This is a follow on to my Nude Stockings story and explores the same themes. I've reused the initial set up so it can be read as a stand-alone story or you can skip to where the new story is indicated. In the original the main character takes flight in this one he sticks around.
I like the loving wives category but it can be difficult to come up with something different so explored a slightly alternate/ future world reality. It's a quirky fantasy and nowhere near realism, also a bit tongue in cheek, please keep that in mind before you read on. I do spell / grammar checks and proof read but bound to miss some. If that bothers you too much maybe think about reading something else; otherwise hope you enjoy it!
This story is set in the near future.
The divorce rate had reached another record peak, now 91% of all marriages ended in divorce; driven by ever greater self- absorbance, feelings of entitlement and focus on self- fulfilment. Responsibilities and obligations were now less of a factor than in the past. Even marriages surviving often dealt with affairs and transgressions. Individual expectations now varied wildly; with failure rates so high, attitudes to marriage changed and many discounted it as an option. Marriage became seen as a short to medium term commitment rather than a lifetime one; often it centred on wanting to start a family and might end when the kids were grown.
The punitive approach to men divorcing continued and became more extreme. Women's rights and powerful lobby groups now held sway. Marriage and divorce was now firmly in the hands of women.
With fewer people getting married, both Religion and Government desperately tried to find solutions... the whole principle of marriage was in crisis. This led to a wide range of alternative suggestions including 5 and 10 year marriage certificates, open marriage contracts, fidelity clauses, break points, polyamory and mandatory pre wedding counselling. It seemed society was ever more reliant on psychiatrists and counsellors.
One of the most popular alternatives involved a communication of choice by the wife. She would have the option of stipulating the type of marriage she was committing to and communicate this to the congregation. This was seen as a way to share expectations within the couple and their wider network of family and friends, so they knew and could support that decision. The choice was usually reflected in the vows taken but an alternative was the bride's hosiery indicating choice. This stemmed from the wedding garter tradition, where a bride would offer a garter to her new husband.
The couple would have a traditional wedding service and exchange vows in church as normal. In between the service and the night time celebration, the bride would switch to evening wear. During the change she would present a gift of her stockings in a sealed box to her husband. The colour of her stockings illustrated her preferences; if the groom was content he would help his bride put the stockings on before attending the celebration.
Grooms hoped for a choice of white indicating monogamy and lifelong fidelity, but by far the most common choice was nude stockings. This indicted fidelity but reflected being unable to commit about what could happen in the future. After all is was difficult for a 20 year old bride to categorically state what her 50 year self would do in a world where so much changed so quickly.
There were some rarer choices; red stockings indicated interest in bi sexual relations, black an interest in mixed race relationships. Seamed stockings indicated a hot wife who would be looking for well-endowed partners in addition to her husband. Fishnets indicated swinging and grey being open to sugar daddies.
*****
Despite all of this I wanted to marry my fiancé Grace. We had known each other since primary school and just clicked, at 16 we were going out and by 22 were finalising our plans to marry.
I was excited, for me Grace would be the perfect wife. As well as being beautiful we were best friends and I couldn't wait to commit the rest of our lives to each other. She was engaging, positive and for some inexplicable reason in love with me. At 5ft 8 her long wavy red hair with lighter highlights hung down her back. Her blue/ green eyes literally shone matching her bubby personality. I loved the way she fretted over gaining weight, I honestly could never see a change, she had a fantastic figure and made it all seem so effortless.
The choice of a wedding these days is anything but straight forward. Her family church was advising use of a marriage 'contract' lasting until any children were aged 16. Neither of wanted that option, out marriage was more than a vehicle to raise children.
Their alternative was the 'indicated choice' system which we thought suited us better than the other alternatives.
For good reasons most couples agree the approach well in advance. There were some horror stories including a society lady who walked confidently into her reception in seamed fishnets much to her husband horror. A groom shocked to see both his bride and chief bridesmaid in red stockings. Seemingly they had selected him together and he quite liked the idea. A wife in nude stockings who had the best man listed for alternate dances with her husband. A wife in black stockings assuring her husband it would only be a couple of times per year and another wife in grey assuring her husband that it was the best financial option for them and they would be 'mortgage free' before thinking about kids.
It really was a mad world.
Grace's organisational skills were fantastic, supported by an army of friends and family; the church and wedding service were perfect. We retired for a couple of hours 'rest' before the evening celebration and managed an early consummation of the marriage before getting ready to meet everyone for the evening celebration.
