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A Conspiracy to Deceive

By: enovelist



Part II of the Barry and Carol story

As way of introduction, this is the sequel to "A Conspiracy to Commit..." It would be to the reader's advantage to have read that first segment of the Barry and Carol drama. "A Conspiracy to Commit..." 

That story was my first submission to Literotica and I was very pleased with the response that I received to story. Both the positive and negative comments were received and digested. Some of them actually found their way into this sequel.

This sequel will be the second section of the Barry and Carol story. It is a very long story. The reader may want to copy all of the pages and download them to a word processor. This would enable the reader to read this story as if it were a paper-back novel. Just a suggestion.

There were numerous avenues that the Barry and Carol drama could have taken. I found that the following story line stayed truer to the nature of the (my) characters. I'm sure that some of the readers would have liked a different approach to this complex story.

Also, it should be noted that even though there are sections in the story that have very explicit sex sessions, they are there to enhance the story and not necessarily be the central theme of the story. My apologies to Mother Thumb and her Four Daughters.

Chapter 1

The first meeting:

Over the phone, the day before their first joint meeting, Dr. Lee had requested that Barry not mention to Carol about the Psychotic Transfer Response syndrome. He said that if Carol were told that her fall from grace was caused by a suspected mental dysfunction, she might hide behind this illness and never accept the fact that she needed to face her indiscretions directly. 

With some hesitation, Barry agreed that he would keep silent about the PTR syndrome until Dr. Lee felt it was the right time to inform Carol of his diagnosis. 

Yet, in the back of his mind, Barry knew that if it wasn't for Dr. Lee's suspicion that Carol's fall from grace was caused by a mental dysfunction, he could never have forgiven her for her adultery. If her affair with Les had been caused by the lack of moral character or the actions of a wayward wife, Carol would have had the divorce papers in her hands already.

But for Barry, a mental illness puts a different spin on this whole sordid situation. Could he abandon her now? If she needed professional medical treatment, could he just throw her unfaithful ass out in the street? 

"In sickness and in health..." Those words spun softly around inside his head. 

Was he deeply hurt by Carol's adultery? Absolutely. 

Could he forgive her and build trust back into their marriage? Maybe. 

Barry has always been a patient person. In his previous business situations, he would gather all of the information possible before 'writing the final report'. Now he would have to take the same patient approach in his marriage crisis situation. 

He would try his best to help Carol recover in spite of the fact that Dr. Lee had told him that if she did in fact have an extreme case of PTR, there would be little chance of a full recovery for her. Barry was told that there would be a latent tendency for her psyche and personality to do another flip-flop back into the fuck-slut state if certain events triggered a relapse.

This single bit of knowledge weighed heavily on his mind. Could he survive another episode of Carol's infidelity? No, not again! Once is almost too much to bare.

Carol continues to profess her undying love for him. But that love now appears to be a two edged sword. That sword had cut him deeply once, would he get cut again by it?

* * * * * * 

Dr. Lee concluded the first joint therapy session with Barry and Carol. The ground rules for the continuing therapy sessions had been established and understood by the Knolls. 

Barry would meet with Dr. Lee on Tuesday and Thursday evenings after work. Carol would meet with Dr. Lee on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays at 10:00 in the morning. If a joint session were required, then the doctor would schedule that for Saturday mornings. 

The reason for the multiple visits each week was to expedite the discovery and then the healing process. Dr. Lee told them that he hoped that the initial phase of the treatment would take no more than a couple of months. After that, a complete evaluation of the progress would be made to determine if a second phase of the treatment would be necessary. He also suggested that Carol not return to work but instead remain at home and focus her energies on her marriage and her husband.

These therapy sessions would be very intense and intrusive. In them, the doctor would delve deeply into their sexual fantasies and desires. He told both of them that they would have to be willing to open up their souls to him in order for him to properly diagnose each of their state of mind. 

Carol would have to face the hard reality of her adultery. Even though her fall from grace was caused by a suspected mental dysfunction, Carol still had all her free will and the understanding of right and wrong. 

"I have always been free to leave this relationship with Sir and return to my role as your faithful wife. I chose to stay with Sir until he gives me permission to go home to you."

Those were her own words. Spoken to Barry as she stood in The Position in front of the video camera. She would now have to deal with the consequences of those words and that adulterous relationship.

Barry would have different challenges to come to grips with. He had been a cuckold. And for over three months, his wife held that secret from him. As soon as Barry left town on another assignment, she would resume her affair with Les. 

But now, Barry knew. He knew all about the sordid affair and his wife's willing participation in it. There was no doubt in his mind that if Les and Phil had not been arrested that Carol would still be with Les and not with him.

How damaged was Barry's ego? How damaged was his self-image as a man?

Where would Barry gather the strength to move forward with Carol and their marriage? Would that strength come from his love for her? Would it come from his belief in his marriage vows? No apparent answers to these hard questions.

"In sickness and in health..." Those words continued to spin softly around inside his head.

* * * * * * *

The car was silent, the radio was off, as Barry and Carol drove away from Dr. Lee's office and headed home. Driving through the busy streets, they sat quietly as their minds were sorting through all the statements that Dr. Lee had laid out for them in this initial session. Since neither of them had any previous experience with a psychiatrist, there was no basis for them challenging any of the proposals that Dr. Lee had set out for their future sessions with him.

Barry knew that in order for their marriage to survive in some form, there would definitely be the need for serious marriage counseling for the both of them. It was obvious that Carol's fall from grace would need to have some professional help in order for her to understand the internal forces that caused her infidelity. 

For him, there was the daunting task to rebuild his shattered male ego. There was also the agonizing feeling of being a cuckold that needed to be dealt with and put behind him. Until this marriage crisis, Barry never had any doubts about his manhood or his self image as a strong male figure. 

In all the other areas of his life, he was a complete success. His career is on a fast track to the top executive office at GeoTex. The financial portfolio he had begun five years ago was performing very well, ensuring a stable and secure future for he and Carol.

Only in his marriage and his relationship with his wife had Barry found failure. 

But, his mind was still wrestling with the concept of that failure. If, as Dr. Lee had diagnosed, Carol had become an adulterous spouse due to a medical condition call Psychotic Transfer Response, what level of failure could be assigned to him? Without prior knowledge of Carol's susceptibility to this PTR syndrome, how could he have prevented Carol's infidelity?

Barry shook his head to try and push those mitigating thoughts out of his mind. Never mind trying to reduce his guilt level, he was her husband and apparently he did not respond to the warning signs that Carol must have been sending him over the past two years. 

Carol look over at him as she could tell that he was deep in his own thoughts. She was concerned with his state of mind over this on-going crisis that she had brought into their marriage. 

"Is there something wrong, Barry?" She asked, hoping that he would share his deep thoughts with her.

Barry blinked his eyes as if to return to planet Earth. He smiled and replied. "Nah.... Nothing wrong, Carol. I was just deep in thought about the things that Dr. Lee said would be necessary for our sessions with him." A long pause "Uhh.. Are you comfortable with the things the doctor has listed for you?" There was an uncertainty in the way that Barry asked the question. As if he had some doubts about subjecting Carol to the intense interrogation sessions that the doctor outlined for her.

"Well...I'm not sure how I feel at this moment, Barry. Some of the things that Dr. Lee said would take place in my sessions with him have me very nervous." Her face grimaced as if the thoughts about those sessions were causing her some distress. 

"Do you think we should get a second opinion from another psychiatrist?" Carol was watching Barry's face as she softly answered his question and added a question of her own.

"Well.....I'm not sure if psychiatrist aren't all like new car salesmen. Each one wanting to sell you their brand of automobile. Dr. Lee comes highly recommended. In addition to being a tenured professor, he has also published several books on psychiatry." 

Barry's mind was also mulling over the fact that Dr. Lee did not want him to mention the PTR syndrome to Carol. Were there other reasons that the doctor had for wanting her to remain ignorant of her mental dysfunction? 

"My first thoughts would be to give the good doctor a trial period and see if his methods seem to work for us. If not, then we need to try another psychiatrist or marriage counselor. You agree?" 

Carol was nodding her head as she sat there wondering what her future had in store for her and her marriage.

Chapter 2

The Prefect Couple:

Back in his office, Dr. Lee was contemplating the full range of possibilities this situation had presented to him in the Knoll's marriage. For the past four years he had been trying to find a married couple whose marriage was in deep trouble due the PTR syndrome. He needed the right couple to further test and validate his PTR theories. 

Dr. Lee felt that with the proper suggestions and the right mental stimulus, he could create a situation where both the husband and wife would be ideal research subjects to finally validate his theory of Psychotic Transfer Response. 

The 'perfect couple' would be trying hard to put their marriage back together in spite of the wife's infidelity caused by the syndrome.

The husband would be trying to find a way to forgive his wife for her transgressions and make an attempt at putting their marriage back together some fashion.

The wife would be in serious guilt mode over her adultery. She would not be aware of the mental illness that was the root cause of her adultery.

To support his theory, he had written a number of scenarios of how to develop the right set of circumstances where the wife would be driven by two opposite forces. One force would be the loving support of her husband and the other force would be that of a dominant lover who would use her as a fuck-slut.

* * * * * * *

In the world of psychiatry medicine, new theories of human behavior are always received with skepticism and doubts. Even though he had spent the last fifteen years developing the research to support his theory of the PTR syndrome, there was still no universal acceptance of his theory. At most, he had gotten lukewarm acknowledgment from some of his closest colleagues. From others in the world of psychiatry medicine, all he received was negative comments or complete rejection of his theory.

Driven by his egomaniac personality, Dr. Lee was determined to prove with clinical evidence, that his theory was not only valid, but that it was possible to involve both spouses equally in the dysfunctional situation. 

In previous sessions with other wives suffering from the syndrome, he had proven that the wife was easy to manipulate and control in one direction. The direction away from fidelity. What he lacked was the evidence that the syndrome could be made to fluctuate back and forth between both mental states: Fidelity and Infidelity.

The first state, that of being a loving and devoted wife would be supported by the commitment of the husband to help his wife. The second state, that of a submissive fuck-slut, would be caused be the presence of a dominant lover drawing her away from her faithful wife status. 

Dr. Lee knew that a traumatic situation could trigger the PTR episodes in women with this latent dysfunctional trait. What he needed was a way to demonstrate that the syndrome could be further developed so that it would respond to a more normal stimuli and not require a high stress stimuli. In other words, fluctuating between the two states would become normal and routine for the wife.

His previous experiments on wives suffering from PTR, had proved that sexual stimulus of the female libido coupled with the wife's suppressed sexual desires could reduce the stress level of stimuli required to trigger an episode. These experiments were done without the involvement of the husbands. In most of the previous cases of the wife's infidelity, the husband had already divorced the adulterous mate after finding out about her extra marital affair. 

The 'perfect couple' that Dr. Lee was looking for would require that the husband knowingly offer his wife to a dominant lover who would exploit her PTR susceptibility. Then the husband would 'rescue' his wife with loving kindness, only to have the lover pull her back into his control. This constant strain on the wife's loyalties, torn between her loving husband and her dominant lover, would eventually have to resolve itself. 

The mental strain for the wife would eventually alter the syndrome, until as Dr. Lee theorized, there would be no difference for the wife in either state. The unknown risk factor involved with this experiment was that in the worst case, a failure to resolve itself, the wife might suffer a full mental breakdown.

Chapter 3

The Treatment:

During the first two weeks of the therapy sessions, Barry and Carol would sit in the den after supper, and exchange notes about their individual sessions. It was obvious to them that Dr. Lee was counseling each of them a different manner. 

For Barry, the doctor was probing the residual feelings that Barry had toward Carol and the affair that she had with her dominant lover. 

Were those feelings hateful? Were they directed at Carol or at her lover? Now that the lover was in jail, did Barry feel vindicated? Did anything about Carol's affair stir any secret desires or fantasies? 

Dr. Lee had given Barry a 'homework assignment' to write out his answers to those questions and a dozen other questions. The doctor wanted him to take time in answering the questions as best he could now that the affair was over and her lover was out of the picture.

For Carol, the doctor was very interested in her early adolescent years. His questions probed her mind and memory trying to find those clues that might have created her susceptibility to the PTR syndrome. In all his previous test, he could not find any clinical evidence to indicate that the latent dysfunction was genetic in origin. It had to be a learned trait, at least that was the doctor's latest theory. 

He gave Carol a similar 'homework assignment' but his questions were very different than those he gave to Barry. How old where you when you first became interested in boys? When was your first boy/girl contact? Who was your first real boyfriend? When did you have your first real date? 

There were about 30 questions on Carol's assignment sheet. The questions about her sex life stopped just before her affair with Les. None of the questions were directed at her adulterous affair. 

Dr. Lee collated the data he received from the questionnaires and the notes he had written during the office sessions he had with each of them. He smiled at the results the data gave him. Barry and Carol were indeed the 'perfect couple' for his theory validation experiment. Now he had to formulate a plan that would be acceptable to the Knolls and still provide enough evidence that his theory of Psychotic Transfer Response was a valid theory.

He knew that this experiment bordered on the unethical. His plan was a deceitful and manipulative practice that his profession shied away from. Yet, he was driven by his own obsession to prove his theory. If deceit was necessary to obtain that proof, then that is what he would use to lure the Knolls into his validation experiment.

Chapter 4

Another Step Forward:

During the next session with Barry, the doctor began to sow the seeds that he hoped would convince Barry that the only treatment avenue left for Carol would be to add a lover for her into their marriage.

"Barry, its been three weeks since the first session with you and Carol. There have been eight private sessions with Carol in that time frame." His voice was almost monotone as Barry could sense that the doctor was about to give him some bad news.

"During that time, Carol shared with me some of her deepest secrets and desires." ...A short pause... "First, I must tell you that I firmly believe that she deeply loves you and wants to continue as your wife." ...Another pause... "Yet, there is still this deep desire to have a dominant force in her life. Its almost like a right brain - left brain situation for her."

