Prologue

Faye Bracegirdle married Aaron Jenkins on Wednesday Second of May 1990. I know this because I’m the said Aaron Jenkins, and I’m sure I was there and that it was I who married Faye. Wednesday is a strange day to choose to marry, but that particular week, even booking the Church well in advance, such was the demand that only Wednesday would fit with our other arrangements.

Our tenth anniversary we really celebrated in style with many guests and a party at an hotel, not on the anniversary day, which that year was a Tuesday, but the weekend before. A buffet supper, a bar, and dancing went down well with everyone.

Two years later, as we looked to celebrate in a much quieter and more intimate fashion, with just the two of us, Faye thought that a quiet dinner in a good restaurant with some dancing at a club afterwards would be just the thing.

I should point out that Faye was always the one who remembered in good time and then insisted on some sort of appropriate celebration. I was never reluctant but she was the driving force.

In 2002 the day on which it fell was Thursday, and Faye asked me to find a restaurant and a club to fulfil her ambition for an intimate dinner and dancing afterwards. Amazingly for a Thursday, I found there was a dinner-dance in aid of some charity or other at “The Groves Hotel”, which was renowned for its food, so I booked a table for two and paid the deposit as well as a contribution to the charity. Faye was both delighted and uncertain...

‘Are you sure, Aaron?’ she had asked, worriedly. ‘It’s very classy and frighteningly expensive.’

‘It’s only once a year, Faye,’ I had replied with what I considered to be an indulgent smile, and had received an enthusiastic hug and kiss in return. It’s good to actually get something right once in a while!

So on Thursday 2nd May 2002, I was was out with my wife, Faye, the mother of our two children, celebrating our twelfth wedding anniversary with dinner and dancing, with the prospect of some more rewarding intimate bodily contact when we got home.

Little did we know...