Nothing She Ever Did Pleased Him.
"It's always darkest just before the dawn," is my favorite quote from my well-used Bible. I found it in the book of Proverbs, and it had quickly become my mantra.
This was especially evident when I made the decision, since I could never please him ever, it was time to call a Time Out. It took proof of reality in seeing the actual pictures to back up the rumors around town for me to believe what was going on in my life and particularly in the life of my husband as well.
How dare he take our vows for granted? After everything I have done for him?
I had struggled to hold onto the few friends I did have, while he left me isolated here at home.
I thought he loved me, like a deep - down - inside- to - the - bone kind of loved me. That's how a man and a woman are supposed to be when they are husband and wife.
Committed.
Devoted.
Truthful.
Not unfaithful every time you turn your back.
Of course with the pictures, I was done living in denial land like so many other women do. I had gone to a person who knew a person to get the evidence I needed. No names are needed in my tale but you can imagine and wonder just with whom I spoke with in a roundabout way all you want. And the first two guesses might be wrong so just keep that in mind.
Gladly I paid that bill in cash. You know untraceable cash I kept on hand, or rather he kept on hand for 'emergencies' which I noticed he seemed to have a lot of these past days, weeks, months. Yes, all most five thousand dollars' worth of emergencies. Yes, I might sound a bit sarcastic ... just a bit!
At least he was supporting the local economy by paying for motel rooms.
Pffft.
I 'liberated' a car and trailed him all day long. One day was all I needed to see that it just wasn't worth any effort of mine anymore. He's made his bed, that's for sure. Well he can lie in it! God knows he's done a lot of that, in both aspects of the word lie. It made me realize that much of my married life was living a lie. Let's not kid ourselves here. All of it was a lie.
I had to take a more proactive approach this time. Enough was enough and I was tired of sitting at home while he was 'too busy' to come home. We all know there's business and then there's his kind of business. I've had it!
'Too busy to come home? Really? Even to sleep?
Pffft.
I might as well be invisible for all the good it did trying to keep him interested in me.
Not the favorite meals I fixed on my own for him.
Not a clean house.
I got nothing.
Just, lonely days stretched into lonely nights with no one but my friends to lean on. They were just as mortified as I was about seeing those pictures.
Sure, I stayed pretty active in my social life. When no one cares about you really, why not go out and have some fun of your own? There is no law that says the faithful wife must stay at home while the unfaithful husband is out gallivanting having a wonderful time, being 'busy' whilst 'supporting the community'.
So, that's what I did. Driving to the latest hotspot where all my friends were in an effort to 'pick me up' is when reality came crashing down landing with an enormous thud.
Several vehicles in the parking lot led me to believe that my time for retribution was indeed at hand. My lucky day. Payback is a bitch.
Ensuring which one was my husband's car and confirming which one belonged to his 'companion' had me digging out the keys and scratching their paint all over.
The doors. Very satisfying. Oh yes! And I'm just warming up.
From the hood of the car to the trunk of it, both cars were pretty marked up by the time I got done.
Retribution has been beckoning and calling my name, loudly. They say opportunity knocks, so I just opened the door and here I am. My smile grew.
It grew even more after I called the girls to come on out and watch what happens when the man I used to love sees his new vehicle scratched up to beat the band.
"Are you sure you did enough damage?" one of my friends asked.
"Hold on! I still have some groceries in the car. Wait till I get back," she said all out of breath in her excitement.
So we did.
And we watched her pour sugar into their gas tanks and pretty soon the five pound bag of sugar was gone. Calm as can be she threw the bag in the trunk of her car before rejoining us, dusting her hands off in that contented manner of a job well done her face glowing with innocence. That's the only way I can describe it.
After exchanging hugs and fist bumps, one of the girls in the back seat started in. "Give me your phone," she commanded me. So I did, watching as she disabled Caller ID and fixing it up right as rain.
I saw her scroll through my contact list before hitting the number under which I had him labeled under as Scum Sucker.
On speaker phone, while we all watched with silent squeal and contained excitement and anticipation, she told my husband in a hysterical voice,"Hurry up and get outside! Someone is around your car."
That was when the real show unfolded, the Special Feature, the Main Event.
While I had mixed feelings about this, hearing that no-good son of a bitch rant and rave was well worth it.
He was scanning the parking lot as his face turned red searching for someone to blame for this and glaring into the darker recesses. His breathing was ragged. He was not very happy, at all.
His 'friend' was also copping an attitude.
"What does this mean? Who would want to hurt my car like this?"
"Oh my God! Someone 'wrote' whore on the hood! Do you realize how much you're gonna have to pay to get this fixed for me?"
All the while spittle flew from their mouths as they both raised holy hell. Thankfully I was able to video tape it all. The Main Event was unanimously considered a raging success.
It took the manager to come out and calm them down by demanding that they needed to leave the premises if their loud, obnoxious behavior continued before the special feature was over. He'd been fielding calls ever since they discovered their cars had been damaged.
Each went to their own car and tried to start it but all to no avail. This, of course, led to another round of recriminations towards the other. Wreckers were called for both vehicles, with my husband paying cash from what I could see through my telephoto lens on the camera.
Words just cannot describe what a beautiful, wonderful feeling that was watching the two fools, who ruined my life, get what they deserved. Justification felt good. Deliverance from evil. It was very liberating with no regrets.
While my mother sputtered along trying to come up with excuses, my Dad just looked at me and said, "Name it. Whatever I have is yours. No one should ever go through this, ever."
The final piece before the 'new dawn' of my own happened around 3 in the morning.
After making some calls of my own, I had his personal clothing all bagged up sitting by the curb. My family was mortified to see the film and pictures I had taken, all neatly and conveniently with the date and time stamp on them.
I had been sitting in the living room with all traces of my evening wiped away. Okay showered away. I had to be sure to wipe my face really well, I had been laughing so hard at the sight of both of those people that my mascara had run down my face.
Upon hearing him call my name in such an angry tone really set the stage, but not for long.
Throwing down the photographs I had printed off on our office computer here at home was the last straw for me and immediately silenced his pending outburst. It simply and sweetly took the wind out of his sails.
As a result, I ended up getting my key back to our house, as he sulked while being watched by my 'friends' as he loaded up his car and motored away, down the road and out of my life.
I turned and saw the person with whom I had confided in what was going on. Silently she came up and wrapped her arms around me, letting me cry on her shoulder which was all I wanted. I simply looked her in the eyes and asked the one question I had been dying to know all along:
"Did you know about Vinnie and Lula before you and Ranger got married?"
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A/N. not mine, belong to Janet. Damn her. Please remember these are ONE SHOTS, possibly TWO-shots at times.
Thanks Ms. Kim for once again giving me a rainbow of colors to lead the way for me to post. Ms. Kim is now co-authoring these tales for you to ponder and think over.
Evil cackle of laughter.