Victor’s Loving Wives

Selfedited, so all mistakes are my own. Please excuse them.

You won’t like the ending, and that is on purpose, but it better fits my mood. I struggled with which category to put this in. Let’s be honest, nobody reads the romance section. So, just a warning no in this one, but definitely a cheating wife.

I am not claiming to be even a passable writer, but I write for my own enjoyment. I hope you like it a little at least. If not, I apologize. This is my first submission. Please be kind.

Now, on with the show.

Victor was the all American kid. High school class president, star pitcher and captain of the baseball team plus the honor society. Add to it charm and better than average looks, and Victor was practically swimming in girls.

As testament that he was more than just a jock, Victor graduated third in his class of over seven hundred. He had everything going for him. It came easy to him, but he took nothing for granted.

Victor accepted a baseball scholarship to State, and for the first semester plus some, continued right where he left off in high school. College required more effort, but Victor wasn’t afraid of hard work, both on the field and in the classroom.

It was his second semester as a civil engineering student that it all came unraveled. His fourth start of the baseball season, and a twinge in his shoulder as he threw his devastating slider turned into an ache by the time the trainer was summoned.

The ache turned into a fire the next morning that he just couldn’t put out no matter what cream he used or what stretching he did.

Reporting to the team orthopedic doctor, and a series of xrays later, the source of his discomfort was discovered. Victor had literally cracked his shoulder throwing that slider.

What’s worse was, the doctor told him it wasn’t a freak accident or something rest would cure. It was the stress of pitching, and even after surgery, his pitching career would be over. His shoulder simply wouldn’t take the stress over a long period.

Of course, it was hard to hear for Victor, but he had more determination than anyone had given him credit for. He easily switched his scholarship over to academic, and continued putting up stellar grades as he recovered from the surgery.

After all, he came from a good family that had instilled good values in him. Not just doing what is right, but that hard work is its own reward and perseverance is golden. There was disappointment and sadness, but no stopping him.

Two full years after his surgery, Victor was given the green light to resume exercising, including weight lifting, but no pitching. The doctor confirmed that his shoulder would not hold up to the stress. It would break again if he started pitching.

Victor may have lost his ability to pitch, but not his love of the game. The coaching staff allowed him to assist with the team. He helped the freshmen find their feet and taught his devastating slider to anyone who wanted to learn.

The players were in awe as he threw a couple of demonstration sliders before stopping, not daring to relive the two year nightmare he had just come through.

After practice, Victor could be found in the batting cages. Pounding ball after ball into the far end of the net. It wasn’t just therapeutic, it was a skill he was determined to master.

That was Victor’s life. Schoolwork, lifting and batting practice. His only distraction was a Saturday night date. Once a week, he took some young lady out on a typical broke college date. No parties or wild shenanigans, just a movie or a night out with friends.

It was his fourth year that one Samantha Eversound crossed Victor’s path. Not the typical woman Victor usually went out with, Samantha came from a welltodo family. However she showed a drive that no woman before had demonstrated to him. Victor was glad he didn’t judge her at face value.

Of course she is beautiful. Tall, blonde and fit. There was never a doubt about her looks. Maybe not model beautiful, but damn close to it.

Samantha came from money, and Victor never went for those type of women. Yes, they chased him, but without fail he found them to be shallow and spoiled. However, Samantha impressed Victor with her dedication to her studies, so he gave her a chance.

Samantha made it crystal clear that nothing would come in the way of her finance degree. Being a normal young woman, she still allowed herself some occasional fun, just like Victor. Although they immediately hit it off and had common goals, they stayed casual.

Victor was assisting with the baseball team at a late April practice, before the summer semester started. Josh Hill was on the mound, mowing down his teammates with the slider Victor had taught him.

Even in his position as “de facto” student/coach, Victor showed his love of the game. After telling three teammates in a row to pull their wrists into their body and fight the slider off into right field, one of them told Victor, “If you think it’s so easy, why don’t you show us how it’s done.”

