The Kidnapper's Wife

40. Before

I will admit, camping in the Poconos is not quite what I had in mind for my perfect, romantic honeymoon. But apparently, Connor has had his heart set on a camping honeymoon since he was a boy, he thinks it will be so romantic to spend the time after the expensive and elaborate wedding to "return to our roots" and "live off the land", taking the time to focus in on each other rather than on "extraneous activities or material possessions."

When he pitched me the idea, although I could see the romance in the experience, I still wasn't sold. I've always pictured my honeymoon somewhere perfect and picturesque, full of beaches, fruity drinks, and days spent lying in the sand. I tried to convince Connor that we could get down with nature on rainforest hikes on a tropical island in the Caribbean, but he was insistent that we wouldn't be really roughing it.

In the end, we reached a compromise: a week spent traipsing through the backcountry of Pennsylvania in exchange for spending the following week in Hawaii, swimming with dolphins and climbing volcanoes. I'm not sure how I'm going to make it through, but I'm trying my hardest. I know it will be worth it when I have a pina colada in hand poolside, eyes on a giant sea turtle. By that point, I'll have forgotten all about this awful week. Or that's what I'm telling myself.

What makes it worse is that Connor doesn't want to stay in one place during our hiking week, no, he wants to spend each day hiking, canoeing, or otherwise traveling to a new destination. It's not that I have a problem with the exercise, in fact I'm excited at the opportunity for additional calories burned before rocking my bikini, but I have a hard time not having a "home base", where I can spread out all my stuff and temporarily move myself in. Not to mention that the fact we're on the move means I've had to severely limit my luggage on this adventure.

The only bright spot is that we aren't tent camping. Connor was the one who suggested we stay in cabins instead, and I was quick to agree to the concept of walls between myself and the wild animals.

Although I love hiking, I've never been much more outdoorsy than that, and this is actually my first time camping, (although I've been told that staying in cabins isn't "real camping"). I thought it would be harder, but so far it isn't too awful. The cabins all have communal bathrooms, at my insistence, so nothing is too isolated. Although for some reason Connor is trying to prove something to either me or himself and refusing to use the provided plumbing system.

I don't care what he does though, I'm all about my daily hot shower, and they even have plugs for me to charge my various electronic devices, something I've found out the cabins are lacking. My kindle is the main thing getting me through this, it turns out when camping, there's a lot of downtime in which to catch up on all my favorite authors latest offerings. Sure, I can't get a tan like I can when reading at the beach, but it could be worse.

Today, we hiked for 10 miles. At the five mile mark, Connor wanted to take a break to hunt. Something I am not aware of him ever doing.

"Why?" I kept asking, incredulously, "We brought food."

"I just want to try it!" he told me brightly, setting off in his brand new camouflage outfit.

He came back two hours later with an empty gun and a longer face than when he left.

"Little harder than you thought huh?" I teased him as he scowled at me.

"I'll get the hang of it by the end of the week." he vowed, as I rolled my eyes.

We reached the first cabin at around four today, our first day of our honeymoon. The place is sparse, with two bunkbeds and a small table being the only furniture inside.

Connor spent the first hour we were here chatting with our closest neighbor a few cabins down. He wanted to know all about him, after learning that he's a "permanent camper." Basically, he's an unemployed retiree who spends his time traveling from campsite to campsite hunting, gathering, and spending time in nature. Connor was enthralled.

When we finally managed to say goodnight to our neighbor, Connor quickly set up a bonfire outside, and is currently out there, cooking our dinner. He tried to get me to collect firewood for the fire, but after my fifth scream at thinking I saw a snake under a branch I was picking up, he relented and told me to go hang out inside.

I'm fairly certain the freeze-dried packets he produced from his bag will not transform into anything edible, so I'm glad I brought some snacks of my own to hold me over, like the raisins I'm currently chowing down on. I noticed this campground has a vending machine as well, something I fully plan to take advantage of, maybe when Connor is asleep or otherwise distracted.

While he's playing explorer, I'm scrolling through our wedding photos again and again. Of course, the professional ones aren't ready yet, but a lot of our guests took pictures on their phones, and I just can't get over how magical the day was. I don't think I'll ever get tired of seeing the smiles on all of our faces, and the look in Connor's eyes, the way he's looking at me with utter devotion.

"Jade!" Connor is calling to me, "Dinner is ready!"

Outside, he presents me with a collapsable bowl filled with something that minimally resembles spaghetti and meatballs. When I take my first bite, I'm surprised. It tastes pretty good considering how it looks. In fact, it tastes better than some home-made spaghetti I've tried (my sister's for example).

Connor laughs at the look on my face, "Not as bad as you were expecting huh?"

"It's not bad." I admit reluctantly. I've been trying not to have an attitude all day, knowing that marriage is about compromise and this trip is important to Connor. But when I got hungry for dinner with two miles left to go, I couldn't help but let some of my annoyance leak out.

Connor puts his arm around me and laughs, "Maybe you can be a rugged girl after all!"

"Don't get your hopes up," I raise my eyebrows at him, "I'm only here to get my beach week out of you."