You're the Reason
Tom walked in through the front door. "Syb, I'm home!" he called throughout the house.
"I'm upstairs, love!" Sybil called back down the stairs. Tom dumped his things down on the side in the hall and jogged up the stairs. Sybil sat on top of the pale blue and white covers with a laptop at her side (she'd just sent an e-mail to her sisters, and was now playing music on YouTube). Sybil was watching their five month old daughter lie on the bed exploring the new duvet cover. Tom walked in and immediately recognised the old song – I Want to Break Free by Queen. He sang along to it quietly as he wandered over to Sybil. He gave her a kiss and said,
"You smell nice."
"Why thank you!" Sybil said with a laugh. Sybil was wearing a pair of tartan pyjama bottoms and a red vest top. She hadn't bothered to get dressed properly as she wasn't planning on going anywhere anyway. Their daughter then began to cry. Tom picked her up and rocked her slowly and said in a hushed tone,
"What's wrong, trouble?" Sybil looked at him and then at the clock behind him.
"She probably needs feeding, darling." Sybil held out her arms and Tom passed his daughter to his wife. Sybil slipped her arm out of the straps of her vest and bra, giving her daughter all the access she wanted. The small bundle of cries soon quietened down and she took her mother's breast immediately. Sybil leant back against the wall and waited for her daughter to finish. Tom sat next to Sybil and placed an arm around her now completely bare shoulder. He loved the feeling of her soft silky skin on his fingers. Their child made murmuring noises as she took in all the milk she could. Sybil smiled down at her perfect child, and then smiled up at her perfect husband. Sybil put her head on Tom's shoulder and softly whispered, "Thank you." Tom tightened his grip slightly on Sybil's far shoulder and replied with,
"What for?"
"For being you. Without you I wouldn't have the perfect family I do now."
"I'm not sure I'm perfect."
"Yes you are," Sybil insisted, lifted her head to kiss her husband. After a few seconds Tom pulled away and said,
"Oh, wait here, I have something for you." Sybil heard Tom run back down the stairs to get something from his bag. He climbed the stairs more slowly and as he re-entered their bedroom Sybil and his child parted. Sybil carefully readjusted her clothes and wrapped her daughter up in the blankets she'd been wrapped in herself as a child over twenty years ago. The bundle of blankets and tiny human stayed pretty quiet and still and then Sybil looked up to see Tom standing in the doorway with a bunch of tulips, dahlias and hyacinths. Over the years that the two had known each other, Sybil had, at some point, told Tom about how she regarded roses as too obvious and too clichéd. As much as she did like roses as flowers, she thought that they were the effortless choice to display romance. Tom loved the patterns in dahlias; Sybil had loved hyacinths since she could tell the difference between flowers and over the years, tulips had become the flowers for them – for their relationship and their family together. Sybil saw the colourful bunch of flowers and her jaw fell open. She wasn't expecting anything. It wasn't a birthday or an anniversary of anything else. Sybil's eyes welled with tears. Tom came over and sat next to his two girls. He placed the bunch of flowers on Sybil's lap and pulled a small jewellery box out of his pocket. Sybil's hands were full, holding flowers and their daughter, so Tom opened it for her to see the necklace inside. It had a round turquoise stone in the middle with a metal crescent moon surrounding one side of it. Sybil could see an inscription on the moon, but couldn't make out what it said. She placed the flowers to one side and took the jewellery box out of her husband's hands, bringing it close enough to her eyes that she could see the writing. I love you to the moon and back. Tom said nothing, but reached over to flip the necklace to show the back of the moon and the polished stone. It read, And then some. Sybil let her tears fall down her face, but Tom reached up and wiped them away with a light finger. She looked at him inquisitively. He knew that she was wondering why he'd done all of this, so he said, "It's because I love you, Sybil." She cried again, but she was smiling too.
"So much for Mr I'm-not-sure-I'm-perfect!" Sybil leant in and kissed Tom solidly. He moved to sit next to her so that she could rest her head on his shoulder. They sat for a moment and watched their daughter sleep peacefully before them. Tom then clipped the necklace behind her neck and looked at her. "It doesn't go with my clothes at the moment," Sybil teased.
"It doesn't matter," Tom said, kissing her forehead lightly. "You look more beautiful than ever, Sybil. And the colour brings out your eyes even more." The corners of Sybil's mouth twitched upwards, but were stopped in their tracks by Tom's mouth on hers. "You know, you were wearing this colour when I first realised that I was in love with you." Sybil used her one spare arm that wasn't holding their child to hug him tightly.
"I'm so lucky. How did I get someone as perfect as you?" she asked aimlessly. "You're the reason I'm so happy, Tom."
"No," Tom contradicted, "you're the reason I'm so happy. And you're the reason I go to sleep every night with a smile on my face. You're the reason I have the perfect daughter and the perfect life, with a wonderful job and a lovely home. You're the reason I can stay near my family and not upset anybody too much. And you're the reason I now have something to live for. Sybil, without you I don't know where I'd be right now. You mean the world to me and you deserve to know that." Sybil moved her head to look into her husband's blue eyes. His eyes were smiling back at her. She smiled and then took Tom's face in her hand. Tom simulated the movement on her own face. "I love you Sybil."
"I love you Tom," Sybil said at the same time. They let their lips join and their tongues danced an unrehearsed, yet perfected dance until they both needed breath. Sybil laid her head on her husband's shoulder and whispered,
"You know what? You smell good too!"
I thought of doing this last night. Let me know what you think. I just thought a little bit of sweetness was what I needed. Thank you so much for all your support, by the way.