Color My World Short Story #11

Staring at the scene before me didn't flash my memories back. It bludgeoned them into my face at 100 miles per hour. How vividly I recalled the day I came home from work to find plums lining the windowsills, kitchen counters, and the dining table. That was Dahlia's way of announcing her first pregnancy to me. It was also her apology. The pregnancy hadn't been planned, and she'd been having one of her exploration periods with another guy. She'd used all sorts of protection with him and none with me, so the likelihood was the child was mine, but Dahlia was hung up on the fact that the child had a minuscule chance of belonging to that other man. I said I found no fault in the situation─ she'd had my permission to be with the him and protection was never foolproof. However, the plums were Dahlia's way of needlessly appeasing me. Boy or girl, I'd wanted our first child to be named Plum. The fruits were her agreeing to give me that wish without any challenge. The daughter that came that was indeed mine then became a big sister to the twin girls that followed. She cooed over them the way Gilly and Dianthus, twins, gushed over their singular little brother.

     "I want to hold him. Can I hold him?" Gilly glanced back to us, eyes shining.
   "You cannot. It's time for you and your sister to go help your Mama Lia clean her living room. That's your apology for making that huge mess the other day, remember?" Amaranth said.
     "But it was mostly Apple who did it!" Gilly whined.
     "Saying 'mostly' just means you did still have a part in it," I pointed out.

Gilly stuck her tongue out at my smirk.

     "The faster we clean, the faster we can come back," Dianthus reasoned. She bounced on her heels excitedly when looking at her brother, as if she might suddenly jump high into the sky.
     "That's true," Gilly accepted.
     "Get going then. Look both ways before you go across the street," Amaranth instructed.
     "We know!" Dianthus replied proudly.

My heart raced lightly watching the two race off with Amaranth playfully threatening tickling fingers their way. Gilly and Dianthus were old enough for us to entrust them with that responsibility. Dianthus especially remained aware of her surroundings at all time. They'd gone back and forth between Amaranth's house and mine plenty of times now without issue. However, I suppose it was only natural for me as a parent and grandparent to fret over the safety of little ones.

     "These two," Amaranth sighed and shook his head after replying to a text message.
     "Coal and Holly?"
     "Yeah."
     "I thought you banned them from calling or texting to see how Merlot was doing while they're at the spa?"
     "I did, but they said they wouldn't be able to relax properly without one last confirmation."
    "How dare they care about the condition of their child?" I joked, obviously understanding their uncontrollable inability to stop fretting. "Especially when they've got us on babysitting duty?"
     "You would think they would have learned to trust us by now," Amaranth joked along.

I dropped the bar on the crib to begin picking Merlot up. The expression on his face had scrunched. He was either about to cry for attention or he was pooping. Regardless, he needed to be picked up. The air tinged with somberness in the silence that followed. Amaranth and I never joked like this in Coal and Holly's actual presence. The fact that we did when they were gone usually brought up slight guilt like it was now. The only pregnancy from our generation that had any real risks was Ethereal's with Glade. Coal and Holly though...my daughter had been cursed with constant misery doing her best to carry the twins to full term. The doctors had even mentioned at the beginning the idea of abortion for Holly to have treatments to hopefully make a safer pregnancy the next time around. Her and Coal's glares had shut them up. Then there'd been the miscarriages. God, seeing how broken Holly became nearly broke me.

And so Merlot, the child that came after fighting through all those difficulties, was bound to be overprotected by his parents.

Merlot's scrunched face relaxed as I held him. With one little bounce and tickle of his arm, he smiled and gurgled a happy bubble from his lips. Good. He had only wanted attention then. I pressed a kiss into his squishy cheek, not being able to stop myself from being a grandparent obsessed with such a delight, and beamed wide at his grin growing bigger.

     "Glad to finally have another boy in your family?" Amaranth wondered lightheartedly.
     "You bet," I laughed.

I didn't mind the fact that girls dominated my life, but it was a little mind-boggling that everyone aside from the tiny newborn in my arms had been female. There was Plum. There was Holly and Mimosa. Plum had Daisy, Iris, and Mayflower. Obviously all girls. Mimosa had Ember and Rosey. Then there was naturally Gilly and Dianthus. That was some consistent roll of the dice.

