HIRED HELP
Chapter 45
"What today?" Jennifer asked thursday morning after they had
showered and breakfast was over.
Today, they had eaten breakfast in the kitchen. Jennifer was
nude except for her six inch black high heels, while Richard wore
only a pair of slippers.
"I haven't decided yet," he said.
"Richard," said Jennifer, "Why the indecision?" There was no
answer from Richard except for a grunt. "Don't you believe me when I
said that I wanted to marry you? That hasn't changed, even though
the last couple of weeks have been rather wild. Are you going to try
to concoct something so outrageous that you think I'm going to
leave?"
Richard looked at her, started to say something, then stopped.
"I know. You want to be *sure*. Maybe I should just *tell* you
what would make me run away. Then you could decide if you want me to
stay."
Richard started to say something, but stopped yet again. "If
you ever hit me or strike me, I will leave," she said. "I could not
stay with an abusive man like that." A conversation with Vicki came
to mind. "You could probably spank me if I was a very bad, and I
would stay."
"If I ever saw you in bed with another woman, I would leave
you," she said. "And if anything you did to me sent me to the
hospital, I would seriously think about leaving you."
"That's it," she concluded. "If you do those things to me, I'll
leave. If you don't, I'm sure that I'll stay. Now," she said. "Do
you still want to try to think up something diabolical for me? Are
you going to test me yet again? Go ahead, because unless you do one
of those things to me, I'm going to stay."
Richard's mouth was slightly agape. "I... darling, I don't know
what to say," he said. "My love, I'm sorry that I doubted you... I
just couldn't believe that someone so wonderful had come into my
life. How could it be real?"
"I'm here!" she said. "I'm real. You've had your ways with me,
and I'm still here. Is there something even worse buried inside you,
that you want to show me?"
Richard was quiet again. "I... well, there's nothing much
'worse' than you've experienced from me. Perhaps I would like to
take a few things a bit further, in the future, but I have everything
I imagined in a woman in you. Everything I have dreamed of! You...
I love you with all my heart, beloved. I would never ever hurt you
or cheat on you. How could I? You are everything that I want,
everything that I could want!"
Richard reached out with a hand, and Jennifer grasped it with
both of hers. "I'm here and I'm not going away," she said. "I'm not
leaving you. You see who I am, and I'm not going to change overnight
into something else."
"You are an absolutely wonderful woman," he said.
Jennifer stood up and walked over to him. She put her arm
around him and sat down across his lap. "This is one woman that's
not scared away, and isn't going to walk out on you," she said. She
kissed him gently on the forehead. "Is that so hard for you to
believe?"
The silence and the downcast eyes told her that the answer was
yes. She sat there, in his lap, and just stayed there for several
minutes.
"Do you know," he said slowly, breaking the silence. "Do you
know how hard it is to be alone? Not only that, but to believe that
you're going to be that way for the rest of your life? That's a
terrible, terrible feeling. It's too terrible to live with. That's
why I... push it away, down. I have to have control of myself,
always. Or else... there is always that part that wants to scream,
jump off the cliff, end it all. My... my dark secret, buried within
me, is a legacy of despair. I live surrounded by opulence, living a
life dreams are made of... and I live it alone. Once, I thought I
had found happiness... and that illusion crumbled in front of me, and
left me in pieces.
"Can... can you still feel happiness?" she asked. "Could you be
happy with me?"
"I hope so," he said. "I want it so badly. I want to pain to
*end*. I want someone I can share everything with, and can share
everything with me. I want to dance the dance of life with you, in
all its convolutions and missteps. I want to hold you, and know that
you welcome my touch. I want to love you."
"I'm here," she said, quietly. "And I love you."
