"What are you eating?!"

The fact that he didn't even try to disguise the horror in his voice made her grin. She had some work to do with this one...

"You expect me to let this just go to waste?!" She gestured at the plate with her fork. "Cake is meant to be eaten. Especially wedding cake."

"Yeah, but not at eight o'clock in the morning!"

"I didn't want it to go bad."

"You just got it last night. I doubt it could possibly go bad in 12 hours."

"Not a risk I'm willing to take. Spoiled wedding cake must be some sort of bad omen, right? Do you really want to start the first hours of our marriage under the dark cloud of bad luck?"

"Since when are you superstitious?"

"If it involves eating cake, then maybe superstition has its merits..."

Loading up her fork, she took another bite, and grinned at the sight of her husband rubbing his temple in disbelief.

"Are you really going to eat that whole thing?"

"Grab a fork. You can help me."

"Uh, no thanks... Unlike someone I might mention, I've been raised on balanced meals."

"Yeah, because gingerbread is the epitome of nutrition... Come on, Jeffrey. Live a little!"

"You know you won't be able to move by lunch, right? As soon as your sugar high ends you're going to be a worthless lump."

"Well, then, the least you can do is be a worthless lump with me. Besides, that's easy to fix: just eat more cake!"

"You're nuts."

"So are you. Come one, just one bite."

"Okay, on one condition."

"Which is...?"

"You promise never to tell Rosy about this. When you die of diabetes in ten years, I don't want her to blame me."

"Why, Jeffrey! Are you afraid of my sister?"

"Terrified."

"Okay, I promise. Now eat."

"Why are you in such a hurry to get me to overload myself with sugar at eight in the morning?"

"Because I have years of Brenda Tifton's conditioning to undo, and this seemed like the best place to start."

"Attacking my healthy eating habits?"

"Teaching you to enjoy things. Like breakfast cake with your wife."

"You're my wife..." Amazement tinged his voice, and slapped a proud smile on her face.

"Just realizing that, huh?"

"I think maybe so..."

"Well, there's no turning back now."

"Fine by me."

"Even if I make you eat cake in the morning?"

"Yeah."

"Alright then. Enjoy!"

It took him a moment to realize that the mixture of cake and frosting that had previously been on his wife's plate was now clinging to his face.

But even as he wiped the sugar out of his eyes, he couldn't help but smile back at the girl in front of him.

He had to admit it: This was a pretty great way to start the morning.

(End.)

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