Blue Skies and Sunshine

“Hmm probably some spicy Cajun chicken, turkey, shrimp, or even crayfish. Grew up by the sea so my grandparents would always buy some seafood to eat…although now that I am here I wouldn’t mind trying this gumbo you speak of. Also do you guys serve gator burgers too? I heard they’re supposed to be good.”

Cajun chicken, shrimp, crayfish? This was right up Tiana’s alley! Her mouth almost started watering just thinking about it, and then of course her mind began to whirl with recipe ideas and menu possibilities. 

“She was!” Her eyes sparkled with delight, not having talked about her mother a lot as it deeply saddened her father so she learned to avoid that topic. “I don’t remember much. But I do remember the sound of her voice, the touch of her hand, her smell, and of course her cooking.” A fond smile appeared. “What about you? Your father sounds like a pleasant man as well.”

Tiana’s smile grew. Those were the things she remembered about James as well. She was eight when he went off to war, so her memories of him are far and in between, and the older she got, the less she remembered. 

“Daddy had this warm glow all around him,” Tiana explained. “All he had to do was walk into a room and everyone’s mood would instantly improve. Especially my Mama’s” She laughed remembering just how happy their little home was when they were all there together. 

Belle thought for a moment, going over the various dishes she loved in her head, before settling on the perfect one. “Garbure.” she replied with a smile. “Like gumbo reminds you of your father, this dish reminds me of my mother. She made it often, I miss her cooking.”

Tiana let Naveen move her and dip her as he liked. She was used to these surprise twirls by now, and thoroughly enjoyed them. 

Back in the kitchen, Naveen beelined for the stove while still keeping the image of how his wife looked all aglow in his mind as he was determined to keep her smiling tonight. After stirring a pot, quickly, he took a peek at the main course he had already put in the oven beforehand. He bounced a little out of impatience, wishing that it would cook faster – perhaps Evangeline and Ray could lend him a hand there? – just so he could rush back to Tiana’s side and enjoy each other’s company instead of him constantly checking if all his hard work didn’t reduce to charcoal. Of course he himself had experienced the anticipation of eating a well-cooked meal with the love of his life but having to wait, to the best of his patience, for her and the food more times than he could count.

The weeks leading to their anniversary dinner, he tried to anticipate how to kill this lull in interaction between him and his wife as he prepared their meal. His best option was to have Louis and the Firefly Five perform while Tiana enjoyed the bread and salad, but the alligator insisted that he didn’t want to intrude on such a special occasion, especially not with the whole band as well, saying it should be just the two of them. Maybe it was for the best, because that would’ve probably meant paying and feeding the band extra for their troubles, which he wasn’t prepared for.

As the aroma of broiling beef rose out of the crack in the oven door, Naveen smiled to himself. In the middle of his thoughts in wondering if he actually salted the meat enough before, he heard the familiar swing of the kitchen doors opening. Out of panic, he hissed a quick “Faldi faldonza!” under his breath and slammed the oven shut, louder and harder than expected, causing a few things to rattle around, as he turned toward the door and found Tiana standing there. He was about to blurt out her name (also in surprise) but her request, and that look on her face, stopped him. Again, his heart caught, seeing her outfit fully now. Gosh, those big brown eyes made his fluster disappear and the loneliness in her tone made him want to cry; now he just wanted to cover her face in kisses and apologize over and over. But–

“I’m sorry, my princess. Believe me, I want to, but,” he started, then paused, remembering he had to stir the pot again, to which he did. “I need to keep an eye on this. I will be done momentarily, I promise, my love.” He tapped the wooden spoon on the edge of the pot to let what was on it fall back into the sauce. A little hum in thought passed through his pursed lips before he snapped his fingers and started to clear some space on the counter. “Maybe you could bring the plates back in and we could enjoy the appetizers here, together. And… and then you can watch me, er, awkwardly try to plate the main dish.” The last part he admitted with a bit of a nervous laugh. “Then we can bring everything back out to eat there. How does that sound?”

Watching her husband run around the kitchen with his sleeves rolled up and the apron over his dress clothes, Tiana was once again struck by just how far he had come since they had first met. This was the same man who couldn't even mince a mushroom, and now he was cooking her a delicious multi-course meal all by himself. 

Of course there were some hiccups, like him not calculating exactly when the food should be done to make sure there was no waiting, but Tiana didn't really mind. She was just so proud of him, she had to stop herself from covering him with kisses. The last thing she wanted to do was have him lose his concentration and burn something. The kisses would have to wait until later. 

