My Wife Falls for an On-Line Scam

There's no sex in this story.

It had been five years since I came home from work and found a large limo sitting in my driveway. The largest black man I've ever seen opened my front door and allowed me to enter my house, maybe allowed isn't the right word but he could have easily stopped me. My wife Amy was sitting at the table, wearing the dress I loved to take off her. As I approached the table, she added a single ice cube to a glass and filled the glass with scotch, just the way I liked it.

"You're going to want to drink that Jack," Amy said, looking as gorgeous as ever.

Then she handed me a manilla envelope.

"Jack, last year I met a man on-line from Dubai. I have been intimate with him for the last six months. He has asked me to marry him and I have said yes, therefore I am divorcing you. The terms are very generous to you, he's a billionaire so there's no need for me to take anything from you, except our son. We are leaving for Dubai on his private jet within the hour. There's nothing you can do to stop us and if you try the gentleman at the door will easily stop you."

"Jake is at an age where he will have say in any custody battle," she added.

She called our son, who among other things, calmly explained why he would prefer to live with a billionaire instead of a lowly factory worker.

I don't think I said anything, I don't think I was given the opportunity to say anything until I called in sick the next few days and saw a lawyer.

The lawyer went through the divorce papers and basically said I was fucked as far as my son was concerned. I had the right to visit my son but it would be at his mother's convenience and she didn't have to find it convenient. Not to mention I would have to travel to Dubai.

There was a deposit in my account for $500,000, I wasn't sure if he was paying for my wife or my son. Maybe it was a buy one, get one.

I started doing what any red blooded American would do, I drank and I drank a lot and I drank often. I had almost drank myself out of a job when the company sent me home for a week. It was unpaid and according to the letter they handed me, it was an opportunity to go home and think about my job and if I still wanted to work there. I stopped drinking that week, just quit and dumped every ounce of booze including the wine Amy left behind.

They let me come back to work on the condition that I would voluntarily submit to random drug and alcohol screenings. I never did drugs and I liked the idea of the additional incentive not to drink the next time I felt sorry for myself.

After that I spent most of my time studying the stock market and reading every piece of financial literature I could get my hands on. Once I felt I knew enough to be dangerous, I started putting the $500,000 to work. Not every investment I made paid off, but I wasn't in need of the money so I could let bad bets sit long enough to earn a profit. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with the money I made, my only extravagance had been scotch and I wasn't buying that anymore.

That was my life, I read, I invested and I went to work. I never dated after I stopped drinking and all of my friends were drinkers so I avoided them.

Like I said, that was five years ago and I hadn't heard from Amy or Jake in those years. I had no way to contact them and they never reached out to me.

Exactly five years after they left, there was a knock on the door. As I opened the door I saw a limo pulling away.

Standing in front of me was a young man, Jake had really filled out.

"Will you let us in Dad?"

I stepped aside as Jake and a woman entered the house. Since she was with Jake, I assumed the woman was Amy but it was almost impossible to recognize her. First, it was the very large, obviously fake tits. I really don't know much about boob sizes but my guess was triple E. But her lips were overly plump and it looked like every part of her body had been trimmed or inflated. She looked like a cartoon character with bleached blonde hair. Amy kept her eyes glued to the ground.

Jake was searching the kitchen, "Where's the scotch Dad, we're going to need it."

"There is none Jake. I got myself into a drinking problem when you guys left. It was either quit drinking or lose my lowly factory job."

"I deserved that dad and I am sorry, but not as much as my mother is."

Amy was standing in the corner, still staring at the floor.

"Come sit Amy," I said.

"In where we lived, women were not allowed to sit at a table with men unless invited by her husband and since she has no husband, she can't sit with us."

"What about the guy she was going to marry?"

"That's the beginning of a very long story. You're off tomorrow, so can we save it until then? It's been a long day for both of us. Will you let us stay here, at least for tonight?"

"Why of course, is your mother going to say anything Jake?"

"She hasn't said anything in almost five years, not because of any law but her own act of defiance which she was brutally beaten for, that and refusing to eat. Is there something soft I can make her, like some soup. Maybe she'll eat since we're here."

