Read Any Good Books Lately?

Weeks passed, and soon it was winter. Mary and Gray both agreed it was their favorite season, as it contained both of their birthdays, and several fun holidays like Starry Night Festival and New Year’s Eve. They both also liked how quiet the season was, kind of like them.

On one such quiet winter day, the happy young couple strolled around town, bundled up and holding hands. Gray looked over and smiled at Mary, who beamed shyly back up at him. It was Gray’s birthday, and Mary had already surprised him at work by bringing him a special birthday lunch. She had been bringing him a lunch every day ever since they were officially a couple, but this was special because it contained his favorite foods: White Curry, Candied Potatoes, and his absolute favorite, Baked Corn. Mary really had to go out of her way to get corn in winter, but she would do anything to make Gray smile. Saibara, Gray’s grumpy grandfather had even smiled widely and roared with laughter when Mary presented him with a serving of lunch as well. Although at first, he wasn’t very approving of the relationship, as it made Gray distracted, he soon realized that it also made Gray more determined. His gruffness towards Mary had faded considerably over time.

So, on this day, Gray’s 22nd birthday, he and his girlfriend shared the rest of the day together. Gray had cautiously asked his grandfather for the day off, but he had refused, saying that Gray was lucky to get the last year’s off since it fell on a Thursday, but to take a Friday off this year was too much. It was their busiest day of the week, being the day after they were closed and all. Gray sulked about it for a while, but he understood where his grandfather was coming from, and knew he could spend the rest of the day with Mary.

They walked through town, stopping to talk to other townspeople. Gray had warmed up towards other people, thanks to Mary. They still were both shy by nature, and preferred it to be just the two of them, but they got along with everyone in town quite well.

They decided to stop by Cliff and Claire’s farm on the way to Mother’s Hill. Cliff was shoveling snow from around the edges of the farmhouse, and paused in his work to greet them. “Hey there,” he said, plunging the shovel into the snow and resting his arm on it. “What brings you two here today?” he asked, brushing his blonde tipped bangs out of his eyes with the back of his thickly gloved hand.

Mary smiled shyly and twiddled her mittens. “Claire told me that you guys have a lot of new chicks on the farm, and a new lamb. She said I could come by and see them.”

Cliff grinned. “Yeah, no problem. Come with me.” He turned quickly, his ponytail swishing over fur trimmed collar, and stepped through the snow towards the barn. He pulled the heavy wooden barn door open with a loud creak, and they all went in together. Claire was inside, squatting down by the lamb, brushing it lovingly. She looked up when they entered, crinkling her blue eyes happily at the sight of her husband, and also giving Gray and Mary a smile. Mary squealed softly and rushed forward to pet the tiny animal. She and Claire chattered happily about the lamb and the impending birth of a calf from Bessie, their cow who had won the Cow Festival the past summer. Cliff and Gray stood back a little, watching them, and Cliff turned an eye on Gray. “So…you guys doing all right?”

Gray nodded. He and Cliff had been roommates at the inn for three seasons last year, before Cliff ran out of money and ended up working for Claire, which led to them falling in love and getting married. Gray had never been best friends with Cliff or anything, but they did get along. They had tended to stay on their own sides of the room, and although they had sat together at dinner almost every night, between Cliff’s shyness and Gray’s sullenness, they hadn’t shared a lot of conversations.

However, both of them had opened up more to people since finding love. Gray spoke, “Yeah, she’s really great. I wish there was some way we could just get married and be like you guys; you know, have our own place and everything, but there’s just no way. I’m just an apprentice, and all through my grandfather gives me an allowance, it’s totally not enough to support a wife with.” He sighed heavily. “It kills me after I…uh…visit her every night to have to go back to my cold little bed at the inn and sleep alone.”

Cliff smiled sympathetically. “That’s rough, man. I wish I had some advice for you, but I don’t. We really lucked out with our situation. Things were pretty easy.” He shrugged. “I guess you just have to tough it out and enjoy what you do have. Things might get better before you even expect them to.”

Gray bit his lip. “I hope so.”

Right then, Claire and Mary had stood up together and were moving towards them. “Gray, let’s go see the chicks now,” Mary tugged on his arm, and Gray couldn’t help but grin happily and let himself be dragged off. Cliff said goodbye and went back to finish his snow shoveling, while Claire took them into their brand new chicken coop. It was reinforced with stone, and it was just gorgeous, well, for a chicken coop, anyway. Claire pointed out the chicks, ticking off their names: “Chii, Cheep, Bokbok, Beakers, and that one is Chicky,” pointing to the smallest one, that was scurrying around.

