Erin's Divorce

Chapter One - Daughters

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Chelsea, we called her Chess, my eldest daughter was mumbling something to my younger daughter Brie as she walked into the kitchen of our home in a north Toronto suburb Sunday afternoon. My ears perked up when I realized they were talking about their father but Chelsea stopped so quickly when she saw me standing by the sink that Brie bumped into her back.

They turned and looked at each other briefly then I saw Brie give her older sister a brief nod. Chelsea turned back to me.

"Mom, we need to talk," Chelsea said.

Chapter Two -- Skipping School

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It was late Tuesday afternoon but something in Chelsea's voice made me pour myself a glass of white wine before we sat at the kitchen table. Chess had just turned eighteen and Brie was fifteen, several months from turning sixteen. They were not old enough to drink so I offered them juice or pop. They declined.

"What do you need to talk about?" I said.

"We skipped school last Friday," Chelsea said. She turned to look at Brie when she saw me frown.

"If you did not go to school," I said slowly, "what were you doing?"

Brie spoke up, "We were following dad."

I know sometimes my kids think I 'm slow to pick up on a conversation but Brie's statement shocked me. I sat staring at both of my girls.

"Mom," Chelsea said softly. "There is no way to say this without hurting you. But we think dad's cheating on you."

I did not reply. I heard the words but they did not make sense. I just stared at my daughters as they waited for my reaction. It came quickly. Denial, disbelief, this could not be true. Why were my girls saying this to me?

Brie reached across the table and placed her hand over mine. Chelsea continued.

"Mom," she spoke softly. "We were skipping school to go downtown to the new Games World store downtown. They have the pre-release of the new Zelda Tears game. Brie and I were going to share a game cos it's not cheap. We also want to get a copy of the new Witcher game and were going to share the cost when it comes out next month."

"Brie was looking in the back of the store but I was by the storefront looking at a display when dad walked by the store. At first I thought he had followed us and we had been caught but then he crossed the street and met up with a woman."

A small whimper escaped my lips.

Chelsea continued again. "He kissed her mom, dad hugged her and kissed her when they met."

"Maybe it was just a greeting kiss," I replied. Denial was getting stronger and my stomach was beginning to roll.

"No mom. This was not your basic greeting smooch. His hands were all over her."

Brie jumped into the conversation. "I agree mom. I joined Chess just in time to see it. Besides, she was dressed like a slut."

"BRIE! Watch your mouth young lady. I thought I taught you......." I stopped mid-sentence at the look my daughters were giving me.

"Mom," Chelsea whispered, "her skirt was super short and she wore a tight shirt that was see thru with no bra."

"And she had these ridiculously high stilettos on mom," Brie interjected. "Dad was groping her ass while they kissed. We watched as they turned then he took her hand and they walked down the street."

My hands came up to my mouth. Why were my girls saying these things as to me? I slumped to the table and began to cry.

Ten minutes later my daughters had moved me to the living room, refilled my wine that I had gulped down and sat me on the couch in the living room, one of them on each side of me.

Tearfully I said, "Are you sure it was your father?"

"Yes mom," Chelsea replied.

"We followed them down the street mom." Brie said. "They went into the Marriot hotel. We could see them from the street. They went straight to the registration desk. She left a few seconds later while dad booked a room. She came back a minute later and met dad at the elevator."

I began crying again.

"Mom, it gets worse." Chelsea stated. "When the bitch came back she handed dad her panties, then the elevator came and they went upstairs."

This time I did not correct my daughter's manners. They held me for I don't know how long.

"What are you going to do?" Chelsea asked.

I struggled to pull myself together. I needed time, time to think, and time to digest this unexpected news. I had been blindsided. My brain was muddled and I knew I was all emotional.

Finally I spoke. "Girls, your father is away this week. I need time. Can you keep this to yourselves, just between us, not a word to anybody?"

Chelsea and Brie looked at my tear stained face and finally they both nodded. "Anything you need mom," they both said in unison.