Victor laughed it off, but the coach running practice heard the whole thing. Thinking that having the “water boy” take a few hacks would break the tension, he told Victor to get a helmet.

Not wanting to back down, Victor picked up a helmet, then a bat and stepped into the box.

Knowing he was expected to not let Victor show him up, Josh looked in at Victor standing in the box. He hadn’t noticed how toned the former pitcher had become before then. When he looked in he saw the muscles in his arms as Victor gripped the bat, he realized this wasn’t going to be as easy as they all thought.

Josh wound up and let loose his best slider. Immediately the “ping” of the aluminum bat echoed around the field as Victor laced a line drive into right field.

Two more pitches, and two more laser shots into right had the entire diamond quiet, and the coaches on the top step of the dugout.

“Mix it up now Josh.” The head coach ordered his pitcher. “Any punch and Judy hitter can get it when he knows it’s coming.”

Victor didn’t hit every one of the 20 pitches Josh threw in, but his display left everyone impressed. Victor had made himself into a legitimate college hitter when nobody was watching.

“I think we found our fourth outfielder.” The head coach told his assistant.

So, Victor was asked to rejoin the team, but as a fielder this time. Since he was on academic scholarship, he didn’t put anyone else out, which was important to him. They were his friends, and he would not take away someone else’s scholarship.

No, Victor wasn’t a star, heck he didn’t even start most of the time, but at least he was back in the game he loved.

Samantha was happy for Victor, but honestly not impressed. Not only did she not care about sports, but had only dated star athletes before. Nevertheless, she was ok dating a bench sitter, since they weren’t serious anyway.

That Summer, Victor interned at the municipal water company. It was a fantastic opportunity, but the engineering manager made it clear, “You’ll earn your way, just like everyone else. You start at the bottom, and we’ll see what your made of.”

That put Victor in what can only be described as horrific working conditions. Literally cleaning tanks of shit up.

Victor never complained or let up. He put every bit as much effort into scrubbing shit out of the filtration system as he did everything else. By the end of the summer, Carlos, the engineering manager, had some hope for the kid.

One semester later, Victor was back at the water treatment department. His second go around was much like his first. Learning the basics of the biggest plant in the water system from the ground up.

And again Victor put as much work into his job as he did everything else he did. By the end of his second internship, Carlos respected the boy for his hard work and positive attitude.

“Call me personally after you graduate.” He told Victor. “You’ve got a future here.”

In his last baseball season, Victor became the goto defensive replacement when State was winning a game late. His pinch hitting and defensive skills were second to none.

His big moment came in the super regional playoff game when he made an impossible catch, then using his cannon of an arm, doubled the runner off second base to preserve the win.

State lost in the first round of the college world series that year, but it was an experience Victor carried with him for the rest of his life. It reinforced that hard work can pay off. It’s not where you start, but where you finish that matters.

Samantha, for her part, kept to her studies, but enjoyed her weekly night out with Victor. Seeing him on sports center making a full out diving catch, then gunning down the runner at second base gave her some pride in her “kind of” boyfriend.

Samantha and Victor both graduated with master’s degrees, and both with honors. At first, Samantha wasn’t thrilled about her now official boyfriend shoveling shit for a living, but once Victor told her that he now worked in the lab, she was much happier.

After all, she had a prestigious job at a brokerage, arranged by her family. She couldn’t bring a sewer worker to a business function, but a water resources engineer was much better.

Just like his work, Victor poured everything he had into his relationship. Ok, so he wasn’t rich, but he was a good person inside. He treated Samantha with courtesy and respect. He was honest to a fault and never left her wondering what his feelings were.

After 6 months, Samantha decided to introduce Victor to her family. Her mother immediately loved the bright, charismatic young man she brought home for Christmas. Her father, not so much.

Victor had to endure an uncomfortable talk with Mr. Eversound, but he handled it with dignity, not backing down when the old man pressed him for not being good enough for an Eversound.

The old man didn’t change his opinion of the boy, but he had a respect for him that he would not mistreat his only daughter at least.

