Chapter 2
In all of his thirty years, Adrian had no idea that there was such thing as a perfect evening. That first date that he had with Trudy was one that he remembered in the years following as the first perfect evening of his life in a long, wonderful, unforgettable line of perfect evenings.
He called her before he left the station, and when she gave him directions to her house he was pleased to hear that she only lived six blocks from him. He went home and changed into a gray sweater and black pants, and with the butterflies raging in his stomach he walked to her place.
Adrian thought he knew what the word breathtaking meant when he saw her in the park looking like a princess, but he couldn't help but to stare at her like a starving man who was just presented with an eight course, gourmet meal when she answered the door. She was wearing a conservative red sleeveless dress that wasn't too revealing, but still accented the highlights of her obviously lovely figure. And her hair, which was tied back in a clip every time he had seen her before, was long and loose and it framed her angelic face perfectly.
"Ah, Mr. Monk..."
If she didn't stop smiling like that, he was going to have to do something uncharacteristic of his normal behavior, like take her in his arms and kiss her until he couldn't breathe. "Adrian. I forgot to tell you to just call me Adrian."
"Terrific, Adrian. Adrian and Trudy...that sounds nice together, doesn't it?"
Adrian agreed. He had just thought the same exact thing.
The new Italian restaurant called Milano's was right around the corner from her place, and it was a small, dimly lit spot that was just quiet enough for them to get to know each other.
They were both amazed at how much they had in common.
Neither of them had much family. Adrian was an only child, and since his father died when he was twelve the only real family he had left was his mother who was living in New Jersey. Other than her father who lived right outside of Seattle, Trudy only had a few cousins who were scattered across the country and a grandmother she rarely saw who lived in Austin, Texas.
Adrian was surprised that Trudy had never been married just like him. She told him about the college boyfriend that she nearly eloped with but realized that would have been the worst mistake of her life right in time to save herself. He told her about the little bit of dating he had done in his life, but how nobody had ever struck him as being the "right" person for him.
"I'll bet they were all mad about you," she said.
"What makes you say that?"
Trudy leaned in close to him. "You're one in a million, Adrian. Every time I get together with my single girlfriends all they talk about is how there are no more sweet, lovable, kind men left in the world. And when we all start describing the kind of guy we're all looking for, well... that man of all of our dreams sounds a lot
like you."
After a few moments of silence Adrian said quietly, "I'm glad it's sort of dark in here."
"Why is that?"
"I'm blushing."
They both laughed until tears were streaming out of their eyes.
As they walked back to her place hand in hand, Adrian wondered what would happen next. He couldn't bear the thought of leaving her in just a matter of minutes, but he didn't want her to think that he was being forward or pushy. At her doorstep, he looked down into her gorgeous blue eyes, she looked up at him, and the world seemed to stand still. She slowly lowered her eyes and wet her lips. "So...I had a good time."
"Me too." The words barely squeaked out of his mouth before every bit of caution or nervousness was tossed out of the way and he kissed her unlike he had ever kissed anyone. The kiss seemed to last for hours, and every moment seemed sweeter and more "right" than the one before. When it finally ended, Trudy was the one who seemed to be close to swooning.
"Would you like to come in?"
"Yes I would."
"Okay then..."
They were all over each other Trudy shut the door behind them, but when they fell onto her sofa totally entwined in each other's arms Adrian stopped and looked down at her. "Trudy, you're the most...phenomenal woman I've ever met and there's nothing I want more right now than to carry you to your bedroom and...well...you know..."
She giggled, "Yes, I know."
"And...well...I feel like we should take this slow and try not to screw anything up. Know what I mean?"
Trudy kissed him softly, "Damn, my friends are going to be jealous when they hear about you."
Trudy lit a fire in her fireplace and they sat on the sofa, wrapped their arms around each other, and just talked. Adrian had never opened up to anyone like he did with her, and he loved that she didn't think of him as "weird" at all like most people did. When he told her about his tendency to be a bit of a "clean freak" she merely said that she liked a man who didn't mind vacuuming the carpet every once in a while. And when he told her how he liked to pull out his old bass clarinet that he played in the college marching band and play it every so often, she just said that she always found musicians to be sexy.
Before they knew it, the sun was rising and they both had to go to work.
"Oh, Jesus, my partner is going to be upset when he sees that I haven't slept all night." Adrian stood up to look for his house keys. "He's a good guy, but he is a little impatient with me sometimes."
"Aw, I'm sure you'll be fine. I have to interview the former Mayor today at nine a.m. I hope he doesn't mind the dark circles under my eyes."
Adrian kissed her. "Trudy, he'll be too taken with your beauty and charm to even notice."
"Call me tonight?"
"You couldn't stop me if you tried."
They saw each other every chance they had, and before either of them knew it they had been seeing each other for eight months. One Tuesday, Monk and Stottlemeyer were investigating a robbery at a small downtown jewelry store that had resulted in a clerk being shot and killed. As Adrian was gathering evidence in his precise, uncannily brilliant way that amazed everyone, a large diamond ring that was in a case near the store's entrance. He stopped in mid-sentence and said to Stottlemeyer, "That would look incredible on Trudy's finger."
