Cheating for a Promotion

Lois looked at the three of us with narrowed eyes and then smirked. "I see what's going on here. I have already been replaced, haven't I? You've taken these two into your bed, right? You're sleeping with my mom AND my aunt, aren't you Kevin?" Lois shouted the last question at me gleefully like she had just laid down the winning card in game of poker.

Lois then turned to Evelyn and snarled "You call me a slut and a whore, mother? Well, it takes one to know one, doesn't it, mommy dearest? Guess who I learned it from. How could you do this to me? I'm your daughter and you screwed my husband."

"Soon-to-be-ex-husband," Evelyn corrected. "No one did anything to you. You did this. Your decision caused all of this. No matter how you look at it, you were completely wrong. You're a cheating slut who devasted a wonderful man who loved you with all of his heart and you betrayed him in the worst possible way by fucking your boss for a promotion. Who does that? Something's wrong with you. I can't begin to defend what you did. So, yes, I screwed him and I plan to screw him many more times. I think I love him and I'm not going to pretend I don't just because you made a colossal mistake."

Realizing that she could never convince her mother, Lois turned to Maxine. "You're my aunt and you're a feminist, how could you take Kevin's side and not mine?"

Maxine folded her hands on the table and locked gazes with Lois. "I came here thinking Kevin must have done something to you that made you think it was okay to sleep with your boss, and I was ready to tear him a new one. But once I heard the whole story. Do you think anyone is going to take your side after what you did?"

Maxine went on. "Even though I tease Kevin a lot, you know I've always liked him and thought he was handsome; I told you that a long time ago. Since you obviously didn't want him anymore you broke all of your promises to be faithful to him, I thought why should I deny myself such a good man. I'd dreamed of him ever since you bragged about how good he was in bed and I decided that I wanted to see for myself. He's way better than you told me. Now I have feelings for him, and you caused that. I would've never made any moves on Kevin, and he would have never reciprocated if you hadn't made your stupid decision. If you don't want him, why can't be with us?"

"He's still my husband," Lois asserted, 'and I still want him."

"It's a little late." Maxine said. "How could you throw away a good man like Kevin? Are you stupid? He's kind, loving, and adored you. You were in an idyllic marriage. And he's got a big cock and knows how to use it better than any man I've been with."

"I didn't throw him away." Lois yelled. "I made a simple business decision that he couldn't handle. You two backstabbers swooped in and stole him from me."

Evelyn reared back to slap Lois again when Maxine quietly said "Evelyn, that's enough." Maxine then asked Lois, "Tell us what else happened at the retreat? You wouldn't have been crying just because you slept with your boss. You're proud of that, aren't you? And you wouldn't have been crying if you got the promotion. So, what are you trying to hide by attacking us?"

Lois' defiant grin faded and she laughed harshly. "Jock didn't give me the promotion."

We all sat back. Maxine was the first to break the silence. "So even though you slept with your boss, he still didn't give you the promotion?"

Lois looked down at the table. "He said it would look suspicious if he promoted me immediately afterward. He said he had to keep things separate. So he gave it to someone else." She let out a short, bitter laugh. "But he told me he'd take care of me some other way later." Lois sighed, "I guess I'm not just a slut; I'm a dumb slut."

For a moment, I thought I would feel glad that her stupid plan to fuck her way into a promotion had blown up in her face. Instead, all I felt was sorrow--for the marriage we'd had, for the version of Lois I thought I knew, for whatever future we might once have shared.

"So that's what this is?" I asked. "You want us to feel sorry for you because fucking your boss didn't even get you the promotion that you wanted?"

Lois looked at me, exhausted and defensive at once. "I'm telling you what happened."

I held her gaze. "If he had given you the promotion, would it have been worth destroying our marriage?"

She hesitated for only a beat. "Maybe. No. I don't know." she said. Then, with a kind of smug certainty. "But this isn't going to destroy our marriage."

"Yes," I said. "It will."

She blinked, but I kept going.

"I told you before you left what would happen if you fucked Jock Hanson. You made your choice anyway. So now I'm making mine. I'm filing for divorce."

Her face hardened. "No, you're not."

"Why not?"

