Shit. She’s acting as if I took her the way Dad and Amos did their women. Then she might have a bit of justification for giving me the silent treatment. But I did her a favor taking her as gently as I did. Set an innocent trap that slowly and quietly sprung shut around her even as it pushed her closer to me. Why can’t she see that?
I rub a weary hand over my chin. I just need to keep busy after I balance the books. Not that there’s much to balance lately since I’ve been refusing new projects to help with the little ones. I could start building something for them. A treehouse, maybe.
No, they wouldn’t be able to enjoy it for a few years.
Something simpler, then. Maybe something for Rosanna. She already has a bookcase, but she hasn’t completely filled it up yet. And the books she has tip over sometimes.
Bookcase... Books...
Bookends.
Bingo.
I’ll make some nautical sliding bookends to match the bookcase. Pretty sure I have most of what I need here already. A small bit of hope kindles in my chest. It may take some time, but I’ll win her over one way or another.
I have a sudden urge to see my family, so I pull up the babycam app. Ana and Eli are still sleeping and probably will for another fifteen minutes or so. Resting on the bed with her e-reader in hand is my wife, looking like a little girl as she tucks her feet under her.
With a single press of my fingers, I take a screenshot and save the picture for later. My thumb reaches to turn the screen off, but then one text after another pops up.
Isaiah: I’m so fucking sorry Uncle Connor
Isaiah: Really fucking sorry
Isaiah: I thought she knew bc she’d already had the babies
Poor kid’s probably beaten himself up over this ever since it happened because he’s a sensitive soul. My fingers twitch as I think of a reply.
Me: It’s okay. It really is.
Isaiah: She’s okay with everything?
Me: I didn’t say that. Definitely surprised her, but we’re...working through it.
Isaiah: Sounds like code for *she’s not talking to me*
The smart little shit.
Isaiah: How do you know when you find the one? The girls at school are so stuck up and immature. No way do I wanna be stuck with one of them for my whole life.
Isaiah: Especially when they don’t know Yeats from fucking Edgar Allen Poe
I laugh at the irony.
Me: Don’t be too hard on them. Btw...it’s fucking Edgar ALLAN Poe.
Me: And you’ll just know when you see her. When your eyes meet hers and they tell you all the secrets she holds inside. When no one on earth exists in your world but the two of you. That’s how you’ll know.
Isaiah: Fuck. Didn’t know you were a poet too
I send the pen-in-hand emoji and put my phone back in my pocket. Should have known better, though, because it vibrates again with another text.
Isaiah: So...
Me: So...
Isaiah: How’d you take her?
A snort leaves me before I can stop it. This nosy little fucker.
