Chapter 4

Married eighteen years...

Maggie shouted for her brother to help her from the tree house, sure she wasn't really stuck, but her best friend Shelly was there and Shelly was in love with Warren. Maggie grinned down on her brother. The fall leaves covered his feet, but she knew his entire six-foot frame was there and it was strong enough to help Shelly down. Shelly was one year older than Maggie, having just celebrated her twelfth birthday a week ago. Maggie had enjoyed that party a lot more than hers. Hers had been buried under kisses and hugs from smelly old people. Shelly's had been full of games and music.

Warren looked up at the grinning face of his sister and her friend. "One second," he called up to her. He left, but returned quickly with a ladder, the tree house one seemed to mysteriously have lost a couple of planks. In the end he helped Princess Shelly from her castle and her Ladies Maid Mistress Margaret. He rolled his eyes at the "oohhhs" and "ahhhhs" that the two young ladies lavished upon him.

"In the house mites. Shelly your mom's here to pick you up and you, Mistress Margaret are supposed to get a bath and then get dressed to head to Gram and Gramp's place tonight."

"Oh alright," she said, though she really didn't want to go. She followed Shelly into the house and waved good bye when her friend left. She headed upstairs and stopped when she heard muffled shouting coming from her parents' door.

She cringed at the words, not understanding their meaning, but knowing "cold fish" was not something that her mother had appreciated being called, at least the sound of cursing her father out pointed in that revolution. She walked away, her heart heavy. When she heard her brother bounding up the stairs she looked at him. "Their at it again," she whispered and went to her room.

Warren watched her leave and then glanced at his mom and dad's bedroom. They'd been doing that forever it seemed. He almost knocked on their door, but he didn't. He knew the argument, by heart. It was the same one almost every time, but sometimes it was different. Sometimes they argued about work; this time it was sex, he rolled his eyes.

He was glad he wasn't doing that yet. Some of his friends were, but he hadn't. He left them to themselves and headed to his bedroom. He was looking forward to a weekend with his Grandparents. They still loved each other. He wiped away the tears that were threatening to fall and started packing for the mini-vacation away from the tension in his home.

"Fuck you!" Carmine shouted at her husband as she watched him roll away and grow more frustrated and angry. "I'm trying my best!" She climbed off the bed and grabbed her robe. "I'm sorry!"

"Shut-up. You're always sorry. You're always trying. At least that is what you say. But you haven't changed one bit. You still just lay there and let me come... sure you moan and beg, but damn it Carmine, I've made love to you before, remember, and you know I can tell the difference!" Thomas shouted right back.

Carmine's face was hot with anger. "I don't want it okay. How many times do I have to tell you that?" she shouted back. "Look, I just can't. I just can't do it."

"Why? Is he still there with you? Huh? Is that it?" Thomas threw up his hands and sat back on the bed. "I can't fight him any more Carmine. I can't. I can't come to this bed and try to wash him out of your mind. I've tried."

She studied his face. He looked defeated and she knew he was. She was too, but she couldn't stop seeing Welsh in her mind every time her and Thomas made love, it eventually became Welsh's face and not her husband's and then she slipped away and became the "cold fish" he always referred to her as.

"You need help," he told her. "I've told you that and you still won't go."

She laughed. "You didn't want me to include people in my problems before, remember. So I did it behind your back."

"Oh so now you being raped was my fault?" he shouted back. "Fuck you, Carm! Oh wait, never mind, Alexander Welsh did that to both of us!" He stood up and grabbed his clothes.

Thomas walked into the bathroom and got dressed. When he was finished he left the bathroom and stared at his wife. "I'm going to sleep at the office. You enjoy your cold bed, seems you like it better that way." He walked out, his pulse racing.

Carmine sank to the floor and cried. She rocked herself back and forth, until she heard the knock on her bedroom door. Wiping the tears away, she stood up and called for the intruder to enter. Her mom stood there looking at her. Carmine stared back and closed the distance. The strength of her mother enveloped her and for the first time in a long time she cried over the years of hurt she'd been carrying... only her husband had ever been told of that day five years ago, even then it had been her burden for months before she shared it with him.

Married nineteen years and 364 days...

Carmine woke up and breathed in the breeze that was coursing through her bedroom window, the fresh air was a welcoming caress against her skin. She rolled over and kissed the soft hairs of her husband's chest and nuzzled her neck into his. Her fingers danced upon his skin and she trailed tiny bites over his nipples until he was forced to roll her onto her back and plunge into her.

"Good morning beautiful," she told him. Her smile wide.

"That's my line," Thomas winked and slipped his hand down her torso, until he came to her right breast. He kneaded the warm flesh and tweaked the hard nipple. "Good morning to you, sexy." He covered her lips with his and slowly ran his tongue against her lips until he eventually gave her what she wanted and pushed the muscle of his mouth into hers. He pulled his cock out to the head and impaled her again.

Carmine moaned in delight, her legs wrapped around his hips and she pulled him to her. She kept her green and gold-speckled eyes open and gazed longingly into his dark brown ones. "Oh Tommy... don't stop," she whispered. Her hips rose and fell. Her fingers trailed down his back. She pushed into him. Every thought she had was focused on loving her husband.

Thomas bit her neck and sucked on the tender flesh, bruising her fair skin. He licked and pressed against her pulse and drove his cock deeper into her. Carmine's nails racked his back and he groaned, thrust deeper and felt her sex clamp around him. "Oh God, baby," he muttered.

Carmine lifted her head and whispered in his ear, "Come for me." She closed her eyes and then moaned through her smile as she felt his hot liquid silk cover her. Carmine came too, as his seed filled her. She shuddered through her climax and when he reluctantly pulled from her she felt empty, but she knew there would be other times.

She watched him as he slid from the bed and smiled down at her. "I am going to be late for work again," Thomas said, before slipping down and kissing her swollen mouth.

"It's not my fault," she said, with a pout to her lips. She watched him turn away and head to the shower. Her eyes feasted on his ass and she grinned wider. "Take that you husband snatcher," she whispered to air. She rolled on to her stomach and smiled into the pillow.

Carmine had suspected there was someone else six months ago. She didn't know how long there had been someone else, but she knew in her gut there was someone. She wasn't as sure as to how serious it still was, though she thought it was over or at least ending. If it wasn't... then she wasn't sure how to win back her soul-mate.

She closed her eyes and remembered the last two years of their marriage. "Twenty years tomorrow," she sighed. Two years ago, before she opened up to someone other than her husband she wasn't sure where her life was going. It had taken six months before she went to Thomas and told him she'd been seeing a counselor with her mother in tow. He'd been hurt that she'd kept him out of her life once again and by then he had pretty much stayed out of it.