Just Desserts
Claire and Gourmet have their cake and eat it too. (Claire x Gourmet)
Author's Note: This is a quick one-shot I whipped up! I've been writing some pieces on the special bachelors-why not complete the trio for More Friends of Mineral Town? Here's a little slice of Claire and Gourmet's marital bliss. Enjoy!
"Ready to be amazed?" Claire grinned, giving a firm pat to the dough between her hands and watching the flour fly with delighted eyes. Her husband, adjusting his red bowtie, did not seem so sure. Gourmet leaned on the counter with his elbows and joined his hands before his mouth. She noticed the uncertain glint in his eye and challenged it, "So you haven't heard of this dish before. Who says that you know it all! Remember that first year I won the festival?" She giggled, "I can still recall your astonishment at that apple crisp I found in my mother's recipes!"
Gourmet's characteristic broad smile peeked out from behind his hands, "Oh, I can almost taste it! You never would share the recipe with me, and you haven't made it for me in a while..."
"If it will make you come home again sooner," Claire wagged a flour-covered finger at him, "I'll make it the very first morning and afternoon and evening you come back!"
Laughing, she continued kneading the dough and finally handed it to her husband to set it in the refrigerator. She wiped her hands on her homemade apron and then began preparing the filling to her own invented pastry. Her daughter Heidi and her little toddler with the sweet tooth, Pierre, fell in love with the dessert the moment they took their first forkful (all simultaneously, that was a family tradition: no other opinions to taint the taste!). Those two were in bed already after a full afternoon playing with Daddy, showing him all of their new favorite places and things.
The two spent the time waiting for the dough to rise exchanging some quiet words about the past month-Gourmet shared thoughts on the exquisite cuisine to be found on the next continent, Claire expounded upon the growing curiosity of Heidi and the growing set of teeth on Pierre, the two laughed together over the cultural confusion and the adventures on the farm one in the same... There was a moment between stories when Claire began pulling apart pieces of the dough she took from the refrigerator. Gourmet took that moment to think on how he admired his wife for her strength and continuous, charismatic love and affection. He saw those hands scrubbing their children's heads in the bathtub and chopping wood for the fire, tilling the fields and planting the seeds which would grow into fabulously fresh, delicious ingredients...
In the next moment, as Gourmet began to tell a story about the quality of vegetables in a particularly dry region and how they kept thriving farms even in the desert, Claire looked up from her work and watched her husband's animation and excitement. He was looking so much more lively after a day at home, not living out of (admittedly large) suitcases, but rather with home cooking and a well-loved kitchen to bake and create in, with the people who looked forward to seeing him most. And some of his culinary expeditions of late had not been as palate-pleasing as he would have liked... Coming back to the familiar (and finding it still so varied) must have been a welcome thought. She looked down at the pastries and smiled, knowing that he would enjoy them even if he was skeptical.
They both thought that having time for dessert was just what the other deserved.
When the oven timer rang out, it was everything Claire could do to turn it off before the children woke up! Both looked across the room with anxiety, but found the two only tossing and turning in sleep. When their wide eyes returned to one another they burst out in muted chuckles.
They sat across the family table and raised a pastry to one another. Claire proclaimed in a hushed voice, "To just desserts."
"To just desserts!" Gourmet heartily agreed, before both took a generous bite.
Claire looked at her husband's closed eyes and satisfied smile with contentment and playful triumph. She knew before and knew now that she was still the best chef in the world, even to the best food critic in the world.