I watched Jake make her some chicken noodle soup, then he took his mother's hand and basically forced her to sit at the table in front of the soup. He spoon fed his mother the soup and dipped bread into the bowl. Amy ate the soup and the bread. When she was done, Jake led her to what had been our guest room. Jake retrieved their luggage from outside and helped his mother change into something to sleep in. It was clear that this wasn't the first time her saw his mother naked or helped her change. I couldn't watch.

They were already up when I woke up, Jake was feeding his mother some scramble eggs and orange juice. Amy ate but there were tears in her eyes as she stared at the table. I put on coffee and then poured three cups.

"So what happened Jake?"

"The end result is they broke her or maybe they didn't because she never spoke and this is the first time that she voluntarily ate."

"Mom, stand up and show my father the tattoo on your back."

Amy stood up, turned her back to us and pulled down the sweats she was wearing enough to show most of her ass. On her lower back, where some women get their tramp stamps, was Arabic writing.

"It says: A Gift from Assam el Assid."

"Where we lived in Dubai, men had two kinds of wives, those who would bear his children and others were his property to do with as he chose. Really they were all his property but some he chose to share with other men, a sign of his great wealth and generosity. Mom signed a contract that was written in Arabic, which she couldn't read at the time, agreeing to be his property for five years. I think there were 30 women in his little harem. Most were sold into this kind of slavery by their families or angry husbands. And that's what it was, slavery. Women didn't have any rights there to begin with so it was not too much of an adjustment for some. Mom having grown up in the western world had a very hard time adjusting."

"There were only a few white women in the harem so mom was very desirable to Assam's guests. We shared the same living quarters but there would be days or even weeks in the beginning when I didn't see her. With the exception of not being able to leave, we were able to stroll around the palace and eat whatever we wanted. Or I got to eat whatever I wanted, once mom got the tattoo she went on her hunger strike and refused to speak."

"That made Assam very angry, it was not acceptable for a woman not to respond when a man spoke to her. That was a major insult in their world so they beat her, nothing that would leave a permanent mark, he didn't want to deface his property but she still refused to talk. I tried to take care of her as best as I could. Eventually without eating, she lost a lot of weight. She looked like those starving kids in Africa. None of Assam's guest were interested in my mother anymore. Plus she would frequently pass out."

"Assam just kept getting angrier, he had her strapped to a table where they force fed her, most of which she voluntarily or involuntarily vomited back up as soon as they let her up from the table. Maybe two years into our stay, they started with the plastic surgery to try and make her more attractive. What you see now is the third boob job, they kept trying different things, first the breast implants and then the butt implants, implants in her lips and cheeks. There was nothing they could do with her arms and legs so they are basically sticks and not very attractive."

"I think that should give you a clear picture of the last five years Dad, I could go into more graphic detail but I don't see how that would help."

"What about you Jake, what happened to you?"

"I was kind of an oddball, none of the other women brought children with them. They insisted I go to school so I learned to speak the language. I have an engineering degree from some university in Dubai. As I said, I was free to roam the palace and do as I please, with the exception I had to study and pass my tests. After I turned 18, Assam would gift me one of his women for a night if I did well on a test so I did well on as many tests as I could."

"What are you going to do dad?"

"I haven't a clue Jake, I think your mother needs more help than we can provide. Maybe we should take her to a hospital."

Amy made a noise and started using sing language to talk to Jack.

Jack said, "Mom never wanted them to hear her speak, even if we were alone in our quarters, so we learned sign language. She said no hospital."

"Jake, from what you say, your mother has endured horrendous physical and mental abuse. We are not trained to help her overcome that."

For the first time since she was back, Amy looked at me as she shook her head no, tears streaming down her face.

"I'm not disagreeing with you Dad, let's give her a few weeks if you'll let us stay here."

He was looking at his mother when he said that and he signed, "You have to meet us hallway mom, you have to start eating and taking care of yourself, three meals a day and daily showers."

To me he said, "That was another part of her defiance, no showers, she wouldn't wipe herself and when she had her period she would let it flow down her legs. Sometimes she would smell so bad I almost vomited. They started hosing her down."

