They had done this as kids and adolescents. Doing this now; in their late thirties took more efforts than they had imagined.
She tried to sit up straight when she remembered their son waiting for them in their vacation home but he stopped her. It felt good to lie down on the soft grass and look at the clear sky. They had gotten out of their car at the foot of the hill and asked their driver to drive their son to the vacation house while they decided to race to the top.
She was the first one to reach the top and instead of continuing further on the straight road and cross it to enter the house she decided to lie down on the slope. He had reached a few minutes later and had laid down next to her.
They held hands as they continued staring at the sky. From the corner of her eyes she could see that he was staring at her. She turned around to look at him. He shifted closer to her and continued staring as he was propped up on his elbow.
“What?” she asked.
“Thank you” he replied
“For what?” she questioned
“For this” he answered.
She ran her fingers through his hair and he bent down to kiss her but before he could they heard their son calling out to them from the porch.
He stood up and helped her to get up. They did not bother to brush off the loose grass from their clothes. When she reached the gates, her son ran into her arms as if they had been separated for days.
She picked her son up in her arms and walked inside the house. He followed.
They were welcomed by the caretaker who stared at their clothes. They looked at each other and laughed.
“What would you like to do about dinner, ma’am?” the caretaker’s wife asked emerging from the kitchen. “Sir!” she nodded in his direction
“I will be cooking tonight. I will join you in some time.” She replied.
The caretaker’s wife nodded and went back to the kitchen.
“Let’s get you cleaned up” she said to her six year old son and carried him up the stairs to the bedroom. He watched them enter the bedroom and turned around to face the caretaker.
“I will call you if I need anything.” He said and the caretaker walked away.
---
He looked out of the window and thought how good it felt to come here after almost a year. He had been raised in this small town as a kid and so was she. Their parents were best friends and their houses were separated only by a fence. As their parents watched them play together, race to the top of the hill, their parents knew in their heart that one day they would fall in love and get married.
They moved away from this place to start a new life. They fell in love but with different people. They got married to different people. They got divorced and they met each other later, as fate would have it and they fell in love with each other and they got married. They both had to live with the fact that even though they could have been they were not the first choice of each other. And, this often showed up in their relationship in the form of differences.
Then she got pregnant. He got too occupied with work because now he had a family to provide for. His parents had stopped contacting him when he told them he was getting married to someone who was not her. Now, after being married to her, he was in no way going to get in touch with them and tell them he needed money to support her and their child.
She got worried that she was losing him. She became far more than worried; she became paranoid. She blamed him for staying away when she needed him. She accused him of having an affair. She suspected that he was back in touch with his ex-wife.
He could not blame her. She was right. He did not know when it happened but he had met his ex-wife during a conference outside town and they had gone out for a drink and they had started talking. The talking turned to touching – a hand on his lap by mistake after they laughed over a joke. Their hands touching as they both offered to pay the bill. Touching turned to kissing as they walked out of the bar and got into the elevator to go to their respective rooms. The kissing had progressed to them undressing each other in his hotel room and that had culminated into sex. The one time sex turned to secret meetings in motels for more sex.
She had caught onto the affair when she had seen a parking ticket in his pocket, of some place he had no reason to be. She had questioned him about the affair and when he had confessed she had slapped him and then her water broke.
When he held his son in his arms for the first time he could not stop himself from crying. She saw him holding their baby and crying and she decided to give him a second chance.
It took a while for her to forgive him but finally she did.
Their son grew up, years went by – the life continued as usual until one day her ex-husband showed up to a common friend’s party. He did not like the way her ex-husband stood too close to her, laughed with her and placed his hand on her shoulder while laughing.
He knew, this was how it began.
He walked towards them and asked her ex-husband to excuse them. He took her to the dance floor and joined the other dancers. A slow sensual dance, their bodies too close to each other, hip to hip and lip to lip. The show was put on for her ex-husband, she knew. She did not bother moving away, she loved the attention.
It was his turn to be paranoid now. Every time she went out he called her, he questioned her where she was. She tolerated as long as she could and one day she finally decided to talk to him. She told him that she loved him and he was the only man in her life and in no way was she going to compromise their relationship. Not for her ex-husband, not for anyone else. She told him she was too deep in relationship with him, she was a mother now.
He missed the part where she said that she loved him and remembered the part where she said she was too deep in relationship with him, she was a mother now. He wondered whether she would have left him had their son not been a part of their life.
She made him believe her. She converted the spare room into a nursery for their son and installed a CCTV in the nursery and a room monitor. She showed her husband that she still loved him and he meant a lot to her. She made love to him thinking that it would prove to him that she belonged to him and no one else.
He found it difficult to believe because he remembered whenever he spent time with his ex-wife in a motel he came back home and made passionate love to her, not once but twice. As if it neutralized his wrong.
---
“Hey, what’s wrong?” her voice brought him out of his reverie.
“Nothing.” He said
“The look on your face, it seemed as if you were back to that place in your mind.” She said, concern evident in her voice.
He walked close to her and kissed her, his hand moving from her waist towards her chest.
“Stop” she said and he moved back.
“Later.” She promised him. Their son was sleeping upstairs but she still had to take care of the cooking.
She went to the kitchen to join the caretaker’s wife and make preparations for dinner. As the caretaker’s wife helped her to clean and dice the vegetables she thought about him. She recognized the look on his face. It was the same he had a year ago when he suspected that she was having an affair with her ex-husband. She had thought they had moved past it.
She had secretly met a psychiatrist regarding his suspicion who had prescribed medicines she had to give to him without his knowledge. He had recommended a few changes in their lifestyle and she had followed his advice. The medicines helped, her devotion to him paid off.
One day he came back from work and hugged her and told her he loved her and he was sorry for suspecting her and now he knew for sure that she belonged to him and no one else.
It had been a moment meant to be celebrated and they had. They went out to their favorite restaurant with their son and had their favorite food. They came back home and she tucked in their son and as their son slept in his room, they made love.
She suggested taking a short vacation and here they were, spending time together in their vacation house. Re-living the days they had spent together as kids and adolescents. There were here to make their bond stronger. But, he had been thinking about the past. There had to be something that still bothered him. She wondered whether she should ask him.
“Ma’am” the caretaker’s wife’s voice interrupted her thoughts.
She pushed her thoughts aside and concentrated on preparing dinner.
---
He went upstairs to wake their son as per her instructions. He knew she had recognized his look and knew exactly what he was thinking. What she did not know was that he was no longer worried about her having an affair with her ex-husband.
They had dinner together like a happy family as the caretaker and his wife served what she had lovingly made for her family.
At night, as always she tucked her son in his bedroom and kissed him good night. When she was sure he was asleep she tiptoed out of his room leaving his door slightly open, that’s how her son liked it.
When she entered the bedroom he was already in bed, ready. She smiled and changed into her favorite silk night down with lace. The one he liked very much, especially because of the lace. She slid into bed next to him and he kissed her.
“I love you.” He whispered in her ear and moved his hand over her body.
“I love you, too.” She replied and ran her fingers through his hair.
He wondered why she wore the nightgown in first place when she knew he was going to take it off anyhow.
She smiled as he started to open the laces one by one. She knew he was aroused.
She thought it was the right time to tell him how much she loved him and how much he meant to her and she belong to him and no one else.
“You know I love you and only you, right!” she gasped as his fingers touched her bare skin.
‘Yes.” He whispered as he kissed her neck.
“I belong to you and no one else.” She said as she kissed his neck.
“I know” he said and kissed her on the mouth
I know you are not having an affair with your ex-husband; at least not anymore because he cannot have sex with you since he is buried underground, he thought as he undressed her.
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