The Revelation

Another cup of tea

Dr. Curtis's office

Julie's pov

"Oh my God," I said aloud as my jaw dropped.

"JULIE!" Dr. Curtis snapped at me from the doorway.

Dr. Curtis has just found me snooping in his desk drawer. I quickly slammed the drawer shut but not before seeing something really disturbing.

"Dr. Curtis," I shouted, startled like a little kid caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"I was just, uh..." I stammered, glancing quickly between Dr. Curtis and his desk drawer.

"You're supposed to be sitting and enjoying a relaxing cup of tea. Why are you up?" Dr. Curtis motioned to the couch and our cups, where we previously sat sipping our tea.

Phew, I thought he saw me looking through his drawer.

"Oh, uh, I just needed to stretch my legs for a minute," I said, letting out a sigh of relief.

Dr. Curtis poured us each another cup of tea as soon as I sat down. I can't believe what I saw in that drawer.

Joining me, he asked, "What's the matter? You seem upset."

"Oh, uh, nothing," I replied a little too quickly, trying not to sound too defensive or suspicious. There must have been at least fifty pieces of nicotine gum in that drawer. I had no idea Dr. Curtis was a smoker. I mean I've never seen him with a cigarette. I guess maybe that's because the gum is working. I wonder how long he was a smoker and when did he quit? Hopefully he's quit. Yeah, he must have quit otherwise I would have smelled smoke on him at some point. Maybe the gum isn't even for him. Oh well, it can't be as important as that photo he was holding when I walked in.

"Now where did we leave off?" Dr. Curtis smiled as he sat down to join me.

We continued to make small talk as I tried to remain focused on our conversation, fighting the gnawing distraction of finding the photo Dr. Curtis hid in his drawer. Approximately thirty minutes passed before his phone rang again.

"Calm down, luv, I'll be there straightaway. Don't panic," I heard Dr. Curtis say reassuringly into the phone. Ending the call, he turned to me and said, "I'm sorry I have to cut our visit short, Julie, but Mrs. Curtis ran out of gas on her way back from her dentist appointment so I need to fill up a can and pop over there to rescue my damsel in distress."

"Oh, no worries, sir, we can visit again soon. I understand you need to help your wife," I replied sympathetically. "I certainly don't want to be the reason she's stranded by the side of the road."

"It doesn't matter how many times I tell her to keep an eye on her gas gauge, she just doesn't listen. I'll be giving her a stern little reminder tonight though." Dr. Curtis said the last part more to himself than me but I have a pretty good idea of how he's going to enforce that lesson with his wife.

The scenario playing in my head made me smile. I think it's sweet they still have that passionate spark between them after being married for so many years. I wish my husband was that protective over me. Don't get me wrong, Brian's a good guy it's just that if I had known then what I know now, I probably would have sought out a much more dominant man for a husband.

As much as I hate to admit it, I really need someone to keep me in line and Brian's just not cut out to play that part. Alas, hindsight is 20/20 as they say. Plus, if I had chosen a different path, I wouldn't have my three boys with me now and I love them to the ends of the earth and can't imagine my life without them so I'm certainly not complaining. Sometimes I think God knows what we need in our lives better than we do, well all the time really, we just don't always recognize it in the moment or want to accept it as the truth.