Amy was signing to Jake and me but I had no idea what she was saying, Jake started interpreting, "She said she'll eat and take care of herself but please no hospitals at least for now. She asked if she could take a shower and a nap when she's done."

"Of course," I said.

Jake added, "I need to cover the mirror in the bathroom, she's horrified by her appearance."

Amy stood up, I stood up next to her and hugged her, "I am glad you're back Amy."

She very gently hugged me back, Jake was behind her and mouthed thank you with a tear in his eye. I have no idea why I hugged Amy. Jake helped his mother in and out of the showers I tried not to watch. When she was done, Jake led her back into the guest room and brushed her hair. Jake sat with her until she fell asleep.

"I don't know about this Jake. I'm assuming the plastic surgery is why she's horrified by her appearance, only a hospital and a lot of money will undo what they did."

"I know dad, but it's the mental I'm most concerned with. That hug was probably the best medicine she could receive right now, thank you. We'll need some food for her dad, soft foods, like soup, bouillon cubes, rice, lots of bread and eggs, maybe pancake mix. Eventually we'll have to move onto meats. There's actually literature out there on how to bring someone back from a hunger strike or starvation. But the soft foods come first as her digestive system kicks back in."

"And what about you Jake, what can I get you, still love Wendy's burgers? How about a triple?"

"That sounds great Dad."

I pulled him in for a hug, I was a hugging kind of guy today, "I'm so proud of you Jake, the way you're taking care of your mother. I'm very impressed." Jake broke the hug and went to check on his mother. I'm pretty sure he was crying.

Jake rarely left his mother's side while I had to go to work. I got him a cell phone so he could keep me up to date on her progress. Jake mothered her, if she went to the bathroom he would ask her if she wiped when she came out, twice while I was there she went back into the bathroom, did you wipe and did you wash your hands greeted he every time she came out. He had taped newspaper over that bathroom mirrors so she wouldn't have to see herself.

And every time I came in or left, I hugged Amy and Jake. Amy started hugging me back, I mean really hugging me back, usually with her face buried in my shoulder. Her huge breasts made it difficult.

It was in the middle of the second week, during dinner, when Amy said, "More please." Jake and I both dropped our silverware. I pulled Amy into a hug and Jake joined us. Each day she added more words, even when she was signing to Jake.

On her fourth weekend, Amy signed that she wanted the plastic surgery undone, she didn't want plastic coming between her and my hugs."

Jake said, "I've been doing a lot of research on this knowing we were going to get here someday. They can't undo the nose job or some of the other things they did. Stuff like the boobs and the other implants can be removed although it's not cheap and most likely require a hospital stay. But the big hurdles will be trying to find someone who will be willing to undo someone else's work and it will be expensive."

"Don't worry about money," I said. Amy was crying, loudly now, I went over and hugged her.

"What dad, you became a millionaire while we were gone on your factory salary, no offense but we're easily talking a hundred thousand dollars, probably more."

"When you guys left, someone put $500,000 into my checking account. I'm assuming it was Assam, maybe paying me for your mother or for you. Once I quit drinking I took up investing with all my free time and I did become a millionaire although most of that is invested."

"How is she doing eating Jake?"

"Mom, can you pull down your pants and show dad your legs."

Amy's legs were filling out.

"She's even spending time on that treadmill down in the basement dad."

Amy gave me a smile, one of the first real smiles since she's been back.

Jake was a saint and took over vetting different plastic surgeons, we came up with a story that she married a rich man oversees, a few years into their marriage he convinced her to get some work done. After numerous surgeries he realized it was hopeless and divorced her.

Jake would visit willing surgeons with before and after pictures and finally found someone willing to take on the task but spread out over a few weeks. First he would tackle the hideous boob job, give her a chance to recover, remove the implants from her face and then after two weeks, he would address the butt implants.

Amy rarely spoke to me directly relying Jake to be the go between, and most of their communication was still using sign language. I was beginning to pick up bits and pieces of what they were signing.

Amy would always go to bed early, one night after she was in bed Jake asked me why I was being kind to them.

"To tell you the truth Dad, I didn't expect to get in the front door. Mom was ruthless and I was a bastard when we left. Yet you open the door for us and are doing everything you can for my mother, why?"

