The Wife and Her Mistake

(© 2025 JoshFrom53)

Turning502019, aka Will did all the hard work. i just wrote down what came to my mind.

Will, thank you and since this is number 25 this one is dedicated to you to show my appreciation for your work.

Dear reader.

All disclaimers apply. No sex under eighteen, every likeness with the actual world is purely coincidence.

And dear readers: it's a story. So it's improbable, illogical and because there are so many stories on Literotica that every idea is, at least, used once, not completely original too. But here also applies that similarities with other stores are coincidental.

Undoubtedly there are people who think they can do better (I dare you.) and are going to tell me that in most uncertain terms.

I reserve the right to delete the most offensive comments and, if necessary, report them to the mediators from this website.

That said, I hope you have as much fun reading this as I had writing it.

==========================================================================

"Come on Dad. You're Mum's mistake when she married you. Mum told me years ago that she was a lesbian and now she finally came out of the closet. And you begrudge her happiness? Be real, she should have married a woman. You are a mistake."

Her father, Mark Wauters looked up shocked, "So you knew? All that time?"

Laura Acker-Wauters, the 30 years old daughter of Mark Wauters fell silent when she realized she just revealed way to much to her father. What she didn't realize was that she had said something unforgivable.

Mark became even paler than he already was. Slowly he got out of his chair and replied in a sullen voice, "So, I was a mistake and without me as a mistake, your mother would have been much happier for a much longer time.

"Well, I have to thank you for your insights. It stands to reason that you are in agreement with your mother. You do realize that without this 'mistake' standing in front of you, you wouldn't be here to rip the heart out of this 'mistake', don't you?"

"That's beside the fact that your mother already made a serious effort by stating that she had already cheated on me for ten years, with her 'soul mate'.

"Well, this 'mistake' is taking his leave. Have a wonderful life. I myself think that I've had enough family life for the coming decades."

With that he donned his coat and walked into the streaming rain, shortly followed by his son-in-law shouting. "Dad! Please wait for me!"

In the streaming rain Isaac overtook the defeated looking man and said, "Dad, for what it's worth. I absolutely don't agree. Tecla should have told you when she found out about her sexual preferences. It would have been painful but honest. That said, there would be a very big chance that I never would have met you as my role model eight years ago when I met Laura.

"This attitude regarding the relationship between you and her mother and the ease with which she forgot the vows she pledged when we married, force me to take a hard look at ourselves. I'm certain that you, now plan to walk out of our life and I can understand that. If possible, keep in contact with me. I will keep it a secret if you like but you were the father I've never had and I will sorely miss you, your sage advice and directions.

"Dad, thanks for being who you are. I love you."

"Son, I love you too and I'll keep in touch. For the time being I'm still here to complete my business. You know where to find me." Mark replied.

With that Isaac turned around and walked back into the house, with tears in his eyes and seething about the betrayal.

Once inside his eyes were shooting daggers at his wife of five years.

He fumed "You just told your father that his whole married life and his love for your mother was a mistake and a farce and implied that he should man up and accept it. Were you aware that they had an affair for ten years, while she was still married to the poor man?"

Laura replied angrily at being cornered, " Yeah, but she was happy with that woman and not with my dad. So, I can understand that."

Isaac looked at Laura as if she sprouted another head. His voice was flat and cold when he said, "If that's so she should go and live with that woman instead of leeching off your father".

"I'm going to try to sleep. Tomorrow we are going to talk about the importance of matrimonial vows in relation to our marriage and whether your interpretation of these vows make our marriage worth continuing.

"To me, it seems like you have a version of 'flexible marriage vows', where you can betray them when it suits you.

Isaac walked out and into the bedroom. There he took his pillow and comforter and walked into the guestroom.

This was only the second time since they lived together that Isaac went to sleep in another bed other than their matrimonial bed. The first time was when Laura, more than half drunk, was making out with a friend of Isaac's after an evening dancing.

Isaac took it badly and afterwards had to pay the dentist's bill for that ex-friend. But the repercussions for Laura at home were horrendous. He told her that he would look for another place to live and stopped communicating in all aspects. He didn't talk to her at all for weeks on end. He slept on the couch. He didn't touch her all that time.

Laura tried everything to get through the barrier Isaac had erected and when she noticed that he was looking for another place to live, she panicked. She called for help from her parents.

At last Mark intervened and had a man-to-man talk with Isaac about reconciliation. Isaac relented and gave Laura a second chance.

Slowly it dawned on Laura that her marriage was in serious peril now and all because of that damned lottery ticket.

====

Half a year ago.

On a whim, Mark had bought a lottery ticket. He put it in his wallet and forgot all about it until it was in the news that the main prize wasn't claimed yet. He remembered the ticket and found it in his wallet behind some receipts.

He took it out and checked the result without expecting anything. When the prize showed on his screen he cleared the website, reloaded it and checked the numbers of the ticket again. The result stayed the same. The jackpot of 16.4 million Euros was his. They were rich!

A day later he sat in the office of the lottery's main office with a man shaking his hands and congratulating him. The price was tax-free and would be transferred into his bank account forthwith.

He had kept Tecla in the dark. He wanted to surprise her with a fait accompli. When he saw his bank account grow from five digits to eight digits, he went home with a big bouquet of flowers to tell her the news.

"Tecla, have you checked our bank account lately?"

"No, why? Should I have to?"

Mark told her the story of the ticket and that they had won the jackpot and that they were rich.

"What shall we do? A world cruise? Move to France to live like a king and queen?"

Tecla was silent for a moment and asked if she could think about it.

Mark thought that she had to get used to the idea that they would never have to worry about money anymore, nor Laura and Isaac. Now their daughter could start her family like they all wanted so much.

At breakfast the next morning Tecla looked at him and said, "We aren't going to do anything together anymore. What I am going to do is divorce you and start living with my girlfriend since I can afford that now."

Mark was confused, "What?" Was the only thing that he could get out of his mouth.

"You heard right. I'm going to divorce you. I found out that I like women more than men.

"I have a long-term lover and now I can afford to live with her. So, you better find yourself another place because I need the space."

The ground opened up below Mark and it swallowed his heart. He stammered, "You have a lover? A woman? For years? Was I that stupid? Was that the reason we aren't intimate anymore and for all those years?"

"Well, we were amazed at how gullible you were. You met her numerous times when you came home from work and we were drinking coffee after a bout of lovemaking."

Suddenly Mark's mind kicked into gear and he started thinking again. He became the cold and calculating problem solver they knew so well at the office.

"I'll contact a lawyer tomorrow. You pack your bags now, as in immediately. I refuse to sleep under one roof with a backstabbing betrayer. You forgot that the house was the exemption in the division of goods. You signed off on it every five years. Last time was half a year ago. I bought and renovated it before you were even in the picture and now you want me out!

"Are you out of your mind?"

Now it was Tecla's turn to be shocked. She and her girlfriend fantasized for a long time living in this house together. It was an idyllic, stately and roomy house with a big garden that bordered an old but well-maintained park with a big pond. They even had their own entrance to the park.

She stammered, "You can't throw me out of our house just like that. Where will I go?"

Mark sneered, "You threw me, like I was nothing, out of your life, why shouldn't I be able to throw you out of my house, with emphasis on; my house? You have half an hour to pack and disappear. Then I will literally throw you out of the door and your stuff out of the window.

"Do I need to remind you that it is raining cats and dogs?"

Tecla, realizing that Mark was right about the house, panicked and shouted, "Where will I go?" Immediately realizing how hypocritical her question was.

She always dreamed that she would live in the house with her lover. If that was the case, where would Mark go?

The depth of Tecla's betrayal was sinking in and Mark was getting angrier by the minute and roared back, "How would I know and why should I care? A whorehouse maybe?

"Just piss off! I have some financials to attend to before some lesbian cheating whore steals me blind. She already tore my soul to shreds."

Mark set the timer on his phone saying, "Half an hour. After that I'm throwing you out! Understand?"

Tecla was paralyzed, she never, in 32 years of marriage, had seen Mark so mad and unreasonable. She snapped out of it when Mark suddenly roared at her.

"UNDERSTOOD!"

With tears in her eyes, she ran up the stairs, afraid that he would do her harm and ran into the bedroom to pack. She was convinced that Mark would hold on to his promise to throw her, out of the house literally.

Mark calmed down quickly enough to stomp into his office to find a lawyer and started up his computer to see to his financials.

Half an hour later Tecla looked around the door wanting to tell Mark that she was ready to leave. She looked at the man she loved in her own twisted way. Despite since meeting her lover, had denied him all the intimate pleasure they used to have.

Why? Just because her lover didn't want to satisfy her orally because there had been a penis inside her. With all kinds of excuses, she forced her husband, as she still saw Mark, to use his own hands for relief.

Tears were streaming from his face while he was furiously typing on his computer. Tecla cleared her throat and Mark got out of his chair. Without a word he took her by the arm, steered her to the front door and pushed her out. Luckily the door was sheltered by a small overhang otherwise she would have been standing in the pelting rain.

Mark went inside the house, took her coat and suitcases, fished her keys out of a pocket and threw the coat at her and the suitcases behind her and without another word slammed the door shut in her face.

====

Four months after their confrontation their marriage was an archived statistic Tecla found herself as a lonesome rich and single divorcee.

Painfully she recalled the last time she had dinner in a restaurant with her lover.

Tecla had found herself a house on the fringes of Baarn in an open spot in the woods there. She wanted to celebrate the fact that they could live together now and wanted to ask her lover to marry her.

She was just about to go to her knees when the latter told her, "I miss the exhilaration now you're not married anymore. I think it's better that we call it quits."

With that said, she immediately left. Leaving Tecla behind in the restaurant. Alone, feeling betrayed, hurt and dazed.

Mark was faring much better. After he threw Tecla out, he quickly had his affairs in order.

As soon as he had their bank accounts separated and the locks changed, he started to think about the future. It seemed cold but inside, behind a heavily firewalled partition in his mind, frustration, grief and pain were raging. This was Mark's way of coping, to stay sane and survive.

He wanted to travel. He decided to forgo traveling by plane. A guy called Ralph Waldo Emerson once said; "It's not about the destination. It's about the journey." Mark liked that idea. Now he had some ideas about acquiring a camper.

