So this is it everyone. I would have published this sooner, but was having some serious Cascading Issues with the Story Statistics. For the month of December between the 1st and the 18th the site is reporting that I had no views or reviews. If you reviewed in that time period, I did not remove it/them. The site was having a glitch. If you sent a PM, I simply never saw it. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the final installment. Review or PM if you have any questions or comments. It's working now!

"...You would never would be. I'm not asking you to be abusive." She rose from her seat in Liz's kitchen, as she continued to speak, "I am asking you to take charge of me. You own," she swept her arms around her body, like a model on a game show, as if to boast, "all of this. Act like it."

"Hyacinth," Elizabeth interjected, "I really don't think that this is a good way to live as a married couple."

"Well, Elizabeth, you haven't seen your husband in months. So I don't suppose you can tell me much."

Richard was incensed. "Hyacinth, sit down this instant." He was forceful. Firm but not loud.

She complied. Now, when I say 'complied', I mean she ran to her seat to follow the order. There was a little smile on her face. It was one of those mischievous smiles that a schoolgirl get when she hears a secret.

"Apologize," he commanded.

With another smile and a twinkle in her eye Hyacinth said, "I am sorry for the rude thing I just said."

"And..." Richard said as if leading a small child.

She finished her next sentence, " And I won't do it again."

Elizabeth was astounded. "I accept your apology."

Richard smiled in realization, "Now, Hyacinth, we are going to establish some rules."

"Yes, sir." She replied. Richard smiled at the title

Emmet and Elizabeth were dumbfounded to say the least. Never had they ever seen something so strange. A seated Hyacinth staring intently at a firm Richard, who was standing and ready to lay down the law.

"There must be some rules to make sure that we can proceed happier and safer. Rule Number One: We are going to have equal respect."

"Yes, sir."

Number two, you are only going to hold candlelight suppers when appropriate."

She chimed in, "And only with your permission."

"Number three, you will not interrupt me when I speak. In fact, you will only speak when spoken to or when there is room for you to speak."

"Understood." Hyacinth said.

Emmet and Elizabeth were stunned. On the one hand, Hyacinth knew that she was overbearing and reveled in it. On the other, it seemed that Hyacinth was like a child, She needed someone to set boundaries for her. She wanted a father figure more than a husband. Elizabeth cringed at the realization that Richard was avuncular, but avuncular towards Gail did not equal fatherly towards his wife.

"The uxorious days are over," Richard proclaimed, "I have won."

"Richard, we wanted the same thing." Hyacinth smiled.

"I suppose we always did, but why did you act that way Hyacinth?" Richard asked.

"For the same reason Elizabeth wrote that letter," Hyacinth said as if that made any sense.

"I beg your pardon," Elizabeth asked, not out of offense, but out of pure perturbation.

"You were sick and tired of the system, Elizabeth. Well, so was I. I took the liberty of playing a game. I didn't intend for it to last this long. I wanted to see how long it would take Richard to snap. Well, when I say snap, I mean snap in a good way, snap at me. I wanted you," she was talking to Richard, "to set me straight. I wanted you to come back to the full vigor that used to ooze out of your pores and come flooding like a torrid torrent out of other places. The game seemed to last too long and I was about to try another approach, but soon I forgot about it. I mean that I actually forgot the original reason I started to play the game. Soon I realized that all the things I had invented to get under your skin, interrupt you, sing with my terrible voice, host candlelight suppers, and the like, those things became habit."

"What?" Emmet asked, his head tilted to the side as a result of the throbbing headache that was killing him now.

"I slipped into those delusions of grandeur in earnest. I don't even know exactly how it happened. It just did. Then, Elizabeth, you sent me that letter and reminded me that this was just supposed to be a game. Your letter reminded me that on March 31st, 1975 Richard lost his nerve. Yes, exactly twenty years to the day that you signed that letter. Richard and I got into an argument. Up until March 31st, 1975, Richard always fought to the bitter end, notwithstanding his rightness, or wrongness, or indifference. That night, I remember it was a Monday, we got into a fight about whether or not we should have a baby. You said that we shouldn't, and I said that we should."

Richard sighed.

Hyacinth continued, "I remember we were in bed and instead of arguing with me, you just turned your back from me, shut off your lamp and went to sleep. You ignored me. I knew that we fussed, fought and had our little squabbles, but never ever had you ignored me."

"Hyacinth that was my first day of work for the Council and what's more that was Easter Monday and I had to go to work to set up for my job proper that started the next day. I was exhausted. I didn't feel like arguing."

Emmet put it together, "SO you mean to tell me that you have acted like this for twenty years because of one argument you didn't have."

"That would be a fair assessment of the facts." Richard said.

RIchard and Hyacinth went home after Emmet made plain the sad facts. Presently, he and Elizabeth were seated at the table. He told them to have the rest of the Beef Wellington. He didn't want any of that anymore. He took a sip of his coffee. Cup went back to saucer and he spoke: "I think she arrested in development somewhere around twelve years old."

"I suppose that you're right." Liz replied.

"But why is she so immature?" Emmet asked.

"That's another story," She said. [Author winks]

"Fine, but what I still don't understand is why she would send that reply, if it was all a game."

"Hyacinth," Elizabeth started, "is a delicate creature. Her mind and her cares are like her shadow in the sun. They follow her, flying, flee when she pursues. They are most certainly there in the morn and the noon and in the evening. It seems that her day was overcast for the last couple of decades. They were there with her, her mind and her care, but they was muted by the fog. When I sent that letter the temperature rose, and the fog thinned and disappeared. She knew who she was again. Her mind was free and it reverted back to what it was. It was only the collection of thoughts that until today I only thought a teenager was capable of, but that's her nature. She's a delicate flower. If the bulb is submerged it rots."

"Since when were you such a poet?" Emmet asked.

"When you live next door to something like that, you learn to find the beauty in the small things most people ignore nowadays. When pleasure is sought in solitude, it is that much sweeter. I learned to appreciate all of the small things. On the short walks to her house during the springtime, I take in the scent of the flowers, marvel at the sight of the butterfly and rejoice in the warm sun on my skin. When you're being held hostage you learn that the small things are not so small. I learned that I couldn't be afraid all of the time."

"And that's why you wrote the letter?" He asked again

"Yes, and that's why you sent it." She replied and he nodded in affirmation

END

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

-Where'n'why