One Slip: The Aftermath

We went at it hard, until I could feel her pussy spasm with the onset of another orgasm, at which time I thrust hard one more time, feeling the first spurt pour deeply inside her, pushing again until it was all ripped out of me, until Nancy quit pushing back. With that I pulled out and we rolled over, our arms wrapped around each other.

Neither of us said anything for quite a while, letting our breathing get back to normal, giving us time to collect our thoughts. I think we both realized that it was something neither of had sought, unlike Gil who had preyed upon Donna and others, but at the same time it was something we needed.

Finally I stood up and reached for my clothes. I think Nancy saw the confusion in my eyes, for she said "Steve, don't hate me, I'm not like Gil, I didn't intend to seduce you, and I know you didn't intend to do it either. I needed this today, to restore my faith and belief in myself after what he's done to me. I know you love Donna, don't let the hurt destroy you, and her, but you needed this to. I consider you to be my friend, and thanks for being here today."

We hugged one more time and I headed home, back to think about what had happened in the last few days. But now I had much more to think about. I realized that I had just cheated on Donna, I hadn't meant to, but I had, just like she had cheated on me. At the same time, I realized that unless I was certain my marriage was over, revenge was no excuse. I wondered if things had been different, if Donna hadn't cheated, but I'd still gotten together with Nancy, if I would have owned up and confessed my infidelity, and couldn't answer. Had Gil not tried to blackmail Donna, would she have confessed to me?

The more I thought about things, the more I realized I loved her, I was hurt, and had a hell of a right to be. Did I hate her, or just what she had done? At the same time, was what I'd just done any more right that what she had done. In all likelihood, Donna now had a right to be hurt about my actions.

I spent a long time thinking about things, trying to decide what I should do, finally making my mind up. With that I cleaned up my supper dishes, and headed off to bed. Needless to say, I had another almost sleepless night, tossing and turning, falling off to sleep briefly before being jerked awake by pictures of Donna and Gil, or of Nancy and me.

Donna sounded quite surprised when I phoned her, suggesting that it was time to talk. Even as she agreed to meet me in an hour, I could hear the questions, the anticipation and fear mixed equally in her voice. It was easy to recognize, I share the same emotions, knowing that we had to talk and bring it all out into the open, and realizing that it needed to be now, and not down the road.

Things were a little awkward at first, both of us not quite sure of what we wanted to say, other than simple words of greeting. I think Donna wanted to reach out and hug me, but was afraid of how I would react, and I was afraid to hug her until after we'd talked. Donna finally started talking, trying to apologize for what she'd done, but still making it clear that she couldn't understand how she'd come to cheat on me. It was clear from what she was saying, that she could never do that again, if only I would allow her to come back to me.

Before she went on to long I told her that I needed to say some things, not just about what she'd done, but about what I had done. With that I explained how angry and hurt I'd been, about drinking myself into a stupor, and in an effort to feel human and at the same time punish myself, going for a run. I could see Donna tense up as I told her about meeting Nancy, going to her house and how we'd had sex with each other.

But as I talked, she also seemed to relax a bit, especially as I told her how my getting together with Nancy, though unintentional, led me to understand the need to forgive her, and seek my own forgiveness for my actions. At the same time, I made it clear that I knew that her actions had not given me an excuse to cheat on her, nor had I intended to.

In truth, without my encounter with Nancy, I don't know if I could have gotten over Donna and Gil, especially as I'd had a chance to look at the pictures. The reality was that after I got home after Nancy, I realized that sometimes things can happen without intent. Neither Nancy or I had intended to make love, and the more I thought about it, I came to accept that Donna hadn't intended to screw Gil. Yet both of us had been unfaithful. Now it was up to us to see if we could move forward and try and rebuild our relationship.

It wouldn't be easy, after all both of us would be facing trust issues. We also would be faced with the likelihood that Donna would have to testify in Court, opening our lives and her mistake up for the world to see. But we agreed that we had, and did share too much to give it up, and needed to make that effort.

EPILOGUE

We did move forward from that day, with some setbacks along the way, but a common goal and shared love kept us moving forward. I know we both had moments when we thought of our partner with someone else, and clearly, it bothered us. We had forgiven, but really weren't able to forget yet. One huge break was Gil deciding to plead guilty, perhaps facing overwhelming testimony from Donna and others who had been caught up in his scheme. While we were prepared for a trial, the guilty plea took a huge lift off of Donna's shoulders, and yes, provided a sense of relief for me as well. We had our problems to work through, but at least we wouldn't have to share some of them with the entire community.

Another factor that helped was an emotional meeting between Donna and Nancy, a few months after our worlds had exploded. Nancy immediately wanted to apologize, first for what her now ex-husband had done to Donna, and then for making love with me. To her surprise Donna hugged her, telling her that it was okay, and really blew her away when she told Nancy that in fact, she needed to thank her. Donna told her that without my involvement with Nancy, I probably never would have forgiven her and worked with her to rebuilt our marriage.

Surprisingly perhaps, especially in light of our encounter, we renewed our friendship with Nancy, something that meant a lot to her, as a lot of people had ostracized her because of Gil's wrongdoings. Gradually we began to spend a lot of time together, culminating one night when she invited us to share her hot tub. But that's another story.