There he had a problem. All comfortable, long-range campers suitable for every road under almost all circumstances weighted 7500 kilos or more. In The Netherlands, drivers' licenses come in different classifications. To keep it simple, A for motorcycles, B for cars up to 3500 kilos, C for vehicles above 3500 kilos. Mark had A and B and needed C. For each license one had to pass two exams, one practical and one theoretical and both were quite difficult to pass.

He postponed the problem for the time being. He wanted to move out of the city and as far as possible. He didn't want to see or speak to his now, ex-wife ever again.

His anger for her betrayal ran very deep.

Last week he resigned. He should have done that earlier on in retrospect because they almost begged him to break in his successor, so he still had two and a half months to prepare his escape to the country and from there on into Europe. He didn't want to do his exams in the provincial capital. Way too busy with traffic.

====

The morning after Mark walked out on his daughter, Isaac and Laura were arguing.

"So, what if my mother had an affair? It's her body after all. She can do what she wants with it."

"You forget two things. Isaac retorted. "Your mother was the one blindsiding your father that she wanted a divorce and second she cheated on the man for years. What would you expect? This is something they promised each other when they wedded. Remember? You did too. Forsake all others?"

Isaac was scrutinizing Laura's face when he said that and noticed the tell-tale tic in her right eye. Something was wrong in this discussion. The vehement defense of her mother's behavior didn't sit right with him at all.

Suddenly his stomach dropped.

Softly he asked, "Or had you conveniently forgotten that vow too and already exercised that right to do with your body as you like with someone else?"

While he asked Laura that question, he observed her body language and his wife's face closely. What he read was the end of his marriage.

He told her, "Don't bother to answer that question. It will save you from lying to me. I have already seen the answer."

Sadness came rolling in like the tide, first akin small rivulets of water through the sand, later an all-encompassing wave threatening to wash him into a sea of despair.

Isaac donned his jacket and walked, just as his father-in-law did the evening before, without a word out of the house.

Paula wanted to scream but her voice stuck in her throat. She never thought that her husband could read her so well. She had expected that she could lie her way out of this.

She was a secretary, in a pool with other secretaries, at an insurance company. One of her colleagues was always bragging about cheating on her husband and her conquests, while claiming that her body was hers to do with what she liked. That same woman offered to set her up with a good lover and Laura fell for it.

She had two brief affairs, both unsatisfying and the last one disastrous even. When she landed in bed with the man, he proved to be a sadist, preying on married women, so that there wouldn't be repercussions. When that afternoon was over, she could hardly walk from pain.

As an excuse to Isaac, she told him that she had tumbled down the concrete stairs behind the office and had landed on her tailbone. To her relief Isaac believed her lie.

She knew that if Isaac ever found out, he would divorce her without even thinking twice. He had already experienced a cheating fiancé stringing him along so he was always very explicit about what she could expect if she broke her vows.

Isaac was devastated and wandered aimlessly around town until he found himself in front of Mark's house. In desperation he rang the doorbell.

"Isaac, you look sick. What's the matter? Come on in." Mark said, while observing the younger man. He looks broken. I wonder what happened yesterday after I left.

He steered the husband of his ex-daughter into his living room and even though it was well before noon handed him a stiff drink, ordering Isaac. "Drink. Bottom's up. I'll make coffee and then we can talk. Okay?"

Isaac downed the jenever in one go and gasped, "Yes Dad."

Ten minutes later Mark came back with two mugs of coffee and some buns with cheese. "Still black, I hope. I don't have milk."

Isaac just nodded. He started to feel a bit more relaxed due to the jenever on an almost empty stomach. He took a sip of the scalding, strong and bitter liquid and after a deep mental breath. "I just found out that Laura cheated too."

"She told you?"

"No. Yesterday after you left Laura defended her mother's betrayal again. I couldn't stand it and was fuming. I told her that we would have a serious talk about marital fidelity.

This morning, we had that talk. It was short and brutal. She kept defending her mother and saying that they could do with their body as they saw fit.

That's where the penny dropped, and I asked her if she already exercised that right.

I didn't even need an answer. Her whole body shouted to me that she did. I walked out before I would do something that would send me to prison and now I'm sitting here."

After a long silence while Mark mulled over what Isaac just told him he said, "I'm so sorry Son. I don't know what to say. I never raised her like that. Now, did you already decide what to do? Do you need time? You can stay here, for a while, if you like."

Isaac nodded and said, "I am going to divorce her. I know that I won't have a life when I always have to wonder if she will start exercising her 'rights' again. For me trust is second to love, and an equally important pillar in a relationship."

Mark did some serious thinking. His now ex-wife betrayed him, his daughter betrayed him too and, for good measure, betrayed her husband as well. A man he came to love like a son.

He came to a decision.

"I'll pay for your lawyer. She's very good. You have not been married very long so the damage won't be too great. I think I have a proposition for you. Would you like to hear it now, or do you want to wait?"

"You want to pay my lawyer? Why? And yes, I would like to hear it."

"As to why, to prevent Laura from doing any more harm than she already has and to make a statement to both ladies that I seriously resent the treatment they gave us. I know that Tecla's lawyer tried to rob me from my house. Just for the heck of it, I presume, or to weasel more money out of Tecla on a lost cause. More coffee?"

Mark went back to the kitchen to get the coffee and more buns.

When he came back, he said, "I propose that you rent this house from me. I'll be leaving soon and if you rent it, it saves me from dealing with a real estate agent and I know it will be treated right. Now here comes the important part. The part that will not appear in the contract.

The commercial rent for these kinds of houses is approximately €2000 a month or more. We can convincingly argue that, because of our past and friendship, I can let you have it for €1500 a month. That's about the rates of a standard flat or apartment in the city center. I know that you can't even afford that after your divorce comes through and you have to pay alimony. So, I'll send you a check, each month, for maintenance. This house needs a lot of maintenance and you are going to take care of that."

Mark winked, "That money will be ample enough to take care of the house and about two thirds of the rent. Do you understand what I'm telling you? The only thing I'd like is a pied a terre here for when I want to stay in the city. I'll use the souterrain. I built it as a self-contained unit when Laura went to university. It's complete with a kitchen and bathroom. I don't have to interfere in your life that way "

"Yes. You are making sure that I'll be able to dodge the financial deadlock the divorce can have on me. And yes, I really like you staying here when you are in the neighborhood."

"Yes, that's about it and I can easily afford it. Now another thing; do you want to go back home now and await developments, or do you want to stay here? Anyway, I'll vacate the master bedroom immediately."

"Can I stay? I don't want any theatrics. I only need to pick up my things."

"That can be done later. We're about the same size and if you can tolerate my choice of clothes for a few days you can use some of mine."

They were interrupted by the house ringing. The caller's id told Mark that it was his ex-wife. He answered it with, "What?"

Tecla stammered, "Isaac walked out on Laura and now she is beside herself with worry."

"Why would she? She was the one who fucked up her marriage, just like her mother did, hasn't she?

"For what it's worth, I just spoke with Isaac and he is as ok as he can be in the circumstances. And the circumstances aren't very good when having such a role model for a mother-in-law?" He disconnected angrily.

A little white around the nose, Tecla put her phone back into her bag and turned around towards her daughter. "It surprised me that Mark answered my call. It's the first time I spoke with him since I told him I wanted a divorce and your father is as angry with you as he is with me. He all but snarled at me when he mentioned you. Anyway, Mark told me that he spoke with Isaac and Isaac is ok."

"Where is he?"

"That, I don't know. I didn't have the opportunity to ask, Mark hung up on me. Now tell me, why is he so angry with you?"

Laura recounted what happened and what she had said to her father yesterday evening.

Tecla was appalled. "How could you? I didn't make a mistake when I married your father, I loved him to bits, I still do. We had a very gratifying sex life before I met that woman. And he gave me you.

You implied to your dad that he was a mistake? Girl, do you have any idea how much that must have hurt him?"

For a very long time there was silence in the house while two women pondered about what went wrong and both felt sorry for themselves.

A week later

Laura hadn't spoken with Isaac since he left the house. She didn't even know where he was. When she called his employer, she was just told that he wasn't available. She tried to visit him at his office. They said that he was on-site evaluating work to be done but steadfastly failed to tell which site.

One day she came back from work and found a letter on her dressing table.

Baura.

Even though I still love you I will divorce you.

I can't be married to a woman who shares her body with other men as she sees fit, just because it's her body.

I picked up my things and some items of sentimental value for me. All those items were keepsakes from my family. Keep the rest, it's all part of the lie called our marriage.

My lawyer will send the divorce papers with Registered Mail. You will have to sign for reception.

Have an interesting life

Isaac

Laura was sad and angry at the same time. Isaac didn't give her a chance to explain that it was nothing but sex and bad sex all the same.

====

A good while later Mark found himself in the exam center for his C-driver's license test in the very north of the country. There he handed over the certificate that showed that he passed the theoretical examination together with his driver's license.

When all was found in order, the examiner told him what to expect in the 85 minutes he had to show that he was able to drive a truck.

The nervous atmosphere hanging in the building was getting to Mark, so he was glad for the short walk to the parking.

An hour and a half later they were back at their table in the center. Mark's shirt was soaked with sweat despite the air conditioning in the truck and his heart was beating a mile a minute. The moment of truth was there!

The examiner looked up from his notes and said, "Congratulations, you passed. It's not often that one passes the first time they take this exam but you did excellent."

Both Mark and his instructor beamed. This was high praise. After the obligatory paperwork Mark was able to go to the city hall to renew his driver's license to include his new qualification. Now he could look for a suitable camper.

====

He found one he liked very much. Not really a run of the mill bus camper but it appealed to his 'fuck-it' mentality that brought other recently divorced men to the brink or helped them over it into disaster. He found a used rugged all-wheel drive German built RV based on an Unimog chassis on the internet. He made a call to Dettenheim Germany to make an appointment for a test drive on their range.

Mark also realized that he couldn't stand the flat landscape in the northern part of the country any longer. The endless green rectangles under the endless grey, or blue sky, the stiff, uncommunicative people. He made a mistake in wanting to get as far as possible from the capital by going north. Now he wanted to get away from there, but still be as far away as possible, and decided to check out the region where he spent many holidays with his parents and little sister.

