Status: Part 1

It had been part of her deal with Gideon that Erin would be able to tend the garden like she did her own back at home, and just like back at home, Erin was up at the crack of dawn in her gardening clothes and headed to the kitchen. Of course, having known that this was the kind of woman his new wife was, Gideon made sure to make sure that his staff was also awake and ready to make the lady of the house a healthy, nutritious breakfast. 

Be it out of the kindness of her heart or sheer desire to caretake, or even still just too uncomfortable letting people do things for her, Erin turned the tables by treating the entire morning staff to a full on breakfast platter complete with homemade hashbrowns, bacon cooked to the perfect texture, and the fluffiest scrambled eggs they’d ever had the pleasure of tasting.

By 7AM Erin was already outside with a trowel, carving out new places to plant lilies, peonies, and the odd fruit tree. She’d always wanted to grow her own fruit trees, but never had the space until now. Gideon’s orchard was full of open space just begging to be filled and Erin Ashford was the person to fill it. 

She wiped a cold, dewy sweat off of her brow and smiled at the amount of work she’d already gotten done. There was a cool clamminess to overcast days that she’d always appreciated even as a little girl. It was neither too hot nor too cold, and if she ever felt chilly in her soft, white cotton button down, that just meant it was time to start moving again. The air was more dry than she was used to, but it was still pleasant. Erin only noticed when she found herself thirstier than she normally was by that point and kept having to go back to the porch to drink from her water bottle. 

“Who knows? I might just end up working off a few pounds at this rate.” She joked to herself. 

While she never felt an overwhelming desire to be thin, Erin couldn’t help but feel that life in general would have been easier if she were thinner. Even now her belly was sweatily stuffed into her pants and bulged downward under the waist, making it hard to bend over for long periods of time just to lift herself back up again. She’d lots of time to get used to the size of her body and the boxiness of her figure, but she wouldn’t have said no to a little extra breathing room to prevent her jeans from digging into her body so much.

“Oh well.” She huffed contentedly, still in a good mood at the mass of potential that this new, gigantic garden lay before her. With a smile, she grabbed a basket of freshly fertilized flowers and began hauling them over to the flower patch to be transplanted into an arrangement.

(1)

“Hey. Mom!” Kyle called out, snapping Erin out of her work-induce bliss.

It wasn’t uncommon for her to be so wrapped up in what she was doing that she lost track of time. Especially on cloudy days when the sun wasn’t riding high in the sky to give her a sense of what time it actually was. She pulled out her phone and clicked the power button. When the screen lit up she could see an old picture of her and her grandmother taken several years prior with the numbers “1:12” stamped across the front of it.

“Oh! Oh my god! Hey! You cut your hair!” She gushed, both surprised at her son’s sudden change of appearance as well as embarrassed at having spent all day playing outside instead of spending it with her new husband.

Kyle chuckled and ran his hands through his newly cut hair. “Yeah… I uhh…I dunno. Gideon and I were talking and I guess he kinda convinced me it was time for a change. I think it looks more professional, you know?” 

“Gideon told you that?” Erin said, surprised at how quickly and easily her son have up his prized swoosh of hair. Still, it *did* look more professional and exaggerated his musculature. 

It was a strangely gratifying thing for a mother to look at her son and see herself, she thought. Kyle had inherited her blonde hair and wide, strong shoulders. The eyes and nose were all his dad, but Erin felt like he looked like her where it counted.

(2)

“Wow. You look really great! I’m surprised though. Did you just get back from getting it cut? Or does he have like a barber on the staff of something?” Erin asked.

Kyle didn’t really answer right away. The question seemed to confuse him for some reason causing him to squint and subtly move his head around slightly as if trying to mentally search for the answer. Eventually he just said “Oh. Yeah,” and changed the subject quickly.

“Yeah, uhh…I was just gonna say you should come in for a bit. We’re gonna watch a movie in the home theater and then Gideon wants to hang out with you for a while. I think he’s planning on taking you somewhere but I’m not sure.” 

“Oh, alright.” Erin said, shrugging her shoulders as a way of dismissing the earlier awkwardness and slipping off her gardening gloves as she walked back toward the house.

Just like the rest of the manor, Gideon’s home theater was absolutely gorgeous. The chairs were made of a sort of cushioned leather with reclining seats like in a theater, but unlike the movies, the recline control buttons weren’t on the insides of the seats and thus wouldn’t be pressed on accident if you were fat or shifting in your seat. The movie was The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes, the prequel to the Hunger Games, released early for discerning buyers apparently. It was a long, but entertaining story of the future President Snow’s fall from kind and caring young man whose main goal was to help his family to a monstrous, evil tyrant who basked in wealth and glamor while others suffered for it.

