“You could never do that, Marie.” He pulled into the restaurant they had a reservation at and parked up. With a quick move, he turned to her, took her face in his hands, and looked into her eyes. His eyes were so full of emotion they almost glowed as he stared at her intently. “You are my home, remember?”
“I remember,” she whispered with a watery smile. “And you’re mine.”
She clutched at the necklace he’d given her and her smile strengthened. “Okay, this was supposed to be a fun, carefree night. Let’s stop being grownups now and play a little bit.”
“I think that sounds like the best idea I’ve heard in a long time. Let’s go.”
The dinner went well and before long, they were standing in line to get popcorn and drinks at the snack counter of the theater. Matteo watched her as she looked around.
“Oh my, they have hotdogs, and all that candy…” Her voice trailed off as she looked at the rows and rows of overpriced candy. “It’s so amazing.”
“It is nice, the whole experience,” he agreed, but the charm had worn off for him a long time ago. “I’m looking forward to the movie, it looks like it’s going to be good in the trailers.”
“Let’s hope it’s not one of those where they show the best parts in the trailer and the rest is terrible,” she laughed as they moved up the line.
Before long, they were settled into their seats and he watched as she gazed around the room they were in. “There are so many people.”
She whispered it to him, so he whispered back. “Hopefully they’ve turned their phones off.”
“I hope so.”
The movie started then, and thankfully, the room went quiet. Matteo wanted to watch the movie, but his mind was on other things. She’d missed out on so much. She’d basically been her mother’s prisoner. The only times she’d gone out was to go to school, to go to meetings with social services, and then later, to go on errands for her mother.
Matteo knew how her mother had treated her. She’d opened up to him about some of the things her mother used to tell her, he’d heard it once. Ruby had made Marie her prisoner, her slave, and though he hadn’t made her a slave, he was keeping her prisoner. She was alive right now, as she watched the movie and absently shoved popcorn into her mouth. She was experiencing something he’d come to take for granted.
He’d denied her the chance to go out and do the things she’d wanted. Yeah, he’d done it to keep her safe, but was that any better than what her mother had done to her? He sighed deeply and she turned to him with a quirked eyebrow. He smiled in answer and took her hand.
For a moment, he remembered being a child and how he’d loved to go to the Sunday matinee with his real mother before Celeste took him away. His real mother was someone he rarely thought about now. He’d loved her dearly when he was little and had only wanted to go home to her once Celeste took him. But over the years, after many, many punishments, he’d learned to stop asking for her.
She’d become an alcoholic over time. She’d learned to hide her pain behind a haze of alcohol. It had allowed her to bury the guilt over letting Celeste take him, of being weak and powerless. He knew he should try to rebuild a relationship with her, to heal the wound it had left in him, but he felt like Marie was healing all of that. Maybe one day, when this was all over and Celeste was no longer a problem, he could go and see her.
And maybe he’d take Marie back to New York. Hiding out here made keeping her safe much easier, but was it really what she needed? She’d said it so many times now, but he hadn’t heard her. She needed to breathe, to be free, to experience life. She was safe here, but was she alive?
He put his arm around her, and she cuddled closer to him. The ecstatic smile she wore made his heart melt. “Can we stay for another one?”
“If I wasn’t worried about snow, I’d say yes. But we need to head back once it’s finished.”
“I understand.” She leaned over to kiss him and went back to watching the movie.
Yeah, maybe it would be best to take her back. She needed to talk to her counselor some more, and he knew she wanted to see her doctor. She was worried, and he had to admit, he was concerned about the tremors, the restless nights she had, and maybe a doctor’s assurance would help. That had to be weighing her mind down too, worrying that she was going to end up like her mother.
Well, she could never be like her mother. She wasn’t made from the same cloth, even if they did share genes. Marie would overcome anything that came her way, she always had before. She’d get through this too. He’d be there every step of the way.
He decided to talk to Anton and see what he thought. If they could keep her safe in New York, he’d take her back to the city and let her run wild if she wanted to.
15
When they got home Matteo kissed Marie and headed into the kitchen to talk to Anton. She wasn’t sure what it was about, but they often had these little talks, so she went up to the bathroom to shower before bed. He’d been acting strange since they left the theater, lost in his own thoughts.
She thought, perhaps, their discussion before they’d arrived for dinner had set him to thinking. Her goal hadn’t been to depress him or make him feel sorry for her, she hadn’t even had a goal. He’d asked questions and she’d answered as best she could. She wanted to share with him, and he’d even done a bit of sharing of his own.
There was no use worrying over it, so she showered, put on some warm pajamas, and went to bed. He came up after a while and she asked him if he wanted to watch something.
“Yeah, find something funny. I’d like to end the night laughing with you.” He winked at her before he went to the bathroom.
She found a new comedy on Netflix and had everything ready for him when he came back in.
“I went down and got you a bottle of water and some apple juice.” He held both bottles up and she took them with a grateful smile.
“I’ll be up all night if I drink both of those.” She put them on a napkin she’d put there to protect the nightstand from moisture.
“I wasn’t sure which you’d want. I’ll take the one you don’t want.”
She handed over the apple juice and opened the water. He settled into bed and pulled her to him, with his arm over her shoulders. “What are we watching then?”
She told him the plot of the movie. He seemed to like it, so she put it on. She stayed awake for the first hour, but by the time the movie was almost done she was almost asleep. She had turned over, onto her right side away from him, because she just couldn’t keep her eyes open anymore.
“Marie?” he asked quietly, as if afraid to wake her but needing to talk to her.
“What, babe?” She reached back and took his hand in hers.
“Do you want to go back to New York?” The question came just as quietly but she heard him.
“What?” She rolled over, awake now. “Back to New York? But there’s still someone after me, isn’t there?”
“I talked with Anton. We can work out a way to keep you protected there: keep guards with you, change routes when you go somewhere, keep security tight. It will be a challenge, but if you want to go home, we can.” He turned to her and she touched his face, a little rough now at the end of the night.