A Different Kind of Love by R.A. Padmos

http://www.manifoldpress.co.uk/2012/04/unspoken/

 Thanks so much, Cerise, for your formidable hospitality.

Sometimes love is welcomed with open arms and a big smile, and sometimes… not so much.

Meet Stefan Doffer, a man who unexpectedly falls head over heels in love with another man.  There’s just this minor detail of being married and having a family of three small children.

If Unspoken had been situated in modern times, it would be possible to deal with this complicated situation in a nice and civilised manner. It happens often enough individuals discover their true sexual nature at a later age and many gay or bi men are fine parents who stay good friends with their ex-wives.

But, Unspoken is situated in the nineteen-thirties in a Dutch town and Stefan is a jobless working class man. Society isn’t exactly accepting of same-sex attraction and with little money, the possibility of creating a nice little alternative beside the official marriage is also extremely limited.

Staying loyal to both a promise made and to a love that hardly dares to whisper its name isn’t easy…

If you give a reaction to this post, you make a chance to a copy of Unspoken. I do need your e-mail address, however, to send you the e-book.

A short excerpt of Unspoken: (Copyright 2012, R.A. Padmos, All rights reserved.)

Adri put the money into the outstretched hand of the woman. Stefan wanted to snatch the coins back from the pocket of her apron and run away; there was too much unsafe distance between this place and the marital bed he called his own.

She looked sharply at them before she ushered them up the stairs, opened the bedroom door and showed them in. "I want you out within the hour. Your kind doesn't need half that time, so I'm not buying any excuses."

The room had nothing about it worth noticing or mentioning. There was a bed, a chair, a small table with a water jug and bowl. It all looked reasonably clean, although Stefan doubted Marije would agree with him on that. She certainly would have told him to whitewash the ceiling, find some cheap wallpaper, and what could a bit of paint for the door and skirting boards possibly cost if he asked for leftovers?

"I found this place via an acquaintance. One of us, of course. A good address, I promise you." Adri didn't seem to notice Stefan's doubts, but perhaps it was a good address in comparison with a stairwell or a public urinal. "She can get into serious trouble with the police for this; she must really need the money. Or perhaps she's a tough one, who pretends to have no idea what's going on."

"I can't do this. Can we please leave?" Stefan sat on the bed. There was something undeniably dirty about the room, though he doubted it had anything to do with washing soda and soft soap. The thought of undressing to surrender to his lover's caresses seemed unbearable in this environment.

"I know this isn't the bridal suite of a luxury hotel, but they wouldn't accept us anyway. It's this and not much else, if we want to do it laying down from time to time." Adri knelt down and loosened the laces of Stefan's shoes.

Stefan didn't stop him, accepting the facts for what they were.

Adri told him to lay down and started to explore his body as if it was the very first time he had seen Stefan naked. His hands travelled over shoulders, chest, belly, arms and legs like a blind man discovering the reality of a body not his own. He spread his fingers wide to touch as much skin as possible at the same time, kneaded muscles, weighed the scrotum in the palm of his hand, pulled the foreskin down, pressed on the skin between penis and anus, pulled the cheeks apart, pressed a finger inside.

"What are you doing, man?"

"I'm scared as hell I'll forget you," Adri explained, but what was that supposed to mean?

"Forget?"

Adri's hands kept on moving and touching. "Don't think about it, redhead."

Unspoken is available at Manifold Press. http://www.manifoldpress.co.uk/2012/04/unspoken/

My blog: http://rapadmos.wordpress.com/