He found an idyllic house, actually he had to buy two houses, but the second house was rented out to an elderly couple. It sat against the top of a hill and the view was spectacular. There was a big garden at the back, and it came with a parking place opposite the house across the road. He also found out that there was a place to store his RV at a garage in the village.

Mark traveled southwards and he fell in love with the place.

The house he intended to live in was in good condition. The other house, not so. It needed some serious renovating, the estate agent confessed.

After a serious bout of haggling, he got the price down to an acceptable figure and bought the lot.

He wandered through the house and explored the garden. The two houses were built about 10 feet apart and shared the same garden, but it seemed that his neighbors never used it. The garden was accessible via a veranda and a steep staircase.

He decided to do the neighborly thing and went to introduce himself.

====

Mark rang the bell. In his hands was a vlaai, a pie filled with fruit where this part of the country is famous for.

The door was answered by a stunning woman. Dark skin, short curly hair with a touch of grey, dark eyes and sensuous lips.

Her voice was an impressively rich contralto, when she asked, "Yes, what can I do for you?"

"Good morning, I am Mark Wauters, your new neighbor. I wanted to introduce myself because I have also become your landlord. I would also like to know if there are still things that need to be done here." Mark said, while taking the woman in thinking, What a woman! She's gorgeous.

He was brutally interrupted by a smoky voice, "I hope you mean that because there is a lot of work to be done. I'm Elsa Mulder by the way."

Mark replied, "Of course, I mean that. Otherwise, I wouldn't ask, would I?"

"Come on in then," Elsa told him, turning around and calling, "Mum, Dad, your new landlord is here!"

She led him into a room and the first thing Mark noted was the musty smell and an elderly woman getting up with difficulty saying, "I'll make coffee, or do you prefer tea?"

"Coffee please and I brought vlaai. I also came to ask if there's things to be done about the house." Mark said, thinking about how a pair of Dutch people could have such a dark-skinned daughter.

Mr. Mulder's eyes lit up and asked, "Elsa, would you mind showing Mr. Uhm?"

"Mark, Mark Wauters. My apologies for not introducing myself properly."

Mr. Mulder replied, "I'm Fons Mulder and this is my wife Clara, our daughter Elsa introduced herself already I presume?"

"Elsa, would you be so kind as to walk Mr. Wauters around and show him what he bought himself into? "

"This way Mr. Wauters." Elsa ordered stiffly formal.

Mark got a sinking feeling that there were bad things coming. They went up the stairs to the bathroom and the guestrooms. They were very damp. In the ceiling spots where the water had leaked through the roof. Mold in the small, for elderly people, inadequate bathroom, rotten window frames through which the wind howled.

They went downstairs where Elsa said, "Both my parents have difficulty with walking and can no longer leave the house because the previous owner did not want to make a decent driveway and they can't get around the back because she had the alley gated and failed to give my parents a key."

Mark was appalled at the state of this house and was furiously thinking when he was sitting, having his coffee. He realized that these people couldn't live in a dump like this any longer, it was far from healthy. But renovating it with these oldies still living there wasn't an option either.

The solution came to Mark like a flash and it was, for him, the proper thing to do.

He cleared his throat and said out loud, "I think I have a solution to this mess you are in. If you're willing of course."

Three pairs of eyes looked at him and Elsa said with unbelieve in her voice, "It better be good, I will not accept that my parents live like this much longer."

"We swap houses." He told them. "You are going to live in my house. I'll have a stairlift installed and handrails in the bathroom."

He looked at Elsa, "I'll find myself a contractor and a supervisor and have this house renovated for myself."

He wasn't prepared to tell them that he was going abroad for at least half a year, if not longer if he was in the mood for it.

Elsa and Mr. and Mrs. Mulder all looked up sharply, surprised by him. Mr. Mulder asked immediately, "And where are you going to live in the meantime?"

"I'll find something. Don't worry about that. I need two, or three weeks to get things running, find myself a contractor and a supervisor to support the renovation. I noticed that the building permit for what was my house, was for both houses. I only have to see if it's still valid. If so, the renovation can start as soon as I find a contractor."

It was silent in the room while the two elderly people were mulling over the proposal and the consequences.

Mark added, "For the time being I'm going to give you the keys to the gate from the alley and I'll find a scaffolder to make a temporary ramp to your front door and one for the veranda. That should take a day or two."

Suspicion dripped from Elsa's voice when she asked, "Why are you so nice?"

"Sorry, I don't understand what you're asking. What do you mean nice? I'm their landlord. They pay me rent for a decent house and this is a far cry from decent. Making it decent while they are living here is not helpful, so I tried to come-up with a workable solution. What's wrong with that?" Mark answered, shocked at the hostility Elsa suddenly showed.

Slowly it dawned on Elsa that the man in front of her could be in good faith and really meant what he promised. Somewhat more gently she asked, "And how do you envision your 'grand scheme'?"

"You don't trust me huh? Can't do anything about that yet. Ahh, Ok. My house needs a stairlift and other amenities for elderly people. I reckon they could be installed within a week. Before that your parents can't move as the sleeping rooms and the bathrooms are upstairs. That's the easy part. Finding a trustworthy contractor and a supervisor is. If the lift and handrails and all that sort of thing are installed, we call the movers in."

"And what about you?"

"What about me? I'll manage. Think about my proposal, but not too long please."

Elsa was stunned. Here, she sat in front of a man who offered her parents, without any hesitation, his house for their autumn days. A proper house and offers to install everything to make it possible for them to stay as long as possible too. She was cynical enough to question such altruism and decided to play the devil's advocate.

"You still didn't answer my question. Why are you so nice to people you don't even know?" Elsa asked sharply while observing his reaction.

Mark, surprised by being asked the same question again and more than a little hurt by the distrust Elsa showed him, took to his feet saying, "My offer stands. I would like to have an answer before the weekend, but preferably this evening, or tomorrow morning. I'll let myself out now. Have a nice day. O, and I'll drop the keys of the gate in the mailbox today."

Even before Mark stood up, Elsa noticed the man becoming flushed and his knuckles white. Is he angry? She thought. Did I push too hard? Ow, shit. Have I just ruined a golden opportunity for Mum and Dad?

She looked at her parents until her mother said, "That wasn't very nice Elsa. Why were you so hostile?"

Elsa looked at her mother and didn't have a clear-cut answer. "I don't know Mum. Something about him rubs me the wrong way, I presume."

But her mother wasn't put off that easily. "For all your dad and I know, Mr. Wauters is the first landlord who came to introduce himself, with a vlaai even and asked if there were things to be done in this house instead of telling us that the rent was going up. You gave him a ten cents tour and we noticed that he was thinking very hard about a solution. Couldn't you see that? I sure hope that he is still good on his offer after your insult. I would sure like to take him up on it."

Elsa, after giving it some thought, still didn't know what possessed her. She said, "I'll go over and apologize. You are right. Sorry Mum and Dad."

Her dad rumbled, "Apologize to Mr. Wauters, not to us."

Elsa walked over to the neighboring house and knocked. There was no answer. She rang the bell. Ditto.

She opened the gate, walked around the house and noticed that nobody seemed at home. His car was there so he couldn't be very far.

She looked around and walked back to the street but saw nobody. She went back to her parents.

Before she went in, she checked the mailbox and lo and behold, a set of keys with a label that said 'GATE' in bold letters were in it.

Inside she told her parents, "I can't find him. It's like he vanished into thin air."

Her mother answered, "Don't worry. He must come home once a while. We'll talk to him."

Elsa never noticed the crumbled figure sitting with his back against the large, age-old beech tree, his shoulders shaking while he cried from grief and pain.

The hostility had done Mark in. All the while, since Tecla told him that she wanted a divorce, he had suppressed his emotions.

Even when Laura told him that he just had to man-up and let her mother be happy he kept all anger, frustration and pain locked in a dungeon somewhere deep in his mind.

Elsa doubting his sincerity unlocked it all and it swamped his mind. He dropped his own keys in the mailbox, staggered to the end of his garden and in the seclusion behind scrubs and the tree he collapsed and let go.

====

It took some time to relieve the pressure from his demons. After the sobs subsided and he became a functional human again, he had no energy left for the mundane chores of living. He just didn't want to cook. He looked at the time and decided on a walk to the village and spent some time there.

By road, that trip was about 5 kilometers. The walk was about the same length, but it was a far from easy walk. It took Mark almost 2 hours to get there and when he finally dropped himself in a chair from the local eatery, he was at a total loss. The emotional breakdown and the walk had worn him out. Bloody hell, I can't even walk 2 hours without getting winded. No wonder... He thought.

He was sitting gloomily at a table in the corner of the eatery having his drink. His subconscious playing havoc with his self-esteem. Can't do a proper walk. Getting old and winded. Wife walks out on you for a woman. Daughter calling you a mistake. Letting himself be bullied by a stranger and breaking down like a little child because of it.

Slowly his self-respect sank in the mire again and his thoughts became darker and darker.

He was startled by a hand placed on his shoulder and heard the familiar smoky voice of Elsa Mulder. "May I join you?"

In all honesty Mark answered, "I seriously advise against it. I'm far from good company now. Actually, I think I'm the worst company you can have now."

Elsa kept her silence and just looked at him.

Mark relented, "But if you insist, be my guest."

Elsa looked at the drawn face and thought, what happened to this man? Did I do this to him? That can't be? He seemed so composed.

She decided to ignore his warning about being bad company saying, "First of all, I want to apologize for the grilling I gave you. It was uncalled for. I don't have an excuse but for that my work makes me suspicious about people acting as you did towards my parents. I'm truly sorry."

"Apology accepted." Mark replied. "I intend to fulfill my promises to your parents and hope that you will help me with that. Now can I offer you a drink and dinner perhaps?"

Before even thinking about it and to her own astonishment, Elsa said, "Yes, I would like that...."

Mark expected his offer to be refused, but to his surprise Elsa said, "I would like that, maybe we can start anew. I am Eloise Mulder. Call me Elsa. How do you do?"

Mark smiled a wry smile, "Mark Wauters. Pleased to meet you."

Elsa, an interrogation specialist at the vice squad, was very attuned to what wasn't said, and she immediately noticed Mark failing to answer how he was doing.

