Part 9. Questions And Crisis
For the week following Natasha and Scott's wedding Jeremy was unusually quiet, even withdrawn. He seemed particularly reticent to talk about the party whenever Meryn would bring it up. He continued to be very diligent about all of his chores, duties and care of her, maybe even more so than usual. It was just that it seemed to her that he was almost embarrassed about something. After a week of his not really responding to her subtle inquiries, she decided to meet the matter head on one evening during her foot massage. She discovered that he was not only embarrassed, but deeply ashamed of his actions on the night of the ceremony.
"But why Jeremy? I thought we had a lot of fun at the party."
He was rubbing her feet much harder than usual.
"My behavior was way out of line, Meryn. I've been trying all week to ask for your forgiveness, but I haven't been able to, because I can't forgive myself."
"I don't know what you're talking about. I had an absolutely wonderful time with you." Her lips curved up into a wicked smile. "Especially at the end."
He lowered his head. "That's what I mean. What I did was completely uncalled for. I don't know what came over me."
She laughed. "I think it's called love. And lust." When he didn't seem to respond, she continued more seriously. "Really my love, I loved that you took charge. I really like you to be in control sometimes."
"But I was out of control." He cried. "The things that I did. It wasn't right ... It was like ... "
"Like what?"
"... like you were mine."
She was stunned.
"But I am yours, Jeremy." She protested. "Just like you're mine. That's the way it's supposed to be."
"Not like that. It shouldn't be. It can't be like that."
And no matter how hard she tried to convince him otherwise, to cajole him, to encourage him, even after he appeared to surrender and agree with her viewpoints, she could tell that deep within, he continued to believe that he had no right, that it was unconscionable, for him to have acted as he had. Or in any way like it. She understood then, with regret, that this was going to be an issue for them for some time to come.
Over the next several days Meryn didn't quite know how to react to the situation. On the surface things appeared to return to normal, with Jeremy making a good effort and show of it. But she could see that he was still clearly upset with how he perceived he had acted. She also felt that there was far more to it all than that. She thought back to his cryptic comments at the wedding. Did he need more of what they had witnessed there than she had been giving him? Did she need to be more of a Mistress and less of a Wife to him than she had been? He had always done everything he could, and more, to see to her happiness. Could she do any less for him? If that's what it took to make him happy, to snap him out of this, she surely had to try.
The only role model Meryn had for any of this was Natasha. There were certainly many things that she saw in Natasha that she knew were beyond her and that she could never do. But she could emulate the attitude, the character as Natasha had called it. She resolved to try, and see what kind of response she could get out of her Love.
She selected the next Monday to start. From the moment she woke up, to be served her breakfast as always, she began acting more imperious and haughty. She stopped thanking Jeremy for the little things and courtesies he did, and no longer complimented him on his more extensive efforts, such as his always delicious dinners. During her daily foot massages, instead of discussing their day's events as they usually did, she began to criticize his performance of his chores, even when they had been done perfectly. She feigned indifference to his nightly devotionals, and by the second night even took to reading a magazine while he offered his homage. She began snapping at him for no reason, and ignoring him much of the rest of the time.
By mid week she needed something to relieve the stress and tension that her actions had been causing, so after Jeremy completed his devotional for the evening, Meryn put down the magazine she had been reading, and looked down at him.
"Look slave. I'm going to give you a chance to make up for your sloppy performance with everything else so far this week. Let's see if you can do something right for a change." With that she lay back on the bed and spread her legs.
Jeremy needed no further encouragement. He crawled forward, and with his face and tongue enthusiastically took to his task. Meryn had never been able to say that he was anything less than an ardent lover. Working slowly at first, within minutes he had her writhing on the bed, and then accelerating his efforts, soon had her enjoying a particularly splendid orgasm. But she wanted more than lips and tongue this night, so as he continued his oral worship she grabbed him by his hair, pulled him up onto the bed and onto his back, and without any hesitation, mounted him.
She rode him hard and fast, and he worked furiously to keep up with her. She rode higher and higher until she reached the peak. As she did she sensed him struggling mightily to hold back, awaiting the permission to cum that he always required, and which she always granted, usually right at the moment when they could share the climax together. It would not be given this night. After she rode him to the heights of her own passion, when she was absolutely spent, she collapsed off of him, eyes closed, to lay panting on her side. Jeremy lay next to her, painfully erect and totally bewildered.
As her breathing eased, and heartbeat slowed, she finally opened her eyes to look at him.
