Mary was thrilled with her day's work.  Everyone teased her referring to  her as Mrs. Brown, and asking her how married life was.

She had found herself blushing, not knowing if they were referring to her sex life and finding it hard to find any sort of response so she simply deflected them by talking about the setting and outings of her Honeymoon and promising to bring in some photos as soon as they were ready.

She had quite a lot to do, the practice was busy and in between patients she tried as best she could to tackle some of the things which had not been done in her absence.  Emily had been very obliging but there were certain things she did not know about.

Mary left promptly on time and rushed home to see Jim, thrilled at the thought that they were now sharing her home together and wondering just how he'd filled in his day.

When she departed that morning he had still been fast asleep and she'd looked on him fondly.

She was disappointed when he did not meet her at the door so she had no choice but to let herself in, finding the house quiet as if there was no-one there but the back door was open and so she went out into the garden.

There was Jim, playing with the cats and chasing Tommy every time he looked as if he was about to explore elsewhere.

As she joined him he gave her a quick peck on the cheek and went back to baby sitting the cats.

" I think you should come inside now" she said and he bustled the cats inside and closed the door firmly.

It was only then that he acted anything like a newly wed, drawing her close into his arms and giving her a passionate kiss and embrace, the cats looked on, curiously.

He shooed them away and then they all sat down in the Lounge Room together.

Questioned about dinner Jim looked blank.  "I'm still on my Honeymoon" he said.

"And so am I" responded Mary.

"So what's for dinner" from Jim.

"I don't know I've been at work all day and for all I know you've been in bed all day"

Jim looked embarassed and turned on the TV for the news, which Mary was not interested in.

"Jim, what's for dinner?" questioned Mary.

"Well you didn't say anything before you left"

"You were asleep"

"Well, so I was"

"So now you're home, what's for dinner?"

"Jim, it's up to you to do a bit of thinking not rely on me all the time, do a bit of thinking now and come up with some ideas"

All Jim could do was just look at her, and Mary turned off the TV.

He looked quite put out and pouty, which Mary found hard to take, married life was nothing like being single she was discovering.

"Let's go out for dinner" he responded lamely.

"We've been out to dinner every night for two weeks, I really want to enjoy the comforts of home"

He got up and looked in the frig.  "Nothing there", he stated, and Mary just simply shook her head.

"I take it you didn't do any shopping to-day?"

"I didn't realize I had to."

"Jim, how can such an intelligent man be so dumb, what do you think we'll be living on, air?"

"You've had a hard day" said Jim.

"No I haven't, but I have been to work and you've been home all day, just a wee bit of initiative would not have gone astray"

"Oh, sorry"

"Well?"

"You mean you want me to get dinner, but there's nothing here"

"Well there would have been if you'd done such a simple task as to do some shopping"

By now Jim was beginning to see that being a husband carried certain responsibilites, not those he was taking to too kindly.

"So what do you want me to do?"

"Oh, really" said Mary, and got up and left the room.

She went to the bedroom, finding the bed unmade and the cases left lying open with their clothes still in them.

She busied herself with her own belongings and took her clothes to the laundry and started the wash.

That done she went back and made the bed.

She took a relaxing shower and changed into one of her old nighties, dressing gown and slippers and went back into the lounge again.

There she found Jim stubbornly watching the news.

She made herself comfortable in a chair as Jim was sprawled on the lounge and the cats had gone outside into their cat run.

Going back out to the kitchen, where she found dishes sitting in the sink, she put the cats' food down and went back to call them in.

They were hungry and wolfed straight in, joining her later in her chair and snuggling up purring.  They seemed very happy to see her.

The now finished Jim left and she heard his car take off.  With this she moved the cats, went out and put her clothes in the dryer and returning lay down on the lounge and the cats started to play with her.

Soon she was laughing happily and the cats were jumping up and down and playing with the belt of her dressing gown.

She would have put her own program on the tele but she didn't want to disturb their play and obvious enjoyment in having her home.  She loved them to bits and did not realize how much she had missed them.

Eventually they tired of the games and jumped down to settle themselves on their pillows, where they were soon fast asleep.

So Mary collected her dried clothes, sorted them and put them away, leaving some in the ironing basket.

She found a lovely Nature program on the tele about Yellowstone and the changing seasons with the various animals and how they coped and this took her mind right away from eating and other concerns. The changing terrain from winter to summer was amazing and the scenery vividly beautiful.  It was quite awe inspiring.

During this Jim returned and went straight out into the kitchen, he was not feeling very happy with himself.

He returned with a delicious plate of asian food and Mary wondered where on earth he had got it, but fortunately it was very hot and tasted just wonderful.  This was followed by ice cream with a hot butterscotch sauce and again she wondered where he'd got that at this hour.

But she couldn't be bothered worrying any more and it's surprising what a delicious meal can do for restoring one's usual pleasant temperament.

Jim, too, became quite absorbed in the program while they ate but you could cut the atmosphere with a knife, nothing was being said by either of them.

When the show ended Mary handed Jim the dirty dishes, without a word and took herself to bed.

By the time Jim got there she was fast asleep, and he simply crawled in beside her, making sure not to disturb her.

And he had thought he was still on his Honeymoon.  Fat chance of that.