David Price loved his wife, Lucy Gordon. Or rather, he had loved her. They had met at a party held by a mutual friend, Helen White, who had recently reconnected with David on Facebook.
Helen later told David that she had decided to get Lucy and him together, as she felt they'd make a 'swell couple.'
David had been a friend of Helen for a number of years, but after she had met and married a somewhat mysterious multibillionaire called Alex White, they had pretty much lost touch.
He had heard through the grapevine that Helen had developed a medical condition that would eventually lead to her death.
When David had broached the subject to her after they had reconnected at the party, she'd grinned and shook his concern off, saying: "We're all going to die eventually, David, so try not to let it worry you, as I'm living a good life. Anyway, I have someone I'd like you to meet, my good friend Lucy Gordon. I think you'll like her." Which was how David met Lucy.
David had been immediately captivated by Lucy. She was several inches shorter than his six feet, she had a soft body that demanded cuddles and her beautiful face, framed by her slightly wavy blond hair, looked to be the epitome of angelic innocence and honesty.
But it was her smile that really clinched it for David. When she smiled it was as if the sun had come out. He was truly smitten. An example of love at first sight. At least as far as he had been concerned.
She proved to be good company, intelligent and witty and she was using her business degree to good effect working for an investment house. They had talked at the party for what seemed like hours and they had really hit it off.
At the end of the party David and Lucy exchanged 'phone numbers and they dated exclusively from that point on. After six months Lucy took the opportunity of the Leap Year tradition of a woman being able to propose to a man by proposing to David.
He accepted and they both chose nice engagement rings and wedding bands at the leading jewelers in town, Solarise Helve. It was owned by some friends of Alex White.
Even after the marriage David found visits to Lucy's parents to be something of an ordeal as they never seemed to fully warm to him. Oh, they were always polite and reasonably cordial but they seemed distant and standoffish to David.
When he mentioned this to Lucy she pooh poohed his concerns, dismissing them. However he did wonder if she had said something to her parents about his concerns because he was pretty certain they were, going forward, trying to make something of an effort to get on better with him, which had some limited success.
There was something that had puzzled David about the wedding. According to Lucy and Helen, Lucy had always wanted an unconventional wedding. Lucy asked David if he had any problems with the idea of an unconventional wedding and he'd shrugged and said "Not really. But exactly how unconventional would it be?"
Lucy and Helen had both giggled and said "Oh, nothing too bad. Nothing major, that is. Nothing like the bride and groom going skyclad or anything outrageous like that!"
Lucy had gone on to explain that she would like an old friend of hers from her college days to perform the wedding ceremony. Her friend, she had said, had become a Hare Krishna devotee who, after the rulings of Swami Prabhupada in the States, was able to become a Hare Krishna priest, along with a number of other females and was, she told him, licensed to perform marriages.
One of the stipulations of the officiant was that there was to be absolutely no official wedding photographer as that would, she firmly stated, adversely impact the karmic vibrations of the wedding. Or something. Although he was disappointed there would be no official photographic or videographic record of their wedding, if that was the only issue, David had thought it a small price to pay.
The wedding was conducted on a sunny, warm day in the open air in the grounds of a mansion owned by Alex and Helen not far from the city.
The reception was held in a bar owned and operated by another friend of David's, Rhiannon, who he had met at college. She was a feisty and petite woman of Welsh heritage who had named the bar "y dafarn Gymreig" which was Welsh for 'the Welsh pub' though it was known to everyone in the local community as the Y Bar.
The reception was paid for by Lucy's parents and it had been successful, though David had been intrigued when he had seen, at a distance, Rhiannon talking animatedly and somewhat forcefully, but quietly, to his new bride. Lucy had shaken her head "no" and Rhiannon had shrugged expressively, spoken a few more words to Lucy and headed back behind the bar. He had asked Lucy about it and she had shrugged it off as "girl talk."
Lucy and David enjoyed a two week honeymoon in Carmel-by-the-Sea in California, where they stayed in the best hotel in the quaint English style village, L'Auberge Carmel, Relais & Chateaux.
When they returned to the city, they had set up home in a townhouse that had been gifted to Lucy by her parents several years before she had met David. David had lived in a modest apartment he owned, which he had sold when he moved in with his new wife.
Lucy continued working for her investment house and David carried on working as a software developer and programmer from home, and they had a fairly wonderful three years of married life. When David had raised the prospect of children Lucy had said: "Oh, David... I'm not ready for children yet. There's plenty of time for raising a family later."
David had no family, he was an only child, his parents were dead, so he and Lucy spent every Christmas during their marriage at the home of her parents. They treated him well, but he always felt as if he was considered as something of an intruder or an outsider. A guest, rather than the husband of their daughter. Lucy denied that and claimed her parents were not very demonstrative and that it was just their way and that he should just ignore that part of their personalities.
After Lucy and David had been married for three years, Helen eventually succumbed to her illness and she passed away in the June of the third year.
The funeral took place in the cathedral of their city, and Alex had really gone all out in ensuring his wife had a very good send off with the service being conducted by the archbishop and the wake held in an exclusive country club.
Over the next six months, David noticed Lucy seemed distracted and appeared to be distancing herself from him. When he asked her if anything was wrong she denied it, claiming she was having difficulties getting over Helen's death.
David accepted her explanation, but was concerned she seemed to be distancing herself from him more and more, and that their previously vigorous and enjoyable sex life had fallen off a cliff.
Lucy always had a reasonable explanation as to their lack of intimacy and David felt like a heel for bringing it up. After all, Helen had been a dear friend to both Lucy and himself, and Lucy obviously keenly felt her loss, perhaps even more than David?
Come that December, Lucy seemed even more distant: troubled, in some way that David could not divine.
Things came to a head on the afternoon of Christmas Eve. They were sitting at the table in their dining room, drinking coffee.
