| |
Short-Lived Bliss
––––––––
Bay City, Michigan – 1955
––––––––
Life was good. Saundra and I had been married about four years and were talking about starting a family. My own family, especially my pop, liked to rub it in that kicking me out at eighteen had been the best thing for me. I still disagreed, as I could have used a place to stay while I established my career and found love. But, I digress.
Working at the automotive parts factory in town had been good for me. It was still hard physical labor, but I could handle it just fine. It had great union benefits and kept me in shape. I had started to grow a beard, but Saundra hated it, so I would shave it off, then try to grow it again until she protested.
We had a good sex life, and I was glad I had waited until I found the right one before I had done that with anyone. We’d been each other’s firsts, and Saundra’s doctor said she was as healthy as a horse and had great pelvic structure to carry many babies. I looked forward to becoming a dad someday. For now, we were just saving up our money to buy a house of our own. The two-bedroom apartment was spacious enough, but I wanted to give her the green lawn and the white picket fence she’d dreamed about as a girl. I’d already given her the wedding of her dreams and it was my goal to make all her dreams come true. She’d made me so happy, it was the least I could do. For now, she stayed at home doing sewing and quilting jobs for extra cash that she either stocked away in a coffee can on top of our fridge, or occasionally she would splurge on a manicure or a new blouse. I told her she could buy those things whenever she wanted, but she insisted she liked having her own money to buy it with. It made her feel proud. Which in turn made me feel proud. I loved a woman with a mind of her own. My brothers’ wives sometimes seemed like mindless robots who did whatever their husbands told them to. Not my Saundra. We’d only had a couple of spats, and it was always over her telling me she wanted to do her own thing and wouldn’t be told what to do. Since then, we’d always made decisions together and it seemed that approach worked much better for us. I’d been raised watching my father tell my mother, not ask her, what we were going to do. Where we’d spend Christmas. What restaurant we were eating at on a Saturday night. What she could and could not wear in public and to church. Since I was raised that way, I never knew how wrong that was. But, my mother never protested so perhaps she liked it. I’d never find out.
I hadn’t been back in the woods in many years. After my attack on the shores of the lake that fateful night four years ago, I avoided any place wolves might be. Especially since the police claimed they had never found said wolf. It honestly made me want to take my wife and move out of Bay City altogether, but then I thought—this wolf could be anywhere. Or perhaps it was dead. I couldn’t live in fear—I refused to live in fear.
I had, however, visited the lake several times. It was where I’d proposed to Saundra and no bad memory was going to overshadow a good one. On our anniversary every year, we went for a nice steak dinner at the same restaurant we had that night, then we went on a walk down the shore. I always presented her with a new piece of jewelry. Tonight would be no different. Since she already had a pearl necklace, a jade bracelet, and ruby earrings, I decided a ruby ring to match her earrings would be perfect. She was born in July and that was her birthstone, after all. She’d gushed about it after I’d given her the earrings last year. The fact she had asked me if I knew ruby was her birthstone had been cute. Who did she think I was? I was no dummy. I’d asked the jeweler in town to show me the July birthstone pieces. Still, she’d made me smile so much that day.
Bellies full, we walked hand-in-hand down the shoreline. The ring was burning a hole in my pocket, just as the other one had four years ago this very night. And just like that night, the moon was full and illuminated our walk much better than the previous years’ walks.
“The moon is breathtaking reflecting off the water,” Saundra said, squeezing my hand and using her free one to point at the lake.
I pulled our linked hands up together and kissed her knuckles. “I agree, my love.”
She smiled at me.
“But I have a confession. I think you’re more beautiful than the moon on the water. Breathtaking, as you say. You stole my heart and continue to steal my breath.”
She smiled shyly and reached her hand up to touch my face. “I love you, Craig Walsh.”
“I love you, Saundra Walsh.” I kissed her under the moonlight. After breaking the kiss, I looked down at her and said, “I know you’re expecting jewelry since it’s our anniversary, but sorry. It’s not in the cards for us this year, sweetheart.”
A disappointed look colored her features before she recovered with one of her sweet smiles. “It’s okay, baby. I would rather have a house than jewelry any day. I only wear it on special occasions.”
With a grin, I lifted her right hand to my lips and discreetly slid the ring onto her finger, then kissed her knuckles again.
She yanked her hand from me and stared at the silver and ruby piece. “Oh, my stars! This is gorgeous, Craig!” She stared up at me with wide eyes. “You’re such a trickster!”
“Gotcha!” I made finger-guns and shot her with them.
Laughing, she shook her head. “I will never trust you again.”
“Good, I want to keep you on your toes, Mrs. Walsh.”
I leaned down and kissed her again. I would never grow tired of kissing her, even here in public. Not that there were many people around on this late summer Monday night. I had no shame in public displays of affection. As we continued to kiss, my dick paid attention and I decided I should probably get her home before I laid her down in the sand and really put on a show for any people who happened by.
“Let’s go home,” I murmured against her lips. “I need you.”
Breathily, she agreed with a nod.
As I grabbed her hand to lead her back to the parking lot, something knocked me to the ground. The déjà vu of hot, rancid breath in my nose caused a panic to swell in me. Drooling jaws of sharp teeth inches from my face, and I could barely register the screams from my bride.
“Help us! Someone help us!” Saundra screamed.
I punched the wolf in the face—it was the same wolf from four years ago, I was sure. He yelped and leapt off me. I had a brand new Smith & Wesson in my car, and at that moment, that was my only goal: To get to my car and waste this sonofabitch once and for all.
As I got to my feet, I went to grab Saundra and run with her back to the car but realized her screams had stopped. I looked frantically around and saw the wolf dragging her by the hair down the beach, her lifeless body not fighting or screaming.
I ran as fast as I could toward them. Once I reached the wolf, I grabbed it by the scruff of its neck and pulled it off of my wife. It growled and barked at me but ran off into the night toward a copse of trees.
I barely noticed.
Falling to my knees in the sand, I picked up Saundra, whose hair was swishing in the waves flowing in and out of the lake, and held her tight. Her eyes were closed, and her lips were parted, but she made no sounds or movement. Blood from a large, gaping hole in her throat ran in rivulets over my white dress shirt’s sleeves and absorbed in the cotton.
“Saundra!” I screamed, shaking her. “Please! I’m here, sweetheart. I’m here. Please wake up. We’ll get you to a hospital!”
A few people had gathered now, staring at us in horror, some of them crying.
An older man ran over to us and stopped short, falling to his knees in the sand. “I’m a doctor. What happened to her?”
“A wolf, it bit her. Oh, Jesus, please. Please help her!” I whimpered. “Please help my wife.”
The doctor put his fingers to the side of her throat that wasn’t torn to shreds and then picked up her lifeless wrist, holding his fingers there several seconds. With a frown, he grabbed her body from me and laid her in the sand before putting his ear over her chest.
The most remorseful and sorrowful look I had ever seen passed over his kind features before he said in a small, sad voice, “I’m sorry, son. She’s gone.”
I let out a wail so loud, the people nearby probably thought I was an animal myself. I laid my head on Saundra’s body and sobbed.