The doctor flipped several pages on the pad that he was holding. This was more for a distracting effect than accessing any notes on the pad. Barry shifted his body on the couch, took a deep breath and relaxed as best as he could.

"At this point in her therapy, Carol has become very tense and easily agitated. I believe the cause of this is her lack of sexual contact with you. I have given her a mild sedative to take daily for her nerves, but it is not having the desired effect of calming her anxieties." The doctor flipped several more pages slowly. "Increasing the dosage of the sedative might cause her to become addicted to the drug. I don't want to do that." 

Barry had his eyes closed, his body was relaxed and his mind was focused on the doctor's words. 

"I think that it is time for you to resolve the sexual contact issue with Carol. She desperately needs to have you as her sex partner.....or the consequences of her built up sexual needs might result in her seeking sexual satisfaction outside your marriage again." 

Barry opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling. He had denied both Carol and himself all sexual contact since that night she returned home after the arrest of her lover. The sexual tension between them had been increasing every day. Still, Barry wasn't sure how he would feel when he fucked Carol for the first time. Would the ghost of her affair still be there? Worse of all, in his mind, would he be able to perform properly? Would she respond to him with the same enthusiasm as she had with her lover? Would he be as good a lover to her as Les had been?

Chapter 5

The First Time:

Although he had made the trip from Dr. Lee's office to his house a number of times, this time the trip home seemed to have a heavy burden attached to it. Tonight would be the night to open the dam and release a flood of his pent up emotions. That thought sent a shiver up his spine. 


A Conspiracy to Deceive



As he drove closer to home, he pulled into a strip mall and went into the florist shop. He bought two dozen red roses. These roses had special significance for him. In his mind he wanted this to be the night he returned home from Boise, Idaho. These were the roses that he bought at the airport when he arrived home on that fateful night. The roses were there to help erase the past two agonizing months for him. 

Carol would be surprised when he handed the bouquet of roses to her. She would joyfully receive them as a sign of her husband's love for her. She would have no way of knowing the true significance of the roses.

Barry saw Carol's eyes light up as he handed the bouquet to her. He gave her a soft peck on her check and said. "I'm glad to be home, my dear."

Carol immediately knew that this marked a definite change in the status quo. All of her instincts told her that tonight might be the final thaw their strained relationship. 

Yet, she did not know how to proceed. As much as she wanted to rip the clothes off his body and fuck his brains out in the hallway, she was unsure of what his reaction would be toward her. She thanked him profusely for the flowers and told him that she had a special supper for him.

"I hope that it isn't a salmon and rice dish." Barry thought to himself. His memory bank flash up the words she spoke to him at the coffee shop. "It was the next Saturday that I invited him over to our house for supper. I spent all day preparing my best salmon with rice dish. It was a candle light dinner, complete with a bottle of wine. The perfect romantic evening for me."

"I cooked a prime rack of lamb that I had the butcher order it especially for me. A special meal for my very special husband." Carol was bubbling all over. She was having a very difficult time trying to restrain her emotions that were about to erupt like a volcano.

Barry smiled to himself and thanked his wife as he moved toward the bedroom to change out of his suit and tie. Carol watched him as he rounded the corner. Her heart was racing faster than ever, her body temperature seemed to spike up and her mouth became very dry. 

"If Barry doesn't fuck me tonight, I don't know what I'll do. I need him so badly. I need to be fucked so badly!" Carol thought to herself as he returned to the kitchen to finish setting the meal on the table. She lit the candles and place the wine bottle next to Barry's chair. 

"Tonight just has to be the night!" Her words were almost like an ultimatum in her mind.

The dinner was superb. Barry continually complimented her on the meal and her culinary skills. Whenever he would look at her across the table, her face seemed to radiate a special glow. Maybe it was from the candle-light, but maybe it was her inner glow shinning through. 

Leaving all the remaining food and dishes on the table, Barry took her by the hand and walked into the den where they sat down on the sofa. He pulled her close to him and gave her the first deep passionate kiss in over two months. 

That kiss was the detonator. Carol exploded. Her tongue drove wildly into his mouth and intertwined with his tongue. 

She began to unbutton his shirt, when that was too slow, she ripped his shirt open and moved her head to his chest. Her mouth engulfed his left nipple as her hand was frantically trying to unbuckle his belt. She was a wild woman intent upon fucking his brains out then and there.

Barry was surprised at Carol's frenzied actions. He lifted her away from him. "Hey...I'll take my clothes off, you do yours." 

Articles of clothing flew around the room as they both stripped naked. Then it was flesh to flesh as he held her tightly against his body. Another breath-taking kiss. Carol's hand had found his hard cock and was gently squeezing the round sausage.

Looking deep into his eyes, her voice tense with emotion, she said to him. "I need to do this so badly, my dear husband." 

Then, very slowly she went to her knees in front of him. His hard cock still being held tightly in her hand. Her lips kissed the purplish crown of his cock several times before she opened her mouth and literally swallowed his cock in one large gulp. Her eyes were now closed as she began a rapacious sucking of his cock.

As hard as he tried to push away the vision of her sucking Les' cock in that infamous video she made, the sight of her mouth wrapped around Les' cock still stood out inside his brain.. Then all of a sudden, that vision disappeared and he began to respond to the steady deep movements of her head over his cock. 

"Magnificent! Wonderful! Ohhhhh so good!" Were the words and thoughts going around in his head as Carol continued her deep throat assault on his rigid cock. She sucked his cock like a woman possessed. His cock had never felt her mouth sucking and licking it with the skill and vivaciousness that she was doing at that moment. 

Barry pushed back on her head. "Ohhh god....please stop! I want to fuck your pussy right now!" He said is a gasping voice. 

Carol looked up at him and smiled. "Not on your life, darling. I want this first load inside my mouth. I want to taste all of your sweet love juice. After that, you can fuck any hole that your hard cock desires." With a devilish smile on her face, she resumed her deep throat attack.

Her finger made soft rubbing motions against his sphincter muscle as her lips and tongue continued service his rigid cock. His balls tightened inside his sack as his body stiffen and he let out a loud primal groan.

"Uuuuggghhhhhh.....mygod....oohhhhhhh....mygod....." Barry's emotional release was overwhelming. Like nothing he had ever experienced before in his entire life. It seemed that his whole body was lit up with a thousand of watts of electricity. Every muscle and every nerve seemed to crackle with energy.

Carol's mouth filled instantly with the first wave of semen to spurt from his throbbing cock. His sperm reservoir was filled to the brim. Absence of any previous sexual release had created a surplus of thick semen which now found release inside Carol's mouth. Guttural sounds were escaping from her throat at the same time Barry's semen was sliding down inside that throat. A total sense of relief washed over Carol as her mind was totally focused on swallowing every drop of Barry's seed.

Leaning back on the sofa with his eyes closed, Barry's mind was blasting somewhere in the stratosphere of sexual bliss. His first complete orgasm in over two months, was by far the most satisfying release he had ever experienced. The release of all his pent up tensions in this one glorious act of spurting into her mouth had almost sated him. His breath was deep and heavy as Carol moved her head back from his cock and rose to her feet. She slide her body next to his and began to gently rub his bare chest.

"I can't ever recall you cumming that much inside my mouth before, darling. It was just marvelous. I wanted and needed that so badly. Thank you, my sweet darling." She whispered in his ear as her hand now moved down to his softened cock. "Let's go into the bedroom and I'll work on getting you hard enough to fuck my pussy the way that you want." Her voice was soft and gushing with sex. The warm sensations from her breath against his ear was enough to start arousing him once again.

Quickly, Carol jumped up from the sofa and hurriedly pulled him to his feet. Without waiting for a response, she took him by the hand and headed down the hall toward the bedrooms. Carol started to turn into the guest bedroom where Barry had been sleeping. 

"No, not in there. I think its time I confronted my demons in our bedroom together." Barry pulled on her arm and turned toward the master bedroom.

She smiled as they walked into the master bedroom. Barry took a very deep breath as a tightness gripped his chest. She had told him that she and her lover had many wicked sexual sessions on the bed that lay there in front of him. Their soiled marital bed. Soiled with her infidelity. Barry shook those nasty thoughts from his mind as Carol moved her naked body to the middle of the bed.

Smiling up at him, and with a wickedness in her voice she asked him, "Do you want me on my back or doggy style?" She moved her legs wide apart exposing her entire crotch for his viewing pleasure. Her arms were outstretched toward him, inviting him to take her, to ravage her entire body. 

There was nothing but lust for this inviting female on his mind. All he could see was the woman he loved and married lying there urging him to come and make love to her. All other thoughts were pushed far back inside his mind as he moved on to the bed and straddled himself over her naked body. 

Her arms went up around the back of his neck and pulled him down on top of her. There was love and lust combined in her eyes as she looked up at his taunt face. Their lips meshed together as she felt his hard cock pressing against her wet pussy. Her hand immediately went down, grasping his hardening cock, she placed it against waiting pussy. 

Almost in a simultaneous motion, her hips thrust upwards as he rammed his cock deep inside her body. Both of them let out a loud deep groan as Barry's cock bottomed out inside her. Her legs moved up and over his hips. They crossed over his back, locking his body tightly against hers. 

This was the moment that Carol had waited for ever since she came home. She had a hard cock deeply embedded inside her womb. For her, the sensation of once again being filled with a throbbing male cock was creating a wild fire inside her. Her vaginal muscles clamped hard around his cock as she rotated her hips slowly to increase the sensation of his cock inside her.

"Ohhhhh god, Barry you feel so good inside me.....uuuggghhhhhhh.....fuck me....fuck me hard......oooooohhhhhh gooodddddd....." Her head was thrashing back and forth as her whole body was about to erupt in her first full orgasm. 

Barry's mind was still out in the sexual stratosphere somewhere, as he felt all these new movements and sensations coming from Carol's hot body. This was a very intense coupling. This was the most intense fucking he had ever had with her. It seemed as if their bodies were fused together and the fire and energy created by the union flowed freely between their bodies. He could feel his cock being squeezed by her hot pussy, an entirely new sensation for him. 

With her legs holding him tightly against her, Barry was only able to move back a short distance. His cock, deeply embedded inside her, could move only a few inches back before he would ram it back to the hilt. Even moving that small distance, Barry's cock felt that it was being squeezed tightly in the jaws of a vise.

Carol's massive orgasm was announced with a very loud primal scream that seemed to rattle the windows. "Uggggghhhhhhh.....ohmygod....... oooooohhhhhh gooodddddd....." Her body arched up off the bed as a total muscle spasm gripped her body. It seemed to freeze in that raised position as the tremors of her orgasm raced from her womb to her brain. 

She seemed to struggle to catch her breath with her mouth wide open. Her breast seemed to be on fire and her nipples hard and pronounced. Carol's mind was exploding with bright lights, flashes of color and jolts of electricity. She had found Nirvana. 

At the same time, Barry's body responded to Carol's scream and tensing of her body. For an instant, he thought that he had injured her. Then he realized that it was her orgasm release that cause her scream and body reaction. He stopped his hip movement with his cock still buried deep inside. This was her moment, he wanted her to feel the complete ecstasy of her climax.

"Ohhhhh...my god Barry..." She finally caught her breath and whispered to him. "That was absolutely fabulous. You are a fantastic lover. I love you so much......"

Her legs relaxed and she moved them off of his back and down on the bed beside her body. It was almost as if this were a signal for him to start a hard pounding of her pussy. No longer restricted by her leg lock, he moved his hips backwards till only the tip of his cock remained inside her pussy. Letting out a loud grunt, he thrust his hips forward with all his might and slammed his pelvis bone hard against her crotch. She let out a yelp of pain as their two bodies collided. Then she opened her eyes. Looking directly into his, she smiled and said to him. 

"Yes, lover. That's what I want! Fuck me hard! As hard as you can! Make me sore, make me very sore...." Her voice had a quality to it that he had never heard before. It was a voice of a woman surrendering her body for his total pleasure.

Arching his head backwards, Barry began an all out assault on her pussy. The bedroom was filled with grunting sounds, slapping flesh and the pounding of the headboard against the wall. It was complete abandonment for the two of them. This wasn't making love. This was purely animalistic rutting. 

It took Barry several more minutes before he cried out a loud groan and spurted his semen deep into her womb. His body tensed up as the stream of fluid flowed into her. It was the second time in less than an hour that he had reached full climax.

"Ohhhh yes, Barry! Fill me up with your cum! I need you to cum inside me!" Carol responded to his climax by returning her legs around his body and pulling him tighter against her groin.

He leaned over and kissed her open mouth. The kiss was a tender satisfying kiss. He was kissing her as he had always done before when they lay together enjoying the afterglow of sex. Somehow that kiss was very familiar to him, but the fuck session he had just completed with her was far from familiar.

Carol spooned her body tightly against Barry as he lay on his back looking up at the ceiling. All of his fears about being able to perform as a complete sex partner were now erased. He felt no revulsion toward her. There was no cuckold feeling surrounding their sex session. She had given herself completely to him and he had accepted her without any reservations.

"I'll be here all night for you, my dearest husband." She whispered softly in his ear. 

It was just after two a.m. in the morning when Barry rolled over and pressed his hard cock into Carol's pussy. Her eyes opened as she felt his cock find the deep crevice inside her body. Her arms went up and around the back of his neck as they gently kissed.

"Welcome back, lover. I've been waiting for you." Carol cooed in his ear as once again her hips began to rotate as he pushed back and forth inside her. For both of them, this was a re-awakening of all the emotions that they had previously enjoyed with each other. The gentleness of a early morning fuck session. 

Last night, it was pure raw passion. Primal lust in all its passionate glory. Now it was love making. The soft tender mating of two bodies in love with each other.

Chapter 6

An Ugly Fact of Life:

In their subsequent therapy sessions with Dr. Lee, both of them recounted the fabulous sex sessions they had that night when Barry finally moved back into the master bedroom. 

