The Perfect Wife

PREVIEW: Perfect Husband

PREVIEW: THE PERFECT HUSBAND   

Dimitri Dragunov walked out of prison a free man.  Physically, he was free from the six by eight feet room that had held him for the six years.  Mentally? Well, that was another story.  Prison changes a man—for better or for worse, Dimitri was forever altered. 

It was not until the prison gates closed behind him with a loud, distinct sound of metal rubbing against metal that Dimitri realized he had been holding his breath.  For the first time since he was told he was pardoned by the President, he felt something other than anger.  It might have been hope or perhaps relief.  He was not sure because it had been a long time since he had felt anything but anger.  Well, that was not entirely true.  There were times when he felt lonely, and alone, or in despair but the overwhelming feeling he had when he allowed himself to feel was anger.  Not just at the government who stole six years of his life, or his so-called friends who abandoned him once the tide turned against him, but mostly at his wife.  Hers was the betrayal that had almost crippled him.  It was quick and vicious.  And Dimitri never saw it coming.  Not from his beautiful, sweet faced wife. 

Katherine Dargunov, no, technically she was again Katherine Cameron, sat down in front of her tiny, tidy kitchen table.  She was trembling.  Shocked, relieved, grateful and everything else in between crossed her expressive face.  Then she placed her arms on the table, ducked her head and sobbed.  He was coming home.  After six long years, he was free.  That she had to hear the news from her best friend, Emma Costas, only marginally bothered her, her relief was so staggering there was no room for anything else.  Ever since the news of his arrest came six years ago, Kate had dreamt, hoped and often despaired of when she would see her husband again.  In the last year, she had rarely allowed herself to hope because when hope was dashed, she would descend into a dark pit of depression that took her weeks to crawl out from.  Instead, she coped by blanking everything else.  She rose when the sun rose, slept when evening arrived, worked when she needed to, ate when she was hungry.  She was a shell of a woman but now, just the news of him walking free again had filled that empty shell.  It was that way ever since they met.  He filled her life with the exclusion of everything else.  And he told her the same.  Until reality intruded.

* * * *

Kate often reminded her husband that she saw him first, therefore she loved him first.  But Dimitri often argued back that she only saw him first by a full minute, and that it did not matter because he loved her more fiercely.  Although she disagreed, Kate loved hearing that; loved that he tried to prove in many ways how much he loved her.  Their path was not an easy one for both of them were stubborn, set in their ways, with strong personalities.  But their commonality was also grounded in their differences that made them better for each other.  Whereas Dimitri’s mood can only be described as mercurial, Kate had a more even temper.  She rarely became angry but when she did she was spectacular to watch.  She was all fire and passion, her face would turn a lovely shade of pink, her gray eyes would turn darker in color—facets that were not too different when she was in the throes of passion.  Dimitri had a quick temper, a cutting personality but he was quick to simmer down, quicker to forgive.  Dimitri was aggressive and assertive, a necessary trait in being successful in the cut throat banking business whereas Kate was quieter, calmer.  She brought into his life a certain amount of sedateness that Dimitri had always needed.  She grounded his life for his was complicated, burdened with enormous responsibilities. She was romantic, he was a realist.  He was logical, she was passionate.  She slowed him down so he would stare at the night sky for hours with her in his arms, smelled the roses (both figuratively and literally), watched the sunrise.  They balanced each other out in a perfect symmetry that made falling in love no less than destiny.  They were in many ways meant for each other.