Chapter 89
Alex and Aurora: Age over 6 years
GABRIEL
I watched as Alex stomped his feet, frustrated about something I couldn’t quite point at.
“I don’t like this?” He muttered under his breath, watching the leg he had been building for days. He was always low on patience, and lego was definitely not his choice of toy but Sophia and me had gotten it on purpose, hoping to instil some calm in him.
He wasn’t too happy about the impromptu gift we had gotten him but had been building it any way to not break his mother’s heart.
I blinked, looking at the hundred pieces car set.
“I think it’s alright,” I comment from behind, “Just the door seems a little off. You might want to remove that black piece and interchange it with the red one.”
Alex looks at both the pieces as if taking in my suggestion with a lot of consideration before he picks up the toy and throws it down with so much force, all pieces fall apart. Then, he grins.
I shake my head, sighing.
Zach, who had been watching the scene unfold with amused eyes, laughs, his head falling back.
He only shuts up when I glare at him. It’s a rule Sophia and I had made, to not laugh when he does something like this in case he takes it as encouragement.
“Why would you do that, Alex?” I ask.
“You said it was alright.”
“Yeah. Alright’s a good thing.”
“But,” his eyebrows furrow, “Miss Mary taught us in class that alright is average.”
“Average is good,” I add again.
“No.” He announces, “I don’t like average. I want to be the best.”
I shake my head again and my best friend grins. “Your son,” Zach’s smile was so wide, it
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showed all his teeth, “No paternity test needed.
I glare at him.
“What?” He shrugs. “A wanna–be perfectionist who would stop at nothing? That’s a mini-
you.
I’m not a wanna–be perfectionist,” I roll my eyes. “I am a natural perfectionist. Don’t be jealous.
“Pfft.” He blows some air out of his mouth in return.
“Hey Alex,” Zach calls.
My son looks up, leaving the scrambled lego pieces that he was beginning to assemble. “What?”
For a reason unknown, Alex has never liked Zach, and he probably never will.
“What do you want to be when you grow up?”
“A fireman.”
“That’s new,” Zach comments, eyebrows furrowing. “Why?”
“So I can light you on fire.” Alex grins.
The amused smile that spreads on my lips was so instant that I don’t think I can even discipline him on this one. “My son, huh?” I smirk.
Zach frowns. “Firemen put out fire. They don’t cause fires.”
“But Dad said I can be whatever I want to be!” He stomps his foot. “So I will be the kind of fireman who lights you on fire.”
Zach’s gaze flutters to me. “Children usually love me. Why is your son the exception?”
I shrug. “Maybe he’s the only sane kid around.”
“Dad,” Alex calls me again, “Can I light Miss Mary on fire if she tells me again that I shouldn’t be playing after break time?”
“Absolutely not.” I tell him, my voice firm. Flashbacks from when Damien started a fire in the school when he wanted a half day cloud my mind. “If you light people on fire, they will get hurt, badly. They’ll die. Do you want to kill people, Alex?”
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My son shakes his head.
“If I light Uncle Zach on fire, he’ll die?”
I nod.
Then I won’t do it.”
“Good.” I smile at him, “Now, apologise to him?”
“Sorry, Zach,” Alex bats his eyelashes. “But even you can’t call Skye my cousin. She’s not my sister, and she gets very upset when you say that.”
“And you don’t mind if I call Skye your sister?”
“Don’t care.” Alex raises his shoulders, attention shifting back to the disassembled lego car. “Just don’t upset her.”
“I don’t like your son.” Zach mused. “He wants to protect my own daughter from me?” I smirk. “You know him. He protects everyone he loves.”
“He better keep his love to himself.”
“He’s six and she’s eight. I think they’ll be okay.” I laugh, and Zach frowns, an equation I loved.
My two and almost half years old son flings into my arms when I join my wife and them in the park, and Alex runs to Aurora and Skye who were at the swings.
I wince as I watch him glare at a kid older than him till he leaves the third swing, and how Alex grins when he gets on it.
Aurora claps her hand at her brother.
“Oh, am I a terrible mother for allowing that?” Freckles whispers to Anna, who just laughs.
“Dada!” Ronan commands my attention in his adorable little voice. “Mama said no swing! Only for big babies.”
The only one of my kids who calls me dada. The other two upgraded to Dad a year after Ronan was born, and I hated that they were growing up so quick.
Chapter 89
“Yes, champ. I tell him, ruffling his brown hair. “These are the big kid swings. How about I hold you for a bit and let you swing? Do you want to try it then?”
Freckles couldn’t do that. She did it once when the twins were little but somehow managed to end up getting her hair stuck in the ropes, and she swore never again.
“Yes, dada.” He bobbled his head and I carried him to the centre swing from which Skye had just waddled off after seeing her father, and place him there.
“Wow Ro! You’re a big kid now.” My daughter grins, trying to give him her hand.
“You both can’t swing together, princess. He can’t swing at your speed yet, and you’ll both end up falling,” I explain to her while slightly pushing Ronan’s swing, careful if he falls off.
Aurora pouts, but retrieves her hand nonetheless.
“Alex! See!” Ronan puts his feet in the air, and my elder son leaves one his hands from the swing handles to give him a thumbs up.
“Careful Alex.” I contemplated the urge to roll my eyes at my little daredevil.
I don’t know for how long the three of them were on the swings, but somewhere, it included Zach, Anna and Skye leaving, my Freckles clicking pictures of the three and Ronan making me leave because he had now upgraded to the big baby swing and didn’t need me for safety reasons.
“Can we make one more?” I ask my wife while gently kissing her shoulders and she tears her gaze away from all three of them to look at me.
“Are you serious?” She bats her eyelashes, her freckles visible even under the setting sun. “I thought we were three and done.”
“Yeah, but… they’re growing up.”
She giggles. “Of course they’ll grow up.”
“But…” I trail trying to find the words. “They’re not little anymore.”
“Don’t they still need your stories to fall asleep?” She reminds me softly. “And, there are so many milestones left. Aurora and Alex will just start first grade. They’re both yet to ride their bikes without their safety wheels. And Ronan has just begun play school a few months ago. So many
milestones, Gabriel.”
“I want another.”
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“We’re already outnumber,” She whispers, her smile reaching her eyes.
“Think about it?”
“I will,” she promises turning away from me to call the kids. “Come on! It’s supper We’ll come back to the park tomorrow. Off now.”
time.
Ronan was the first to get off like the obedient boy he is, run to his mama and climb her arms. Little traitor.
up
Alex was the second one off, insisting he wanted a piggyback ride, and I put him on my shoulders. Their piggyback rides are the reason I workout these days, just to be strong enough to do this as they grow.
Aurora walks between me and Freckles, one of her hands in one of our spare ones.
As we walk back to our home from the park, the only thing I could wonder is how did I get so lucky?
