Your Cheatin' Heart

I used to know this woman who had cheated on her husband.

It was all very soap opera, really.

See, she started working with me at The Magazine and she was really quiet and wholesome.

I hated her immediately.

I mean, come one, who's that good!

Well, I quit a few months after she started and a really good friend of mine, C, asked me, "So, you're not working with B anymore?"

I said, "Well, I did quit so I guess that would mean I no longer work there. Hey, you're right! I don't work with B anymore!"

Anyway, my friend C went on to tell me that she knew B from a few years back.

Back when B had cheated on her husband.

C, B and I were all Air Force wives so you tended to run into the same people from time to time. Also, our husbands were engineers so more often than not we ended up crossing paths at different bases and at different periods in our spouses careers.

Anyway, B's husband was sent away for a few months for training and while he was gone B decided to take on some extramarital activities. In the process, B got knocked up by her boyfriend. She told her husband who said, "Be gone fie yie faithless hussy!" and kicked her out. So, there she is pregnant with no place to go.

She turns to the boyfriend who pretty much says, "Well, it's just as much mine so baby I'll take you in and we can live happily never after."

Then, B loses the baby and the boyfriend kicks her out. B goes crying back to hubby saying she's sorry she done him wrong and will never stray again.

By the time I knew B, she and her hubby were still together and were avid churchgoers and glued at the hip.

I wonder about them sometimes.

I guess she realized the error of her ways and recommitted herself to their marriage, but can a marriage really go one once someone has cheated?

The last I heard she and hubby were expecting their firstborn. I'm happy for them and for being able to stick things out, but I've always wondered about hubby and their marriage.

I clearly remember that when I worked with B she never did any afterwork activities (happy hour with editorial) and never worked late nights. She'd always call home to let hubby know when she was leaving and if she had to be at work on a weekend then he was there with her.

I've been in hubby's shoes and it's not a style that works for me.