She lifted her chin. "Because I am pregnant."

Her words landed like a physical blow.

I stared at her. "What?"

"I'm pregnant," she replied, quieter this time, but no less certain.

And just like that, everything in the room changed. Evelyn began to cry and Maxine grew even more stoic, while Lois and I stared at each other stone-faced but with burning eyes.

I stammered, "Who's the father?"

"You are, you asshole. I made the other asshole wear a condom."

This time, it was Maxine who slapped Lois across the face... hard. "Don't ever compare Kevin to that asshole again, do you understand?"

Unfazed, Lois merely rubbed her cheek and said, "You really need to stop hitting me. You can get into trouble for slapping a pregnant woman... even if she is a dumb slut."

Not knowing what else to say, I blurted out, "Why didn't you use birth control? Why didn't you get a morning after pill? Why don't you just abort this baby, Lois? You know you don't want it. You have been telling me for years that you don't want to start a family. You want to focus on your precious career."

Lois smirked. "I did use birth control... with you--it didn't work for some reason. I didn't think I needed the morning after pill... with you. And I know you'd never let me abort a baby of yours. I wouldn't, even if you asked me to. Now that I am pregnant, I've decided to give you what you've always wanted -- a child."

I pressed my hand to my forehead, "Lois, every time you speak, this gets worse. First, you fucked that asshole for a promotion. Now you're talking about bringing a child into this world - one you don't even want - as if that will somehow repair what you have done. When did you become such a heartless monster?"

Lois looked up for the first time with an almost triumphant look in her eyes. "Monster or not, you're not divorcing me, Kevin. You can stay married to me and be a full-time father in this child's life or you can divorce me and see what happens. Your choice."

I stared at her in disbelief. "So now, you're trying to use custody of our unborn child as leverage to keep me from divorcing you?"

Her expression sharpened. "You call it leverage. I call it the truth. You keep calling me these horrible names, but I still don't understand why you insist on turning this into something monstrous. I told you what I intended to do. I did exactly what I said I would do. Why can't you accept my decision?" Lois asked.

Lois turned to Maxine, almost as if she wanted a witness for the defense. "You're the feminist here. Don't I have the right to make decisions about my own body, without being judged by everyone in this room?"

Maxine gave a dry, humorless smile. "Interesting that you want one of your 'moms'' opinion. How convenient for you."

"But to answer your question," Maxine looked at me and then folded her hands in her lap and spoke more carefully, though not more gently. "Most feminists believe you have a right to bodily autonomy and that rejecting the demands of a controlling spouse can be an assertion of that autonomy. But is that what happened here, Lois? When you slept with your boss, were you trying to assert your bodily autonomy --or where you simply chasing something you wanted?"

Lois hesitated between irritation and uncertainty. "Kevin never controlled me. But he did try to keep me from what I wanted."

"No." Maxine said, shaking her head. "He asked you not to break your promise--that's not the same thing as trying to control your decisions about your body. You made a selfish choice, even though you knew exactly what your way of getting that promotion would cost. Your right to bodily autonomy doesn't trump your promises. It doesn't justify you violating your mutually agreed promise to have a monogamous relationship with Kevin.

Maxine's voice grew sharper, more prosecutorial. "No one forced you into this marriage, did they? No one forced you to promise fidelity, did they? You chose those commitments freely, didn't you? But you broke those promises when you slept with your boss, didn't you? Isn't that the truth?"

Lois looked down, then gave a small, unhappy nod. "Fine. You're right about that. I wasn't rebelling against a monogamous relationship that had been forced on me. I made my decision to sleep with Jock because I wanted the promotion. I thought I had the right to decide how far I willing to go for it."

Maxine laughed harshly. "That's how feminism gets a bad name. You want to assert your feminist right of bodily autonomy without having to live up to your commitments. But feminism is about getting a job based on your merit, not based on whether you will agree to have sex with your boss to get a promotion. But that's what you did, didn't you? You had so little self-respect, self-awareness, or self-esteem that you gave into Jock's demands for sex, instead of demanding that you be given that promotion based on your work, your judgment, your intelligence, didn't you?"

