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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
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Pulling into the driveway after a long shift is often the best part of my day. It's finally a time where I can relax and enjoy my time as a husband and father. Luckily, it had been slow in the office and I got to leave early enough to surprise my girls for dinner. I'd stopped on the way home, picked up a pizza and even a small bunch of flowers for Jen. I'd been so busy this week, we had hardly seen each other, and I greatly looked forward to spending time with them both.
I put the car in park and hopped out, gathering the food and flowers, slinging my work bag over my shoulder. Stopping at the mailbox on the way in, I collected the days post, and pushed the front door open.
There are few things like the pleasure of a two-year-old yelling your name and running to give you a hug. I set everything on the ground scooped her up, giving her a kiss before she scurried off, already on to the next thing in her mind. I heard Jen rummaging around in a kitchen drawer.
"Hey you! You're home early!" she yelled, in a cheery voice.
"Yeah, it was slow, I thought I'd thought I'd come home and see my ladies." I picked everything up off the ground and went to the kitchen. Jen came over and gave me a quick peck on the cheek.
"Oooo Pizza. That sounds good."
I pulled the flowers from behind my back. "My lady."
"AH HA! And flowers hmm? Look at you!" She came close again, giving them a sniff. "They're beautiful, thank you love." A second kiss, this time lingering, her tongue touching my lips as I gave her ass a squeeze, pulling her to me. I gave her a little growl.
"Those squats are working." I compliment her.
Jen went to get some plates and drinks to set the table, and I scanned the mail I had grabbed on my way in. Flipping through, the normal useless advertisements and coupons went straight in the trash bin. Telephone bill? Ugh, it seems like we had just paid it last week. The last letter is thicker and in a larger envelope. I had the seal of the county court office on the front. Hopefully not jury duty, that's the last thing I need right now.
I slide my finger in the top and tear across the fold, opening the letter. It's about ten pages, folded. Opening it up, I see it's a court summons, for debts unpaid?
"Hey Jen, you know what this is about?"
She turns from the fridge, filling two glasses with ice water. "What what's about?"
I keep reading, flipping through a few of the pages.
"We got a letter from the county court that say we owe $8,100 to something called Burkshire Credit?"
I wasn't overly concerned, assuming it was a mistake of some kind. I'd never heard of the company. Not concerned that is, until I turned and saw Jen frozen in place, her face gone white. She looked down at the floor immediately, and saying nothing, walked to the table and set the glasses down. She turned and slowly faced back in my direction.
"I'm sure it's some kind of mistake, I'll go call them and see if they just put the wrong address in or something." I say, walking over to get my phone off the counter.
"It's not a mistake."
She almost whispers it.
"What do you mean. There's a bill in here for over $8,000, for stuff over the last...almost two years."
Her silence was almost deafening. Her already slight frame seemed to shrink even more as she sat at the table.
"I'm sorry, I wanted to tell you, and I thought I could take care of it."
"This is real, Jen?"
"I'm sorry, Mike."
I sat down across from her, scanning the documents closer this time. It looked like a credit card bill; the list itemized for the last two years. Two car payments, a purse, tickets for the cruise we had gone on last year. Most of the charges however, seemed to be late fees and interest charges.
"Jen, I thought all these things were taken care of, what's going on? I asked, not angry, but confused.
She started with tears in her eyes.
"I have tried to take care of things and it's all just kind of crept up on me over time. I know you work so hard to take care of us, and I don't want you to have to worry about things when you come home. I just get overwhelmed sometimes and forget to send payment when I need, or to move things around to pay when we should. The damn late fees just get to where it adds up so fast, and I didn't want to make you have to take care of this too. You do so much to take care of us, I just thought I should be able to take care of you."
She was beet red, and I could tell the admission was hard for her.
"Jen, all you needed to do was let me know! I can help with whatever we need, and it's really not something that is going to add that much to my plate. For two years though?"
"Mike, I'm so sorry, I just didn't know what to do. I didn't know how to ask you."
"Ask me? Jen, I'm your husband. You simply tell me what it is that you need help with, and I will. That's it."
"I know that. I really do."
"Jen, we have to trust each other. Now I will help take care of this, and we will do it together. No more secrets, or things that I need to know. And if you need something, I expect you to tell me."
She took a deep breath. I had expected my response to put her at ease, but she still seemed nervous.
"I know, and you're right. I haven't been asking you for what I need, and I should. You're my husband."
"I am. What is it, Jen?
Another deep breath.
"I need help with some things."
"Ok."
"Everything has felt overwhelming, and I need someone that can help take control."
"That's fine Jen, I already said that I'd help take care of it."
"It's more than the money Mike. I need someone to help take control...of me."
"What do you mean?"
She paused again, for some time before speaking.
"I need to feel like I'm yours. Like I'm owned. I want to feel like... I don't know. I've tried to lead our family, and it's just all stress and discomfort for me. I'm not saying I don't want to be involved, but I guess I just want you to...I don't know."
Another long pause.
"Want me to what, Jen?"
"I want you to...be a man. My man. I want to feel like protected, and safe. I want to feel swept up, and taken, and just not be expected to be in control of every little thing all the time!"
She blurts it out, a few large tears streaming down the sides of her face as she says it. It's something that she had obviously thought about for some time. I sat, thinking about what she had said, how I felt and how I wanted to respond.
What I knew was that I loved her dearly, and that our lives were going to be in for some change.
"You mean more than with money, don't you Jen. You mean with you and me."
"Yes, Sir."
We both paused for a second as she said it. She'd never called me that, at least outside of the bedroom.
We had discussed a situation like this on some level in the past, and I knew what she wanted deep down. I'd considered it myself and knew that I too had a desire for it. My struggle was always with reconciling my feelings for her with societal views of what she was asking for. I'm not a misogynist, and I didn't want her to think I don't value her.
But this is what she needed from me. This is what we need. This is the way our family works, and be damned what someone else might judge, it's the way we love each other.
"Then that's what we will do, Jen."
She looked up at me, seeming a little bit confused.
Just then our daughter came running in, clearly recognizing the smell of pizza, and demanding her share.
I stood up and brought the pizza over to the table, helping her up into her chair, and handing plates out to Jen and one for myself.
"Jen, can you cut up a piece for her please?" I asked politely sliding her a plate. She slowly reached out to take a piece of the pizza, letting her breath out, a hint of sadness in her movement.
"And tonight, after she is in bed, I'm going to shower. I'll expect you to be fully disrobed and with your nose in the corner when I come out. We will be discussing what's going to go on in this house from now on"
She keeps her eyes down, but I can clearly see a large smile spread across her face.
"Yes, Sir."
Ready and waiting. |
