Breakfast

“One thing before I go to sleep” Mary said.

“Yes?”

“I have written my letter, what do I do now?” she wondered, looking at her letter.

“Ah, you fold it in half, then you turn it and fold it in half the other way” Kopa told her, and she did as he instructed.

“Good, then you take another sheet of paper and fold it around it for protection. Can I show you?” he asked her. As Mary already had folded her letter, there was no way for him to see what was written so she nodded.

Kopa showed her how to fold the protective paper. It left her with a flap of paper that didn’t stay down.

“That is where you put your wax seal.” Kopa explained. “That way you know no one has opened it. Either, you have a stamp with your trademark, or coat of arms, on it that you push into the hot wax. Or if you don’t have one of those, you use a regular plain stamp.” he continued.

“I forgot to get you some. I can take it downstairs and use my seal this time. I promise that I won’t read your letter. Then I can send it tomorrow” Kopa offered.

“Yes please, I don’t mind if you read it. I trust you” Mary told him with a smile.

“That is kind of you. But you are old enough to have your own life” he said. “Now, milk and then bed”. Mary was on the verge of responding with ‘Yes dad’ but caught herself lest minute.

“Yes Kopa, thanks again and god night”

“Good night, Mary, sweet dreams. You know where to find us if you need anything” he said as he walked out and closed the door behind him.

Mary sipped on the milk as she sat in front of the fireplace and watched the night descend over the garden. She then got ready and crawled into bed. If it was the milk, or if she was spent from all the new things, she didn’t know. But once she lay down beneath her blankets, she dosed off almost at once.

The morning came and Mary woke up to birds chirping outside her window. She smiled as she let herself sink further into her bed. She felt a peace. After listening to the birds for a while she got up and got ready before heading down to the kitchen.

In the kitchen Bettina was sitting at the table with a cup of tea.

“Good morning” Mary greeted.

“Good morning, Mary. You’re up early today” Bettina said with one of her smiles.

“I’m used to get up early to start breakfast in the kitchen. This is actually quite late for me” she answered with a smile of her own.

“Feel free to sleep in if you want. You don’t have to be up this early. But If you want, you can help me with breakfast, Kopa will be down any moment”

“I would love to, what do you usually have for breakfast?” Mary asked as she realised that she hadn’t eaten breakfast since she arrived.

“When it’s just me I usually just make some porridge with butter, milk and honey. But Kopa likes something a bit fuller. So, when he’s home I go all out with eggs, ham, onions, pickled komqer melon and cheese. Or we have boiled eggs, pickled fish, bread and cheese.” she answered Mary.

“I haven’t tried pickled fish, but I can get started with eggs, ham and onions” Mary said whilst starting to prepare.

“I will help you” Bettina said.

“No, no. You can sit and enjoy your tea. Let some one else do the cooking for once. I know what a luxury it is to eat something that you haven’t helped to prepare” Mary said happily as she sliced the onion.

“If you say so” Bettina said a bit hesitant.

When Kopa came downstairs he found Mary cooking breakfast while Bettina sat, relaxing, at the table with a cup of tea. She looked like she enjoyed sitting there, chatting with Mary. He smiled. This was a good thing, his wife deserved to be able to sit back and enjoy life. This is how it should be, he thought before greeting the two women.

Mary was happy that she could help by cooking breakfast. She felt useful and she had fun cooking. She realised that she had missed it. In no time she had three plates of a full breakfast set on the table along with cups of water and a pot of tea.

“It looks delicious” Kopa said before he started eating.

“It tastes amazing” Bettina said after the first bite.

“Thank you. It’s just breakfast, it’s hard to fail” Mary said.

“You would think that, wouldn’t you” Bettina said, giving Kopa a sideway glance. Mary saw how Kopa squirmed uneasy in his seat.

“What?” she asked.

“Don’t” Kopa begged.

“You see, when we were first married, my lovely husband felt I needed a break from cooking.” Bettina started, ignoring Kopas plead. “He decided to make me breakfast and snuck down to the kitchen. When I woke up, I could smell something burning so I sprinted downstairs and found him trying to hammer out burnt eggs from my favourite skillet”

Mary did her best to suppress a giggle at the story.

“You think that would be the worst of it. But he also had tried to toast bread, but with the egg-situation he forgot them over the fire and by the time I came in to the kitchen, they were black and so dry that they almost caught fire. Then there was the fact that despite him only cracking some eggs, slicing bread, and started to slice onions, he had the kitchen looking like a disaster.” Bettina shook her head as if she still couldn’t believe it.

“It took me an hour cleaning up his mess, and then I still had to cook breakfast. He’s been band from using the kitchen ever since. It was a sweet attempt, but my nerves just can’t handle that.”

Mary couldn’t contain herself any longer and started laughing. Kopa looked devastated and switched his eyes between the two women, until finally settling on looking at his plate. Bettina joined in Mary’s laugh but leaned into her husband and gave him an affectionate peck on his cheek.

“So don’t sell your breakfast short. It’s amazing and I appreciate it” Bettina said. Mary smiled and nodded.

They sat eating and chatting for a while. Kopa told them that he would be heading out to se if he could find someone to take Mary’s letter to Domne.

“What do you say Mary, are you ready to get some dresses?” Bettina asked.

“I don’t have any money at the moment” Mary confessed, feeling uncomfortable.

“Of course, you don’t, and why would you need them. You’re a part of our family, so Kopa will pay for it” Bettina said and Kopa nodded.

“Oh no, I couldn’t ask you to do that” Mary said shaking her head.

“You can and you will” Kopa said and then he gave Bettina a questioning look. She nodded at him.

“Mary, we have something we want to talk to you about, and I want you to remember what I said when I asked you to live with us. Do you remember how I asked you to be honest?”