Lois's face tightened. "You say that as if it were simple. He was never going to give me the job if I didn't sleep with him."

"So instead of standing up for yourself and demanding the job based on your hard work, you surrendered." Maxine said. "You knew Jock was abusing his power over you. But you let him fuck you simply because he implied that he might give you a promotion if you slept with him. He USED you. And what's worse, you LET him. You're supposed to be smart. Don't you get that?"

Lois threw up hands in frustration. "Yes, I get it. I know I was played. Believe me, I know. But that's on me. I made a mistake that was mine to make. I took a gamble and it didn't pay off. Now I see my mistake may have cost more than I thought."

Turning to me, Lois asserted, "But my miscalculation didn't affect you at all, Kevin. Sleeping with Hanson didn't affect me or my love for you. I'm still the same person that you married five happy years ago."

"No, you're not the same person, Lois." I insisted. "The person I married would never have cheated on me, would never have violated my trust, and, most of all, would never have broken my heart."

"But if I hadn't told you that I might fuck Hanson, you never would have known, and you would have gone on being the happy doting husband that you always have been."

I heaved a sign and put my head in my hands, "Lois, do you not see that fucking Jock Hanson affected me deeply? You've hurt me more than anyone else ever has."

Lois looked stricken for the first time. "No, it wasn't supposed to be like that. I knew that you wouldn't like it if I fucked Jock Hanson, but I didn't think you would be this pissed off. I never meant to hurt you this bad. I thought if I told you beforehand what I was going to do, you would have time to process it while I was gone and get over your anger. I figured that you knew how much I wanted the promotion and that I'd try to get it by any means necessary. I thought you were being overly dramatic when you said it would destroy our marriage."

Searching my eyes, Lois went on, "I see now that I miscalculated how much what I did would hurt you. I thought that since I didn't really want to sleep with Jock and since I knew that the sex probably wasn't going to be very good and even though I knew you wouldn't like what I was doing, I figured that we would both suck it up and get passed it. I miscalculated - I never meant to hurt you this badly.

I snarled "So you miscalculated whether Jock would actually give you the promotion if you fucked him. And you miscalculated how much I would be hurt if you slept with him. It pains me to say that you may be in the running for the dumbest slut on the planet."

"I am starting to think that you may be right." Lois said with a bitter laugh. "But for what it is worth, I didn't enjoy the sex. It wasn't very good. Nothing like how good it is with you."

I let out a strained breath. "So, if the sex had been good and you got the job, it would've been worth all the pain it caused me and what you did shouldn't matter, is that what you are saying?"

Lois shook her head, but without conviction.

I leaned back in my chair, exhausted by this confrontation with Lois. "Well, it sure looked like you were enjoying yourself on the video I had to watch of you two doing it."

"That was all an act, Kevin. I swear." She pleaded. "I had to sell it in order to get the promotion.".

"So, you faked that you enjoyed the sex, but you didn't fake it well enough for him to give you the job. And you say you were being practical by sleeping with Jock because that was the only way he was going to give you the promotion. You say that you misread whether Jock ever intended to give you the job. You also say that you misjudged the cost. But every version of your story ends the same way: you decided that the risk to us was worth taking."

"That's not fair." Lois said softly. "I told you beforehand because I didn't want to lie to you or cheat on you behind your back. I thought that would count for something."

My expression hardened. "Well, you were wrong about that too. Telling me that you were going to cheat on me and then going ahead and doing it, even though I begged you not to, is still cheating. Telling me beforehand doesn't count for anything except to show that you understood exactly what you were doing. You didn't stumble into this. You made a deliberate choice to break your promises to me. Why should you get any points for doing it in the open rather than behind my back?"

Lois looked down at the table, then up again, trying to gather herself. "But what about you?" Lois asked. "You talk like I'm the only one who cheated. You've hurt me too."

Before I could answer, Evelyn spoke, her voice low and measured. "It pains me to tell you this, Lois, but if you're hurt by what Kevin did after you cheated on him first, well, karma is a bitch. Your pain is one of the consequences of you breaking your vows first."

