Wedding Gifts

[9/29 Entry - Daily Flash Fiction Contest - 291 Words]

Wedding Gifts

It was the day of our wedding. My wife looked beautiful. The guests had left. We were finally alone.

This marriage was going to be perfect. My wife, Jen, was my soul mate.

"Lets open the gifts," she said.

"Lets do that tomorrow," I said without thinking. Then I caught myself. I was not going to ruin her perfect day.

The gifts were in a pile in the corner of the hotel room. We started with the larger boxes. There was a wineglass set, plates, forks, knives. There was even a turkey thermometer. Presumably all things newlyweds could not do without.

In the back there was a small black box. I heard a faint ticking. "It must be a clock," I said.

"Or a bomb. Ha! Ha!" I added as a joke.

Jen did not laugh. Before we got married she always laughed.

Then I noticed a bead of sweat on her forehead. She opened the box delicately, slowly.

"Jen, I was joking. It's not a bomb. Who would send us a bomb?"

She said nothing.

"It couldn't be your ex-husband. You separated amicably. You were free as a bird."

She gently tugged at the wrapping paper.

What if someone else had opened it? What if it had gone off at the party? He would not stoop to that level. Would he?

Her fingers moved delicately and precisely. And she carefully opened the box.

It was a bomb.

There was a blue wire and a red wire.

She considered her options, and then cut the red wire. The ticking stopped.

"What's going on Jen?" I felt disoriented.

"Alex, I have a confession," she said. "My ex-husband and I were mafiosi. We were bombmakers.

"And I think he still loves me."