Disenchanted

The outside door opened and Ana walked in, her purse almost falling of her shoulder as she tried to close the door with her foot and balance all the grocery bags.

"Do you want help?" Ben asked coming closer to her and the still open door, trying to glimpse outside but on the other side of the door he only saw darkness. Before he could observe anything else Ana finally closed the door and with the same smile she worn every time she was inside the house she replied with a simple no.

She walked towards the kitchen and dropped every bag on the kitchen counter.

"What do you want for dinner darling? Does lambs chops sound good?"

Before Ben could answer his stomach growled informing her that any food would sound nice since Ben hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast.

Ben approached her slowly, a hand behind his back reaching for the inside of his pocket. Ana turned to him waiting for him to say something but Ben waited a second longer, as he tried to gather up the courage to actually speak to her.

"Do you want anything, darling?"

"I was wondering if you could mail something for me." He said as he showed the folded letter to Danny.

"Who is it for?"

"Danny."

Ben was surprised by how smoothly everything was going, he had been expecting some type of outburst, screaming and threats but she actually seemed to be perfectly fine with the idea of him contacting the outside world, maybe she wasn’t the heartless woman he thought she was.

She took it from him and smiled at him.

"I’ll send it out tomorrow, just give me his address for me to mail it."

Ana took the letter and put it on her pocket and went back to cooking. A half an hour later Ben could already smell the lamb chops in the oven and with each passing second it tortured him. When he finally heard Ana say that dinner was on the table he couldn’t have walked any faster.

The table was beautifully set with flowers and wine, yet the plates weren’t that full, however he couldn’t be happier to just see the food so close to him. Ben sat down and quickly took the knife and fork, but before he was able to actually carve them into the food Ana looked at him with smoldering eyes.

"What’s gotten into you? Have you forgotten that we pray to thank our lord?"

"But I don’t believe in God." Ben simply responded.

"Yes, yes you do. You always have!" She said almost screaming with that voice that made Ben fear that he would not last much longer.

"I’m sorry." He said in a small voice.

She smiled and took his hand, lowering her head and closing her eyes. She said a few words and then the both of them said an amen.