Partly, she knew how he was doing. After he walked out on them without giving any further explanation as to why he treated her parents so nicely, she did something that was very much frowned upon, if not borderline illegal. She threw out some lines to friends of hers in other police departments to check on Mark's background.

Now she knew a lot about him. For instance: he was vetted by the AIVD, The General Intelligence and Security Service. He worked as a senior analyst for a major international logistics company to assess the risks for high profile or high-risk transports and that that company was habitually used by the government.

He was also freelancing for other companies and for the government, evaluating the transports that went not as smooth as intended. Elsa knew for sure that the last job didn't make him any friends because he saw safety and security as his priority in these investigations and could be ruthless if the occasion asked for it.

What was troubling her was that she hardly couldn't find a thing about his private life. He was recently divorced, but why? He obviously moved here to stay, otherwise he hadn't bought the twin houses and wanted to renovate the one her parents live in. But he also had a big house in the capital of Noord Holland. And yet she accepted, without thinking, dinner, from a man that looked as if he had been to hell and back, Maybe it's a good chance to get to know this man better and find out about his intentions, she thought.

Elsa had a wonderful evening with Mark. She found him erudite, witty and charming. He was brutally honest about himself and made jokes about his lack of condition. They had some things in common like classical music but where she liked ballet and ballet music, Marks liked religious music like requiems and Stabat-maters, renaissance and baroque music and music from Dmitri Shostakovich's Arvo Pärt, Philip Glass and so on. He liked to read and preferred science fiction. But besides that, she hardly learned anything else about the man. He was as closed as a clam about himself.

At ten they stood outside, in the dark evening. A drizzling rain descended over the two. Elsa looked around and asked, "Where is your car?"

Mark smiled wryly and answered, "I'm walking. Must do anyway. I never drink alcohol when I must drive. I can ask the same. Where's yours?"

"I stay at my brother's and his wife's. That's five minutes away. Wait a moment."

She walked inside and when she came out again, she said, "The owner of this dump has someone to take you home."

Mark smiled happily, "Well thank you. I had a wonderful evening. I promise to have a talk with your parents about what they would like. I'll find myself a scaffolding builder for a temporary solution for the stairs in front of their house and I am going to look for a contractor for their house, whatever they decide. They can't live much longer like that and it's my responsibility, as their landlord, to provide for a proper house."

"What time? I think I'd like to be there too. This time I'll provide the vlaai. Oh, and do you mind if I have a look, beforehand, at your house?"

Mark's face darkened a bit and his eyes, most of the evening sparkling with intelligence and humor, went dull.

Quickly she added, "Just to make sure that it's suitable for them of course."

Mark replied in a, suddenly, much cooler tone, "Don't trust me, do you? Well, there's only one way to remedy that. Don't bother with the car. I'll walk."

Mark turned around, only to be stopped by Elsa's hand on his arm. "Please, It's difficult."

Elsa's face flushed and she was glad it was dark. She gathered her courage and plowed on, "I had a wonderful evening and now, again, my protectiveness towards my parents is spoiling it. I'm sorry for that. I really want to see you again which made me ask to see your house. Can you forgive me, accept the ride and allow me to come by tomorrow?"

Mark noticed the pleading note in her voice. He had, for the first time since the break-up, a relaxing evening in good company so he relented and replied, still a bit sad, "Make it ten o'clock. That way I can do some preliminary work."

"Thank you. You are a dear." Elsa said relieved and gave him a quick and soft kiss on his cheek.

Mark stepped into the arrived car and stepped through his front door 15 minutes later.

Half an hour later he was at the table with the building permit and the plans that came with it. When he poured over them, he was perplexed. The plans and the permit were much more encompassing than the previous owner had done to the house and Mark noticed, just her own house. He made a note and continued working till deep into the night.

====

The next morning Elsa stood a little anxious before Mark's front door. They parted on a good note, but what if Mark had second thoughts?

She noticed that her doubting his good intentions at the end of the evening hit him hard and he was already creating a distance between them by telling her to forget about the car and wanted to walk away. She had a feeling that he only partly came around after her apologies. I promised to be here at ten. Come-on girl, if you don't show up, you'll ruin everything before there is even a possibility to get to know him better. And this is the first man in years you're interested in.

After a deep, mental sigh she rang the bell. It stayed silent for long moments and Elsa already started to despair when she heard some noises behind the door.

The door opened and a frazzled Mark showed himself. Elsa took a good look at him and asked, "What happened to you?"

"Couldn't sleep, so I decided to study the building permit and the approved plans. This morning, I made a call to the city hall and I discovered the plans are still good for half a year."

Elsa nodded and asked, "Am I still welcome? Can I come in?"

"Oh, yes, of course. Sorry. I'm somewhere else with my mind. I will explain at your parents' house."

Elsa smiled, "Did you sleep at all? Maybe a shower is in order. It wouldn't hurt." She said lightly.

Mark recoiled, "Do I smell that bad? Sorry. Give me ten minutes." And he ran up the stairs.

Elsa shouted, "No, but it will clear your mind a bit!" after him.

====

Half an hour later Mark enfolded his plans. "The former owner only did part of the total renovation plans and only to the house she inhabited. I suspect she wanted to collect the subsidies for energy savings, but they are only paid out when all the work is done, so presumably she let it slip for the rest.

I intend to finish what she started for both houses and make my house suitable for you two living there if possible. The easiest way is to move to my house, just as I proposed. Now I hope I can find someone to do the renovation, providing that you agree of course. Oh, and I will half the rent for a year as compensation for all inconveniences."

Elsa looked in amazement at Mark. "You're going to, WHAT?"

Mark looked at her, "You heard me. I looked it up. Tenants should be compensated for their inconvenience during activities in and around their house by their landlords."

Mrs. Mulder interrupted, "Elsa, would you be so kind as to mind your own business?"

She turned to Mark, "We gladly accept your generous offer. We also know a decent contractor, the one my husband worked with for years."

Elsa added, "Maybe Jerome can act as supervisor? It saves Mark some money. "

Mark looked around and asked, "Who is Jerome?"

"My brother." Elsa replied. "He works for a housing corporation and is responsible for maintenance for all their property."

Mark turned to Mrs. Mulder again. "If you trust the contractor, I'll have him do the work if he sets a fair price. Where can I contact him?"

Elsa's father rumbled, "We can have him over this afternoon if it suits you. He can also provide the temporary amenities such as the ramp."

====

Suddenly everything accelerated. The contractor had done most of the renovated house and knew precisely what still needed to be done. When he heard about Mark's proposal, he made a new quotation which was cheaper than the one for the former landlady and Mark agreed quickly.

Mark was happy, the contractor was happy and above all the family Mulder was happy.

====

Elsa had to arrange the move from her parents and Mark became her right hand. They spent a lot of time together and she noticed that she was looking more and more forward to seeing Mark.

They had regular lunches and during that he could make her laugh every time with his gentle teasing and have her mesmerized when he talked about classical music.

During one of those lunches, he asked out of the blue, "This weekend there is a concert in Eindhoven and they're playing and singing Arvo Pärt, would you like to come with me?"

Overwhelmed she stuttered, "Me? You want to take me with you? Why?"

"Because I think you are going to like it and I like being in your company."

Elsa felt the heat creeping up her face. She looked at the smiling face of table companion.

She exhaled forcefully to keep her from showing her exhilaration, "In that case, I'd love to accompany you." She answered.

"Ok, I'll make the arrangements. You like to have dinner before the concert?" He asked lightly.

====

That Saturday afternoon they checked into a small hotel. Mark had booked two rooms. The hotel forgot to inform him that the rooms were connected by the balcony. Something Elsa didn't mind at all. Mark was the first man in years she liked to know better, much better if she had her way.

Dinner was splendid but the concert was something else. Else wasn't acquainted with Pärt's music but after the orchestra performed Fratres and Sarah was ninety years old, she was hooked. The choral piece after the break was more difficult to follow but she enjoyed it thoroughly.

When the concert was over, they wanted some peace and quiet and a pub couldn't provide that. It was a balmy evening, so they decided to walk back to the hotel.

Elsa wrapped her arm around Mark's middle and pulled him against her. Mark happily obliged. Basking in each other's company they took the long way to the hotel.

After a few minutes walking Elsa said, "Can I ask you a personal question?"

"You can ask, I might not answer."

Elsa took a deep breath, "You strike me as a man who ought to be in a long-term loving relationship, yet you are here alone, and I can see that you are hurting. What happened?"

Mark was silent for a moment. Then he said, "I might as well tell you. It has to come out sometime anyway."

"You don't have to, if you don't want to. I just want to understand you."

Mark told her the whole sad story. The lottery ticket with the jackpot, His wife suddenly coming out of the closet and divorcing him, and he recalled the brutal discussion with his daughter when she called him a mistake.

Some time later.

In Baarn, Tecla and Laura were having dinner in the same restaurant where Tecla's former lover walked out of her life.

"Have you spoken to Isaac yet?"

"No, he refuses all contact. I found out that he lives in Mark's house and I went over to apologize."

"What happened?" Tecla asked.

"Isaac slammed the door shut in my face and called the Police. A week later I was served with a restraining order. I'm not allowed to contact him directly or indirectly except via our lawyers and I'm not allowed within 250 meters of the house, or his work." Laura replied

"That's harsh." Tecla observed.

With a guilty tone in her voice Laura thought out loud, "Isaac warned me when we were engaged that he wouldn't accept anything that even looks like cheating.

"Maybe you remember that Mark already had interfered to save our marriage because I was drunk and went too far with a mutual friend. But I still had to do it, again. Just for kicks. The sex wasn't worth it."

Tecla lamented, "I, myself, was so stupid to fall for a woman who's only kink was to convert a married woman into a lesbian sex toy. She discarded me as soon as I was divorced because it wasn't an affair anymore and stopped being exciting.

"I feel a bit of the pain and betrayal Mark must have felt and it seriously hurts. I miss my friend, my anchor and my touchstone. I never realized what he meant to me until I was alone and that my affair only revolved around sex."

Laura had heard the lament multiple times. There was a difference, however. Tecla had cut off Mark from any physical intimacy, using a plethora of excuses. Laura had never denied her husband.

