04

Her first husband was a terrible man and I wished he was still alive, so I could kill him over and over again. He should be the one burning in the deepest parts of hell. When Mrs. Maggie told me of her first marriage, I realised that she was one of the strongest women I ever met. She endured a year married to that bastard and still managed to look at the world in a happy manner.

« Our marriage only lasted a year, » she pursed her lips, pouring the cookie batter on the baking tray. « He was a drunk little shit, who treated me like a punching bag. The first couple of months of our marriage were happy and almost a fantasy. I was happy, but not as happy as I was that night I danced with Noah. I remember nights that Bobby would beat me, I’d think of the little bit of happiness Noah gave me and I knew I would survive. The last time Bobby ever hit me was one of the worst beatings he ever gave me. I thought I was going to die and I finally stood up for myself and report it to the authorities. He died of alcohol poisoning a month later. »

« That bastard deserved a much more terrible death, » I gritted my teeth angrily, shaking my head as I eyed the empty bowl of batter. I was so tempted to just yank it from the counter and lick off all the batter, but Mrs. Maggie seemed to be able to read my mind and threw it in the sink. She was evil sometimes.

She sighed, twisting the magnet timer on the fridge and continued talking. « He really did, but that was not my call to make. » She hummed under her breath along to the music and bobbed her head as she swayed her hips slowly.

Music was one of my favourite things in the world and I had never appreciated it as much as I did when Mrs. Maggie introduced me to record players. There was something so magical about music from that time that made me fall in love with it. My playlist ranged from Frank Sinatra to Farruko, (which were totally different,) but I was pretty much opened to anything.

« I was in a local grocery market just getting some apples when I encountered a man that immediately recognised me. Funnily enough, » she grinned, « Come Fly Away with Me was playing in the radio and Noah asked me to dance. I never thought I’d be as happy as I was then. »

« What was he doing there ?! » I widened my eyes. We never got to this part of the story ! She just told me that after that she met up with Noah again and they got married.

She gave a light shrug, pressing her fingers to her lips pensively. « I had told him of my hometown and he was hoping that I still lived there. At first it thought it was very silly of him ! We had only spent a night together and we had been dancing and just goofing around, but like me, he said that it was the most memorable night of his life. We started dating after that and shortly after, we were married. We were together for 48 years before he passed away. »

My heart clenched in my chest at the sad smile on her face and before I could say words of console, she shook her head and patted my hand. « Aw, don’t be sad for me, Dani-love, we had a very happy, beautiful marriage. And I know he’s waiting for me to meet him whenever my time comes. »

« I know it’s selfish, » I stood up to hug her and kissed her cheek, « but I hope it’s not anytime soon. You’re my favourite person in the world and I hope Mr. Noah shares you with me a little longer. »

Mrs. Maggie laughed, patting my back as she returned my hug and said, « Oh, child that’s just not up to me ! Come on, let’s listen to Mr. Sinatra while the cookies finish. » She guided me to the couch and we sat down to talk.

I mostly listened to her stories and gave my input occasionally. We danced around goofily and she taught me how to swing dance. It was as hard as it looked. I thought I was going to sprain my legs, but she was amazing. For a 75-year-old woman, she moved like she was 20 !

I was used to dancing to modern music in clubs or getting down and dancing with a man as if we were having sex with clothes on. But there was something so fun and wild about swing dancing without looking too lewd. Not to mention that the lyrics to music were very romantic and sweet to the ear.

After I ate around five macadamia nut cookies – thank god for those three flights of stairs because I’d be fat as hell – we continued to listen to music and Mrs. Maggie continued reminiscing about her time with Noah.

She told me of different dates he took her out on and how they’d always dance to their music on the record player when he returned from work because it was their favourite thing to do. After she dislocated her knee when a jump went wrong, she was never able to dance again and was really sad, almost depressed that she had to leave the troupe. However, Noah brightened her day by dancing with her every day, carrying most of her weight, so that she wouldn’t hurt herself – and if that wasn’t relationship goals, I didn’t know what was.

« Okay, » Mrs. Maggie stood up from her seat, « I have to go wash the dishes because Michael is going to be calling any minute now. »

I shook my head, grinning and stood up. « That’s okay, Mrs. Maggie, I’ll clean up the kitchen and you can talk to your son ! »

She smiled, sweetly and squeezed my hand caringly. « Thank you, Dani-love. If I had any girls, I’d hope they would be as sweet as you. »

My grin widened and leaned down to kiss her cheek. « And if I could have chosen my mom, you’d definitely be mine. »

« Oh, child ! » She inhaled sharply, « You’re going to make me cry. Go clean up the kitchen or no more Macadamia cookies for you ! »

« Yes, ma’am ! » I sped walked over to the kitchen and began to sort through the dirty dishes. I hummed under my breath, tapping my foot along to the music still playing softly in the background and twirled sometimes, practising my swing-dance moves.

That was such a weird thing to say. I was swing-dancing. Five years ago, I would have laughed at myself because I looked so silly. Swing dancing was dangerous and I’d probably sprain something and if I hurt myself I wouldn’t be able to go around and take my beloved pictures.

I lived my life planned and everything had to be perfect. Yet here I was jumping around like a fool because I was allowing myself to live and not worry about all the consequences. Carpe Diem was truly my life motto and I was going to live the rest of my life happy.

The old Daniela would die living in a dingy apartment. Hell, she wouldn’t even have a cat and she’d be freaking out that she was 25 years old and single with no plans of settling down.

My plan was to meet someone in my early 20’s and be married by 25 because I didn’t want my first kid to be at 30. What a joke that was ! I was 25, dumped a month before my wedding a year ago and currently living with a cat that paid more attention to me than any other man would and I was genuinely content.

I wasn’t constantly being reminded of the disappointment I was of a child by my mother and I didn’t have to compete for my father’s attention with my sister. I should have moved away years ago and tried to be happy on my own instead of looking for their approval !

I would have avoided so many things ! Like being dumped by a man that found my twin sister more attractive than me. How was that even possible ?! We literally looked the same ! The only difference I could think of was our personalities.

Veronica lived out there. She was confident of herself and snatched whatever she wanted (clearly Marcos had been what she wanted because she snatched the hell out of him !) Basically, our personalities were so different that we were on opposites end of the spectrum.

She was outgoing ; I was shy. She loved to make people laugh ; I stood in the background, just watching. She was popular all her life ; I was just « Veronica’s twin sister. » SHE SLEPT WITH MARRIED MEN ; I WAS THE ONE THAT WAS GOING TO GET MARRIED.

Okay, Daniela, breathe ! You’re over your whore of a sister. Just because you hope she catches some sort of STD for all the terrible things she’s doing, doesn’t mean that you should ruin the rest of your life by being miserable. Show her that you have the power in your life !

I breathed in deeply and tried to relax. I closed my eyes and tried to focus on the music again. Mr. Sinatra’s music was too great to be angry. I bobbed my head along to the music and relaxed as I continued washing dishes.

As I glanced over at Mrs. Maggie’s sad smile, my heart broke. Her kids were truly the most ungrateful men in the world. They had an amazing mother, who only wanted a call per week and they couldn’t even do that. If she had been like my mother, I’d understand, but Mrs. Maggie was the best woman in the world.

I watched as she continued looking at the clock on the wall, just ticking by every second and then over at the phone, just waiting for it to ring. Michael, her youngest son, had promised he’d call her today at 7pm ; it was 7 :30pm and there was still no call.

After I finished drying up the sink, I walked over to the living room and sat on the couch, next to Mrs. Maggie. She pursed her lips, blinking away her tears and shot me a weak smile.

« Mrs. Maggie… »