Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience.
 
 Dear Reader, This story doesn't contain sex or sexual things.  It's about a
wife that loves (?) her husband, yet has a years long affair.  Eventually
she dies, and leaves 'the letters' for her husband to find, as she knew he
will.

   It is a 'wife-cheat' story only.  No sex.  Just the pain of the husband
to has to cope with life after.  It ends with 'possibilities'.







   Cheated by Death



   He sat there tears running down his cheeks.  The letters in his hands
threatened to fall to the floor as his crumpled form huddled in front of
the open closet doors.  Her clothes were all over the bed behind him as he
had been cleaning out the closet.  His daughter had come over one day last
week and gently forced him to see that it was time.

   Placing all her clothes on their king sized bed he had next turned to
getting all the miscellaneous items out of there too.  Shoes neatly in a
row...so many that they had run over into his side of the closet.  He had
never minded the invasion because Jo had always looked so perfect anywhere
and everywhere they had gone.

   Boxes on the shelf and over in one corner deep into her side of the
closet floor would come out last.  It was there that his whole life had
unraveled.  It was there that he had found out an ugly terrible truth.  His
wife had not been who he thought she had been.

   The first boxes from the shelf had just been old hats and scarves that
Jo had worn at one time but had fallen out of fashion or she had just tired
of.  Then, in the back of the shelf he had come across this old shoebox. 
Jo's favorite black heels had come in this box, and that had been over ten
years before.  Dave had always loved to see Jo in those heels because it
meant that she was feeling sexy and he would be in for some great sex.

   Removing the lid Dave had been unsure of what she would have kept in
there.  The letters had been the last thing Dave would ever have expected
and what they revealed was far more damaging than anything had ever been in
their entire marriage.  As he read the first one his head had swam as if he
was twenty feet under water and drowning.

   After seeing what was said in it, he had skimmed most of the other
letters and the more he read the worse it got.  Jo had been unfaithful. 
Not only unfaithful, but unfaithful for years.  YEARS.  How could he have
not seen it or even gotten a hint that she had been cheating on him
confused Dave leaving him out of breath.  He had more fallen to the floor
than sat.

   "Why?  Why Jo why?"

   His cries into the room were left unanswered.  Twenty years and then
some all gone.  How long had she been cheating on him.  Had this Mike
person been the only one?  Why would Jo have done this to him?  To their
marriage?  Had he been lacking in someway?  Had he not been inventive
enough?  Was it a `size' thing?  WHY?

   Dave got up and went to the bathroom.  Splashing cold water on his face
in an attempt to calm himself down before he threw up he stood there in
front of the mirror for a long time.  With the cold water wetting his shirt
front now, he finally realized that he needed to do something other than
try to drown himself bit by bit in the bathroom sink.

   Drying off, he grabbed his jacket and left the house.  Walking aimlessly
around the neighborhood, he thought over the years they'd been together. 
He remembered all the good times and the bad too.  In all of it he was
searching his memory for any time that she could have slipped up and
exposed something about her affair.  He kept coming up blank.

   It was late now, and Dave had been walking around for hours.  The car
came up behind him and stopped, with the motor running.  He heard running
steps and then his daughter calling out.

   "Dad...what are you doing?  We've been looking all over for you.  We saw
all of moms' stuff on the bed and you weren't around.  We were worried that
something had happened.  What's wrong?  Dad?  You look terrible.  Come with
me.  I'll get you home.  I need to call John.  He's out looking in the
other direction." Dave said nothing on the ride home.  His daughter kept
looking at him, deep concern written all over her face.  The silence in the
car shouted at her that her father was more upset than he'd ever been. 
Trish hadn't seen the box with the letters in it, so she had no idea of
what was going on in her father's head.  All she knew is that she had never
in her life seen her father so upset and so withdrawn.  Not even when they
had first learned of her mother's death.