When he suggested she bring everything in here, Tiana broke out into a wide grin. "That's a wonderful idea, sweetheart," she said, and quick as a wink went back out into the dining room. Sure she had spent a long time putting up the lights and making the big room feel more intimate, and eating in the kitchen was effectively ignoring all that hard work she had done, Tiana didn't mind in the least. This was their anniversary, damn it, and she was going to spend it with her husband. And it wasn’t like they were going to spend the whole night in the kitchen. 

Even though it had been years since she had worked as a waitress, the instincts she had for carrying multiple trays at once never seemed to leave her. Tiana balanced the food that Naveen had carefully brought in only a few minutes before and set them down in the kitchen. 

Tiana took another piece of bread and dipped it into a different sauce than she had before. The flavors danced on her tongue in a way she hadn’t really tasted before. Had Naveen really made these?

February 17th, 1926. Naveen wouldn’t have admitted it, but he was glad it was a date that was easy to remember as it was three days after valentines; or as he usually thought of it: the date 2-17-26 – the month being two split in half would become two ones, subtract one one from the tens of the year, then add the other one to the ones of the year to get the seventeen. Honestly, he didn’t have to make it a math equation, but he found the numbers lining up that way pretty amusing. 

But finally, a whole year had passed since his and Tiana’s wedding, their first wedding anyway. He was happy knowing he could marry her twice; he would marry her again and again if he could. Even though their second wedding was definitely more publicly known (as they were both human from start to finish that time and in front of many people; they even have a news clipping of the event framed in both the restaurant and their house – he was secretly anticipating Palace guests to notice that date there and to wish them a happy anniversary then), the date of their first wedding was definitely more special since it was more magical in more ways than one’s average wedding. 

Naveen had been practicing in secret for weeks, maybe a month or two – he honestly lost count as he was distracted by the anticipation of the event, to prepare a Maldonian meal for his darling princess. His shirt, that he had pressed so carefully was now rolled at his elbows and covered in an apron – because heaven forbid he got anything on it – and his suit jacket was hung far, far away from any food. The rice turned out well, looking fluffy as the steam rushed out once he lifted its lid from the pot. Setting it aside, he heard Tiana’s voice coming through the kitchen doors. 

“I am fine!” He called back, stirring another pot boiling on another burner. Quickly he took a small spoon and dipped it in and took a quick taste after cooling it with a few breaths. “Just making sure everything is perfect!” He added a little more minced garlic and lowered the heat before turning toward some plates of salad and bread with various dips he already prepped earlier. He drizzled the tangy dressing he made himself – like the rest of the meal – and carried out the salad and bread out to the main ballroom of the Palace.

He almost gasped to himself once he saw his beautiful wife all done up for the occasion at the table, lights catching all her wonderful features (all of them) from all angles made his heart skip a beat. He didn’t miss a step though as he made his way to her, carefully setting the plates down in front of her and where he would sit. 

“Mon amour, my love,” Naveen paused to kiss her temple. “You’re simply breathtaking. Literally.” He couldn’t help but laugh a little as he pressed a kiss to her cheek as well. “Thank you for being so patient, but I will be back again. Please,” he motioned to the appetizers, falling into his server role, “enjoy. The dressing is a creamy ginger-lemon type of, er, thing,” he waved his hand in insecurity; it was weird talking about food that was not Tiana’s, “it’s both sweet and sour, but not too much, with a little kick, I think. And then the dips that come with the bread is a yellow curry, this one is a hummus, and the other is more of a raita with a little bit of horseradish. That one is my favorite.” He pointed out each one, then took a bit of his own bread and dipped it in the creamy cucumber sauce he pointed out and took a bite. “Again, I will be back. I love you, Tiana,” he said with his mouth full and placed another kiss to the top of her head before disappearing into the kitchen once more.

Naveen looked so dashing when he brought out the food, Tiana felt her heart skip a beat. Well, maybe dashing wasn’t the right word, with his apron on it kind of ruined the effect a little. But that didn’t mean that she didn’t want to grab onto that apron and pull him in for a kiss, because she very much did. She’d have to save that for later, though, as she didn’t want him to lose his concentration while balancing plates. 

She beamed at the compliments and his kisses. “You’re not so bad yourself,” she replied, giving his apron a little tug now that the plates had been safely set down. As her attention was brought to the appetizers, Tiana gasped. He had done all of this by himself?  It was like nothing she had ever seen either. Impressed, Tiana wanted to know more, specifically where the recipes had come from, but when she started ask, Naveen began explaining the dishes. She couldn’t wait to try them all, and had to laugh as Naveen couldn’t seem to wait either. 

Tiana smiled again as he kissed her once more, but before she was able to say, “I love you, too,” he was gone. Tiana frowned, looking at the wonderful variety of food displayed before her. It did look delicious, but this was their anniversary and she didn’t want to eat alone. She carefully folded up her napkin and headed back into the kitchen.