He thought that it was something he could slowly instill in his daughter that Victor just wasn’t in the same class as an Eversound. Still, the boy seemed to make her happy so he tolerated him.

Victor was confident at her parents place, but wondered how Samantha would do in his parents place. They are middle class, after all. He finally decided that if that caused a problem, then she wasn’t the one for him after all.

He set the meeting for new year’s, and watched closely as Samantha met his parents. Victor knew his parents are good people, and would greet Samantha warmly, but he was worried about her reaction.

A little to his surprise, Samantha responded warmly and quickly endeared herself to Victor’s family. She even joined Victor’s mother is baking their traditional Christmas cookies that had been delayed until New Year’s just for their visit.

Samantha and Victor moved their relationship forward after that. As always, Victor kept putting as much effort into the relationship as he did everything else. They grew close, and both were truly happy.

That summer, they took a short vacation to the Bahamas. It was the first time they had spent the night together. On the last night, while watching the sun set from a seaside restaurant, Victor got on one knee and proposed.

Samantha happily accepted, and delighted in sharing the news with both families when they got back to the states. Her father, on the other hand, was less than pleased, but would not stop them from marrying. That is, as long as Victor signed the prenup his lawyer wrote up.

Samantha expected a contentious night when she presented it to Victor. Victor, for his part, was not surprised by the prenup, having expected something like that from the old man.

Victor politely accepted the prenup from Samantha and told her he would let her know in a few days after he had time to read it.

Victor got together with a friend in law school to review the document. In short, it was brutally onesided. Obviously the handiwork of Samantha’s father.

It didn’t just call for separation of assets, but was designed to punish Victor if they ever divorced, even for irreconcilable differences no matter which one of them filed.

Furthermore, if Victor was caught being unfaithful, it would leave him practically penniless.

Naturally Victor tore it up on the spot. He then retained his own lawyer and drew up his own prenup. It treated both parties equally, while still maintaining the clear separation of assets. Both parties would contribute equally to household expenses, but what was Samantha’s stayed Samantha’s and what was his stayed his.

He did add a fidelity clause that penalized the cheater, which ever of them it was, to a “fine” of $25,000 per year of marriage, payable to the other. He figured it had a better chance of satisfying Samantha’s father that way.

Ultimately, Samantha had to threaten to disown her family in order to get her father to agree to let her sign Victor’s version of the prenup. The old man had underestimated Victor’s determination, having expected him to just roll over and accept the onesided version he had pushed on them.

After all, Victor is a nobody and he is an Eversound. But even he loved his daughter enough to give in at the end. Plus, the prenup the boy had written gave him 99% of what he wanted. The Eversound fortune would be safe, and if the dumbass ever did cheat on his daughter, he would have to pay a penalty he was sure Victor couldn’t afford as a measly sewer worker.

So in June of the next year, Samantha and Victor were married. It was a huge affair with all the grandeur of the Eversound name.

Victor and his entire family were caught off guard at the paparazzi camping outside the cathedral where the ceremony took place.

Fame was not something Victor wanted or welcomed. It was a tense moment when Samantha stopped their escape to the waiting limo to pose for pictures. The look on Victor’s face in the photos showed he was not pleased.

While Victor and Samantha may have gotten off to a bit of a rocky start with the stress of the prenup and the unwelcome attention (to Victor at least) their marriage drew in the gossip column of the big city newspaper, it was quickly forgotten on their two week honeymoon in Europe.

Then they settled into martial bliss, right? That’s how these stories go, don’t they? Well, not exactly.

While Samantha liked to brag about her job, and all her successes, she never once asked Victor about his work. If one of her friends or colleagues asked about Victor’s profession, she dismissed it with ever increasing disdain.

She was quick to tell everyone about how much she made and the huge bonuses she received, but when asked about Victor’s salary, she had to admit she didn’t even know, but it had to be insignificant compared to hers.

She slowly stopped inviting Victor to her company functions, not even telling him about them anymore to spare him the embarrassment, she justified to herself.