   Arriving home, John opened the passenger side door for his
father-in-law. He was shaken by the look in Dave's eyes.  Knowing Dave for
quite a few years now, he'd never seen him looking so lost and empty.

   "Here Dave, lets get you inside and a nice good drink inside you.  Looks
like you could use one.  Then after that, we'll talk.  How's that sound?"

   "I'm not really thirsty John.  I think I'd rather just go lay down."

   Trish could sense that something was not quite right with her father,
and finding him like she had, had shaken her up although she didn't show it
on the outside.  She knew that something had happened, and it must have
been while he had been cleaning out the closet.

   "I'll go clear off your bed daddy."

   "I'll just lay down in the guest bedroom honey."

   "It's no problem daddy.  It will only take a moment and you'll have your
bed...just like you like it."

   "NO.  I SAID I'd sleep in the guest bedroom and THAT'S where I'll
sleep."

   Shocked, Trish just stood there in front of her father.  He had never
raised his voice to her like this.  Matter of fact, Trish's friends in high
school had often commented on how quiet her father was and how nice too. 
Here, tonight, her father had changed fundamentally and she was clueless as
to why.  Trish was also scared.  Her father had never acted like this
before, and she wondered what had happened.

   "Daddy, what's wrong?"

   "Nothing.  I'm just...I'm just...tired...that's all.  I'm tired.  Sorry
sweety."

   "Dad, something's bothering you...it's plain as day.  What is it? 
What's wrong dad?

   "Nothing I want to talk about right now Trish.  Will you lock the front
door when you head out?"

   His dismissal drove to the heart of his daughter.  She knew that
something terrible had to have happened tonight, but she was at a loss as
to what.  The only clues were the boxes all around and the closet being
emptied.  Spying the shoebox on the floor next to the bed she began to get
a hint of an idea.

   "Okay daddy.  You go ahead and go lay down.  I'm going to take a look
around the house and check the doors, and then we'll leave.  Okay?"

   "Good night Trish, John.  Thank you."

   As Dave went into the guest bedroom, Trish picked up the small shoebox
and opened it.  Seeing the letters with the strange address on them, she
realized that something involving her late mother had just surfaced.  She
also was pretty sure that the letters in this box had a lot to do with
that.

   "Honey, put that down and let's go.  Your father won't like you snooping
through your moms' things."

   "Honey, I think that these letters are why dad is so upset."

   "He'll notice them if they go missing dear.  Leave them for now.  Okay?"

   Not wanting to, but knowing that her husband was right, she covered the
box with its lid and left it on the floor.  One thing she had indelibly
etched on her mind was that return address in the corner of the top letter.
She knew that address now, and she would find out about it.  All, about it
and the person who lived there.  She also slipped one letter into her
jacket pocket without her husband seeing.

   It had taken a while but she was able to locate the person in the return
address.  This day was one that had nearly cost her marriage, but in the
end her husband had agreed, although reluctantly.  It took all the courage
she had to be there and when he opened the door she nearly ran anyway. 
Their talk was disjointed at first, but bit by bit it all came out.

   "We met around four to six times a year.  Whenever I could manage an
overnighter and Dave wasn't in town.  She loved him you know.  I tried to
get her to leave Dave, but she always refused.  She said that he was the
love of her life and she would rather die than give him up.  I'll miss her
that much I know."

   "You and my mother had this affair for years?"

   "Yeah.  It started with an accident, and went from there.  We had all
been to a company party.  Your father had to leave part way through it, and
I told him that I'd see your mother home safe and sound.  I did, but only
after we sort of...well...neither of us planned on it that's for sure.  It
just happened.  I drove her home, and once there, I walked her to the front
door.  She turned, suddenly we kissed.  We'd both been drinking, that's not
an excuse, just...what it was.  One thing led to another, and the next
thing we knew it had been an hour and a half.  I left."

   "How...could she have done this?  Oh God...no wonder dad has been so
upset."

