At first, Marcus didn’t recognize her. How often does a beautiful woman come up to you with her arms full of meat pies and a basket of vegetables and eggs? Marcus had been playing the baby, making the bunny candy leap up and down her arms and onto her nose, when a familiar voice had called, “I’m back.”
Aurelia had instantly turned away from Marcus, holding out her arms and babbling happily, but Marcus was, at first, confused. It only took him a moment to place her, but in that moment he saw her as a completely different person. Mulberry had always been pretty, in Marcus’ opinion, but this woman was beautiful, with her hair neat and a clean dress that actually suited her figure. The only thing that marked her as someone’s properly, rather than a free woman, was the shortness of her hair. It was now cropped neatly all around to chin length, a dark, soft bob that framed her face, making it look rounder, a little fuller, and even slightly happier, though perhaps that last was just the result of her smile.
Mulberry walked over to Marcus and Aurelia, setting down the eggs and the vegetables and the pies. She reached and scooped up Aurelia, who laughed and allowed herself to be hugged.
“Oh, it’s you,” Marcus commented, feeling stupid.
“Still waiting on Petro?” Mulberry asked, as Marcus handed her a candy.
“Yup,” he replied, “I sure hope he gets us a good place.”
She happily popped the candy in her mouth, then spit it out.
“Ugh, what’s the matter with this?! It tastes of . . . I don’t know what!”
“Darn. That was the one Aurelia was playing with! She may have dropped it. In the dirt.”
Mulberry spent the next quarter hour at the nearby well, washing her mouth out.