The Anniversary

   Jordan scrubbed her hand against her forehead and sighed, placing her other hand on the small of her back and pushing against the knots. It had been a long day. Her cheek dimpled as she looked at her handiwork, spread out across several cookie sheets and strips of wax paper. It had been a long day, but a productive one. And if she'd timed it right-
   The front door squealed on its old hinges and she jumped.
   "Honey!" she called, racing to meet her husband as he shouldered the door open.
   "Close your eyes!" he said at the same time she cried out, "Don't come in the kitchen," each shoving their hands at the other as if to cover their spouse's face.
   Jordan squeezed her eyes shut and laughed. Her dimples deepened as she allowed herself to be pushed backwards in order to let her husband through the door. His hand slid up her arm and cupped her cheek softly. She giggled as she felt him kiss her cheek.
   "Happy Anniversary, beautiful," he said softly. "Open your eyes."

   Blinking, she tried to focus on the thing held in front of her face. It was square and brown and smooth, shining warmly in the light from the ceiling lamp.
   Taking it carefully, she turned it around several times before spotting a few hairline cracks in the otherwise flawless surface.
   Jordan gasped, "Oh, David! A puzzle box? I have always wanted one of these!"
   He grinned shyly, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Really? That's great! I thought really hard about what to get you. I didn't know you really wanted one, though."
   "Really?" she asked, taking the box with her as she moved to her little rocking chair nestled by their one table-lamp. "I've always thought they were so neat, and mysterious, and - and romantic," she said, her cheeks growing pink.
  It was technically their one-year anniversary, but neither man nor wife had gotten quite used to the romantic side of their marriage. A heavy-handed and overly zealous father, combined with an ill-timed kiss, had resulted in a marriage that neither Jordan nor David had expected or been ready for. The months afterward had been awkward and strained. Jordan had cried a lot, and David had been angry. What little fledgling feelings of infatuation there had been to begin with had been crushed under the agony of misunderstanding and resentment. For too long, David had slept on the couch, and they had tip-toed around each other, neither wanting to ruffle feathers or step on toes.
   It had been only the grace of God that had kept them together at all, Jordan knew. Their six-month anniversary had been a fiasco of thrown laundry and raised voices.
  "You okay?" David asked, crouching in front of his wife to look up into her face. He'd been watching her closely as her fingers had slowly stopped moving across the wooden surface of the box as she lapsed into thought.
   "Oh!" she said, shaking herself and quickly swiping her knuckles across her eyes, "Yes! Sorry!"
   "Yeah?" he said, raising an eyebrow. "C'mon, kid."
   Her lips curled up a little and she looked down at her hands. "I was just . . . remembering. Our last anniversary - you know."
   His eyes dropped, too. "Yeah." He scratched at the carpet, and then looked back up into Jordan's soft brown eyes. "Yeah, babe. We've come a long way."
   Jordan's cheeks grew pink again. "Babe" was a new addition that she was just getting used to - but enjoying thoroughly.
   "Oh!" she said again, suddenly darting out of her chair and around David. "Close your eyes! I forgot!"
   It took almost five minutes for her to assemble everything, and David teased her by calling out guesses as she set things down, clattering and thumping mysteriously.
   With a final survey and brisk nod of her head, she bustled to her seated husband and slipped her thin hands inside his long ones. "Okay, come to the table!"
   They had a brief tug-of-war as she heaved with all her might in order to lever him off the floor, and the whole length of his six-foot frame shook with laughter at her pathetic efforts.
   Jordan stood on tiptoes to cover his eyes with one had as she used the other to steer him toward the chair she had positioned at the head of their little table. She made him sit down, and then fussed for another second at his place setting before biting her lip and whispering, "Okay."
   David opened his eyes and grinned into the flickering light from the candles she'd set up. She had pulled out the simple white china her mother had given her, and each plate was set on top of a mat of heart-shaped leaves from the bushes outside. Piled on a large serving plate in front of David was a huge stack of chocolate-chip pancakes, topped with a million chocolate-dipped strawberries.
   "Ooooh," he said appreciatively, reaching for his fork, then guffawed with laughter as he realized she'd given him a fork the size of a spatula.
   Jordan's dimples deepened and her eyes twinkled.
   "You're too good to me," he said, leaning over to give her a kiss.
   "Well . . ." she said, gazing into his bright blue eyes. "I love you. It's about time we had a good anniversary."
   "Amen," he said seriously, taking her hand. "Babe . . . thank you. Thank you for sticking with me. Thanks for insisting we go talk to pastor." His voice grew thick as he squeezed her hand. "Thanks for putting extra blankets on me, even when I wouldn't sleep in the same room with you."
   Tears pooled in Jordan's eyes, and her smile was watery. "Aw, Davey. Don't make me cry. I can't eat if I'm crying."
   "I love you, babe."
   She sniffed and smiled, the corners of her full lips disappearing into the little creases beside her mouth. "I love you, too."
   Fingers interlocked, they bowed their heads.
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Another exercise from Gail Carson Levine's "Writing Magic"! This one was to think of two kids you know, imagine they were forced to get married, and write their conversation at their first anniversary. :)
I had a hard time writing this without making the characters into me and my husband. XD