Page 11 of Endless
“No, what?”
“You’re worried about our son turning out like you.”
“That’s not…”Fuck. Yes, it is.
The realization must have been clear on my face because Mari returned to standing in front of me, dragging a light touch up my chest to my neck. “Not every child can be a screaming tornado of sunshine like our daughter. Daren is his own person. If he’s introverted and not the most boisterous kid in the room, that’s who he is, and we should support him no matter what.”
“Of course I’ll support him. It’s just…” It seemed so obvious now that she made that connection. My fears were rooted in my own upbringing, in the childhood I never got to have. “I worry when I see him intentionally withdraw from people. I don’t want him to struggle with the same things I did as he gets older. Before I met you, I could barely talk to anyone. I don’t want that for him.”
Mari’s fingers dragged over my neck and scalp as she listened, the touch grounding and soothing. “Our son is loved,” she said. “He’s so smart, kind, and creative. He’s not antisocial, he’s just very…” She paused to think. “Cerebral. Daren’s in his head a lot, always thinking.”
“You’re right. He’s all of those things.” I leaned my forehead on hers. “He has it so good. It’s stupid of me to worry.”
“No, love. I think worrying is normal.” She scratched deliciously up the back of my head. “We want them to have everything we didn’t have and to never experience the awful things that we went through.”
“I know. But we need to give them room to be themselves too.”
"I wanted to wait until everyone was home to tell you guys." Mari smiled. "But you should know that Daren's teacher told me something wonderful today."
"What? What happened?" My heart lifted at the pride shining through Mari.
"They got a new student in class, a deaf girl. You know how resources are short now, so they're not sure when she'll get an interpreter."
"These kids need their own classes, with specialized instructors, so they don't fall behind," I said with a soft growl. "It's not fair to her."
"I know, love. And she's nonverbal, plus she's new, so the other kids didn't really make an effort to play with her." Mari grinned. "Except for one."
"Daren."
Mari nodded, beaming up at me. "He sat next to her when no one else did. They communicated through pictures and notes." She snorted out a soft laugh. "Well, his best attempts at notes, anyway. That boy writes in chicken scratch."
"He did that? Unprompted?" This wasn't disbelief I was feeling. I had no doubts my son could make friends. But I wanted to hear Mari say it again and again. I wanted to see it with my own eyes, just to feel this elation and pride in him.
"He did," Mari confirmed, leaning her chest on mine as she wrapped around me tighter. "So I don't think you need to worry, love. He's quiet and solitary for a kid, but his heart is so big."
"You're right." My arms wrapped around her back, holding her to me so I could rest my cheek on top of her head. "Our kids are going to be fine."
Five
GUNNER
"You'd really rather sit there and kick the water instead of getting in?"
"Yeah," Daren said succinctly. He was sitting at the edge of our community pool, swimming trunks and water wings on, splashing the water with his feet, but absolutely refusing to get in.
This was our third attempt, and I was hoping it'd be the charm. But we'd been here about fifteen minutes already and no such luck.
The water was shallow at this end, barely coming up to my waist. I could sit on the bottom and still have my head above the surface. Not many people were around, just a group of friends lounging on deck chairs and a couple of lap swimmers in the deep end.
I lifted out of the water just enough to put my arms on either side of Daren. "Talk to me, son. What are you worried about?"
"I told you, drowning!" he retorted with a narrow-eyed stare at me. "And sea monsters."
I held back a chuckle. Maybe telling him bedtime stories about sirens and krakens sinking ships wasn't the best idea.
"No sea monsters in here, buddy." I leaned back, spreading my arms wide below the surface. "See? You can see all the way to the bottom across the whole pool."
"Daddy Shadow told me an octopus can camouflage themselves to look like anything. So they could just be hiding."
