It had all started the previous week when Maria had collected the mail and handed an un-franked letter to Ben. She had never even contemplated reading his mail but she certainly wished now that she knew what that particular note had said. Since that morning when Ben had simply stared at her with an expression of absolute shock, he had been acting very strangely around the woman he loved. She had of course asked him what was wrong, and what the letter had said, but he always changed the subject; once he had even walked away from her.

Maria supposed that he was just under a lot of stress at work, running a successful club such as The Deep, a popular café such as The Java Web and holding a number of stocks in The Liberty Corporation was an extreme amount of responsibility. That was probably why he had been getting such bad headaches of late, none the less she was still worried about him.

Maria heard the front door opening and watched from where she was standing as Ben walked into the spacious living area of their home. When he saw her standing there, he immediately strolled over, after giving her the usual peck on the cheek (as he always did after returning from work) he spoke in a concerned voice. "Maria you’re freezing". She hadn’t realised just how long she had been standing in the coolness of the autumn night, indeed she was feeling a little chilled.

It was late now, almost 11:00pm. Maria and Ben sat together on the sofa, he reading the daily newspaper, she sipping the hot chocolate drink, which he had brought her. "Anything interesting?" asked Maria in a soft, almost tranquil tone.

"What?" asked Ben abruptly

"The newspaper, anything I should know about?" she repeated slightly puzzled.

" I don’t know, I wasn’t paying that much attention," he said.

Ben jumped up from where he had been resting and strode toward the staircase, just before climbing them he turned his head in order to look at her. As he did so, Maria was sure that she caught a glimpse of suspicion in the depths of his dark brown eyes. "Maria where have you been today?" he asked with a slight hesitation in his question.

" I went to see Mama and then I went window shopping with Annie, why?" she replied. Ben had often enquired about her day before but never under such curious circumstances, and certainly never with such interrogation.

"Never mind" said Ben, then he continued up to their bedroom leaving a thoroughly confused Maria staring after him.

As Ben reached the spacious room at the top of the staircase, he closed the door gently behind him and sat loosely on the king-sized bed. For the forth time that evening he took the now creased envelope out of his back pocket and slid the warm, short note out of it’s cover. ‘YOUR WIFE CANNOT BE TRUSTED!’ They were the only words on the piece of plain paper, Ben looked at them again before stuffing the note violently back into the envelope and throwing it into the far corner of the room. Of course Maria could be trusted; they loved each other a hell of a lot more than most couples and neither had ever even looked at anyone else since they began dating. He just couldn’t understand who would want to see them apart, not that he would let that happen, he believed in their relationship too much to take any notice of an anonymous letter. Nevertheless, there was no harm in checking a few things out.

Maria was just walking in through the veranda door when she heard the front door bell ringing, just as she started across the room to answer it, Ben came out of the kitchen suddenly and opened the door to reveal a slightly annoyed woman. Her fiery hair was tied in a loose knot at the nape of her neck and her eyes burned with anger at being ignored for such a lengthy amount of time. "Well it’s about time someone took notice of me" she fumed before striding into the house with her head held high, Annie was here.

"Annie, it’s so good to see you," cried Maria as she ran toward her best friend with open arms. Not everyone on the beach would have greeted this woman with quite so much warmth, in fact most would rather avoid her altogether. Annie had a rather strong reputation for manipulating and using others in order to get exactly what she wanted, Maria knew of this reputation but found that she could always rely on the woman with whom she had grown up with.

After having made her friend a cool drink and chatting to her about the latest events of both of their lives, Ben suggested that Maria went upstairs and brought down her latest painting to show Annie. When she had left them alone, Ben turned to his Ex and asked a curious question; "Is Maria having an affair?"

For a few moments Annie could do nothing but stare at him, had she just heard him right? How could Ben of all people think that Maria would betray him with another man? She loved him more than life itself. Annie of all people should know that, she had witnessed that first spark the day she had introduced them. Actually that is why she had broken off her relationship with Ben and urged him to ask Maria to dinner, even she who had never believed in true love had to admit that that was exactly what her friends had found together.

"What?" was all she seemed to blurt out.

