I brought my knee up hard between Jackson’s legs, and shoved him back. He was momentarily stunned, but his rage quickly overcame his pain and he came at me again, screaming that I was a dead man. By this time I had grabbed the baseball bat,so I feinted a swing at Jackson’s head to draw his hands up, then slammed the bat into Jackson’s left kneecap like I was swinging for the fences. Jackson went down, and I held him at bay with the baseball bat until the police arrived a minute or so later.
This was all recorded by the 911 operator as well as by my video camera, so Jackson’s claim that I had attacked him was quickly dismissed.
In the end, Jackson was convicted of breaking and entering, assaulting Traci, and assaulting me with intent to kill. He was sentenced to 6 years in prison, primarily for the intent to kill.
After the police took Jackson away, Traci and I sat down to talk.
I started off with “Was it worth it?”
She got a starry look in her eyes and said “It was heavenly, the best sex I’ve ever had. He is well hung and an incredibly skillful lover.”
That wasn’t what I needed. I think I expected her to be contrite and apologetic, and to tell me that the sex was OK, but she missed the connection she felt when making love with me. Alas, it was clear that was not the case.
At that point I was so angry I couldn’t see straight. I gave Traci her phone and keys back, and said I needed to leave to cool off. We could talk more later.
I went to my favorite bar and had a few beers, getting consoled by the bar maid and a few old friends. Four hours later I had cooled down enough to go back home.
In the meantime, Traci read my message and watched the videos, and she read the dozens of other text messages on her phone. The full enormity of what she had done began to hit home.
Her mother had written to say “Traci, I still love you and always will, but I am totally bewildered by how you could do this to the best husband and father I have ever met, even better than your own father. I hope it doesn’t end up in a divorce, but at this point your chances don’t look good. If you do end up without a home, you are always welcome to stay with us, but things might be a little uncomfortable for a while. Your dad is alternating between fury and disbelief. Unfortunately, the video clips make it hard to disbelieve for long.”
Her father, a man of few words, simply wrote “I am deeply, deeply disappointed. I thought we had raised you far better than this.”
Her younger sister wrote “Holy shit, Sis, you have really done it this time. What in hell were you thinking? I have been looking for years for a man as loving and thoughtful and faithful as Bobby, and I haven’t yet found one who comes close to measuring up. Now you just threw him to the curb. I hope you stay together, but if not I hope he will get over you soon, and maybe I’ll have a chance with him — if you haven’t soured him on our whole family.”
Her best friend among their neighbors wrote “I was very surprised to see what you did. I always thought you two had the ideal marriage. There must be more to the story than what Bobby wrote. What did that bastard do to you to trigger such vicious revenge?” “Oh God, ouch,” Traci thought. “vicious revenge? She must have viewed only the video showing the sex, and not the video showing our conversation. What will she think of me when she finds he didn’t do anything bad to me?”
Bobby’s older brother wrote: “I have always been envious of Bobby for having a wife like you. Now that I have seen a side of you that neither of us knew existed, I’m not envious any more.”
Another neighbor, a very attractive divorcee about Traci’s and Bobby’s age, asked “How long will it be before you two are divorced? I have been hot for Bobby for years, but I realized I never had a chance with a faithful guy like him as long as you two were married. Now that you have tossed him aside, I want to be the first to toss my hat into the ring, to beat the rush.”
Her closest friend Susan at the Art Gallery wrote “Wow! Have you ever created a hornet’s nest. Dr. Maynard has been frantically calling our major donors all morning explaining that what you two did is totally out of sync with the values of the Gallery, and telling them that you have been fired and Jackson has been dropped from the Board and banned from the Gallery for life. He also called up the ex-husbands of the divorced women whom Jackson has taken advantage of in the past and offered them modest compensation, in the hope that they won’t get emboldened by the current scandal and sue us for big bucks. Our female employees have been frantically assuring their husbands or boyfriends that no matter how rich and handsome and charming Jackson is, they would never do what you did. Many of the partners are still very suspicious, given how easily you fell for Jackson’s sweet talk. I’m going to miss you, but these women now hate you for jeopardizing their relationships. Keep in touch.”
Her mother-in-law wrote: “Traci, you know we have always loved you like our own daughter, but we are appalled by what you have done to our son. We hope you don’t go ahead with your plan to turn your children against him, and consequently against us, their grandparents. We would be crushed by that.”
A friend of Bobby’s wrote “You bitch! How could you do that do a really good guy who worshiped you the way he did? The guy was completely faithful and totally crazy over you.”
The messages went on and on. So much for her thinking that this would just be a one-night fuckfest, and then life would go back to normal. How the hell did she let Jackson talk her into believing that?
Anyway, when I got back to the house later that Sunday, with my rage under control, Traci and I sat down to continue our talk.
She immediately went on the offensive. “How could you possibly be so mean as to subject me to all this humiliation? I thought you loved me.” I responded with “How could you possibly have been so mean as to subject me to all the humiliation you did, with no provocation? I thought you loved me.”
She came back with “But only a few people knew about your humiliation. You made sure dozens of people know about mine.”
I responded with “Yes, only a few people know about mine directly, but none of them were sworn to secrecy. Even without my message, dozens would have known in short order, especially after Asshole started bragging about it. Moreover, you heaped the humiliation on me out of the blue, through no fault of my own. I told people what you did solely so that when we get divorced I will not be blamed for it.”
“If you were going to be humiliated when people found out what you did, why did you do it? At the time you seemed sure it was perfectly acceptable. In contrast, I had no choice. I was humiliated because of your actions, not mine.”
“But I don’t want to be divorced. I love you and only you. I’m the same person today as I was yesterday, ready to get on with our lives together.”
“Traci, you sure have a strange way to show you love me, crawling in bed with another man in flagrant violation of our wedding vows — in violation of a solemn promise that was witnessed by over a hundred of our friends and relatives. Let me tell you, I sure didn’t feel at all loved last night. I also made it clear to you that your little fuckfest would mean our divorce. You chose not to believe me.”