January Story Contest - cariad's effort
Well, it certainly had not occured to me to write anything for this or any other contest, but since Uncle was unable to chat to me since he was writing his entry, I took a long bath, during which I decided to be inspired by his endeavours and also have an attempt. What follows is that attempt.
cariad
She had planned the perfect break to celebrate their wedding anniversary. A luxurious hotel, honeymoon suite with stunning views, fruit and champagne in the room; every detail considered. She always did the organising; just telling him what he needed to know, well, because that is what she was good at.
Kneeling on her bedroom floor slowly going through her box of memories she traveled through the last 30 years of her marriage. There were only a few birthday and Christmas cards from him for the past decade or so, after that his more frequent cards and messages were interspersed with things the children had given her, then back to congratulations on birth cards, loving notes they had exchanged in the earlier years of their marriage, and then a bag with all their wedding memorabilia.
Her mind drifted back to those early years, the years when she had been growing in confidence until everyone teased her about being the one who wore the trousers in their relationship. She was proud of herself, of her managerial skills, of her coping skills, of the fact that every detail of the house and their relationship and even her husband ran along model lines.
She checked the clock, calculated she had just a little more time to enjoy her memories, and opened the bag with the wedding memorabilia in it. She handled the sample of wedding dress fabric, ran her fingers over a few saved pieces of confetti, giggled as she locked one end of a pair of novelty cuffs around her wrist which a friend had given her at her hen party. She remembered how she had taken them on honeymoon with her to show to Mike, and then remembered his eyes as he had taken them and locked her hands behind her. They had used them a few times whilst they had been away, but when they got back home they had been packed away and ignored. Ignored as they had built themselves different and successful lifestyles. She thought about how proud she was that she had their life under her perfect control. She remembered that look, and the sex they had had when she had been cuffed. She had a flash back to a young girl who was held secure by a man who cared for her. She put the cuffs to one side, packed the box and sat down to write a letter.
He seemed slightly surprised, but pleased at the unusual warmth of the welcome she gave him when he got home, but put it down to the fact they were going away; something she always enjoyed. He was definitely surprised when she asked which car he thought they should take, and whom he would like to drive, but he just shugged and hurried to get ready.
A few hours later they were in their hotel room. They had had drinks, unpacked, and were ready to dress for dinner. There was no reason for him to notice her going to her handbag before she went to have a bath, but he was surprised when she slipped him a bulky envelope, before quickly disappearing.
He removed the short handwritten letter;
Dear Mike,
I realized today what I have done to our relationship. In the early days as you nurtured me I was so eager to prove myself that I stepped into your role. It felt good, and it was not until today that I realized what I had done, what I have destroyed.
Please forgive me, and if possible, may we start again?
Your loving wife
Jean
He shook the envelope out onto his lap and read the label attached to the pair of cheap handcuffs ‘Lest old Acquaintances be forgot’.
Time froze as he juggled the two messages until he thought he had made sense of them. He slotted that meaning into his wife’s changed behaviour of the last few hours, picked up the hotel phone, and cancelled their dinner reservation. He now had plans for the night, and his plans did not include spending a leisurely evening over a gourmet meal, actually his plans did not include her sitting anywhere comfortably for some time.
