Another variation on the theme of Wife Discovers Husband Dressed

Eddie

My loving wife, Marie, who was supposed to have gone on an overnight business trip, walked in on me that day, when I was completely dressed as my alter-ego, Stephanie. Her mouth dropped open, until she realized it was me. Then her face contorted and she started yelling. “You pervert! What’s wrong with you, dressing up like that? I can’t believe this! I want you out of here by the time I get back tomorrow, you bastard!” She grabbed the forgotten item which brought her back unexpectedly and stomped out the door, leaving me frozen, shocked, tearful and grief-stricken.

Once I regained my wits, I got out of the clothes as if they were on fire and resumed my normal, male appearance. I didn’t want to change my sex or anything; I just liked the clothes and looking feminine, and I always had. Obviously I had never told her about my cross-dressing; it was just too embarrassing, and I was very afraid of just such a reaction as the one I had just witnessed.

I packed up what I could and what was important to me, and hauled it out to my van. I knew it was a shock for Marie to find me like that, but why did she have to react so horribly? Shaking my head, I left my phone and credit card there, as well as my keys. She wanted me out, and that was what I was going to do for her. I wrote a short note and left it on the counter with the phone and keys.

Before leaving town I stopped at the bank and withdrew half our savings, as well as half of our joint checking account.

I considered myself very fortunate to have a job where I could work from anywhere, and I drove most of that day and, after a night in a motel, I got back in the van and kept driving. After many hours on mental auto-pilot I realized I was heading towards one of my favorite small-town vacation destinations. And why not? Happy memories were associated with the area.

Over the next few weeks I found an apartment there to settle in, and started up my life again. I missed Marie, but I hoped she would understand that words have power, and her words had hurt me and banished me.

Marie

Walking in on Eddie and finding him dressed like a woman was a huge shock to me. I never dreamed he wanted to be a woman. For some reason it made me angry. Was he gay? Did he want to have a sex-change and leave me? What about our marriage? Was that all a lie?

I had a business meeting to get back to, and I just had to try and put him out of my mind until it was over. It wasn’t easy, and I think my colleagues could tell my head wasn’t all the way in the game. That night, in the hotel, I was much less perturbed about it, and when I was able to take a calmer look, saw that maybe I had overreacted a bit. When I thought about it rationally, he was a very loving husband, very sensitive, and we had always seemed compatible. He listened to me, unlike some men I knew, and was supportive of me in many ways. He seemed to have a normal male sex drive. He even was pretty good at critiquing my outfits… when asked!

I started to understand that maybe some of what made him a good husband was his feminine side, and he was a good husband. Now I began to be very sorry about the way I had reacted to him. I said some pretty awful things, and I hoped he would listen to my apology. I was able to fall asleep once I had determined on this course of action.

The next day I drove back home. His van wasn’t there. Uh oh! I had told him to get out! No, I had yelled at him to get out! Oh no! Entering the house the first thing I saw was his keys, credit card and phone on the counter. There was a paper with his keys, and unfolding it I read his short note:

Dear Marie,

I’m sorry for shocking you like that. I have liked women’s clothes from a very early age, and I don’t think I was harming anyone. But I will respect your wishes and leave.

It was unsigned, which said something.

Going to our bedroom I saw he had taken most of his clothes and personal items. My heart sank when I realized he had really taken me seriously and packed up and left. He left his phone so I was unable to call him to apologize.

Sitting down on the bed I cried for a long time, and cursed myself for reacting so nastily and so over the top. He was right – who was he harming by wearing a dress?

The next day I discovered he’d left me with half our savings and half the checking account balance. This really was serious. How was I going to find him? I had tried e-mailing him the day before, but there was no reply. It was as if he had fallen off the map. He had no brothers or sisters I could contact, and his parents were deceased. I really didn’t know what to do. I wasn’t even sure who he worked for, since it was all done online, and it seemed as if he had different clients all the time.

He did have one friend, Dave, and I called him to see if he had heard from Eddie, but they hadn’t spoken in more than a month. Dave was worried too now, and wanted to know what was what, but I didn’t feel I could share this problem with anyone.

