The Letter
April 19, 2015, the day his beloved wife Maria died, was easily the saddest day of John's life. Maria was only forty eight when she passed from breast cancer. Six months prior to her death they had happily celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary.
The three and a half years after his wife's death passed in a painful blur for John. The one thing, maybe the only thing, keeping him going during this painful time was his daughter Biannca.
An only child, Biannca was nearing the end of her freshman year at Michigan State when her mom passed. Now, a bit shy of her twenty second birthday, and freshly graduated from college, her focus was on one thing: the letter.
The only problem was she could not open it just quite yet. She would have to wait another exasperating four months.
Maria, talking to her daughter for the final time, mere days before her death, thrust the letter in its tightly sealed envelope, in her daughter's hand. "Open this but only after your graduate college, like you promised me and your father you would. After you leave here, check the back of the envelope, there is further instructions. Oh, and it's a secret... tell your daddy nothing about this. Promise me, Benny?"
Benny was her parent's pet nickname for Biannca. Leaning over, Biannca placed a small kiss on her mom's forehead as she whispered, "Promise, Mom."
A few hours later, at home, tucked away safely in her bedroom, Biannca pulled the sealed envelope containing the letter out of her purse. Nervously, she turned the letter over.
Just as her mother promised, there was further instructions taped to the outside of the envelope in the form of a small handwritten letter scripted in her mother's ultra-neat penmanship. Biannca, her curiosity piqued, quickly tore the note off and read it.
Benny,
Open and read the contents of this letter on the following day, place, and time. Please do this for me.
Day: Your daddy's first birthday after you graduate in the spring from MSU. He should be turning fifty on this day if you graduate on time... which I know you will!!!
Place: Please talk him into taking you up to our cabin to celebrate his birthday. Insist on it hon.
Time: Sometime, at night, but not too late, shortly after you guys enjoy a nice dinner, open the letter in private. The rest I will leave up to your heart. Follow it as you may. It's all I can ask.
I also have a package for you to take up to the cabin. It's a birthday present of a most unusual sort for your daddy. You will find the package deep in your closet. I put it in there some while ago shortly after I knew my time on this earth was short. Don't open it now or try to figure out what it might be. Instead, check your curiosity and just wait until you read my letter which contains the instructions for the package. Make sure you take the package with you to the cabin. The rest will be explained in my letter. Finally, again this is our secret hon, don't mention any of this to your father.
All my Love,
Mom
Biannca took the time to check her closet and found the fairly large, cube sized package, wrapped in brown wrapping paper and secured by an abundance of heavy shipping tape. It was just heavy enough to stir an abundance of curiosity in Biannca's heart, but somehow she resisted further explorations of the package.
October 15, 2018
It took a little prompting on Biannca's part with John claiming he was in no mood to celebrate his birthday, before getting him to agree to drive upstate from Davison, Michigan to their family cabin near Traverse City.
John finally agreed but only after Biannca told him, "I promised Mom I would get you to take me up there on your first birthday after I graduated from state. She has something special planned I think."
John smiled sadly. "But... I don't understand. She--"
Biannca returned his sad smile as she placed a single finger on his lips. "Shhh Daddy, don't question this. I promised her. She gave me something... for you... right before she passed."
"OK," John replied.
The small picturesque cabin, tucked away among a stand of white pine trees, had only four rooms: a single bedroom, a quaint little kitchen, a spacious living room, complete with a large brick fireplace and a small bar stuck in one corner, and a full modern bathroom, just off the bedroom. Out back was a large deck with a grill and a sunken hot tub.
After getting a late start on a cool, breezy Friday morning, and stopping in town to pick up some supplies, they did not arrive at the cabin until nearly four in the afternoon. Their supplies for the weekend included a pair of ribeye steaks with all the trimmings, a twelve pack of beer, and a bottle of red wine. The wine was Biannca's idea as she remembered her parents always enjoyed some wine whenever they were at home celebrating one of their birthdays.
After their delicious steak dinner, Biannca excused herself. "I gotta go and prepare your birthday presents."
"Sure, hon," John responded as he moved toward the cabin's fireplace. "I think I will get a fire going as it's going to be chilly tonight."
"Great idea, Daddy," she chirped before disappearing into the cabin's bedroom eager to read her mom's letter.