   "HE knows?  Oh shit.  How'd he find out?  We were always so careful. 
She'd even go to extreme means to make sure that he could never find out.
It wasn't love...what we had.  It was lust.  She knew it.  I had issues
with it for a long time, but it worked itself out.  We didn't get together
often, maybe three or four times a year.  We just liked to
be...together...you know.  There was never any danger..."

   "Are you insane?  If daddy had caught you it would have been the end of
you...and mother too.  He'd have either killed you or worse...and there
would have been a divorce.  Mom was very aware of that.  Dad had mentioned
it in the past.  He'd had a buddy that had been sleeping around on his
wife...daddy had come home one night so angry...I overheard him and mom
talking.  Daddy had said, several times, that if it came down to cheating
that would be it.  He could never forgive cheating.  If someone wanted
someone else in a marriage, then end the marriage first.  I can remember
daddy saying that, and mom agreeing."

   "Yeah...your mom told me that once.  I figured that in the heat of the
moment that may be the case, but over time he'd forgive and try to forget."

   "Oh no.  Dad would never have forgotten.  Matter of fact, if I were you,
I'd be real careful if you're even in the same state as dad in the future.
He knows it was you.  He's more upset than I've ever seen him, including
moms funeral...he's beyond angry now.  I'm not real sure why I came here
other than to warn you to stay away from dad.  I'm afraid that he'll kill
you if he sees you."

   "That serious is it?"

   "Well, what you would do may be different, but my father would kill over
something like this.  If I were you I'd move across the country and never
come back to this side if I could any way avoid it."

   "Good thing that I almost do live across the country then."

   "You may still want to move.  He knows your address.  I got it from the
letters."

   "Letters?"

   "The ones you sent mom."

   "SHE KEPT THEM?"

   "Yes.  Calm down.  What did you think she'd do with them?"

   "I'd have thought she'd toss them not wanting to chance your dad finding
them."

   "Yeah...me too.  I can't believe she kept them.  I never read them...but
I know that dad has."

   "Damn.  Double damn."

   Trish had found Mike.  The next logical step had been going to warn him,
only to protect her father.  She was afraid that her father would find Mike
and kill him, so she had arranged to meet with him.  The conversation had
been surreal for her, knowing that this was the man her mother had chanced
her whole life on...and gotten away with it until she died.

   She didn't hate this man.  She didn't really feel anything about him. 
Her mother had ruined her image in her father's mind, irrevocably.  Those
letters had destroyed any possible good memories her father could have had.

   Powerless to `fix' this mess, Trish had done the next best thing she
could think of.  Keep her father from hurting himself or someone else,
causing him to end up in prison.  Other than that, she was still dealing
and trying to find a way to cope with her mother's dishonesty and cheating
in her marriage.

   The whole affair was now taking a toll on the family.  Trish and John
had been under a strain, especially when Trish had decided to go find Mike
and warn him about her father.  John had understandably been upset knowing
that his wife was going to talk and confront a strange man that neither of
them knew, for having had an affair with her mother.  Her late mother no
less.

   Dave had been quiet and more and more keeping to himself.  Withdrawing
from life, he was becoming a hermit of sorts.  Afraid she was going to lose
her father, she had tried everything she could think of to get him back out
and enjoying life.

   What Trish didn't know was that while she was talking to Mike that cold
November day, John had gone to Dave's and had a talk with him.  Man to man.
John was nothing if straightforward when called for, and that talk was eye
opening.

   "Hi John.  What brings you to my home?"

   "Jo."

   "What?  What about Jo?"

   "Look Dave.  I know all about it.  Well, I can read between the lines
anyway.  When you threw out everything that could possibly remind you of
Jo, I figured it out.  That night...when you found out...when you were
walking...it was in that box of letters wasn't it?"

   "Yeah.  Look, I know you mean well John, but you can't step in and help
me here.  The only person that could do that is dead and buried, and left
me with this...shitty taste in my mouth and no way to cleanse it out."

