Two men sat in the room with the drapes drawn, even though the sun shone brightly outside. One of the two sat at a desk; a gold nameplate read Charles Peterson. His fingertips were pressed together as he gazed at a large photograph on the desk. Even though his companion couldn't see his face clearly, he knew that he was glaring angrily at it.
The second man wondered if he dared speak when his employer was in such a dangerous mood. He glanced once more at the darkened face and decided he should at least try. He cleared his throat nervously. "So…what are we going to do, Mr Peterson?"
His employer's scowl deepened briefly, and then he looked up.
"This has to be dealt with, Hastings—quickly and carefully. The divorce will be official in six months. I want this to be over by the end of the fifth month—not too close to the divorce date, otherwise it will attract suspicion." His tone was sharp and impatient.
"How are we going to handle it?"
"I don't want to risk losing the money— she's too rich. There's no possible way that I can ever get that kind of money this easily," his superior answered.
There was a slight pause as Hastings thought this over. "So…what will we do about it?" he asked, thinking he knew the answer already.
Charles Peterson picked up the photograph of his beautiful wife, and his mouth twisted into a cruel smile as he looked into her brown eyes.
"Hastings, I'm sure you know how often vehicle accidents happen. Especially now days." He chuckled darkly, and replaced the photograph on his desk.
Hastings sat in slight shock for a moment. As Charles rotated his chair away from him, he realised he was being dismissed. He stood and went over to the door, leaving his employer alone in the darkened room once more.
H2H
The afternoon sun blazed the last of its golden light across the grassy field, winking at Jennifer as she flew along. She slowed to a trot and twisted around in her saddle. Jonathan raced towards her, catching up quickly.
"Come on, darling! The sun will have disappeared completely by the time you get there!" Jennifer called back to him.
Jonathan caught up and walked his horse beside hers.
"We're not that slow," he said, leaning forward and patting his mare's shiny, black coat. Jennifer laughed and spurred her horse on, flashing past Jonathan.
"Hey!" he exclaimed. He hastily nudged his horse's sides, following his wife off the field. They raced the sun through the trees as it sank further below the horizon, ducking under low branches and jumping over fallen boughs. Finally, they burst out of the woods and slowed the horses as they neared a white fence that laced the edge of a cliff. A large, blue lake spread out before them, with more green trees decorating its shores. Jennifer halted her horse first and jumped off to run to the fence, with Jonathan right behind her. She stepped up on the bottom rung of the fence; Jonathan wrapped his arm around her waist, and they watched the sunset together. Jennifer sighed peacefully, and Jonathan glanced at her. She stared out at the sun, golden light washing over her face and lighting up her brown eyes. A soft breeze blew her curls around her face, and Jonathan wondered—as he often did—how someone as stunning as her had come to be his.
"I can't think of anything more beautiful," she said softly, watching the sun.
Jonathan tore his gaze from her to look at the sunset briefly. "I can," he answered, and Jennifer looked around at him, her eyebrows slightly raised in surprise. The corners of his mouth twitched as he tried not to smile, but she didn't miss it. She laughed and put her arms around his neck. He pulled her closer and they kissed, hardly noticing as the last rays of sunlight fell into the blue lake.
They broke apart and smiled at each other, and Jonathan looked out over the lake.
"Sun's gone," he remarked and she followed his gaze. The sky was streaked with pink and purple, and the first tiny stars had begun to appear, winking at them from far away. They took in the view for a moment, arms still around each other's waists, and then turned to wander back towards their horses.
"Ah, Deer Lake," said Jennifer, looking around appreciatively. "Darling, I'm glad we did end up coming back to the cabin these holidays. We haven't been here since Danny's incident."
"Oh, yeah," said Jonathan, remembering. "That was a while ago, now." He helped Jennifer onto her horse.
"I'll race you back," she said, and galloped away before Jonathan could answer. He smiled after her, then climbed onto his own horse and spurred her on, following his wife 0back across the field.
H2H
Jonathan opened the door, taking his and Jennifer's hats as he went. He hung them on the hat stand by the doorway, and Jennifer followed him inside, closing the door after herself. She began to make her way towards the living room and Jonathan watched her, following slowly.
"Jonathan, where's Max... oh, what's this?" she asked, stopping suddenly and staring at the coffee table. Two glasses of champagne stood in front of the crackling fire, and a small white box sat in between them. She turned back to Jonathan, eyes dancing with curiosity.
He smiled. "I gave Max the night off." Taking her hand, he led her over to the couch, pulled her down beside him, and took the two glasses from the table.
"Did you know that it's our last night here?" he asked, handing her one of the glasses.
"What? Oh, but it's gone so quickly!" she exclaimed sadly, gazing into the fire.
"Yeah, it has," Jonathan agreed, taking a sip from his glass.
Jennifer looked at him in confusion. "Then, why the champagne if we're leaving?" she asked, placing her glass on the table.
Jonathan leaned forward and kissed her. "Because I wanted to do something special," he answered, and picked up the white box. He held it out to her and she laughed, shaking her head as she took it and opened the lid.
"Oh, Jonathan…" she gasped, glancing down. She pulled out a glittering sapphire, with a gold chain following it.
Jonathan took it from her and dangled it around her neck, doing up the clasp at the back.
Jennifer stared at the stone as it glinted in the firelight, and twisted around to face him. "It's beautiful. Thank you." She put the box back on the coffee table. "But you know, you didn't have to go to all this trouble," she said, putting her arms around his neck.
"I didn't?" he said softly, gazing at her.
Jennifer shook her head. "You're all the something special I need," she answered.
Jonathan smiled and leant forward to kiss her again, and they fell back onto the couch as the fire crackled behind them.
H2H