Once in the bedroom, Biannca pulled the letter out from her purse. Finally, after waiting so long, three and half years roughly, she would get to open the mysterious letter, along with the equally mysterious package containing her daddy's unusual birthday present.
After settling herself down on the bed, Biannca tore the envelope open. The letter, just like the earlier note containing the instructions, was handwritten by her mom.
My dearest Benny,
You were always so good at helping me take care of your father, which is why I am going out on a very shaky limb to ask you to take care of him, this one special time, on his fiftieth birthday. Before I make my request, I will fill in some details about our relationship... some you may already know, others it will be your first time hearing such details.
Before moving forward though, I need to clear up one thing. I specifically instructed you to wait until after graduation from college to open this letter for one very important reason. By now, you should only be just a few short months from your 22nd birthday and I can only guess you have matured into a rare beauty... like your mom lol.
But the key thing, Benny, is you are mature. I am sure of that. In fact, I am betting everything on that simple fact. Mature enough that is to hear some rather naughty stuff. Mature enough where you can handle hearing such naughty stuff and then most importantly, mature enough to make a decision on what to do next after reading my letter.
Anyways here it is. Your father and me, got married young. He was twenty, I was eighteen. We dated all through high school and this may be hard to believe but he is the only man I have ever been with. My one and only boyfriend, my only true love (beside you of course). Yes, it truly is a rare thing--and, even rarer still, what was true for me, was also true for him-- I am the only woman he has ever been with. Ever. Keep that in mind. Even after my passing I am sure he has remained, sadly, faithful to me. More on this later.
So, of course, we were both virgins when he first make love to me right there in the cabin you are at now. It was a cold November night, and we explored our love--completely-- for the first time, out in front of the fire on that pretty thick white rug.
I shall never forget the solemn promise we both whispered to each other--just before he entered me. It was how neither of us would ever, ever be with another. Honey it may sound corny or fairy tale like but that was me and your father. You must have seen, over the years, how we worshipped each other.
Months ago, after we knew my condition was terminal we had a serious discussion. I told him to move on after me. He was too young to stay alone the rest of his life. He would not hear it. He vowed to stay faithful to me and to never, ever break the promise he made to me the night we lost our virginity together.
You must understand what that means honey-- he will die a lonely old man to satisfy his promise to me. He will never be with another woman--for the rest of his life. That is sad, but more than that, it is simply unacceptable. I racked my brain on what to do when he vowed not to move on and finally, somehow, came up with a rather, hmm, unique solution.
Let me pause here for a bit more background before I hit you with what I came up with. Honey, me and your daddy, as I am sure you noticed, sure you heard even, had a rather rambunctious sex life. In short, we simply had a rollicking good time in bed. He was a wonderful lover and I was always, ALWAYS ready to satisfy his needs which were in a word -- insatiable.
Now he is trapped, cursed if you will, to spend the rest of his life celibate. This, more than anything, vexes me. I know his needs and to think of them going unfulfilled... it's very, incredibly sad for me honey. On the other hand, even if he had agreed to it--which he did not... bless his kind heart, the possibility of him being with other women, getting married again, having a girlfriend, (even visiting a hooker, to be perfectly blunt) I found to be wholly depressing. It would mean I was no longer his one and only.
This is where you come in. I will say it directly: My solution honey is you. I am sorry to ask this, but you baby, are the one and only woman who could satisfy your daddy and make me not so unhappy as I prepare to pass to whatever lies next.
Why? Because you came from me, you are mommy's little girl, you have a large part of me inside you. How could you not?? Him making love to you... it would be like making love to me... in a small sense.
I would not blame you if you flat out refuse to entertain this thought. I know it's wickedly naughty Benny but for me and for your daddy it's the only solution. Just so you understand--he knows absolutely nothing about this crazy idea of mine. I expect you, if you decide in the negative, to never breathe a word of it to him, just as if you decide to go through with, with what I am asking, what I am begging you to please do, it will be, of course, you guy's big secret and sharing such a secret could only bring you closer.
It's your decision now. Follow your heart. Now if you decide to abide by my wishes you may open the gift box. Inside you will find further instructions from your mother. One final thing, if you can be brave and take this step you will not be alone. I will be there with you baby girl. (You shall see exactly what I mean later by this--if you go through with things) Can you be brave and give yourself over to both me and your daddy -- and open the package. Once opened, promise me, in your heart, you shall not turn back.
If you can't do this, I fully understand. If that is the case, just get rid of the package without opening it.
