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Marzipan Melody

12/16/2025

“Well, that wasn’t so bad. Right?” His mom watched the floor indicator count down.

“Yeah, it’s fine.” He leaned on the elevator’s handrail, studying the etched medal of St. Hedwig on the elevator doors. “Are we going to go straight home?”

“Are you up for a stop at the grocery store? I need to pick up a few things.” She tensed as the elevator slowed to a stop.

The doors slid open and Matt stood in front of the gap to ensure they wouldn’t start closing on his mom. “That’s fine. I’d like to see if they have the Christmas soda flavors out yet.”

“Hmm, pretty sure I saw the FizzCola bottles with Santa on them, and Beach Bubbles has Marzipan Melody this year.” She stepped out to the lobby, looking around. “Look who I see.”

Matt released the elevator doors and scanned the lobby. A darling pair of green eyes was waiting for him. The baby bobbed happily as Matt approached. “Hiya, big boy.”

Teddy smiled as Jenny reached out to pick him up. “Ha ha, I got him first. You two go talk while I dance with my grandson.” She held him close as they twirled away.

Abby smiled at the sight of them dancing around the lobby.

“Hey.” Matt looked at the marble pattern of the floor tiles.

She looked at him. “Hey.”

“Thanks for coming.”

“Sure, I had to run some errands anyway.” Her eyes tried to meet his, but darted away in embarrassment.

“Oh, are we keeping you?”

“No, Teddy needs to see his dad. We have a lot of catching up to do, I think.”

“Seems like.” He nodded, not quite meeting her eyes.

“So, you go to…?”

“Sacred Heart in Laurel Ridge.”

“We have St. Cas here.” She clasped her hands in front of her.

“Nice gift shop.” He glanced at her eyes and back to the floor tiles.

“Thanks. We’re raising funds for maintenance. Something called pointing?”

He looked up. Her face was just as he was half-remembering on base. It made him smile. “Oh, sure. That’s when they fix up the mortar between bricks or stones outside.”

She returned his smile with a shy grin. “I was wondering what that meant.”

He nodded. “Maintenance is important.”

That brought a little giggle. “Sounds like something my dad would say.”

“Gary’s a good guy. I can see why you look up to him.”

“He’s always been there for me.”

“That’s what dads are supposed to do.” He looked over at his mom dancing around with Teddy. The baby was grinning. “I want to be there for him. I wish I’d have known sooner.”

“You’re not mad?”

“Abby, look at him. How could anybody be mad about that? He’s beautiful. I thought I was happy just coming home to my family for Christmas, but…”

She took a step back and wrapped her arms around herself. “But?”

“Now I have my very own family.” He studied Teddy. “I thought they were just teasing.”

“Who are they? Other Marines on your base?”

“No, I met a real live sheikh downtown. He said I ought to have a dozen kids and a beard so I could be a sheikh, too.”

She blushed and looked over at Matt’s mom. ‘A dozen?’

“The guy in the souk went next tier.” Matt grinned. “He wanted me to have a dozen wives and a hundred kids.”

“Apparently, he’s not paying for the diapers.” She chuckled.

Matt liked how that sounded. “Yeah, Daoud is a different kind of guy. At least I can give that ball to my son.”

She looked at him. ‘He says that without hesitation. He really gets it.’ She looked over at Teddy dancing with his grandmother. ‘Well, at least now he has a grandmother.’

“I’ll show it to you first, of course.”

She looked at Matt. He had come closer while she was watching Jenny and Teddy dancing. She looked up into his Teddy-green eyes. ‘My goodness, Teddy certainly got his dad’s eyes.’

“It’s still coming through the mail from Africa.”

“A ball?”

He gave a tight-lipped half-smile. “It’s kind of gooey, and it has sparkly lights embedded in it. I’m not sure if it’s safe for him at his age.”

That made her shudder. ‘He’s thinking about child safety, and he’s only known about Teddy over the weekend. He really gets it.’

He looked down at his free hand. ‘Should I…? I don’t know. How do I…?’