"Yeah, I suppose it would. Are you thinking of doing what I think?" Stottlemeyer smiled and smacked his partner on the back.
"Heh, yeah I've been thinking about it. I want her to be my wife."
"Do it, man. You're obviously crazy about her. Why not make it official?"
Adrian smiled at him, and continued the investigation. When the end of the work day finally came, Adrian drove to the mall and stepped inside one of the many fine jewelry stores. A clerk helped him find the exact ring he had seen at the crime scene. When he held the ring in his hand and imagined how it would look on Trudy's hand, he knew that he was meant to spend the rest of his days with this woman and he bought the ring.
He immediately drove to her place.
Just like every time he saw her, she immediately took his breath away when she answered the door. She was wearing some old jeans and a blue flannel shirt and her hair was tied back with a kerchief. Trudy threw her arms around him. "Hey baby! I wasn't expecting you. What's up?"
"Can I come in?"
Trudy instantly knew that he was nervous about something, and with a look of concern invited him in. "Is something wrong, Adrian?"
"No...no...nothing's wrong at all. You know I love you, right?"
"I've never been more certain of anything."
"Okay then..." He dropped to his knees before her. "I...I...know this isn't the romantic thing that you probably wanted this moment to be but...ah..." He pulled the ring out of his pocket and opened the box. Trudy gasped and put her hand over her mouth. "Will you marry me?"
She screamed at the top of her lungs and jumped on him so hard that the wind was knocked out of him when she landed on top of him. "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes..." He could hardly breathe, but hearing those words come out of her mouth was the sweetest sound he had ever heard.
Two months later, they were married in a small, quaint ceremony where their few family members and their friends came to watch them become Mr. and Mrs. Adrian and Trudy Monk. They were married in a gazebo at Golden Gate Park, and the day couldn't have been more perfect. The sky was blue and cloudless, the birds were singing, and Trudy looked radiant in her simple white dress. When the minister told Adrian that he could now kiss his bride, tears welled up in both of their eyes and they gave each other the best kiss of all time.
"I love you, Mrs. Monk," he said quietly.
"I love you too, Mr. Monk."
They spent their honeymoon in Key West, Florida and nobody knew this, but they had decided to wait until they were married to make love. Adrian had never considered himself to be an outstanding lover, but the first night that he and Trudy spent in the same bed was the sweetest, most natural thing he had ever done. After several magnificent hours, they fell asleep naked and curled in each other's arms.
Right before sunrise, Adrian woke up and looked down at his bride who was sleeping on his chest with a sweet smile on her face. When he smiled down at her, a feeling came over him that scared him to death. He suddenly thought that fate was going to take her from him somehow, and he didn't have long to be with her. He thought he was just being his usual nervous self because for the first time in his life he was deliriously happy, but the feeling was too strong to ignore. Just then, Trudy stirred a bit and opened her eyes.
"Good morning," she said sleepily as she looked up at him.
The sweet look on her face was enough to make him forget his worries for a while.
After they came home from that first amazing week of their marriage, things just got better and better. People thought that their wedded bliss would subside a bit over time, but as the months passed they became even more like silly kids who had just discovered was love is. Every time they were seen together they were hand in hand, and everyone thought it was so cute how Trudy would say "bread and butter" every time they had to be apart, even if it was for just a moment.
At the Tribune's Christmas party, Trudy explained to some friends that during their honeymoon Adrian had called room service one morning for breakfast. When Trudy was sitting in bed in her white silk nightie she had grabbed a piece of toast, and when she went to spread some butter on it she looked at her husband and said, "Ya know, we're kind of like bread and butter. When they're apart they're really, really good but when they're together the tastes and textures of both come together to make something even more delicious and satisfying."
Before either of them knew it, months became years and they were celebrating their seventh wedding anniversary. Adrian had an evening at Milano's, the restaurant where they had spent their first evening together, planned for that Friday and he was going to tell Trudy all about it on Monday after they both got off of work.
That morning Trudy went to her car to drive to the Tribune, but she came back into the house with a sour look on her face. "My damn car won't start. Jesus, I'm sick of that piece of junk!"
Adrian wasn't due at the station for another two hours, but he quickly got ready and said that she could just drop him off at work and she could take his car to her office. She pulled in front of the station, and before he hopped out of the car he leaned over and kissed Trudy softly and deeply. "I love you, and I'm so happy that we've had these seven years together."
"I love you too baby... And I'll betcha we'll have seventy more."
"I sure hope so."
Adrian got out of the car, walked around to the driver side window, kissed his Trudy again and said, "See you tonight."
"See you then."
When she drove away, he looked at the departing car until he couldn't see her anymore and that dreadful feeling that he had on the first night of their marriage came over him again. He just shook his head to try to make such bad thoughts leave him and went inside.