Darling, Take My Hand

Chapter 4

To say the 4th of July party was a personal success would've been an understatement to Margaret. Yes, Charles never made a formal appearance and got home far after the party was over, but she made a new friend and that was enough for her. When Margaret made new friends she just felt nice inside but meeting and befriending Theodora didn't just make her feel nice.

No, her heart gave a flutter whenever she'd think about her and when she thought her beautiful smile butterflies were in her stomach. They met once and already Margaret deeply cared for the mysterious neighbor. About 3 or 4 months had passed after the party and Margaret would consider her and Theodora to be very close friends. Anytime they had the chance they'd meet up. There were lunch dates, shopping trips, home cooked dinner nights, literally almost activity there was to do they did it.

Tonight was a bit different. Instead of lunch it was dinner. And instead of being at Margaret's or Theodora's house, it was out to a nice restaurant. Now, in any other circumstance she would've declined Theodora's offer, but when she remembered that Charles had called her to tell her he wouldn't be home till extremely late, she agreed.

Margaret closed and locked her door. And sure enough there was Theodora waiting in her car.

"Hey Margaret! Come on in. I already set up a reservation, let's get going."

"Alright."

Margaret got in the car and had a much better view of Theodora. Her hair was styled up, she had an emerald green dress on that greatly complimented her hazel eyes and she just looked...

She looked beautiful.

But then again, Margaret always thought Theodora was beautiful. That was a regular thing for friends to do right? To think their friend was possibly the most beautiful woman in thr world? Yeah, it had to be.

Dinner was outdoor at a nice local Italian place. Nothing too interesting happened at dinner, just conversations and laughter and an all around good time. As the two women got back in the car, Theodora turned to Margaret.

"Hey Maggie, so dinner ended kinda early, I have a small bottle of red wine at my house, would you like to come over and drink it with me? You don't have to of course."

"That sounds delightful! But, did you just call me Maggie?"

"Oh shoot, do you not like that? The name Margaret is beautiful and all but I felt like Maggie suited you better."

"No, I actually really like it. It makes me feel special, no one has called me that before."

"Alright, well then, buckle up Maggie."

The drive home was nice, but Maggie couldn't stop thinking. Although dinner was very nice, it didn't feel like just dinner. It felt like something more. Like....like a date almost. Maybe it was because it was dinner or because it was at an expensive place but she just felt weird about it. It wasn't a bad type of weird, but it did send butterflies to her stomach. Maggie didn't think too much into it, she was having too nice of a night to overthink things.

By time her thoughts cleared up they arrived at Theodora's house. They entered and Maggie sat on the couch while Theodora opened a bottle and filled two glasses. The women sat next to each other and chatted. Conversations came so naturally to them. Theodora had just finished saying something funny that made them both laugh. When Maggie caught her breath she spoke.

"Theodora, it's just so nice to have a night that's just us girls, don't you think?"

"Yeah, I enjoyed tonight a lot. But I've had this dumb little question on my mind."

"Of course darling, you can ask me anything."

"So, you and Charles are happy together, right?"

"Why of course we are! I love him very much, and he loves me."

"If you two love each other so much, why don't you have kids? All of the couples in the neighborhood have kids except you."

"Well, it's just that the thought of having children never really came to us."

"Not even on accident? Like when you guys have sex do you think about the possibility of getting pregnant."

Something Maggie kinds really liked about Theodora was that she didn't care how "crude" her words were or how she basically had no filter.

"Charles and I don't really like to get intimate with one another. We did on our wedding night sure but after that we haven't done anything. I don't know it just doesn't seem appealing to us."

"Maggie, are you and Charles in a lavender marriage?"

"A lavender marriage why I-I don't know what that is!"

"Well it's... it's a marriage where one or both of the partners are gay, and they marry someone of the same sex to conceal their sexuality."

Maggie froze for a second.

"Maggie, are you gay?"

She had never, ever been asked that kind of question before.

"No, I am not a homosexual! Homosexuals only live in places like New York City and Europe, and Charles and I are very happy together so, I can't believe you'd ask me such a thing! Am I a homosexual just because I think you're the most beautiful woman in the world?"

It was now Theodora's turn to freeze. She could see the realization in Maggie's eyes once she realized what she has just said.

"What did you say?"