Mary giggled. “They have such silly names!”

Claire grinned sheepishly. “Yeah, I’m not the best at naming animals. When you have so many, you start to run out of new names. I didn’t want to reuse any of the names of my chickens that were killed in the hurricane,” she swallowed hard here to keep from crying, “but, I couldn’t think of anything either. So…I let Cliff make up their names. I think he was trying to be funny, and he didn’t think I’d actually use them. But I did!” She laughed as she scattered some chicken feed.

Mary scooped up “Chicky” and petted the fluffy little bird. “He’s so cute…” she cooed. “Wait, is it a boy or a girl?” she asked, ever curious.

Claire shook her head. “Can’t tell yet. Not until they get a little older. Of course, we always hope for girls. More hens means more eggs. We really only need to keep one male around, and the rest get sold back to Rick.”

“Oh, and why is that?” Mary asked innocently.

Gray blushed at her question, already knowing the answer himself. Claire laughed, and Mary realized the answer as well. “Oh, silly me!” she giggled.

Claire put on a mock serious air. “You see, children, when a rooster and a hen love each other very much…” They all burst into laughter.

Mary and Gray said goodbye to Claire at continued on to Mother’s Hill. They hiked up the familiar trail, and rested on a rock together. They cuddled together. Gray teased Mary by trying to wiggle his cold hands into any place warm he could find on her, and she squealed and tried to squirm away from him. “Eeek! That’s cold!” Mary cried. She took one little hand swiftly to his waistband and slipped it down the front. Gray jumped about a foot into the air. “Aahh!” he yelled. Mary withdrew her hand quickly and stuck her tongue out at him. “See how it feels?” Gray shivered and laughed.

They sat for a while talking and admiring the view. Then they stood up and set back. They were just passing the path to Goddess Pond when Mary tugged at Gray, pulling him in that direction. He complied and they walked up the well trodden path.

Mary urged him over to the gate to the hot springs. She didn’t say a word, just looked up at him, her eyes twinkling mischievously. Gray caught her drift. “You…you want to get in?” he asked in disbelief. “But we don’t have our bathing suits.”

Mary still didn’t say anything, just bit her lip and kept staring at him pleadingly. Gray blushed all over. “W-w-what if someone sees us?” he stammered nervously.

Mary finally spoke. “They won’t,” she assured. “It’s Friday. No one else uses the hot springs today. And besides, traditionally people didn’t wear bathing suits in the hot springs.”

Gray fidgeted and looked around for a while, then finally nodded his head in assent. Mary squealed happily and tugged him behind the gate. Their cold fingers fumbled quickly with zippers and buttons, and soon all their clothing was deposited on the bench. Mary’s lacy little pink panties lay on the top of the heap. They both wasted no time in clambering into the warm water. It felt so wonderful after the winter air had been chilling their skin, and they sunk in as deep as they could.

Mary rested her head on Gray’s shoulder with a happy sigh, as he relaxed into the water. “Are you having a good birthday?” Mary questioned him.

“Mmm hmm.” Gray responded. “Thank you,” he tilted his head down to kiss her. “Hey, your birthday is coming up soon, too.” he mused. “What do you want for your birthday?”

Mary blushed a little and smiled, but didn’t say anything. Gray gave her a puzzled look. “What? I’m not good at guessing,” he mumbled. Mary traced her fingers in circles on his thigh under the water. Gray laughed. “Oh, you want that? But you can have me whenever you want.”

Mary smiled sadly. “No, not really. I can’t always have you when I want you. I wish…I wish we could be together all the time,” she said softly.

Gray realized then what she meant. Doom and gloom started clouding up in his mind. It was just what he wanted as well, but he had no way of giving it to her. If only he wasn’t just an apprentice, then maybe he would be able to ask her to marry him. But he didn’t want to promise her something that he couldn’t really give her. He slumped in the water.

Mary looked at him, flustered with worry. “Oh no, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to get you upset. Oh no…” she trailed off and her eyes filled with tears. “If you’re not ready for that, then I understand.”

Gray shook his head in anguish. “No! It’s not that I’m not ready. I really want…us to be…m-m-married. But…” he hung his head in shame. “I…I can’t provide for you yet. I’m still just an apprentice, and I can’t support us.”

Mary hugged him tightly. “Oh, I’m just relieved that you do want to marry me! It doesn’t have to happen right away. As long as I know that you want to, then I’m happy.”

Gray looked at her, doubt and worry etched all over his face. “But…it might take a long time…”

Mary squeezed his hand reassuringly. “I’d wait forever.”

Gray exhaled deeply, his face finally relaxing, and they held each other happily in the warm water.