   "You're right, I don't know about that Dave, but I do know that Trish is
more than very worried about you.  Do you know where she went?"

   "I thought she went to L.A.  to visit an old friend?"

   "No.  She went to see this Mike guy.  To warn him."

   "WHAT?!"

   "She was worried that you'd do something stupid and end up in prison or
worse.  She went to warn him that you knew about mom and him."

   "And you let her go?"

   "She's her father's daughter.  I couldn't have changed her mind if I'd
wanted to."

   "IF you'd wanted to?"

   "Yeah, deep down I figure she is doing the right thing warning Mike.  I
didn't put up much of a fight after I realized how serious she was.  He
needs to be aware of the danger he is in.  Not only from you, but from me
as well."

   "You?  What the hell do you have to do with this anyway?"

   "It affects Trish, and whatever affects Trish affects me.  I wouldn't
mind putting a hit out on him.  He messed up big time and..."

   "No.  He didn't mess up.  I did."

   "What?"

   "I should have noticed it.  Long ago I should have sensed it, seen it,
wondered...something.  I was too tied up in my work.  If I had been paying
attention I would have been able to prevent it to begin with."

   "You don't know that Dave."

   "Yes...I do.  Jo left me a letter.  It was on the bottom of that box. 
I've read some of it.  She told me about it...no apology.  She explained
why she took the chances she did, and even the dates of each time she did
it with...him.  She told me she wasn't mad at me...nor did it affect her
love for me.  It had happened and for all practical matters, they had
gotten away with it.  She told me that she figured that some time I would
catch her and we'd fix things...or not.  In the end they ended up getting
away with it for over ten years.  TEN YEARS...and I couldn't notice it at
all.  I was so tied up with my career..."

   "You couldn't have if you'd wanted to.  You trusted her fully and
completely.  If you'd have found out you would have left her that instant.
I know you well enough to have known that Dave."

   "Jo didn't think so.  She figured that I'd find out and that she'd have
been able to convince me to stay with her.  She would have quit the affair
that instant...but until she got caught she planned to keep on going with
it.  I think she wanted me to catch her at first.  Later...well...it became
a game...at least that's what she said it was."

   "Why?  Why would she do that?"

   "She wrote that at first she was angry.  I had been spending too much
time away, not enough time at home.  That stopped later that summer, so
they tapered off a bit.  Then, he moved due to his job.  After that, they
met a few times a year.  It became a game...she said that...a game.  A
fucking stupid, crazy, shameful game."

   "So, ultimately, she wanted you to think that you were to blame then? 
That's bullshit Dave and you know it."

   "Yeah...isn't it though?"

   "SO...what are your plans then Dave?  Where do you go from here?"

   "Sell the house, move somewhere else...start over.  I'm only
fifty-six...I have something to live for yet...not as much as I thought I
did to begin with...but I still have Trish and you...the grandkids...myself
too.  I'm not going to get even...or do anything to Mike.  Trish should
know me better than that."

   "You've not been yourself for quite a while Dave...you even have to
admit that.  She was worried enough to want to make sure you couldn't do
something stupid.  Matter of fact, that's why I'm staying with you
really...she wanted to make sure you didn't...you know..."

   "What?  Oh...suicide.  I'm not that bad off John.  Really.  I would
really like to slap Jo though...and I can't do that.  She was a desirable
and sexy lady...I can't really blame Mike for wanting to...and not passing
up a chance when it was offered either.  Don't get me wrong though...if I
had caught them I'd probably have beat him within an inch of his life...Jo
too."

   "Yeah...probably.  What now though Dave?  Move to where?  Do what?"

   "The insurance left me well off.  I still have my job...probably just
move across town and find a new home.  I don't want to go too far from you
guys."

   That was how it ended for a while.  Dave lived on, sadder, yet far wiser
than ever before.  He still visited Jo's grave on their anniversary, but
other than that, he never showed any other memory of her.  He had tossed
all the pictures with her in them, all of her things, even most of the
furniture they had collected over the years.  Everything except the
letters. One day he would read them all and try to see what she had thought
and felt.  Other than that, nothing else remained.

