So after two months, it seems I found the problem (at least on my end).
Recap:
I turned off imessage on old phone.
I changed imessage password.
Apple confirmed (twice) my phone number was not linked to imessage.
Deleted my contact info from my wife's phone.
Deleted EVERY message that had me or my number in it.
Began testing.
If my wife sent a text from her apple to my android, it would begin sending as imessage, faile, then resend automatically as text.
If my wife sent a group text to an iphone user and me, it would not resend me text as a text. It would only send as an imessage and I wouldn't get it.
After trying EVERYTHING, I called Apple again today as my wife and I are both home from work.
Turns out (as suspected) it was an apple problem on my wife's phone. We reset the "network settings" on her phone.
I manually entered my phone number to send a text (cellular only) after the network reset.
The text was sent as a text only!
Entered wifi info.
Deleted previous message and tried again.
The text was sent as a text only!
Tried another message....
Again, it worked!
Deleted that message and sent a group message to an iphone user and me. The message was sent as a text message!
Although I'm agrivated that it took so long, I'm releived that I can get messages from my wife again.
Hope that helps others.