My Wife's Secret Room

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Prompt from PrideOnThePage

I met Leigh fishing on the fens. The most beautiful woman I’d ever seen just lounging on the riverside with a full spear of fish.
I complimented her catch. She taught me a few tricks. Our banter quickly turned into conversation. Hours flew by.
After that I looked for her every day. We fished and foraged and soaked up each other’s company.
Her lips tasted like the sweetest depth of the lake.
She had no family, she told me. No home. No dowry.
I begged for her hand anyway. No gold nor silver could be worth more than having her at my side.
“I would love to marry you…”
Sensing a ‘but’, I tensed.
“On one condition.”
“What?”
“I must sleep alone.”
She wanted her own little house to sleep in, one I would never step inside.
She wouldn’t say why.
I pointed out how difficult it’d be to explain to people. She stood silent, shoulders slumped, eyes averted.
Well…
I proposed we build a house like everyone else’s, but split the bedchamber in two. A second, secret room that nobody else need know about. One I would never enter.
After thinking this over she agreed. And so it was done.
For five years I have grappled with temptation. Morning and night that door taunts me.
Why?
Why won’t she at least explain?
Even when my mother found out about the room and confronted her, Leigh was silent. I had to cover for her. I lied. Said she was a light sleeper and I snored. Better for our marriage to have a second bedchamber.
“But why put a lock on it?”
I had no answer. Finally Leigh spoke “It makes me feel safe. Means I don’t sleep with one eye open.”
My mother tutted and muttered to me about the folly of marrying a ‘feral woman’. I smiled and nodded and wondered.
One night Leigh fell asleep in my arms. My sated gaze drifted from her body to the key twinkling amongst her scattered clothes. I looked at it. I looked at the door.
Then I nudged Leigh awake and asked if she wished to sleep here. She plastered me with panicked kisses and retired. Locking the door behind her. Again.
I’ve never forgotten that moment. Often regretted my choice, though I’m sure it was right.
But now…
Leigh’s hand trembles as she beckons me inside that secret space.
It’s almost filled by a circular basin woven of willow twigs and cloth and feathers. A human-sized nest… with a giant egg inside.
“W-w-we’re expecting.”
I look at Leigh. I look at the nest. Old stories come to me. Those feathers…
“I… married a crane?”
Leigh’s face crumples. “Yes.”
“Oh. I… oh.” Lost for words I gather her in my arms and kiss away the fearful tears. “I, um… I’m glad you felt safe to tell me.”
We named our daughter Deryn. Every night I tuck her into the nest and kiss them both and shut the door behind me.

Prompt was “Boundaries”.
[A person’s boundaries are something you have to build around. Some are structural and will never move; some are temporary; some are protective and will slowly shift or even melt away as trust is built to take weight in their place.]