She noticed him staring at his hand. ‘Men! Of course, you should hold my hand! What are you waiting for? You look so awesome in your cast.’ She slowed her breathing. ‘His cast. He just got blown up last week. It’s a wonder he’s not dead. I would never have known, and Teddy and I would have been waiting forever.’ She sniffled.

He saw the tears welling in her eyes. “Don’t worry. I won’t give it to him until he’s older if you want.”

“Teddy-bear, Daddy and Grandma need to go shopping. Come say bye, and we’ll see them later.” Abby reached out.

Jenny kissed his cheeks and his neck, eliciting a merry squeal. “Oh, pshaw! We can go shopping anytime. I want more dancing with this Christmas angel baby. You guys keep talking and I’ll keep dancing.”

Abby turned to Matt. “Okay, keep talking.”

‘Even when she’s weirdly blunt, she’s cute.’ He smiled. “You could come with us and we could talk at the grocery store. Mom says Beach Bubbles has some kind of marzipan-flavored soda. We could try it together.”

“Marzipan? That’s either amazingly ingenious or just awful.” Then it hit her. ‘We could try it together?’

“Yes, you’re probably right. I’ll taste it first if you want.”

‘Drinking from the same bottle as him? That’s almost like a kiss. Oh, my GOD! Look at him. Of course, I want to kiss him.’ Color rose in her cheeks. “Soda, yes.”

Matt smiled as his mind raced back to his conversation with Joe about her being the Bride of Frankenstein. ‘Here she is, all flustered and talking like the Bride of Frankenstein. Flustered?’ He looked into her soft brown eyes and reached out with his good hand.

She looked at it. She wanted to take it. She needed to take it. ‘So, why don’t you take it? He’s giving it to you! Take his hand!’ Abby reached out and ran a finger down his palm before resting her hand in his. He closed his massive hand over hers.

Jenny grinned at the baby. “Well, it’s about time. Boy, I thought we were going to have to dance around here all afternoon.” She kissed his tiny nose. “Not that it’s such a bad thing. You’re a marvelous dancer, Teddy.”

He smiled and tugged at her sweater with his tiny hands.

“You’re going to have a cousin before long, my lad. What do you think about that?”

He swept his cheek with the heel of his hand a few times before inserting a thumb in his mouth.

“Oh, I know what that means, mister. Let’s get you back to Mommy.” She danced back to the awkward, statue-like couple. “Somebody’s hungry.”

Abby studied her hand in Matt’s a moment before reaching out to take Teddy. “Here you go, Mr. Astaire. All the church ladies like dancing with him, too.”

“Well, of course.” She pinched Matt’s cheek. “He’s charming, just like my baby.”

He rolled his eyes and watched Abby take a blanket from the diaper bag. “What kind of formula do you use?”

Abby blushed and sat down, tucking Teddy under the blanket. “Which store were you going to? Maybe we’ll catch up to you.”

“Sure, honey. We’ll be at the one on Vistula if you can make it. Come along, Matthew.” She planted a vice grip on his right arm and dragged him outside. “Formula. Jeez, what am I going to do with you?”

“What?”

“That’s a topic for another time. We’ll go to the grocery store and walk slowly. Maybe they’ll catch up.”

He followed his mom to the car. “What did I do?”

“Matthew, I love you, but shut up.” She unlocked the car. “Formula. God save us all.”

“Are you alright?” Bonnie asked, fluffing the pillows from the arm of Matt’s chair. “You don’t look so good.”

“We were at the store for a good while waiting for Abby and Teddy to catch up. My arm was swelling a little.”

She positioned the pillows and stepped away. “Here sit down. I’ll get you some water and one of your pills. What do you mean, catch up?”

“She had to feed Teddy, so Mom was slow-walking it at the store. I didn’t see any bottles, so I don’t know what she was feeding him.”

Bonnie groaned loudly and retreated to the bathroom. “Are they in the medicine cabinet or in your room?”

“They should be there. Has my name. Think it starts with an s, maybe.”

“Got them.” She called out. “One or two?”

“One should be fine. I don’t want to get hooked.”

