Severing Ties (Book 2. Ties)

35. Human

Waking up in the middle of the night to feed a baby was not what I did. I let Lucius and Mom deal with that ruckus. I only took care of Faith during the day when I was home. I had given my room to my sister and moved to the bedroom downstairs. The baby needed to be with her parents, and since their room was upstairs, I had to give up my old bedroom. It was not a sacrifice whatsoever; less stairs for me was bliss.

Having a baby around was a joyful time for me. Even though she could not hear the words transmitted, I spoke to her and smiled at her. She hardly made any noise, but she responded with smiles and gestures. Faith was constantly in my arms, and I would not have had it any other way. That baby made me happy. School was tiring and work was tiring, but she was the little light in my day. Her middle name was not chosen because it was nearly related to Lucius, but in the end both of their names meant the same thing. Lucy represented light, so her name was true in every form; she was our light.

Even though we were all happy to have her with us, Lucius was abnormally less cheery. Everything went back to his parents. They had not attempted to visit the baby, at the hospital or at home, or call to ask how things were going. It was like Lucius had suddenly become a stranger. Lucius' character had diminished in jovialness, because of his parents lack of attention for his daughter. He loved Faith beyond words, so the rejection his parents gave his daughter hurt him severely. With Faith, the holidays were going to be more difficult than they had before.

Lucius was obviously not celebrating the festivities with his family, and we were not traveling because Faith was too young to be traveling internationally. Thanksgiving was a lucky holiday. Elena was staying in town and so was Lucas, so that meant Stephanie was not going anywhere. The results of that were a Thanksgiving dinner at Lucas' mom's house. With Laura's consent, Lucas and Stephanie invited my family and Stephanie's family. Elena also took Noah with her. That was our Thanksgiving ensemble. Then came Christmas.

Lucas' family, including Stephanie, were going to visit their family in New Hampshire, and Elena was spending Christmas with Noah's family. That left Lucius, Mom, Faith, and I with no plans. In the end, we decided to cook between the three of us and simply have a small dinner with no guests.

So, in the kitchen we were, cooking traditional American and French dishes on Christmas Eve. The amount of food we made was too much for the three of us, only meaning that we would be eating leftovers for a long time.

While we created our dinner and desserts, Faith stared at us from the bouncer my mom had put her in. The bouncer rested on the breakfast table, so she could see everything that was happening. Lucius and I had moved on to Christmas cookies while my mom did the traditional bûche de Noël.

"Don't add so much water—stop! Oh my gosh, you idiot. Now it's all over the floor," I yelled at Lucius.

"Mackenzie," my mom said sternly. At the same time my mom had said my name, Lucius threw a pinch of flour at me. The funny guy had returned, and I wanted to punch him.

"You idiot," I said again as I tried to dust off the flour. Then, I moved around the island and went to stand in front of Faith. She stared at me with her big green eyes, just like my mom's but rounder. "That is your dad. I'm sorry, kid," I told her.

Lucius was irritated with me; his face said it all. "That," he asked. "I'm human."

I stared at him with disinterest. "He is going to embarrass you so much, Faith." Her eyes simply watched me, but then a smile emerged on her face. Her smile always put one on my face, so I leaned closer to her and kissed her soft cheek. Typical of me, I began speaking to her with the high-pitched voice people talked to babies with. "You know what I'm talkin' 'bout, don't you? You got an embarrassing daddy, I know I know. It's okay though; I'll help you out... Oops." I realized I had left some flour on her nose when I had kissed her, so I tried wiping it off with my arm, since my hands were dirty.