Nightswan

NaNo - Day 3

She'd been married to Alessio Milani for two weeks, and Vasilisa didn't feel like she knew him any better. He was always busy—gone most of the day for his job, then he'd come home to the small apartment that they shared. Vasi tried to think of everything she could do so Alessio wouldn't have to worry about it; with that in mind, she cleaned quite frequently. And when she finished, she'd clean it all again. Vasi even went so far as to clean the inside of the dishwasher...which, looking back now, was pointless, considering how the dishwasher would clean itself if she pressed a button, but she needed something to do. She'd gone to the family-owned grocery store down the street at least six times in the past two weeks to buy ingredients to make dinner every night. During one of her cleaning sprees, Vasi had stumbled upon a recipe book in a drawer and thought now would be as good of a time as any to try her hand at cooking.

Some things she'd made were delicious...other ones were disasters. Too much salt. Too much garlic. Too much pepper. Too many onions. One she burned. Alessio, though, never criticized or complained. That's what her grandmother would have done. She would've been able to tell if there were a half-teaspoon too much allspice. Would have told her to go to the kitchen and try again until she got it right. Alessio simply smiled at her and thanked her for the meal then went in the kitchen to clean up the mess she'd made.

Vasi had tried to do it herself once, and the hard glare he'd given her had compelled her to go to the couch to watch the evening news without him saying a word. She didn't understand why he wanted to do it so badly; it was her job, after all, to do the cleaning. That's what she was supposed to do. But she'd learned some of his silent signals in the two weeks they'd been married, and she wasn't going to go against him. Vasi knew she'd never get her way if Alessio had set his mind to something.

At least Uncle Thaddeus's best friend was handsome, if a little intimidating. He was very tall, but he wasn't lanky. His muscles filled out the shirts he wore, and he hadn't worn a single thing he looked bad in. The lower part of his angular face was covered in dark brown scruff, the same color as his hair. His skin tone...it was almost the same color as mocha. A rich but pale brown unlike any she'd ever seen. Uncle Thaddeus had mentioned Alessio's Italian heritage once or twice, and she could definitely see it.

But his eyes were his most striking features. Hazel in color, almost looking gold against his skin, but they were more of a dark hazel, decorated with sprinkles of green and gold near his pupils. He also had a scar that cut vertically through his right eyebrow, and he could see it extended just barely under his eye when he blinked. She wanted to ask how he got it, but Vasi didn't know if that'd be too personal. Too familiar. Thaddeus had mentioned he'd been in the Army, so had that been something he'd received while deployed? What if it brought back bad memories?

When she heard the key in the front door, Vasilisa jumped off the couch and ran her hands down her dress to smooth out the wrinkles. She'd just tucked her hands behind her back when the door opened wide, and Alessio stepped inside. Vasi waited until put down his bag to take his coat, which she hung up on the holder on the opposite side of the front door. Alessio pulled her toward him and pressed a feather-light kiss on her cheek.

"How was your day?" he asked, hand still resting on the curve of her hip.

"It was fine." She moved away from him and into the kitchen.

"What did you do?"

"A little of this and a little of that."

She shrugged noncommittally, instead going to stir the green beans on the stove.

Normally at this point, Alessio would go back to change as she finished dinner, but this time, he stayed where he was and observed her. She could feel his eyes on her back, and it made her shaky—so much so that she dropped the wooden spoon on the floor. Vasi jerked back, quickly picked it up, and cleaned up the splatter on the tile.