What was I going to do? I wanted him back home, and if he wanted to dress up I guessed I could put up with it. When I thought back to that awful day, he didn’t look too bad…really.

Eddie

As the weeks went by I got comfortable in my new surroundings. I’d brought Stephanie’s clothes with me, more to get them out of Marie’s sight than to wear them, but I hadn’t even unpacked them; that memory was still too raw for me to face.

I had no idea what, if anything, I was going to do about Marie. Was I trying to let her stew in her own juices? Or was I just obeying her order to “get out”? Would I ever contact her to see if she realized how she had hurt me? I just didn’t know. And if she did understand that fact, what would the next step be?

Marie

While I waited for inspiration on how to get Eddie back, I started to do research into transvestism and its many offshoots. I was relieved to find that most transvestites are heterosexual. But then there was that note about the difference between a transvestite and a cross-dresser. I wouldn’t know which Eddie was until I could speak to him. What if he did it for a sexual thrill, or even wanted to have a sex change? But wouldn’t I have sensed something like that??

I read some stories about situations such as ours, where the wife surprised the cross-dressed husband, and things went bad, and sometimes very bad. Sometimes the husband would commit suicide, or try to, and that really made me feel awful, to think that something I had done might have caused Eddie to take his own life. But then I decided that someone who was going to kill himself wouldn’t have needed to have taken all his clothes and possessions with him, so that was (probably) a load off my mind.

By now four months had passed with no word at all. I missed him all the time.

Since I didn’t know what else to do I contacted a support group for the transgendered and their spouses and spoke to a therapist about what had happened, and how I didn’t know what to do to find Eddie, let alone get him back. The therapist helped me explore my feelings as they had gone from enraged to sorrowful, and asked if I really accepted this part of him, which was something he really needed and was good for his well-being. By now I would do anything required to have Eddie back, and I said yes, I would accept that part of him.

The therapist’s only suggestion for finding him was to employ a detective, but suggested that the detective only find him, and that I be the one to approach him. I heartily agreed to that, and went about hiring a detective.

Eddie

Four months had passed since that day Marie walked in on me, and I was starting to feel I could unpack Stephanie’s clothes, having felt the familiar urge for a while now. Being so much at home, I began to wear the clothes much of the time. I had never been very good with makeup, but now, with no one to hide from, I learned from YouTube videos about how to improve. I also began to pay more attention to my hair, which, thankfully, was thick and a little wavy. I grew confident enough to come to the door to accept packages en femme. I’m sure most of the delivery people thought I was overdressed, but I didn’t care. I thought I passed pretty well, though I was still too afraid to step outside dressed.

Marie

With a few recommendations, I found a detective I liked, and he agreed to try and find out where Eddie had disappeared to. It took him two weeks of searching, and to my surprise I learned that Eddie was many hours away, in another state. I did remember that he liked that small town where he was now living. Now I had to plan how I would approach him.

If I showed up on his doorstep and he was dressed like a woman again, how would I react, after all I had learned? If it happened that way, I decided the best thing would just be to give him a big hug and show acceptance. If he was just Eddie, well, I would still plan on the hug. I was getting excited about seeing him again, and I really hoped he would accept my sincere apology. I made plans to drive up there.

Eddie

I was in the middle of a tricky problem with one of my clients online when the doorbell buzzed. I wasn’t expecting a package, but I excused myself, stopped what I was doing and came to the door. Peeking through the peep-hole I was shocked to the core to see Marie outside. My heart rate shot up and I felt faint. Did I want to see her? I missed her, but that was a far cry from a face-to-face encounter. However, the very fact that she had tracked me down must indicate she had had a change of heart about me.

Pulling myself together, I smoothed my skirt and opened the door. We stared at each other for fully thirty seconds. I could see she was checking out my look, and a tiny smile formed on her face. Then she launched herself at me and started crying. “Oh, Eddie! I can’t apologize enough for how I treated you. I have no excuse for saying those awful things. I’ve missed you so much!”

It took me a little while to respond, but the hug did feel good, especially after almost five months without much warm human contact, and, after all, I did love her. So I put my arms around her and hugged back.

Then I pulled her inside and closed the door.

The End.