Maryanne
I step into the dark blue bathing suit. I twist myself looking at the small open back design in the full length mirror. I've only owned one of these in my entire life. Often times I went swimming in my under wear or nothing at all. My dad said it was better than getting my clothes wet.
I find myself skipping through the hallway, making my way to the big folding doors leading to the backyard. It is wide open—letting the early june breeze shift through the house. I can't wait to get in the pool. I haven't gone swimming in years.
The trail of concrete squares guide me to the pool. I step on the short trimmed grass, circling the long rectangle surrounded by stone concrete and filled with tropical blue water- miniature fountains spraying out on both sides and a wall with a waterfall in the back . I inhale and I can't smell any chemicals. Dario said that's because it's a saltwater pool. I decide to start off on the deep end. Sitting at the edge I dip my foot in. Suddenly, I am stopped from putting my whole body in.
"Honey, put sunscreen on before you get in!" Angeline shouts. I can see her standing inside the house from my point of view.
I don't understand. Why do I need sunscreen?
"I'm okay. I don't need it" I stated and attempting to go in again. Next thing I know, she's rushing my way with something in her hand. She is gently pulling me her way.
"I prefer you do," She says. I flinch at the cold feeling of the white cream she is rubbing on my skin. I move away before it touches my face.
"Come on sweetheart, let mo-me put some on your face. I don't want the sun to damage your pretty skin. It's likely you wont burn, but it's for protection".
I cross my arm over my chest, allowing her to put it on.
"Okay, you can go. Don't go too deep. Dario should be coming to join you any minute,". She states.
"I know how to swim. Angeline," I roll my eyes. Before she can debate, Dario comes out of the guest house wearing yellow swimming shorts—clasping his hands together. He's seems more excited than I am.
"Did you put sunscreen on?" Angeline ask him.
"Of course!" he says, doing a professional looking dive into the water. He resurface and call me into the water. I cannon ball in, the water surrounding my whole body I emerge. The two braid weights down on my back.
"Are you joining us?" Dario ask.
"Not today, But I'll be watching you".
We spend our time playing in the pool. Angeline hangs out with us a little bit smiling taking pictures and video on her phone before she heads back to make us lunch. Dario has games for us. We play catch with an inflatable beach ball he found in the guest house. He challenges to see how long we can hold your breath under water. Of course wins by two minutes. I've haven't had this much fun in the water in a long time...
"Mary are you okay?" his pushes his dripping wet hair. His green eyes holding concern.
I shake out of my trance, "Mhm.Dario can we have a race?".
He shows a knowing grin, "I don't know... I don't know if you can handle losing to me".
"I'll be okay with losing to an old man". He gasps.
Moral of the story, I lost and it's all because of my little legs. Angeline comes back with a tray of homemade sandwiches, a bowl of fruit, chips and juice. She set it on the table of the outdoor patio. She joins us around the time Dario decides to lift me up and throw me in the water. My ears clogged with water, until I hear a gasp. I come up wiping my eyes and laughing.
"Dario, be careful with her!" She yells.
"She's alright. Look!" he point to me.
"It doesn't matter. She's a girl not a doll. Anything happens to her, I'm putting you in the dog house,"She warn. Having both hands on her hips.
They have a dog?
"It didn't my dear. Calm down. If it makes you happy I won't do it again."
"Please..." her blue eyes linger on his. Dario put his hand over his chest.
"Thank you. Alright you two, when I come back I expect to see you out and eating".
"Yes ma'am," we say. She smiles and blew kisses to us. We wait until she's in the house and out of sight.
"One more for today, okay?" he says.
"Yes!" I giggle. Dario puts a finger over his lips to shush me. I gape my hand over my mouth.
He's so cool.
-||-
We were back in the pool after thirty minutes of eating and waiting for the food to digest. We had to keep the playing to a minimum, now that angeline is on our backs. Dario showed me a few swimming techniques to help me swim longer distances without running out of breath.