Chapter Three -- Mousy or Hot

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I stood in my bedroom looking at myself in the full length mirror on the back of my closed bedroom door. The girls were downstairs trying to give me space. They had tried to cook me dinner but I could not eat a bite. I had escaped saying I needed to use the bathroom and needed some time alone to think.

The image reflected a five foot four mousy thirty-nine year old woman. At least, that's what I saw. My daughters said I was a hot mom and all the boys they brought home thought so too. They also said all the men in the neighbourhood had the hots for me but I had never noticed.

I was a stay at home mom. I always dressed conservatively and never showed much. My dresses and skirts when I wore one always went below my knee. I'm a 34C but I always pick a larger size bra to hide them. I never show cleavage. Dan, my husband had always tried to get me to wear more revealing clothes but I was never comfortable with my body and preferred to hide it behind baggy or non-descript clothing. The oversize flannel pajamas I now wore showed nothing of my figure in the mirror. I knew I was not overweight.

I studied the image in the mirror more clearly. I had to admit to myself I was not going to appear in any fashion magazines. I was more the wholesome girl next door type. Was'nt I? Then a thought struck me and my body went cold. Dan had said he was going on a week long business trip to Montreal. He had Saturday afternoon. Was the woman the girls had seen with their father going with him? Who was she? Was he really on a business trip this week or was he spending the week in Montreal with the woman my daughters had labelled a slut?

I collapsed on the floor and began to cry.

Chapter Four -- Friends

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Wednesday morning came and I was still in bed. The girls had checked in on me early but I convinced them they had to go to school. I was alone. So when my front door opened just after nine o'clock my initial thought was panic. That quickly changed and hope flooded my heart. Had Dan come home to me?

"Erin," a female voice yelled. "Are you okay?"

My heart crashed. The voice belonged to Megan, one of my best friends. Dammit, had the girls broke their promise not to tell anybody? I dragged myself out of bed and walked to the top of the stairs. Megan stood at the bottom of the stairs looking up at me.

"Hells bells girl! What is going on? You look like shit," she said.

Two hours later I sat in the kitchen. Apparently the girls had kept my secret but Chelsea had texted Megan telling her I was in not well and could she look in on me. The instant Megan had seen me I broke down and told her what my daughters had said. Thirty minutes later Megan had been joined by Crystal and Tara and now all four of us sat in the kitchen.

Megan and I had grown up together. She moved into the house next door when I was five and had been my best friend since then. Crystal had joined us when I was ten. The three of us worked together on a school project when I was in grade five and the group of us became fast friends. When I went to college for bookkeeping I met Tara. We hit it off immediately and she joined our group.

"So what do you plan to do? Crystal asked.

Crystal was the stable one. Always methodical and precise, she was married to a man named Joseph and had two boys about the same age as my daughters. She was a part time mom and a full time fashion buyer for a high end woman's clothing chain.

"We are going to cut Dan's balls off," replied Megan. She had just married a man last year named Luke. We had all attended her wedding. She was a senior manager for a small airline based out of the island airport. "Then were are going to barbeque them crispy brown and force feed them to that bastard!"

I smiled slightly at that thought before Tara chipped in her two cents worth. Tara was a lawyer. She worked in a mid-sized private firm that specialized in family and estate law.

"We do nothing of the sort," she stated looking at Megan. "We do whatever Erin needs us to do."

She turned to me. "What do you want us to do?"

I shrugged my shoulders. I had no idea.

Over the next two hours my friends listened to me. Mostly I babbled. What was I going to do? I was a stay at home housewife. I never started a career like they had. I had no separate income. Dan made all the money in our house. I had a small separate personal bank account but it really did not have much in it. The house was in Dan's name. I owned my three year old Toyota Rav 4 Dan bought me to chauffer the girls around in but that was really my only asset.

It left me with no idea what to do about Dan. If we divorced I definitely wanted the kids with me. Dan taking custody would be my worst nightmare. Tara told me not to worry too much about that aspect. The girls would definitely have to be under some sort of custody due to their ages. But their ages also worked in my favour because the system would take strongly into consideration the girls wishes. They had both said if we split they wanted to stay with me.