The doctor made copious amounts of notes. He was very interested in documenting their feeling and responses to the two different sex sessions. The first hard session where both of them ravaged each other and then the soft gentle mating that occurred the second time. He knew that within the wide range of passion produced in these two sex sessions was the key to Carol's susceptibility to the PTH syndrome.

He felt that deep in her subconscious mind, the first session was a continuation of the hard fucking that she had with her dominant lover. The second session was a return to the loving wife sharing herself with her husband as they had done past. 

Just how to move the two of them further into his validation experiment was not totally clear to Dr. Lee. But, this was a very good first step.

He encouraged them to continue to be intimate with each other and for them not to be afraid to experiment with whatever sexual desires they might have. Carol just meekly agreed with the doctor's recommendation. Inside her mind she knew that she would not need any encouragement.

Barry on the other hand, was completely open with the doctor. He told him just how ravenous Carol really was in their first sex session. He could hardly believe that the woman in bed with him was his wife.

"Just to be perfectly clear, Jack. I am not complaining. Not one bit. That first woman I fucked was a tigress. I have never had orgasms of that intensity in all my life." Then he paused and with a devilish smile on his face he said. "And I would appreciate it, Jack, if you did not cure of her these new sex traits." They both chuckled a bit.

"I don't think that I am capable of curing her of her new found libido, Barry." Dr. Lee said as he took a deep breath. "But, you need to remember where these new sex traits originated. They were not part of your early marriage. As painful as it might be, you need to understand that these new sex traits are a learned behavior. And, you were not her teacher."

A knot twisted inside Barry's stomach as Dr. Lee's words smacked against his brain. Ugly flashes of obscene pictures with Carol and Les having lewd sex popped up in his mind as the words, "And, you were not her teacher." burned like a branding iron on his psyche.

"This may help you get over the fact that she has become a much better sex partner by being with another man. Try to think of that man teaching her those new traits prior to your marriage. I know it will be telling yourself a lie, but it might be the easiest way to get around the idea that she went to sex school with another partner during your marriage." 

There was a long silence in the office as the two men just sat there. Dr. Lee knew that this was dangerous territory to cross. It was filled with quicksand in the form of revenge and punishment. He needed to have Barry steer clear of those pit-falls. He needed to slowly bring Barry to the next level of acceptance. 

"I may not be able to cure her of these new sex traits, Barry. But, I do think that I can help you heal the wounds caused by her unfaithfulness. Maybe you will be able to resolve in your own mind that some good may come out of this ugly situation." Dr. Lee paused to see if Barry had any other comments. There were none.

"Please....don't let any of your demons interrupt this reconstructing business you and Carol have started on. Enjoy each other. Remember that she truly loves you. She is now penitent and awaiting your forgiveness." 

Chapter 7

Another night of passion:

The session ended. The drive back home for Barry was a sobering drive. His demons were still struggling to gain command in his mind. They were screaming out loud for revenge and punishment. A weaker man might have given in to those vengeful voices, but Barry still had not reached the point of no return in his marriage.

Carol rushed over to greet him as he walked into the door. She flew into his arms and gave him a sloppy wet open mouth kiss. "Oh god, Barry, I missed you so much today!" The lust was burning in her eyes as looked at her husband's face. 

"Do you want to eat first or go to the bedroom now?" The word bedroom was emphasized in her question. Her arms were still around his neck.

"Will I have enough energy left to eat if we go into the bedroom first?" He asked with a shit-eating grin on his face.

"I hope not, dear husband. But, if you don't, I will spoon feed you." She replied as she took his hand and lead him back to the master bedroom.

Their sex session was very intense. After her first orgasm, she rolled over and offered her asshole for him to fuck. Bent over in the doggy position, she reached back with both hands and spread her ass cheeks wide open. Her puckered rose bud stared back at him like a strange one-eyed alien.




A Conspiracy to Deceive



"Fuck my asshole, dear lover. Oh god...I want you to fuck me there. Drive your hard cock as deep as you can into my bowels." Her words had a pleading tone to them as she wiggled her buttocks in a suggestive manner.

Barry took two of his fingers, inserted them into her dripping wet pussy, lubricated them with her juices and then slowly pushed them into her anal canal. He repeated this action several times till he felt her asshole was lubed and opened for his cock. 

Finally, he pushed his hard cock into her pussy to coat it with her juices, then he pulled back and pressed it hard against her sphincter muscle. The resistance was minimal as he slid the total length of his cock into her tight anal canal. Carol groaned loudly and pushed her hips backwards forcing his entire cock into her asshole.

Barry started out slowly at first, but Carol was screaming out for him to pound her ass as hard as he could. The sounds of flesh slapping against flesh grew louder and quicker as Barry did not need any further encouragement from his wife. His climax came quickly as her anal muscles gripped around his cock trying to milk his sperm into her gut.

They showered together. Each washing the other's body completely. There were kisses, hugs and sweet words that lovers say to each other.

Carol had prepared another fabulous supper for them. Barry was starved. It had been over eight hours since he had anything to eat. His body was crying out for nourishment. It pleased Carol to watch her husband enjoy a meal that she had prepared especially for him. 

In the back of her mind were the memories of the cutting remarks that Les made about her cooking. He would rather have pizza or Chinese take out food then to eat a meal that she carefully prepared for him.

All he really wanted from her was the use of her body. Her entire body. During the day, he would have her watch porn videos so that she could learn better techniques of cocksucking and different positions for fucking. For her, it was advanced degree training on how to satisfy her master with her body. 

Yet, as bad as some of it seemed in her mind, she still remembered all the mind blowing sex sessions she had alone with Les. And then, there were the threesome sessions with Les and Phil together. She learned that being fucked by two men at the same time was a fantastic sex trip for her.

Her mind snapped back to the present as she offered her husband another cut from the pork roast. These were the now good times for her. The loving times. So why was there a dull ache still inside her mind? Why were the memories of her illicit sex sessions so arousing for her?

Chapter 8

Barry's Torment:

It was eleven thirty, the house was dark and the two of them lay in bed. Barry was completely exhausted from the hour long sex session they just had. He lay there, his eyes half close looking up at the ceiling. He was a sated but happy man. His mind was wandering, no real thoughts in particular to concentrate on.

Then out of the back of his mind a small voice called out. "Thank you, Les."

His eyes flashed open as he sucked in a deep breath. 

"Where the fuck did that come from? Thank that asshole bastard who screwed my wife?! No fucking way!!" Barry thought to himself as small beads of sweat formed on his forehead.

Carol was laying next to him, her body curved to fit against his, in a sound peaceful sleep. She was unaware of the psychic overload that Barry had just experienced in his head. 

Barry could not make any sense out of that tiny voice's suggestion. "Where the fuck did that come from. Why is it even there to begin with?"

Maybe it was Jack's comment about Carol's new sex traits being taught to her by her lover. Was that it? He knew that he was totally enjoying this 'new' woman who lay next to him. She was now a total sexual being, from the top of her head to the bottom of her feet. Totally sexually orientated.

Too exhausted to pursue those thoughts any further, Barry fell asleep. "I'll have to discuss this with Jack next session." Was the last thought that crossed his mind.

Chapter 9

Barry's promotion:

Barry's work days were filled with the pending litigation against the Dassis corporation for their subversive plan to take over GeoTex. He and Mr. Chase seemed to be in one continuous meeting with lawyers from both companies. During these meetings Steven Chase became very impressed with Barry's business acumen. Barry would cut through all the legal bullshit and get to the heart of the issue quickly.

Frank Brower had been fired from the Board of Directors of Dassis Corp. and was awaiting trial on fraud and securities violations. Phil Bogan was fired from GeoTex and was also awaiting trial for industrial espionage and several IRS irregularities. Phil had also received divorce papers from his trophy, socialite wife. 

What happened to those two assholes no longer concerned Barry. His focus was now on wringing the best settlement he could from the Dassis Corp. Neither company wanted the negative publicity that an open trial would bring. The BoD of Dassis were pressing for a out-of-court settlement. 

Barry drafted a settlement that he thought would be very beneficial to GeoTex. Steven Chase thought that the terms were too severe and that the Dassis BoD would out right reject it. Barry thought differently.

Even over the objections of their own legal staff, the BoD of Dassis quickly accepted the terms of the settlement. They were happy to put the ugly mess to bed without causing financial ruin to Dassis.

Barry came away from the entire situation as the number one hero. During the next GeoTex Board meeting, Barry was promoted to Executive Vice President. He was now next in command to Steven Chase. It was also understood that Barry would be elected President and CEO upon Steven's retirement.

If ever a life were filled with extremes, it was Barry's life. 

He was one step away from the top executive spot with a Fortune 500 company. Along with his promotion came a doubling of his salary and a large stock option grant. Fame and fortune was his at one end of the life spectrum.

The other end of the life spectrum was the still unresolved status of his marriage. He and Carol had resumed a very active sex life. She doted over him and treated him like a king. 

Yet, the dark cloud that remained was the issue of the PTR syndrome that Jack continued to remind him was still present in Carol's subconscious mind.

Chapter 10

The Book - Alternative Lifestyles:

Jack was now subtlety hinting that Barry might start considering how to address Carol's mental state. At the end of one of his evening sessions, Jack handed Barry a copy of a book entitled "Alternative Lifestyles in a Modern World." 

"I want you to read the several sections of this book that I have tabbed. They deal with alternative marriage lifestyles. You might need to get some insight about other possibilities for your marriage." Dr. Lee told Barry in a strong voice.

"Whoa....Jack!! I don't think I need to know anything about alternative marriages! If my marriage is going to move forward, its going to be a monogamous marriage." Barry fired back at him even though he held the book in his hand.

"Slow down, Barry. You and Carol are approaching a crossroads in your relationship. These therapy sessions have brought both of you a long way to repairing the bond that once bound your marriage together. But that bond is very fragile." The tenor of his voice had changed to that of a professor lecturing in front of his class. 

"There might be something to be learned inside the pages of that book if you approach it with an open mind. People and situations are changing constantly. Things that might have worked in the past, don't necessarily work in today's environment." He paused and watched Barry's facial expressions. It was hard and with a blank expression.

"Think about this in the same way you think of your business assignments. Gather all the facts before you dismiss any of them. In a lot of ways, your marital crisis is the same as a crisis at one of GeoTex's operations. Although in this case, you will need to ratchet back the personal and emotional feeling you have in order to resolve this crisis."

The drive home from these therapy sessions were becoming more and more intense for Barry. What he thought at first would be comforting and refreshing sessions had become just the opposite for him. His mind was filled with all types of different and opposing thoughts about his marriage to Carol.

Those nagging demons were still there. They would rise up from the deep dungeons of his mind and remind him that the easy way out was just to divorce Carol and throw her unfaithful ass out on the street. There was some real merit in doing that, Barry thought to himself. "I would be free of all this internal turmoil that keeps building and building inside me." 

But.....Barry was never a quitter. It seemed the harder the challenge, the more he needed to solve it. The easy way out was never really an option for Barry.

The weekend was here and Barry needed some peace and quiet. His week at the office had been full throttle from Monday through Friday. The negotiations with Dassis Corp. were now history. Barry's new position required his involvement in all aspects of GeoTex business ventures. He was looking forward to an uninterrupted weekend at home with his sexy wife.

Carol had gone off to spend her morning at the day-spa. Being his lovely and sexy wife was the main focus of Carol's activities. In her mind, she needed to remain the most desirable and sexy woman in her husband's life. 

After she drove off for her ten o'clock appointment, Barry went out to the patio to relax. In his hand was the book...."Alternative Lifestyles in a Modern World". He wasn't sure why he should read the book, an alternative lifestyle marriage was not something that he wanted to think about let alone something to consider. 

But, he knew that Jack would ask him questions about the subject matter during their next session. "I'll just read a couple of chapters to keep him off my back." Barry thought to himself as he settled down on the lounge chair. Flipping the book open, he went to the first tabbed section.

"Chapter 22 - Polyamory" 

"What the hell is that?" Barry thought to himself. He began to read.

"Polyamory is an acknowledgment of the simple fact that the relationships between consenting adults is multi-faceted. Poly means more than one, amory means loving. Multi-partner loving relationships."

Reading those words sent a shiver up his back as he continued read the chapter. His mind was now in full analytical mode as he read each line and each explanation of this alternative marriage lifestyle. He had always known that in some countries and cultures, multi-partner marriages were common. Even today in Utah, there are splinter groups of Mormons who still practiced polygyny.

To his amazement, the book was describing a much wider practiced form of polyamory as a modern marriage concept. His interest peaked the more he read and the more he began understood what the concept was all about. At times, he would shake his head as he read page after page. He had completed chapters 22, 23 and 24 before he realized what time it was. It was almost two o'clock and Carol would be coming home any minute. 

Barry got up from the lounge and walked inside. He opened his briefcase and slid the book inside. Maybe he'd have a chance to read more of it on Monday. If not it would be a prime topic of discussion with Jack on Tuesday evening. 

Then he went into the den, poured himself a drink and sat down. His mind was still replaying all of the words he had read in that book. He still hadn't formed any hard opinion about the subject. More facts, more information would be required before he came to any conclusion about polyamory.

Chapter11

The Dom/sub session:

The garage door went up and in another minute, Carol walked into the den where Barry had settled into his recliner waiting for her. She stopped in the entrance to the den and gave Barry a wicked smile and said. "Well....... my dear husband, what do you think? Was the three hundred dollars and four hours of pampering worth it?" 

Barry had two immediate reactions to seeing this beautiful and sexy woman standing in the doorway. The first reaction was his eyes bulging in their sockets. The second reaction was a instantaneous hard bulge in the crotch of his pants. His mouth dropped open but no words came out.

"Cat got your tongue?" She asked as she started to walk toward him like a fashion model walking down the runway. "That bulge in your pants seems to be a good answer to my question, lover." 

