TW for talk of sexual harassment
She had been married to him for two months. Two months of wonderful, blissful days was what made her smile in the morning. Or maybe what made her smile was the man next to her in bed every night and every morning. She closed her eyes and smiled.
"Hi," Linda whispered, nuzzling his shoulder.
"Hi," Danny's volume matched hers. "How did you sleep?"
She laughed like a school girl, "it was very good." Her hand fell from his chest to his hip. "And yours?"
"Very, very good." He kissed her lovingly, and she deepened the kiss. Her hand moved from his hip, and he was suddenly glad that they attended the mid-morning church service.
"Need some help?" Jack wondered as he walked into the kitchen.
She felt herself tense, "n—." Her voice cracked, and she had to cough to fix it. "I'm good, thanks."
"Mary doesn't think so," he stood next to her as she chopped the carrots. "She and Henry want to help, you know."
"I know. But she needs a night off. And I don't mind- I've been wanting to make this soup for a while now." She smiled at him, not realizing the smiles and politeness just encouraged him.
"What is it?" He inched closer to her, and she inched away. Her smile had faded.
"Italian wedding soup."
"Wedding, huh?"
"It, um... it actually has nothing to do with weddings." She laughed nervously, "I don't know why they call it that." She picked up the cutting board and walked around him. She used the knife to push the chopped carrots into the pot.
Jack stood behind her, pressing up against her. She whirled around, yielding the knife. He backed away, his hands stuck in his pockets. "Easy, girl."
"I've asked you not to do that," she hissed, praying that no one would walk into the kitchen.
He took the knife and cutting board from her. He placed them on the counter without a word, before standing a breath's way away from her.
At this point, she wasn't so sure if she could hear anybody coming in over the sound of her own heart. He was going to do something; he was going to do something to her in Mary's kitchen, with everyone in the next room.
She swallowed hard, "he'll kill you if he sees."
Jack pushed his hand down her skirt and quickly rubbed his fingers between her legs a few times before simply leaving her alone.
Since that, she was off. She almost burned the vegetables, she did burn the meatballs, and she had put far too much garlic on the garlic bread. She had ruined the wonderful dinner she had wanted to make for her new family.
"What do you call this again?" Joe wondered, shoveling a meatball onto his spoon.
"Italian wedding soup?" She didn't mean for it to come out as a question. She squirmed in her seat, feeling dirty.
"It's good- I like it."
She sighed, "no, it's not good. I burned the meatballs, the pasta's under done, and the garlic is too much on the bread!"
"What's not to like?" Danny wondered around a mouthful of garlic bread. The family murmured in agreement.
They were just being nice to her. She knew she had ruined it for everyone. She didn't eat much that meal.
"You okay?" Danny asked as they laid together in bed.
"I-I'm fine," she forced a smile, hoping he couldn't tell it was fake.
"You just seemed... distracted during dinner."
"I'm okay. I just... get upset when I work hard on something, and it... turns out crummy."
"Everybody liked the soup, Linda."
She wrinkled her nose and furrowed her brows, shaking her head. "Meatballs taste awful when they burn, and garlic turns bitter if there's too much. And the pasta was-"
Danny shut her up with a kiss. He wrapped his arms around her, deepening the kiss. He walked her to the bed; he didn't need to tell her what he wanted.
Little by little, clothing was removed and haphazardly dropped to the floor. Soon the only barrier between them was her underwear.
She was lying on the mattress beneath him, gripping the pillows as his lips danced across her thighs. She whimpered when his lips passed by where she wanted them. "Danny, that's not fair."
He responded by kissing his way up to her chin, his fingers tracing the pink underwear. His lips covered hers as he dragged a finger over the front of her underwear.
Linda's hips jerked, and she moaned into his mouth. Every time he moved his fingers, her hips bucked. It was going to be over to soon if he kept doing that, so he put a hand on her hip to keep her still.
The smile was suddenly gone from Linda's face. She had remembered something she really didn't want to. "Da-"
He kissed her, shutting her up. Whenever she opened her mouth, he just kissed her. She whimpered again- this one scared and unsure- and pushed at his chest.
"Stop!"
Danny sat up so fast, he was pretty sure he had whiplash. "What? What's wrong?"
Linda shook her head, her arms moving to cover herself. She felt tears on her cheeks, and she cursed as she turned away from him.
"Linda?"
"I... I don't feel so good anymore."
He was confused. What had happened? She was very much enjoying it, but now she was curled away from him and crying. "Can I... Can I hug you?"
She bit her lip before nodding. She wasn't going to tell him why her mood changed. She would never tell him.
"Linda. Linda, wake up. Linda!"
Linda jerked awake. It took only a few seconds for her tears to fall. She turned to Danny who immediately hugged her. He was able to calm her down.
"What is going on? You- ever since... Was it me?"
"What?"
"Did I do something? I- I didn't hurt ya, did I?"
"No! No, It's... it's nothing like that."
"Then what's wrong?"
She swallowed as she looked at her lap. She wished she was wearing a shirt or a nightgown to cover herself. She took a deep breath, and very slowly, very carefully told him the story of how she was sexually assaulted.
Danny sat there in quiet and utter rage. Jack Boyle- his sister's husband- sexually assaulted his wife? "I'm gonna kill him!"
"No! No, It's- he's stopped now." She lied through her teeth. "Really. He— it- It's okay." She grabbed his hand, trying to reassure him. "It's okay now."
"But it's not okay if you're remembering what he did while we-"
"It's okay, Danny," she said firmly. "It happened years ago, and I haven't thought about it since now."
That was another lie. Great.
"Really. I'm sorry I ruined it."
He sighed, "you didn't ruin it."
She chewed her lip, "will you make sure the nightmares stay away?"
"Always." He hugged her, kissed her, and lowered her to the mattress. He made sure the blanket was securely over her, and she smiled.
She prayed the conversation would be over. It wasn't. She prayed Danny would forget about it by morning. He didn't.