She sighed and said, "I've been stupid to the max and I paid for it with my marriage, but have you ever realized what you did to your man?"

"What do you mean?" Tecla asked as if bitten.

"You told me that dad hadn't been allowed to even touch you the last eight years. Have you ever thought about what that does to a man? Or did you just think that he stopped having sexual feelings just because you denied him sexual release? Lesser men would have divorced you years ago or started an affair by themselves just to get their rocks off. But no, dad stayed the faithful, dutiful husband and suffered."

Tecla went white, from white to gray, from gray to light green and ran to the bathroom.

Ten minutes later Laura went in to check whether Tecla was ok.

Tecla was not ok. Not by a long shot. She was sitting on a porcelain throne. Residue of her stomach contents all over her and the stall. She was shaking all over. Laura asked, "What happened? Did you eat something wrong? Got a bug?"

She helped Tecla up. "Make yourself presentable again. Let's get out of here."

Tecla croaked, "Can you take care of the bill? And please leave a good tip because of the mess here. I'll pay you back."

In the car, driving back to Tecla's house Laura asked, "Have you ever tried to find him?"

"I tried; I even had a PI looking for him. One would think it would be easy these days with everything to be found on the internet. But the last thing he found out was that he was in Loppersum and after that nothing."

Back in Tecla's house Laura asked, "What happened? I've never seen someone getting sick so quickly."

Tecla shivered while she thought about how to answer that. Finally, she said with a tremor in her voice, "Your comment about cutting Mark off in combination with my own dry spell. I suddenly realized what I did to him. I already knew that I was stupid, now I know that I can add that I am an egocentric stupid bitch too. How can I ever look that man straight in the eyes, if I ever see him again?"

The idea that her mother never thought about the consequences for her father aggravated Laura no end and the remorse about her comment that her father was a mistake was vast, even though her father interpreted it differently than she meant it to be.

She wrongly assumed that the marriage was a mistake but never her father. But Mark's ego was already badly bruised, and her remarks gave it the final push into his personal abyss. At least that was what she was told by her counselor. The worst part was that she had no way to make it up to either her ex-husband or her father.

=====

Things between Mark and Elsa were progressing nicely. The night in Eindhoven they shared the warmth of Mark's bed cuddling and kissing. It was about as far as Mark wanted to go and Elsa was amazed at his self-restraint.

By now she also was aware of the road trip Mark wanted to undertake and she didn't like it at all. She wanted to keep him close. Her first two disastrous meetings in which she almost drove him away, caused her to have nightmares sometimes.

Her behavior at that time made even odds that she would never have learned to know him and made her wake-up sweating.

She was now completely and utterly under his spell without him even trying. She felt lightheaded even when he was only close to her. Mark's wounds were still raw and his first impression of her didn't do wonders either.

But she was getting there. With very small steps she reeled him in. A soft kiss, a caress, an arm around his waist.

=====

Later.

Elsa was seriously making progress with Mark. The soft kisses were heating up and the caressing became more intimate when Murphy's Law reared its ugly head.

She found herself in front of her superior who explained, "We are at a crossroads to take down a child pornography network and we need the best interrogation specialists we have in Amsterdam to interview the main suspects. That's why we assigned you to this case as part of that team. Find a place to live and pack your bags. Your work is over there for the duration."

Not liking it one bit but having no choice in the matter she felt depressed. She asked, "Where do I stay? It's quite a commute from here."

"You can stay at a hotel, if you like, or rent an apartment, if possible, in that area."

"Do I get the rest of my instructions in Amsterdam?"

"Yes, her superior answered, "Any questions?"

"No sir."

"They expect you the day after tomorrow. Go get your things in order."

"Yes sir."

Later that evening Elsa lamented her fate to Mark. The whole afternoon she had tried to find a flat, or an apartment to stay without results. It was either way above her budget, or a shoebox with a door and a window.

Mark patiently heard her out and, in the end, he said, "I might have a solution, if you don't mind living in a basement?"

Mark explained the situation in his old house and Elsa was enthusiastic about the idea so he called Isaac.

=====

Three weeks later.

Elsa had a terrible day. She needed a drink and a long talk with Mark to sooth her anxiety.

Finally, after two weeks of cajoling, confronting inconsequential people and their statements, downright threatening and finally lending a listening ear the main suspect gave her the code to unlock the hard drives they had found in his house.

Now, she and a few colleagues were cross-referencing the pictures and examining them in order to find out where and when they were taken.

What she and her colleagues saw on those pictures made them mentally and physically sick.

Now she desperately needed to unwind and wanted to ask Mark to come to Haarlem.

She was sitting in a pub at a small table with a bottle of Bons Voeux in front of her. Bons Voeux means best wishes. It was a Sylvester crafts beer from Belgium and almost at 9.5% one should be enough.

Elsa was disturbed by some commotion at the long table next to her.

A couple of women were lamenting their fate. One of the women looked familiar, but she couldn't tell why.

Intrigued, she started to eavesdrop.

The woman with the familiar face was complaining to the other women, "Isaac still doesn't want to talk to me. I tried everything to forestall the divorce, but he won't be talked to. The only thing he said was: 'Have you any idea how much pain you caused to me and your father. I'm not going to live with someone who cheated on me and so callously treats the feelings of other people.'"

The other three women showed their sympathy and tried to comfort the crying woman.

Elsa was familiar with Mark's history. He had told her when she went living in the souterrain at Isaac's.

Now her instinct had her take out her phone and call Mark. "I think your ex-wife and ex-daughter are up to something. I'll put the phone down so you can listen in.

Mark overheard that the women had found out where he now lived and contrived to ambush him in order to talk him into a reconciliation and after that talk, talk to Isaac to do the same. He didn't care much about the method they were going to try to convince him.

After a few minutes, when the conversation went over to other topics, Elsa paid her bill and went home.

=====

The next morning there was a knock on her door just before she started her breakfast. She looked through the little window and saw the very welcome face of Mark. She quickly opened the door and almost jumped into his arms.

A passionate kiss, and after the door closed she asked, "What are you doing here?"

Mark's face stood grave, "You overheard that conversation yesterday as well as I did. Now I'm in two minds as to what to do. I'm certain that I don't want her back.

"On one hand, I can do without the hassle of them confronting me and trying to pressure me in a reconciliation. On the other hand, I can go for a head on collision and alienate my daughter forever. That's not something I look forward to either. I hate closing doors entirely on relationships, even when someone hurts me like my daughter did.

"I decided that I'm going to carry out my original plan and disappear for a while, but don't want to be alone anymore, so I'm looking for a beautiful woman to spend the rest of my life with. Do you happen to know a candidate?"

Elsa almost collapsed from shock. With big eyes she asked, "Do you mean that?"

"Yeah, are you interested in the job?"

"Where do I apply?"

"That's not necessary. You're hired and can start immediately."

Mark smiled and gushed, "Oh Elsa, you don't know half how deeply I fell in love with you."

Elsa tried to snuggle even more up to him, if that was possible. With her face in his chest, she asked. "Can I ask when you fell in love with me?"

"The moment you opened the door when I came to introduce myself."

"And I was such an enormous bitch to you."

"Yeah, that hurt, but I'm over it."

Somewhat later they were having coffee and Elsa asked, "When are you leaving?"

With pain in his eyes, Mark answered that he wanted to leave as soon as possible and that he dearly wanted to have Elsa at his side.

"That's not possible," she replied. "We need to wrap this case up. I can tell you now that we are analyzing all the pictures from the hard drives. It'll take weeks and only then the case can officially be brought before the Court."

"I think I'll stay here then. I don't want to be separated from you for so long."

"No!" Elsa replied almost vehemently. "You go and as soon as this is wrapped up, I'll meet up with you."

Later that week the doorbell rang at the Mulder's house. Mrs. Mulder answered the door and saw two surprised looking women.

One obviously was Mark's daughter the other showed some resemblance to the younger woman, so Mrs. Mulder assumed that the woman was the ex-wife of the man that had stolen the heart of her daughter and at the same time hers too.

"Can I help you?" She asked in a thick Limburg accent. She wasn't going to make it easy on these two, especially when they wanted to pry that wonderful man away from her daughter.

The older of the two women answered, "We were led to believe that Mark Wauters lives here."

"He did, but he moved out."

"Do you know where he is?" Laura asked impatiently.

"Even if I know, why should I tell two complete strangers?"

"I'm Tecla and this is Mark and my daughter Laura, and we're looking for him. We need to talk to him."

"I don't know where he is, so I can't help you. Have a good day."

With that Mrs. Mulder closed the door again. Leaving a stunned mother and daughter behind.

It was the right address according to the municipal affairs department. Mark never got around to tell them that he and the Mulder family switched houses.

Mrs. Mulder sniggered. That'll teach them to try and steal that man away from my daughter.

Disappointed, the two women left.

"That woman was not very forthcoming, was she?" Laura observed.

"No, and we're back at square one. "Let's find a room somewhere, it's too late to go back to Baarn."

At the hotel Tecla checked the information from the PI she had hired. "It is the proper address." She mused.

"Did you notice that there were two similar houses? Could it be that we were at the wrong house?" Laura asked.

"It could be, but that other house was a dump and I can't see Mark living in a dump."

"Maybe he is renovating it and he is living somewhere else?" Laura said.

"If that's so, we'll never find him until that house is habitable. Let's go home tomorrow and come back later."

=====

Soon after Tecla and Laura left Mark got a call.

"Mrs. Mulder. Good afternoon." He answered his phone.

"Mark!" "How many times do I have to tell you to call me Clara." His future mother-in-law replied, annoyed.

"Sorry Clara, but I don't want to disrespect my future mother-in-law." Mark replied, immediately aware of his slip of the tongue.

Clara chuckled, "Mother-in-law, huh. I made a bet with Fons that you'll be engaged before your holiday is over. We noticed how you two interact with each other and it's quite like what Fons and I have together.

"But that's not why I called. We had visitors from Holland, asking for you."

"Did you now? And what was your reply?"

Again, that chuckle from Clara, only this time it sounded a bit sharper. "I told them that you don't live here."

Mark laughed out loud, "We didn't inform the municipality of our 'move' yet, did we?"

Good riddance, I hope that they have lost track now. I have absolutely no desire for a confrontation full of tears. She made her choice and now I made mine. He thought when they disconnected.

