Read Answering to Him (Old-Fashioned Husband) for Free Online

of his latest heroic feats, all performed on his Xbox, and I tried to follow the conversation.
    I really tried, but I found my mind wandering back to Alicia. Remembering her tear-stained face, and the pleading in her eyes made my heart twist. “Are you punishing me?” she’d asked, and I recalled the flush that had risen to her face after she’d said it. Thinking back on her expression, she’d seemed spellbound by the idea despite how much it also seemed to horrify her.
    Now there was an idea! What kind of man “punished” his wife just because he was unhappy with her behavior? Of course, I mused, I had done it in my own way, leaving to let her think about how much this latest stunt was going to cost us. I’d known Alicia had a problem with speeding since we’d gotten married. She seemed like a cop magnet, and no matter how many others were speeding past her, Alicia was the one who got pulled over. In sixteen years I must have spent thousands paying off tickets, and I had always wished to have a way to stop it. Nothing I said seemed to make her watch her speedometer, no matter how contrite she might be at the time.
    The trouble was, she always had what she considered to be a good reason. I’d talked to my dad about it once, in the early years, venting my frustra tion, and he had shocked me by saying, “Take away her keys, then,” as though it was the most normal thing in the world. I’d laughed at him, and called him “old fashioned”. What man would do that now, in the twenty-first century? Any man that did, I was sure, would find himself divorced and sued for alimony as soon as the keys were in his hand.
    My mom and dad had a good marriage, and had been together for over forty years. They had been a great example to me growing up, and I’d always known that I wanted a marriage with the longevity that theirs had. In my family it was no secret that Dad called the shots, and Mom went along willingly with whatever he decided, but I didn’t think it was necessary to have a wife that catered to my wishes, nor did I find it very realistic. Unbidden, the memory of Alicia calling me “sir” after I’d spanked her came to mind. A rush of emotion shot through me, and I forced myself to turn back to my son before my body started responding in embarrassing ways. That would have to be saved for later.
    “Tell you what,” I said when Jonah paused for breath, “why don’t you show me when we get home?”
    His jaw dropped. “Fo’ real, Dad?”
    I tilted my head to the side, grinning at him. “I think so, yes.”
    “Dad, you’re gonna go crazy for this game, trust.”
    We’ll see about that, I thought, but I knew better than to say it out loud. There was no way I could pop his bubble when he looked happier than I’d seen him all week.
    * * * * *
    Alicia
     
    When I heard the door open, I busied myself with my scrapbook pages, trying to look like I had been busy, and not like I’d been watching the door for the last hour and a half, waiting for them to come back. I’d been more surprised than hurt when Oliver had told me to stay home. I knew that he was mad at me for the tickets, and I hated myself for getting them. I knew it would set us back at least three hundre d dollars, if not more. Since we were a one-income family, we really didn’t have money to waste.
    I knew he had every right to be mad at me. I wished there were something I could do to make it up to him, some way to atone, but I couldn’t think of anything. Well, I couldn’t think of anything that made sense to me, anyway. There was no way I could come up with that kind of money—I’d already tried to think of something I could sell, or make that would bring in some money, and I hadn’t been able to think of anything. Every time I remembered Oliver’s disappointed frown and the way he’d ordered me to stay home, my dream had come rushing back to me. Despite many attempts to keep my mind from wandering, I couldn’t help but wonder what it