This story starts where another story ‘The Inheritance’ ended. If you haven’t read that one, I recommend you to read that one first. You can find it HERE.

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Peter and Inge had just gotten married. As a wedding gift, her mom had bought them a starter house she found on the Internet for a more than reasonable price. They had been travelling some hours to arrive there. If I told you that they were only a tad disappointed when they saw the garden and the house, I would be telling you only half the truth. Peter was in a hurry to take his wife in his arms and so didn’t take too much notice of the weeds that had overgrown the benches. Rather impatiently he called her to come into the house with him.

As he went inside already, he traced back his steps and immediately went outside again.

She didn’t need to go inside to see through the windowed door how dirty this place was. What was there to do? Cry? That thought popped up instantly, but a remark her husband made awoke the warrior in her.

– “Wow, how could your mother ever have bought us this house? She could have told us about the dirt and that it needed to be cleaned in and outside….!”

– “Hey, stop criticizing my mom. You know she bought it on the Internet and the picture they showed her was that of a nice looking house. They must have Photoshopped it. How could she have known?

– “It seems like you’ll have a lot to do here.”

– “Ha…, forget it Peter…! I am not staying in this house. You can call the cleaning service right now, and we will stay in some hotel until they finished.”

– “Are you aware how much money that would cost?”

– “And you…, are you aware how much it would have cost us to buy a house ourselves?”

Then, seeing the unhappy look on his face, she spoke with a lower and convincing voice: – “Come on, darling. I think I saw a guesthouse down the road. We could go there and ask for a room. How long would it take a professional cleaning service to clean this place? One day? Perhaps two? Meanwhile we would be sure to sleep in a clean bed.”
Talking about the bed brought the sparkle back in the eyes of her husband. He sighed and said: – “Alright, let’s do that if you insist.”

While they were on their way to the guesthouse to rent a room, and getting a bite to eat, let me take this opportunity to tell you more about Peter Peterson and Ingrid Branche.

Peter is a very active person. He loves the outdoors and he feels very comfortable with large groups of people. He’s not a particular handsome man, but he has that sparkling look in his eyes that most women cannot resist. He left his home at a very young age. His father sent him to the Military Academy. That formed his character in a special way…. Having a high tempered character and a strong will, he usually didn’t achieve all his wants because of being too fast with his answers or remarks and not everybody likes that. He sure lacked the optimism and a sense of humor. In spite of all, he thought he was right all the time.

Inge is his opposite. She’s a `loner’ and although she likes the outdoors…, she prefers to stay in her own garden. Mind you…, she hasn’t got the green thumb but she appreciates the nice quiet surrounding of a well kept garden. From the moment she had left school, she had been working as a secretary. She never went to parties organized by her colleagues, just because she felt happier at home where she would spend all her free time in her room, listening to music and reading. Her optimistic character and her great sense of humor makes her a lovable person, but tremendously shy.

No one in her family ever understood how it was possible she got a boyfriend. This boyfriend, Peter, was very impressed by her. Not understanding her character made her interesting in his eyes. He was very attracted to her. Always when he could, he observed her walking from her work to her home in her quiet and proud way of moving. Peter didn’t know that it was only a pose hiding her insecurity. He was dying to ‘explore and conquer’ her. So he started to write love letters with poetry and, little by little, won her appreciation first and her love later.

He was deeply in love with her and when he asked her in marriage, she accepted with conditions:

1. If you want to eat fish, you will have to clean it yourself. (Okay, honey…)
2. I will definitely not kill animals to prepare them for your meal. (I won’t ask that from you…)
3. You may choose when you want to have a warm meal; Lunch or dinner but not both. (Alright…, lunch!).
4. If you fall in love with someone else, you have to tell me so. I will do the same with you. (It was at that point Peter raised an eye brow. Especially for the last part of that condition. Would she really be able to fall in love with someone else?)
5. If you ever raise your hand on me, I’ll be gone. (I will never ever do that…)
6. If I catch you lying to me, we’re done. (Why should I lie to you?)
7. Never, ever let the sun set over your anger because at the break of day I’ll be gone. (Yes, I like that one…. We can make up in bed!)
8. You must accept me as I am; the same as I accept you who you are. (Of course, dear…)

He agreed to all of her conditions not expecting that number 8 would be very difficult. But they would find out eventually.

Peter had seen problems between his parents and how his dad used his physical superiority to make his mom obey. He hadn’t mind leaving the house to go to the Military Academy because there he wouldn’t witness those domestic problems.

Inge had seen many troubles of the same kind in her family and wasn’t up for the labor to accept the same treatment as her mom had. That’s why she put all those conditions before she accepted Peter as her husband.

– “When you finish, honey…, let’s have a look at the room they have prepared for us.”

– “Yes, but first of all, we need a shower… and…

He didn’t let her finish and jumped right in: – “Hey…, that’s a great idea…, let’s take a shower!”

She blushed….

They stayed in the guesthouse and only came out of their room for lunch and dinner, but further on; they spent all of their time enjoying each other in the intimacy of the bed and the shower.

The third day, Peter received a phone call that the house and garden had been taken care of and that they would receive the bills during the next 3 months, according to the deal they had made.

So finally they went home. It was far better now, and Inge started to feel happy while Peter was already thinking about all the places in the house where they could make love for the first time…

Then he went outside to see what had been done in the garden. Walking near the far side bench, something caught his eye. What was that…? A hole in the ground? There was a terrible smell of something rotten nearby.

Inge came closer and she noticed at once that the smell came from the opening in the ground.  – “Go and look what it is honey. I can see a ladder! Or do you want me to go in there?”

No.., of course not! Peter was too ‘macho’ to let a woman get into a hole in the ground, so he climbed down the ladder. The smell was nauseating and he found some torches on the wall that he lit. There he saw a single bed and an old table. In spite of the torches, he couldn’t see much more. Yes, on the table he found a booklet with handwritten text in it. He took it with him.

Once outside he had to put his hand over his mouth because he felt he had to throw up. He quickly ran to the house while Inge looked down at the dark opening of the basement.
Peter called the Cleaning Service Agency to tell them he needed their service again. This time to clean the basement they had seemed to forget. –“Yes sir, we noticed that basement, but it was so dark and there was such a rotten smell that we wanted to wait until the smell had gone. Think that it was completely covered by bushes and we removed them. So now in the open air it would be easier to work there. We’ll be there within a few days.”

That evening, Inge took the manuscript her husband had found in the basement and she started to read it.

To be continued…