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Soldiers weren’t afforded such luxuries. Even the latest technology had been withheld from us. Phones were a shock to me upon my arrival here, but I had quickly acclimated to using one. The same could be said of the things happening here with family rituals that I didn’t quite understand.
My full investment stayed, regardless of the chaos. Its overwhelming qualities resembled its soothing reliability. Each night likely appeared much the same, with Leo making a mess of the sink and scrambling to yank his pajamas on. Dirty underwear littered the ground in the bathroom along with enough socks to be its own carpet.
I tripped over a hamper as Leo yanked me into his bedroom. Oh, the mess bellowed in there, rivaling the most awful explosions on the battlefield. On he went to the bookshelf where he grabbed three rather huge volumes.
“This is my favorite dictionary,” he explained as he plopped a huge tome into my lap, “and this one has the oldest fairy tales. Some of my favorite characters come from there.”
“And the third?” I held it up. “It’s much slimmer than the rest.”
His smile faded slightly. “Dad says it’s our family tree. I just like holding it.”
He accepted the book, reverently hugging it to his chest.
“Well, we should pick just one story for tonight,” I told him while holding up the fairy tales, “or else your father might fall asleep from boredom.”
***
Leo had an insatiable appetite for theater. If I failed to change my tone for the voices of the characters, he corrected my course, giving me examples of the ones he liked most. Even in such a short time spent with him, I became accustomed to his specifications.
Two stories later, he was snoozing peacefully on his bed that looked like a race car, clutching the family book to his chest. I tucked him in and returned to the living room, wondering if I might find Xavier in the same position. Surely we had bored him right to sleep.
Instead, I found him seated in the spotless kitchen with two unopened beers on the table. He popped one open and handed it to me. “I hope he didn’t exhaust you.”
“Not in the least. He was excited to hear me speak.”
“You did well with the voices.”
Warmth radiated through me. A sip of beer worsened the feeling. “I did my best.”
“You did great.”
“Really?”
Xavier cocked his head to the right like he was a confused dog. “I mean it, Galanthia. It’s a real compliment.”
“I just don’t have any motherly experience.”
“There’s nothing wrong with that.”
I stared at the orange tablecloth. “It feels like maybe I’m not cut out for this role.”
“Nobody said you had to take the role.”
“Leo insists.”
Xavier took a long gulp of beer. The can crinkled under his grip as he set it firmly on the table, drumming it with his fingers. “Yeah, well, Leo insists on a lot of things for being a child. He doesn’t know any better.”
“Do you think it’s bad?”
“I never said that.”
I frowned. “However much that’s true, the implication is there.”
“Read into it what you want. That’s not what I said.”
That was just infuriating. All that time we had spent together, all the trouble I had gone through to resist argument, felt like it was completely failing. His child wanted me to be his mother, and Xavier didn’t seem to entirely support the notion.
Was that because he didn’t want me as his mate?
