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He flicks his eyes from the road toward me. “Damn right.” He lifts his eyes to stare into the rearview mirror. “They’re untamable.”
“They’re toddlers, Oscar. Not animals.”
He scoffs. “Could have fooled me. Seb is almost two years old, and the child’s vocabulary is more limited than a chimpanzee.” I roll my eyes.
“Let me guess, our baby will be speaking two languages by Seb’s age.” I have to laugh and shake my head about how determined Oscar is to make our child a prodigy. If it wasn’t so ridiculous, I would actually be enamored by the thought put into our baby’s future.
“He will speak four languages by the time he is two, not two.”
I gasp. “You said he. You said he, again!” My pulse races. “Oscar, you said I could choose, and I wanted the baby’s sex to be a surprise.” Disappointment fills my veins. I so desperately want it all to be perfect. Oscar is so passionate and forward thinking with every aspect of the pregnancy and future, I was hoping the one thing he can’t control would be something we could learn together.
“I’m assuming it’s a boy because of those books Lily sent you,” he rushes out, making me search his face for truth, and I only find his usual unreadable, stoic demeanor.
Lily sent a bunch of baby books Oscar has since annotated all areas, in his opinion, worth reading. This included what vitamins and exercise I should participate in each day.Lucky me.
OSCAR
Our son is measuring at approximately eighteen inches. Right on target for thirty-five weeks. I have to lead Paige to believe I’m unaware of the sex of our child, even though it was obvious at the last ultrasound I performed.
In the mix of the stress and excitement of my son’s impending birth, I occasionally forget this ruse of not knowing the sex to keep her happy. The sooner he is born, the sooner people will realize how perfect one can truly be.
“Osss.” I cringe at the sound of Seb’s voice. For some reason, my nephew is infatuated with me—the feeling is not mutual.
Paige turns toward them with a wide smile, making me want to shake my head. The child cannot even say my name properly, so I’m unsure why he requires a smile so wide. “Ossss,” he garbles out, forcing me to grimace at the thought of his saliva hitting my car.
“Ahhh, he’s talking to you, Oscar. Aren’t you, Seb? Clever boy, talking to Uncle Oscar.” My eyes bulge, and I struggle to focus on the road at the ludicrous comment. Clever?
Thank goodness my wife’s sweet personality is the cause for such a statement. When I researched her credentials and family history, I made a specific point to look for anything that could hinder my future heir.
“Oscar, isn’t Seb clever?” She stares at me, awaiting my response. Heat travels over my chest, and my throat becomes dry as fire burns behind her eyes at my refusal to answer. She wants me to lie, which goes against my nature. And if I don’t lie, she will be disappointed in me. I simply cannot win.
I consider my words before I speak, something I’ve been used to doing my entire life. “Given who his parents are, I’m sure his intelligence is perfectly average.”
Paige’s mouth falls open, and luckily for me, I pull into the parking lot of our building, so the conversation will have to be terminated.
“Osss, pooooooo.” A loud noise rumbles through the car, then follows up with what I can only describe as a spluttering. Seb grins from ear to ear while sheer terror rushes through me. The smell hitting my nostrils has me gagging.
Fan-fucking-tastic.
My life is now a shitshow too.
FIVE
PAIGE
The tension rolls off Oscar in waves. Scrap that, more like a tsunami. He stands frozen while watching in absolute horror while Sam runs a toy car all over the leather couch. I try diverting Seb’s attention from his clear obsession with Oscar and encourage him to use the building blocks Sky packed in a toy bag.
“Oscar, why don’t you grab us some drinks?”
His eyes snap toward mine. “No.”
I lift my head from the tower Seb is creating. “No?”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea. They’ll only spill it everywhere. Their cognitive skills leave a lot to be desired.”
My shoulders drop. “I’m only asking for you to get them water, Oscar. It’s not the end of the world if they spill a bit of water.”
“In your opinion, it’s not the end of the world, Paige. In mine, it’s a disaster.”
