Later that evening, he woke up and as he went down the stairs he heard Anton and Marie talking. They were laughing about a story he was telling her, something from his childhood that had her in fits of giggles. It was good to hear her laugh like that, so delighted and childlike. He knew she was happy at that moment and that was better medicine than just about anything.
He stood there for a second, thinking. He’d gone to a private school in New York and then to a prestigious university. He knew doctors all over the world, he’d contact them if it turned out Marie had Parkinson’s. They’d probably know the latest treatments as several of them still contributed to scientific journals. Why hadn’t he thought about that before, he wondered, but dismissed it. Stress of his own was starting to impact him.
He yawned as he started to work his way back down the stairs. It was nice to be relaxed for once, even if he was still on guard. Over the last few days, it had become obvious that they’d know if an intruder came anywhere near the house, especially after the incident with the bear. The sound of those two laughing together in the kitchen was… nice. He’d like more evenings like that.
“And what are you two in here laughing about? Was I snoring that loudly?” He walked up to the fridge to grab a bottle of wine to go with dinner and looked at the pair of them. Marie was still in a fit of giggles and Anton’s face was a mixture of mirth and guilt.
“No. I told her about the time I fell down a roof I was trying to repair when I was younger, and how my pants got stuck on a nail. I hung there for hours, calling out for anyone to notice. Only nobody heard me and I was up there, dangling for hours before my pants finally tore and I plopped down into a pile of snow.”
“Sounds like you were saved then. And like there was more to the story that I need to know.” He pulled the cork out of the wine as Anton filled three bowls and brought them over. He went back for a basket full of hot garlic bread and brought that over too.
Anton started to retell the story to Matteo, who had never heard it, mainly because Anton just didn’t talk about his childhood or anything personal really. But what Matteo paid attention to was how Anton reacted to Marie. She’d drawn him out of his shell, made him feel at home, and got him talking. She was special like that. She could draw stuff out of you and make you feel… good about yourself. It amazed him, it pleased him, and as he took a hunk of bread and dipped it into his goulash, he wondered what other amazing things she had in store for them.
12
“It looks like we’ll be spending our anniversary indoors,” Marie said to him as he came out of the office and into the living room. A long tan sectional sofa ran along the length of one wall and she was cuddled up under a blanket, staring out of the large picture window behind it. The sun was all but down now, the floodlights outside the only illumination once it disappeared completely. Anton had put the floodlights up yesterday, just to add another layer of visibility and security.
He could see large fluffy flakes falling from the gray sky above, loading onto the newly melted snow that had turned the ground sloshy the day before. Now, that layer was ice and the snow that fell on top of it would keep it that way.
“We got out yesterday for more food, at least.” He joined her on the couch and put her feet in his lap. “We’ll go out once the snow has cleared if you’d like to. What would you like to do?”
“Dinner and a movie,” she said after some thought. “I’ve never been to a movie theater.”
“What?” Matteo asked, surprised. “I mean, I know your mom was poor, but she never even took you to a matinee?”
“What’s that?” Marie asked, her face scrunched up as she tried to think of what the word meant.
“It’s an early showing of the movies at the cinema, usually during the day, on the weekends, where it’s cheaper to go in.” He still couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that she’d never been to the movies. “You’ve never had buttered popcorn or nacho cheese while you sit in a room full of people with a large, overly-priced, and watered-down, huge drink of soda in a cupholder at your side?”
“No, but it sounds terrible. I’ve had popcorn here with you, and stuff like that back home, but not in a real theater.”
“Then that’s what you shall have, my love. Once the roads have cleared again.”
The weather was still off and on up there, even after two more weeks in the mountains. It would be bad when the weather changed for good, he thought. They’d have to buy groceries for a month at a time instead of days or a week at a time.
If they were still up here, that is.
“You don’t mind that we can’t go out tonight?” he asked her, his head propped on his right arm as he looked at her.
“Not at all. I’m still spending it with you, aren’t I?”
“That you are.” He patted her legs and looked at the television. She had on a documentary, something about Acadians and how they came to be in Louisiana. He watched it with her while Anton cooked in the kitchen. The man was an amazing cook and had all but taken over cooking duties from them.
At one point, Anton came in, set up two TV trays with tableware and glasses, and not long after, brought in two plates filled with lasagna and garlic bread. All freshly made. “Happy anniversary to you both. I’m going to eat, wash up, and head back up to my room once I’m done. Enjoy your evening.”
“Oh, thank you, Anton,” Marie said brightly with a gleam of pleasure in her eyes. “That means a lot to us.”
“Thanks, man,” Matteo uttered and gave his employee and friend a polite nod. “That’s awfully kind of you.”
“My pleasure.” Anton nodded brusquely and went back towards the kitchen.
“That’s just so sweet of him, to be so considerate knowing we can’t go out tonight.” She stuck her fork into the lasagna and moaned as she took her first bite. “That is gorgeous.”
“It is,” Matteo added but all he could really see was how beautiful she was as she ate. He could have been eating a cardboard box for all he knew, all he could see was Marie and the image of her as she enjoyed something as simple as her dinner.
She had liked the jewelry he bought for her and the clothes, she even had a few sweaters that she really loved, but that was because of how soft and silky the yarn felt. She took pleasure in simple things, and it always brought him back to reality. Life wasn’t about how much you had, it was about how much you enjoyed the things you did have. Marie reminded him of that all the time.
He also just liked to see the pleasure on her face when she really enjoyed something. She was a beautiful young woman, with beautiful oval eyes and full lips, with a nose that suited her face perfectly. She definitely had an Italian look to her, but that could have been her Cajun mother as well.
“Do you know your family’s history?” he asked, curiosity getting the better of him.
“You mean my ancestry?” she replied and sat back a little. Her face took on a faraway look and she looked a little troubled. “I’ve heard different things over the years, well, the years before my mother ran all the family off with the way she shamed us all.”
“I see. What did you find out?” When she looked at him with a quirked eyebrow, he realized it all sounded a little odd. “I’m just curious about what came together to make you so beautiful.”