Carol was in perfect form now. Every pore of her body oozed sex. There was the unmistaken aura of a woman on the prowl. She had her prey in her sights and she slowly moved in for the kill.

Carol slid down on his lap and in one continuous motion, put her hands behind his head and her lips pressed against his open mouth. The kiss was more than just two pair of lips mating. It was as if immense forces were drawn together like two strong magnets. There was much more meaning in the touching, the breathing and the wetness of their lips. 

Barry could sense that there was a different person sitting on his lap. That person was occupying his wife's beautiful body, but that person was a total sexual being. Her hands moved slowly through his hair as she pressed her breast against his chest. Even with her clothes still on her could feel her hard nipples pressing against him. 

"Do you want me, lover? Do you want to do dirty and nasty things to me?" She whispered softly in his ear. "My body needs to be taken by you, lover. It wants to be controlled by you and made to do all sorts of nasty things."

Barry's hands were gently caressing her breast and her body as soft moans accompanied the rising heat inside her body. She remained sitting on his lap, each of them groping and kissing the other. Then, as if to bring the foreplay to an end, Carol got up from his lap and walked back to the door way where she had set down several packages. She picked up a large box and walked back over to Barry. She handed it to him with a devilish smile on her face.

"For you, my love. An expression of my total commitment to you." The words 'total commitment' came out of her mouth coated with sexual innuendo.

Barry looked at her and smiled as he opened the box. He head went back suddenly as soon as his eyes saw the contents of the box. It was full of black leather items, most of them studded with silver spikes or dangling rings. 

There was a surprised expression on his face as he looked up at her. "Just what am I supposed to do with these?" He asked as he reached in the box and pulled out a studded leather neck collar.

"Most of those items are for me to wear, my darling husband. The leash and leather whip are for you to use whenever you feel so inclined." Her eyes locked on to his as she slowly went to her knees. 

"Let me show you." She said as she took the leather neck collar from his hand. As if in slow motion, her hands moved the collar to her neck and fastened the ends together. She reached into the box and removed two other smaller items. Without a word spoken, she reached down and fastened a black leather strap around each ankle. Then she removed the last two leather straps from the box and fastened one around each of her wrist. 

Rising slowly to her feet in front of her husband, she smiled softly and asked. "Shall I strip for you, master, or do you wish to undress me?" Her voice had changed. Those words were spoken not by his wife, but by this sensuous submissive female who had come into his home for his private pleasure.

Instantly, Barry's mind focused on the one word that she had never called him before. Master! His mind grabbed on to that word with such force that he did not hear the question she asked him. Was this a sex game she wanted them to play? Or was she really wanting him to take the place of her dominant lover?

"Shall I strip for you, master, or do you wish to undress me?" She asked him again as his mind snapped back to hear her words.

"Strip for me, fuck-slut!" He replied, shocked at that nasty name he just called her.

Instead of being offended, Carol's face lit up and she gave him a wide smile as her wrist-cuffed hands began a slow unbuttoning of her blouse. 

The blouse was dropped to the floor beside her. 

The sound of a zipper broke the silence in the room as Carol removed her skirt and let it fall to the floor around her feet. She stepped out of it and immediately placed her hands behind her head.

With only her bra and panties on, she assumed The Position for his visual inspection.

"My god is she ever beautiful!" Barry thought to himself as he rotated his index finger, signaling her to turn around so he could see all of her scantly clad body. 

Carol's mind flashed back to the many times that Les had commanded her to display her body is this fashion for his pleasure. She even remembered the times that Jim, no that's not right, Phil had inspected her prior to her sex sessions with him. 

Now she was feeling that same exhilaration. The man in the chair was not her loving husband, he was her demanding master. A very warm wave of emotion washed over her mind as she completed her circle.

"The bra and panties." Barry said in a more commanding voice. He was beginning to enjoy this role playing. It was role playing, wasn't it?

In the very rehearsed manner that her lover taught her, Carol reached back, pushed her chest forward then unfastened her lacy bra. It was not done in one sweeping motion. Rather, it was a slow sensuous removal of each cup that held her perfectly formed breast. Almost like an exotic dancer on stage, the bra came away from her body and was dropped on to the floor. 

Her crimson colored panties were next. With her eyes locked on his, she slowly pulled at the elastic band and slid the silken panties down her legs. 

Now, completely naked, just as in the video, she moved back into The Position for his inspection. He had her stand still for several minutes as his eyes scanned every inch of her frontal body. Again, he rotated his index finger and Carol began her slow rotation while his eyes remained fixed on her naked body.

There was pain and discomfort as his cock continued to harden inside the confines of his pants. Still, he did not removed his focus from her stunning statuesque form that was being presented to him. If ever there were a living model to pose for the Venus De Milo statue, it was Carol and it was now.

As she completed her turn-around, Barry jumped to his feet and began to quickly undress himself. His fingers and hands could hardly move fast enough to unfasten the buttons and zipper. Stepping out of his pants, he move toward her and gather her hot body into his arms. Two naked bodies bound up almost like a single entity. Lips mashing together as their passion ignited a wild fire inside their bodies.

"My god, Carol. You are so beautiful. I do love you deeply." Barry said as he realized the depth of affection that he had for this woman in his arms. 

But, gone was any idea of 'making love'. What happened in the bedroom was pure animalistic lust. It was as if they wanted to crawl inside each other's skin. As if their intense orgasms would be more complete if only they could be sucked inside the other one's body.

Nothing was off limits. Barry ravaged his wife's body. He used her body every way imaginable. Instead of crying or pleading with him to stop, Carol was shouting encouragements to him. Shouting for him to fuck her harder, shouting for him to suck her nipples off of her breast, shouting loudly to be dominated by the man in bed with her.

Even though he never used the whip on her or bound her body to the bed, this was the most domineering sex session he had ever had with his wife. He was fully in charge of the session. He wanted something from her, she gave it to him willingly and enthusiastically. 




A Conspiracy to Deceive



Four hours later, they both lay totally exhausted beside each other. Drained of all their energy, they lay there silently basking in the fabulous after-glow of this intense sex session. Both of them were already thinking about their next Dom/sub sex session. 

Chapter 12

The Book Discussion:

Barry settled back on the analyst couch. It was his normal Tuesday evening therapy session with Dr. Jack Lee. Thinking back, Barry realized that this was the fourth Tuesday session he had, a whole month had passed since the Carol came back home. 

These evening therapy sessions along with the 'homework' that Jack had given Barry, were having a positive effect on Barry's damaged ego. His relationship with Carol had improved immensely. The truth be known, their sex life had never been as intense and satisfying for both of them as in these past several weeks.

Yet, there was that nagging idea about polyamory that Jack wanted Barry to read about in those ear-marked pages. That goddamn idea about pluralistic marriages.

"Is there anything you want to discuss with me tonight, Barry?" The doctor began as he sat down in his large chair.

"Yeah...damn it! I want to talk about that book you gave me on Thursday to read." Barry was agitated as he began talking. "What the fuck were you trying to get across with that polyamory shit!?" 

Jack just smiled and shook his head from side to side. "Did reading that book hit a nerve for you, Barry?" His voice was almost a laugh. "Was there something in understanding the concept of a multiple partner marriage that bothered you?"

"Damn right it bothered me! I've lying on this couch for the past four weeks trying to piece together my damaged monogamous marriage, and now you give me all this shit about multiple partner relationships." Barry's voice was raised a couple of octaves. "Are you just trying to fuck with my mind or do you think I want to have two wives to worry about?"

"Actually, Barry, I just was trying to increase you knowledge base about marital relationships. I certainly am not trying to mess with your head. Just the opposite, I'm trying to give you the opportunity to stand back and look at your marriage from a different prospective." Jack took a sip of water as the room became very quiet. He waited for Barry to respond.

"So....you think that multiple partner marriages are a good thing, Jack?" Barry asked as he focused his eyes on a dark spot on the ceiling. "Do you think that I need a multiple partner marriage?"

"Do you really care what I think, Barry?" He chuckled and smiled. "You're a smart intelligent male. You solve difficult problems everyday. I would think that you, especially you, would want to consider all the factors in solving your marital crisis."

"Yeah...sure as shit! I'm not sure I can solve this marital problem with just the one woman involved, let alone add another female to the mix.!" Sarcasm coated words as Barry shifted on the couch.

"Who said anything about two females?" Jack asked in a calm monotone.

"Ohhh....yeah....I get it now! You want me to get Les out of jail so he can come back and start banging my wife again! Damn, Jack that's really a fucked up idea if I ever heard one." Barry was really getting pissed now.

"Whoa.....there hot shot! Don't accuse me of saying things that I never said." Jack barked back at him. This sudden loud response made Barry's head jerk upwards. 

"If you comprehended anything in those chapters on polyamory, you would know that it is a relationship in which everyone involved knows about, and agrees to, everyone else's involvement."

The doctor could sense that the topic was beginning to get Barry angry and upset, so he shifted topics. "Tell me more about the Dom/sub sex session that you and Carol had the other night. The night she called you 'master' for the first time." 

Barry closed his eyes, took a deep breath and focused his inner eye on the images that his mind was projecting. Her beautiful image was sharp and clear in his mind's eye. She stood before him completely naked except for the black collar around her neck and the four straps around her wrist and ankles.

With very carefully chosen words, he began his account of that fabulous evening of unbridled sex with a willing submissive female, his wife. He told Jack of the euphoric rush that swept over him as Carol went to her knees and then bent down kissing his feet. That act alone made him feel like a man-god. He let her lick and kiss his feet for several minutes before her shouted at her. "Suck your master's cock, fuck-slut!" 

Jack sat silently in his chair as Barry gave a detailed account of this epicurean encounter with his submissive wife. This episode of Dom/sub was the event that Jack wanted to use in a subliminal fashion to make Barry more receptive to the idea that Carol would benefit directly by having a dominant lover enter her life again. 

Also, he want this episode to establish the fact that her having a lover would indirectly benefit Barry and his sex life. Because of his wife's affair, she was now a much better sex partner for him. And because of her, he was a much better sex partner.

Jack had a strong feeling that his deceptive plan to develop the perfect couple was about to become reality. He could sense that Barry's mind was frantically searching for an acceptable answer to Carol's 'split personality' and its effect on rebuilding their marriage. If Jack were patient just a little longer, he felt that Barry would come to the right conclusion without further prompting on his part.

That fact was quite obvious to Jack, listening and watching Barry narrate the intense sex session that he and Carol had that night. Barry told him that being in the Dom position with his submissive wife was a total turn-on for him. He even said that he couldn't wait till the next time Carol wanted to be in the sub role again.

The session was just about over, Jack finished quizzing Barry on his current state of mind about Carol's sexual behavior. Barry confessed that sex was now the best part of their marriage. Both he and his wife seemed to be in a constant state of sexual arousal whenever they were together.

Jack was showing Barry out of the office when he stopped by the door and gave Barry one last comment. "Remember Barry, what I told you in the previous session. You were not her teacher." He smiled and they shook hands as Barry left the office. As always, the drive back home was one filled with deep thoughts about all the things that were said in the therapy session. 

One of the personal traits that Barry prided himself on, was his ability to sift through a lot of complicated data and come to a rational decision. This current marital situation would seem to be less complicated than most of his business problems. As such, the answer should be very straight forward. But it wasn't. It wasn't like numbers on a balance sheet or a cost/benefit ratio that he could calculate and then reach a logical answer.

"Goddamn it!!!" He shouted out loud in a frustrated voice as he drove into his drive way.

Even though he was in a sour mood after his session with Dr. Lee, Carol waiting at home to help him out of the blue funk. It was as if she could read his moods and desires more clearly now. She was a different wife since her affair ended over a month ago. 

A few days ago, he had imagined that her transformation was somewhat a kin to the story of the "Stepford Wives". The story of a wife totally committed to her husband's happiness was similar to what he saw in the "new" Carol.

Their sex that night was another gentle all consuming "love making" session that satisfied both of them. Carol spooned her body next to his as she drifted off into a pleasant dream state. Barry wasn't as fortunate. His mind was still churning over the ideas that Jack had planted in his mind. A restless sleep was all that Barry got that night.

The next evening when he arrived home, Carol was waiting at the door as usual and gave him a lover's welcome as he walked into the house. This intimate greeting was something that Barry was getting very fond of every evening when he came home. 

Beyond any doubt, their marriage was stronger and more loving than any time in the past four years. As much as he didn't want to acknowledge it, the one fact that was very clear ... it was Carol's affair which was directly responsible for this improvement in their relationship.

Only one real 'ghost' remained. The latent tendency for her to have PTH relapses. It was evident to Barry that Carol still needed to be dominated at times in order for her to feel like a complete woman. 

Barry relished the Dom role he played the other evening with her as the submissive. But still, he felt uneasy afterwards. There seem to be a clash of personalities going on in his brain. He never felt guilty about the intense 'love making' sessions, but there was a guilty twang of conscience after the Dom/sub session with her.

Chapter 13

Carol's Photo Session:

After dinner, they sat in the den. Soft music played in the background as Barry started discussing his recent therapy sessions with Dr. Lee. Carol seemed hesitant about going into much detail about the session she had in the morning. Barry sensed that there was something he needed to know about the session, so he began to question her.

Finally, Carol started to open up to him. She told him that for the past several sessions, Dr. Lee had her undress, but in those sessions she had kept her bra and panties on. During those sessions he would ask her general questions about current state of their sex life. 

She would find herself fondling and rubbing herself as she lay on the analyst couch with her eyes closed answering his questions. When she left those therapy sessions, she was fully aroused. That was the main reason she was so anxious to have sex with her husband as soon as he walked in the door after work.

But lately, the good doctor seemed more interested in her thoughts about how her husband was responding to her newly sexuality. Her response confirmed the answers that Dr. Lee had gotten from Barry during his sessions. Their sex life had made a quantum leap in both intensity and gratification for the both of them.

