Enlightened Woman

She remembered the day they met. It was an unexpected visit. She had spent most of the morning tidying the house while the children were at school. Harold was away on a business trip. She was expecting him home any minute now. There came a knock at the door. Emma dropped her dust rag in mid swipe. Who could that be at such an early hour, she thought. Not many people call on Emma until mid to late afternoon.

Emma retrieved her rag from the floor and placed it in her apron. She opened the door to find a tall gentleman donning a dapple gray suit and a bunch of freshly picked flowers.
“Mrs. Burgess?” said the gentleman.
“Yes.”
“I’m Mr. Talbot, a friend of your husband,” he said gallantly removing his hat. “He has sent word for you that he has been detained on a very important business matter.”
Mr. Talbot offered her the flowers. Emma brought the flowers to her nose and inhaled their essence.
“Oh, but Mr. Burgess is so thoughtful,” she uttered.
“Actually, I picked those along the way. I thought them to be a nice gesture since I was the bearer of bad news,” said Mr. Talbot.
“My husband says that bad news is always the best teacher,” she replied.
“Quite right Madame, quite right.” Mr. Talbot’s teeth gleamed from under the softness of his smile.
“Please, won’t you come in Mr. Talbot?” Emma motioned him to enter. “I have just put the kettle on for some coffee. Won’t you join me?”
“Yes, thank you. But, please call me Robert.”
Emma shut the door and offered him a seat at the mahogany table. Robert eyed his friends’ wife with awe. Her hair was a chestnut brown from what he could see peeking out from underneath her dust cap. And, the way she swayed side to side as she glided across the floor caused a rise in his heart rate. Oh to have a wife with such beauty as Mrs. Burgess, he thought. Her eyes sparkled like pools of jade in the light of the moon. And her face, tinged with a peachy glow, warmed his soul.
Emma recovered from the kitchen with the flowers in a vase and placed them on a lace doily in the center of the mahogany table.
“Do you take cream and sugar in your coffee Mr. Talbot?”
Robert, with furrowed brow and head tilted ever so slightly reminded her to call him by his Christian name.
“Yes, thank you Mrs. Burgess, I do take cream and sugar in my coffee.”
“Well, since we’re being so formal; and you are a friend of my husband; you may call me Emma,” she replied.
“Emma,” he whispered, “what a lovely name.”
Emma went to the kitchen to retrieve the coffee and, when she came back, set Robert’s coffee before him and took her own and sat across from him.
“So, Robert, how is it that you know my husband?”
Robert leaned back in his chair, hands behind his head and began reminiscing of yesteryear.
“It was some twenty years ago. My parents and I were on vacation in New England. I was but a boy of 7 and full of vinegar.” Robert’s laugh, deep and resonant, exuded pleasure.
“To stave off my hunger until supper, I had climbed an apple tree. While reaching for an apple, arms outstretched with the apple just out of reach, an older boy came to my rescue. I was near falling to my death or at least a broken bone when your husband came by. He plucked two of the most deliciously succulent apples and told me to come down and join him. I climbed out of the tree and we sat, our backs against the large tree, and devoured the apples in an instant. That summer we were the best of friends never leaving each other for more than a night.”
“Harold never told me this,” Emma said sighing. Harold never reminisced. He said it was for children and silly old spinsters. She wished that she knew more of her husband’s childhood. Maybe that would explain the way he is today. She felt distanced from him even more so now than before he left on his business trip. Emma sipped her coffee and listened with intent as Robert recalled more of that summer.
“Well,” said Robert,” Harold told me that you have a room to rent. He said that I should stay until his return since my business is in his exacting hands.”
“I suppose that I could accommodate you quite well.” It did not surprise Emma that Harold would send someone in his absence. When he went away on business, Emma felt that she was on Holiday. Harold was a thoughtful man to others but to his wife he never thought of her feelings or desires. She was just expected to be hospitable to everyone and do precisely as she was told.