“It was the busiest time of the year, but I told her I would take time off to take her to Great Falls. She said no, she asked her friend Trina to take her. She stayed at her place in Great Falls for three days.” I cried uncontrollably. “So many times she went to Great Falls and stayed days at a time. Were they all the same? Please, please, don’t let it be.”
I sat on the floor in the bedroom, reading and rereading the letter. I was spinning out of control. Nausea filled me. Bile rose in the back of my throat. I ran to the bathroom, heaving the contents of my stomach. Owen was there, by my side, applying a cool washcloth to the back of my neck. I heaved once more as strangled cries overtook me. All we ever talked about was having children. How could she do something like that?
An hour later, back in the bedroom again, I called the cell phone carrier and disconnected Cyndi’s and Steve’s phones. Then, I changed the password, ensuring they couldn’t access the account. Afterward, I logged onto the bank and changed the passwords for the online accounts and the PIN for the debit card. Owen and I knew we would have to drive to Great Falls to close the existing accounts and open new ones.
Early in our marriage, Cyndi had bad credit because of her parent’s farm and their tax issues. My farm always did well, and we successfully paid off her debt. She felt no one could ever come after her if she were invisible. She refused to use her name on anything. I signed everything. If she required cash, she used my ATM card or credit card.
I always thought it was odd that she was the one with the business degree and should have known better than anyone the importance of building good credit. Still, she remained adamant that she wanted nothing in her name.
The contents of the desk were strewn across the bedroom floor. I reviewed the paperwork while Owen reviewed the QuickBooks ledgers on the computer. Computers didn’t play a big part in my life, especially regarding the farm’s business. I had put my blind trust in my wife that she wouldn’t cheat us.
“Shit,” Owen muttered under his breath. “There are some irregularities.” He turned to me with a concerned expression.
“Every month, Cyndi writes a check in varying amounts made payable to Oak Springs Farm, between three and seven thousand dollars. Each month, it’s buried under a different expense category. One month, it’s under Hay, another, Feed, and so on. Do you know anything about it?”
I shook my head no.
Oak Springs Farm was what my mother nicknamed the farm when I was little, but as far as I was aware, it was just a name that was hand-painted on a piece of wood nailed to a tree when you turned down our road. As far as I knew, it wasn’t incorporated or had bank accounts. I sat down next to him, logged onto the bank again, and looked at the selection of check numbers he read off to me. Each check was endorsed with my name and deposited into a bank down the street from our bank. We enlarged the check image on the screen and saw my signature was forged on all the checks.
I went pale again and resigned myself until I got Cyndi out of my life once and for all; this nightmare wasn’t going to end. Owen went back into QuickBooks and ran a history. She’d been writing and forging my signature on those checks the whole time we were married. I knew the farm did well financially, but the amount of money she squirreled away in the other bank account was staggering.
“There’s something else,” he said a moment later. “I know it’s not cool, but I went through her emails.”
I could only imagine what he found.
“She liked to email Trina the videos of her affairs. There are dozens of them. Trina sent an email a few days ago. Cyndi’s not very smart. She deletes things but doesn’t empty her trash afterward.”
He opened the email. ‘Thought you might want this for your diary. I can’t wait for you to bring Devon. Perhaps we can do one of our infamous foursomes. I love you.’ He clicked on the attachment, and a video played.
Cyndi was scissored into Trina, kissing her passionately, rubbing her clit against Trina’s. The passion between the two women was reminiscent of how Thomas and Devon were when they made love. Thomas was standing by the bed, stroking his cock, watching the two women, being respectful of giving them their time together.
Thomas eventually joined the two women and enjoyed their company, especially when Trina donned an oversized strap-on and rode him while he fucked Cyndi in the ass. Afterward, as they lay in bed, Thomas asked Cyndi and Trina how long they had been lovers, and Trina said forever. As soon as the words slipped from her mouth, the two women looked at each other and started on each other again.
“But that’s not the worst part. He clicked on the reply and started reading it.
That was fun. Devon and I will be there in a few days. You’ll fall in love with him, just as I have! A part of me wishes Austin would have that accident we’ve prayed about for years. Then I could sell the farm and be done with all this bullshit. I’m tired of hiding. We need to have a serious talk about the future. I want us to be together.
Steve is on board to help us as long as I cut him in on some of the proceeds. I’m in if he has a foolproof plan to make it look like an accident. I’ve invested too much time to give up everything we’ve built, but after being with Thomas and Devon, I know I can’t live with Austin any longer. I think all those plans we made years ago need to be activated. I’ve had to put up with his sniveling shit for ten years. I won’t settle for half. I want everything.
“And there you have it,” I said, defeated. “Would you please print that for me?” Surprisingly, there were no more tears. Owen tried to reach out to me, but I moved away. At that moment, I needed to feel absolutely nothing.
We kept the farming records in two file cabinets in the hallway closet outside the bedroom. For some reason, the cabinets were locked, and I didn’t have the keys. It only proved to be an issue for about five minutes before I went to the barn and returned with a crowbar. I might not have had a college education, but I proved that brawn can still win out no matter how smart you think you are. Meticulously, Owen and I searched through every drawer.
The first file cabinet contained farm-related matters. There were years’ worth of bills and ten years’ worth of state and federal tax filings. Cyndi told me years ago that Trina advised her that it was more advantageous to file ‘Married Filing Separately.’ We were able to locate my tax returns, which were all in order, but we couldn’t find any for Cyndi. We also noticed on my returns they weren’t filed under ‘Married’ but under ‘Single,’ which opened up another can of worms. What the fuck was she up to?
The second, smaller, two-drawer cabinet contained Cyndi’s stuff. We found the bank statements for the Oak Springs account, which had nearly half a million dollars. My name appeared on the statement, along with the mailing address of a PO Box in Great Falls. Owen thumbed through the bank statements and noted that, for the most part, money was deposited but never withdrawn.