=====

Over the next weeks Mark and Elsa called each other at least once a day. In the evening mostly a video call.

During those calls Mark noticed that Elsa started to look wrung out. She also complained that she hardly slept and was constantly tired.

He already told her to report sick. "But then we can't be together either. I'm not allowed to go on vacation." Was her argument.

"Then resign. I have enough for the two of us and your employer is now taking advantage of you."

Elsa smiled and asked, "You mean that? You are going to take care of me? For how long?"

Mark took a deep breath. "Is Elsa Mulder will you marry me a sufficient answer?"

Elsa's eyes went wide from shock. "Whaaaat? What did you say?"

Mark gently replied, "I want to take care of you for the rest of my life. That's what I said, 'Elsa Mulder, will you marry me?' I already told you once that I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I can't make my position any stronger than this."

"I don't think getting married is a necessity, but it does give you an idea of ​​how much I care and love you."

Suddenly tears appeared in the corners of her eyes and soon they formed small streams over her cheeks. She hiccupped, "Sor, sor, sorry, but these are happy tears. I don't need a marriage. Your promise and profession of your love for me makes me so happy. It evens out all those weeks of misery."

They talked 'lovers' language' for a long time before they ended the call.

At the end of the call an idea started to form in Mark's head.

=====

His alarm clock woke Mark at four-thirty. In the toilet block he splashed some water in his face and back in his camper he drank a quick cup of coffee.

Much to the astonishment of the other camping guests Mark started the diesel engine at five o'clock and rambled to the exit.

At six, he negotiated a storage where he could hook-up his RV to an electricity socket to prevent drainage for the batteries and keep the refrigerator going. After all, he wasn't sure when he would be back.

Forty-five minutes later, he was at Gare de Perpignan buying two return train tickets to Amsterdam.

Five minutes before departure, he nestled himself in a comfortable chair in the first-class compartment from the TGV.

Twelve hours later he rang the bell of the souterrain from the house he once thought that he would grow old with Tecla.

Slowly the door opened and Elsa's tired face showed itself.

"Yes?" She said before she recognized Mark.

Her eyes went wide and "Mark!" When recognition sat in.

She jumped in his arms, kissed him and started to cry.

They weren't happy tears. It was a full-blown cry of despair, frustration and when Elsa saw Mark standing in front of her, she just let go.

Mark held her for a few minutes before he asked, "Can I come in?"

The question brought Elsa back somewhat. She took his head into her hands, pulled him to her and kissed him fiercely before she dragged him inside.

=====

Laura Wauters witnessed her father and the woman connecting in a most profound way and because of that, tears appeared in the corners of her eyes.

It was obvious to her that her father was lost to her mother. He had moved on with his life and, apparently, had found someone who loved him without reservations unlike the one in the last ten years of his previous marriage.

How do I break this news to Mum? She wondered while she kept her vigil in front of what once was; her parental home.

Since her divorce Laura became obsessed with Isaac. She kept trying to reconcile, but every effort was cut short by her ex-husband. He was furious at her, for both the cheating and calling Mark a mistake.

She regretted taking the advice from her colleague that she needed to spice up her sex life and acted accordingly. It had literally and figuratively brought her nothing but pain.

For the umpteenth time she found herself in front of the stately house, only to witness the ax coming down on a chance of reconciliation between her parents.

Inside the souterrain Elsa had clung to Mark as if her life depended on it.

"I'm so happy to see you. I felt so alone and I'm so tired." She sobbed.

Mark let her cry out and took her into the room, sat her down on the sofa, found her a glass of wine and told her, "Talk to me."

When Elsa was done, it was well into the new day.

Both tired from the long day and the emotional conversation they went to bed.

Elsa whispered, "I'm so sorry love, but how much I want to, I'm too tired to make love to you."

"Don't be sorry. Let me help you relax. Just lay still and enjoy." Mark whispered back.

He started to caress her. Very gentle, with his fingertips, starting with her ears, her jawline and finally her face.

Slowly he worked his way down. Feathery touches along her sides, the sides of her breasts and in the end her nipples. When he touched them, the areola puckered, and the nipples became hard.

Drowsy Elsa sighed from contentment.

Over her stomach the journey ended at the short curls just above the promised land.

He carefully and with much attention he let his fingers touch her inner legs from the knees slowly up to her delta.

She opened up. Spread her legs to give him access.

It was the moment Mark had waited for. He played with her lips and ever so gently he started to rub her nub until he felt her secretions flowing.

He spread her legs even wider and bent forward until his face was almost touching her labia.

Still softly caressing her tummy and the sides of her legs he put his tongue to work and a few minutes later Elsa's breathing changed.

Mark wanted to give her an orgasm to drain the tension a bit and because she, as was he, was tired, he didn't want to delay that too long.

He started to titillate her clitoris with his tongue and a finger whilst the other hand went for access to her gully.

Mark knew Elsa's body well enough to know where her g-spot was and went straight for the kill.

Very soon she stiffened and let out a low and soft moan and after a few seconds he heard her saying, "Enough."

Mark covered his love with the duvet and went to the bathroom to clean his face and to brush his teeth again.

That done, he spooned behind her and kissed her goodnight.

Elsa's only reaction was a mumbled, "Thank you, I love you too." just before her breath slowed and became regular.

After Elsa's remark, Mark was lying awake and thinking. Without giving it a conscious thought, he traveled twelve hours to comfort his girlfriend. Before that, without even thinking, he told her to stop working because he could provide for the two of them.

When he arrived here, he had only one thing on his mind and that was to make her feel loved and calm insofar as a good night's rest.

This morning, he was ready to fight bears bare handed to prevent her from slipping deeper into a mental ravine.

That sentiment, he had only once before and that was with his ex-wife before he knew that she betrayed him for over a decade. Then he intended to take care of Tecla as long as they lived.

It became clear to him that Elsa replaced his ex-wife in his heart and in his mind.

When arrived at that conclusion, he had only one other problem to solve: how does he make his feelings abundantly clear to Elsa. Half asleep he came up with an idea.

=====

He woke up after just a few hours because Elsa's alarm clock went off.

She stirred and made a move to get out of bed.

"Oh no, you don't.

"You call in sick today and I'm going to take you to a friend of mine. A psychiatrist and she specialize in burn-outs."

"But I can't, there is nobody else."

"You mean that you're the only one doing the analyzing and cross-referencing of that filth? Without any backup and support?"

Elsa nodded affirmatively.

"One more reason to call in sick. This smells like someone aiming for a promotion over your back.

"When you're done, you are burned out and transferred back to Limburg. Then, because you're burned-out you can no longer perform at the required level and are sidelined. The person who led the project gets to run with all the credit.

"You're calling in sick and if my friend diagnoses you burned-out there will be hell to pay."

Elsa called the Medical Service.

One hour later Mark accompanied her to the examining physician affiliated with the police department.

Another hour later a very relieved Elsa exited the building. She wasn't allowed to return to her job for whatever reasons. She was advised to go on vacation and in a month, she would be contacted by a counselor to help her out of her depression.

"Don't you worry about anything. I handle this personally. This was mistreatment and I'll see to it that you will be compensated accordingly.

"After all, it's your employer's responsibility to prevent this and it's blatantly obvious that your superior couldn't care less." The doctor told her.

During the time that Elsa was with the doctor Mark went shopping at a jeweler.

When she came out of the door Mark intercepted her and steered her into a lunchroom where he ordered coffee and strawberry pie. Elsa's favorite.

While enjoying the coffee and the pie Elsa reiterated what the doctor had said to her and that she was so relieved not to have to go back to that hellhole of hers.

When Elsa fell still after telling her story, Mark took her hand.

"Eloise Mulder, we already agreed that you will allow me to love and care for you for the rest of my life.

"I want to reaffirm that promise to you by giving you a small present because I'm not complete without you."

That said he put the small box on the table next to her left hand.

Elsa looked in wonder to the box, "Is that what I think it is and it is for me?"

"Yes, it is. As a token of my appreciation for healing me."

Suddenly Elsa's eyes started to shine again. "I don't care about being married, or not, but I promise that you will be my man, my only man.

"Yes, of course I will allow you to love me as you will allow me to love you. It took me a while to recognize the depth of my feelings for you, but I do now, and I will be your woman for as long as you will have me."

With a smile Mark gestured to Elsa to open the box. The ring was of an understated elegance. Two golden bands with emeralds and rubies set between them.

"It signifies us. The rubies stand for your dusky beauty and the emeralds for my plain Dutch heritage.

Elsa stood and pulled him out of his chair. When Mark was on his feet, she kissed him.

Then she said, "The only way to get rid of me now is to send me away." and she gave him the box.

"You claim me as your woman. Put that ring on my finger."

Mark did so and it went on too easily. Elsa teared up. "It's too big."

Mark quickly replied, "That can be remedied within half an hour."

For him it was also a sign that Elsa was at the end of her rope when the smallest setback would bring her to tears.

"Let's see the jeweler to fit the ring and go home and call your parents. I think they like to know how much happiness we found in each other."

At about the same time Laura steeled herself for the conversation she was going to have with her mother.

They had arranged to meet at 'De Generaal', a café restaurant near the station. Laura couldn't afford herself a car, not if she wanted to stay in the house that held so many memories of better times.

She steadfastly refused her mother's offer to buy a car for her with the words, "No Mom, I brought this on myself and I want to resolve this on myself. One way, or another."

Tecla had become a sour woman who now began to blame Mark for the end of her marriage. She knew she was being unreasonable, but the loneliness began to gnaw at her. She had plenty of time to brood and those thoughts became. increasingly black.

She had also convinced herself that he had to reconcile with her now that she had been dumped by her lover. She had the right to do so after all those years of being married to him.

Once seated, she decided to bite the bullet right away. "I saw Dad yesterday."

"What? Where? What did he say?"

"I didn't talk to him. I just saw him, Mum."

"What did he look like? Did he seem healthy?"

"He looked well enough. He has a tan, lost some weight and has some more gray hairs." Laura answered honestly.

"Where? What was he doing?" Tecla asked eagerly.

Here goes. Laura thought.

"In front of his house. I found out that Isaac lives there and went to check. Dad was kissing a woman." Laura replied bluntly.

