stephanie, as for the money you inherited from your parents, you have been living off of that for the last 14 years, as well as my child support, and the child support that your have received from Shawn's sperm donor. I gave an deduction for the home, but you were using more money than the inheritance was generating. I have asked you repeatedly to 'Get a Job', but you have refused. If your husband had been saving any money, and if you had started working after the children had started school, you two would probably be worth over a half a million dollars by now. Your trust fund portfolio still has over $50,000 in it, and you still own your home outright. I know jobs are scarce about here, but with Jake's military pension, you two should be able to get by and even flourish." I went over to Mantle this time, and retrieved a key. I handed this key directly to Stephanie. "This is my key to your safety deposit box at the bank. You will find the actual marriage documents there, the original VHS recording of the wedding ceremony, as well as a DVD version. Please check the names carefully." I stopped and looked at the lawyers. They were still trying to leaf through the papers that I gave them. "I would like to make an appeal for child custody now." I then walked over to Shawn. "Jennifer is over 18, and is an adult. Jennifer can do as she wishes, and she has chosen to stay with me. I have received a guardianship transfer document from Shawn's sperm donor, so you, Stephanie, and I have joint guardianship over Shawn. At 16, he can choose which parent he lives with, and he can choose me even though I am not his biological father." "Stephanie, Jake is a proud man, and I don't think he will want a daily reminder walking around your home that he was cuckolded. I want you two to be happy together, and start your marriage with a clean slate. If Shawn chooses to stay with me, and he has, you will have to pay me child support. I know you love your son, but I would like to make a deal with you concerning Shawn's upbringing. I will pay your part of Shawn's child support, both his living costs and his college fund, if you just walk away, and live with Jake. You will no longer have to contribute to his welfare. There will be no lawyers, and no fees. You just have to leave. You know that I used Diane as a babysitter for over fourteen years, and you now know that she is a child psychologist used to evaluate child placement. I will use her to get custody away from you. This will cost you a lot of money, Stephanie, and you will still lose. If you just leave, I will not enforce any limits on visitation. You're already married to Jake, so please, please, just leave and make a new life with Jake. The lawyers continued to mill over the paperwork, and seemed to be completely baffled as to what their response should be. Stephanie was in shock, and Jake was about to blow. Jake wanted to hit someone or something, but he had been the mastermind of this fiasco, and it was all blowing up in his face. Instead of making me an unwilling cuckold, he had made himself into a willing cuckold. I watched Jake as he stewed in his own juices. "Jake, we can keep this a secret, and you and Stephanie can have a 20th anniversary wedding, and take your vows anew. I will allow a divorce period of three months to pass, and Diane and I will wait to marry, so that it will appear that Stephanie and I have gone through a divorce. If nothing else, you and Stephanie have had an 'open' marriage, and I know that both of you have had partners outside of your marriage. Jake, there are too many witnesses here. If you do anything stupid it will come back to haunt you. Jake, please take Stephanie home and claim her as your wife. She is your woman, and I conceded that fact 19 years ago." One of the lawyers spoke up, "I think it would be best if we had a week to go over these papers, but I believe that Mr. Whitefield and his lawyer have prepared a very compelling case. We suggest a meeting next Friday afternoon." Jake finally bolted out the door. Stephanie turned and ran after him. Peter took the two lawyers outside and talked to them for a few minutes. They exchanged cards and left. When Peter came back in, he found us in a group hug. He simply looked on and smiled. EPILOG At our victory dinner that night, Stephanie called to tell us to pick up Shawn's stuff tomorrow morning. Shawn told me that he had enough clothes, so I told her that we would wait until Jake had left. I told Stephanie to make sure that Jake knew that he was everything to her, and that the children would come over after he was gone. She thanked me. I listened as she tried several times to start another sentence, but it was at best just random words and phrases. She ended the call with "Mark, I'm sorry." and hung up. Jake stayed in town for two days. On Monday morning, Stephanie and Jake went to the bank and pulled the safety deposit box. Jake went a little wild, and then left town. Shawn and I ended up going back to the house and patching all the holes that Jake had punched and kicked in the wall. A week later, we picked up Shawn's stuff. Jenny and Shawn still have bedrooms at Stephanie's house, and they sometimes go over. But even Stephanie had seen the pain in Jake face when he looked at the children. She knew that the only chance she had with Jake would be if she let go of her children. She also had an idea of how much evidence I would bring to the court. Stephanie simply walked away, just as I asked her to, and gave full custody to me, without getting the lawyers involved. Stephanie is still not sure if Jake will be back, but she's going to try to make her marriage work. She went into therapy, and I was asked to come in for three of the visits. She found a job at a store near the mall, and says she likes it. I showed her how to pay the first month of bills, and how to manage her trust fund. Stephanie is feeling more confident about herself, and I'm not sure Jake is going to like the woman she is about to become. She also told me that we didn't have to wait three months. Diane and I were married a month later. It was a last minute marriage, so we had a small church ceremony, with only twenty three people attending. Summer was halfway over, and Diane wanted to go on the family vacation as Mrs. Diane Whitefield. Peter was a proud father walking his daughter down the aisle. Shawn was the best man, and Jennifer was the maid of honor. On the way to our vacation in Europe, we stopped by Boston for a few days. We went to a ball game at Fenway Park. Before going to our seats, I pulled the family aside. "Shawn, this is your ticket. You're going to be on the inside. The family next to us will have a mother and a father and two young girls. They will probably switch positions so that the father will be next to you. I want you to be friendly, and on your best behavior with this man and his family. I want you to act like the two girls are your sisters, and not make a pass at them. I want you to respect the husband, and you are to not let his family know that you are related to him. Shawn, I do not want to tear his family apart, so if you don't think you can keep yourself in reserve, please tell me now." Diane went over and hugged Shawn. Shawn cried for a moment, and Diane joined in as she held him. He had never known is biological father, and was about to meet him. After a few minutes; everyone took a beep breath, wiped our eyes, and headed to our seats. All my concerns about this meeting were unfounded. It turns out that the girls started hopping up and down as soon as they saw Shawn. They each had gifts in their hands for their older half brother. After everything calmed down, Shawn excused himself and went up to the souvenir stand to get each of them a present. The mother confided in me that the affair had been a wake up call for their marriage. My intrusion and my forcefulness to fight for another man's child had made a lasting impression. She was surprised that Stephanie was not my wife, but she was happy that I had reared Shawn to be such a kind and courteous brother to his two sisters. We spent the next day with them at the zoo, before flying to Europe. We didn't make it to China in the fall. After Jennifer left for college, Diane started getting morning sickness. We'll have to plan to visit China another year. Our family is growing, and life moves on.