Radioman (A 2/19th Spinoff) - Complete

Coffee & Donuts

The next morning I felt, well, different. I slid out of bed before Aine woke up, showered real quick, then went into the kitchen to make breakfast. Ham slices, thick ones she'd personally chosen from the butcher, eggs, and I mixed the pancake batter. By the time she wandered into the kitchen/dining room, sniffing curiously, I had everything pretty much done. She sat down at the table, smiling, and I poured her a cup of tea then dished her up.

I sat down across from her, the rain making the house seem to feel more, I don't know, homey I guess. I was used to rain meaning mud and misery, but for some reason it made everything feel cozy. She reached out and took my hand, and I stared at her for a moment, smiling back. Then we tucked into the breakfast.

"I like this, my beautiful Paul," She smiled, pushing her empty plate back. She covered her mouth and burped, then giggled. She glanced up at the ceiling, as if she could see the rain. "If you go out and cut wood, I'll do the dishes, and this afternoon we can build a cozy fire, lay on the bearskin rug, and be naughty."

I blushed and she giggled again. "Take a coat, my lovely."

"That sounds nice," I told her, getting up. She stood up, took my dishes from me, and walked over to the sink.

The broom next to the fridge fell over onto the floor and she shook her head. "I'll make coffee while you chop wood, my Paul."

I smiled at her, blew her a kiss, and grabbed my coat. I pulled it on and walked into the back yard. Two days ago it was covered in high grass and weeds. Now it was immaculate. It was fall, closer to winter, but the autumn back yard looked more like it belonged in a magazine than anything else. Of course, the tree in the back yard was not one I remembered. A large oak tree that looked easily a hundred years old.

It was also ringed with red mushroom that had speckles of white on the caps.

I picked up the axe, moved over to the ring, and nodded to the tree. Sure, Matron Aine, Tauth du Aine, probably wasn't in the tree, but a little respect went a long way in my own culture, so probably she would feel it, sense it, and it certainly couldn't hurt.

The wood was good solid pine, and the stump by the woodshed was new too. I didn't remember it, but hey, who was I to ask questions. It was obvious that either the yard was a gift from Aine's mother or it was my Aine nesting up.

Yeah, it was drizzling, but I was used to a lot colder, harsher, weather and soon I had stripped off my jacket and was cutting wood. I thought I heard a car door, but ignored it. I had neighbors on the other side of the now-repaired and apparently freshly painted fence.

Sure, it would probably bother a lot of guys the changes, but I had seen my girlfriend brought back missing some of her uniform, obviously having been dismembered by an explosion, and fed her raw meat and bathed her in blood to bring her back.

This? This was nothing.

She, or her mother, was showing off. Women liked to do that at times, and any man who didn't stop to appreciate it was a fool who didn't deserve that woman in their life.

I carried a half dozen armloads of wood to the side of the sliding door, put the axe back where it belonged, and picked back up my jacket. It was soaking wet, just like my clothing, but I didn't feel cold.

...PUSH 'EM INTO THE SNOW!...

I shuddered for a second, pushing Stillwater's enraged bellow back down.

When I opened the door to the kitchen/dining room I stopped in my tracks.

A man in a county sheriff's uniform was sitting at the kitchen table, laughing, a cup of coffee and a donut in front of him, Aine sitting across from him, sipping tea. She was wearing a gingham dress with a red sash, her hair cascading down her back in a loose braid. For all the world looking like a young girl just out of Normal Rockwell painting.