I didn't think twice when Grace handed me a box tied with a ribbon. I opened it and saw them: nude stockings... my heart sank.
Grace tried to explain. "I know you were hoping for white, but the vast majority of brides chose nude these days and its encouraged by the women's groups, you know white is frowned upon as being too submissive. And those groups are linked to career opportunities and social standing."
I slumped to a chair and thought about stopping the whole thing, requesting an annulment; no doubt there would be punitive financial implications.
Struggling to form words I managed, "And what is it you might want?"
"Nothing Rob, I promise I love you and I want to be the best wife for you. There is no one else and no plan in mind. It's just impossible to predict the future and it plays out better with the women's lobby. Anyway who is to say where either of us will be in 20 years' time?"
It was true, the women's groups were only too keen to criticise anyone choosing white, but I thought what we meant to each other was bigger than all of that.
"I know where I want to be in 20, 30 and 40 years Grace; I'm making that commitment to you."
"And I don't have intentions other than spending my life with you."
Christ I thought, what about when everyone else sees the colour I will be mortified with embarrassment. Grace seemed to read my mind.
"I've talked my options through with your mum and mine, they are expecting this choice. The bridesmaids have quietly let people know as well. So there won't be any surprised or shocked faces. Any way when was the last wedding we saw white, it's just not the done thing."
"Shame you never thought to include me in those discussions."
"I tried, I really did but I got so nervous every time. I just kept putting it off; I was scared of disappointing you or even losing you, I still am!"
"I thought we were different to other people, special even."
"We are special, this changes nothing about us I only ever want you. Please say my choice is ok."
I frowned at the lack of consistency in her replies and actions. "You always have a choice Grace, so do I, even though that might make my life extraordinarily difficult now."
In the end I accepted her decision but refused to help her put them on. During the celebration I smiled pretended it didn't matter, palmed off the reason as being a women's guild thing and that it meant nothing. Grace seemed unaware of any issue, I noticed her dancing with guys; were they encouraged by her stocking choice or was I being paranoid. I got pretty drunk in an effort to supress all of my doubts. Grace seemed to treat it all as an irrelevance and never mentioned it again; she was just upset I drank so much but was oblivious to why.
Years and years later, my decision to marry Grace was confirmed at the right choice. We had raised 2 children Lauren and Callum relatively successfully and they were off to college and making the most of University life. Now empty nesters in our late forties, I loved the extra time we had to ourselves and was looking forward to our silver anniversary.
Here's the new part of the story:
Our sex lives remained great; the only sticking point was that Grace never had an orgasm during penetrative sex. We tried everything to make it happen, every position and technique but it never worked. Some brief sex therapy session didn't help either other than confirming 79% of women didn't orgasm during penetrative sex. We tried a range of toys as well with limited success. It bothered me far more than Grace, but we settled into regular bouts of pussy eating which did the trick every time. When I was feeling particularly down about it, I asked Grace if she felt like she was missing out, going on to say that she might experience that with someone else. Thankfully I received a severe rebuke; she only ever wanted to be with me and certainly wasn't interested in anyone else. One positive was that Grace never got in faking orgasms and she certainly seemed to enjoy all of our time together.
Years later I started noticing some changes... the most obvious was Grace staring to wear more skirts for work. I asked her about it and she initially excused it as just playing along for the women's guild. When I wasn't convinced she admitted it felt good and liked the attention but it was just a bit of fun. I wasn't happy, her response was that as an independent woman the choice was hers and no man had the right to govern what a woman wore. I thought our relationship was more than her reply suggested; but maybe I was wrong after all.
Over the next few months we seemed to have numerous vague discussions about self-fulfilment and life experiences without any clear conclusion. She then started asking me about fantasies and sharing some of her own. She mentioned swapping and sharing having heard that some guys were into that. When I asked where she had heard about it she palmed it off as a standard fantasy; everyone thought about a Hollywood star or favourite sporting idol after all! I was beginning to wonder if her earlier assurances about only wanting me still held true.
After that she started niggling and picking fault with me, I couldn't seem to do right for doing wrong. I asked her what was going on and she said it was just the stresses of work. Things calmed for a while but then the niggling returned. I'd made a special dinner but she started complaining about the food and being stuck in the house again, clearly something was seriously wrong with our relationship and I blew up about it.
