Breaking Her Hart
***Willow Pond***
Jennifer was sitting in the den, waiting for Jonathan to come home.
She was all dressed up. They were supposed to be going to a friend's house for dinner. At this point, they were 10 minutes late.
Max had brought the mail in earlier, and set it on the piano. She started going through it, and found a letter addressed to her with no return address. She opened it and found a note.
"I have seen you many times now, you are so beautiful. You and I would be great together. I'll show you".
No signature.
She was a little unnerved by the note, but terribly.
Jonathan pulled up then, and she left the note on the piano, in the mail.
She headed out the door to meet him.
Their party lasted about 5 hours. They ate, danced, and laughed with their friends. They got home around 11, and came in the house. Jennifer was exhausted, and headed up to bed. Jonathan was going through the mail and then he was going up.
He found the letter she had left there, and read it. He was instantly frightened. He went upstairs and found her washing her face.
"When did you plan on telling me about this?"
"Telling you about what?"
"This letter. Were you ever going to tell me?"
"Jonathan, I don't like the tone you're taking. If you want to talk about this, we can, but at the very least, let's be nice to each other while we do".
"Answer my question".
She stared at him.
"Jonathan, what has gotten into you?"
"I don't like you keeping things from me".
"I don't like you accusing me of keeping things from you".
"Well, don't keep something from me and then there won't be an accusation".
"Jonathan, I am not going to continue in this conversation any longer". She moved to walk past him.
He blocked her path.
"When did this letter come?"
"It came tonight. I opened it just before you picked me up".
She had a fire in her deep set whiskey eyes.
"Ok. Is this the first letter you received?"
"Obviously I have received letters before, Jonathan. It is the mail, after all".
"Jennifer, you know what I mean."
"I don't know who wrote that, so I cannot tell you if they have written me before. That is the first letter of that nature that I have received".
"Ok, now was that so hard?"
Jennifer couldn't understand him.
"Well, when you treat me like a common criminal, yes, it is that hard."
She turned away from him and climbed into the bed
He put the letter in his nightstand and went to change clothes.
By the time he came out, she was asleep.
She was sleeping all the way over on her side.
He hated that he had made her angry, but he was only trying to protect her.
He walked over to her side of the bed, and leaned down and kissed her forehead, and then went back to his side of the bed, and climbed in beside her.
***A few hours later***
They were sleeping.
Someone buzzed the gate.
Jennifer nudged Jonathan.
"Answer it".
"I love you too honey". He rolled over.
She nudged him again.
"Answer it!".
He reached for her hand with one of his, and for the intercom button with the other.
"Who is it?"
"Delivery for Mrs. Hart".
"What are you delivering?"
"I don't know. It's in a box. I am just the courier".
"Come on up".
Jennifer got up, put her robe and slippers on and headed downstairs. He was right behind her.
"Jennifer, don't open that yet".
"I am perfectly capable of choosing for myself whether or not to answer a door."
She glared at him and then opened the door. She signed for the delivery.
"I apologize for the late hour, but the sender paid extra for it to be delivered between midnight and 2 a.m.".
"It's alright, thank you".
She closed the door and went over to the bar and got out the scissors. She opened the package.
She pulled out a small vase, and several plates.
There was a note inside.
"We could eat off these plates when we have breakfast in bed together. And then afterwards, I will make all your dreams come true".
She didn't really know what to make of it, and she didn't want to argue with Jonathan. So, she put it all back in the box and left it there on the table. She headed back upstairs.
She passed Jonathan on the landing.
"Are you going to tell me about this one?"
"If you are that interested, go look at it for yourself".
She got back in the bed and went back to sleep.
He went and looked at the package and then headed up to bed.
He wanted to ask her about it, but he didn't want to wake her up.
He decided to let her sleep, and they would talk about it in the morning.
***The next morning***
Jennifer was grumpy when she woke up, as she usually was when they were awoken in the middle of the night.
She was downstairs getting a cup of coffee when Jonathan came in.