"Annie you are Maria’s closest friend, please tell me the truth" he pleaded, and then he repeated his shocking question. "Is there someone else?"

"Of course not Ben, she would never do that to you, she loves you" were the only words Annie could get across to him before a cheerful Maria came down the stairs with that unmistakable spring in her graceful movement.

"Hey guys, what are you talking about?" she asked in her usual, happy tone of voice. When she noticed the tension on both their surprised faces, Maria halted. The beautiful picture she was holding in excitement now became totally insignificant compared to whatever was going on here.

"Ben was just telling me about an err…annoying client that he has been negotiating with, and he err…was wondering if I knew him, but err… I don’t" Annie said with such an irritation in her voice that not even the most gullible of people would believe her. Luckily for the both of them, Maria was not the sort of woman who liked to delve into the secrets of others, especially when it was made it clear to her that they were not for her to know.

"Well alright then, would either of you like another drink?" asked Maria, making it perfectly clear that she would ask no more questions on the subject. Just one of the million reasons why Ben had married his wonderful wife, she respected the privacy of her friends too much to let her curiosity get in the way of their relationship. With a thanking smile, he looked straight into the eyes of the beauty behind him. "No thank you darling, why don’t you show Annie your latest masterpiece?" he said. When Maria returned his loving glance toward her, Ben slowly rose from where he was seated on the settee and made way for his love to rest beside a flustered Annie.

"I’ll leave the two of you alone to your girl talk then shall I?" drawled Ben with a hint of amusement in his now satisfied voice. After having that brief, but informing chat with Annie, he was finally convinced of Maria’s innocence in this whole matter. When walking out of the huge wooden door Ben turned once again to show his thanks to the red haired woman who had for many years been a great friend to both him and his wife. Annie caught this look and immediately smiled slightly, silently praying that Ben had diminished all thought that her best friend could possibly have been having an affair with another man.

The next morning, everything returned back to normal. Before leaving for work, Ben opened his old brown case to find another surprise awaiting him inside. This was something that Maria liked to do for him on a daily basis. Every day since their marriage, she had taken an early walk along the beach and every day she had plucked a single white flower from the garden, which overlooked the bay. As he smiled in gratefulness that his foolish imagination had not ruined the wonderful relationship of trust and love that he and Maria shared, his attention was caught by a quiet presence behind him. As he spun quickly on his heel he came face to face with the girl of his dreams.

"Good morning English," said Maria with a sexy tone of voice. She was standing in the frame of the veranda holding a steaming cup of coffee; the sunlight played upon her hair which was blowing effortlessly in the slight breeze.

"Hello darling" replied Ben, strolling across the room to greet her with a thorough kiss. When she hugged him tightly and vowed her eternal love for him, as she liked to each day, he felt an absolute relief that nothing had changed between them. "Would you meet me in our cave tonight honey? I have a surprise for you" He said, his romantic antics were once again activated by the sight of her.

"Of course I will, just as long as you promise that we won’t have to stay there the whole night because the door gets jammed again" she laughed. That had certainly not been a very successful night he had to admit, still they had spent the entire time in each other’s arms to keep warm.

"Of course not, I’ll see you there at 7 O’clock OK?" After gaining her confirmation and again kissing her, Ben left for work fantasising about the night ahead.

At 6:50pm while Maria was busy getting ready to leave for the Deep, where she had arranged to meet her handsome husband that night, a knock came on the door. Answering it, she was totally shocked to find herself staring into the eyes of the man she had married.

"Ben what are you doing here? I was just on my way to the club now" she explained. There next came a long silence during which the man before her simply stared at her with a strange grin confusing his otherwise, normal expression. "Ben why didn’t you just use your key to come in?" asked Maria.

"I err… forgot it, wouldn’t you just rather stay in for the night? We could have an early night if you know what I mean?" he replied with a worrying smirk in his tone. Maria grew even more dubious when he barged his way in and closed the door behind him. As he began to pursue her toward the staircase in a domineering fashion, Maria backed away slightly frightened at the way he was acting. When he reached out his hand, she doubtfully considered whether or not to accept it. Why on earth was he acting in this peculiar way? She asked herself. Perhaps she was just over-exaggerating; when she glanced up at his face she decided that this must be the case and allowed him to lead her upstairs.

