Michael and Susan

Chapter 9 (Susan): Unexpected

Copyright © 2024 by GroveltoHEA

Michael's next two letters were still falling short of the mark. In his third one, I had the first hint that he might be starting to think about our situation more and feeling my absence as I had felt his all those months he spent time with Linda.

My darling Susan,

The house is empty without you. I never realized how much life you breathe into it and into me. The emptiness is unbearable, especially at night when I can no longer feel you beside me and take comfort in your soft breathing. I miss watching our favorite TV shows with you, feeling you curled up on the couch right next to me, your head on my shoulder, your hand on my thigh.

He should have ended that letter right there. Unfortunately, he continued.

You need to come home. You belong here, by my side, and this has gone on long enough. I worry about what you're doing for money. How are you getting by?

With all my love,

Michael

Maybe when I had been gone for seven months this would have gone on long enough. However, I had been hoping he would be starting to look at our situation with a bit more clarity by this point, almost two months into my leaving him. As I re-read his letter, I decided to ignore the first paragraph with its beautiful sentiments and simply answer his question. 

Dear Michael,

I've become involved in the world's oldest profession and have discovered I'm quite good at it.

Susan

Seeing no lie in that since the oldest profession involved sales, I felt confident in the veracity of my statement. However, I didn't get a reply from Michael that week, but two days later, I received another straight-to-the-point note from Father Ellis:

Dear Susan,

Please stop by at your earliest convenience to discuss a rather urgent matter.

In Christ, 

Father R. Ellis +

Since I had orders to deliver to my customers, I was able to stop by the next day, right after lunch. His secretary told me to go in, and even though his door was open, I knocked twice on it. He looked up from the note he was writing and smiled at me warmly and beckoned me inside.

Once I was seated, he pulled a piece of paper -- my stationery, I recognized immediately -- and placed it in front of him, clasping his hands in front of him on his desk.

"Susan, I find myself in a very awkward situation, caught between the seal and your husband's extreme rage and his demands that I tell him where you are. When your husband received this latest letter from you, he appeared on my doorstep just moments after he opened it and read the contents. He's been at the parsonage every day since receiving this letter, stopping by in the morning on his way to work and coming straight here as soon as he leaves work in the evening. He's in quite a state, and I'm certain when he's calmed himself, I will receive an apology from him for the rather salty language he's been using that would do a sailor proud. However, I do feel for him insofar as any man would be...distressed at the thought of his wife becoming," he tapped my letter, "quite good at the world's oldest profession."

"Sales, Father," I said demurely, trying not to blush at having such a conversation on such a topic with a clergy member.

"Sales." His eyes gleamed at me and his mouth twitched. "Yes, of course. I suppose that is, in the strictest sense, correct."