Mary Landry couldn't wait to get to West Jefferson, NC for the get away she had plan for her and Daniel. Their marriage had been on the rocks since the first year. Five years later, and the marriage had not improved enough to keep things going.

"I need my space. I can't function under your nagging!" Daniel yelled that last day they stayed under the same roof.

"Nagging? I am just asking you to at least consider my feelings the next time you decide to drink too much and glue your mouth to your secretary under the mistletoe!" Mary blurted out.

"She kissed me!"

"I didn't see you pushing her away! I'm tired of her always in your face, in your office, at our house for stupid little drop offs. Has she been in our bed?"

"Now Mary you are pushing this too far. I said I wasn't trying to kiss Michelle! It was Christmas, I was drunk, and it was a mistletoe for God's sake."

"No Daniel, don't make alcohol the blame! Were you drunk the evening you were supposed to be working late and I came to the office to surprise you and walked in on a surprise of my own?"

"Oh that...stop bringing up old stuff and let's move on." Daniel attempted.

"You know what? I want a divorce. I can't be going through this with you." Mary said breaking down into tears. She sat on their huge king sized bed with her pretty face in her hands.

"Stop crying. I won't give you a divorce! I love you Mary."

"To hell with your twisted love. You don't love me! You know nothing about love. Just leave me alone." She sobbed and wouldn't stop the tears from rushing down her cheeks.

Daniel feeling like he had been kicked in the stomach, went to her side and fell to his knees. His forehead beaded heavily with sweat. "Baby, I do love you. I need you!"

"Please leave this house. I don't want to do this anymore!" She short of screamed.

Daniel knew that she was serious because her blue eyes had turned green. That always happened when she was angry beyond her control.

"We can't just let this go. We already had all of the odds against us. You want people to be right about us?"

Mary looked up at Daniel. Fury in her eyes. How dare he bring up the fact that people cursed their marriage because she was white and he was black. Color and people didn't make him put his tongue down his secretary's throat. Color and people didn't tell him to have her sitting on his lap with her skirt on the floor, when Mary showed up with something sexy on just for her man.

People had warned them that because of their mixed relationship, they wouldn't make it.

"Just because he had money, didn't make him a good man." Her mother couldn't wait to say. "You two were just too different."

"Mixed marriages happen every day mom. Welcome to the real world!" Mary scolded.

"Yes, but not in our family!" Her dad couldn't wait to throw in.

So much for family support. Mary decided not to contact her parents until they had something positive to say to her. Something comforting. It always seemed to her that they waited on her to do something wrong so they can say "I told you so."

Daniel refused to give her a divorce and the judge granted them a legal separation to think things through. They had no children and she thanked God for that. She would never want to have any children endure the pain of seeing she and Daniel split or fight. After three months of being apart, they were finally able to talk without arguing. Finally able to have a conversation without accusations and bitterness. The judge had suggested counseling and they agreed to it once every two weeks.

Finally, after nine additional months of spilling their hearts out to a funny looking man with dark eyes, a repetitive cough that annoyed them, and a semi limp from a football injury in college they were convinced to try dating slowly. In the months of counseling, Mary refused to give herself to Daniel. Daniel wouldn't dare ruin the communication they had developed by trying to bed his wife. The last thing he wanted her to think was that all he wanted was to make love. He knew she was desiring to take him there, but her pride being that of a brass bull would not allow her to even give him a clue that she wanted sex.

 Mary tried to trick herself into thinking that Daniel was keeping himself for her. He did fire Michelle, his beautiful brown skinned secretary, but he hired a sexy creamy white skinned beauty that had all of the men at his marketing firm arriving to work early just to see whose invitation for lunch she'd accept each day. That tidbit of information was politely divulged to Mary by a young man in the Graphics department that got a manicure at the same Le Nails shop that Mary frequented.

She'd blow Terrance off when he wanted to talk about what went on at DL Marketing as they were getting their nails done. He enjoyed watching Mary squirm under his gossiping words. He never liked Mary and Daniel together because he felt "brotha's" needed to stick with "sistuh's" and not cross any tracks to play with the "little white girls", as Mary would so politely hear from another girl from DL Marketing. Janice, who worked in Advertising at the firm, also got her nails done and Le Nails. She being mixed with black and white, she didn't care too much for Terrance's prejudice attitude. She felt he wanted Daniel for himself. Mary left that conversation alone.

 Mary kept promising herself, she would find another place to get her French Manicure done, but even though she hated to hear anything about that firm, she felt Le Nails kept her connected to Daniel in some kind of way. That connection hurt her feelings one day when she was leaving Le Nails.As Mary was paying for her service, she conveniently over heard a beautiful blonde haired woman telling Ming to hook her up real pretty because her "boss" was taking her to a basketball game.

Mary wondered for a moment if it could be the same woman, Daniel's new secretary, just by chance. Daniel loved watching basketball games live. "Naw, couldn't be." She whispered and threw it out of her mind.

However, on her way out, as she waved good-bye to the girl at the register, she bumped into Terrance. His look of shock, as he glanced over Mary's shoulder into the picture window, let her know that maybe her instincts were right. He rushed a quick hello and fast paced it into Le Nails. Not able to resist, Mary turned around to see Terrance over at the same table of the blond haired girl talking to her in a hush-hush manner. Mary's heart dropped to her stomach as she slowly walked away to the parking lot. She waited until four sessions later to blow up in front of the marriage counselor about Daniels little date. Daniel insisted he canceled that date because he felt like he was not ready to be involved. She knew she could have investigated and pulled out the truth from one of the DL employees at the nail shop, but what for? She didn't need to be any more hurt than she already was. She just decided to take his word for it and get over it.

Nights were getting lonelier, it was just about a year since the Christmas incident and definately a year since she had been intimate with anyone. Daniel had been nicer. He had stepped up his romantic side quite a bit and with only a few questionable moments regarding his time that he wasn't in her sight. She really wanted to make it work with him and she had begun to feel she could be with him again. A few secret dates, so people would not be in their personal business, helped her have time to really get to fall back in love with him. Just a little. She didn't want to rush her heart too soon. He said all of the right words, even if some of it seemed rehearsed. Mary was glad for his efforts.

She arranged a winter get away in North Carolina at a beautiful cabin. Their cabin was wonderful according to the virtual tour online. It had a beautiful stone fireplace with cathedral ceilings in the bedroom with the living room housing a warm inviting fireplace and oak hardwood floors. The kitchen was spacious and beautiful. The upstairs had the most large and intriguing bedroom with a queen sized bed. Because she spotted the fireplace on the east side of the huge room, it made her choose that cabin. She could see her and Daniel lying on the floor re-exploring each other's body under a fire lit glare. The thought had her heart racing. She had not realized how bad she needed him. At that point needed someone period.
(To be continued)
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