The bigger problem was how would I support myself and them?

Chapter Five -- Girl Talk

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"You need proof," Crystal said. "When I divorced Ken, that was the key, no fault may work for the law but it means nothing to the rest of the business world." Tara nodded agreement.

"But I have all the proof I need. I trust my girls."

My three girlfriends stared at me like I had grown a pair of antlers. Suitable perhaps given I felt like a deer paralyzed in the middle of the road by the headlights of the car about to hit me.

"No," Crystal said, "You need irrefutable proof. Proof that Dan has to accept you know the truth."

"Why," I responded.

"It gives you the advantage, a high card." Tara interjected. I looked at Megan who had gone quiet. "It's a defence against the he said she said," Tara continued.

I sniffled. "Ok, how do we do that?"

Megan finally spoke up. "You hire a private investigator," she said.

My face fell, I could not afford that. Where was I going to get that kind of money? Megan refilled my wine glass. I decided I should stop drinking. This conversation was getting way too real, and I needed my wits about me.

Megan turned and starred directly at Tara. It got awkward. Crystal reached out and placed her hand over mine, and then she too looked at Tara. Tara finally shrugged.

"Yes you can, I know just the guy to do this." Tara said. "He's good, he's a personal friend, very discreet and he owes me. His name is Ethan."

Megan laughed. "You mean he's one of your fuck toys," she chortled.

Tara quickly retorted. "Jealousy does not suite you girlfriend! You're just jealous I'm the only one of us still single."

"But I can't afford this. How will I pay for it?" I said.

Megan pondered for a few seconds then said, "You and Dan have a joint account right?"

"Yes, but I can't take money from that without his permission."

"Then you get permission." She gave me a wicked grin.

"Dan is not back for until Sunday night, correct?"

I nodded.

"Ok then, get your acting voice on girl. You are about to have a plumbing accident."

Chapter Six -- The Bathroom leak

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It was Crystal who sat beside me when I called Dan with my heart in my mouth. I was not sure this was going to work. But it did! I told him we had a leak in the downstairs bathroom sink and it required a plumber fast. I told him I had called Crystal to see if Joe could help because he had just renovated their bathroom, but he was not available. Then I told him Megan had recommended a plumber we could use and he had responded quickly.

My heart was in my mouth when I told Dan that the plumber had stopped the water spreading but did not fix it yet. We would need to take about $5000 out of the joint emergency account to fix the leak and repair wall damage. If he agreed to let me hire the plumber I thought it could all be repaired by the time he got home.

Dan agreed instantly. I was surprised. Then it struck me his voice was strained and slightly off. When I asked him about it he said he might be coming down with a cold but said to go ahead with the repair. He hung up rather quickly I thought. Tara said later it was more likely his cock was buried deep in that sluts throat while we talked.

It did not matter to me anymore. I now had the money I needed to hire the PI.

Chapter Seven -- Daughters Support

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I spent the next two days fretting, wringing my hands that this was all a mistake and repainting the bathroom walls. It made a good cover up for my leak story. I was cleaning up a paint brush when Chelsea walked in.

"How are you doing mom?"

I thought about telling her I was doing ok but I knew she would not believe me. My mother's instinct told me it had been a rhetorical question asked merely to start a conversation. Chelsea had something to say. I dropped the brush as my hands come up to my face, my head sank to my chest and my ass dropped onto the toilet. Not the most comfortable seat to have a breakdown on.

Chelsea ignored the dropped paintbrush and wrapped her arms around my shoulder. She guided me from the bathroom to the couch in the den then sat me down before plunking down beside me.

"Mom, Brie and I have been talking. We want you to know we think it's time you took control of your life back. What dad is doing is unacceptable. We have decided we want to support you however you want us to as long as you don't let him get away with it."

I stared at Chelsea. How had my daughter grown up this fast? I had not told the girls that I had hired a private investigator to get proof their father was cheating. It could have made them feel like I did not believe or trust them. So the next words out of her mouth shocked me.

