The convenient marriage

Chapter 42. An interrupted family time

The delicious food displayed in geometric shapes on just as beautiful plates, looked almost like an art work, making Aria unwilling to take a bite and disturb the beautiful arranged vegetables and steak. Though at the same time her mouth was already watery in expectance to taste the appetizing food.

She had been at a loss when the menu was placed in front of her to select her meal, so she had left Zane to pick for her. As expected the somber man knew the best food to order.

Aria was unaware that Zane had not chosen the most expensive or the best meal in the menu. He had kept to mind the food Aria preferred best. Even the strawberry smoothie topped with lots of cream was her favorite. So naturally it would appear delicious to her and even if Aria had not been hungry, her appetite would surely be good.

She was so enchanted that she had unwittingly also forgone all table manners, picking up from the table the first fork and knife she had found randomly, not waiting for Zane to pick them before her and copy him, like she had done in the past.

She could already feel just how tasty the food would be as she was about to lower the fork on the plate, when it disappeared from in front of her, to her utter dismay. She could only trace the direction of where the food appeared to be with a shocked and unwilling gaze.

With aggrieved sad eyes she looked towards the offender who had stolen it away, but didn't know how to ask him for the reason, even less how to reproach him.

"Take this plate." Zane replied unbothered to the question she didn't know how to ask, while he had already replaced her plate with his own.

"Thank you." She expressed gratefully, a tinge of guiltiness pricking her consciousness, seeing the small cute pieces of steak, pieces perfect for a single bite. It turned out he only meant to help her portion the steak.

Zane didn't reply to her words, as he also started to cut his own. There was no need for thank you between them, his attitude seem to say.

Victoria only glanced silently at their interaction, but didn't voice any words, as she slowly and as well-mannered as always ate her food.

The three were perfect partners for meals it seemed. The mother and son were quiet by nature, and Aria, well to her the most important was her food, so she also did not speak much.

The outing would have ended on a perfect note like this. It was a peaceful and ordinary time, nothing truly special about it, other than the doctor's appointment that had given Victoria a chance to meet her grandchildren. But this ordinary meal was in fact the first time the three had spent together as a family, it was the first time perhaps that they also felt like one inside their minds.

Victoria finally felt closure after years of searching, so no tension or preoccupations clouded her mind. Zane felt warmth of being in love for the very first time, so he couldn't be in a better mood than he currently was. And Aria, well she had never been surrounded by people who cared about her like this in the past.

An act of kindness of giving one a handkerchief and listening to their troubles, a move to hold her arm by the stern older woman when Zane had gone to park the car at the hospital, she imagined this would be how a mother would act towards their child.

Even when she was about to sit at the table, Zane's mother had made her change the seat to the inner most place, assuring her protection from the rare passersby and slight drafts of air. Of course these actions from the older woman might have been the care for her own grandchildren, Aria wasn't one to assume her own importance in Victoria's heart. But it still didn't make Zane's mother's gestures less heartwarming.