Page 62 of Beyond our Forever

With Bruce…

An hour later, we’re all in the family room ready to leave, when the doorbell rings.

“I’ll get it,” I call out, because all four of them are busy conspiring God only knows what mischief. May heaven have mercy on me.

When I open the door, there’s a delivery boy, who hands me a white cardboard box once I’ve confirmed my name.

What will it be this time?

Jesus. Bruce is inside, what am I going to tell him?

Listen, love, I’ve been receiving gifts from a secret admirer which I find enchanting so I’ve been accepting them.

Feeling guilty, I take the box to the study, as I don’t think anyone will come in here, and there I open it.

Inside I find a cake with frosting as white as snow, with Congratulations iced on it in red.

Pasted to the inside of the box there’s a printed note which reads:

Red velvet.

Because I want to sweeten your day.

Eat me.

There’s that reference to Alice in Wonderland again. I’m flattered since almost nobody knows my reason for celebrating, but I also feel like a slut of the worst kind.

At that moment, the door opens and Bruce’s head appears. Now what do I do?

“Here you are,” he says, approaching the desk, where I’m standing like an idiot. “We’re all waiting for you, gorgeous girl. What have you got there?”

“A gift from Emilia,” I reply quickly, almost stumbling over my words that scream I’m a liar. “Because of college, you know?”

Bruce looks at the cake, not paying much attention to it. Thank God. Taking my hand, we go together in search of our hungry children.

???

“You don’t have to go to the office today?” I ask him on the way back from breakfast as he drives us toward our home.

“Not yet, maybe a bit later.” He frowns, and I know something is troubling him, I know him too well.

“Did something happen?” I whisper.

“I’m worried that if I leave, when I return you’ll have changed your mind and I’ll have to settle for loving you from afar again.”

“Why would I do that?”

“I don’t know,” he sighs heavily. “I got it all wrong before and I’m scared I’m going to mess up and lose you all over again.”

“Bruce, we have a long way to go, but I would never do that to you, not to them. Not now we’ve agreed to try again.”

I finish the sentence looking back at our children, who fortunately haven’t noticed anything, too busy doing their own thing.

A couple of hours later, Bruce has left for work, while I stay with the kids in the garden, enjoying the beautiful day. They scamper around, playing, screaming, laughing.

It couldn’t be more perfect.

I settle on a blanket under our tree, the one he gave me when we bought this house and that has now grown and is full of flowers.

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