Brave (New Earth Saga)

Ch. 25

"Hi Morgan, I'm River! Look! You're small like me!" The little girl in Thomas's palm chirped as she bounced from his palm onto the table.

"River..." Trent said her name like a warning.

"Look! She's gonna sit next to me!!!" River announced as she jumped up and down, her eyes still glued to me!

"Morgan, I hope it's okay if you two share that table," Thomas began before River cut him off.

"It's very special! Look! It's little so only we get to use this!"

"Oh wow, Thank you River. It's so nice to meet you," I replied feeling overwhelmed by her cuteness. It had been a while since I'd interacted with any child. Not going to lie, this was the most pleasant surprise ever.

"Can I touch your hands?" River asked abruptly as she sat down next to me on her own cushion.

Before I could answer, Trent cut in, "River you can fist bump or shake her hand, you don't get to investigate her."

River then looked from me to Trent and then back at me. "Can I give you a high five,"

"Sure," I agreed as I offered my hand. Instead of a normal high five, she placed her tiny hand into the center of my hand trying to see whose hand was bigger. Obviously mine was twice her size.

"Trent, I'm still smaller than her!"

"I've told you that already,"

"No, you said she's my size once! But I'm still smaller!"

"I never said that,"

"Yeah you did. I remember,"

"Kids, that's enough," Thomas warned gently. The two siblings fell silent following their fathers reprimand. This was when I felt River turn her head to the left in my direction. However, it wasn't me her eyes seemed to lock onto... it was Joe, who was being very very quiet through all this.

"Whoa! Who is that?" River questioned gazing up at Joe. Joe's olive skin flushed under the child's gaze.

"This is my dad, Joe," I introduced, when I realized everyone else had addressed Joe as Mr. Mangello this entire time. And of course, Joe, upholding his whole I'm the CEO and founder of Fuse persona never corrected them or offered his name to them. Somehow though, it just felt strange to make this little girl address him so formally.

"His name is Joe?" River confirmed.

"Call him Mr. Mangello," Thomas corrected, trying to be respectful no doubt.

Finally Joe spoke for the first time since River had taken center stage.

"Joe is fine, really, you can all call me Joe,"

Wow. That's a first.

I looked up at Joe whose eyes seemed mesmerized by River. He looked at her with a look of wonder behind his eyes.

"Can I see your hands?" River asked Joe as she seemed to jump up from our table and cross over towards him.

Trent's hand came down in front of River, blocking her path to Joe.

"Trent!" River chirped.

"You don't just ask people that when you meet them," Trent scolded.

"I-It's fine, really, I don't mind," Joe reassured, surprising everyone, including me, at the table.

Joe put his huge hands on the table, palm up so River could see them as both Joe and River looked at each other with curiosity clear on their faces. Joe seemed to be holding his breath as the tiny River gave him an inspection.

River pointed at Joe's hands once she was just inches away and then turned to face Trent and Thomas.

"Daddy! Trent! Look at his hands! Trent, they're bigger than yours! I could probably do my flips on there!!!" River rejoiced as she jumped onto Joe's palm. I saw Joe's eyes grow wide, and he was surely holding his breath while holding this small child. I knew I was small in Joe's hands, but I was twice as tall as River... Even other giants tend to be intimidated by Joe's size, but not this little girl. She truly was fearless.

Seeing this, Trent let out a sigh and literally face palmed himself- like my favorite emoji, as Thomas's hand made its way to River. He scooped his daughter up out of Joe's unmoving palm and placed her back on the cushion next to me.

"Mr. Mangello, or um Joe, please forgive us. We don't have many guest over,"

"It's fine, no harm done," Joe reassured.

Oh my how the tables had turned. Just a few minutes ago Joe was full of tension from anticipating having to protect me from a giant child. What a surprising turn of events this had been.

Finally dinner was served by Blue, and it was a delicious spread of both giant, and human foods. Blue first brought out soup and salad for us all. Of course the giants had large fruits and vegetables in their salad, but I was very impressed by the salad and soup served to River and I. Not only did it contain human sized vegetables, but the human vegetables had been cut to be 'child safe' it seemed. After eating soup and salad we were given a meat dish with roasted vegetables and mashed potatoes. The potatoes we all shared since they were mashed, but I was impressed to watch how Blue was able to serve our tiny portions so easily. Then I was truly impressed by the meat Blue made us! It was pan-seared chicken cut up into small pieces. And when I say small, I mean small to even River. By any means, it was very special to have a giant be able to prepare something as small as chicken.

"This tastes amazing Mrs. Reed, thank you so much," I praised Blue.

"Thank you dear, please call me Blue,"

"Did you know my dad calls my mom Blue too. But I just call her mommy," River chimed in.

"Thanks for sharing," Trent mumbled in a condescending tone.

"Why do you call your dad Joe and not Dad?"

"Mother earth," Trent now spoke under his breath again but louder.

I tried to explain in a way that River would understand."Well, when I was little, I actually didn't have a dad. Then, one day my mom introduced me to her very special friend who was Joe! So when I first met Joe he wasn't my dad yet. Then, my mom and Joe decided to get married, so Joe became my dad. But, I was already used to calling him Joe, so I just kept calling him that," I finished giving a smile to a Joe who was beaming down at me with pride. That made my heart swell. Maybe I was making him proud for once lately.

"Wow! Married! My mom and dad got married before too! But it was before I was born,"

"Morgan, do you see how I'm able to put up with Logan? I just practice at home all the time," Trent said as a joke that went right over River's head.

"Morgan, where's your mommy?"