"Where the hell is she?" Ben asked himself in an irritated voice. As he began stalking around the small cove alone, he yet again brought out the note and glanced at it. "Your wife cannot be trusted!" he read aloud. "Of course she can!" he replied to the paper that he was now grasping with a tight grip which he found that he could not loosen until he looked at it again in consideration. "Then where is she?" A quick decision was made to go back to the house and search for his wife; he would sort this out once and for all.

Back at 1303 Sunset Drive, Maria’s curiosity was brought to her attention when ‘Ben’ took her into the art studio and sat her on the bed. "Ben why have you brought me in here?" she asked.

"I just thought that it would make a change, do you have a problem being in here with me?" growled ‘Ben’. "You know that I’ve been getting bad headaches lately Maria, don’t question my actions". That last remark certainly shocked her senses, however when he began to undress and lay down beside her, Maria slipped into another world. The world to which she floated when she was so near the man she loved, as they kissed and held each other.

Ben arrived at the house and immediately began wandering from room to room looking for his wife. When it was made clear to him that she was not down stairs, he began to climb the spiralled steps. Upon arrival of the studio door, Ben stood and wondered for a second. Surely she hadn’t begun work on yet another new painting and had lost track of the time? He had to admit that this had certainly happened before on more than one occasion. With this thought in mind, Ben turned the handle and looked aimlessly into the room. The sight that greeted him shocked, angered and hurt him beyond belief. Maria was in the king-sized bed, which lay in the centre of the studio, and she was not alone.

When Maria heard the door open she immediately turned her head in surprise, when she found her husband staring back at her, an initial reaction was to speak. "Ben?" she cried with not an ounce of understanding of the situation, and then she remembered the story of an identical twin brother. One who was insanely jealous of Ben and who had on a number of occasions, tried to kill him. Maria could not have moved faster, seeing the hurt in her love’s eyes brought an insatiable need to run to him. Ben however did not see her shock, instead he saw his wife in the process of making love to his brother. He turned and fled from the house before she could blink an eye-lid.

When Maria had snatched up the clothes that had been lying on the floor, and dragged them on, she ran down the winding staircase to follow Ben. As she reached the bottom, she felt a heavy hand on her shoulder. Spinning around Maria was faced with Derek; the pair began to struggle until she found herself being hurled over the chair. When she finally came to understand the situation fully, Derek was bending over her with his strong hands holding her down. "Now Maria, I’m sorry but I can’t possibly let you go after Ben and ruin my magnificent plan" he seethed. "It would be an absolute tragedy if you were able to convince him of your innocence in this matter, you see he has to believe that he has lost you if he is to… commit suicide".

This last comment brought with it a surge of strength from within her and she kicked Derek violently. As his attention was disturbed, Maria reached for the nearest object, a pair of kitchen scissors, and stabbed them deeply into her evil brother-in-law’s thigh. When he rolled away from her, crying in agony, she ran from the house and from Derek.

She finally caught up with her husband, as he was about to pull away from the dock in a small sailing boat. When she was just a short distance from him, Maria jumped in along side him and began protesting her innocence to him. Her protests however, fell upon deaf ears, for Ben was too hurt and too angry to listen. Instead he remained silent; he wouldn’t even look at her.

Quite soon they were floating out to sea. Not long after that, a full-blown tropical storm began. As the boat was tossed from wave to wave in the tempestuous water, Maria begged her husband for forgiveness having made such an unforgivable error in mistaking Derek for him. When this plead was dismissed with a simple glance of distaste and hatred, she jumped to her feet in desperation. As she did so, the canvas slid loose and knocked her out of the wooden craft leaving her to be caught by the cold sea.

"Maria!" shouted Ben, before diving from the now wrecked vessel and searching the ocean for his love. Finally he saw her swim to the surface with her arms reaching out to his, pleading that he help her.

"Ben, you must believe me. Please save me, please" she screamed. Her swimming skills were very good but nothing could prevent the current from dragging her underneath the water. Although Ben tried desperately to catch hold of her slender hands, Maria was soon swept away from him, forever….Or so he thought.