(3)

“So what’d you think?” Gideon asked cheerily.

“I liked it! I was surprised though. I thought it was going to be over at like…the middle. But still, it was really good. What’d you think?” Erin said, beaming at her husband.

“Oh it was fantastic. Granted, there were a ridiculous number of unnecessary Katniss references I still thought Snow’s journey was a good one.” Gideon said, grinning as they returned to the manor foyer.

Erin rolled her eyes. “Yeaaahhhhh, that was a bit much. But still. It’s just sad that Cory was such a nice kid . All he wanted to do was help everyone but still got wrapped up in the system.”

“He did what he thought was right. There was a system in place and he rose to the top of it instead of sacrificing everything just to have nothing at the bottom.” Gideon said.

“Yeah, but he became evil in the process. He could have been happy at the bottom, but he chose money and power over people. Given that I’m suddenly married to a millionaire, I guess I don’t want to end up like that.” Erin replied, her smile fading slightly.

“Luckily for you, you won’t. Remember, that was just a movie. Plus, when we met you had no idea that I had any money at all. What we have is real. You are a real, wholesome person. I just think you deserve to be treated well.” Gideon smiled, clearly enjoying the interaction.

The debate continued into the bedroom after Kyle had gone off to his own room while the couple dressed for dinner.

“I just don’t ever want to be so wrapped up in belongings that I forget who I really am, you know?” Erin said, slipping I to simple, casual sweatpants and a tshirt. 

“I get what you’re saying, but don’t you think that luxuries should be enjoyed if they’re available? If they were around when you were younger, I’m sure you would have taken them then.” Gideon said with a subtly condescending tone as he opened a walk in closet and produced a wide, flat box.

“I would have, but then I wouldn’t have become who I am now and you wouldn’t have wanted me. Especially considering that our first two years together were essentially a test to see if I was worthy of you. Kind of a red flag, by the way. I’d eventually like to really sit down and talk about that.” Erin said, stress bleeding into her voice as she turned around.

“Oh my god, what is THAT?”

In front of her, Gideon held up a gorgeous cerulean dress made entirely out of shining silk.

“This is what I’d like you to wear to dinner tonight.” He said, grinning smugly.

“Wha-No! See?! This is EXACTLY what I’m talking about! I never asked for that! And now you’re dressing me up for dinner now?” Erin whined, distraught and increasingly alarmed by her suddenly rich husband’s handling of her concerns.

“Do you not like it? I can get you a different one.” Gideon said nonchalantly.

“No! And it’s gorgeous, but that’s not the problem! You’re not listening to me!” The blonde huffed, becoming genuinely angry.
He wasn’t, really. Gideon smiled and grabbed his wife’s hand and lifted it to his mouth for a kiss.

“So you do like it.” He said, watching as Erin’s gaze fixed on her large, gleaming wedding ring. “Just like you love your ring. When I gave this to you, you thought it was an overreach on my part. But when I told you nothing was too expensive to make you happy, you cried tears joy. You didn’t turn it down because it was too good for you. You didn’t spurn it as evil and corrupt. You loved it for what it was.”

Erin couldn’t take her eyes off the stone. Something about it was so captivating, like the world was melting around her The walls turned to liquid and began to run in her periphery, the lights bleeding together. Only the pale blue gem remained constant.

“You didn’t have luxury before, and it taught you values. Now that you have what you need to avoid turning into some rich snob, you can enjoy the luxuries afforded to you. You’ve earned it. You deserve it. You aren’t going to be soured or ruined by enjoying the life you’ve worked all your life to finally have, so let yourself enjoy it. It belongs to you.” Gideon’s voice echoed all around her. 

Erin’s consciousness became tenuous, and the last thing she felt was her legs beginning to move on their own.

Kyle sat on the couch in one of the dens watching tv as his mom and stepfather descended the stairs on their way to their dinner date.

“Oh my god. Mom, you look amazing!” The young man beamed.

Erin smiled and swished her gorgeous blue dress from side to side, doing a turn to show off her stunning new gift.

(4)

“You like it? Gideon told me to wear it for tonight. It took some convincing to even get me to try it on, but once I did I was completely sold.” Erin gushed then looked over to her husband, a look of serene ecstasy boring dimples into the chubby corners of her smile.

“Thank you.” She beamed luminously.

“Of course, love.” He said. “You deserve only the best.”