Everything was silent in the surgery when her stomach growled. It was late, she was tired and wanted to go home, but she refused to return without Patrick. Her stomach protested again and she began ordering files to distract herself, and clean in more than clean places, and look at the clock. The minutes passed and the anxiety grew.
Her fingers began to itch. She had long since given up smoking, and she did so with little sacrifice, however, from time to time she had a need for a cigarette. She shook her head and walked to the kitchen, but there she found only the unhealthy cookies that the mothers of the maternity home could eat. She bit one with little desire, and her stomach complained in agreement with her. She finished the cookie, feeling that she chewed a piece of wood. Sighing, she returned to the surgery, looking at the clock again. For someone like her, full of movement, waiting without doing anything was the worst of sentences. With tired steps she went to Patrick's office and turned on the light. There was a big mess on his desk and that could give her something to do. She sat down in his chair and closed her eyes. If she was honest with herself, it was not hunger, or fatigue, or anxiety. What was happening to her was that she missed Patrick. She barely saw him all day. Actually, she barely saw him in the week. Only four days ago, she returned to work after Teddy's birth, just as an epidemic of dysentery took Poplar. So she only saw Patrick when they woke up and on the fast lunches full of Teddy's cries, Angela's whims and Timothy's complaints. She really wanted a moment in silence to be able to speak or just to be with him, even if it was only on the drive to their house and that was why she was waiting for him. She felt like the teenagers in love and she said she was a fool, but it was the truth. She missed him and wanted him to arrive as soon as possible, only to see him. The thought reminded her of her past as Sister Bernadette, when she just wanted to see him, though she could not speak to him and of course could not touch him. Now she could do all that and smiled.
Her stomach roared again, drawing her out of her reverie. She remembered that Patrick had the tendency to open packages of cookies, mints, candy, or whatever, and leave them abandoned without finishing them. She got up from the desk and checked the closets, but everything was neat and clean as she always left them. Her thoughts drifted, she might not find food, but some forgotten cigarette. She swallowed, even though she heard a voice saying that for a cigarette she would have no problem, and that to dissipate the smell she could open the window and she had a small bottle of perfume in her bag, she decided not to listen. It was not right, she must not do it.
She sat down again in the chair ready to find food, and opened the first drawer but there was only a jumble of papers. The same in the second, the third with more papers, until she put her hand inside: at the bottom of the drawer, she felt the thickness of a box. She took it, without removing it from the drawer and looked at it in surprise. It was a long, flat box, covered with glossy red paper and a golden bow. She bit her lip, she should not see it, not check her husband's drawers. That would be behaving like the girl she had been, full of curiosity, sticking her nose where she should not. In her years in the convent she dominated and forgot her curiosity, and now, as an adult woman, she also should do it. She sighed and pushed the box to the bottom of the drawer, but remembered that in three days was her birthday. Patrick never forgot it, and finding a box wrapped in glossy paper hidden in his drawer was too tempting. She gave free rein to her curiosity and with a giggle she took the box again and put it on the desk. With anxiety she untied the golden bow and removed the lid.
"God bless you, Patrick!" she exclaimed when she saw that the box was full of chocolates. She took the first one she saw and took a bite, closing her eyes with pleasure and leaning back in the chair. It really was delicious, the best chocolate she ate in her life. She sucked on her fingers like Angela did and smiled. Then she looked at the box. There were many, in various shapes and they all looked as delicious as the one she had just eaten. With a mischievous giggle she took another, this one was stuffed with something that looked like liquor. The taste was strong but exquisite. She left the box on the side, sitting upright, ready to order the papers on the desk. She ordered them in two perfect piles and then went through the first drawer, unable to believe that papers were stacked there with dates of four years ago or more. She made balls with all of them while throwing them into the basket. The other drawers had the same fate. When everything was perfectly clean and tidy, she looked at the box of chocolates and cried: it was almost empty. In fact, there was only one left.
"No, Shelagh, what did you do?!" she reprimanded herself, covering her mouth with both hands. She could not believe that in her task to order, she was putting her hand again and again until emptying the box. But her satisfied stomach and the taste on her tongue confirmed it. She sighed, taking the box in her hands, looking at it with disappointment because her behavior, and because there was only one chocolate left.