Later, both kittens come out of the house to watch us swim. Lola is near the pool and Frenchie is a few feet behind, laying on the grass. Lola gets her face close to water, dipping her paw in.
"Princess Lola, get away from the pool. Your mama would be very upset if you fell in." Dario warn, gliding through the water to get Lola to back away. What we didn't see coming is the sliver tabby run and smacks the shaded cream cat from behind, forcing her to fall headfirst into the pool. Dario and I immediately come to her rescue. The kitten starts paddling to safety. She struggles to climb out of the pool. Dario gives her a boost. She trot away, shaking off the water that has flattened her fur. I couldn't help but laugh hearing Dario fuss about warning her. Being around cats makes me realize how silly they can be.
Angeline was in fact upset. Mostly from the fact that she had to give Lola a bath after she had just taken her to the groomers. I showered and she helped me wash my hair. I kept a towel around me, so she couldn't see my lady parts. Now, we sitting on the couch in the outdoor patio. I close my eyes, enjoying the air the ceiling fan is blowing out. I'm feeling the after effects of spending a lot of time playing in the water. My head is resting on her lap as she massages my scalp. Angeline is on the phone with her mother. I'm zoning out because the majority of their conversation is spoken in Italian.
"Wow. Che Bella! Ci sentiamo dopo. Buonanotte mamma!" She says as the phone call ends. Some days I wish I knew what she was saying. Maybe one day I can ask her to teach me.
She continues to run her fingers through my hair for a little bit. She stays silent until I move my leg that is falling asleep. She has her nose up to my hair."Wanna go to the grocery store with me?" She whispers rubbing my back.
"Yeah," I whisper back.
"Okay sweets. Get ready," she kisses the side of my head. I get up from her lap, dragging my feet into the house.
-|||-
Grocery shopping is better than shopping for clothes in my opinion. You don't have to try on things or spend a ton of time debating if you should buy it or not. I think Angeline enjoys it too. Whenever she comes across a specific food item she explains what it is and how it tastes. I'm had the honor of carrying around the grocery list she made prior. She says it's enticing to write it on paper rather than storing it on the phone.
"I only came to get a few things for dinner tonight,". She says "I need the greens for the salad" she thinks to herself.
"It says Ar-ugg-ulla?" I read the word under the title named 'salad'.
"Arugula. Yes." She smiles at me. She pushes the cart to the aisle, where all the greens and salads are located. This store reminds me of the farmers market, except bigger, has a more variety of foods, and it's inside a building. Down the other asle a random curvy, dark hair and dark blue eyed woman in mid thigh shorts, stares at us for a while until Angeline looks her way.
"Angeline, how are you!" She pushes her cart in our direction.
"Hey, Millie I've been great. And yourself". She casually says.
"Good! It's been a while, I haven't seen you at the mission, lately," I look in her cart, she has a lot of stuff in there.
"Busy, that's all. I'm been meaning to come out sometime this month," Angeline nods.
"-and who is this sweetheart? Hello," she grin. I wave at her.
"This is my...foster daughter Maryanne," she stammer out.
"Oh Angie. I didn't know you were fostering. I would have never thought. After all you been through" Angeline displays a tight lip smile and she looks uncomfortable."I'm so happy for you, is there any chance you are going to--,".
"We'd like to keep that private, for certain reasons," she add.
"I completely understand. she's a beauty by the way" her gaze land on me, "You're such a pretty girl," I quietly respond with a 'thank you'. now I'm uncomfortable "Is your number the same or did you change it?".
"Nope. It's still the same".
"Okay I'll call you, so we can hang out some time and introduce the kids. If you don't mind".
"Probably in the later future. Maryanne is still adjusting. I don't want to expose her to a lot of people so quickly," Angeline rubs my shoulder. It lingers there for a while.
"Of course, I will leave you to finish your shopping. catch you later" she whisks out. "Goodbye pretty girl" she smiles and walks away.
