chesstotem | For dontthinkabout

“Arthur doesn’t like to grill?” And then she shrugged. “Maybe he’s not the type,” she added with a smile as she toed off her shoes.

"He does, we're just pretty busy. A lot of times we just have to throw something together quickly. We do have bar-be-ques sometimes, though."

“That’s nice.” She gave a nod. “Well, you’re both busy with work and now with the baby.”

"Yeah. But we've been focusing on improving our nutrition, since I found out. I mean, really, when we decided to start trying really, we started paying more attention. I've been taking prenatal vitamins, and we're cooking a lot more fresh, organic foods."

Mary nodded thoughtfully. “I was the same way when I was pregnant with Arthur.”

Ariadne smiled a little. "Of course, it's tough to predict what my cravings will be like. He was giving me crap the other day because I wanted a bacon cheeseburger with extra pickles on it."

Mary laughed. “I remember wanting a scope of chocolate ice cream in a pita.”

"Sounds kind of weird now, but in a couple of months maybe it'll be really palatable. Or I'll want to eat nothing but pasta for two weeks.

My mom says she craved Mexican food with me. Three or four times a week, she said."

“I bet that got a kick out of you.”

Mary bent over her suitcase again and unzipped it. “There’s something I want you to have.”

Ariadne blinked in surprise. "There is?" She couldn't conceal her continuing shock at the changes she was seeing. Only a couple of years ago Mary had been hostile, downright violent, towards her.

“It’s not much and I’m sure you can find a nicer one at a department store, but when I was pregnant with Arthur, I took up knitting and made him this.” She took out a small red bonnet, stood up, and handed it to her.

She carefully took the little bonnet, treating it with almost reverence. "No, this is... it's very nice. Thank you, Mary."

Maybe it was the hormones, on top of everything else, but Ariadne blinked back tears.

Mary smiled slowly and patted her elbow. “There’s a blanket and some booties too somewhere in the house if you wanted those as well.”

"That - " She wiped her eyes with her sleeve a little. "That would be wonderful, Mary, thank you so much."

“You’re welcome,” she said.

There was a knock on the door a moment later before it opened and Arthur walked in with a cup of tea. “Here, your tea’s done,” he said before handing it to Ariadne. “It’s hot so be careful.”

Ariadne swiped the tears away hastily as Arthur came in. "Thanks," she said. "Look what your mother gave us."

“Oh.” His eyes widen a little at the bonnet. “I remember this,” he said as he took it from Ariadne. “You kept it?”

“Of course I did silly,” his mother replied.

"It's wonderful," Ariadne said, sniffling again as she sipped her tea.

He clutched the bonnet in his hand. “You can take a nap mom, before dinner if you’d like.”

“Sure, that’d be nice. Flying always makes me tired.”

He nodded and took Ariadne’s free hand, leading her out of the room and closing the door behind him.

Ariadne continued sniffling into her tea as she perched on a bar stool in the kitchen. "I'm still wondering if it's too good to be true..."

He shrugged and went to pour his own cup.

She tilted her head at him. "Is there something wrong? You've been so quiet."

“I’d rather not make any judgments until the weekend’s over,” he said honestly.

She reached out and gave his hand a squeeze. "Of course. Hey - I love you."

He smiled slowly. “Love you, too.”

For dontthinkabout

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject