We believe that this story belongs in the Loving Wives category, although to be honest, the lady in this story is not yet married, but soon will be.
Sam and Julia have been together as boyfriend and girlfriend for quite a long time but still live in separate apartments, though often sleeping together. They should have been engaged to be married by now, but Sam is reluctant to propose marriage due to memories of his parents' toxic relationship, and eventual divorce, when he was much younger. He was frightened to make the commitment in case it went wrong. Julia was frustrated, she loved Sam and wanted to marry him, if only he would ask her.
Sam and Julia had a large group of friends. Some married some still single.
It was Christmas time and several parties had been arranged with their friends.
The first party was at Julia's apartment, and Sam would be sleeping there with her after it was over.
When Sam put his bag in her bedroom, he was amused to see a small Christmas tree standing on the dressing table. It was decorated with a dozen condoms in foil packets hanging from the branches on silver threads.
The condoms would be necessary, as Julia was not on the pill.
The 30 or so party guests arrived, and the party was going well. Sam and Julia were mingling with the guests, making sure they had drinks and food and were enjoying themselves. Some were dancing, some were chatting. There was a bunch of mistletoe hanging from the ceiling, inviting traditional Christmas kisses underneath it. Sam noticed that Julia was under the mistletoe, enthusiastically kissing his best friend, John.
Sam continued to circulate, doing his job as co-host. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Julia and John together by the door of the crowded room. Looking across, he saw them open the door and go out. Just as she went out, Julia looked across the room at him and caught his eye. She gave a small, tentative smile, and went out of the room with John. Sam felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, but then dismissed it. John and Julia were old friends as well, and in fact, John had introduced Julia to Sam a couple of years ago.
Sam carried on with his hosting duties and danced with two or three of the other women there. Then he realised that he hadn't seen Julia for half an hour at least. As he looked around for her, she came in through the door, and a little later John came back into the room as well. Sam wasn't sure if they'd both been out of the room together all of the time, then someone spoke to him, and diverted his attention, but not before he noticed that Julia's hair, which was pinned up, was beginning to come undone. He also noticed that she was a little flushed, and bright eyed, he hoped she hadn't drunk too much.
After the party had finished, and all the guests had gone, Sam and Julia cleared up a bit, then they decided to complete it in the morning and went to the bedroom. Sam noticed that the bed was a bit rumpled, but then many of the guests had left their coats and bags on the bed earlier.
As they got into bed, Sam saw that three of the condom packets were missing from the Christmas tree, and the silver threads were dangling empty. When he mentioned this to Julia, she said that they'd fallen off, and she'd put them in the bedside cabinet drawer, she would hang them on the tree again in the morning. Sam took one of the condoms out of the drawer and put it under his pillow, so it would be ready if they had sex during the night.
Sam asked Julia what she had been doing with John, when she'd been away from the party for so long during the evening. She said, "Why does it matter?" He said, "You're my girlfriend, and I am entitled to know." She said, "Look, I love you to bits, but you don't own me, and you have no rights over me. Now I am tired, and I just want to go to sleep."
Sam lay still and thought for a minute, he loved Julia and knew that he wanted her with him forever, and he should have made that clear before. Now he was worried that he might be losing her to his friend.