Then she stopped talking, as if the next words that would come out of her mouth would be better left unspoken. Barry prodded her to continue. She sucked in a deep breath and said.

"Today, the doctor had me strip completely. I remember that the room was very warm. He started with questions about the Dom/sub session we had last week. These direct questions got me very aroused as I thought about each answer I gave him." Another long deep breath as Carol looked at Barry. Her body trembled slightly as she continued.

"Then he told me to get up off the couch and assume The Position. I was shocked, but he told me to take my time and to focus on the video camera that was set up on a tripod. I assumed The Position just as Les had taught me. I stared at the little red light on the camera."

Carol looked at Barry to see what his reactions might be. To her, the things the doctor had her do during that session had made her feel dirty and guilty. She didn't want Barry to think that she was being unfaithful again.

Barry just nodded slightly as a signal for her to continue her dialogue.

"He asked me a number of other questions about the circumstances of making that video that you saw. I told him all I could remember about that night and the way Les had me rehearse for the video." Barry could tell that her words were very strained as she spoke. 

"Then the doctor's voice changed drastically. He started shouting at me, calling me a worthless slut and other nasty names. As I stood frozen in The Position, he brought out several 8x10 glossy photos. They were individual photos taken from the video. One was a photo of me standing in The Position. Another was me going to my knees. I was on my knees crawling toward Les in a third photo. The last photo showed my full face with Les' cock inside my mouth." Tears were beginning to form in Carol's eyes. Barry sat there in silence. He knew what the doctor was trying to do with Carol's mind.

"While he was still shouting nasty names at me, he flashed the four photos rapidly in front of my face. After several minutes, he shouted at me. 'You want to suck his cock, don't you fuck-slut!?' He repeated the question several times and then he shouted for me to answer him. 'Answer me fuck-slut! Tell me you want his cock inside you mouth!'" 

Tears were streaming down Carol's face as she tried to hide her head in her hands. It took about a minute for Carol to compose herself. In a halting voice she continued. 

"The photos were flashed very fast in front of my face as he shouted at me to give him an answer. Finally, my mind seemed to snap and I shouted back at him that, yes, I did want to suck my master's cock! It was as if I were back in the room with Les. My whole body was alive and in desperate need of having him use my body for his pleasure." 

Her voice trembled as she closed her eyes envisioning herself standing there naked with the photos flashing in front of her. Again her hands went to her face as she bent her head. Carol was sobbing and soft moans were coming from her throat. 

Looking up at Barry with her face flush and wet with tears, she said. "And that wasn't the worse part. He told me to do exactly what I did in the video. He wanted me on my knees. I couldn't help myself. I turned toward him and went to the floor on my hands and knees. I crawled over to him expecting his cock to be waiting for my mouth. Instead of his cock, he had a large rubber dildo shaped like a rigid cock." Barry sat there wanting another drink. Carol just watched his face.

"He told me to suck the rubber cock. He forced me to deep throat the entire cock in my mouth and throat. I sucked that rubber cock for several minutes before he pulled it out of my mouth and he stood up out of his chair. 

"I was still on my knees completely naked. He walked over to his desk with the rubber cock in his hand. He picked another photo from his desk then turned around and flashed the photo at me. It was a photo taken of me in my wedding dress on the day we were married. I was absolutely shocked seeing that photo. Then he shouted at me. 'Get dressed Mrs. Barry Knoll! Get dressed an go home to your loving husband!' 

"I was dumbfounded by seeing that wedding dress photo and his harsh words. But, I scrambled to my feet and started to get dressed as quickly as I could. It was as if another snap went off inside my head. I started crying as I buttoned my blouse. When I looked over at him, he was sitting behind his desk writing some notes. All he said to me was that the session was over." Carol let out a deep sigh as her story ended.

There was nothing Barry could say to her. They both were hurting from the words that Carol had just spoken. But, they were both hurting but for different reasons.

Carol was hurting because once again, she felt that she had betrayed her husband. She wanted so badly to put Les and her affair behind her. Yet, in the space of an hour, Dr. Lee was able to bring her to her knees, suck a rubber cock and confess her need to be dominated by her master once again.

Barry was hurting because everything Jack had told him about Carol having an extreme case of PTR was now clearly demonstrated. As much as Carol professed her love for him, there would still be the latent dysfunction that could be easily triggered, turning her into a fuck-slut again. His mind was in total chaos. He wanted the doctor's diagnosis to be wrong about Carol's dysfunction. What Carol had just told him was not what he wanted to hear.

Carol's voice now had a penitent quality to it, almost as if she were in a confessional. "I tried so hard, my darling husband. I tried to suppress those ugly urges, but something just seemed to come over me and I lost all control. Please forgive my weakness." 

She stopped crying and got to her feet. Now, she needed a break from this difficult conversation. "Do you want anything to drink, my love? I'm going to get a glass of ice water from the kitchen."

"I'll just pour myself another drink from the bar. Thanks anyway." Barry replied as he got up from the sofa. He walked back to the bar and poured another stiff JD before he sat back down.

They finished the evening in silence. There was nothing that either of them could do or say tonight. Barry knew that he would have to confront the doctor in his next session scheduled for tomorrow evening. 

Little did Carol know that the therapy session that she described to Barry was a well planned session by the doctor. He had developed the technique for 'the photo session' over the past several years with the other wives who were in therapy with him. The questions, the nakedness and some dramatic photos were all staged to trigger a PTR episode in the mind of the distressed wife. 

Carol's reactions were very predictable. The nude posing and then the series of photos would create enough stress and tension to trigger the PTR syndrome. And immediately turn on her urgent need to be a fuck-slut for a dominant lover. 

Flip. 

Then, by showing her the wedding dress photo, calling by her full married name and telling her to return to her loving husband, he caused her to snap back into her loving wife persona. 

Flop.

The doctor was pleased by Carol's flip-flopping back and forth between both mental states. This was the reaction he had hoped for from Carol. The stage was now set for the mental tug-of-war that the doctor wanted to create in Carol's mind. If all went according to his plan, he would have his first validation case for his PTR syndrome theory.

Chapter 14

Barry's next session:

Thursday evening, Barry walked into Jack's office. There was a anger seething just below the surface in his mind. Ever since Carol's detailed narration of her therapy session with the doctor, Barry was on the verge of exploding in somebody's face. 

Jack immediately sensed Barry's anger as the two of them greeted each other. 

Barry's anger might be a good thing, the doctor thought to himself. He needed to use that anger and the energy behind it to push Barry to the final level of his devious experiment. 

Still, Jack needed to have Barry arrive at that decision as if it were the only course of action left to help Carol. Handing Barry the solution directly, would not fit into Jack's plan to obtain proof positive of his theory. 

"Carol told me all about the session you had with her yesterday morning, Jack. And I must tell you that what she told me really pissed me off." Barry said as he sat on the edge of the analyst couch.

"Don't you want to lie back and do some deep breathing before we start this session, Barry? You seemed awfully stressed at the moment." Jack was in his professional counseling voice. 

"Fuck no!! ...I don't want to lie back and I sure as hell don't want to relax.!" Barry shot back at him.

"Ok...... Let's start with all these feeling you have about Carol's session yesterday. What really bothers you about it? Both you and Carol knew in advance that there would be some very intense therapy sessions for her, remember?" Jack's voice was calm and almost a monotone, void of any emotion.

"Yeah....goddamn it! I do remember and even at that time I didn't feel very comfortable with the idea of her being in this office naked." Barry's voice was still loud and full of angst. "Her telling me that you forced her to revel that she still wanted to have that asshole Les' cock inside her mouth, just went over to top for me!"

"First of all, Barry. I did not force anything out of Carol." He said emphatically, then he paused. "True, my questions were hard on her, but they needed to be in order for her to recognize that she just couldn't bury her strong feeling that her lover created inside her." 




A Conspiracy to Deceive



Barry sat there clenching and unclenching his fist as he listened to Jack's explanation.

"There is no way that Carol can just bury those strong feelings and sensations she received from her lover. Just impossible. She has already admitted to both of us that her sex sessions with Les were intense and satisfying for her." ... Long pause ... "Nothing is going to change that in her mind." This time Jack got up from his chair and began to walk slowly around the room.

"What happened here yesterday, during Carol's session was necessary for her to come face to face with those feelings that she was trying very hard to suppress. For the past several weeks she devoted all of her thoughts and actions toward you. She wanted to make amends for her infidelity and help repair the damage to your marriage." ... Jack stopped next to Barry ... "I think you knew down deep that she still had those strong desires, planted in her psyche by her lover. She demonstrated her desires for his kind of dominant sex the night she put on those leather straps and called you her master."

Barry looked up at Jack as if he wanted to make a rebuttal. No words came out.

"Why are you angry now, Barry? And most importantly, who are you angry at? .... Me?" Jack returned to his chair and sat down, all the while watching Barry's face.

"Goddamn it Jack! I don't know who I am angry at right now. And yes, it could very well be you!" 

"I really think that you are angry at yourself, Barry. And I think the reason for that is that you were hoping somehow that my diagnosis about Carol's dysfunction was wrong." ... He nodded his head toward Barry ... "And, I think that you just wanted all of those feelings she acquired during her affair to just disappear."

Now, Jack could sense that Barry's rage was beginning to deflate a bit. He needed Barry to settle down some more before trying to steer him further down into his plan.

The next half hour was spent in a quiet question and answer period where Barry became more relaxed. Jack's questions weren't the hard kind. They were mellow questions intent on getting Barry's mind into a receptive mode.

"Do you still love your wife, Barry?"

"Yes..... In some ways more than before."

"Do you want to stay married to her, Barry?"

"Sure...yes... I don't see any reason to want a divorce at this time."

"Do you want her to be a happy and fulfilled woman?"

Blam!!! The 'fulfilled' word slammed into his brain. In the infamous video, Carol had said that she needed her lover to "fill that empty hole in my soul."

"Goddamn it Jack! That's an asshole question to ask!" Barry snapped back in anger.

"I seemed to have hit an exposed nerve there, Barry. I must tell you that we psychiatrist just love exposed nerves." Jack said in a calm voice, deflecting the brunt of Barry's outburst.

"Now let's explore that question again." ... Jack smiled as Barry unknowingly moved in the direction he needed him to go ... "Was it the part about you making her happy? Or was it the part about you making her a fulfilled woman? Huh...Barry?"

Barry just sat there seething. He wanted to go on an all-out-attack on the doctor's questions. But, there was something there that he couldn't fully deny. Yes, he wanted to make her a happy wife, and he was sure that he could do that. But...to make her a fulfilled woman, that part he wasn't sure of. Her words kept ringing inside his head.

"Maybe it was a place inside of me that you and I never knew existed. The reasons for my depression still eludes me. But, now for the first time in years, I think I have found what was missing in our marriage."

That was the conundrum for him and secretly he knew it. Carol needed something that he had been incapable of giving her. She needed to be treated like a slut! Her discovery of that fact might have been a direct result of her flip-flopped state of mind induced by her PTR syndrome. But, whatever caused the discovery, it was there. And there was no denying that it was still running around inside her mind.

Then he thought... "Damn straight! I can do that! I can be both her loving husband and her dominant lover if that's what it takes to make her a 'fulfilled' woman." A smile came across his face.

"Ok, Jack...you want an answer, I'll give you one! Yes, I want her to be happy and I also want her to be a fulfilled woman. And you know what? I think that I can do both for her." ... Barry felt like he was on a roll .... "There's no doubt that I can be the loving husband and sex partner. And after the other night when I was the Dom and Carol was the sub, I'm sure that I can do that also." His voice was clear of any anger. Now he felt confident and that he had the answer to dilemma created by her mental dysfunction.

The room went silent. It was Barry's turn to wait for a response from Jack. 

As if to surrender to Barry's answer and his solution, Jack pursed his lips and nodded his head in agreement. 

"Yep....sounds like you may have something there, Barry." ... He took in a deep breath ... "But, have you considered the confusion and possible conflicts that might arise from you being both of her lovers?" Jack made some soft noises with his mouth. 

"Carol needs more than an evening of role-playing every now and then, Barry. Her illness is a serious matter not to be treated lightly. A 'make-believe' lover may only make the dysfunction react in some other strange fashion. Or maybe even worse, she might get stuck in one state and never want to return to the other state." 

The confidence that was all over Barry's face a minute ago, began to fade away slowly. "So, what the fuck's the answer!?" Barry snapped back. The agitation returning to his voice.

"What do you think the answer is, Barry? You're as close to Carol's problem as I am." Jack returned the volley.

"She wants another goddamn lover! Even after all we're going though to rid ourselves of her last lover's influence." Barry was shouting.

"I think if you try re-phrasing that statement a little differently, it may just resonate a little better with you." Jack replied...leading Barry a little further down his plan.

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean!?" Barry was now back to where he was when he entered the room almost fifty minutes ago.

"Simply that there are really wants and needs in all of our lives. And a want and a need are two separate things. Carol may not want another lover in her life, but when she moves into her dysfunctional state, she truly needs a dominant lover." 

Barry made a grunting sound as if to reject what Jack was telling him. Jack ignored the sound and kept speaking.

"As hard as it may seem to you, Barry. Her need, for a dominant lover, has nothing to do with you as her husband. It's as if her needs were operating on an entirely different plane of consciousness for her. When she is in that flip-flop state, her needs are completely different. She needs to be dominated. Pure and simple."

Again, silence filled the office as both men just sat there looking at each other. It was obvious to Jack the gears in Barry's head were grinding slowly.

"So, I am supposed to just sit back and let my wife go off with a lover, everytime she has a relapse into her fuck-slut state. Is that it, Jack?" Barry's eyes were narrow and intense as he looked at Jack for his answer.

"I could give you a long answer, Barry, But, the short answer is 'yes'." 

"Damn!!...damn!!...damn...!!" Barry shouted as he jumped to his feet. It was his turn to pace around the room as Jack sat back in his chair waiting for the last domino in the long chain of dominos to fall in place.