"What! Is he mad? I need to talk to him about that."

"Mother, you divorced him the first moment you had the chance to comfortably do so. What did you expect?"

"But that's over! We just as well can get together again.

"I'm willing."

"That's not going to happen Mother. I'm afraid that we both hurt him too much for that. Don't you think that he didn't figure out that you put his sex life on ice for a decade in favor of your lover bitch? You know, the one who ran out of you the moment you wrecked your marriage."

"You were the one calling him a mistake." Tecla retorted.

"Yes, that was stupid of me. That was another mistake, if I hadn't done so Isaac never would have had that discussion with me. But my biggest lapse was stepping out of my marriage for some excitement.

"It took me two afternoons to find out that that excitement was very overrated and in the end the t-shirt cost me everything I held dear.

"You however..."

"Stop it." Tecla hissed. "Tomorrow I'm going to tell your father to drop the strumpet and take me back."

"Don't do it Mum. You know Dad better than I do and even I know that it's not going to happen, and the confrontation will be very painful for you."

Tecla was in no mood to take advice from her daughter and the next morning watched, feeling very ashamed how her mother was banging at the front door from her former house.

"Open up!" Tecla called out loud.

It took a while, but in the end, Isaac opened the door and looked at Tecla. "What..."

Tecla tried to push herself past Isaac, but that didn't work. He stopped her, pushing her back and telling her, "You're not welcome here."

He saw Laura, who gestured that she couldn't do anything about it and mouthed, "I'm sorry."

Isaac nodded that he understood, and Laura felt herself getting warm. It was the first time he acknowledged her since that faithless conversation.

The same moment the door to the souterrain opened and Mark took in the situation. Close behind him came the woman who Mark was kissing. Laura took a good look.

She seemed at least fifteen years younger than her father with dark skinned, athletic build with the sensual movements and exotic appearance of a Siamese cat.

When Tecla stepped beside Laura's father, Laura noticed that Elsa acted very protective of Mark, slipping her arm around him and getting hold of his hand.

"Tecla, leave the man alone!" Isaac thundered.

Tecla whirled around, took a good look at Elsa and spoke, "You have replaced me for that? Never mind. Lose the trollop dear. I'm coming back."

Mark seethed and Laura noticed that the woman got a firmer grip on his arm and whispered something in his ear.

She couldn't hear what was said, but Mark noticeably calmed. She also noticed that Isaac wasn't looking at the enfolding scene, but at her!

Mark looked at Isaac.

"Isaac, can I use your office for a moment? It's time to end this farce."

Laura was surprised. She thought that Isaac was using the souterrain, but it seems the other way around.

Her surprise became even bigger when Mark spoke, "Elsa, would you mind offering my daughter a cup of coffee? Isaac, do you mind going with them?"

"Okay Dad." Isaac replied.

"Right." Mark went on, "Introductions are in order.

"Laura, meet Eloise Mulder. She is the woman I'm going to spend the rest of my life with, so behave yourself.

"Eloise, meet Laura Wauters, my daughter. She's somewhat confused about my status, maybe you can put her right.

"That," He gestured to Tecla' "Is the reason I came into your life. I only have to exorcize her from mine now."

He nudged Laura towards Elsa and Isaac who just was walking over to them.

He walked towards his ex-wife, took her by the arm and resolutely steered her into the house towards the office and slammed the door shut.

Immediately Mark took the desk chair and let Tecla have the other chair which was decidedly uncomfortable.

I don't want her to be comfortable. I want her out of my life, as soon as possible.

He decided to be blunt. "Tecla, why are you here? What do you want?"

A short pause and, "I want you back."

"That's impossible. That's not going to happen and you know it." Mark replied.

"You can't write me off so easily." Tecla retorted, getting angry.

"I didn't write you off, you wrote me off. Ten years before you told me that you wanted to divorce me. Remember that morning?"

"I didn't write you off."

"You did. Slowly so you could leech off me. Don't think that I didn't find out how much your escapades with your whore cost me. The wining and dining, the clothes I never saw and the lack of mental and physical intimacy you forced on me.

"And when I won that prize, you saw your chance, took eight million and even tried to throw me out of my own house.

"Tell me, is that a write off or not?

"And now, why do you want me back? I think that you only want your comfortable mattress back."

Tecla sputtered, but Mark didn't give her a chance to speak-up.

"No Tecla, not a chance. Yes, you are replaced. Replaced by a wonderful woman who dearly loves me.

"You decided to betray me and your wedding vows for some excitement with a cunt.

"So, get back to your lover and enjoy your life. I hope she keeps you warm. I know that my bed is warm in the evening."

Now Tecla flared up. "Didn't Laura tell you? She left me as soon as the divorce was a fact. Now I am divorced, the excitement is gone, she told me when she left."

"I haven't spoken to her since Isaac came to me and started to live here" he replied bluntly.

It was obvious to Mark that Tecla was still smarting about her breakup, but he couldn't bring himself to feel sorry for her. Instead, he said, "How does it feel, being on the receiving end? Bitter, isn't it. Well, I got over it. I think you will to in the end.

"Only don't count on me. For that you cut me too deep and the pain was too much. That and the insinuations to Laura that I was a mistake makes it impossible for you."

A mixture of sadness and anger crossed Tecla's face. Without another word she rose, walked out of the office, the house, straight to the car. There, her voice hoarse from emotion she said. "I never insinuated that you were a mistake. You never were one. Giving in to that slithering bitch was a mistake."

Without calling Laura to join her she drove away.

Downstairs three people were waiting for the outcome.

Elsa poured coffee and observed the other two. The ex-spouses kept glancing at each other, but not daring to start a conversation.

Elsa was well versed in pushing people to open up and decided to do something about the situation. To her it seemed that their feelings for each other were still there, but Laura was afraid of Isaac's anger and Isaac had locked up and didn't know what to do.

"Laura?" Elsa aimed for a distraction. She also knew that Isaac hadn't talked at all to her for a long time. That is why she started with Laura.

"I can call you Laura, can't I? Friends call me Elsa. Eloise is such a mouthful."

Laura relaxed a little. She still felt like a long tail cat in a room full of rocking chairs. At least she's not as hostile as I expected. She thought.

"Yes please, thank you Elsa." She replied.

"For what? For the coffee?

"Life as a divorcee must be hard for you? Can you tell me what all changed for you?"

Laura saw the opening Elsa provided for her and started. "First of all, I changed work.

"Because I was alone, without the distraction of the other women and nobody to talk to at home I could fully devote myself to my work. An additional bonus was that I didn't have the time to feel sorry for myself because of my stupidity.

"As of recently I'm managing the secretariat of my new employer." She told proudly.

"I sought help to stave off the depression I slipped in. I lost the only man I wanted, and still want, in my life because I was stupid enough to listen to the vitriol my so-called work buddies spouted."

Laura decided that honestly was the best way forward. That Isaac was still listening was a bonus to her.

"You know? After those two faithless afternoons I realized how lucky I was with having Isaac as husband. Since then I tried to be the best wife I could be for him."

"Just two afternoons?" Came from the corner Isaac was sitting.

"Yes, two. At the first I felt a whore. Wham, bang and thank you Ma'am. The second was really bad."

She turned to Isaac and for the first time in a long time she spoke directly to him. "The second time was a disaster. Remember the time I told you that I hurt my tailbone because I fell from the stairs?"

Isaac just nodded.

"The man was a sadist. He did that to me. He abused me so hard; I could hardly walk.

"And Isaac, I never fathomed that you could read me so well. I was prepared to lie my ass off to save my marriage. I knew I made such a big mistake and I'm so sorry for doing it and hurting you in doing so."

Laura sighed from relief. She finally saw and took a chance to apologize to Isaac.

"We'll talk about that later." Came from the corner and Laura couldn't believe her ears.

A silent tear slipped along her cheek when Mark returned without Tecla in tow.

Elsa looked at him, the question in her eyes, but Isaac asked, "How did it go?"

"I don't know. She left and seemed to understand that reconciliation is not in the stars. I think I hurt her. I was quite blunt. I made it very clear that you replaced her in my life."

Mark turned to Laura, "She told me that her lover left her as soon as the divorce came through. Is that right?"

"Yes. I found out that that woman had a string of lovers. All happily married before she seduced them and converted them into lesbians.

"When their husbands came to know and whether there was a divorce or not, she left."

Mark just shook his head.

Laura interrupted his thoughts by saying, "I think I'll go home. Mum stranded me and I still have some things to do."

She came out of her chair and on a whim, she clamped herself to Mark.

Just above a whisper, but for Mark loud and clear, she said, "I'm so sorry Dad for calling you a mistake. You're not.

"I interpreted Mum completely wrong. I thought that she had been a lesbian all the time and was unhappy until she met that woman.

"I know now that Mum was just plain stupid and an egocentric opportunist."

She turned her face to Isaac, "Isaac, I apologize for my stupidity and actions and for the pain it brought you.

"I can't explain it any other way than that I was too stupid not to listen to that woman and to think what a wonderful husband you were to me."

Isaac had been watching Laura the whole time. He felt the attraction she had for him and noticed that she was acting differently. There was more peace in her behavior, she had become more mature. Probably because she was now on her own and had also had to bear her own pain alone.

"What would you do when you meet such advice again?" Isaac asked his ex-wife.

"I'm not sure. Either laugh at them out loud in their faces, or run screaming, but I can promise you that I will never ever follow up with such advice again.

"It has cost me everything I held dear."

Laura looked straight into Isaac's eyes when she answered his question and prepared to leave.

Isaac saw the sincerity in her eyes and in his mind something shifted. Call me pussy whipped, but damn I'm still in love with this woman. Why has she been so stupid and how can I step over my own shadow and trust her again?

"It's past noon. If you like, we can have lunch together and afterwards I'll bring you home.

"I reckon that Dad and Elsa need some private time too."

Shocked and with hope soaring Laura stammered, "I would like that very much, Isaac."

When Elsa and Mark were alone, she stepped into Mark's embrace and let the tension, she didn't know she built in herself, drain away.

Mark patiently waited until Elsa regained her calm and then gently whispered, "First, I'm going to call my friend to have a chat with you. Maybe she has some pointers to get your stress levels down.

