Chapter 4

After lunch, Mona drove into town for a meeting with her investment team. Apparently, she took an active role in managing her late husband’s investments. Darryl took the opportunity to look around the house. In the hallway leading to the bedrooms, he found what must have been family pictures. Sprinkled among the pictures of people he didn’t know were a couple of pictures of Mona with who must have been her late husband. In their wedding picture, Mona looked about the same as now, only ten years younger and a little slimmer. Her husband was good looking guy, tall with a medium build. There was another picture, probably a few years later of the two of them. Again, other than her hair style, and being a little curvier, Mona wasn’t much different. Her husband, however, was substantially bigger. Darryl guessed that he was at least fifty pounds heavier. Darryl noticed that Mona was posing with her hand on her husband’s belly, in what looked to be a loving caress.
Moving down the hall, he found what must have been their last picture together. Darryl guessed that it must have been taken no more than two or three years ago. About the only difference in Mona’s appearance was an updated hairstyle. Her husband, though, was huge. He looked like he was easily over 300 pounds, probably more. In fact, a lot more. Mona again had her hand on his belly in an adoring fashion. So, Mona’s love for cooking must not have come along recently. Apparently she had been cooking up a storm for her husband since their wedding day.

Darryl roamed around the house a little more until he found Maria folding laundry. “That was one hearty lunch, wasn’t it Maria?” She laughed and answered, “Oh, yes. Miss Mona doesn’t believe in small portions. It’s a good thing I have lunch with her only on the days that I work. If I ate every meal with her, I would be huge!” Darryl asked her how long she had worked here, and she answered four years. “Was Mona’s husband alive when you started?”

“Oh, yes. He died only two years ago,” she answered.

“I saw some pictures in the hallway. It looks like he enjoyed Mona’s cooking. He went from fairly slender to…well, really big.”
Maria laughed. “Yes, Mona certainly fattened him up. I don’t know if she was purposely fattening him, or just didn’t mind it when he gained weight. I know that when I saw them together, she was always bringing him little treats. And of course, each meal was a banquet. But that’s more common than you might think.”

“More common? I don’t know what you mean.”

“Many men gain weight in marriage. I am a good cook and it shows on my husband. He weighed 160 pounds when we married. Now, he is about 220.”

“So, you fattened him up on purpose?”

“No, I just believe it treating the man I love well. And if that means he gains weight, that’s fine. And once he put on 60 pounds, he certainly couldn’t complain about the weight I gained,” she said, patting her slightly plump belly. “We are very happy together. We have three children.”

“One more question, Maria. Do you know how he died?”

“That was very sad. It was cancer. The only blessing is that it took him quickly.”

Darryl decided that he had learned all that he was going to from Maria. He still didn’t know what Mona intended. Was it simply that she loved to cook and was in the habit of serving large portions? Did she just enjoy having a man appreciate her cooking? Or was she really trying to put some weight on him? And how much? Just enough for him to no longer be scrawny? Or did she have bigger plans for him? Darryl didn’t mind getting back to his normal weight, but more than that? He wasn’t sure we wanted that. Regardless of what Mona intended, he would have to set boundaries on how much he was fed.

He was on time for dinner at seven, and Mona was just taking the lasagna out of the oven. It smelled wonderful, no surprise there. Along with the pasta dish they had soft rolls coated in garlic butter, a salad and a hearty red wine. Once again, Mona served him a large portion and once he tasted it, he dug in. It was by far the best lasagna he had ever tasted. When he cleaned his plate, Mona moved to serve him another portion. “Whoa, Mona,” he said with a grin. “It was great, but I think I’ve had enough.”

Mona looked across the table at him with sad eyes. “Don’t you like my lasagna? It was a new recipe that I tried out.”

“Well sure, it’s delicious. But…”

“Then have some more,” she purred as she gave him a large helping. “It makes me happy when a man enjoys my cooking.”

Darryl couldn’t think of a way to get out of eating more without being rude, so he went ahead and started eating the lasagna. And Mona added another garlic and butter roll to his plate. “I baked them fresh this afternoon,” she said with a lilt in her voice. Darryl couldn’t resist. After all it really was delicious. By the time he ate the second helping, he was stuffed full. That’s when Mona brought out Tiramisu for dessert. Darryl knew he couldn’t turn her down and it was probably going to taste wonderful. Which it did. By the time he finished the large portion she had given him, he could hardly move.