Max was making breakfast.
"Mr. and Mrs. H., the exterminator is coming today. So, you might want to crack a window tonight before bed to let the smell out".
Jennifer looked down at her coffee.
"No thanks, our bedroom is chilly enough".
She downed her coffee, put the cup in the sink, and headed out of the kitchen.
She went and took a picture of the address label, and saw that the return address was from the delivery service, not the sender itself.
She went into the study and contacted the delivery service.
She had just hung up with them when Jonathan came in.
"Our bedroom wouldn't be so chilly if you weren't keeping things from me".
"Jonathan, I am not going to argue with you about this. I am not keeping things from you. The letter came, I opened it and then you picked me up. When we got home, the letter was in the mail. If I was hiding things from you, would I have left it in plain sight? You were there when the package came in, and I opened it in front of you. So, please tell me how I am keeping things from you".
"If you were going to tell me about the letter, why didn't you tell me about it in the car on the way to the dinner party?"
"Because it slipped my mind. Where do you get off accusing me of keeping things from you? When have I ever done that?"
"I'll tell you where I get off accusing you of keeping things from me- anytime I think you are, which is now".
"Well, if you don't know me well enough by now to know that I am not keeping things from you and that I am not an open book, then we don't have the marriage that I thought we had. Thanks for breaking my heart".
She stalked past him and went upstairs.
He went to the car and retrieved a large brown envelope.
He went upstairs and found her crying in the bathroom.
"If you aren't keeping things from me, if you are such an open and honest book, then why would someone send these to my office?"
He tossed them on the vanity and stormed out.
She opened the envelope and found pictures of her kissing another guy. They were all in black and white.
There was a note in there.
"I just love kissing your wife".
Jennifer sighed.
She looked at the postmark on the envelope, and saw that it had been mailed over the weekend. It had arrived at Jonathan's office yesterday morning.
No return address. No name on the note. She dug the letter out of his nightstand and compared the handwriting.
It appeared to be the same.
She looked back at the pictures again. She flipped them over to see if they had any writing on the back.
In the bottom lower right hand corner, she found a date.
10/14/71. Years before she met Jonathan.
She realized that the man in the pictures was Preston Mallard, a guy she dated when she lived in New York.
She had a sinking feeling that Preston wasn't the one behind this though, because he was happily married, had a few kids, and would never hurt anyone.
Jennifer swallowed her pride and called Jonathan's office. She left a message with the secretary asking if he wanted to have lunch.
She was putting away some laundry when their private line rang.
She picked it up.
"Hello?"
"Why do you want to have lunch with me?"
"To explain something to you".
"No need. I can see things clearly."
"So, I guess I will see you tonight then?"
She was trying to sound hopeful.
"We have dinner reservations at La Scala at 6. I will meet you there".
"Ok". She hung up the phone.
She put the notes and pictures in her phone.
Around 11, Max let a delivery truck come up.
"Hi, we are here to pick up some things from the bedroom. Mr. Hart's specific instructions".
"Ok, bedroom is upstairs at the end of the hall".
Jennifer was downstairs working in the study.
She had no idea they were here.
One of the delivery men came and found her.
"Ma'am are you Jennifer Hart?"
"Yes".
"We were delivery men hired by your husband. He asked us to come pick some things up. We just wanted to give you a business card so that you will know how to contact us".
"Ok thank you". She took the card from him.
After they left, she stepped into the downstairs bathroom and ran a comb through her hair.
She then headed to La Scala to meet Jonathan.
***La Scala***
She told the hostess she was there.
"Mr. Hart is unable to join you, but he left you this note".
"Oh, thank you".
She took the note and headed back to the car, mentally preparing herself for the argument that she was sure they were going to have.
"Find a place, and I will have your things delivered. This is the best way. I will keep the company, and we will split everything else 50/50. I hope in time that you will see this is for the best".
Jennifer was dumbfounded.
She couldn't believe it.
Jonathan had left her.