"I don't think that I can do that, Jack." ... Barry said as he stopped in the middle of the room ... "I love her too much to share her with any other man." There was firmness in Barry's voice.

"You're probably right, Barry. Most red-blooded men are repulsed by the idea of their wife having sex with another man. It goes against some of our most fundamental beliefs. A monogamous marriage, one man and one woman, is what our society had set forth as the ideal relationship." 

Then as if to take up to the other side of that debate, Jack said ... "But with a divorce rate over 50% in this country and many young couples opting to just live together outside the legal ties of marriage, you really have to ask yourself if some of our marital problems aren't caused because of strict adherence to the monogamous marriage concept."

"Oh.....so we're back to that polyamory bullshit again." Barry countered.

"Only if it supplies an answer." Jack said not backing down from his comments.

"I don't see it offering an answer to my marital dilemma. All it can offer is more problems as I see it."

"Maybe so, Barry. But, if you don't come up with a solution, what happens the next time when you and I aren't around and Carol has another relapse. How will you deal with that next episode of hers?" 

"I'll divorce her damn ass the next time!" Barry was spitting out fire as Jack's words were grating on his nerves.

"Well....Barry old buddy, guess what? There will definitely be a next time! It may take awhile, a month, a year, who knows for sure just when it will happen. But, I guarantee you that a relapse will happen." ... A long pause ... "So, why not divorce her now and save yourself the future pain and misery?"

A small explosion went off in Barry's mind. ... Damn it!... Its the proverbial rock and the hard place...its the devil and the deep blue sea situation. No simple solution, no waving the magic wand and everything becoming be 'nice' again.

"So, what's the problem here. Barry? A male ego problem? An ownership problem, like she's your exclusive property?" Jack was on the offense again. Keep pushing Barry back until he's fully backed into the corner. 

"Didn't you tell me in one of our sessions that you became aroused and you even got a hard-on, when Carol was telling you about her first weekend with her lover?" ... Jack cleared his throat ... "You said you were revolted by the things she told you, yet something inside you was reacting just the opposite to her words. How do you explain that, good buddy?"

"Explain that!?" ... Barry shouted back ... "You're the fucking head shrink around here, why don't you explain it to the both of us!" Jack could see that Barry was losing complete control again. The rest should be just gently nudging him a little more.

"The simple answer Barry, is that the human being is a complex animal. Many of our actions are unplanned and in some cases just pure subconscious reactions. On one conscious level, Carol's words and ideas repulsed you. On another level, maybe subconsciously, you became genuinely excited and aroused." He let that idea settle into Barry's brain before he continued. 

"Its the same as with that ambiguous word, Love. It has many meanings and usages in our language. But one of the biggest misconceptions about love is that it is somehow a finite entity. Its like we have only so much love in us to spread around. Not true. Never was true." Jack shifted the topic slightly. Still pointing Barry in the direction of the plan.

"You said you loved her too much to share her with another man. What did you really mean by that? Or were you just misusing the word...Love? Did you really mean that you owned her and no other man could share her?" A word game for sure and Barry didn't know how to answer Jack's questions.

"You see, Barry, I think that love is infinite. Love is not just one whole thing that gets parceled out in little bits till its all used up." ... Short pause... "You can see examples of that all around you. Take the mother with one child and another mother with four children. Does true love mean that the one child receives 100% of its mother's love while each of the other four siblings will only get 25% of their mother's love? No...we reject that idea outright. The mother of four children is very capable of giving just as much love to each of her children as the mother with only one child." The word gambit continued.

"We recognize the fact that love can be equally shared among children, but somehow we reject the idea that it would work that way among adults. Unfortunately for the current state of monogamous relationships, there are more and more studies that show that a pluralistic marriage may be the most loving and stable relationship for many married people." Jack stopped and looked at his watch.

"Well....my friend, our hour is up. And it seems that the subject is just hanging out there in the wind." But, Barry didn't seem to want to just let the subject just hang there till their next session.

"Whoa there, Jack....I don't give a fuck if the time is up. I'll not going to leave here with all that unresolved shit buzzing around in my mind for the next four days." Barry seemed determined to push the discussion to a conclusion. Just what Jack was trying to get him to do.

"All right Barry......I'll give you another half hour then I have to leave regardless if you have your solution or not." Jack said while his mind was shouting out...Hurrah! 

"How should we continue, Barry? With the discussion of sharing love? Or with the idea that human beings are complex animals and sometimes require complex solutions?" Jack began speaking as he settled back in his chair.

"Let's start with that idea of 'fulfillment'." ... Barry replied. That was the word that was gnawing at his gut ... "Why do you think that Carol won't be able to find complete fulfillment in our marriage?" 

"History, Barry..... Simple facts of history tell me that Carol will, at some time in the future, be at the same place in her mind where she was at the start of her affair with Les." Jack smiled to himself acknowledging the fact that Barry had by-passed the other minor issues and had gone directly to the heart of Carol's problem. 

"Right now, Carol has only one mission in her life, and that's you and your marriage. That singular focus will push any other conscious or sub conscious desires to the back of her mind." ... Short pause ... "Her therapy sessions may bring her to realize the damaged her infidelity has caused. But, that therapy will not completely erase the fact that her affair had made her feel like a complete woman. Even though it was in a mentally altered state for her."

Barry was again on his feet, pacing around the room not saying anything.

"I'm not trying to be a prognosticator, Barry. But Carol did tell you, and I use her own words. "... this might be something you never noticed about me, because you're very successful, self-confident and rarely have any self-doubts about the things you want or the things that you do in your life. But, I do have mountains of doubts. I feel like a total failure most of the time. Somehow you never caught on to the fact that your lack of doubts and my constant stream of doubts were causing me to feel more and more inadequate as a wife and as a woman.

"There were times when I felt that I could not go on living the life we shared. I know that you thought we were a happy couple, but that was again your self-confidence masking my troubled heart. The past two years have not been truly happy years for me, Barry. I felt as if I was an actress stuck in a bad B-movie. I said my lines and acted my role but it seemed so make-believe for me. My true emotions were suppressed and I gave you the person that I knew you wanted to see in me."

"Therapy will help her deal with most of those self doubts that she has, but there will always be some of them that linger in the back of her mind. You told me about your recent promotion and your continuing success in your career. That will only reinforce Carol's view of your successes as compared to her perceived failures."

Barry finally stopped his pacing and turned to Jack. "So, I need to be a failure in order for my wife to stop feeling like a failure herself!?" His voice was filled with sarcasm and irony. 

"No Barry, that would be self defeating. You need to remain the person you are. Trying to compromise your successful abilities to make up for some other perceived deficiencies in Carol would only create more problems for the two of you." Jack motioned for Barry to sit back down.

"What you need to realize that you both need to feel 'fulfilled'. Your success in business gives you quite a bit of that 'fulfillment'. You have made a business career into your mistress. You are in love with your mistress. It may not be a direct sexual relationship, but it does give you levels of satisfaction comparable to a sexual orgasm." He paused as Barry now moved over to the couch and sat down.

"Can't you see that in her hidden meaning? She knows that she is competing with your career and that your career is winning." Now it was time for the final push.

"Carol's dysfunction made it easy for her to move outside your marriage to find her sense of fulfillment. Because of that action, our social mores have branded her an adulteress. But, what if our social mores were different? What if, like the Eskimos of the North, where wife sharing was a common practice of love between a man, a wife and others, it was the same for us 'civilized' people also?" ... Silence ... "Can you move into that Eskimo mind-set, Barry? Can you get there for the sake of your wife?"

Silence ... "I'm not just suggesting a swinger's lifestyle, Barry. Carol needs more than a series of one night stands. She needs to have a sense of belonging and being dominated to make her feel complete. The real question here is, can you give that to her?"

"Maybe I should have left when I thought I was ahead, Jack. I'm not sure that I'm going to like your proposal." Barry was now at the Y-junction in his mind. To the left was the path leading to divorce, to the right was a different marriage lifestyle that he had never thought possible. 

"So, what do you suggest, Jack? If I decide not to divorce Carol, then sharing her with another man seems to only alternative you are offering me.... True?"

"I hate to keep defaulting back to the simple answer, Barry. But yes, you're right. Its almost a binary choice that you have here. The question is what kind of love do you really have for her? Is your love a possessive, ownership kind of love? Or is it much broader than that? Like the mother with four children, is your love large enough to embrace more than just one child? More than one husband for your wife?" 

Bang!.. bang!.. bang!.. The sharp words and questions were hitting their mark in Barry's brain. 

There was nothing Barry could say that wouldn't sound like self serving answers to Jack's questions. How much of this situation was about him alone, and how much of the situation was about Carol...alone? Questions, questions and more questions. Answers? Very few and very hard.

"Since we're almost out of time, Barry. I want you to leave this session thinking about your wife's new lover. Who will he be? How will you accept him into your marriage?" ... Jack stood up now ... "Carol needs a pluralistic marriage, Barry. You need to accept that fact and be willing to participate in that marriage arrangement." A very long pause as the two of them stood there facing each other. 

"If you can't get there completely, Barry. Then the decision of what you need to do about the future of your marriage has been made for you."

Barry was just about to exit, when he turned back to Jack and asked. "Will you be available on Saturday? I don't think I can wait till Tuesday to have another session."

"Give me a call Saturday morning. I maybe able to squeeze in a hour or so if you still feel the need for it." Jack now knew that Barry was just where he wanted him. Barry would wrestle with which path to take, the left path or the right path. Jack was betting that Barry would turn right.

Chapter 15

The Secret is Out - Carol is Told:




A Conspiracy to Deceive



Carol could sense that there was something very serious going on in her husband's mind after he came home from his session with Dr. Lee. She was almost afraid to broach the subject after she had told Barry about her intense session with the doctor on Wednesday. Was Barry's session a raging disaster? Did he accuse the doctor of mistreating his wife?

They ate supper in silence. Carol would catch Barry staring at her across the table. There seemed to be a questioning look in his eyes.

Finally, Carol sat upright in her chair and asked. "What's wrong, Barry? Did you have a bad session with Dr. Lee?" There was genuine concern in her voice.

"Bad might be an understatement. Disaster might be more like it." Barry answered as he picked up his wine glass and took a long sip. 

"The good doctor wants me to consent to allowing you to take on a lover in order to improve your mental health." Barry's words came out like bullets from a machine gun.

Carol's mouth dropped open and for a moment she was speechless. "My god Barry! What brought this on? What did you say to him?" Her voice was strained.

"Nothing. I didn't give him an answer." Barry replied as his eyes locked on to hers.

"No answer!? I don't understand? You should have told him flatly, no! Haven't you been hurt enough by my affair with Les?" Tears were starting to well up in her eyes.

Barry's mind jumped to the PTR syndrome and the fact that Carol still was ignorant of that fact. How could he explain to her where his mind was at if she remained in the dark about the original cause of her infidelity. He got up from the table quickly and said.

"I have a phone call to make. It can't wait." He hurried into their bedroom, closing the door he fished Dr. Lee's card out of his wallet. On it was an emergency phone number that the doctor told Barry to use if there was a serious problem. Barry dialed the number.

On the third ring, Jack answered the phone.

"Jack, I'm going to tell Carol about her PTR syndrome. It can't remain a secret any longer. I'll explain it as best I can. You will need to be ready to give your diagnosis of her illness in tomorrow morning's session." Barry blurted out in one long breath. 

His voice conveyed the fact that he wasn't requesting permission from Jack to tell Carol. He was just informing the doctor that he was going to tell his wife about her illness.

"Ok Barry, I guess this is as good a time as any to let Carol know about her dysfunction. I would like to be there, but I am tied up all evening with members of the college staff."

"I wouldn't want you here anyway, Jack. This is something I need to do. It's my duty as her husband. Tomorrow, you can give her the clinical explanation if you wish." Barry paused. "I'm going to hang up now. I only wanted to let you know before I told her."

"Good luck, Barry. Call me tomorrow. Bye."

The phone line went dead as Barry got up and walked out of the bedroom. 

Carol was finishing up with the supper dishes. "Who were you calling, Barry? Is everything all right?" She could tell by the look on his face that he was deeply troubled.

"When you're done, come into the den. We have some serious things that need to be discussed."

A cold shiver raced up her spine and goose-bumps broke out all over her body. "What was on Barry's mind now? Was he deeply disturbed by what I told him last evening about wanting my lover's cock inside me?" Carol's mind was racing a hundred miles an hour. She took off her apron and walked into the den.

Barry was standing at the bar pouring himself a tall JD. "What can I get for you, my dear?" He asked as he turned toward her.

"Nothing right now, darling." She answered. Her eyes could not conceal her frightened state of mind.

"I think you will need something strong to soothe your nerves, Carol." He said as he lifted a bottle. "Rum and coke?"

"That will work....but easy on the rum." She said as she tried to make herself comfortable on the sofa.

Barry handed her the tall drink and sat down in his lounge chair across from her. Carol thanked him as she bit down lightly on her lower lip. What was going to happen next? Is the guillotine blade about to fall? She just sat there in silence waiting for him to begin.

"Carol, what I am about to tell you will probably come as a complete surprise to you. I want you to sit and listen till I'm finished. Please don't interrupt me until I tell you its ok to speak." Barry was speaking in a low controlled voice. 

"There is a secret that Dr. Lee and I have been keeping from you. After what you told me last night about the photo session, I think its time that you know what that secret is." Carol's body seemed to perk up at the word 'secret'... Barry continued.

"Early on in this crisis, I had a discussion with Dr. Lee about our marital situation. He had seen the video that Les had you make and read the note that you wrote to me. Your actions did not surprise him". Barry hesitated a little. 

"In fact, he has been doing research into a mental dysfunction which he felt was the root cause of certain women becoming unfaithful spouses." Barry took a long sip from his drink. Carol remained silent.