"We think you should kick him out of the house, maybe even divorce him. Well, I mean I think you should divorce him, Brie thinks you should go have an affair of your own to toss in his face."

I'm sure my mouth opened and closed several times like a fish out of water but nothing came out.

Chapter Eight -- Proof

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The last few days have been hell. If it wasn't for my girls and my friends I would have melted into my bed, covers over my head like an ostrich with its head in the sand.

Saturday morning Tara showed up with the private investigator. Megan and Crystal were waiting with me. None of us had meet Ethan before. When she walked into the kitchen with him we all openly ogled the poor man. I have to admit, he was hot. He looked like a cross between a male swimsuit model and a muscled bodyguard. But while my friends continued to stare at Ethan my eyes were drawn instantly to the file folder he held.

It turned out the paper was just a draft sample of a divorce agreement Tara had drafted. The real shocker was on the laptop computer he carried. Ethan sat down next to me and opened the computer, then pulled up several photo and video files.

Ten minutes later I sat shaking and crying, clinging to Megan. Crystal sat on the other side and they both held me up. I had watched it three times. Ethan's team had followed Dan and the slut around for two days. There were lots of pictures of them together. My daughter's description had been accurate. How could a woman wear that little clothing in public?

But the real proof was forty five seconds of audio and video. I was not sure how they did it, something to do with a special miniature camera that can snake under a door quietly. It had a microphone attached to it. The video showed Dan naked, fucking that equally naked slut over the back of a chair while she screamed out his name and encouraged him to fuck her harder and deeper.

Ethan left me copies of all his work and left with assurances he would be there for anything I needed in the future. Tara followed him to the door. We all watched as she pulled him close, whispered something in his ear then before shoving him out gave him a full body lip locking kiss that almost lasted longer than the video I had just seen.

Chapter Nine -- Why Me?

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I refused to show Chelsea and Brie the pictures or videos. At first they did not take my refusal well. They argued they were old enough and needed to see their dad's betrayal for themselves. When Chess saw me struggling to keep my emotions in check she finally agreed not to push the matter further. Brie went quiet but said no more.

"So mom, what are you going to do?" Chelsea asked. "Are you going to confront dad now? He'll be home tomorrow night."

I sat there staring blankly at them. If I confronted Dan now it was admitting our marriage was over. I don't know why that made me hesitant. Deep down I knew we were done. There was no way I could accept Dan continuing to play around behind my back. The mere thought that he could think I was so stupid and gullible made me sick to my stomach. It was almost worse than the fact that he was being physical with another woman.

Why would he do that? What had I done wrong?

I spent a sleepless night before I figured out the answer. It was Crystal, who had already gone through a divorce that led me to the answer. I had spent the time blaming myself. Maybe it was because I wasn't sexy enough. Maybe it was because I did not give him morning wake up blow jobs anymore. Or maybe it was because I turned him down about lifting my dress over my ass while bending over a lounge couch in a public hotel late one night when Dan tried to convince me the thrill of being caught in public would be fun.

Crystal and I had been talking about her divorce. I pestered her for several hours for details and she had patiently explained how her first husband had changed after four years of marriage. She told me how he wanted more spice. She told me he wanted to do things that made my ears burn red.

I finally confessed to her I had been wondering if I had been the problem. Dan had asked for variety but I had been content with our bedroom activities. Crystal pointed out it really didn't matter anymore. Now in her second marriage she realized that giving your mate whatever they wanted was only a one third of a successful marriage. You also had to be willing to give to yourself, and finally, most important, both parties had to be willing to negotiate, communicate and find happy compromises when there was conflict.

Point blank she told me Dan should be toast because he was missing two thirds of the equation not to mention he was an idiot for hurting me. My brain rattled through her comments trying to make sense of them. The final straw, what made up mind, was the video I had seen. The image of that slut fucking my husband and the audio of her screaming at him to fuck her harder replayed endlessly over and over in my mind. It was like a favourite song that replays nonstop in an endless loop in your brain no matter how hard you try to stop it.

So, divorce it would be. Now, the only question now was how to proceed.