Angeline exhales and looks back at me, "Can you tell me what is next on the list?".
"Umm," I glance at the paper still in my hands that has somehow got crumbled at the bottom. "Dark chocolate".
I'm uncertain about how long we were in the store, but I was starting to shut down. My eyes are watering as I'm yawning every time we move to another section. We land in a colder aisle causing me to shiver with goosebumps. Angeline rubs both of my arms to bring me warmth."Sweetheart. You didn't have to come with me. I know you're tired".
"I want to be with you," I say. Immediately she turns to me and her eyes lit up. Lately, I thought hard about the way I've been acting towards her. I want to show her that I do care, I want to try.
"And I love you being with me," she kisses my cheek. I bury my face near her armpit. I love the smell of her perfume.
"What are you doing, honey?" she sniffles a laugh.
"Nothing," I say sheepishly. Good thing, my face never gets red.
Once we collected everything on the list, Angeline told me I am in charge of dessert. Without delay, I picked out a baked apple pie—the pretty one you see on Tv because I always wanted to try one. She said it goes perfect with ice cream.
Angeline pays for the groceries, and we go to her car. I sat in the car as she put the reusable bags in the trunk. I dozed off and haven't realized she's back in the car driving out of the parking lot until I felt us moving. It startled me.
"Close your eyes. Piccola. All that swimming tired you out .Huh?". I nod and close my heavy eyes once again. I shift my body to lay my head against the car door.
I don't remember anything else, except being lifted out of the car by Dario's stronger arms. I him by the smell of his cologne.
"You tired her out, love. How am I supposed to wake her up when it's time to eat? ". I can hear the disappointment in her voice.
"It works every time".
●●●
"Who do you think she looks like?" The young woman asks her partner as she holds the baby up to her, sitting on the black couch of their apartment.
"I think she look like you," gestured at the small baby."She has your face, but she gets her skin color from me," the young man boasts.
"I don't see it, she looks more like you," she hummed and continued to stroke the newborn's silky skin. It's been over a month since the tiny one was born.
"Where were you yesterday? I needed help with the baby. You show up five in the morning laid out on sofa. What happened?" She asked, staring strangely at the young man that stood beside her.
"I thought we discussed this already babe, It was a long day at work, after I had a few drinks at the bar and ended up crashing at a friend's place," he explained.
"You could have called at least. I almost thought you abandoned us," she looks down at the baby dressed in a light grey onesie. She caught a glimpse of the newborn smiling in her sleep. She gleamed with joy at the sight."Look babe, she's smiling," she cooed.
"Let me hold her," he held his hands out and she gently placed the baby in his arms.
"That's daddy's baby," he rubs the soft curls carful,of her the new born soft spot. Then the baby gives an aching cry and started coughing.
"What's wrong, munchkin?, he observed the baby. "babe why is she coughing?" He asked.
"I don't know, it only started this morning". The baby cough again—her little body jolted.
"You need to put a blanket on her or something, she's shaking". The mother throw him the soft blanket.
"What was that for?!".
"I know how to take care of her. I gave birth to her, remember. But I guess you weren't there to witness that". The baby starts fussing and crying.
"I'm not going to argue with you. It's the hormones talking...see she's doing it again. When was the last time you fed her?".
"The last hour, but she wasn't eating a lot" .
"Then try again. With all this fussing she must be hungry".
"I don't appreciate you demanding me".
"You need to start taking better care of the baby. Just moments ago you were completely inattentive to her. Who knows how long she's had that cough?".
"You are no better. Give me my baby. I will take care of her myself, if I have to".
"Here," he aggressively shoved baby in her arms.
"Ma sei matta?! you could have injured her,". She yelled.
He ignored her as he walked away. She pasted the little ones but to stop her from fussing, "What's the matter, my love are you hungry?". The baby carried on with a hiccup. "Can you go make her a bottle, please," she reached out to her partner.
"Like you said, you can take care of her yourself".