Maja
“Oh, great, thought Maja as she picked up her duffle bag and trotted after the man who was striding out, anger in every fibre of his bearing.
‘Please wait,’ she panted and he stopped abruptly, turning to look at her, his green eyes hard and cold, all the humour and the warmth had vanished. He looked dangerous and she halted at once.
“Look,’ she murmured softly, stopping in her tracks as she looked into his hard, handsome face,
“I did not…’ and then, looking him in the eyes, she said in a small voice,
“I am sorry.’ Tilting her chin, she gazed at him, stubbornly. He sighed and nodded.
‘Car’s here.’ he said shortly and they saw that a large deep blue sedan had driven up to the door. The children eagerly piled into the back seat as one of the men standing at the entrance came over to help them to load their luggage, just a couple of sad-looking, worn-out suitcases.
Maja bit her lip. They looked like refugees; she thought bitterly, which they were in some sense of the word!
The door slammed shut and she saw to her astonishment that the man, Schwartz, had climbed in beside her. A gunman sat beside the driver as the car moved forward.
She did not need to turn to see the admiration on Magnus’ face.
“Do you live…close by?’ she said in a small voice, trying to make a conversation with the man who now had a preoccupied look on his face. He looked up from the message he was texting on his phone.
‘Hmmm?’ he asked a faraway look in his eyes.
“Mom!’ hissed Maddy, leaning over and hissing in her ear,’ you do not need to sound so desperate.’ Maja felt her ears burn as the handsome man beside her looked around at Maddy in amusement. then his green eyes flickered over her in a way that made her awash with awareness and a desire that had remained long dead for years.
Maja sat stiffly for the rest of the drive and Schwartz was kept busy on the phone Maddy, who had left her hand dangling over the seat, watched him curiously. As they neared their destination,
Schwartz snapped his phone shut and turned to meet the young girl’s cornflower blue eyes, so like her bad-tempered mother’s.
“Do you like Madelines?’ he asked with a grin and Maja thought, his teeth are perfect too. What IS with this man?
Her daughter stared at Handsome James curiously.
“What’s that?’, she asked after a while.
Schwartz grinned and winked. ‘French cakes. My friend bakes them. She does a wonderful job. Maybe you can have some at her home someday.’ he said and Maddy sat up in glee.
“Really?’ she breathed and then, turning to her mother she went on excitedly.
‘Mom, my name means a French cake?’ it was part question and part declaration. Maja began to ask her to correct her sentence but stopped as she saw the mirth in the man’s eyes. Despite herself, she smiled back and Schwartz stared. When she was not trying to look like a threatening imp, the woman looked good, he thought and turned away quickly.
” We have reached.’ he said after a while but there was uncertainty in his voice. Maja sighed. The place was rundown and not close to the road either.
“Here’s your place,’ he said and frowned.
“Want me to come in…?’
He waited patiently as Maja looked over his shoulder at the small house. It was in a dilapidated condition alright. The estate agent she had contacted online had been vague about the amenities but the photographs he had shown her had been those of a small house with a perfect little garden, the walls painted and looking freshly painted and homely.
Not this run-down cottage with the gate hanging off its hinges and graffiti painted on the wall.
“Mom, seriously. Yuck!’ cried Maddy in disgust, making a motion with her hand as though she was sticking a finger down her throat.
Magnus added, hurting her with his cruelty,
‘You always make mistakes. Why could not we just have stayed with Dad?’ Maja had had enough.
The miserable little house, the rain that was falling in large drops now and her children, constantly nagging and comparing her to Tommaso as a parent, made her want to cringe for the tall handsome man had heard everything although he made no indication of having done so. He merely stood in the rain, the collar of his long coat turned up, his glittering green eyes on her face.
Maja thrust open the car door and scrambled out, brandishing the house key like a weapon.
“Out!,’ she cried, her voice quavering as she valiantly tried to control her grief and anger. ‘I am sure the house is not as bad as it looks on the outside.’ And she determinedly stuck out her hand to the stranger who was observing them keenly.
‘Thank you for everything…’ she began politely but he turned away and looked at the door.
“First, let us check to see if the place is inhabitable.’ he said pleasantly and Maja’s heart sank.
With that, he marched forward. Majas’ mouth hung open as he took the key from her hands and strode over, accompanied by the man who had come with them.
Not to be pushed aside, she marched forward, almost stumbling over the broken stones on the path.
*
The house was in a shocking state of disarray, she saw as they stood in the doorway of the front room.
Semi-furnished, the estate agent had trilled over the phone and she wanted to sob. A couple of sad-looking couches with the springs handing and shabby curtains that had never been washed hung on the small windows. A chill draught of air made her heart sink further as she recognised the drip-drip sound.
‘Mom!’ look, it’s leaking” , shouted Maddy and Maja gritted her teeth.
Trust her to make an announcement of it!, she thought grimly. Magnus was slouching in the doorway, disgust , anger and contempt on his thin, narrow face as he slid a look at his mother.
“You were always stupid,’ he said in a low tone but Maja felt her eyelids prickle and she bit her lower lip hard. Looking away, she caught a flash of sympathy in the green eyes of Handsome James.
“Stuff your pity!’,’ she thought and reared her head back proudly.
“Right kids, let’s clean this up. Mr …uh…Schwan…’ she said, taking care to meet his eyes as she spoke, jutting her hand out again. The man smiled slightly.
“Schwartz,’ he said gently, ‘it is James Schwartz.’
And then, addressing Magnus and Maddy and not her, he added,
‘I don’t think you can stay here tonight. Let me ask my friend…’ and he began to turn away, his cell phone at his ear.
He turned back with his phone, about to make another call. his assumption enraged her and she sprang forward, grabbing his arm. The hard muscle of his arm surprised her and she snapped antagonistically,
‘Who are you to tell us…?’
She got no further. he looked pointedly at her hand on his large trench coat and when she dropped her small hand he said grimly,
“Look, I don’t know about You but I would not let my kids stay in a place where the back door is hanging on its hinges and one of the bedrooms has a roof which is leaking so badly, for starters.’
He was annoyed, she thought and beside her, she heard Magnus expel an exasperated breath.
“Mom, come on,’ cried Maddy tugging at her hand.
Magnus murmured loud enough for Schwartz to hear,
“She’s stupid. Stupid c*nt.’
Maja’s eyes filled.
Tomasso’s favourite abuse before he pummelled her.
But Schwartz’s face darkened. he turned to face Magnus squarely,
‘Son, I think your mother deserves more respect.’
the words were spoken quietly but something in the man’s personality, made Magnus shrink. he stuttered and mumbled, ‘She’s my mother so I can…’ Schwartz shook his head, eyes cold.
“No one talks to their mother in that way. Now come on, I am starving.’ he turned away, on the phone again. Maja heard him as he said in a voice, full of tenderness,
‘Hen? Can I bring a couple of guests over tonight?’ he moved away, explaining but Maja felt a pang of jealousy, unreasonable enough.
He had sounded so loving, had he been talking to his wife, she wondered.
He was smiling as he turned to them and came forward.
“That is settled. Come on “and he looked at Maja, an appeal in his green eyes.
Don’t be so obstinate, his gaze seemed to say and she nodded, albeit reluctantly
Maja said stiffly,
“Thank you,’ but her children were already getting into the car and Schwartz took her elbow to guide her through the rain as it had increased in velocity. She felt a sensation of being loved and cared for, something she had missed out on all these years.