"Wait a minute." I interrupted. "Lois, are you seriously complaining about what I did after you decided to fuck your boss? What was I supposed to do, sit at home wringing my hands while you were off boinking Jock six ways from Sunday? What about me makes you think that I would be your bitch, your cuck, your cuckold? Aaargh, everything you say makes things worse."

Lois jumped back in and said, "Kevin, take it easy. All I'm saying is that I only slept with Hanson for one night while you've been fucking my mother and my aunt for weeks and you haven't stopped. So, I'd say we are even in the cheating department. I forgive you for your cheating and if you'll forgive me for mine, then the moms can go home, and we'll be together like we were before."

I shook my head and told Lois, "Things will never be like they were before. Things have changed. You cheated first. You broke your promises first. I told you there'd be consequences if you went ahead with your 'decision.' There is no possible path forward for us if you keep minimizing what you did, making excuses, or telling me I should simply accept your decision. The only way out of the wreckage that you have caused is for you to be honest, honest about whether you are remorseful, and honest about whether you are willing to make changes."

Lois swallowed. "What does that mean?"

"It means," I said, "that if you want me even to consider staying in this marriage, there are things that must change. Permanently."

The room went quiet.

Lois said without acceptance, "Okay, let me hear them."

"First," I told her. "You do not ever disrespect me or try to use our child as leverage against me again. Not in anger, not in fear, not as a threat, certainly not as a bargaining chip. If that happens again, whatever remains between us is over. I have never threatened you before and I never will again, but do not forget that I am the vindictive one in this relationship."

Lois nodded slowly. "All right."

"Second," I continued. "You need to decide whether you are actually sorry for what you have done and the hurt that you have caused me and our marriage--or whether you are simply sorry that your plan failed and blew up in your face. Because you must be truly sorry. I will not accept negotiated remorse."

Lois opened her mouth, then closed it again.

"I'm not looking for a performance," I said. "I'm just asking for honesty."

Lois put her head in her hands for a while, then looked up at me and said, "Kevin, I need some time to think about this. I'm not going to lie to you or pretend that I feel something I don't. I'm not saying what I did was right, but right now, I'm not sure that what I did was so bad that you need to blow up our marriage over it. But I am beginning to understand how wrong I was about everything. I see that it is way worse than I thought when I left. So, can you give me a little time?"

I studied her for a long moment, then nodded once. "A day or two. No more."

Lois let out a shaking breath.

"There are more changes that are needed." I said. "Third, whatever happens next, your life can't continue as if you and Jock made a private mistake. The company you work for allows its executives to prey on female subordinates and you need to deal with that. You can't build a future--any future--by pretending that what happened was acceptable. "

Maxine interjected, "Lois, you need to resign and file a complaint against your boss and the company. You need to expose Jock and the rotten corporate culture. There needs to be consequences for what they've done. That's the only way you'll be able to build a career with any integrity."

Lois looked up sharply, understanding exactly what we meant and hating it. "You're asking me to walk away from everything I've worked for."

"You need to decide," I replied, "whether what you've worked for is worth the cost."

No one spoke after that.

Finally, Lois rose from the table, but the fire had gone out of her. For the first time since she had come home, Lois did not look defiant, or clever, or sure of herself. She looked tired. Smaller somehow.

"I'll think about what you said," she murmured.

No one stopped her as she turned away.

At the doorway, she paused, one hand braced lightly against the frame, as if she might say something more. But in the end, she only nodded to herself and turned to go upstairs.

"One more thing." I called out. "If you choose to stay married to me, you will have to share -- with Evelyn and Maxine."

Lois turned and said plaintively, "Kevin, you can't be serious. You want me to share you with my two moms?"

"That's the deal, Lois." I replied. "You changed the rules. Things aren't going back to the way they once were. Evelyn and Maxine are staying. You must decide if you're staying with them."

"Wait a minute," Lois said, looking hurt for the first time. "My moms are going to stay here permanently... in your bed? You're replacing me with my mothers?"

I nodded and replied, "whether they replace you is up to you."

Lois turned to Evelyn and Maxine and asked like a sad little girl, "you'd do that to me, your own daughter?"

Evelyn lifted her head and looked at me, then she let out a deep breath and said, "Lois, I love you, but now I love Kevin too. That happened because of what you did."