The Cuckold's Son, Redux - Finish

His father sat on the sofa holding Whitney while his mother sat next to him sobbing softly.

"What are you doing here?" Danny asked, the anger in his voice obvious.

"I know I'm not your favorite person in the world and I don't blame you for that. I've been a shit dad and a shit husband."

"Yeah, well, tell us something we don't already know."

"I've been in counseling since I left here. I've also recently discovered some things about my history that made me what I am. I'm trying to come to terms with what I found out. It's altered the way that I look at my entire life."

"So, what are you doing here?" Danny repeated.

"I had a long talk with my father. I won't go into details, but something happened when I was a child that had a long-term effect on how I viewed sex. The thing is, I completely misunderstood what happened. I thought one thing about my father when the exact opposite was true. I found out just how far my dad went to protect his family. But when I needed to protect mine, I ran. And for that, I am deeply ashamed."

Maddy sat beside Steven, sobbing. He had told her about his parents and Eugene Davis, including the fact that her father-in-law had killed the man that was making a cuckold of him. Maddy was shaken to her core. This was so at odds with the soft-spoken man that she knew as Steven's father that she could barely process the news. This new understanding of his parents fundamentally changed Steven.

"What does this mean for us? Mom is spiraling out of control. I'm barely holding it together for the sake of Whitney. Faith has dumped me..."

Maddy gasped and Steven looked shocked. Danny and Faith had an unbreakable bond. Faith would always be in Danny's life. One of the reasons that Steven was not worried about Danny when he moved to California was because of Faith. That girl was the strongest, kindest most loving girl that Steven had ever met. With her in Danny's corner, he was not too concerned about Danny making it. He had only just found out that Danny had dropped out of UT Austin and enrolled at UT Dallas and now to find out that Faith was out of his life too...? Steven was beginning to grasp just how badly he had failed his family. Was there any coming back from this?

"I'm so sorry about Faith. Is there anything that we can do?" Maddy asked.

Danny shook his head sadly. It was what it was.

"I'm moving back to Dallas. I have an interview next week for a corporate counsel position. Even if I don't get it, I'll find something else. I'm getting an apartment here and your mother and I are going to start seeing a counselor together. We may never be together again, but we both have so many issues that we have to work through that there's no way we can do it on our own. I have a recommendation from my psychiatrist in San Francisco for a couple of good therapists here in Dallas."

"Are you on board with this Mom?" Danny asked.

"Oh, yes," Maddy answered. "If there's any chance of putting our marriage back together, I want to try."

"And what about Whitney," Danny asked, looking his father in the eye. "Aren't you still going to feel shame and embarrassment about your wife having a mixed-race child with another man?"

Steven looked Danny in the eye. "That's the big question, isn't it? That's why I ran the last time. We were a ticking time bomb, even before your mother got pregnant. Our marriage was going to blow up. I was getting worse, which drove your mother into a cycle of risky behavior. And that behavior has been getting riskier and more unsafe."

Steven turned to Maddy and held her face\ between his hands.

"I've subscribed to your site. I've watched you getting pierced and tattooed and playing with guys you shouldn't have been playing with. I've watched it and known it was my fault that you were going down this road and I had no right to interfere. But now I'm stepping in. I want you to stop. We'll see counselors and find other ways to cope. Who knows if we'll ever make it back to each other, but we can try. And we can at least be better for our kids."

Maddy threw her arms around Steven and sobbed into his shoulder. This was what she always wanted.

"And Whitney?" Danny asked.

"My name is on her birth certificate as her father. This is all my fault. I broke our family and it's up to me to try to fix our family. In our divorce, I claimed her as my daughter and agreed to child support. It's past time for me to step up and be the man I need to be." Steven kissed Whitney on the forehead and smiled at her as she smiled up at him.

Danny looked from his father to his mother. This was not how he expected this day to go.

+++

Later that evening, Danny was in his room studying for an exam when he heard the doorbell ring. Both his mother and father were downstairs so he didn't feel the need to get up to answer the door. A couple of minutes later, there was a soft knock on his bedroom door.

"It's open," Danny said.

Blonde hair attached to a beautiful face stuck its head in.

"Hi Danny," Faith said.