"I don't know Jake, I'm simply doing what feels right."

"You never moved on with another woman?"

"I slept with a number of women when I was a drunkard, most of whom I'm not proud of. Just other sad losers like myself. Once I stopped drinking, I stopped screwing around, I guess drinking and screwing went together."

"So what happens after the surgeries, will you get back with mom?

"I don't know Jake, I really don't know anything. I hope you don't think I have some master plan here. Every time we're faced with a decision I just try and choose what is the right thing to do. If you ever disagree with a decision, please tell me. You know your mother better than me and there's stuff you know that I don't."

"Okay Dad, I haven't disagreed with any decision you've made so far. I do know that every time you give her a hug you heal another scar."

The breast reduction surgery went better than hoped. She would be in the hospital for three days, mostly as a precaution and mostly sedated. Jake and I took turns by her bedside. I was sitting in a chair alongside her bed, holding her hand, and mostly asleep when I felt her squeeze my hand. I went to get the nurse but she wouldn't let go of my hand. Tears were streaming down her face. I used the call button to get a nurse to come in. I had to explain that Amy relied on sign language and called Jake. He was able to translate using Facetime.

Essentially, Amy said she forgot where she was at first, which scared her but she was okay now.

The doctor came in while I was at work. He said beyond the hideous choice on the size of the implant, the work was first rate and he would do the next step as soon as she felt she was ready. Amy wanted it done right away, like now she insisted. They ended up not releasing her from the hospital and undid the face implants the next day.

When I went in to see her, she was still sedated. Amy's breasts were still bandaged and her face was completely covered except for some slits for her eyes and mouth. Jake was sitting with her. I handed him a Wendy's burger.

"She stirs every so often Dad, calling out your name. The doctors don't expect her to come out of the sedation until tomorrow, they hope not any sooner. The longer she's out the more time she'll have to heal."

It was my shift to sit by Amy's bedside and I held her hand. Several times I felt her give it a squeeze.

There were times I sat by her bedside and wondered what the fuck was I doing. She cheated on me for at least six months and some people would consider her prior on-line relationship with the guy also cheating. Then she coldly rips my heart out and steals my son away from me. The surgery to put her back together was costing me a hundred grand or more. And then what happens after humpty dumpty is put back together again? Do we pick as the happy loving couple I thought we were before she crushed me? I could not take the risk she would crush me again, I didn't care about the money but I would never want to pick up the bottle again. I thought about disengaging from Amy.

Amy woke up on the second day while Jake was by her side. I was deliberately standing away from the bed. I could see her giving Jake's hand a squeeze. She was searching the room for me and when she found me she held out her hand to me, I hesitated long enough for Jake to silently say, 'what the fuck' to me. I went over and held her hand. She was only awake for a few minutes before the nurses gave her another sedative. Jake motioned me to talk with him outside the room and we headed down the cafeteria.

"Talk to me dad, what were you thinking?"

"Jake, most of the time I look at your mother as the woman I once loved and I'm filled with compassion for her, and other times I remember the woman who ripped by heart out and stole my son from me. None of us are unscarred after these five years and I was dangerously close to hitting the reset button while I was trying to quit drinking. I don't think I could survive it again."

"I understand dad, as I said, I didn't think we would get in the front door with the way we treated you. Please stand by her through these surgeries and at the end, if you can't get past the pain she caused I'll find someplace else to live with no hard feelings on my end, only gratitude for the kindness you've shown us so far."

"How did you get so wise Jake?"

"I lived through hell dad. Imagine holding your naked mother in your arms after she was brutally beaten, seeing the realization on her face when she realized she sold herself into sexual slavery and admiring her will power not to give in. It's been a long five years for both of us."

"I'll try to be better Jake, I can't make any promises. Do we really know who we'll see when the bandages come off, I'm not talking about her physical appearance but who will she be."

Amy was awake and sitting up in bed when I got to the hospital after work the next day. She didn't reach for me and the sign language conversation between her and Jake came to an immediate end. After handing Jake another Wendy's burger, I put on my big boy pants, walked over squeezed her hand and gave her a soft kiss on her bandaged forehead. She wouldn't release my hand until she need it back to sign something to Jake who then volunteered to get me a cup of coffee from the cafeteria. Amy took my hand in both of hers and held it to where her mouth would be, maybe she was kissing my hand, it was hard to tell through the bandages.

