Turn-About

(Is it really Fair Play?)

by Danielle Richards

 

Chapter one

My wife was really acting weird lately, almost to the point of scaring me! It seems that ever since my car accident and the subsequent pain and emotion problems that she has shown less and less support for me and has really started to ride me to "get my shit together and move on". Now I recognized that as tough love so I took stock of my situation and made a list of things that I could realistically do. My old job was out of the question and given my physical attributes now, I am only 5'5" and I probably don't weigh over 145 Lbs. If that! My poor body really took a beating in the accident and now with various other conditions added on for good measure, I was real hampered to do any real "Man Work". My list of possible employments was very short. As a matter of fact the only real job I could do was domestic. I was the perfect candidate for a "house-husband". Since my wife worked now (she had to go out and get a job after the accident to make ends meet as the insurance companies tried to find new ways to not pay me), and she just received a raise to go with her promotion, her salary paid for it all. I was ashamed to realize that I did nothing and put nothing into the pot! Elizabeth, my wife, was doing it all…working all day, and then coming home to cook and clean too!

I had an epiphany!!

I could do the house work at the very least and maybe as well do the laundry and cooking. In my bachelor days I was something of a gourmet cook and I just realized that I really enjoyed doing it. Why had I stopped??? I would imagine that upbringing and life experience had taught me, quite erroneously, that that kind of work was for the wife to do, and even though that is a poor excuse, I delegated that to her and she never complained about it. I henceforth decided to do anything I could to make Liz happy to come home!

Starting right away to put thought to deed I gathered up all the laundry and after sorting it and getting the whites washing I went upstairs and vacuumed the entire house. I was freely perspiring by now and had to stop for a medication break but the instant gratification of seeing the house clean and smelling nice made me feel good all over, I can not believe I did not allow myself this pleasure before. I had, of course, been keeping and eye on the laundry as I was getting into my "Domestic goddess" mode and it was all washed, dried, ironed where necessary, and put away. After checking out our food situation I got out two chicken breasts and the other ingredients for Chicken Cordon Bleu with a nice rice pilaf and asparagus spears with a wild mushroom sauce. Yummmm! Good to know that I hadn't lost my skills. I put the breasts into the microwave at a very low defrost level as I didn't want to toughen the meat. As that was going I went up stairs and finished off making the bed with fresh linens, opened the windows to let in the beautiful spring fresh air in, and tidied up. I cleaned and polished the bathroom until every just gleamed. Wow!! What a rush! I just loved this stuff! Well by now I was sore and every bone seemed to hurt but emotionally I believed I just found my niche in the grand scheme of things and I felt great! The microwave dinged and I went down to the kitchen to complete our repast. Damn! This was heady stuff! I finally felt useful and hoped that Liz would like the new me. Looking at the clock I saw that I had about an hour and a half till Liz got home. She was always punctual. I set up the dining area to look like a fancy table at an upscale restaurant with flowers and candles. I also set out our fine china and silverware settings, which had not seen any use for quite some time as we rarely entertained at home, and lowering the lights to a romantic ambiance I went out to put the finishing touches on what I thought to be the most spectacular dinner we had enjoyed for way, way, WAY too long. After stumbling around in the basement for a while I found a nice Chardonnay that I thought would go superb with everything. Checking everything again I pronounced all was grand and took myself upstairs to change into something with a little more class. Well, my wardrobe could use a bit sprucing up but I did find a fairly nice pair of slacks that I actually had a matching shirt for. Clean socks and polished shoes made a new man out of me and I decided that that was enough of my slumming around in old and ragged clothes. Wow! I cleaned up my act and the house in the very same day. Not too bad! Back downstairs to double check everything and to make my wife a Gin and Tonic to help her shed off her day and to facilitate her enjoyment of the meal. What was wrong with me? My whole body seemed to buzz! For heaven's sake, I was nervous! I heard her key in the lock and I positioned myself in the foyer with her drink in my hand. Liz came in and squinted a bit to adapt to the dim house light and as I registered to her she broke out into peals of laughter! Well needless to say this was by far the last thing I expected and I confess to some anger but mostly embarrassment surged through me. "So what's so funny?" I asked, letting the hurt come into my voice. She struggled to not laugh but took another look in my direction and went into fresh gales of laughter. I turned around, thinking that something behind me was amusing but saw nothing out of the ordinary but upon turning back to her I caught movement out of the corner of my eye and looked down to see that I had forgot to remove the apron that I had put on to protect my clean clothes as I finished up dinner. Not only that but it was bright pink with a plethora of lace and ribbons. I had not given it a thought as I put it on but under the circumstances I saw the humor and started to laugh with Liz. Carried away with the ridiculousness of the situation I placed one finger under my chin and executed a pretty good curtsy to Liz and offered her the drink I held as I said in a falsetto, "Welcome home miss, here is your drink," " never at a loss for words she replied, "Why thank you Davina." "Oh! My God! Everything looks absolutely lovely and what is that heavenly smell?" I beamed at her compliments and informed her that this was the least that I could do for her as she was bringing home the bacon. I promised her that I would do my very best to support her this way all the time now and thanked her for putting up with me for so long. We had walked into the dining room by now and she found the source of the very pleasing aromas. Putting down her drink she turned to me with tears in her eyes and grabbed me in a hug to end all hugs while she kissed me with a passion that had been missing in our lives for far too long. "Oh! I love you so much dear and you are so cute in that apron!" Blushing anew I pulled her chair back and invited her to sit. I served her and poured her wine then went to my end of the table and took care of myself. Removing the apron I sat down and enjoyed a meal with a women who was her old bubbly self as she effused with compliments and actually talked to me about her day, something that she had never done before, and I felt such a strengthening of our bond and love that I felt tears in my eyes. This intense feeling lasted all through the night and in our bed that night we had an intimacy and intense lovemaking that reminded me of our Honeymoon. God! I loved her so!

To be continued……

  

  

  

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