A Wife And Her Husband

She remembered it clearly. It happened on a beautiful summer's day. They were both out in the garden working on each their thing. She was planting flowers and he was on a ladder fixing the fence. Life was pure. They had each other. The birds were singing and though many things in the world are going wrong, everything felt right in that very moment. She never in a million years expected it would be their last moment. They had planned a road trip all the way down to Italy once she had fully retired. They were going to get sick and tired of each other and fall madly in love again too. They'd talked about that over afternoon coffee once. She couldn't wait. She loved him with all her heart although people always thought they seemed a bit cold with each other. She always thought it was because people never stayed together as long as they did. They left when things got tough, before it could become a partnership. She always thought of him as a bear. A goodhearted bear. If those existed. He was calm most of the time, but would lash out when he had to and very protective of their little kingdom. He let her take care of the cave and the took care of the outdoors. She remember she looked at him that summer day and felt that quiet, strong love swell up in her heart. She still felt that sometimes when she looked at their wedding photo. She'd been used to feeling a quiet, strong love before she met her husband, but he allowed her to finally truly show it too. The other love she still had, but it was kept in the dark among the many secrets of her youth. Sometimes she wished things had been different, but if she had been able to keep him, she would've never met her husband.