"The doctor has been conducting research into this dysfunction which he has labeled as Psychotic Transfer Response, or PTR for short. It's his theory that within certain women there is this latent tendency to mentally flip-flop from one mental state to another. In your particular case, he concluded that instead of your affair starting out of lust, this dysfunction caused a flip-flop in your mind which made you susceptible to Les' seduction." 

Carol sat there immobilized. Barry took another sip of his drink, then continued his discourse. 

"Although you still knew the difference between being faithful and being unfaithful to your marriage vows, this dysfunction permitted you to rationalize away the guilt associated with your infidelity. In that flip-flopped state, it was perfectly natural for you to feel that should be able to satisfy your fuck-slut desires with Les and still expect me to remain your loving husband.... And for our marriage to continue."

Carol made a motion as if to speak. Barry quickly move one finger to his lips as a signal for her to remain silent. Taking a deep breath he nodded his head and began speaking again.

"The whole line of Dr. Lee's therapy plan was to keep this dysfunction hidden from you in order that he would be able to dig deep into you psychotic state and determine just how severe the dysfunctional tendency was for you." ... A pause. A sip from his glass ... "I thought that you should have been told about this mental flip-flop state from the beginning. But, Dr. Lee asked me to keep silent about it until he felt he had enough information to properly treat your illness."

The room went deadly silent as they both looked at each other, neither one saying a word. Barry could tell that Carol was shocked and mystified about this unknown mental dysfunction he was describing to her. He waited for her to regain her composure before he continued.

"I'm telling you about this dysfunction now Carol, because it seems that you have reached that point in your therapy where the effects of this dysfunction are now coming to the surface. In your Wednesday session with Dr. Lee, he purposely set up a situation where he was able to induce a flip-flop relapse in your mind. He wanted to test and see if the dysfunction could still be triggered in you by some traumatic stimulus. The nudity, the photos and the hard questions were his way of getting you to flip-flop into your fuck-slut state. It was the reason you screamed out for your lover to fuck you." 

Carol's eyes widened as she was told that the doctor may have tricked her into her outburst. 

"Before I let you start asking questions, Carol. There is one more very important issue that you need to be aware of. From what Dr. Lee has gained in those therapy sessions and the written answers you gave him earlier, he has concluded that you have an extreme case of PTR syndrome. As such, there will always be a latent tendency for you to have a relapse at some time in the future. He feels that you may be able to control this dysfunction with a conscious effort most of the time. But eventually .... some day, under some stressful conditions, you will have a relapse and go out seeking a lover who will treat you like a fuck-slut."

"No I won't, Barry! I love you too much to ever consider doing that again!" Carol blurted out as her face went flush.

"Please, Carol. Let me finish." Barry's voice was soft and gentle as he tried to calm her. "If the doctor's diagnosis is correct, then like it or not, you will have a relapse even if you swear that could never happen again. There will come along some stressful situation that would be the trigger for the fuck-slut state to kick in. You will be virtually helpless to prevent it from happening."

Carol started to cry as Barry's words made it sound as if she had a terminal illness.

"It is a fact of life that we must come to terms with. Somehow we must come up with some solution that will prevent a relapse from tearing our marriage apart." Now Barry was coming to the very hard part for the both of them. 

"One of the suggestions that the doctor made today in my session was for us to consider a form of pluralistic marriage. He felt that if constructed properly, a relationship of that nature could be forged that would allow you to move freely between both flip-flop mental states." 

Carol's face flashed up in a sudden shock. "Buutttt....buttt....." She tried to form some words of response, only stuttering came out.

"You asked me earlier what was wrong when I came home from my evening session with Dr. Lee. It was this idea of a pluralistic marriage that he was throwing around that was the reason I was so upset." Barry said as he took the last long drink from his glass.

Slowly Carol wet her lips with her tongue as she began to speak. "Let me understand the last part of what you just said, Barry, before I ask any questions about...ahhh...the PTR." 

Now it appeared that she was somewhat back in control of her speech faculties. "The doctor suggested that we add another male into our marriage. Is that correct?" She shook her head as if in disbelief.

"Yes....Carol that's exactly what the doctor suggested. He felt that that if I truly loved you and wanted you to be a fulfilled woman, that I would have to find away to accept the fact that you need a lover who would treat you differently than I treat you."

"But, that's insane! How could adding another male into out marriage help me? This PTR illness is just a bunch of bullshit as far as I'm concerned!" Carol cried out not wanting to believe what her husband was telling her.

"Well......Carol, I don't think it is bullshit. And, I suspect, that deep down inside your psyche, you also believe that something is different with you. Something strange went on inside you that caused you to hook up with Les and want to become his fuck-slut." Something strange was also happening in Barry's mind. He was slowly convincing himself that the doctor was right.

"Damn it Barry! If it is true that I have this goddamn dysfunction then why didn't you or the doctor tell me up front!? Why were you letting the doctor use me as a guinea pig? Was it fun for the two of you to keep it a secret from me?" Carol was angry now. The more she thought about the dysfunction causing her to become susceptible to a dominant male, the angrier she became at not being told about the illness up front.

Barry tried to calm her down, but she would not let her anger go. It seemed as if knowing about the secret, Carol was now able to vent most of her pent up tensions and emotions. They poured out of her like a geyser in Yellowstone Park. Loud, hot and steaming. Her words were now no longer that of the penitent wife. She felt that her need to be forgiven for her infidelity had been used against her, and without her knowing about it.

"Goddamn it, Barry! Last night I was in deep pain when I told you about the humiliating session I endured in Dr. Lee's office. My pain and suffering was very real! Now I find out that it was staged to test my reactions!" Carol's mind was set free of the restraints that had been placed there because of infidelity. Now she was free to lash out at her husband, to take back some of the ground that she had surrendered to him. 

"Why did you let him do that to me, Barry? Was it a conspiracy to deceive me all along? Was keeping this a secret from me, a way for you to get even with me for the secret that I kept from you?" Carol was fuming now.

I didn't know that Jack was planning to try and trigger a PTR episode in your last session." Barry said in a softer voice.

"Jack?" She had a questioning look on her face. "Since when has he become Jack?"

"Actually, since the first meeting I had with him when you were still with Les." Barry added that last snippet just to try and gain the offensive. "He told me to call him Jack instead of Dr. Lee. More to keep it informal between us."

Carol's eyes were glaring at him. She tried to hold back what she was about to say, but they came out anyway. 

"Damn it! I should have known. Another example of the good old boys cliquing together. And I'm the odd man out!" She shouted out. Her eyes were ablaze. She had a feeling of betrayal all over again. Her loving husband was in a conspiracy to deceive and humiliate her. 

Carol jumped up from the table and ran outside. She moved over into a shady part of the yard and she sat down, cross legged on the grass and began to cry.

Barry's first instinct was to follow her and to try and tell her she was wrong about him wanting to gang up on her. He wanted to tell her that he only wanted to give the doctor a chance to try and treat her dysfunction as best as he could. There were no other secrets, no other hidden agendas.

But, Barry knew that there was nothing he could say to her right now that would deflate her anger. He would just let her alone with her thoughts for awhile. If he presented her with some valid reasons for keeping her in the dark about her illness, she might just respond with more cutting accusations. Then a nasty argument might erupt and then they would be at each other's throat. He didn't want that to happen.

Nothing more was said that evening. Carol withdrew into herself. Now there was another factor that she had to contend with in all of this adulterous mess. She had a mental deficiency. There was a little miss-wiring inside her brain which could cause her to change from a loving wife to some other male's fuck-slut. 

"Goddamn! Am I ever fucked up! I can't have any children naturally. I can't stay faithful to the one man I truly love! Oh god! Why did you fuck me up so badly?" Carol thought to herself as she moved back into the house. She went back into the guest room and closed the door. This time it was more of a penance for Barry to endure, than a jail cell for her.

Chapter 16

Friday Morning:

Barry was up before Carol. He got dressed and left the house while she was still sleeping. On the way to work, he stopped at small cafe and had a small breakfast. Coffee, toast and a glass of juice. Enough to get his mind in gear.

When he got to his office, he noticed that Steven was already there. He stuck his head into Steven's office and said. "Good morning, boss. What brings you in this early on a Friday morning?"

"Just the man I wanted to see." Steven replied as he motioned for Barry to come in and sit down.

"Last evening at the club, I met with several board members. They were pressuring me to take an extended vacation now that the Dassis situation is history. When I resisted, they told me that rejecting an extended vacation was not an option." He sat back in his leather swivel chair and a sly smile came across his face.

"So, today will be my last day in this office for the next six weeks. It seems that the board members had already talked to my wife and they set up a European vacation that will take five to six weeks to complete. Margie told me that if I didn't go with her, I'd better get a good divorce attorney." He was laughing at that last comment.

"You're going to be gone...out of pocket for six weeks?" There was surprise in Barry's voice.

"That's what the powers-to-be have dictated, Barry old boy." Steven was having a good time with this. Secretly he knew that he was close to burn out after the past several months of 'nose-to-the-grindstone' intense pressure.

"That also means, that while I'm lying in the sun on some Greek island, you will be completely in charge of the GeoTex empire." Steven laughed out loud. "And there won't be any phones on that island. Margie said that if she sees me on the phone, she'll beat me with a baseball bat!"

Barry sat back and let out a long deep sigh. This is exactly what he wanted and was waiting to happen. But, the suddenness of it took him by surprise.

"Damn it, Steven. You really know how to blind-side a guy early in the morning." Barry's words sounded like a dud in the face of what he had just been told. 

"Hey...its not like you and I haven't been joined at the hip for the past two months. You know as much about the going-ons within GeoTex as I do. And I'm beginning to believe that your management and direction would be better than mine in most cases."

Steven couldn't help but keep smiling as he watched Barry squirming in the chair. "So Bunky, here's your chance to run the whole show all by yourself. No daddy image looking over your shoulder. The ball game is all yours." ... Long pause ....

"Tell me you don't want to take the reins and drive this Clydesdale team all by yourself!" Steven got up from his chair and walked around his desk. "So, get up and call your first major staff meeting. Get all of the VP's and department heads into the board room. I'll be there for the first part of the meeting. After I make the announcement of my vacation, I'll turn the meeting over to you and get my ass out of the building."

Barry stood up and the two men shook hands. Nothing else needed to be said.

As Barry walked to his office, he turned to Rita and said, "Call all of Mr. Chase's staff together for a meeting in the board room in fifteen minutes." There was a strong voice of authority in his voice. No pleases, no homage to the Iron Maiden. Not now, not ever again.

"But Mr. Knoll, a lot of the staff members aren't at the office until after nine o'clock." Rita responded as if her knowledge of everyone's starting time was an important item.

"I don't care about that, Rita. Call the meeting and then I want you to make a list of the staff members who aren't there." The tone of Barry's voice told Rita that any further comments were not appropriate. He turned and walked into his office.

He closed the door behind him, and let out a yell. He threw his hands up in the air like a referee signaling a touchdown. "Yes....goddamn it!!!! This is it!!!! The top rung of the ladder! And I am here!" Barry said out loud for himself to hear.

His mind was so filled with his good news, that he entirely forgot that Carol was at home getting ready for her Friday morning session with Dr. Lee.

Back at the house, Carol was getting ready for her visit to Dr. Lee's office. This time, instead of wearing a dress and preening herself to look very attractive, Carol put on a baggy sweat-suit outfit. She applied a thin coat of lipstick, no eyeliner, no cheek blush.

"There's no fucking way that shit-head doctor is going to get me out of my clothes this morning." Carol said to herself as she looked into the mirror. There was a hard determination in her mind this morning.

She wished that Barry had awakened her before he went to work. She wanted to tell him that she was sorry for getting pissed off at him and making angry accusations that she didn't mean. But, he was gone by the time she got out of bed. Now her apology would have to wait till he got home tonight.




A Conspiracy to Deceive



Still looking in the mirror, she shouted out loud. "But, I'm not through with you, goddamn doctor! I'm going to chew your ass royally when I see you!" She turned and walked out of the bedroom.

The staff meeting went off on time, even though four members of Steven's staff weren't there. Too early in the morning for them to get to work. Steven made the short announcement about his vacation and that Barry would now be in charge until he returned in about six weeks. He thanked everyone for their efforts and said that he expected them to give Barry the same support as they had given him.

There was a round of applause as Steven shook Barry's hand and then walked out the door.

Barry then turned to the staff members and said. "There will be a staff meeting in this room every morning at eight thirty unless you are notified otherwise. The meeting are mandatory. Only a written note from your doctor or undertaker will be accepted as an excuse." He paused for a moment waiting for any comments. There were none. The new commander had taken charge of the bridge. 

"Rita will email each of you with the agenda for each morning's meeting. Thank you." Barry turned and walked out of the room. Now it was time for the staff to buzz around behind him. 

Carol didn't stop at Becky's desk as she usually did when she arrived for her morning sessions. It was a direct march into the doctor's office. Becky was about to say something to her, but Carol just looked at her and said, "Shut-up!" as she turned the door-knob and walked into Dr. Lee's office.

Dr. Lee looked up in surprise as Carol entered his office unannounced. This was highly irregular. "Carol, you startled me. Becky usually calls me when you arrive." He said as he slowly got up from his desk.

"Cut all the bullshit, doctor! After what Barry told me about this so called mental dysfunction that caused me to have the affair with Les, I should scratch your eyes out for not telling me up front!" Carol was one angry female and she was on the offensive.

"Please calm down, Carol. Its not the way you think it is." The doctor said to her as he tried to gain control of the scene.

"I'm not here for one of you goddamn therapy sessions, doctor. I came here to get the facts about this so called mental dysfunction that you seem to think I'm afflicted with." Carol shot back at him. She walked over to one of the other chairs near his desk and sat down. No way was she going near the analyst couch.

"Without a lot of medical bullshit, tell me what this PTR shit is and why you think that its screwing up my brain!" She settled in the chair and looked directly at the doctor.