     "I think though..." I mumbled.
     "Hmm?"
     "The thought that's more on my mind," I began, smiling madly, "is how damn weird this is."
     "What do you mean?"
     "Look at this baby!"
     "What of him?" Amaranth frowned.
     "Red skin. Red hair. Your red. But purple eyes. My eyes. Merlot is of you and me," I pointed to each of us, "and we've never really addressed the fact that he, Ember, Gilly, and Dianthus are our grandchildren. Damn. Seriously, I never would have imagined that we would share descendants."

That silly smile on my face soon mirrored on Amaranth's. He nodded and chuckled along.

     "It is weird, and you're right. Despite Ember being almost ten, in that near decade we haven't considered the strange turns of life." He shrugged. "It's probably because you and I have considered each other family for so long. Then there was always Mimosa's attraction to Coal, and Holly eventually dating him. We subtly knew the result that would come along eventually. Thus, having the children be born didn't faze us at that point."
     "A fair point."
    "I think it's more strange to think about the other 'connections' that could have happened in addition to our children marrying and us sharing grandchildren."
     "What do you mean?" I asked, confused at their bizarre, amused grimace on his expression.
     "Oh, I'm mostly referring to Dahlia's old insistence on that foursome." Amaranth shook his head.
    "Hush your tongue." I sarcastically covered Merlot's ears. "Also, keep your voice down. Lia has finally gotten over her hope of you, me, and her despite how many times we've said we find the idea disgusting. Her desperate ears might hear you even from here."
     "But causing her to pester you some more would be good revenge."
     "Revenge?"
    "It might be that Dahlia long ago told me of how you came to canoodle with my wife in her nights of tragic loneliness. Of how she believed you two likely would have taken it further had Ethereal not grown so sick," Amaranth spoke dramatically.

In a rare moment, my cheeks burned with heat. My wife...seriously. She'd given me hints she'd talked to Amaranth about that one kiss, but I had no clue she'd told him about everything.

    "I-It wasn't canoodling. Just cuddling," I insisted before pouting. "Although, I...I can't say Lia's suspicions about where things might have gone are wrong..."

Amaranth placed a hand on my shoulder and graced me a more serious smile.

     "I'm just winding you up. As I told Dahlia, I suspected Ethereal would have moved on and at least be dating someone else. That she'd only had a brief fling with Spruce, that she'd only wanted you there to comfort her...it didn't bother me. It doesn't bother me."
     "Well, it is a relief to hear," I admitted.

In the quiet that followed now, the blush continued to tickle my cheeks as my lips demanded to stay in their smile. I scoffed.

     "God, we truly are weird, aren't we?"
     "Probably. Why do you say that though?"
   "This whole conversation!" I threw my one free hand in the air. "Of foursomes and threesomes, of having shared your wife, potentially having sex with her if things had been different, and you not caring! I think most men would be creeped out to the extreme or lean towards throwing punches."
   "True. But, I mean, you're you. I'm outside the average as well─ not even considering sexual attraction to anyone, male or female, as the feelings didn't come at all until it was clear Ethereal was the one."
     "Yes, you and your noble gentleman-ness of having one true soulmate," I bantered. Then I instantly shut up. If it was terrible to joke of Coal and Holly worrying over the son they'd struggled to have, it wasn't any better to joke of Amaranth's deep connection to Ethereal. I mumbled my apology. "Sorry. I shouldn't be so casual about that. I...I still don't know how she survived having you missing, and how you're surviving having her gone. You're really strong."
     "I survive for the same reason Ethereal didn't give up. She's not here, but there's so much love left for me to have. It's more than enough to keep me going until we reunite." Amaranth's eyes glazed nostalgically while he held Merlot's hand. "So I'm glad we have this weird family. I'm glad you're weird, I'm weird, and we can be weird together."
     "Same," I agreed. Yet I put my hand on my hip. "One more thing though. What do you mean by I'm me?"
     "You know what I mean." Amaranth impishly refused to answer.

Him walking away was annoying enough. However, Merlot instantly proceeded to scrunch his face once his other grandfather was out the door, and this time it was definitely not for need of attention.