   Nothing to remind him of her even having had existed.  Twenty-four years
gone...in the mists of time.  Never to be recovered.  His way worked for
him.  Of course, hearing that Mike had died of a form of cancer that was
painfully slow and agonizing helped a bit in his getting past it all.  It
seemed that Mike and Jo had shared that one thing more, and he wondered if
Karma had played a large hand in that ending.

   Living alone, with visits to Trish and John, he found that he was
working to a happier life after some time.  Not quite ready to move on to
the next step, nevertheless, he knew that one-day soon he would want to
date...maybe.  He was still young enough to want someone to share his
remaining years with.  The letters were kept in that same box, up in his
closet.

   One day Dave woke up and realized that he was sixty.  His birthday was
here and he was sixty years old.  Where the years had gone he didn't know,
but knowing it was his birthday and how old he was, and that he was
alone...still...hit him hard.

   "Oh damn Jo...why...why did you do it?  Your letter never really told me
why...you hinted at it...but never came right out and said.  Damn."

   Sad, his day went fairly smoothly.  At work there was cake and ice cream
for the `old man' of the place.  He smiled laughed and joked, all the time
feeling that loneliness that had entered his life uninvited.  That night
Trish and John had a party for him, and the grandkids were all over their
grandpa, loving and laughing.  In better spirits, he went to bed and slept
fairly well for the first time in years.

   The next morning, being it was a Saturday, he cleaned up around his
small home.  During the cleaning he stumbled across that box of letters. 
Suddenly it was important to him to throw them away.  He knew instinctively
it was time to put it behind him.

   In the back yard he built a small fire.  Tossing in each letter after he
read it he learned more about a side of his wife he'd never even dreamed
she had.  She had loved him, but she had betrayed him as well.  A fine fix.
His thoughts, all jumbled, slowly focused on the facts.

   Jo had cheated on him with another man.  They had gotten away with it
for years.  He had failed to even catch a hint of something going on.  Jo
had loved him fully, as he had thought, all those years, even to the point
of threatening to break it off with her lover when he had pleaded for her
to leave her husband to be with him.

   The issue was, and it was a sticky one too, Dave had no way of working
things out, getting even, or even just being angry with her now.  She was
dead, gone, and buried.  She had gotten away with it, Scott free.  Or
mostly so.  He had suffered for it though.  He had wasted years worrying
over it like a dog with a bone.

   The final letter came up...the one addressed to him.  He had skimmed
over it several times in the ensuing years, only to get so angry and upset
he'd toss it back into the box and go get drunk.  Today he read it...word
for word.  He searched for the nuances of what he knew Jo would have
written in her way.  In the end he decided that she had loved him...in
spite of that inner evil that she had hidden away so well.

   For the first time in four years, Dave forgave his late wife.  Tossing
that letter into the small fire caused it to flare up.  The next door
neighbor called over the fence.

   "You okay Dave?  Fire not getting out of hand is it?"

   "I'm okay Jim.  I'm putting the fire out.  Just had to get rid of
some...garbage.  You know..."

   "Yeah, can't trust anyone now days...they'll raid your garbage can and
steal away your private financial information and rob you blind.  Damn
those bastards."

   "Yeah.  Damn those bastards."

   It was doubtful the neighbor had heard Dave's last words since he had
walked off stewing about the `garbage' thieves.  Watching the flames die
down Dave felt clean for the first time in years.  It was kind of symbolic
in so many ways, but the fire had burned the pain away mostly.  Holding his
head up, he walked inside to begin his life all over.

   He was thinking of the lady down the street...what was her name? 
Linda...that was it...he started out the front gate walking in that
direction.  Maybe he'd just stop by and see if she wanted to go have a cup
of coffee at that Starbucks on the corner.  It would be a nice walk on a
nice day.