How Will This End? --

I open the door and in steps a stunning woman dressed to the nines. I follow my sexy bride looking at the thirty somethings who gawk at her. How will this end I wonder?

I walk her to the check in tables leaving her standing their for a moment watching the watchers. I see her old name on the table of former students. I look back at the women fume at their men. I snicker and wonder what would happen if I told them who my gorgeous wife really was?

I hand the man at the check in table my invitation. He mentions he had me when I was a student teacher. I was one of his favorites he tells me. I remember him as one of the brats who hounded this poor kid. I protected the kid from these jerks that hounded him. I stupidly said to the kid that he shouldn't cry like a girl since that would egg the others on. He let it out that he was a girl and my heart broke. I got him counseling with one of my university profs. I was her guardian angel, she says. There is that tug again. What should I say to this bully about that? That I remember him as being cruel, insensitive, and a kid who hadn't matured yet. If he has grown up, that would make me like him if I attacked him now for his youthful stupidity. Twenty years have passed and he must have changed. I have seen it before.

I grab my name badge and have one made for my wife. We circulate with her hiding behind a new name. This dude named Phillip swears my wife is the sister of someone he knew at the school. Nice guy. He has deep brown eyes. The kind my wife loves. He pulls me aside and says his wife is divorcing him. No, I don't know any good divorce attorneys. He is brokenhearted. Poor guy. He still loves his wife.

Sure, I didn't stay in teaching and am a successful executive in a Fortune 500 company with a trophy wife. But, I know how to keep her. I love her. We are raising wonderful children. Why the hell did I come? No one here is going to advance my career. Then I look at my wife flirting with and realize I am here for her. She is up to something. How should I end this ugly affair? I trust her, but she is up to something.

As I tear my wife away from him, I hear her telling him she was a cousin, not a sister. We wander around the gym where I once taught. My wife is smiling as I chat with lots of former students. I ask her if it isn't so bad after all. She says no one knows who she is and that makes her invisible. She winks at me. But, should I keep it that way? What would happen if I just told everyone who she was? So very tempting. But, she doesn't want revenge, does she. It is me that wants revenge.

We dance. All eyes are on us. I am, I am told, a handsome man. Like a Christopher Reeves they say. She is, well, beautiful and very youthful looking. Everyone guesses she is ten years younger than she is. All I know is she is ten years smarter than I. We finish the last dance and I kiss her full on. Eat that up guys. I have had enough of living in your past. I, no, we have moved on. Maybe that is how it should end.

We start to excuse ourselves. I whisper into her ear. "How do you think this should end?" She just chuckles and winks again at me pulling out our valet ticket from my pocket. As she turns around to head out to the car, Phillip's wife comes up and slaps her before I could stop her.

"You can't have him, he is mine. And we aren't getting a divorce. Hear me bitch!"

We leave. As I open the car door for her, I hand the valet a generous tip. I get in and turn to her and say laughing, "I saw what you did there." I kiss her on her bruised red cheek.

She giggles. "They still don't know who I really am. But, I left Phillip'`s marriage in better shape for having been there. She now thinks that if she ever divorces him, I will come calling. Sorry, I told everyone I was a rent a trophy and Phillip was cute." She cuddled against me. "I lied. Do you mind?"

"She doesn't deserve him, does she?" I ask.

"No. Phillip was on of the few guys at school who treated me with respect. I owed him. Thank you for letting me help him."

"I love you!"

"I love you too, my guardian angel!"

I flash back to that girl in the locker room. She is a born girl, not a born home wrecker. And she is all mine. And I am all hers.

And that is how it should end.

[This is a sequel to my story "Where should I begin?" It is also a stand alone story.]