"While I'm calling, you are going to pack for an absence of at least six weeks.

"Tomorrow we'll take the train, first to your parents and the day after tomorrow we'll travel to Perpignan to pick up the Unicat and start making some wonderful memories.

Elsa looked up, "What did I do to deserve you?"

Mark smiled broadly and replied, "You know, I asked myself the same question. What did I do to deserve you?

The only thing we can do is to find out."

Epilogue.

Half a year later.

The bell rang and a disheveled Elsa staggered to the door.

Their planned cuddle and nap turned into a fully blown lovemaking fest from which they were recuperating in the kitchen with tea and some leftovers from Elsa's birthday.

Mark wore her out. First with his hands and fingers to her first orgasm. When her heartbeat started to calm down to normal levels he started with his tongue.

In the six weeks they spent together on the road she showed him where her sensitive spots were and he discovered some she didn't know she had, or that they even existed.

He was like an octopus. His soft caresses with his fingers were everywhere where his tongue wasn't and the other way around.

It was good that Mark ordered the contractor to soundproof the house because she screamed through her second orgasm. Another novelty. She never expected that someone could let her lose herself so hard in what the French called: 'la petite mort'.

When she was in a puddle of relaxation and couldn't lift a finger to stop him, he spread her legs and slowly slotted his throbbing cock in to her still spasmodic wet and hot lady garden.

She wanted to object, but a soft kiss prevented that and patiently Mark started to make love to her again.

Patiently, until he noticed Elsa's breathing started speeding up again.

Slowly he started to deepen his strokes and picked up the pace until Elsa clamped her legs behind his buttocks, urging him on.

Clinging for the ride Elsa's third orgasm rolled in and over her when she felt the gushing hot liquid spurting against her cervix.

Too soon the bell rang.

The door opened and Laura took her father's woman in.

She smirked and asked, "What happened to you? You look like you went through the wringer."

"Your father happened and yes he was the wringer." And she added, "I still don't understand why your mother traded him in for that cunt.

"Oh, hello Isaac. I didn't see you."

Isaac admired the sight of Elsa. She wore a thin t-shirt that highlighted her jiggly breasts and something tight that covered her bottom parts without hiding anything. Her cameltoe and wet spot was quite obvious.

"Hello Elsa." He answered. "Can we come in, before you cause a riot?"

Laura swatted playfully at him. She knew what he was looking at and why.

In the long telephone calls the two women had, they had become more than friends, more something akin to sisters even though they would never officially be sisters-in-law.

Elsa gently coached Laura to get herself back in good grace by Isaac and getting him trusting her again.

It worked. Laura and Isaac were deeply in love and they were expecting Mark's grandson.

Laura found someone to counsel Elsa remotely during their trip through Europe and later on face-to-face when they were back at home.

To her parents' delight, Elsa moved in with Mark and sold her house to her brother who lived there now with his growing family.

When Isaac allowed Laura back in his life they went, for the first time, to Limburg to tell Mark and Elsa.

Mark proposed that Isaac kept on renting the house but would withdraw the maintenance subsidy. With two salaries they could easily afford the rent and Mark and Elsa would have the souterrain for when they wanted to be in the Randstad, for whatever reasons.

Two weeks after they arrived back home Elsa compiled a dossier about how she had been treated during her work on the case she was sent to Amsterdam for.

It was complete with statements from her colleagues in the capital, the Medical Service, the psychiatrist and her counselor.

The last two both, independently, stated that she had developed a mild form of PTSD during her work for the morals police and that she had suffered a burn-out.

With a copy of that dossier she went to her regional head, the one who had sent her, threw the file on the table and told him. "I resign. I'm not going to do a spat of work for a bunch of slave drivers like your lot."

With that she turned around and walked outside, straight into the arms of the man she held so dear now.

Two days later the man stood on her doorstep with a large bouquet of flowers and concert tickets for a Mahler concert by the Concertgebouw Orchestra.

After a long conversation with Mark attending, he convinced her to stay, though in another position. He also promised her that there would be hell to pay and her case was submitted by him to the integrity committee.

A now much more comfortable Elsa let the two lovebirds in.

"Mark, get dressed! We have visitors!" She called warningly.

She didn't care about Isaac looking. She also knew that Laura, nor Mark didn't mind him looking at her. She knew how she looked, but in the time with Mark she lost all modesty.

It had brought her in trouble once when a man in Portugal didn't take no for an answer. Mark tried to stop him, but in the end, it was she who broke the man's arm to stop him trying to beat up Mark. Her training as a detective came in handy after all.

After that incident she started to give self-defense lessons to Mark and he took on Aikido. Mark took to it as a duck to water and the results were notable. Mentally and physically.

But the bonds and trust between Laura and Isaac were so strong now that Elsa could get away with her almost exhibitionist behavior without trouble. Mark just was proud of his beautiful, confident woman.

Once Elsa had her guests seated, she went to freshen herself up.

When she came back, Mark had tea and sandwiches. She kissed Isaac and Laura and asked, "What brings you here?"

And in one breath, "Are you staying?"

Laura, visibly tired with a big belly replied, "I have a letter from my mother to you.

"If it's not too inconvenient? This little rascal inside me is getting heavy and is constantly playing soccer."

Immediately Elsa replied, "Of course you can. Would you like to lay down now? I'll make the bed in the guestroom."

"No, not yet. Read the letter first. It is addressed to you Elsa. Not to Dad."

Elsa raised her eyebrows but accepted the envelope, tore it open, unfolded the letter and started to read the neat handwriting.

Written by hand. Someone is making an effort. She thought.

Dear Elsa.

If I may call you that by want of your last name, or maybe the last name of my husband as I used to do.

I write you a letter in the hope that you will grant me a favor.

Will you please tell Mark that I'm deeply sorry for mistreating him so hard, that all his suffering in the last ten years is entirely my fault and that I am responsible for it?

I also apologize to you for speaking with such disdain about you at the house where Mark rightfully put me in my place.

It was his words there and then that shook me out of my delusions about myself.

It took me four counseling sessions per week for four months to become aware of my behavior towards the one who loved me without reservations while I was squandering myself to a manipulative, narcissistic, egotistical clam bumper.

(By the way: she met her match and is now earning a living satisfying dykes with dildos in a club where they promote paid sapphic love.)

Sorry I digress.

I threw the best in my life away and you caught it. Please take good care of him.

My loss is your gain. By now, you must know what a wonderful lover Mark is.

Reading this, Elsa winced slightly and mumbled under breath, "You bet I know. I bet you needed soothing salves as hard as I do."

She went on reading.

I know that he rarely comes twice and never trice, but at that time you are an exhausted, boneless and very satisfied heap of contentment. I still don't understand how I could forget that.

I pray that when our grandson is born that he can stand to be in one room with me. I hope to be allowed to stand next to you two to admire our new world wonder.

I know that I don't stand a chance to be in his life again and I understand that, but we have a family. Laura isn't my biggest fan, but we talk to each other, so I know that you are. Very much in love.

From the bottom of my heart: I wish you well. I wish you a long and happy life together. Mark deserves a better woman than I was for him.

Please convey my apologies to Mark.

With regards.

Tecla Richards.

Phone" +31 6 00000000

Address.

Elsa looked up. Wonder in her eyes.

"I think it's best that you read this yourself, my love."

Mark took the letter, "If you say so." And started reading.

When he was finished, he looked at Laura. "Would you mind giving your mother a message from me?"

Laura looked stricken. "Dad." She started.

"Sst. Don't be afraid."

Before Mark could continue Elsa interrupted, "Mark, there is a phone number. I think it's best that I give her a call."

"That's alright, but I was going to say that I'm not a monster and can behave myself, even in her company."

Laura looked relieved and rose to hug her dad and mumbled, "You're the best dad in the world."

"No mistake?" Mark winked to keep the sting out. They talked it out in an emotional conversation that cleared the air.

"No Dad. No mistake. The mistakes are the ones that my mother made when she deserted you and when I stopped taking my marriage vows seriously.

I was lucky that Isaac took me back. Mum less so because you found Elsa."

Mark sighed deep.

"I know. I was lucky." And he threw a look of love at Elsa.

"Get a room, you two." Isaac laughed.

Later.

A drawn looking, but smiling Laura handed Marc over to his grandfather at the moment Tecla entered Isaac and Laura's bedroom.

Laura insisted that the baby was born in the same room as she did. The midwife had no objections. (In the Netherlands home births are still fairly normal.)

Tecla came to a halt beside Elsa and took in the scene.

After a few moments Elsa tore her gaze from an overjoyed Mark and the tired, but happy parents and looked at Tecla.

There she saw sadness and tears. She wrapped her arms around the older woman and whispered, "This is a happy occasion. I've never seen Mark glow like he does now."

Tecla leaned into the dusky woman, whom she found impossible to hate. She was the intermediate between Mark and herself and made it possible for her to partake in the family festivities without being afraid of the ire from Mark. She had been able to sooth and redirect his anger. The redirection in the Aikido training did wonders for him.

She found him changed. Physically he looked stronger, his movements more precise and controlled.

She noticed, in the rare moments they had contact, mostly about Laura and Isaac, that she no longer played any role in his life. He even signed a registered partnership with Elsa. Almost the same as a marriage.

She also knew, from her phone calls with Laura, that Elsa forced him to include an addendum that protected his capital. something like a prenup.

Mark invested his money wise and he had more than during their divorce and Elsa wanted him protected.

Mark wouldn't hear from it. During the height of this argument, Mark said angrily, "Damn, so what? Then you take half. Then I'm still left with almost four and a half million."

In the end Elsa got her way, as usual and Tecla knew that he tried to spoil her, but she steadfastly refused him to spend much money on her.

Tecla, however, remembered that Mark was very able to spoil Elsa in other ways and those memories hurt. That was something she never would experience anymore.

Elsa nudged her towards Mark and Marc. "Go, meet your grandson." She whispered.

Reluctantly Tecla shuffled toward her ex-husband and her grandson.

Mark looked at Laura, who nodded, and handed Tecla the baby. Then he walked back into Elsa's arms.

Tecla made some cooing noises to the little wonder. She looked up and saw two couples, four pairs of eyes looking back and realized that she would never be a real part of the family again.

The End.