Page 29 of Professor Next Door

15. Galen

I woke up the next morning with a beautiful woman in my arms. My wife. A strip of light beaming from the gap in the curtains revealed smooth porcelain skin, dark eyelashes hiding her warm brown eyes, and a nose that was tilted just a little too much on the end. She wasn’t perfect but her imperfection made her more than perfect, it made her unique. Mine, if I wanted her.

The court hearing was coming up; the first in what I’m sure was going to be many.

A lock of hair was tickling her nose, it twitched even in her sleep, and I brushed it away. How could this have happened? It wasn’t supposed to.

My thoughts bounced from my hearing, to Tara, to the future, and other possibilities. I had no right to promise anything right now, if I lost my daughter, I’d lose my main reason for living. Tara was quickly becoming my next reason for living, the woman had somehow managed to work her way into my heart without me even noticing. I’d had no interest in her at all when I’d first met her, yet in my bed she the most captivating woman I’d ever met.

Fantasy could not match the reality of Tara, not in any way. I’d found myself thinking about her constantly, in between sexual fantasies I’d thought about the things that made her smile, wondering if I should do more to bring her out of herself. It hit me then that I’d fallen head over heels with a woman that simply wasn’t my type. The odd thing was, she suited me perfectly. Intelligent, able to laugh at herself, capable, and just as beautiful on the outside as she was on the inside. I just hadn’t seen that beauty at first because I’d been caught behind my own notions of what perfection was.

After the wedding night, when she’d left me on my own, I’d come to see that the two lives I had been leading were tearing me apart. One was empty, sexually satisfying, but empty. The other was fulfilling, loving, but missing something. Tara had filled in the missing piece without even trying.

I knew I should wait for her to wake up, that I should stick around and talk to her, but she looked so peaceful, the skin under her eyes bruised with exhaustion. We’d had a long night and I knew she’d be sore today. I’d let myself go too much. Maybe too much for her sexual initiation. She hadn’t complained though, she’d demanded more if anything.

I slid out from under her, making sure she was still asleep before I left the bed. I’d leave her a note and see her that evening.

Except it didn’t turn out that way. I spent the evening in a meeting with several faculty members discussing whether or not I was going to be able to keep my job. I’d thought the matter was finished but somebody complained, said the school was being too lenient. I found myself defending my position and my career.

“Look, nothing sexual happened between us until we were married. At all.” In fact, it didn’t happen until last night, though I couldn’t tell them that. “She’s not in any of my classes and she won’t have to be, she’s in another history class and doesn’t have to take mine at all. We aren’t meeting in the hallways and making out. We rarely even go out in public. She’s my wife now, that’s not going to change. I know it’s not exactly appropriate but, there’s no formal policy on the matter. I bring far more to the university than I take away, and well, I think my abilities have proven themselves over the years.”

I looked around at the gathered faces, seeing that most of them agreed with me. All of them but one older lady, commonly known as the dragon-queen on campus by students and faculty.

“And what assurances will you give us that you won’t be chasing after the next impressionable young girl that catches your eye?” The woman’s wrinkled face and lined lips pinched together, her whole face turning into something that resembled scrunched up leather. I knew instinctively she hated anything happy in life and wanted to destroy it. Those merciless, rheumy eyes of hers screamed it at me.

I’d printed out a copy of the picture from our wedding that had caught my eye, the fragile print now in the pocket of my sports jacket. I pulled it out and put it on the table before me, letting them all have a look at my beautiful wife.

“That’s my wife. Would you want to destroy the look she’s giving me with infidelity?” All of them took the picture, examined it and passed it on. When it made its way to the dragon-queen her nostrils flared and the flush in her cheeks intensified. It was anger, not admiration.

“I think we all know this is a bit pointless. What Galen’s done is not exactly above board but taking drastic steps now will only draw attention to it. I suggest we leave the matter alone and let them carry on.” Melanie, a normally quiet lady from the English department spoke up, her glance bouncing off mine for a moment with a shy smile.

I gave her a thank you smile and felt relief as the rest agreed. All but the dragon-queen. “Well, I think it’s a mistake of major proportions, but without support I can’t make a case can I? Have it your way!”

She stormed from the room, her crown of stiff white hair piled into an elaborate bun on top of her head twitching. The meeting was adjourned.

“That settles it then, Galen. Do be careful from now on, won’t you?” My adviser, a woman in her early fifties who had taken me under her wing when I’d first started at the university told me, gathering her things to leave.

“Yes, Dawn. Thank you for your support.” I shook her hand as she left with the others, thanking them all as they went. I sat, stunned I’d managed to escape another fiasco.

I went to my office to finish grading papers, checked my phone to see that Tara had messaged me, and sent her one back. The central air had been fixed, she was doing homework while Amanda played with Rikki, and dinner would be in the fridge for me, if I was going to be late. She hadn’t complained that I’d not come home, she wasn’t throwing a tantrum telling me she had homework to do, she was just getting on with life and making do.

Amanda was a blessing in disguise, always there to help when needed, and a good friend to Tara from what I could tell. She helped to draw Tara out of her shell, and brought out a devilish streak I found absolutely delightful. With a sigh, I started grading the papers, not noticing when my eyes went bleary, or when they closed.

One minute I was grading papers, and the next I woke up. I saw from the large white clock on the wall that it was after midnight. Scraping the sleep from my face, I pushed the papers into a drawer and staggered to my feet. I needed sleep.

I made it home and went straight to my bed. Tara wasn’t there so I went to her room. She was there, Rikki in bed with her, a kid’s movie still playing on the television in her room. Both were asleep, snuggled up together, tangled up in such a sweetly innocent way that I didn’t want to disturb them. I set my alarm to get me up early enough to finish grading the papers and fell into bed naked. I was asleep before I could even form another thought.