Too Late?

After finding our table, ordering our food and wine I asked: "Peter, when you said you would come alone, does that mean there are problems between you and Ellen?"

"Yes, you can say that, we are divorced I am sorry to say."

"Oh! I didn't know that, what happened?"

"She cheated?"

"Did she have an affair?"

"No, it was a one time thing."

"How did you find out?"

"She told me after the fact."

"And you refused to forgive her?"

"Yes, I could not accept it and I refused to be a wimp."

"Oh, please stop a moment, you did not accept being a wimp. What do you mean by that?"

"Look, if I had forgiven her my fellow men would label me a wimp, I cannot and will not accept to be that."

"Your fellow men, who are they if I may ask?"

"I have read a lot of Literotica stories about cheating wives and the commentators call the forgiving husbands wimps."

"You baffles me, are you letting Literotica readers define the word wimp? Please come to your senses, they are no reliable dictionary. Let us Google the word, I have my iPhone here -- lets see what they say - wimp: a weak person who lacks confidence, courage, etc. Now if you put that into the context of cheating wife I would describe a man who finds out his wife is cheating and does not dare to do anything about it, - is a wimp. A man who takes the confrontation and put his foot down; he is a strong man and therefor not a wimp. There may be reasons to forgive or reasons to not forgive, but that is entirely another matter."

Peter sat there thinking, looking at me with sadness in his eyes and said: "There is this other thing, you know. Once a cheater always a cheater."

"What do you mean by that? Do you mean what I think you mean that if a spouse has cheated once, he or she will surely cheat again?"

"Yes," he replied.

"How stupid is that? Are we talking about Literotica influence again?"

"Yes, a lot of writers like JPB and other good writers use this phrase often and they use it meaning exactly as you said it. If a wife cheat once she will do it again."

"Please Peter, I thought you were more intelligent than this. Let us say a desperate man robs a bank; he is then a bank robber. If he is caught, he serves his time. When he gets out he has been taught a severe lesson, never again, the cost was too great. But he cannot undo the fact he did rob a bank, he is still a bank robber and will always be one so long as he lives. Now your wife, she cheated once you said, she cannot undo it and will therefor always be a cheater. That does not mean she will do it again. She has been taught a very severe lesson; the cost for her was too great."

At this point in our conversation the food arrived and we started to talk about our years as boys, all the fun we had and the pranks we made. When the waiter took away our plates and served us coffee Peter looked at me and with a deep sigh said: "Robert, I miss them so much. I miss Ellen, I miss both Karen and Tom. I regrette not going to counselling and working on our marriage. I think you are right, she would never have done it again."

"What happened exactly?" I asked him.

"Ellen's firm had a big case where their client had been involved with some alleged salmonella infected chicken wings. She and her boss went to Chicago to negotiate a settlement. They were very successful and in their enthusiastic celebration they drank too much champagne and ended up in bed together."

"I felt something was wrong when she came home, but did not say anything. I expected her to tell me what was bothering her and gave her room. After a couple of days she told me the whole story and begged for my forgiveness. I was stupid and left."

"Well Peter, you are saying you are better off with her than without her then?"

"Yes Roger, I am."

Next day, Ellen got Peter's call, but she had to say; "Sorry Peter, three years were too long to wait, I'm engaged to be married, you are too late."