"Marginally better." She said. "But I think a night of blue balls might just be the burr you need in your butt to spur you on to more adequate efforts tomorrow." With that, she turned over onto her other side, away from him, and fell asleep.
Jeremy's reaction to all of the week's actions was to become more and more servile. Soon, his only response to her was either a "Yes Ma'am" or "No Ma'am", with no unsolicited talk in any other way. He hadn't offered even a small smile in several days. His domestic responsibilities didn't suffer. If anything they were even more exemplary despite Meryn's ongoing sniping.
By the end of the week, which included another night of blue balls for Jeremy, Meryn had had enough. At work on Friday\ she had even snapped at her assistant, Michael, and she knew she had to put an end to it. When she arrived home that evening, to be greeted by Jeremy with her customary cold drink and foot lotion in his hands, she sat down in her favorite easy chair. He knelt in front of her, head down, as if awaiting another verbal barrage.
"Jeremy, my Love." She started softly, almost plaintively. "I just can't keep this up any more."
He looked up at her anxious face, and slowly a small smile creased his, the first one she had seen in almost a week.
"You aren't very good at being a bitch." He said, his smile broadening. "But I'd hate it even more if you were."
She heaved a huge sigh of relief, then returned his smile.
"And you were a pretty poor excuse for a toad." She replied. "Let's just agree to be who we are. That's good enough for me."
"You've always been more than I could have ever dreamed , Meryn. Please don't ever change."
"Then it's settled. You're my husband. I'm your wife. I'm your Mistress. You're my slave. It's as simple as that."
"As simple as that." He agreed.
If it were only that simple, she wished.
"Something really smells delicious." She said, changing the subject, and because she was suddenly very hungry, her appetite returning with a vengeance after several days.
"I made one of your favorites." He replied. "Veal Sorrentino. It should be ready as soon as I finish your foot rub."
"Yum." She responded as she looked down at him applying himself with vigor in massaging her feet. "And Jeremy, after dinner, I'd like to postpone my weekly body massage until tomorrow." Seeing a flicker of disappointment flash across his face, she went on. "I would like an extra special devotional tonight though. I think I've been missing out on enjoying it recently." She paused several seconds before continuing slowly. "And then I have a very severe case of blue balls of mine that I've got to take care of."
This was met with the smile she had so badly wanted, and had been missing for too long.
They quickly settled back into their comfortable routine. Meryn knew that below the surface there were still unanswered questions and issues, but she was content to let them be for the present, particularly after her recent disastrous experiment. This was made easier by their workload, especially for Jeremy. As had been previously announced, the head of his department had retired at the end of the last school year, and, as anticipated, Jeremy had been named the new Chairman of the English Department for the coming school year. His Principal, who was his strongest advocate at work, was urging him to put together the plan for a completely new and revamped curriculum and course of study that Jeremy had been developing for over a year, but had held off proposing in deference to the old chief. Now, with all these new responsibilities, Jeremy was far busier at work, and bringing much more of it home. He was finding it difficult to get his daily domestic duties done at night, so he was now usually spending most of Sundays in addition to his usual full day on Saturdays to complete his housework. Meryn tried to help out as much as she dared, but although he no longer complained when she contributed, she was sensitive, particularly now, that she not give any appearance that she felt he was incapable of meeting his perceived obligations to her, and to his chores.
Because of their increased work schedules, they hadn't been able to participate in many social activities. They had gotten together with Natasha and Scott a number of times. Surprisingly, Natasha had initiated several of these, coming up with interesting and fun 'vanilla' things for the two couples to do. They had not had any time to go away for any recent Fun and Games weekends, and just as surprisingly, Meryn found that she missed these as well. It might have given her more opportunities to see and discover the extent of Jeremy's inner needs. And, in her heart, she now realized that she, herself, had come to very much enjoy the fun of those games.
The crisis came suddenly and unexpectedly several months later. After her division at work had posted their fourth consecutive quarter of record breaking profits, Meryn was named the company's "Person Of The Year". She was to be given this award at the company's annual gala dinner. It was now an open secret that she was next in line for a Vice Presidency in the near future. The problem was that the gala was to be held on the same night as an important Board of Education meeting, when Jeremy was going to present his proposal for his new curriculum, and petition for the significant funding that it would take to implement it.
"Of course I'm going to be upset that you're not going to be able to come to the dinner." Meryn assured him when the conflict in dates became apparent, and he began suggesting alternative arrangements so that he would be able to attend. "But you have to go to your board meeting and make your presentation. I'm just getting an award. This is your future and your success we're talking about. You've worked far too hard on this. You must go."
