The previous night had been unbelievable. He had felt how close he and Cherry had become. It was not simply the sex. It was so much more. The knowledge that she was the woman with whom he would spend the rest of his life filled him with such a feeling of happiness that even the prospect of his crowning no longer worried him.
He stretched out his arm to pull Cherry close to him again but his hand grasped emptiness. With a sinking feeling he opened his eyes and saw his suspicion confirmed. Cherry was no longer lying next to him. Instead, he saw a note. He frowned and grasped the piece of paper. His heart pounded as he scanned the brief note and his heart cramped painfully. He screwed up the piece of paper in his hand and uttered a cry of rage and pain. How could she? How could she just disappear and describe everything that had happened between them with such a banal word as beautiful. It was like the stab of a dagger into his heart.
In one movement he leapt up from the bed and in his anger and despair he ripped apart the covering on the couch and tore the pillows until the furniture looked as if a pack of lions had attacked it.