I sat there for most of the evening until I felt her grip on my hands relax and realized she had fallen asleep. Jake and I headed home.

"Thank you dad for the way you greeted her when you came in. She's afraid of so many things, she strongly believes she can no longer trust her own judgement. Besides me, you are the only person she feels she can trust at all. Mom also realizes that you don't owe her anything and she is thankful for what you've done so far. But she hopes that you will forgive her and somehow the two of you will get back together. I understand that you may not want to do that. But please, let's get through the surgeries and she wants to go to counseling when the surgeries are done."

I can remember the Jake who left, the young teenager who only wanted to play video games and now this young adult, standing before me.

"We'll let things ride through the surgeries, she needs more than counseling, she will need a psychiatrist and a good one. Somebody familiar with long term mental and physical abuse. Maybe you can do some research in your free time."

"Already on it dad, I have appointments with two different psychiatrist to discuss her case."

Amy came home two days later, still wrapped in gauze. I didn't know it but when the removing the implants in her face, they realized one of the implants in her butt was leaking so they took them out too. I came home and found Jake giving her a sponge bath in the guest shower. She freaked out when I came in, covering herself with a towel.

"Sorry dad, we'll be out in a minute."

Amy looked like the character in the old invisible man movie when she sat down at the table, I had to hide my smile. Jake had made some dinner, some soup for his mother and some spaghetti and meatballs for me. Jake ate a little of both.

Amy was signing something to Jake and he turned to me and said, "Mom said she's sorry but it's really painful for her to talk right now. She wants to know how you day was?"

"Just another boring day in paradise Amy," she use to ask me that question before

she went to Dubai and that's how I always answered her.

"How are you feeling Amy?"

She was signing to Jake who interpreted for her. "Most of the pain is subsiding except for my butt when I'm sitting and anytime I move my mouth. The bandages come off next week, but there will still be some scarring the doctor said. He told me in the beginning I may look a little bit like the bride of chucky but that will go away after a while. He thought comparing me to the bride of Chucky was funny. Maybe to him it was. I will need some clothes Jack, maybe Jake can pick me up a few things."

"Certainly, Jake has my credit card. We need a second car, maybe Jake could start shopping for one."

"Maybe a Vette dad?"

"You are certainly not getting a Vette before me and you need to get your license reestablished first."

After dinner I sat on the couch and put on the ball game. Amy sat down next to me and I took her hand. She hated baseball when we lived together so I offered her the remote but she refused it. We sat there together holding hands and I wondered what was going on in her head, what she was thinking. I didn't even know if she was happy or maybe contented.

When the game was over I headed to bed as Jake helped his mother get ready for bed. I have been having trouble sleeping, too much thinking going on in my little head. Without turning my head, I could see Amy quietly sneak into my room and into my bed. She was facing away from me but I took her hand in mine and she turned onto her back, her face was looking at mine.

In the morning I was able to get up and dressed without waking her, I stepped out of my room in time to see a panicked Jake exit his mother's room. I shooshed him and nodded to my room. He came over and gave me a long hug. I could feel my shirt getting wet but I was late for work.

That night at dinner after work was a repeat of the day before. Amy asked how my day was and I told her just another boring day in paradise. I was pretty sure she was smiling under the gauze.

Jake had made a stew and threw Amy's into a blender so she could drink it.

After dinner, I sat on the couch and when Amy sat next to me I handed her the remote and suggested she put on a movie. She put on the ball game and took my hand in hers. That night she snuck into my room again but this time I gently pulled her head to my chest.

It was the best night's sleep in a long time. And we continued to sleep that way.

The weekend was a little more challenging as I struggled to fill the free time we had. Jake and I went to check out a couple of cars, Amy refused to leave the house. Jake first took me to a new car he liked, nothing fancy, a smaller SUV. We checked out a couple used cars he picked out and then some others but I liked the new car more. I haggled with the dealer, telling him I was paying cash. He made me an offer but I refused and told Jake lets go. He took another two grand off before I said ok. Jake drove it home. Amy refused to come outside to look at it but peaked through the windows.

