A week later
Maggie and Jackson were seated waiting for the therapist; he started remembering the last time he was in such an environment. He took Maggie `s hand and kissed it looking at her. She smiled at him, he was still not sure if they really needed this but for Maggie he had found himself there
"Well, well, aren't you two adorable" an elderly looking man said finding them with their hands interlocked. He shook their hands introducing himself as Rajesh Khan. He looked a little bit younger than Dr Carr and he seemed to be a man who took care of himself for his age. They exchanged their pleasantries and settled down taking a seat behind his desk across them.
"First of all congratulations on your engagement, you two set a date yet?"
"Thank you, we actually haven't done that yet" Jackson said
"Is that problem?" Maggie asked
"Oh no, I was just trying to see the time frame we have. As explained over the phone, there is a way that I work so, by seeing you here I take it you are accepting this as probably our first session"
Jackson and Maggie exchanged a glance smiling at each other nodding their heads holding their hands together again "okay then, firstly this is the best decision that you two made" Maggie looked at Jackson and Mr Khan noticed the glance "I take it someone wasn't very keen on the idea"
"Well, technically, it was her decision but nevertheless I am here so that`s all that counts right?" Jackson said letting out a little chuckle.
"That`s all right, I get it, I want you to picture this: you two are already on your dream honeymoon location, you can see your toes in the sand of a five-star resort" Khan said looking at Jackson who was envisioning the perfect scenario in his head "here is the catch, you're not just going to end up there without a little planning and preparation to make sure everything goes just right. You'll either take the time to painstakingly research places on your own or you could work with a travel professional that can help you through the process and ensure you'll have the honeymoon of your dreams. I want you to take this a bit like planning your honeymoon with a travel agent; while you'd most likely still have a great honeymoon you planned on your own, we both can agree that if you work with a professional it can take the experience to the next level"
"Okay, that`s a very interesting way of looking at it" he said glancing at Maggie who gave him a warm smile
"I understand the two of you are doctors, I just want you to know that these sessions will take a chunk out of your schedule so it will probably be a challenge to make and keep appointments or be fully present or engaged at times. In spite of this, I promised Walter I will go out of my way for you two so I will do that if you two promise to put effort"
"Of course" Maggie said while they both nodded their heads
He then asked them to tell him about their relationship from how long they had known each other so just he could get a basic overview. The two relayed their love story as Khan listened to each detail.
"Looks like you've known each other for a while, I am glad to hear that you're both determined to make this marriage work. Most couples spend a lot of time talking, yet they may not know each other as well as they think they do"
"Really? And why is that?" Maggie enquired
"This is because a relationship before marriage is different, let`s take dating for instance, it is designed to hide information away, not expose it. Each person puts his best foot forward; they do their best to conceal those things that they are not proud of" Maggie slowly separated her hand from Jackson`s. Her mind started to drift away as she thought of the things she might not know about Jackson. She started rubbing her hands, something she did when she needed to calm her nerves. Jackson knew his woman well; he then put his hand on her back rubbing it a little like someone giving her assurance "the good thing is you two are engaged and are already living together so transitioning to marriage shouldn't be as hard" With that statement she felt a little relief. Khan looked at the two and could see that there was a sense of anxiousness with Maggie but Jackson seemed rather calm. He jotted on his note pad. He was trying to see if it was a personality thing or if it was because one had been already married while it was Maggie`s first. He continued asking questions to get to know them while he continued jotting on his notepad. The more he wrote, the more Jackson got agitated
"Why do you keep writing" Jackson asked "I see you keep writing something down there"
"Like I said, this isn't a winning contest and it's good that you two know all this about each other, I would have been worried if you didn't know all this about each other while contemplating marriage, I can safely say I know enough about you two for us to get started"
"Okay, so what is it that you think you know about us now?" Jackson asked
"Babe!" Maggie said nudging him a little
"That`s okay, here is the thing Maggie is more anxious about this whole marriage thing because she has no idea what she is about to get into. She likes to be in control of situations but the fact that she can`t be in control of this upcoming marriage doesn't seat well with her. She likes to weigh and measure but it looks like she has no scales for this so it scares her, this counselling is more like a scale for her and she wants to see those measurements. You on the other hand are rather calm mostly because you have been there and it`s normal to probably think this whole thing is unnecessary. You are free to interject if I am wrong" Jackson said nothing instead
"This is what we are going to do; I want you to try and forget all the preconceived notions you had coming here, I know it won`t be easy but it`s doable. Do you two have any questions?"
