Forty-four – 04

[This post is from Cameron’s point of view.]

“A story, huh?” She cupped water in her hand, starting to rinse Anne, brow furrowing slightly in thought. Cameron smiled faintly as he watched her, settling back down to sit cross-legged again nearby, where the ground wasn’t nearly as damp from the washtub. Artorius yawned, but his eyes didn’t close—they were wide, watching his mother and his sister as he lay nestled in the crook of his father’s arm. Neve sighed softly. “I have a lot of those, Cam. What kind of story?”

“I could say surprise me.”

She snorted a laugh. “So then they’re right when they say having a husband is like having an additional child.”

He choked on his own laugh. “Right, okay. Let me think.”

Neve grinned over her shoulder at him, then finished rinsing Anne and lifted her from the water, moving her over to a waiting blanket to diaper and swaddle the infant. Cameron found himself distracted from trying to decide what sort of story he wanted to hear by the simple actions of a mother caring for her child—their child.

A sigh escaped him and Neve looked at him again, wrapping Anne in her swaddle with easy, practiced motions.

“What’s wrong?” she asked softly, moving to sit next to him, Anne safely cradled in one arm.

Cameron shook his head. “Nothing,” he whispered softly. “Just—I got distracted.”

“Oh?”

He nodded, smiling crookedly as he caught sight of the faint hint of a smile that tugged at one corner of her mouth. “Yes. You seem to do that easily.”

“For now,” she said, leaning her shoulder against his. “We’ll see how long that lasts.”

“If I were to venture a guess, probably forever.”

A faint blush stole across her cheeks and she leaned in to kiss his jaw gently, resting her forehead against his temple for a moment afterwards.

“I don’t deserve you,” she whispered.

“That makes two of us.” His lips brushed hers and she smiled, leaning into him as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. It was, he reflected, the picture of a perfect summer day—he never could have dreamed for better, not before the end of everything or since.

Even if he could, he wouldn’t have it any other way.

Liked it? Take a second to support Erin on Patreon!
Become a patron at Patreon!
This entry was posted in Book 6, Chapter 44, Story and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Got thoughts?

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.