I had purchased a picture puzzle and set up a card table so we could work on it. There was an extra cushion on Amy's chair for her sore butt. We worked the puzzle and I put on a movie after dinner. It was one of Amy's favorites. Again, Jake helped her get ready for bed.

"I can do that Jake."

"No doubt dad, but she's not ready for that. She's afraid you'll be horrified."

"When she's ready, bring her to our room, I don't like the idea of her trying to navigate the house with her vision impaired."

"She's ready now dad."

I took Amy's hand and led her to our bed, it was not lost on me that I was thinking of it as our bed. She laid down next to me and put her head on my shoulder. Amy had been pretty emotionless since she returned as was Jake most of the time. I was thinking post-traumatic stress disorder but I didn't know shit.

Sunday morning I got Amy to sit on our back deck with me. It was pretty secluded and I felt she could do with some fresh air. I snipped a rose for her which she held to her nose. Jake came out and refreshed our coffees. Amy started signing him, they were going back and forth, almost like a disagreement or argument.

"That's not nice to leave me sitting here in the dark while you two go back and forth. Obviously there's a disagreement here and I should be brought into the conversation."

"I'm sorry dad, really we're both sorry. I want you to come with us when she gets the bandages off on Wednesday, mom has a different opinion obviously. She's worried about what she'll look like when the bandages come off. My argument is you'll see what she looks like anyway so why not when the doctor is there who can answer any questions you may have."

"Well, I have already scheduled the day off and I will be there, I'm sorry Amy, I want to overrule you on this one."

The old Amy would have said fine and stormed off and for a second I thought this Amy would do the same thing as she got out of her chair, but she signed ok and sat back down.

The three of us were in the hospital as the doctor started removing the bandages from her chest. She wanted some privacy so Jake and I left the room. We stayed out while they removed the bandages from her ass. We were sitting by her side, Jake holding one hand while I held the other, the doctor standing behind her removing the bandages like he was unraveling a mummy.

There was still a lot of bruising which the doctor assured us would be mostly gone within a week. And there was some scarring, almost invisible lines you wouldn't notice unless you were looking for them. She looked like the old Amy but a little different and nothing like the Amy that greeted me on my doorstep almost a month ago. The doctor pointed out some differences between the before photograph we gave him and the current Amy. Her nose was thinner and less prominent, her cheeks and lips were still swollen a little bit and her ears had been tucked. I had always thought Amy was beautiful and those things really didn't change my thinking.

"And she's beautiful again, just like the woman I married. Thank you doctor."

Amy buried her face on my chest and began crying. We stopped at a hair salon on the way home so she could get rid of the bleached blond look. They were able to bring back her original color and a hairdo similar to what she had when she left.

I came home from work the following week to find Amy and Jake arguing. It was a funny way to describe it because neither one was saying anything but their hands were flying. I grabbed a glass of iced tea, sat at the table and asked the two of them to explain what was going on.

"Mom wants me to start looking for a job."

"That sounds like a great idea Jake, what's your reluctance?"

"There's too much uncertainty right now, what if I take a job and something happens?"

"There's always going to be uncertainty Jake and you can't put your life on hold because the future is uncertain, it always will be. Is there a specific uncertainty your unwillingly to say out loud."

Jake looked at his mom then at me, then back at his mom, "Dad, you know I'm eternally grateful for the kindness you've showed us, especially to mom. But you said yourself you don't know if things could go back to the way they were."

"It's unlikely that they will go back to the way they were before, but that doesn't mean you mother and I won't find a way forward and even if we couldn't, are you thinking I would just kick your mother to the curb, is there anything I've done over the last weeks or months that would even suggest that. Sorry but I'm feeling a little insulted right now."

"I'm sorry dad, I've been worrying about her for the last five years."

"And I'm very proud of you for doing so, but it's not all on you anymore and hasn't been since the two of you walked in that door. You need to start living you own life. Go find a woman of your own and let me take care of your mother."

A silence fell on the table.

"Amy, what are you thinking," I asked. I hadn't realized she was quietly crying.

