A man lashed out at his wife on Valentine’s Day, accusing her of being a lousy housekeeper, and threw away her gift in rage. But he regretted his decision when a stranger turned up at their doorstep later that day.
Cora spent the morning in a bubble of happiness, surprising herself at how cheerful she was. She was sitting in the living room, marking off the tasks on her to-do list for the evening, blushing and wondering how delighted Eric would be when he saw the Valentine’s Day surprise she’d arranged for him.
Cora first met Eric at a business conference in Texas. Because they were both orphans raised in foster care, they wished to have a large, happy family one day.
Luckily, that didn’t take long as they got married soon after going out on a few dates and welcomed triplets two years later.
However, things started getting a little tense when Cora had to step in to look after the children, and Eric became the primary breadwinner for the family.
Eric had to give his all to raise a family of 5, which amounted to stress and a feeling of guilt that he could never provide enough time for his family. Worse, he didn’t get much of a break on weekends and still couldn’t save enough money by the end of the month.
As a result, they hadn’t taken a trip or dined at a luxury restaurant in years, even on special occasions. Eric was bent on saving every penny, and Cora understood this well, so she never squandered the little money they had and spent it wisely.
Even on Valentine’s Day, she dressed up in an old red dress that Eric had given her for their first wedding anniversary. It was a little outdated, but it was special to her and saved her extra expenses, so she didn’t mind decking herself in it on the special occasion.
When she realized it was almost time for Eric to arrive, she quickly set the table for two with his favorite red velvet cheesecake – which she’d carefully baked in a heart shape — a bottle of wine, a few other dishes she’d made, and placed a gift box beside his plate – something she was most excited about.
“Perfect!” she thought to herself as she finally placed fragrant candles about the room and turned on the fairy lights. The doorbell rang almost half an hour later, and Eric was home.
Happy Valentine’s Day, honey!” she said as she kissed him on the cheek and led him inside.
When Eric entered the room, he was bewildered by the food-laden dining table, the candle-lit room, and the rose petals placed from the entryway to the table. “What on Earth have you done, Cora? Are we some stupid teenagers?” he lashed out as a fit of anger grasped him.
Cora’s smile evaporated instantly as Eric switched on all of the lights in the room and glared at her. “Honey! What’s wrong? Are you upset with something? Did something happen at work?”
When we are furious, we lose our ability to think sensibly.
“Are you serious?” he yelled. “Is this why I work my ass off? So that you can blow everything on some sort of crap like this?!”
“Oh, Eric! Relax! I didn’t go overboard! The ingredients did cost a little more, but it wasn’t much,” she added gently as she led him to the table. “Please have a seat and tell me how you like the food?”
Eric was pissed. In fact, he was super pissed. He took a bite of the Aglio e Olio and spat it on the table. “What the hell is wrong with the spaghetti? And why does the sauce taste like shit?” he shrieked, loud enough to startle the triplets, who were deep asleep in their room.
“Eric!” cried Cora. “What’s wrong with you? The babies…I put them to sleep about a half-hour ago, and you just woke them up!”