Mates 20


    Chapter 20


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    Chapter 20


    FREDA WHITLOCK


    “Hey,” Lyra said, pulling her hair up in a ponytail as she walked into the kitchen. I was making


    waffles. Well, I was trying to. I could not focus for the life of me. I felt… Dead. And that did not make


    sense because I was alive.


    Maybe my chest was dead. In the aftermath of the Category Five tornado.


    When Lyra got no response from me, she looked at me with worried eyes and tapped my shoulder.


    “Go take care of Cisco. I’ll take care of breakfast,” she said and I said nothing in response.


    I stepped out of the kitchen and headed to Francisco’s room. He wasn’t in his bed. My heart s**d


    out of my chest and trepidation gripped me. I started to fear the worst and my heart started beating


    at a million miles per hour.


    “Francisco?” I called his name, and the tremor in my voice did not escape my ears.


    “I’m in here,” he responded in his small, sweet voice. Relief coursed through me in unbelievable


    waves and I took in several breaths to calm myself before I walked into the bathroom that was built


    into the room.


    I did not want my anxiety to infect him in any way.


    “Where are you?” I asked with a softugh and he responded with a giggle. I pulled the nylon


    curtains in front of the bath back


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    and I found him sitting in the tub. It was filled and he was coated in bubbles andther.


    Iughed out loud.


    “Oh Cisco, what have you done?” asked and he giggled. “I wanted to take a bath and you weren’t


    coming yet,” he responded most innocently. My heart melted in my chest and all I wanted to do was


    grab him and bathe his whole face with kisses.


    He was the most adorable creature in the world, and he was mine: My son.


    I smiled and pulled up my hair in a ponytail. “Come on. Let’s run you a fresh bath, yeah?” I said,


    reaching into the tub to lift him. out of the water. He nodded and raised his hands, reaching for


    me.


    I stuck my hand into the water… Well, I had thought it was water. It wasn’t.


    Half the tub was filled with bubbles and soapther, the other half the lower one -was water.


    Oh my goodness.


    Iughed at how ridiculous it was. Just how much soap had he poured into the bathtub?


    I was not willing to find out.


    I wiped his hair out of his face and kissed his forehead. He wrapped his arms and legs around me


    and kissed my cheek.


    He had sessfully wet my clothes, but I did not mind.


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    Especially not when I was terrified a few minutes ago that someone had taken my son away from


    me.


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    I decided to wash the remaining soapther off of him in the shower. As I targeted the jets of water


    shooting out of the shower head towards him to wash the soapther off, I told him how dangerous


    it was to run a bath for himself.


    “You’re still a little sweetie. You could drown, or slip and hurt yourself and also hurt me,” I told him


    and he wiped the droplets of watering from his hair to his face with his little hands. “What does


    it mean to drown?” He asked innocently and I dreaded having to exin what it was to him.


    “When a person can’t swim, they start drinking lots of water, and when they drink lots of water, they


    can’t breathe,” I exined it in the mildest manner possible.


    “Oh…” He looked thoughtful for a moment. I lovingly caressed his cheeks and he smiled at me


    before speaking again with a face that looked almost too serious for a five-year-old.


    “I have two questions,” he said and I nodded immediately.


    I was always going to entertain his curiosity with patience. He was just a child after all. “WhatContent is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    happens when a person can’t breathe?” He asked and once again, I dreaded having to exin what


    death was to him.


    “They stop being like you and me. They go into a deep sleep, and they may never wake up again,” I


    exined as mildly as possible. He blinked and then nodded. I was done washing the soap off of


    him.


    I lifted him out of the shower and ced him on top of the


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    counter. I grabbed his soft towel from the ce where it was hung and dried off his hair. I dried


    down his body with a second. towel and that was when he started speaking again..


    “How can I hurt you if I fall and hurt myself?” He asked, his eyes wide with childish curiosity. I smiled


    and kissed his forehead before lifting him in my arms and heading towards the room.


    “Because… If you hurt yourself, you’re hurting me too. You mean the world to me and it would hurt


    to see you get hurt.” It was not easy to give an appropriate exnation to this question of his either.


    I could not possibly exin the depth of love I felt for him, and why it would hurt me to see him hurt.


    But I had done my best, and it seemed like I had done well because he gave me a satisfied smile


    and then nodded. The questions were over for now.


    “Okay, Mommy. I won’t run baths on my own again,” he promised I pulled his shirt- thest piece of


    clothing -over his head.


    “Breakfast is ready!” I heard Lyra call and I liked down at Francisco. “Come on,” I said and he


    nodded, eagerly jumping down from his bed and reaching for my hand.


    I took him and we headed for the dining table. I lifted him into his special seat and cut up his


    pancakes and fruit into smaller pieces before handing them to him. “Thank you,” he politely said and


    I nodded.


    “I’ll go get Dad,” Lyra said, heading towards the room area. I looked down at my food and decided


    to wait for Dad and Lyra before digging in. I lived with my family and I loved my baby.


    All it took for me to calm down was to have a heartfelt conversation with my baby and listen to him


    talk… Because my pain, anxiety, stress, anger and sadness had vanished.