Moonlight & Crabapples

Helen Belden glanced up sharply as her husband Peter made a low sound in his throat that sounded suspiciously like he was hocking up a hairball. This unpleasant noise was swiftly followed by a hissed "Helen! Come here and look at this!"

Sighing softly to herself, Helen abandoned the book she was reading in bed to join Peter at their bedroom window – the one that overlooked the orchard. He had the cheerful curtain slightly switched back, and even by the dim light of the full moon shining through the slit, she noted the set lines in his face.

Peeking over his shoulder, Helen saw what suddenly got her husband's tidy whities in a bunch. Lit only by the soft, silver glow of the moon, Jim and Trixie were entwined in what could only be described as a very passionate embrace.

"They're kissing, Peter, in the moonlight in the orchard. How romantic," Helen sighed, bringing a slender hand to her heart and pressing there.

Peter snorted out his opinion of that statement and shoved the curtain back into place. "He could kiss her without…without that!" he spat out, perturbed, one hand flung toward the now curtained scene playing out among the crabapple trees.

Helen flopped down on their marital bed. Oh boy. She gently closed her book and placed it on the nightstand, along with her reading glasses. Reading glasses! She was much too young for reading glasses, and there would be no more reading for her tonight. "We kissed – and did some other, more naughty things – in the moonlight, in the orchard, she reminded him evenly. "One of which resulted in Mr. Robert Belden, if you recall."

Peter sat down on his side of the bed and looked at the small smile tipping the corners of Helen's oh-so-delectable lips. She was being awfully sanguine about things! "But Helen, he's got his big freckled paw splayed right across her as…butt!" He didn't want to add any more money to the swear jar. As it was, the dollars were marching right out of his pocket and into the jar at an astounding rate. Another reason Jim Frayne was on his list.

"Peter. They are married." She stressed the last word and rolled her eyes. And just to add a little more fuel to the fire, the little devil in Helen prompted her to add, "And I believe that marriage certificate confers the right for Jim to, shall we say, put his big freckled paw wherever Trixie wants him to."

He blew out an aggrieved breath before leaning back against the headboard and closing his eyes. "Yeah," he stated dejectedly, "but he doesn't have to flaunt it!"