Page 24 of Mafia’s Dirty Secret

When she opened her eyes, the sun was just coming up. Her body was sore and a few places throbbed, but she didn’t mind. She stretched under the blanket, the cold air-conditioned climate a luxury she had never experienced before. She knew it was part of the reason she’d slept so well. The other reason was still warm and asleep beside her.

She slid out of the bed and made her way out of the room. She found a bathroom behind the door just down from Matteo’s bedroom. She did her business, took a shower, and slipped back into his room to dress. When she finished, she went to the side of the bed and kissed him softly on the cheek.

He jerked awake his eyes wide on hers. “Oh, it’s you.” He smiled and cleared his throat as he pushed his torso off the bed. “Is it time for you to go?”

“It is. I have to get home to Mom now, and let the nurse go.” She brushed the hair out of his face and kissed his forehead. “Thank you. Text me later, when you’re awake again, okay?”

“You know it, baby. Be careful driving home.” His hands lingered on her cheek but then fell away as sleep took him again.

Marie’s smile was happy as she left the bedroom. It was still in place when she retrieved her shoes from the living room. And when she got in the car. It was only as she started the car up and drove away that the smile began to dim on her face.

When her house came into view, the smile disappeared completely. She hated the way she dreaded walking into the house, but she had to. She pulled in, stopped the car, and got out. The nurse met her at the door and Marie’s smile returned at last.

“Sleep well?” the woman asked with a cheerful gleam in her eye.

“I did actually,” Marie answered, and wondered why. She felt some kind of kinship with this woman. Maybe it was something that came with caretakers of the elderly and disabled. You bonded more quickly, maybe? Or maybe it was just that the woman knew what life was like outside of work and was happy that Marie had finally got to experience it too. It didn’t really matter, either way, she knew the woman was pleased for her. “How was she, Regina?”

“She was fine, really. She watched TV until around midnight, then she went to sleep. She’s still asleep now.” Regina was tall, a little on the chubby side, but it suited her frame. She was pretty, Marie thought, but she could tell the woman would be tough when she needed to be.

“Are you kidding me?” Her mother hadn’t slept through an entire night in years. Marie sat down at the kitchen table and Regina went to the coffee pot. She held it up and Marie nodded. Regina poured them both coffee and sat down at the table. A tray in the middle of the table held coffee creamer and sugar, but Marie only used creamer.

“She asked for her sleeping pill at around 11, so I gave her that, and she’s slept ever since.” Regina held up part of a blanket she’d been knitting. “This didn’t exist when you left earlier if that tells you anything.”

“Wow. Usually, she manages to fight off the sleeping pills, and that just makes her crankier. I can’t believe she slept like that.” Marie felt a pang of resentment towards her mother. Did her mother fight off sleep just to mess with Marie and now that there was a nurse, she settled down?

“It happens like that sometimes. Patients react differently to different people. It’s not really a reflection on you, mind, it’s just the way it happens. I’ve read your notes about your days with her, and how you’ve managed to cope, I’ll never know. Especially when she’s abusive towards you.”

As an employee of the program that paid her to care for her mother 8 hours a day, Marie had to fill out paperwork, make reports and note anything that happened during the hours of her shift. She had to send in copies of it all at the end of the month, but she’d kept the originals at the house. She’d never expected anyone to read them, mainly because nobody ever replied to her about the reports or the notes. Knowing Regina had embarrassed her a little and she looked way.

“It’s not so bad,” Marie muttered, too ashamed to look back at the woman.

“It is, but there’s nothing you can do about it, and you can’t retaliate. It can be hard to deal with, but you seem to cope.” Regina’s voice was filled with sympathetic understanding. Marie risked a glance up and saw that same sympathy written all over Regina’s face.

“It’s just how it is,” Marie shrugged. She didn’t really want to talk about it with anyone, not even Regina.

“Well, if you ever need help, or want to talk, I’m always willing to listen.” Regina finished her coffee and stood up. “I need to check on her and do my own report. I’ll see you in a bit.”

Marie nodded and smiled her gratitude. When she finished her coffee, she went to her room, changed into her normal shorts and t-shirt, and came back out to make breakfast. The air was already hot outside and inside, the temperature started to climb.

She searched around in a drawer until she found a hair clip she kept stashed there and put her hair up. When Regina came back in, bags in hand and ready to go, Marie had a pile of pancakes and bacon ready. “Want some breakfast?”

“Sure, then I really should get home. My husband needs to be up for work in an hour and I have to get my girl off to school.”

“Oh, what’s your husband do?” It was just small-talk, but it was nice to have someone to talk to in the morning. She could get used to that. The fact that Regina didn’t judge her early morning arrival home was nice, too. Marie smiled as she brought maple and blueberry syrup to the table.

“He’s a home health nurse too, he just works a different shift, and fewer hours, so one of us can be home with Beth, my daughter.” Regina poured the blueberry syrup Marie had made herself over the pancakes on her plate and dug in.

“It sounds like a good plan,” Marie said, simply to have something to say.

“It works for us. This syrup is beautiful.” She took a sip of the orange juice Marie sat in front of her and smiled with pleasure. “So good, all of it.”

“Thanks, I made the syrup. The store-bought kind is just too expensive.” Marie dug into her own food and the table went quiet.”

“Well, thank you for that. I hate to rush, but I really must go now.” Regina stood up, gave Marie a wink, and headed for the door. “I hope you have something wonderful planned for tonight. I’ll be back around 7:45.”

“Oh! For a minute there, I forgot you were coming back! I’ll see you then.” Marie blinked and stood up with a grateful face. “I can’t thank you enough.”

“It’s my pleasure, Marie. See you tonight.”