She was staring at the table and started signing with her hands close to her chest, sometimes I could recognize certain words but not when she signed like that. It was almost like she was whispering.

"Mom said she always hoped that things would go back to the way they were before, more than just hoped because she never considered another outcome."

"Amy, if we look at the way things were before, it didn't end well. I'm not pretending to know why. Maybe it's human nature to remember the good times and let the bad times fade away and there must have been some bad times that led you to Dubai. People's relationships change all the time, I'm not saying I don't want to be in a relationship with you, but hopefully we can establish a better relationship."

Amy came over to me and knelt at my feet and said, "I'm so sorry Jack, for a thousand reasons I wish I could undo what I did, mostly because of the pain I caused you. Will you ever forgive me?"

"Amy don't ever kneel at my feet and I forgave you long before you came back, please sit next to me. You are my equal in all things."

We were holding each other and I looked over at Jake, "Did we accomplish anything here son?"

"Yes dad, I'll start looking for a job, but I never got a chance to start dinner."

"Then let's go out to eat, are you ready for that Amy?"

She had the deer in the headlights look before she nodded yes, than it was a half hour for her to decide on what to wear. And then some makeup, shit, we were only going to the Olive Garden. Jake thought she would do well with pasta.

We were eating when some of our neighbors stopped by, "Amy and Jake it's so good to see you again," the woman said, "Jake you've grown into a very good looking man while Amy you haven't changed a bit. I want your genes. We must get together for coffee soon. I won't hold you up."

"Who was she," Amy asked. I looked at Jake who looked back at me, both of us with concern in our eyes.

"Amy, that was Nancy, she was probably your best friend before you left."

"I am sorry, I don't remember her."

Over the next few weeks, Jake and I realized there were a lot of things Amy didn't remember about her past life. During that time she had started seeing a psychiatrist and we were hoping he would figure things out.

It was also during that time that Amy tried to get intimate with me. We had been sleeping together for weeks and I enjoyed feeling her next to me as we fell asleep. One night, as she was laying her head on my chest as she always did, her hand slid onto my cock. I don't know why but I freaked out and pulled her hand off, probably with too much force. Amy bolted out of bed and ran into the guest room, locking the door behind her. Jake came running out of his room.

I was knocking on the guest room door, "Amy please let me in so we can talk about this."

There was silence from the other side. Jake kept asking me what was going on. With no response from Amy, I asked Jake to join me in the kitchen.

It was going to be a difficult conversation, "Jake, your mother tried to become intimate with me tonight and I rejected her advances maybe too strongly. She caught me by surprise and I just reacted. And then she fled into the guest room and she won't let me in to apologize."

Jake slumped into a kitchen chair.

"Jake, everything I've done with your mother seemed like the right thing to do, to hug her, to invite her to sleep beside me, all these little things. I have no idea why that level of intimacy felt so wrong. Maybe I just need more time, maybe I need a shrink or a drink."

"It's okay dad, I'll give her a few minutes and then I'll try and talk to her. I always expected some hiccups and I am surprised it took this long for one to happen. Do you think you will ever be intimate with her again?"

"Jake, just see if you could get her to sit with me, maybe with us at the kitchen table?"

Jake nodded and eventually Amy let him in. I sat down at the kitchen table and Amy and Jake joined me a few minutes later. She had obviously been crying and there were still occasional tears leaking from her eyes.

I said, "Amy, let me tell you a story of a man who loved his wife very much. Even though they were growing apart, he still dreamed her, the places they would go when they retired, Italy, Greece, the pyramids, his favorite though was the thought of the two of them, arm in arm, watching the sunset from the railing on a cruise ship. He came up with a plan to hopefully bring them back together starting with a reservation for the most expensive restaurant in town for their anniversary. A reservation that had to be made months in advance. He even took dance lessons so they could enjoy some dancing after dinner. On the morning of the anniversary he took her shopping for a new dress, lingerie, shoes, whatever she needed. During dinner, he gave her an expensive diamond necklace."