Victor, on the other hand, kept his head down and somehow put more effort into trying to please Samantha. He ignored the snide comments as they slowly crept into his relationship with Samantha, and lived by the lessons his family had taught him.

Put in your best effort, and live without regrets. Despite her sometimes callous attitude towards him, Victor loved Samantha as fiercely as he could. He trusted her completely and never waivered.

It was about three years into their marriage that Samantha started bragging about a new client she had landed at her firm. None other than the famous actor Jeremy Kausworth.

Day after day, Victor listened to Samantha drone on and on about the handsome young actor. It was always “Jeremy did this.” Or “Jeremy said that.” As Victor tried to eat his dinner.

Again, Victor never complained or doubted his wife. Obviously she was infatuated with the man, but Victor was a rock. Dependable and stable. He would trust his wife and support her up until she gave him a reason not too.

About 4 months after she landed him as a client, Samantha completely stopped talking about Jeremy suddenly. It only took a few days for Victor to take note of this.

Victor is no dummy. While he trusted his wife, he started paying better attention to her actions. How late she worked, her appearance when she got home and the things she did and did not tell Victor about her day.

He kept this up for several weeks, not finding anything concrete, but enough clues to keep him on his toes. Nothing super obvious, but more in the way of Samantha’s behavior. Small things like the cessation of all talk about the future.

Maybe it was just a coincidence, but Victor kept his guard up, just to be safe. He had considered more drastic methods of gathering evidence, but he always came to the conclusion that if that step was really necessary, then does it really matter what he found? After all, he was supposed to be able to trust his wife, right?

The answer to his doubt found him one Saturday afternoon. Without the drama or the venom most people would expect in this situation, Samantha calmly told Victor that she had a date that night with Jeremy. She was confident in her position, and even if Victor didn’t like it, she didn’t need him anyway. She was going to get Jeremy.

The actor was just better than Victor in every way. He was more handsome. More y. A lot richer, and had been after Samantha for months.

How did Victor react? Did he go ballistic? Destroy things? Threaten Samantha with divorce? None of the above.

Victor simply nodded and walked out of the room. Samantha was confused by his reaction, expecting that he would have fought for her, at least.

But Victor didn’t. He disappeared into their bedroom and closed the door. Samantha thought he is smart, and had already understood that there was nothing he could do about it anyway.

That’s not exactly right though. First, Victor thought that a wife shouldn’t have to be told what she was doing is wrong. She’s no child, but even children know cheating is bad. It was right there in their vows. He shouldn’t have to explain the consequences to an adult.

Second, something inside Victor broke. Not a sudden snap, but a slow, agonizing fracture that wouldn’t completely surface for days, perhaps weeks. It changed him. It ate away at him like a slow burn.

Any normal person would be at least angry. Enraged even. Instead, Victor was mostly numb. All he was capable of doing was to problem solve at that point. Emotionless, analytical and methodical problem resolution is all he could think about.

That’s the engineer in him. The why and the how of her cheating would come later. Right now Victor had to fix this unlivable situation. He had to get away from her.

Since his and Samantha’s finances weren’t mixed, it was unnecessary to move his savings. Hell, Samantha had no idea how much he even had, nor did she probably care.

It startled Victor somewhat when he realized the few things that could be argued over simply didn’t matter anymore. He didn’t care about the condo or the furniture. He didn’t care about her jewelry or any of the “things” they had accumulated throughout their marriage.

He had a moment of realization when he noticed the relatively short amount of time it took to gather all the things that were his alone, and he cared about keeping. The glove his father had bought him. The baseball signed by all his college teammates. Not a lot else. It was almost like his subconscious had been preparing for this day all along.

He didn’t even have to use Samantha’s high end luggage set to pack it all up. His dull but sturdy set he had since going off to college worked just as well, and probably cost a fraction of what Miss Eversound’s had.

He paused as he realized he had just thought of her as Miss Eversound, and not his wife.

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