Mustard and Love 7

“Bye, bye,” Tony called and followed Isabella to the car, where she strapped him into the child’s seat.

At home, she prepared a light lunch of tomato soup and sandwiches.

 It would be best to take Tony with her to her, dare she say it?, date with Brett. Maybe that would scare him off. But she had to admit, it felt good to be seen as a desirable woman by a handsome and even rich guy. And maybe he and Tony would hit it off. In any case, she’d be able to see how those two reacted to each other. That could tell her a lot about Brett.

She carried two plates with tuna sandwiches to the table and poured the soup into two bowls. Tony climbed onto his booster seat, obviously hungry. Isabella helped Tony say grace and they dug in.

“Did you have a good time?” she asked Tony.

“Yes Mamma. I shared with Mike.” Between bites of his sandwich, he told her of his day.

Her thoughts were wandering. It was good to see Tony so happy at the Happy Tots childcare. She remembered when he was born. When she came home with the baby, Fermnando had the house smothered in red roses. A large banner hung on the living room wall, over the fireplace. She’d almost dropped the baby when she realized what was written on it. One arm snugly holding Tony, she threw her other arm around Fernando. “Yes, I will! I truly want to marry you!”

“Even though I’m still in school and don’t have a job yet?”

She nodded between kissing his cheek and mouth.

He held her close, one arm around the arm with which she held the baby. “I’ll do my best to work enough so you don’t have to. And when I’m done with my graduate work, it will be possible that we’ll become very rich.”

His last words drowned in kisses.

That had been three years ago. Shortly after that wonderful day, Fernando hadn’t come home, and a week later all of his clothes and a lot of his other belongings had disappeared.

She’d never heard from him again. Her inquiries at the university had come to nothing, also. He had disappeared, probably because he couldn’t handle a ready-made family.

Isabella sighed. She ate the last of her soup, rose and cleaned up the dishes and Tony. “We’ll be going out for a little while,” she told him. “You can have an ice cream if you want.”

Tony threw his chubby arms around her. “Nice! Can I have strawberry?”

She hugged him back, glad she had decided to take him with her. “Anything you want sweetheart. Let’s go.”