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Bedtime Story

Aurora had taken a large story book from one of the bookshelves. It was a book of multiple stories. She crawled under the sheet with Adam, adjusted the desk lamp on the headboard, and opened the book.

The two flipped through the book's contents, each picking one story, and Aurora set out to read. The first story was the one Adam had chosen, Atalanta and the Golden Apples.

"This is one of my sister's favourites," she smiled.

Aurora read with much fervour, bringing the plain story of black and white to life. For a while, Adam tried to read along with her, but when he couldn't keep up, he resorted to looking at the pictures running along the margins of the pages.

Adam closed his eyes and listened. He liked how Aurora read the story—the way her voice fell at the quiet parts and rose when the action picked up. What caught him off guard was her pause. He thought she'd stopped reading, thinking he'd fallen asleep. But just as his eyes opened, she began again.

Adam smiled at her, his eyes fixed on her face as she finished the tale.

"What did you think?" She turned to him.

"Why do you read like that?"

"I used to read stories for my little sister, and she always loved it when I read to her like that. Was it fun?"

"Yeah, the story was a lot more colourful, even with the black and white pictures."

"I'm glad you liked it. Shall we move on?"

The boy nodded eagerly at his mother and settled closer to her as she turned to their second story, Borreguita and the Coyote.

Yet again, Aurora caught him by surprise. She read the story with an accent and made wolf and sheep sounds when reading the animals spoken lines. Adam laughed aloud and shook his head in excitement as tears wet his eyes. Aurora even had to stop reading once so he could rush to the bathroom.

When he returned, the two could not finish reading the story, as every time Aurora started again, the boy would burst into laughter. As they lay in bed talking and giggling, Logan stood in the doorway watching.

"Aurora, come to bed."

The mother-son duo turned to the door, their laughter giving way to sobriety. Aurora closed the book and sat up, meeting her husband's stare.

"I'm staying with Adam tonight."

"Don't be ridiculous." He admonished.

"I'm not. I'm staying here tonight."

"He's a grown boy; he can sleep on his own."

"As are you."

"You are my wife!"

"Good night, Logan." Aurora said, looking away from her husband.

"My love, please. Let's try again." Logan pleaded, taking a step into the room.

"Not tonight."

Adam's gaze shifted between his parents. While his mother didn't look upset with his father, he longed for her. The boy felt unsettled and worried that by having her stay with him, things with his father would take another bad turn.

"Mom, it's okay." Adam said, taking the book from her. "We can read again tomorrow."

Aurora gave him a sad look like earlier before she got up and took Logan by the arm, leaving Adam alone.

The boy smiled down at the book and ran his hand over the cover. His first bedtime story. Water dropped onto the book cover, splashing his finger.

Adam looked down, confused. He swatted at his eyes, but the water kept falling. He didn't know why he was crying; he didn't want to cry. When the tears didn't stop, Adam bit his lip, stifling his sobs, and pulled his knees up to hide his face.

Moments later, Aurora pulled him tightly to her bosom, his cheek squishing against the softness of her chest.

"It's okay. I'm spending the night with you."

Adam cried louder, bawling as he grabbed fistfuls of her clothes. Aurora lightly tapped and rubbed his back to the rhythm she hummed. Adams tears soaked his cheek against his mother's chest.

Aurora pulled several sheets of tissue from the box on the headboard and dabbed at his eyes. Holding a tissue over his face, she ordered him to blow. Immediately after she cleaned him up, the boy's tears began afresh. The pattern repeated until he cried himself to sleep in her arms.