As Jacob woke up from his deep sleep, a large smile painted his face. He felt guilty for the joy he was experiencing because of the recent events, but he couldn’t help it. Maria was finally his and his alone. Every waking day he was with her was a day worth waking up for. He threw off his sheets and slowly got dressed, preparing to walk downstairs and see if anyone else was awake. He opened his door slowly, looking over at Maria’s door to see if she was still asleep.

He heard small sounds of conversation coming from downstairs. Jacob walked up to Maria’s door and gently knocked on it. After waiting three moments, Maria finally opened it slowly. Her hair was an absolute mess, and her eyes still seemed to be adjusting to the light. Despite her disheveled appearance, Jaocb leaned in and gave her a small kiss on the cheek.

"Good morning. Thank you for last night."

Maria smiled brightly.

"I loved every second of it. I’ll finish getting ready and be right down."

Jacob slowly descended the stairs and saw that Lidia had already made her way down and was helping Slimo with breakfast.

"So, I’m supposed to pour how much of this ground stuff in?"

"Just a small handful should do. Be careful not to spill it."

"Careful?! Careful is my middle name!"

Upon saying this, Lidia knocked a large bag of dark powder into the pot. Some of it puffed out and covered both her and Slimo’s apron. All of them started coughing and clearing the air.

"I warned you!"

"I just got unlucky! And you were the one who asked me to help anyway!"

"It’s okay, I think I can salvage this."

Lidia looked up upon seeing Jacob reach the bottom of the stairs. She awkwardly started walking towards him with her hands on her hip. A very weird smile ran across her face. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

"Good morning, Miss Lidia. How did you rest last night?"

Lidia grabbed Jacob and squeezed him in a bear hug.

"I slept great. Last night was so much fun. You had fun too last night, right?"

Jacob’s heart skipped a beat and his face slightly blushed.

"I-uh... the river was fun, yes!"

Lidia got in his face, still smiling.

"Oh? Are you trying to hide something from me?"

Jacob refused to meet her gaze.

"I... Hey, Slimo! How were your conversations last night?"

Jacob tried to escape the situation as fast as he could and make his way towards Slimo. Lidia tried stopping him, but he wouldn’t listen to her.

"Hey! Come back here! We aren’t done talking!"

Slimo looked at Jacob as he stirred the boiling pot in front of him.

"Last night was quite a treat. Doc here is an excellent conversationalist. I don’t think we ever ran out of things to talk about!"

Doc nodded his head.

"Slimo’s a good man, Jacob. You have a good eye when it comes to recruiting people."

Jacob didn’t bother with reminding him that he wasn’t the one who recruited him and continued talking.

"That’s good to hear. What are you making?"

"Just another stew. Say, Jacob. Did you hear something outside the cabin too last night?"

A small bit of panic rose in Jacob’s chest.

"No, nothing at all. Why would you ask? Was there a monster? A critter? It could have just been the wind too. Or maybe a burglar tried to enter, but they didn’t and we just got lucky! And also-"

Jacob stopped talking noticing the weird gazes he was receiving.

"No. I didn’t hear anything."

Slimo chuckled lightly to himself. Small creaks sounded through the house, indicating Maria’s decent down the steps. He hair had fixed itself and she was smiling at everyone pleasantly. A strange, awkward silence settled over the room. Lidia seemed to be holding a comment back with everything in her being. Doc noticed and rushed over to her.

"No, Miss Lidia you can’t! It has to be them!"

He shook her to try and make her snap out of it, but it was no use. The presence of both of them together was too much to handle. Like water breaking through a dam, words came flooding out of Lidias mouth.

"I SAW YOU TWO KISS LAST NIGHT!! HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN HIDING THIS FROM MEEEEEE?!"

The entire room froze in astonishment. Both Maria and Jacob couldn’t find the words to speak. Lidia seemed to slowly calm herself down and rub her head.

"Phew. That feels so much better!"

Doc rubbed his forehead.

"You fool..."

Maria was the first on to respond. She walked up to Lidia and started shaking her fiercely.

"MOM! You were watching us?! That’s so embarrassing! Why didn’t you just leave us alone?!"

"I couldn’t help it my sweet daughter. I don’t want him to end up with a shoemaker again, I wanted to make sure he was only into you."

"A shoemaker?! What are you talking about?!"

"He knows what I mean! Tell her Jacob!"

Jacob looked over at Maria extremely confused and shook his head indicating he had zero clue what Lidia was talking about.

"Yah, we kissed. So what?! I’m a grown woman and he’s a grown man. Now stop getting in our business and give us more privacy next time, mom."

Slimo, Doc and Jacob were all awkwardly huddled in a small circle, pretending to not exist while the two women fought each other, hoping that the fight wouldn’t jump on one of them by accident. Eventually, Slimo was the first victim to be dragged into it. Lidia ran over and started leaning on him while pouting.

"Tell her she’s being dramatic, Slimo! I’m not a bad mom, right?"

Lidia seemed to be giving puppy-eyes to Slimo, so he had no choice but to agree or he would have felt awful. He slowly patted her head as she rested it on his shoulder.

"There, there. You are a great mom, Lidia. Maybe Maria just needs a little bit of space."

"How can I give her space when she’s my daughter?!"

"I’m not a parent so I’m not really sure. Maybe just help me in the kitchen for a little bit, okay?"

Lidia seemed to reluctantly agree and let out a long sigh.

"Hmph. Fine."

A wave of relief washed over the group of boys... until Jacob was dragged away by Maria.

"We’re going to sit at the table and wait. You are going to wait with me."

Maria grabbed his hand and started dragging him away. Jacob tried to object because he hadn’t gotten to talk with Doc yet.

"But-"

Maria glared at him like a serpent, sending a chill down Jacob’s spine.

"Dining table is good. We can wait there."

Jacob had learned the first of many lessons he needed to know for his future with Maria: Maria is always right. Even if she’s wrong, simply pretend she’s right to avoid her hurting you... or from the looks of her gaze, eating you alive.