No Strings

Chapter 55--Girl and Boy Have Happy Beginnings

One day I was looking through old pictures in an old photo album. It was one from when I was eight years old. William was being a usual boy by trying to take over more than half the picture. I was trying to push him out of the way. He was grinning and putting up a v-sign.

I'd been thinking hard about what I wanted to give as a birthday present. I didn't have to worry anymore if I should give him a friend present or a romantic present or something neutral. A present was a present. I didn't know what to get him. I'd exhausted all of my ideas at Christmas.

He didn't need anything in particular. He was doing alright with money, so he always bought everything he needed. I didn't want to add to the junk in the house. The doors to the living room, pantry and the dining room were now unstuck. There wasn't anything I could give him.

I flipped through the more recent pictures. He'd been putting them in. There weren't that many of us together--romantically. The pictures I had were all in my head. From the time we kissed in the park to the time he'd taken me on that carriage ride. We'd been dating for months and we still didn't have a picture of us. Plus all of the contract was now invalid. I liked being married to him--I couldn't see it any other way, but the marriage seemed somewhat of a lie.

He looked into the living room and saw me balance the books across my knees.

"You're handling that pay cut very well."

"I should be able to get back to twenty dollars if I try hard. I'll get a better overhead after that."

I knew he was teasing.

He sat on the arm of the chair and looked at it.

"There aren't any pictures of you and me together as a couple," I said.

"We didn't have an occasion to take such pictures. Though if I remember right, there is that picture that Lu-yin took."

I screwed up my face in disgust. That picture was worse than I thought it would turn out. She was still hocking it around to my other friends and showing it off at parties. I had no idea why she got so much pleasure out of it.

"I can't think of a birthday gift for you," I said.

"I don't need anything. As long as you're here, it should be fine."

He'd been flirting more. I looked up at him. He was in the shabbiest attire in his closet.

I said, "How about I tell you that we should remarry."

I only realized what I had said and fumbled, "...remarry to each other... I mean.."

He didn't answer for a while. He was thinking it over. "I'll consider it. This is an early gift."

"I want some pictures to put in this book. And since we broke all the rules of the original marriage, we should maybe have some real vows?"

"Might be fun. Getting married to you again can't be that bad. We should get divorced before getting married again. Then we can know what both are like and if we want to ever do it in the future."

He was joking. I tried not to laugh, but it was too hard. His eyes were dancing. He kissed my forehead. "Having pictures of us together as a birthday gift won't be bad. It'll make my mom happy."

I nodded. I felt giddy. It was not bad being a giddy thirty one year old was it? Even though I was not sure, I knew a life with William couldn't be that bad. Even through his strange food cravings and odd choice in sleepwear for a man in this day and age, a life with him through all of the tough times had to have some sweetness with it. And not a false sweetness like the relationships before.