An idea came to her, she would buy a box of chocolates the next morning, and as soon as Patrick had to leave for any reason, she would go into his office and empty the newly bought box into the red box. He would never notice the difference between the chocolates she would buy in a rush, and those that were so refined...She stopped thinking because she wanted to cry. She could not do this to him, he bought incredible chocolates and she ate them all like a child, and besides she planned to cheat him with cheap chocolates.
"Shelagh are you here? Ah hello!" Patrick smiled at her when he opened the door, "Oh, don´t tell me that you started to order that, leave it, I'll… what are you doing?"
"I´m sorry" that was all she could say, without leaving the box of chocolates. She really wanted to cry right there even though doing that was typical of a five year old girl. He frowned.
"What are you doing?" he repeated, slowly approaching.
"I...I was hungry and I found them" she left the box on the desk, in front of him, with the evidence of her voracity, "Patrick I swear I just wanted to take one. Well, two. But I don´t know how it happened and now it's almost empty. I'll buy another box, I promise" she sighed, covering her face,"Arrg, I'm a fool!"
She heard his giggle and then he took her hands and pulled them away from her face.
"Are you telling me you ate them all?"
"Except that one" she stared at the only surviving chocolate.
Patrick tried to stifle his laugh but it was too much to resist. So he simply took her by the hand and forced her to stand up.
"You, Mrs. Turner, are a thief of the worst stripe. You ate your own birthday present!"
"What a relief, for a moment I thought you were going to tell me they were not for me" reluctantly, she had to laugh with him.
"Those were for a beautiful woman who has a single defect," he said drawing closer to her lips, "she is a thief. Luckily, I have more gifts to give you."
With an evil smile he kissed her gently and she quickly tangled her hands in his hair. He deepened the kiss, she tasted of chocolate and it was a combination even more exquisite than the one he imagined when he bought that red box, it was Shelagh sweeter than ever. His hand moved down her back, bringing her closer to him.
But she pulled away suddenly, looking at him with concern.
"Patrick, really, forgive me. It was not right what I did and besides...I wanted to cover everything by buying other chocolates and putting them in the box. I would have done it if you hadn´t discovered me."
He laughed again, putting a strand of loose hair behind her ear.
"You never cease to amaze me. And for some strange reason, I can never get angry with you. Besides, they were for eat, no matter if you did it three days before. I´ll buy another box for your birthday, but you will eat one a day, they will be in my custody."
"Only one a day?" she exclaimed indignantly.
"I will not let you eat another whole box in just a little while. You will end up hospitalized with hepatic intoxication that will make you hate chocolate for the rest of your life."
She exclaimed an exaggerated sigh and rolled her eyes.
"All right, I'll take the deal. I guess I deserve it."
"You deserve an exemplary punishment, Shelagh Turner."
He kissed her again and she smiled knowing what his words meant. She felt happy, not only because Patrick forgave her silly foul and he was wonderful, but because he had finally come back and they were together and quiet for a while. Suddenly, all those minutes of missing him were exploding and she not only wanted him, but she needed him.
She deepened the kiss and he pushed her onto the desk and she sat on it. Her hands moved over his shoulders and his neck, trying to undo his tie. Patrick released her suddenly and she looked at him confused by his action despite the darkness of his eyes. She thought he would become gentlemanly as he used to do and a part of her felt disillusioned. However, he reached for the box and took the only chocolate left. He took it to her mouth and she bit it staring at him. A little liquor spilled down her lips and she swept it with her tongue, her eyes fixed on his. That action seemed to stir something in him because she smiled to herself when he pressed his mouth over hers, plundering her with his tongue. His hands were everywhere, on her legs, her hair, on her waist. She could not help a moan when she felt his mouth on her jaw and her neck and when he approached the neckline of her uniform, she tangled a leg around his waist, drawing him closer. He returned to her mouth but broke away almost immediately, his breathing agitated, his forehead stuck to hers.
"Shelagh, we have to stop."
"I know" she smiled. He was right, it was not the right place. She put her hands on his shoulders, pushing him softly away. She got down from the desk and smoothed the fabric of her uniform with her fingers. Then she swallowed because he was staring at her with adoring eyes, the look that always made her tremble. She stood on tiptoe to give him a kiss, a much shorter and more chaste kiss than the ones they had shared a moment before. Then she took his hand and walked to the door.
"Let's go home, doctor. Remember that I ended up eating until the last chocolate, so I must be punished."