Color My World Short Story #6

Amaranth was the most adorable thing ever.

     "Are you having fun?"

I had asked him that question, and now he beamed up at me the most ecstatic smile I had seen from him yet. Coal teased me often that our son turned my heart to mush, as it did his, and not once had I ever been able to deny that. But, why would I want to deny it? I needed my heart softened each and every day. Work was becoming unbearable.

It had been almost a year since the chaos now. A year since a collection of idiots in our lower ranks decided to band together to undermine and steal from another group that we had momentarily allied ourselves with for a massive project. Not only had the idiots been caught breaking the formed contract, they had framed too much on people Amaranth would now never know- his grandparents. My parents were gone. Coal's parents were gone. The traitors had been weeded out and handed their punishments, but things remained a mess. Coal and I, though we had nothing to do with the project, had targets on our backs from our former allies still wanting retribution for how badly the deception screwed them over. They wouldn't try to take our lives, that would cause too much suspicion from our families, but they could find other ways to hurt us...like stealing away my little boy still grinning up at me. My little boy who blessedly helped me forget for those precious few moments that I was different from everyone else around me.

However, it wasn't just his smiles that did that. Amaranth could be called a fearless child. For being so small, he rocked that spring rider back and forth with a strength greater than what felt like he should be capable of at his age. At one point he bounced it forward with so much force that I had to catch him before he went flying off on the recoil.

     "There's definitely been a change with him now that Eden's been moved out for so long, huh?" Coal laughed when I got our son under control again.

     "I know. With Blaze being the only one babysitting Am, he's twice as rambunctious. Twice as energetic. Twice as daring. It's causing me no end of headaches." I chuckled back.

     "We should try to get Eden to visit more." Coal proposed teasingly.

     "God, I would love that," I joined in, but my smile faded some, "I'm having trouble reaching him lately though."

Coal nodded, more serious, in agreement.

     "Me too. It feels like he's always busy now. That job he landed sounds incredibly impressive though, even if he can't tell us much about it. The project he was switched to sounds demanding as well. Things should get better for him once that's finished."

     "Yeah." I replied hopefully.

Coal took to making sure Amaranth didn't risk himself flying off again while I sent another text to Eden. He hadn't replied to the one I sent him earlier that day, but I still couldn't wait to invite him over for the weekend. I even offered to come pick him up. I prayed it would help him to come. It felt silly that I missed him so much despite it barely having been two weeks since I'd seen him last, yet Eden was my brother as much as Blaze was. He, Coal, Blaze, and Amaranth were all I had left. I couldn't stand the thought of having to be apart from any of them. Besides, Eden was good at cleaning. Amaranth naturally had an excuse for why he couldn't help. My husband and his twin brother, however, I had to pull teeth just to get them to put their dirty dishes in the dishwasher. I needed Eden's support to keep the house in an acceptable state of cleanliness.

Movement caught my attention after the text was sent. It was still during normal work and school hours, so the park was relatively quiet. Another mother was walking over though with her son in tow, who appeared to be a little older than mine. We smiled at each other as moms do when they meet each other's eye.

Her son made a beeline for the spring rider next to ours, so we got the chance to chat.

     "Hello." she greeted warmly.
     "Hello." I replied in kind.
     "I see you also have an adventurous little guy there."

She motioned to Amaranth, who continued to make my heart twinge with fear at how greatly he could make that piece of playground equipment rock.

     "Yup. He is a thrill seeker alright." Coal answered, too proudly for my liking.
     "Seems as if most little boys are. Allium likes to get in all sort of trouble," the woman remarked with amused dread, "I'm Rose, by the way."
     "I'm Desire," I introduced, "This is my husband, Coal. This is our son, Amaranth."
     "It's a pleasure to meet you, and he is absolutely adorable. How old is he?"
     "Eleven months. How old is Allium?"
     "Sixteen months."
     "Not too far apart then." Coal noted.

I knew why he did. We had been in Berrybrook for over a year now, but we hadn't done too well with getting our son any lasting socialization with those near his age. That would start to be changed that very day, but not by any of us adults.

Allium rocked, content, for a few seconds on his rider. However, all of sudden he easily wriggled out of Rose's grasp and stepped down.

     "Huh, Al, do you not want to ride? You came right over here as soon as we got to the park." Rose wondered in confusion.

She barely got her sentence out before we realized her son's intentions. Allium ignored her and scrambled up to sit behind Amaranth faster than any of us could blink. Amaranth did nothing but smile wider at his new companion wrapping his arms around him, and with the extra weight that rider allowed them to dance in a way that made me struggle to force down my nerves. The rider truly wasn't rocking dangerously, but I was a worrywart. I did my best not to act on my new mom hesitations until Coal looked concerned too, and neither him nor Rose made a single motion to interrupt the fun Amaranth and Allium were having that had them laughing without stopping. Coal, in fact, only laughed more.

     "Allium had a good idea there, didn't he, Am?" he pointed out cheerfully.

Amaranth smile's faded for a second as he glanced up at his father. He seemed to be concentrating to me, and then he did something unexpected.

     "Allium!" he repeated back with vigor.

My eyes went wide. Coal's eyes went even wider. Our son's word had come out more like 'Ah-e-um', but there's was no doubting what he was trying to say.

     "Oh no." Coal whined for a reason that made me smirk victoriously.
     "Was that his first word?" Rose asked curiously.
     "Yes," I revealed grandly, "And Coal and I had a bet on what it would be. Coal has been so determined for it to be 'daddy'. I bet it would be something different. Looks like all those practicing sessions had no effect, huh, dear?"

It was an understatement to say that Coal pouted with great intensity. He sulked with such an extremity that even I couldn't stand to indulge him for the several minutes it took him to get over the situation. Rose bravely encouraged him as best she could instead, and in the end her words had enough effect to where Coal handed me my cash prize from his wallet without too much trouble. I merely had to yank it out of his hand. After that, he dealt with his defeat much more honorably. I kept an eye on the two boys while Coal and Rose got to chatting more. I caught wind of Rose telling him of some socialization group for young children she took Allium to a few times a week. He'd already made friends with two boys, one blue and one green, and with the way Coal's expression changed I knew we would soon be bringing Amaranth to those little play dates too. It was long past time we'd done something about the predicament of our son only having us and Blaze to play with. Besides, when it came time for us to leave and Amaranth gave me a pout to rival his father's I understood there would be no keeping him away from his new companion behind him. Amaranth refused to let go of Allium, and it took Rose encouraging Allium to let go of Amaranth for Coal to gather him up in his arms. Amaranth whined, and I wished I could tell him that Coal had worked out a play date for just him and Allium the very next afternoon. Even better, he would get to see his other favorite 'uncle' soon as my phone buzzed inside my pocket. My chest lightened in relief at Eden's reply that let me know he was all good for coming down for that visit.