The Affair Continues, Part 4

As she stood in the park leaning over the railing of the seawall, she looked out over the bay. She watched the waves roll in and the ripples bob up and down. The water had a calming, tranquil effect on her. She felt a real sense of peace over her meeting with Clark.

She wanted it to be out in the open and not at some restaurant or a hotel. Although, she had had her first adulterous encounter with Clark in a park, she had decided it would be too dangerous to try it again, and therefore easier for her to resist his charms if they met in a park. She felt more at ease out doors surrounded by nature.

Clark showed up at the appointed time carrying a bouquet of flowers.

“Hi,” he said handing her the flowers. She took them in her hands, like she was being handed a book and let them hang down. Clark reached over and planted a kiss on her cheek. “I’ve missed you.” He said.

Teri wanting to get it over came right out with it. “Clark, it has to end.”

This came as no surprise to Clark. He had been waiting for this.

“Let me just ask you this, Teri. Did any we did together mean anything to you at all?”

“Clark, I can see where you are trying to go with this and let me just stop you right there. Yes, Clark, what we did, what we shared was beautiful and exciting, but it can’t go on. I have a husband who loves me deeply and I love him. We have two sons together. We have a life together that we have spent 18 plus years building. I can’t just through all of that away.”

“Does Bill know about us?”

“No, and I think if I were to tell him it would do more harm than help him. It wouldn’t serve any purpose except to rid me of my guilt and shame. Tearing my family apart would cause me far more pain than the burden of guilt I carry now.”

“I hope that you can understand that and not feel it necessary to say anything to either him or Dean about us.”

Clark took her hand and kissed it. “I will take it to my grave.” He owed her that much. He respected her that much that he would keep their secret. He kept her hand. “Teri, I meant what I said before about caring for you. I think I have even fallen for you.”

Teri pulled back her hand. “Clark, please. Don’t say that. It won’t work. This can’t be. It has to end, and it has to end now!”

“Teri,” Clark said as he tried to touch her shoulders. Teri blocked his arm. “Think of the passion I could bring you. What would you have with your cop?” “I could give you so much more.”

“Material wise, maybe, but not the things that really mattered. Not the things of the heart.” Teri countered.

“Clark, you came to me at a time when I was very vulnerable, when I really needed some one. You rescued me from my loneliness. You brought passion back into my life and for that I am eternally grateful. But that’s where it ends. Bill has come back to me. Our sex life is wonderful again. He has changed, really changed, and I think so have I. Our marriage is better, stronger now than it has ever been. Please Clark, you have to let me go.”

It was the last few words that Clark heard and took to heart. He had come to realize this little charade had come to an end. He cared for Teri, but he could see that she was determined to stay with Bill. He couldn’t hurt this beautiful creature anymore than he could hurt himself.

Clark turned and looked out over the water. He looked out into the horizon. “Alright, Teri, if that’s the way you want it. I can’t say that I didn’t see this coming. I had suspected this would be your choice after you ran out on me the last time. You were so horrified at the realization that you had slept with me. And then when you didn’t respond to my emails, well, I figured you were through.”

“Oh, by the way, your email address at school is listed in your school board’s directory. And Dean mentioned your birthday to me.”

“Thanks,” she said as she slapped him playfully with the flowers.

“There’s one more thing, I want you to know this, and hear it from me. With Dean around you are bound to find out anyway.” She moved beside him and looked out over the water too. “I’m going to have a baby.”

Clark stood there motionless and listened.

“I’m about 4 weeks pregnant. That would put it the weekend of my, mine and Bill’s that is, anniversary. I’m positive the baby is his. We made love twice that day before you, and a couple of times the day after. Right after that, Bill and I talked about having another baby. He asked me for it. He wants this baby as badly as I do.”

“Well, it looks like you are going to have everything, Teri. I wish you luck and congratulations on your baby.”

“Don’t worry, if and when I see Bill again, knowing Dean, I probably will, I won’t ruin it for you and I won’t get into a fight with him or anything. I’ll be cordial, friendly even. After all, we share a best friend.” “And we both love the same woman,” he added.

He turned to face her and said, “Go put the flowers in water. Say you bought yourself some at the grocery store.” “For the baby.” He added.

Clark smiled at her one last time and then turned and walked away. He had set her free.

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Almost two years later, Teri stood in the dining room of her house where a few friends and family had come to celebrate her daughter’s first birthday. She looked around the room at all that was gathered there, Bill, their two boys, two sets of grandparents and their best friends, Sharon and Dean. Teri looked at Sharon and Dean and couldn’t help but smile at them as she thought about how all of this had come about. Somehow, she told herself, all this might not have been possible if it weren’t for them and that fateful trip to Vermont they had suggested.

Teri looked into her daughter’s ice blue eyes and got misty eyed. She had her daddy’s eyes that turned a deep shade of green whenever she was sad. Her daughter’s dark red hair was already forming into ringlets. They named her Grace because she was their salvation. Amazing Grace, how sweet she is. Besides her mother, she is the light of her father’s eye because she looks just like her beautiful mother.