"Yeah, I get all that and you are right. I am scared out of my mind and all I want to know is do you think we can make it? Do you think we at least know each other enough? I just want to hear something okay because not knowing is not my thing"
"Babe, like he said..."
"That`s okay, when I said that people talk and they think they know each other; I always work on four quadrants when it comes to getting to know your partner, Maggie there are things that Jackson knows about you and you are also aware of. Secondly there are things that you know about yourself that Jackson isn't aware of, thirdly there are things that Jackson knows about you that you are not aware of yourself and this is like little things you do without realising it, lastly there are things about you that either you or Jackson knows or aware off, these are things that you discover about yourself as you grow together. Does that make sense?"
"It does" Maggie said
"My point is you never stop learning about the other person so as you are about to enter marriage you must have an open mind when you discover knew things you didn't know about your each other"
"Does that include things intentionally hidden"
"Like I said, these are more about getting to know each other. I think you are talking more along the lines of transparency am I right?"
"Something like that"
"Okay, can we look at that at our next session because our time is up? What I can say briefly is there are different scenarios with this, if they are purposely hiding things then that`s a problem but if you think they are doing it when on the other hand they don`t think that they are doing it then that`s different. It could just be miscommunication because we basically communicate on different wavelength"
"Really, like how?" Jackson asked
"Let`s say you are suppose to go out and your friend calls you to say they have nothing to wear, what comes to your mind?"
"That is why we have laundry services" Jackson answered with a chuckle
"Hmmm, well to me that means she needs to go shopping" she said giving Jackson a look
"Exactly because he thought that person meant they had nothing clean to wear but you understood that your friend needs something new to wear so they need to go shopping. Neither of you were wrong, it was just a difference of interpretation that would have been an argument" the two looked at each other and smiled.
...
"What did you think about the first session?" Maggie asked as she put the food in plates
"It was not bad, I didn't expect it to be like that" Jackson said while sending a few emails on his laptop.
"Oh yeah" Maggie said looking at him "do you remember that day you found out that I was once engaged? We kind of spoke about baring everything on the table"
"Yeah, yeah and we never got around that" Jackson said closing his laptop
"I think we should do that"
"Really, like now?"
"Yeah, I mean it wouldn't hurt, would it"
"I think we have had enough talk about knowing each other for the day, right now I just want to know you in another way" he hugged her from behind placing a kiss on her neck
"Babe, I am serious" she said not attempting to stop him
"Okay, what do you want to know?" he said as he buried his head on her hair
"Okay" Maggie said turning to face him "let me think a little, okay so when was your first and who was it with"
"What?" he said nearly choking on his own saliva because that was not the question he saw coming
"I said when was your first and who it was?"
"It was junior prom and I don`t remember, I think we should eat before the food gets cold" he said avoiding the topic planting a kiss on her mouth
"Hmmm, funny you remember when but not who" she said after breaking off from the kiss
"I don`t think this is what Khan meant when he said we should get to know each other"
"So you do remember?" Maggie said with her hands still around his waist
"That is not what I am saying" he dropped his eyes because he remembered it vividly.
"Okay, so you don`t remember?"
"Promise me you won`t get worked out by this" he shyly gazed into her beautiful brown eyes
"I promise" Maggie said with a little smirk
"Junior prom, Sarah Richardson and Penn Caraway"
"So who was your first between them?"
"Both of them" he said squinting his eyes a little to avoid Maggie`s ones
"Together!" Maggie exclaimed removing her hands around his waist
"Look it`s-"
"Oh my god! -How old were you? -Did you even know what you were doing?"
"Yep, I knew exactly what I was doing" he said with a smirk
"This is not funny"
"Come on, you promised you won`t get worked up by this"
"I am not, -I am just, -I, -I think I need to shower" she said ducking away from him walking upstairs