“So, what I know of that morning is that she told you what she wanted. A break. Open relationship. Whatever she wanted to call it. Trust me on this one, John. Myself, Jane and Cindy, we never asked anything like that from our partners. As soon as she told us, we called her a complete and utter delusional fool. Biggest idiot in history, to throw away your relationship with such a request. Do you believe we’d never asked our boyfriends the same thing?”
“Yeah, considering you’re all happily married to the same men. Either they agreed, because they could tolerate it for whatever reason, which I don’t believe they’d ever agree to, or you would have never asked. But if not you, who?”
“Three things. One, she started reading things online about how open relationships apparently help the central relationship. Frankly, that works for a very small minority of couples. The vast majority are monogamous, and if you change the rules, it rarely works out well. Two, she honestly thought you would have enjoyed being with some other girls while she was away. You realise you were quite popular right? Honestly, Stephanie did feel threatened from time to time. During some chats, she admitted to feeling insecure because you were so popular.”
“My eyes never wandered, Vicki. Not for a second. I loved her with all my heart.”
“I know that. So does she.” Taking a deep breath, she added, “Three, honestly, just some very bad advice from some miserable and bitter co-workers at the salon she worked at part-time, who were jealous of her relationship with you. So they started laying some seeds of doubt in her mind and, well, here we are ten years later.”
“Vicki, I didn’t even know you were going away until that morning. How did she think I was going to react to that, let alone then asking for permission to cheat on me for an entire year?”
“That’s all our fault. It was a last minute thing. That’s the honest truth. We’d discussed it for maybe one, two weeks at most before the formal. We all agreed to tell each of you the morning after the formal.”
“Did you end up going?”
“Yes, six of us did end up going in the end. The four of us, and two other friends from school.”
“Well, I hope you all had fun,” I retorted, unable to hide the bitterness.
Victoria took my hand again. “She didn’t have a lot of fun, John. For six months, she cried herself to sleep. Every single night. She was miserable without you, John, knowing you had disappeared and wouldn’t be there to greet her when she returned. Christmas was horrific for her. New Year’s Ever was even worse as she was alone while the six of us were all romantic and shit. We pretty much had to drag her onto the plane leaving Sydney for Hawaii in the January.” She paused before asking, “John, did you see her hand?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s the same ring you left behind. She put it on that morning and hasn’t taken it off since.” That caused me to stare at her in surprise. “For the first six months, she was miserable as we hadn’t been particularly kind about what she told you, and your friends… Well, they’ve long forgiven her, but couldn’t believe what she asked of you. And we know she didn’t fool around as we always shared a room, and she rarely left our sides. The last six months of our trip was better, but she remained single. Any man that came sniffing around, she’d hold up her hand, tell them she was engaged and wasn’t interested in hooking up. The only time she was in the dumps again was when Mark, Brett and Chris joined us in Asia for the last month before returning home. That’s when reality well and truly hit, as the seven of us stepped off the plane, three couples ready to get on with their lives. Then the fact the three of us married over the next five years, started our families and lives together. Stephanie… She’s waited for you, John.”
“What?” I asked flatly, “You’re serious?”
“She knew you were alive. We, the three girls, have kept her informed. I think our husbands knew what we were doing, and let it go simply because it gave her hope that, one day, you’d return home.”
Scratching my head, I asked, “But we were broken up. She made it quite clear that’s what she wanted. Why hasn’t she moved on?”
“She made a mistake, John. She took some very bad advice, made the worst mistake imaginable in what she asked of you, and has paid for it the last ten years. She’s never been angry at you for how you reacted nor the fact you just wanted away, John. Once she realised what she asked of you, then speaking to us…” She paused a moment before adding softly, “It was the letter, John. It was short but you poured your heart out in it. She was crushed, realising just how much you loved her. She admitted that she just took it for granted. She knew just how much she loved you but…” She sighed sadly. “Well, as I said, here we are now, ten years later. Ten years lost.”
Finishing my roll-up, I flicked it into the nearby bin and contemplated what to say next. “I thought she’d have moved on. Found a fella. Marriage. House. Kids. You know, settled down.”
“She wants that but only with you, John. As I said, she’s lived in hope ever since the day after.”
“Does anything think what I did was a little drastic?”
“Maybe at first, but it was obvious she broke your heart. Trust me, no-one blames you for anything.”
“I’ve been with others, Vicki.”
“How many?”
“Only two. Both were relationships. Again, I got on with my life believing the previous part was well and truly over.”
“I think she’d be rather understanding about that.” She looked me up and down. “Only two, in that uniform?”
“Casual or meaningless sex never appealed. Another reason that her request was a dagger. Throwing away what we had so she could sleep with some random bloke on holiday?” I took a moment to gather my memories. “Anyway, I was with Steph for nearly four years. My two other relationships were in France. Vivienne for two years, Chloe for four years.”
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