For the next half hour, Dr. Lee went through a detailed explanation of the PTH dysfunction. He told her of his theories of the how and the why of the dysfunction. He pointed out her actions, both with Les as her lover and those that took place in his office. These actions were a direct result of the mental dysfunction.

Dr. Lee knew that he was on thin ice with this angry wife. This confrontation was not in his plan for 'the perfect couple'. Things had gotten off track and he was now afraid that his theory validation plan was in jeopardy. He had to tread lightly or else Carol might just bolt out of his office and end the therapy.

Carol was biting down on her lower lip, trying to keep her anger under control. She didn't say anything or ask any questions once the doctor started talking. All she was trying to do was ingest all of the information he was giving her about her so called dysfunction. 

Everything Dr. Lee told her about PTH was just a sterile clinical report of a disease that she had never heard about before last night. Nothing the doctor told her was calming her down or giving her any comfort. It was only cold hard facts.

Finally, she blurted out a question. "Ok, say I have this dysfunction. What kind of pills do you have that will cure or control this dysfunction?" She wet her lips with her tongue.

"I'm sorry, Carol. But, there is no known cure for this particular dysfunction. Also, except for some sedative type medicine, there is nothing that directly effects the dysfunction. I gave you a prescription for that sedative medicine a couple of weeks ago. It had very little effect on controlling the relapse. You saw that for yourself on Wednesday during that session."

"Yeah...that goddamn humiliating naked session that you put me through. Never again. Fuck you! Never again!" 

Dr. Lee could see that he was losing control of his patient. Carol was outside the limits of his control now. The deception about her illness had driven her out of range. She was a loose cannon on deck. And her mental state was unpredictable.

"I think that I heard enough. You claim I have an illness that you can't cure and that can't be controlled. I might just as well go jump off the Sears Tower, that would surely cure my illness, won't it doctor!?" Carol got up and this time she looked at the doctor with very mean eyes and said. "This session is over."

"Hold on one moment, Carol." The doctor said as he got up from his chair and walked over to the bookshelf. He pulled out two books and then turned around to face her.

"These are two books that I have written about the PTR syndrome and the effects it has on the female mind. Take them, read them if you like. They may give you more insight into the total make up of the dysfunction that you are suffering from." He handed the books to Carol, who took him cautiously from his hands.

"Maybe I'll read them, or maybe I'll used them to set some potted plants on." There was no 'thank you' for the books or for the information he had given her as Carol turned and walked to the door.

"Will I see you on Monday, Carol?" He asked as she opened the door. Without turning around to face him, she just called out.

"Don't count on it." And she walked down the hallway.

A cold blanket of doubt seemed to settle down over his shoulders as Dr. Lee retreated back to his desk and settled down in his swivel chair. That had not gone well. In fact that was a disastrous aborted session. Everything he was attempting to accomplish with his 'perfect couple' as now at the brink of being destroyed.

He sat there, a frightened man. Frightened that he may have lost his one chance to validate his theories about Psychotic Transfer Response.

Chapter 17

Friday Evening:

Carol arrived home just after one o'clock in the afternoon. After she left Dr. Lee's office, she went to a restaurant across from the college campus. She felt that she was too strung out and nervous to drive safely home. It took several cups of coffee, soup and a sandwich to help settle her down enough to drive home.

When she got home, there was a message on the phone recorder. It was a message from Barry. Time stamped at twelve fifteen. "Hello, darling. Too bad I didn't get to talk to you. Something special has happened and I wanted to share it with you." There was a pause on the line, then he continued. "Just get dressed up and meet me at Hugo's this evening at six o'clock. I gotta go now. I love you." The message ended and she just stood there wondering what the something special really was. 

She dialed Barry's office number. Rita answered. Carol asked to speak to Barry. Rita responded in a very apologetic voice that Barry was in a high level management meeting and she thought it would last for the next several hours.

"Just tell him that I'll meet him at Hugo's at six this evening." Carol's mind was trying to decide if she should try and pump Rita and see if she knew anything about Barry's surprise. She decided against asking.

"Very well, Mrs. Knoll. I'll give him your message. And by the way congratulations." Rita said as she hung up. Carol just stood there as the line went dead.

When she arrived at Hugo's, the parking lot was crowded. She pulled up to the valet stand. A young man in a red jacket rushed over to the driver side door and quickly opened it.

Carol smiled up at him as she swung her legs out of the car. There was a lot of bare thigh showing as Carol stood up. She smiled to herself as she knew the valet had gotten a peak at the edge of her panties. He handed her a numbered chit and smiled back at her. "Have a great dinner, madam." He said as he slid in behind the steering wheel.

The doorman tipped his hat and swung the large door wide open for her. "Evening, madam." He said to her as she only smiled and nodded her head. The matra' d showed her to the table where Barry was already sitting. There was an unopened bottle of champagne sitting the silver ice stand next to the table. Barry rose from his chair with a warm loving smile on his face.

"God! You look gorgeous, my dear." Barry said to her as his eyes reflected the deep love he had for this woman.

"You look pretty damn good yourself, lover." She responded in a sexy voice and a wink of her eye. 

As they both took their seats, they started talking all at once. 

"Sorry, my dear. You first." Barry said to her. She smiled graciously and then began.

"I hope that this dinner isn't your way of apologizing for that secret that you and the doctor hid from me. If it is, thank you. But, I am the one who needs to be doing the apologizing to you, my love." Her face had an almost angelic glow about it as she paused and then said simply, "I'm truly sorry, my love. Please forgive my tantrum last night."

Barry sat there transfixed on this beautiful lady sitting across from him. After all they had just been through, he was able to forgive her infidelity and she was able to forgive his deception. There truly was hope for them. He smiled back at her.

"Nothing to forgive, my dear. Its all part of this tangled mess that we need to work out together. I promise that there will be no more secrets between us ever again." He reached across the table and took her hand. Gazing deeply into her eyes he simply said. "I love you and I'm so happy that you are my wife."

Tears began to form in her eyes. She suddenly took in a deep breath and shook her head as to clear her thinking. Things were getting a little too emotional at this moment.

"So, my dear, what is it we are celebrating this evening." She said in an upbeat voice.

"Good news, very good news." He said as he held her hand. "Steven is going on an extended vacation starting today. I am the man in charge of GeoTex while he is gone." There was a sound of triumph in his voice as he made the announcement.

"Oh god, Barry, that's fantastic!" She said in a loud voice as she jumped up from her chair and ran around the table and gave her husband a full mouth passionate kiss. There was some soft clapping coming from the patrons sitting at the two tables next to theirs. Carol straightened up and returned red-faced to her chair.

Barry motioned for the waiter to come over and open the bottle of champagne for them. After filling their glasses, the waiter retreated away from the table to let the two lovers alone. Lifting his glass he made a toast to his beautiful wife.

"To our continuing success. Both in marriage and in the rest of our lives."

Clink. Their glasses touched and they sipped the bubbly liquid as their eyes never left one another.

The meal was superb. It seemed to the two of them, that everything was now perfect in their world. All the heart-aches and doubts had been pushed to the back of their minds. It didn't matter that those dark ominous clouds had just moved away from the spotlight. They would wait in the background, just quietly waiting.

As they were about to leave, the last glass of champagne finished, Barry leaned closer toward Carol and said.

"My darling wife, I want to say this once and never have to repeat it again. So, listen carefully." His voice had a solemn tenor to it. "No matter how successful I may become in my career, I will turn my back on it in a minute if it is ever a choice between my career and our marriage."

Carol could not restrain herself any longer. Tears gushed from her eyes as they both got up from the table. This time she threw her arms around his neck and gave him a long passionate kiss. 

The soft clapping had now broken out into a loud round of applause from almost everyone in the dinning room. Barry smiled and waved to the patrons as he and a blushing Carol left the restaurant.

That night a new chapter in making love was written in the Knoll's bedroom. 

Sleep didn't come till early in the morning for the both of them. 

Peace and contentment filled their dreams.

Chapter 18

Saturday Morning:

Barry woke up before Carol. He went to the kitchen and put the coffee pot on. Then he called Jack. He didn't care if he woke the doctor up. Fortunately, Jack was jogging around the college track when his cell phone rang.

Jack was relieved to get the call from Barry. He wasn't sure what might have transpired between Barry and Carol last night. Little did he know that Carol had not discussed her last session with Barry at all last night.

Barry, still unaware of how Carol's session went, told Jack that he need to meet with him that morning. Somewhat relieved, Jack said that he could meet with Barry at 10:00 in his office.

Barry was on his second cup of coffee sitting at the table reading the morning paper when Carol came around the corner.

Their eyes locked for a moment. Then she said, "Morning, darling. Sorry I slept in so late."

"Not a problem. I have something I need to do this morning so I got up early." He replied.

"What do you need to do?" She said as she poured a cup of coffee for herself.

"I need to get with the doctor this morning. There's too much shit going around that needs to be resolved." Barry was slowly shaking his head from side to side.

"Do you want me to go with you?" A simple question...lots of hidden meaning.

"I don't think so, dear. Without triggering any thoughts you might have about a conspiracy between the two of us, I need to wring several answers out of him. He has been playing with my mind, even though he denies that he was doing that." Barry's voice was calm, but Carol could tell that there was anger in the subtle tones.

"I probably should tell you about my session with....Jack." She now dropped the Dr. Lee name. "I was very angry with him. I told him that I wasn't there for a therapy session, I only wanted more information about this fucked up dysfunction he claims that I am suffering from." Her face was very rigid, no smile no hint of her inner feelings. 

"He told me all about his research and the work he had done with other woman suffering from PTR. Then he told me that my prognosis for a complete recovery was very slim." She stopped speaking and look hard at her husband. 

"I didn't want to hear any more of his bullshit. So I got up and left. He gave me a couple of his books to read, I doubt if I'll ever crack the covers of them." Then as if in a final statement, she said. "I told him that I doubted that I would return for any more therapy sessions with him."

Barry has just sat there in silence as Carol completed her dialogue. He was glad that she had vented her anger at Jack and not at him yesterday. The revelation about her illness seemed to have steeled Carol's resolve to move forward, but this time without the doctor's help. Barry was not about to try and convince her otherwise.

He looked at the clock. It was 9:15. Time to leave for the doctor's office. Carol looked at him with questioning eyes as he got up.

"Time for me to head out, darling. This shouldn't take too long. I'll call you when I'm done and then we can decide if we want to go out for lunch or just stay around the house." He pulled her to him and gave her a long loving kiss. Then he went out into the garage.

Chapter 19

Saturday's session:

The drive over to the campus to meet with Jack, was not a pleasant drive for Barry. He knew that he would have to deal with all of this chaos to head. It seemed to him that the therapy sessions were now doing more harm than good for Carol and him. 

This past week was a real disaster in the Knoll household, primarily because of the humiliating photo session and then telling Carol about her PTH dysfunction. Barry doubted that either he or Carol could endure another week like this past one.

Jack was waiting in his office with the door opened. Becky's desk was empty. The entire building seemed quiet as a morgue. Barry walked into the Jack's office.

"Hello Jack, good of you to see me this morning." Barry said as he moved to a chair in from of Jack's desk. Jack just nodded and smiled.

"It was no problem. I'm glad that you wanted to see me today." Jack said in a guarded voice. He wasn't sure what to expect from Barry this morning.

"Carol told me that she was quite upset when she came to see you yesterday." Barry moved right in on the subject. No sense in beating around the bush.

"Yes. I think the shock of being told that she was susceptible to a mental illness didn't sit very well with her." He tried a small smile. "Especially since that illness was directly tied to her infidelity."

"You're right about that, Jack. She was thoroughly pissed at me when I told her Thursday evening. She accused you and me of a conspiracy to deceive her into believing that her therapy sessions were supposed to help her overcome her guilt about her affair." Barry stopped and made a soft sound with his lips. "I'm afraid that she is so pissed at you that she has decided not to continue with the sessions any more. I think she told you that, didn't she?"

"Not in those exact words, but I got the distinct impression that she wasn't going to be here for her Monday session." Jack was now wondering if he could persuade Barry to insist that Carol continue her therapy sessions. He would have to wait and see what was on Barry's mind.

"The reason I wanted to see you this morning, Jack was to clear up two issues that are bothering me." Barry moved away from Carol's personal issues with Jack.

"The first has to do with treating Carol's dysfunction. You said that it was not treatable with medication or any known therapy method. So, what was your plan for Carol? You seemed to want her to continue her sessions, but there doesn't seem to be a real purpose to them now. Tell me what your thinking was, or is, about helping Carol in the therapy sessions." Barry was in his fact gathering mode now. 'Just the facts, only the facts'.

"It would be hard to explain in just a couple of simple sentences, Barry. But, the gist of it is that Carol needs some outlet to vent all the chaos and confusion in her mind. She realizes more and more everyday just how much damage her affair had on you and on your marriage." Jack was now trying to make his best case for keeping 'the perfect couple' within his sphere of influence. If the ended the sessions, he would lose his best opportunity to validate his theory.

"Carol needs to bring out all of her guilt feelings and not to internalize them. The therapy sessions are a venue for her to do just that. Vent her guilt and frustrations." He laid it out there. Would Barry agree?

"Up until that disastrous so-called photo session you had with her, I would have believed that the therapy was designed to allow her to openly vent her thoughts and feelings." ... Short pause ... "But, Carol is now on a massive guilt trip in addition to thinking that you and I are tricking her for our own amusement." Barry rubbed his hands together.

"I think further therapy sessions with you might cause irreparable damage to Carol's mental state. I agree with her decision to terminate her sessions with you." Barry paused and then without elaborating any more on that subject he shifted topics.

"The second item that I wanted to discuss with you was this idea you were presenting to me about polyamory. You seemed to place all of the burden of acceptance of this form of lifestyle on my shoulders. It was as if I agreed to a troika relationship, that it would be fine and dandy with Carol."