"Hello Faith, Danny replied without looking up from his textbook.

"Can I come in?"

Danny shrugged. "I guess," he sighed, sitting up and putting his feet on the floor.

Faith sat down beside Danny. "You came to my dorm room?"

Danny nodded.

"And my neighbor told you I had a date?"

Again, Danny nodded.

"That was Anna. She's in the room next to ours and is Becky's best friend. Becky was in the bathroom when you stopped by. When Anna told her that some guy, she had never seen came by looking for me, Becky had her describe the guy. When she figured out it was you, she sent me a text right away."

"Sorry to interrupt your date," Danny said.

"I thought that's what you were thinking. You had stopped leaving me voice mails and then you show up at my door and are told I'm on a date. I don't blame you for thinking the worst."

"You stopped answering your phone or returning my calls," Danny said. "I get it. I'm a big boy. No relationship lasts forever."

For an answer, Faith took out her cell phone and tapped the screen a few times holding it up to Danny.

"What am I looking at?" Danny asked. "So, you have a lot of money. Congratulations. My mother has a lot of money in her account too. Are you on FapFans too?"

Faith looked at Danny in shock and shook her head vigorously. "I've been working for the Kate Lawson Modeling Agency for the last six months. I've taken every assignment that came up. I've been busting my ass between work and school and have had almost no time to myself. I've been getting back to the dorm late and working weekends. Plus, I'm taking twenty-one hours this semester trying to finish up as fast as I can. All for one reason: to get back to you so that we can get married. That bank balance you saw? It's not my bank balance; it's our bank balance. That's our down payment on a house."

Tears started streaking down Faith's face. "How could you doubt me? You're my life, Daniel Dale Lee."

Danny and Faith held each other tightly, letting their emotions run their course.

After a few minutes, they let each other go as they kissed.

Faith backed away from Danny and asked, "Okay, stop for a minute. For the love of God, please tell me what is going on downstairs. Your dad is here and carrying Whitney around. Your mother is in the kitchen cooking dinner. Am I in the Twilight Zone?"

Danny laughed. "Let me tell you about my day."

+++

It wasn't easy, and it wasn't quick, but against all odds, Steven and Maddy started finding their way back to each other. Maddy canceled her FapFans and FapChat accounts and stopped creating content. The problem with the internet is that when something is out there, it's out there forever. Every now and then Steven or Danny had to send out take-down notices or get an attorney involved to get her photos and video removed.

In counseling, Steven and Maddy had discussed swinging and getting back into the lifestyle in some form or fashion. They mutually made the decision that for now, they wanted to concentrate on healing their marriage. Steven no longer had any desire to be humiliated or cucked. The thought of Maddy with another man no longer excited him. Likewise, with Maddy, the thought of Steven with another woman held no interest for her. She definitely had no interest in sex with another man. She was growing to hate sex while she was creating content. The idea of a sexual relationship with a single partner held a lot of appeal for her.

Steven became a doting father to Whitney. He ignored the looks and snide comments and focused on her happiness. He had failed her and his family for two years. He had a lot to make up for and was grateful for the opportunity. On occasion, the snide, overheard comments would affect him. There were times that he felt shame and mortification. Not because of Whitney. But because he knew that everything that happened to his family was his fault. Every problem could be laid at his doorstep.

And it was all because of a childhood memory of an event that wasn't even real.

Faith graduated from college a year before Danny and immediately moved back to Dallas, where she got a job teaching fifth grade at Highland Park Elementary. Danny finished college and then enrolled at the SMU Dedman School of Law where he finished first in his class. Shortly after graduating, Danny joined the Dallas County District Attorney's office.

By the time Danny graduated law school, he and Faith had been married for two years. They waited until Danny was established in his career before having the first of what would be four children.

Steven's parents, Bob and June, became doting great-grandparents and were a constant presence in the lives of Danny and Faith's children as well as their youngest grandchild, Whitney.

Maddy's parents refused to have anything to do with either Maddy or her family. They only reached out to Maddy on the rare occasion that Maddy's check to them was late. Maddy's Catholic guilt kept her sending checks even though she knew they were not deserving.

But they were family so you did what you had to do.