She returned with a cup of water and a pill. “Don’t know what she was feeding him? Did you fail Health class or something?” She waved her hand over her chest.

“Oh.” He took the pill and drank it down. “Oh…”

Bonnie’s eyes sparked with lightning as she leaned in close. “A) Take that thought with you to confession. B) You don’t get to have that thought until after the wedding. C) Is there going to be a wedding?”

He recoiled in the reclining seat. “Okay, okay. I don’t know. Probably? I hope so. I still need to get to know her better.”

She wagged a finger in his face. “Not that much better. Those are for Teddy until after the wedding, so just think about how you’re going to make that happen.” She snapped her fingers and stormed away to the kitchen.

‘Hmm, wonder if Abby was that explosive while she was expecting with Teddy. I feel bad about not being around, but Bonnie makes me kind of glad I missed that part. Poor Ned.’ He settled into the chair and looked around for the remote. ‘Rats. I’m in no condition to play Twister here.’

Harry emerged from the kitchen with a large bowl of caramel corn. “Man, what did you do this time?”

“All I did was ask a question.” Matt shrugged. “Can you see where the remote’s at?”

Harry scanned the living room. “Why would she get mad about a remote?” He reached over to their dad’s chair and picked it up. “Anything in particular?”

“Anything but soap operas. I didn’t ask her about the remote.”

Harry flipped through a few channels before settling on a fishing program. “Ha, it’s Bass Ackwards. Have you seen these guys? They teach you how to fish by demonstrating how not to fish. That guy in the bucket hat is like dumb and a half.”

“Bonnie thinks I’m dumb and a half.” Matt groused.

Harry handed the remote to Matt. “Bonnie thinks everybody is dumb and a half. What did you do to set her off this time?”

“I asked how you feed a baby without a bottle.”

Harry’s jaw dropped. “Dude, did you flunk Health class or something? Think, man.”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it now. I wasn’t thinking that…”

“Well, good. If you were, that ought to be at the top of the list when you get to confession.”

“She told you to say that. Didn’t she?”

Harry set the bowl of popcorn on the couch as he stood a TV tray up. “Told me to say what? Matt, you hardly know Abby. You can’t go around thinking about her… Oh, come on. Now you’ve got me thinking about it. I’m gonna get a thousand Acts of Contrition because of you. Jeez.” He set the popcorn bowl down on the TV tray hard. “You’re a Marine, man! Where’s your sense of self-control?”

“Everybody is so touchy around here.” Matt grimaced. “Maybe I should have taken two anyway. Can’t get comfortable.”

Harry sat on the couch cramming caramel-covered popcorn in by the fistful. “They’re not candy, Matt. You’ll get hooked.”

“Oh, wow, did he really just put a hook through his thumb? That’s got to be a camera trick.” Matt winced.

“This is a classic bit of theirs. He’s got the hook through his thumb, and the other guy tries to cast and it makes him punch himself in the face.”

Bonnie emerged from the kitchen with a sandwich on a tray. “Who? Matt? Serves him right.” She plopped the tray on Matt’s lap and leaned down to scowl into his face. “Something to drink?”

“Do we have cider?” He whispered pensively.

Her eyebrows furrowed. “What am I, the gosh-darned quartermaster? How should I know?”

“Cup of water, maybe?”

“And you’re lucky I’m getting it.” She snapped her fingers in front of his nose and stormed back into the kitchen.

Matt looked over at Harry. He was still watching the fishing show. ‘What’s this? PB&J but the jelly is green? Is this a mint jelly sandwich?’

“Don’t worry about her. She’s projecting.” Harry continued jamming large handfuls of caramel corn down his throat.

“Huh?”

“Ned put strawberries in her oatmeal this morning.”

“So?”

“She really wanted peaches, but she said strawberries because if he really loved her, he’d have known she actually wanted peaches.”

Matt winced and studied the sandwich. ‘It could be good. Maybe.’ He turned it over and around to watch a glob of green jelly sliding onto the plate. ‘Probably not. At least the marzipan soda was good…’