[Forever]

Hence, all the more reason why Kristen should do the "driving" from this point forward. Let's give John the benefit of the doubt...that he was emotionally pulled into a situation, but perhaps he has not been doing the "dirty" with her in cyber space. Still, what he has done is just as destructive to a marriage, giving his heart over to another...however unrealistic it is, and needs to get a reality check in place since he says he wants to repair his own marriage. Well and good...and since we were not yet told of anything really "dicey" going on between them...none of the details of their communications, we cannot assume the worst.

If Kristen takes over the conversations, and the OW balks about that, then her husband will see more clearly the mess that he has created.

If he really wanted to, he could have gotten a passport in a matter of 6 weeks...and really, so could the OW if they felt that they needed to be together. But my hunch is that he got sucked up into this when he was feeling vulnerable himself, it went farther than what he intended it to, so he confessed to Kristen as well as reassured her that he wants their marriage back on track. It is only by the Grace of God that she happens to be in another country...unaccessable physically...the marriage would have surely been over were it not for that fact.

It will take a bit of time before he disconnects emotionally from the OW...but that can only happen if he himself cuts off direct communication with her, goes through the withdrawls, and begins to find his own marriage more satisfying than what it has been for the last 4 years. I think he wants that...but it wont be a cake walk at first for any of them.

The OW will likely say something awful to Kristen out of anger and desperation once she realizes that Kristen is now the only one who she will be getting any direct "support" from. But if John still cares about his wife, he will at that point begin withdrawing from the OW in earnest. The danger here is that Kristen could get exasperated and have a "melt down" or get ugly when speaking to the OW...and because John believes he is "in love" with her, he will likely come to the defense of the OW, and escalate the trouble in an already shakey marriage. This is why Kristen needs to handle this with a great deal of finesse.