Walter and Natalie Ch. 02

"No ... no, absolutely not. I think that's a very good idea. We'll have to arrange for them to be absent from school. When would you want to see them?"

"Same day and time as your regular appointments will be fine. Please let me know if anything comes up that would interfere with that."

"Yes, of course."

"The following week, I'd like to see both you and Mrs. McGuire. I hope that meets with your approval."

"Yes, that will be fine. Thank you, Doctor."

I hung up and sat thinking about the doctor and my opinion of her. Maybe she was listening after all.

I told the kids about the appointment and wrote a note to their teachers and principal explaining their absence for that morning.

"Is she going to ask us a lot of questions?" Karen queried, looking a bit nervous.

"I'm sure she will want to know what your mother was like and how you felt about it. Just be honest. Don't try and exaggerate, just tell it like it was. Rob will be there with you so don't feel you have to answer if you're uncomfortable with a question. Okay?"

Rob nodded and Karen gave me her "okay."

When they came out of Doctor DeVire's office that morning, I saw smiles on their faces and that really helped me. I had been nervous about how they might respond to the questions. They didn't need any more pressure at this point.

"Mr. McGuire, can I see you for a moment, please."

I stepped into her office and she closed the door but didn't move to her desk.

"Those are two very fine children you have," she smiled. "They remind me of my own at that age. I think we had a very helpful session and I believe they think so too. I just wanted to put your mind at ease and talk about next week.

"For our next session, I'd like to split the time between you and Natalie. I'll begin with you, then after no more than a half-hour, I'll talk to your wife alone. With any luck, that session may be our last for a while. I'm not a big believer in dragging this process out when I don't see the need for it. I have plenty of clients and I don't need to pad my bills to the insurance companies."

Another surprise! Only eight sessions in total? What was she suggesting?

"Uh, sure, no problem. I should tell you, Doctor, that my wife and I are getting along much better recently. You've probably noticed that when you talk to us."

"Yes I have, Mr. McGuire ... but I'm not surprised. I have a pretty good idea of what's been happening but I'll keep that to myself until I'm satisfied I'm right in my assumption. I'll look forward to seeing both of you next Wednesday."

"Yes ... and thanks," I said, still a bit baffled by her comments.

When we arrived home, I had a pretty good idea of what had happened during the meeting with our children. They were upbeat about it, thinking that their mother's improved behavior was a consequence of the doctor's intervention. I left it to them to tell their mother what had gone on.

Before I left for work, I told Natalie about the change in procedure for the following week.

"Doctor DeVire wants to change the format of next week's meeting. I'll meet with her for a few minutes and then you'll go in and I'll wait outside. I am kind of wondering why she would want to do that."

"Oh. Are you okay with her now?" she asked.

"Actually, I was pretty down on her in the beginning. I thought she might have some feminist agenda and I'd be made out to be the bad guy. Just her appearance is enough to get me thinking in that direction. It looks like I was wrong. Despite appearances, she has grown children and I suppose is or was married.

"Anyway, I'm changing my mind. I'm going to let her do her 'thing' and see what she has to say. After this past week, I get the feeling we're on our way back. I hope you do too?"

"Yes," she smiled as she hugged me once more.

I wrapped my arms around her again and squeezed her tight. "We may have to take a night off now and then. We might overdo it a bit," I grinned.

"I am a bit sore but it's worth it. I don't think I've ever felt as loved as I do right now. Do you think we're going to be okay?"

"Yeah, I do. I'm not sure we know what happened but maybe the doctor will help us find out so that we don't fall into the same pattern twice."

"That's the only thing that scares me, Walter. I don't want to go back to where I was. I hated that place."

As I thought about it later, I felt we had made a breakthrough. I wasn't sure it was permanent but I could sense an enormous shift in our relationship. We were talking ... really talking ... meaningfully communicating. I was no wiser as to the reasons we had got to this stage, but for the first time in a long time I had some hope that we would survive this ... whatever it was.

When we had been lying in bed between our lovemaking on Sunday, the morning sun had illuminated the room and I could once again see just how physically lovely my wife was. It wasn't like I didn't know it. I just hadn't seen it in so long that I had lost contact with her. We weren't that old. This shouldn't be the passage into a passive, comfortable life. I didn't want that, and now, I was pretty sure Natalie didn't want that either.

"The kids heard us that first night," I said.

"Oh ... oh, my. Did they say something?"

"Yeah. Karen was the designated interrogator. She wanted to know what all the noise was about."

"Oh, no. What did you say?"

"I told them the truth. I told them I was making love to their mother."

"You didn't!"

"Yes, I did. And ... you might be surprised that they were happy that we were 'feeling better.'"

"Oh, my. I don't know how I'm going to look them in the eye this afternoon. I'll be so embarrassed."

"Don't be. They're happy that we're happy. I think when we were unhappy, they felt a lot of pressure and it couldn't have been good for them. I thought that if they knew that maybe those days were over it would help them. I think it was the right thing to do."

"Did Karen really call me a name?"

"Yes. But I think you're making that all go away now. She was reacting with a bit of anger added to her frustration. The two of them couldn't do anything about us. They just had to live with it. I think you'll find things are different now. They are, aren't they?"

I was revealing my lingering doubts about us. As much as this past week was a wonderful change from the past months, I still wasn't certain it was permanent.

Natalie walked to me and once more held me closely, tilting her head up for a kiss. I understood what she wanted me to believe and I truly wanted to believe it. I didn't think I could handle her falling backward into that persona she had been.

To be concluded...

Editing by ErikThread and DaveT with my thanks for their thoroughness and helpful suggestions. Any errors are mine.