"When they arrived home, the man stopped in the bathroom to freshen up, brush his teeth, a little dab of cologne, hoping to find his wife lying in bed in the lingerie he bought her earlier in the day. Instead he found his wife in the same pajamas she wore every night looking at her cell phone. The expensive dress and lingerie lay in a heap on the floor near her closet. The necklace representing a week's pay laid on her dresser mixed in with some other scraps of papers and receipts."

"Not to be deterred, he laid in bed next to his wife and began to kiss her. 'Not tonight dear,' she said. He reminded her it was their anniversary, she let out a sigh and slid her pajama bottoms off. The husband hoped his tongue would help get her in the mood. He looked up at her several minutes later and she was still looking at her phone. The husband gave up and went to sleep in the guest room. They were never intimate again."

"That was two years before you left. You said you wanted things to go back to the way they were before, that's how they were."

Amy was in full fledge sobbing now. Jake was trying to comfort her. I felt bad, but the calloused indifference she showed me that night still hurt. Amy pushed Jake away, it was not a gentle push and she began pacing the kitchen. She started speaking out loud.

"You're not the only one with dreams Jack, it was dreams of you that got me through all the horrible things they did to me. It was my escape and without it I would have checked out long before my five years were up. But when I was alone at night, the nightmares played through my mind. Number one was the anniversary you spoke of and the look on your face when you saw the dress in a pile like garbage on the floor will never be forgotten. I knew you would want to have sex that night long before we headed to the restaurant. For some reason I had it in my head that I wasn't going to. I don't know why, I needed to teach you a lesson for some reason. And when you saw me looking at my phone and left the bedroom, I felt no regret, only some smug satisfaction."

"Almost every night for five years I felt regret for that night, what was that, you spent a month's salary so I could kick your teeth in?"

"The other nightmare was the day I left you and the look on your face when you realized I was taking your son away from you and when he delivered the lines I wrote for him."

"I expected you to reject me tonight, the images of that anniversary night still play in mind. I didn't just reject you, I was deliberately fucking cruel about it. But expecting it and experiencing are two different things. I deserved your rejection. I'll sleep in the guest room until Jake and I can find somewhere else to live."

"That's not what I want Amy, I enjoy you sleeping with me. Maybe someday we will be intimate again but moving into the guest room or moving out will only make sure that never happens, it will be giving up. Are you ready to give up already?"

She fell into my arms crying, "No Jack, I'm sorry, I didn't survive those five years to give up this easy. Let's go to bed."

Later that night, we were lying in bed with her head on my chest and on the edge of sleep, "You'll have to tell me when you're ready Jack. I don't care how long it takes."

Trying to figure out what was most important was running through my brain and I easily settled on Jake. He was going to be twenty, he shouldn't be his mother's nurse maid and I was proud of the way he stepped up.

I needed Jake to step away and become a self-sufficient young man, get a job, hopefully meet his future wife. In the end, I didn't care about anything else, even if I had to be intimate with Amy. I did like her sleeping with me but for some reason the thought of being intimate with her horrified me.

How many men fucked her while she was Dubai. Jake said there would be days or weeks when he wouldn't see her. She was a whore doing what whores did. Were any of them better than me, bigger than me, take to levels of sexual satisfaction that I never could. Assam must have been able to do that or else she would not have agreed to marry him.

Before we were married, Amy had been with two other men, one was a high school sweetheart and another was a guy she dated seriously while she was in college. What was her number now, 200 or more. How many men could a whore fuck over weeks at a time. He said he didn't see her for weeks at a time in the beginning, how long was the beginning, a year?

Could I even be intimate with her again without those same questions running through my head, robbing me of my erection? Could I ever go down on her again knowing that many of Assam's friends had fucked her and probably her ass.

I searched my feelings for Amy and found none, there was some compassion for someone who fucked up their life. But I had more compassion for the wino outside the store who I always gave a few bucks to, there but for the grace of god go I, the saying goes.

The pain from the anniversary night would never leave me and I would never love Amy again like I had before.

I could fake it though, I could pretend she was someone else when she wanted to be intimate.

Maybe she saw how she fucked up her life and but she clearly didn't see how she was now fucking up Jake's, her cruelty was the result of her self-centeredness and it was still on display with the way she manipulated Jake.

I would do whatever I needed to do to get Jake to step away from her.