The Ripple Effect

“Mama,” Rein squealed, wriggling in his seat at the oval table. “Delizioso!”

Jonathan gawked at Rein like he had grown a second head.

“That’s not a word,” he mumbled to his friend, punching him in the arm with enough force that Rein nearly fell out of his chair.

“It’s Italian,” Orion offered, glancing to me as he prodded his meat with his fork. “You know some French, and he knows some Italian.” Then he directed his words to me. “Lorena grew up in France.”

He scoffed. “Italian? Please.” Then he looked to me with a big grin plastered to his face. “Maman, c’est delicieux! Papa est tres content de notre nouveau famille, et je suis heureux aussi!”

I looked to Orion expectantly, but he was giving Jonathan a stern look.

“What did he say?”

“He said it’s good, and he is happy,” he mumbled, not looking at me.

“Dad!” he whined, throwing his arms into the air and glowering. “That’s not what I said at all!”

I laughed.

“I have to agree. ‘Maman’ sounds like ‘Mama.’ What about his mother?”

Jonathan looked at me shyly before pushing his plate away.

“I’m really tired, Dad.” Then his eyes lit up. “Rein and I are going to bed!”

“I’ll be right back,” Orion promised, scooting his chair back.

“No!” Jonathan protested, jumping to his feet. He glanced to me again, but then he blushed and looked to his feet. “Can’t Maman come, too?”

My breath caught in my throat.

“What?”

He nodded fervently, holding out his hand to me.

“Please, Mama?” Rein cut in, aping Jonathan. These boys would kill me! “Please, Papa?”

Orion and I exchanged glances, making eye-contact for only a split second before looking away quickly.

“They just want a normal family,” I whispered under my breath.

“Yeah,” Orion agreed, somehow hearing me despite the fact that I was talking more to myself at the moment. “Okay, run to your room; we’ll be there in a minute.”

As soon as they had scampered away, Orion turned to me with an apologetic look on his face. I groaned.

“My kid is trying to put you in this ‘family portrait’ of his, too; so don’t give me that sorry look.”

“Jonathan never really knew his mother,” he explained, casting a look down the hall. “A year ago he started asking me about her, about her smile and about her eyes; he wanted to know why the other kids had a mother and a father when he didn’t. It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever had to talk about with him, even harder than telling him his father is a deadbeat and isn’t allowed near him.

“I couldn’t tell him much: she was a French woman. I only ever spoke with her twice in her entire life: the first time was when my brother all but dragged her here, and the second…was to ask if I would take care of Jonathan for her when she was gone. I had been shocked when she asked, but of course I said yes; my brother had done so much to her, and I just wanted to right the wrongs by any means necessary. Of course I love Jonathan like he’s my own, but I can’t help but wish Lorena had never met Luca.

“Regardless,” Orion sighed, “he just wants a normal family. I guess that’s what Rein wants, too?” I nodded, staring at my feet. “They just don’t understand that it takes more than wishful thinking to get that blessing.”

“Come on,” I mumbled, staring down the hall. “It’s just one bedtime.”

“Sure, now it is; but soon he’s going to be calling you up in the middle of the night and begging you to come over and tuck him in.”

I smiled. “That doesn’t sound so bad.”

With or without him, I began down the hallway.

“Sophie, wait.”

As if I had a choice. I turned to face him, my eyes lingering on the hand holding my wrist. His skin felt…so nice. I met his gaze, so confused, but he looked down immediately and released me.

“I just…” He sighed, staring at his feet. “I don’t want you to feel like you have to do this.”

I bit my lip. “I know I don’t.” Pulling my hand from his so I could think clearly, I smiled. “Now, are you coming or not?”

I continued onward, fully able to pick up the sound of his footsteps as Orion followed behind me; I could almost feel that he was so close.

“Mama!” Rein cried, bouncing on Jonathan’s twin-size bed and grinning over at me.

Jonathan smiled sheepishly to me, but then his eyes drifted beyond me. “Dad! Hurry up!”

A deep rumbling nearly sent my heart jumping into my throat as his chuckling reverberated throughout my entire body. I could feel his breath on my neck, and a glance revealed that his hand was clutching the doorframe to the right of me while his other hand held the top of the wooden trim. The slightest of shifting caused the back of my thigh to rub against his leg; I could even feel how his body tightened with the contact, how the breaths on my neck suddenly became shakier—if only for a mere second.

“Come on, then,” Orion breathed, his low and husky whisper sending chills trailing up my spine that were only intensified when his hand pressed on the small of my back.

I only nodded, mute, and not able to defend myself as Jonathan and Rein grinned to each other.

“I’ll get Rein. You okay with tucking in Jonathan?”

“Yeah,” I mumbled, stepping up to the blushing curly-haired boy who had the covers pulled up to his nose as he watched me kneel beside the bed.

“Why are you being so quiet, Jonathan?” He let the blanket slide down to his chin, but he still looked so uncertain. “Sweetheart—” A tentative smile formed on his small lips. “—I’m not going to hurt you, I promise. You’re so much more handsome when you smile.”

“I know,” he whispered, still smiling sheepishly. “You wouldn’t hurt Dad either?”

His voice was low, so low I was absolutely sure that Orion could not hear us from the other side of the bed. He seemed perfectly full with his job of tucking in the squirming boy that was his responsibility for the night.

“I’m not here to hurt anyone, Jonathan.”

“I think he likes you, Maman,” he whispered, behind his hand, nodding giddily.

I looked over, and sure enough Orion’s eyes were boring into mine. He had already gotten Rein to settle. I looked away quickly, placed a gentle kiss on Jonathan’s forehead, and tucked the blanket beneath him. Rein received the same goodnight wish, and then I hurried into the hall.

“You’re off in a hurry.”

…Damn.