Free Answering to Him (Old-Fashioned Husband) by Dinah McLeod

turn the lights on. Did you turn the engine on?”
    Suddenly, I was more awake. “Um…”
    He shook his head , understanding immediately. “If you don’t turn the engine on, it runs the battery down, honey. Here’s what we’re going to do: I want you to get up and call Triple A to come give us a jump.”
    “Ugh,” I groaned, sounding more like a teenager than a grown woman. “Do I have to?”
    “We need a working car, Alicia,” he said patiently, as though explaining to a two-year-old. “What if something happens?”
    “Nothing is going to happen! ” I exclaimed. Except that I might kill you if I don’t get some more sleep, I thought.
    Oliver leveled me with a long, searching look. Normally I would have given in, but the birds weren’t even up for Heaven’s sake! I held firm, and eventually he nodded in acquiescence. “A ll right, it’s your call. Just remember that later.”
    “Whatever,” I muttered under my breath, rolling back over. I barely felt Oliver’s kiss on my cheek before I nodded off.
    * * * * *
    Oliver
     
    I was still fuming long after I made it to the lake. At first I was able to focus on the familiar routine of picking my spot, baiting my hook and casting my line. No sooner had I done this, however, than Alicia’s face came swimming into my mind. That woman—what was I going to do with her?
    She was a good wife, I knew that. She was normally sweet, and loving, but there were times where I really believed she disregarded her own safety, such as when she got speeding tickets. Other times, she ignored my concerns as though they were nothing, like she’d done earlier about the car.
    Now that I was thinking about it, I didn’t know why I’d given into her. I should have insisted she get up, make the phone call, and we would have waited together for Triple A, fishing be damned. Alicia needed someone to stay on top of her sometimes, for her own good. She needed someone who was strong, and unwavering. She needed discipline.
    The thought brought a smile to my lips. It was funny to think about a thirty-eight year old woman needing discipline, but if ever one did, she was the one. I lived in constant fear that she would get in a wreck because of that lead foot of hers, and leave me alone, our son without a mother. The idea of losing her was unbearable.
    And what if something did happen? It was well and good to say that it wouldn’t, but I liked to be prepared. If something did, we wouldn’t have any way to get anywhere. I’d given in to her because it was a habit for me. We’d been married over a decade, and I’d become used to letting her have her way. I’d always thought that telling your wife what to do was horribly old-fashioned, and I’d never wanted to seem like a brute. My father, like my grandfather before him, had been the master of his castle. I’d never felt the need for that kind of subservience, but damn it, some things were about to change as far as my family was concerned.
    The more I thought about it, the more impassioned I became. Alicia would stop speeding, or maybe I would have to take her keys after all! If she couldn’t look out for her own well-being, then that job fell to me, and I wasn’t going to fall short. She needed to stop contradicting me all the time, too.
    All in good time, I told myself. All in good time. I would talk to her soon, and we’d set down some ground rules. A part of me was still apprehensive, yes, but I’d promised to cherish and protect her, and those were vows I intended to keep, whether she liked it or not!
    * * * * *
     
    By the time that I headed back to our campsite the sun was high enough in the sky that I guessed it was about lunchtime. Well, that and the fact my stomach was growling. Fishing could be hard work.
    I’d expected Alicia to be out and about, maybe unpacking and setting up around the tent. From the looks of things, she’d never even gotten out of bed. I felt a flash of irritation, but I stamped it back down. This was