It had been a little over a week since their movie date to see "The Sound of Music" and since then she had experienced a sudden influx of romantic gestures from her husband. First the lovely story of her singing in the chapel while they ate their chips after the movie. Then there had been the Edelweiss flowers and note that Patrick had given her at the surgery. And a few days later red roses had shown up at home with a note apologizing that there were no raindrops on them as surprisingly it had not rained on his way home with them.
Shelagh wanted to do something in return for her husband. She had run through the movie again and again in her head and only one option seemed to be right, and she was not going to organize a puppet show. Patrick already loved her cooking but she wanted to impress him with one of the meals mentioned in a song they had loved. It had taken her a few days to find a recipe in one of the many magazines featuring articles about the movie, only for her to realize the dish seemed relatively simple. Hopefully the thought behind it would still impress him.
She had informed him how important it would be for him to be on time for dinner tonight and hoped that no emergencies would pop up. She had fried the lightly breaded chicken cutlets, stirred what seemed like far too much butter into the egg noodles, and made some traditionally British mushy peas to go with it all. On top of that a crisp apple strudel sat ready and waiting, staying warm in the oven. She was humming the song to herself while setting the table when Patrick came in the front door, perfectly on time. He came straight to her and gave her a kiss before she turned and announced to the children in the den that they needed to wash up for tea.
"It smells amazing." Patrick commented as he washed his hands at the kitchen sink.
"Just trying out a new recipe I found in a magazine. Tonight we will be tucking into schnitzel with noodles followed by crisp apple strudel." Shelagh said with a gleaming smile as she set the food out on the table. Patrick was surprised but said no more as the children rushed into the room.
"Mummy this is good." Angela said after a few bites.
"Yeah mum it is delicious. Since when do you try new recipes on a weeknight?" Timothy commented, knowing something suspicious was up due to the look his father had on his face.
"It is just something that caught my eye in a magazine and it didn't look too complicated, exactly the right thing for a weeknight." Shelagh commented with a firm glance at her eldest son, hoping he would not end up teasing her or Patrick.
"Well I also think it is delicious dear. It might be one of my new favorite meals." Patrick commented from the other end of the table with a wink directed at his wife.
They all continued to enjoy their wonderful family meal together, talking about their day and joking around with each other. Once the meal had been eaten and the apple strudel was brought out, to a chorus of cheers from the children, Tim finally asked "Alright what about this meal is making the two of you stare at each other the whole time."
After a long pause where Shelagh and Patrick stared at each other again, with Shelagh blushing brightly, Patrick finally spoke. "It is simply a reference from the wonderful movie that you all sent us to last week. I think your mother is getting back at me for gifts I gave her which were also in the movie."
"While I would appreciate eating without the mushy looks across the table it was delicious mum." Timothy responded before leaving the table to continue his studies.
"I think it is romantic." Angela swooned while May nodded in agreement.
"Thank you for the support girls, now all of you please finish your dessert." Shelagh finally spoke, the blush leaving her cheeks.
"This was all a wonderful surprise dear and it was delicious." Patrick commented as he laid his fork on his plate after finishing his serving of dessert. Shelagh beamed at his compliment before standing to begin on the dinner dishes. After getting up from the table he kissed her on the cheek before taking the children upstairs and their usual nighttime preparations began.
Shelagh cleaned up downstairs before locking everything up and turning off all the lights and then heading upstairs. She peaked in on Timothy who promised not to stay up too late. Then saw that the girls were tucked in and kissed goodnight before checking that Teddy was already asleep. She slowly opened the door to her own room to find Patrick sitting on the bed removing his shoes.
"Shelagh you already know that film chimed with me and now you are trying to make us more like the Von Trapps by getting me hooked on schnitzel with noodles and your delightful apple strudel." Patrick rose as he spoke and came to pull her into an embrace.
"Oh Patrick. I am not trying to make us like the Von Trapp family, I just wanted to do something as nice for you as you did with your flowers for me." She said as she wrapped her arms around her husband, a small smirk on her face.
"Well thank you for my gift then. I can see why they were some of Maria's favorite things, they are on my list as well now." He commented before leaning down to kiss her deeply. His hands roamed down and settled on her hips as her hands went up to muss his hair.
"You would be at the top of my list of favorite things." She responded breathlessly after pulling away from the intoxicating kiss. He smiled at her comment before asking "What else is one of your favorite things?" with a gleam in his eye.
"This." She whispered before kissing him again. She continued the kiss while pressing him backwards until his legs ran into their bed and he sat down. She straddled his legs with hers, her knees pushing into the mattress on either side of him making her slightly taller than him. This allowed her to more easily play with his hair while they kissed. Meanwhile both his hands splayed across her rear end to hold her close to him in the not-very-stable position. After several minutes and a move to recline on the bed with his wife pulled down on top of him Patrick finally broke their kiss for a breath.
"If this is how that movie makes you feel, we will definitely have to get the long player." Patrick commented quickly before enveloping her in a kiss once again.
