HUNTER'S TALE

15.

The next morning, as he promised, John went to fix the flowers he destroyed. Luckily few of them were still alive and he was digging holes to plant the new ones. "I'll be damned!" he heard a woman's voice behind him and straightened up to see a woman by the fence. "How you got so big?" It was Meredith, Frank's sister, who was married in Huston for five years now.

"Meredith?" He looked at her surprised and she ran to hug him tightly with a loud chuckle. "Look at ya, ain't a little shit anymore are ya?" He snorted, teasing her.

"No, you scandal. I'm a married woman now," she grinned and dipped her head as a proper lady.

John snorted, shaking his head. "Still remember when ya were a little chasing us all the time like an annoying ugly pup," he teased. "How have ya been? Ya came here with ya man?"

"Shut up, I wasn't ugly," she chuckled and smacked his shoulder. "Yeah, I came with my husband to see the family here. Mother sending me to Russell's old lady for the red and now I'm running back home before Frankie drunks Sebastian to sleep."

"Well come over whenever ya want. Ya gonna meet my wife and my sons."

"I know, Frank told me you got married. Unbelievable!" She squealed and hugged him again. "I'm so glad, someone's beating you now, you bully," she snorted. "I gotta run. Many kisses to the family and I hope, we'll make it one of these days," she said, before she made her way out of his yard. John snorted shaking his head and continued his job.

Mary saw that from the porch, where she was swiping. She saw the hugs and smiles on her husband's face. She saw the touches and the closeness they had. She never saw the woman before, but she could tell, that they knew each other well. And hell if she ever saw John hugging another woman and two hells, if that moment, she didn't want to go and smack the broom, she was holding, on his back. The peculiar mood shifts created the storms inside her head lately and that moment, she only walked back to the house, slamming the door behind her and threw the broom to the corner. Few hours later, John, who was unaware of his wife's moods, walked inside the house. He washed his dirty hands with water and soap and dried it with a towel. He found Mary by the sink and came closer from behind to envelope his arms around her waist and kissed her cheek. "Where are the boys, luv?" He asked, but she winched and quickly pulled away from him. That surprised him, if not shocked him. "What's wrong?" he asked confused.

"Nothing," Mary murmured without turning to see him and kept destroying the pot in the sink.

Fitzgerald observed her for a moment. He knew Mary too well to know, that something was indeed wrong. "Mary," he said calmly, leaning on the countertop. "Tell me what's wrong? You didn't like the flowers or what?"

"John, just... leave me alone, I'm busy."

He wasn't sure, why she was pissed, but he knew it was probably something small, that will pass soon. He smirked and pulled her and squeezed her in his arms, making her growl shooting him death glares, when he soundly kissed her cheek. He smacked her bum and left to avoid a pot on his head perhaps and to see if the boys woke up, who were sleeping upstairs.

"Damn you!" Mary growled. She was frowning and threw the pot aside and leaned against the sink, making her head sink in between her shoulders. She didn't even know, what to believe. She had no idea, if he would be able to lay hand on another woman. Why would he do that? She pondered and as another mood shift crossed her mind, she sat down by the table and cupped her face and started to cry.

John after he checked on the boys, he walked downstairs and froze by the stairs hearing her sniffing. He walked downstairs and came to sit next to her. "Damn woman, tell me what's going on?I ain't a fucking mind reader yeh?" He was really concerned now. "Did anyone bug ya?" He took her hand on his own and cupped her face with the free one.